Law and Grace · Conscience and License (Kingdom Theology Series)

This publication is a basic introduction to the subject of law and grace and its implications for issues of conscience.

The Law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The great watershed between the two testaments was revealed most sharply in the ministry and work of Jesus as he confronted and was confronted by the legalism of the scribes and Pharisees.

It became the dividing factor between Paul and the circumcision party of his day.

Luther led the way with his break from Rome on the issue of grace, or justification through faith, making sola gratia the battle cry of the reformation.

Karl Barth led the break from Protestant liberalism when he published his famous commentary on Romans and then structured his whole theology of the “triumph” of grace.[1]

The charismatic renewal and the plethora of new churches that have emerged in the post-charismatic phase have tended to break from the prevailing spirituality in evangelical and Pentecostal movements with a fresh discovery and emphasis on grace.

While such renewal movements of the Spirit provide the context from which I write my desire and conviction is to remain within the tradition of grace in historic biblical faith.

If grace is fully expounded it always creates problems amongst those who truly or deliberately misunderstand it. Some distort the teaching to cover their licence while others caricature it to cover their legalism. At this point practical pastoral problems arise which require one to teach on the subject of conscience and licence. Where are the boundaries of freedom of conscience for a Christian liberated through grace? What happens when more “liberated” Christians clash with more judgmental Christians? What is freedom?

The two sections in this book seek to expound both subjects.