ALTHOUGH SOME CLAIM WE’RE OBLIGATED TO KEEP THE LAW OR
portions of it, Paul doesn’t mince words about the issue: “Christ is the end of the law
so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 NIV, italics added). But substituting rules for the work of the Spirit is not a new phenomenon. Nearly two thousand years ago, Paul was outraged at believers whom he had personally taught. They were straying from the simple message of “Jesus plus nothing.” Filled with emotion, he begged them to reconsider their position:
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
GALATIANS
3:1-3
Later in the same chapter, Paul clarifies the believer’s relationship to the law: “The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law” (Galatians 3:24-25 NIV).
The law led us
to Christ.
The law led us to Christ. How? By acting as a yardstick against which we measured our morality. We came up short. God’s solution was to justify us, to declare us righteous, by Christ’s work. So Paul asks us to consider the following: First, how did we receive the Spirit—through believing or through the law? Second, what should supervise our actions now?
MULTIPLE
CHOICE
In college, I was relieved when professors chose the multiplechoice format for tests. Even without studying, I had a fighting chance of identifying the correct answer. In Galatians, the apostle is quizzing his readers on their years of learning under his teaching. He takes it easy on them by giving them multiple-choice options.
If Paul were to rewrite this portion of his letter in test format, it might look like the following:
Question 1:
How were you saved?
• by observing the law
• by believing what I heard
Question 2:
How do you expect to grow?
• by my human effort
• by the Spirit
Using this line of questioning, Paul is urging Christians to continue in the same way they began.
They started by believing and by opening themselves to the Spirit’s work. Salvation had nothing to do with the law. Likewise, maturity in Christ isn’t achieved through human effort either.
Our daily lives are
carried out by faith in
the indwelling Christ,
not by the law.
Paul emphasizes that the law should not act as our supervisor. Is Paul referring here to salvation or to daily living? Both. First, we’re saved by hearing with faith. Now that we’re saved, our daily lives are carried out by faith in the indwelling Christ, not by the law. The Spirit within us is more than enough to bring about a life the law never could: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18).
THE
SECRET
FORMULA
So if the Scriptures say that the law has no place in the life of the believer, the most logical question is this: If the law isn’t our moral guide, then what is? As Christians, we have an inborn desire for our behavior to turn out right. In fact, the desire to please God is what drives some to embrace the error of law-based living!
Fortunately, God hasn’t taken us out from under the law and left us with nothing. When we believe, the Holy Spirit then lives in us. The Spirit produces fruit through us as we depend on him. But it’s important to recognize the “system” that the Holy Spirit uses in place of the law. He operates through a radically different system, namely, one called grace.
Recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives requires a solid understanding of grace.
But often our idea of grace boils down to nothing more than mercy. In this case, the typical definition of grace
might go something like this: “Grace is what happens when a punishment is lessened or waived after someone has done wrong.” Grace is often seen as a response to sin, much like being pardoned from a capital crime.
But the New Testament portrays grace as far greater than this. Notice what grace does in the lives of Christians:
The grace of God
has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness
and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
TITUS
2:11-12, italics added
Grace is the system that the Holy Spirit uses to counsel and teach us on a daily basis. Grace is in place, whether or not we’ve sinned recently. We worry that an absence of law will result in a lifestyle that is out of control. This concern is natural. But it contradicts what the Scriptures say about the effects of grace. Grace isn’t just a treatment for sin; it’s actually the cure for sin!
When we question the function of grace in our lives, we’re insulting God’s intelligence. Would he usher in a New Covenant that not only allows but actually promotes sin? Is God foolish to think that grace really motivates us to live godly lives?
The law excites
human effort.
The secret is that grace deactivates our pride. Removing the law from our lives means our self-effort is no longer prodded to control behavior. The law excites human effort. It encourages us to depend on resources outside of Christ. But unconditional acceptance deactivates human effort and allows the Holy Spirit to be all that he wants to be through us.
Our greatest fear is that we’ll be out of control. But we were never made to be in control. Self-control has always been a natural attribute of the Holy Spirit.
The reason he lives within us is to produce the self-control that we’re afraid we’ll lack under grace.
Paul encourages us to trust grace under the New Covenant by quoting Jesus himself on the matter
:
But [Jesus] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 CORINTHIANS
12:9
Jesus doesn’t appear fearful about the outcome of too much grace in Paul’s life. Grace isn’t merely a response to sin. Grace is the core of the New. It allows Jesus to produce through us what’s needed in the moment. After hearing this divine position on grace, Paul decides that Someone greater than himself will work in his life. Jesus will produce what he cannot.
The same is true for us today.
PRISON
BREAK
Long-term prisoners often struggle after their release. They grew accustomed to the confines of prison. In some ways, walls and bars provided a sense of security for them. They were told when to shower, when to eat, when to exercise, and when to sleep. Every aspect of their lives was regulated as law enforcers kept a watchful eye.
Once released, some grow uneasy. Suddenly, they must figure out for themselves where to go, when to do things, and what to do with the rest of their lives.
“It is for freedom
that Christ has
set us free”
(Galatians 5:1).
Similarly, freedom from the law can make some of us uneasy.
*
When boundaries are removed, we’re left to make up our minds concerning what is and what isn’t profitable. But this is what Christian maturity is: since we’re in Christ and he’s in us, we don’t look to external rules to determine our every
move; instead, we’re urged to move away from religious bondage and to journey toward a beautiful freedom, never looking back:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
GALATIANS
5:1