Law and Grace

From the Global Pastors Network

Question posed by Michael Nimz, Anabaptist Outreach Worker

What does grace mean to you? Once we have grace, what place does the law hold in our lives and in our churches?

Lewis Turner, Founder of Wheatland Ministries

Definitely Grace is a gift. I have made a study of the meaning of grace derived from the meanings of the letters, and I find a wonderful meaning of the word grace. Here it is: 
Word Study of Grace, looking at their meaning from the meanings of the Hebrew letters by Lewis Turner, Wheatland Ministries-notes-unpublished 
Grace חֵן 
Strong’s number H2580 
חֵ Chet - Fence, hedge, to separate 
ן Vav - nail secure 
Possible meaning from the letters of the word grace: To secure and separate with a hedge 
----What is very meaningful to me is that God's gift of grace secures us and separates us with a hedge--note--a hedge offers protection.

Charles King, Management Consultant & Christian Minister

All professing believers in Christ do not hold the same definition of "grace". Some see it as "receiving the gift" of salvation others see it as the "provision and offer" of salvation that we must receive by an active faith (trust & obey) that produces good works. 
In other words the Gospel is not just Ep 2:8-9, but Ep 2:8-10. 
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 
Christmas gifts unopened and unused are useless much as James says "faith with out works is dead"

John Swain, Volunteer Worker at Bethany Community Church Harpenden

Eph 2 says that it is by grace we are saved through faith. 
Grace. The word for grace in the Hebrew comes from the root HhN which mean Camp. The camp consists of the circle of tents that the family occupy. within this encampment is compassion, freedom and grace. Compassion and care for each other, freedom to be who you are and one of the family, and grace with each other, knowing each others faults yet still accepting them. God has extended his grace to us by inviting us into His encampment, Kingdom where we find compassion and care, freedom to be who He made us to be, and acceptance regardless of our faults and sins, in other word grace. We enter into God's encampment,by faith, through the entrance way which is Jesus. 

Outside the camp (His Kingdom) God had set up laws in order to train and teach us that sin has consequences. Prior to the law being give by Moses to the Jews God did not impute mans sins against him. The law was given to show that man could not reach Gods standard of righteousness. Prior to the law God did not impute mans sins against him. For example Cain murdered his brother, but God protected him from any revenge or judgement. After the law came, a man picked up sticks on the Sabbath, and God ordered him to be stoned to death for doing it. 

Those who choose to believe Jesus is the sons of God, believe on his finished work on the cross, and God's acceptance of His sacrifice as being sufficient for all mankind, by raising Jesus from the dead are no longer outside the camp (Kingdom of God) where law rules, but are inside the camp where grace rules. 

Does that mean we can go on sinning because we are now under grace and not under law? No. As Paul says " God forbid". Should we keep the 10 commandments? No. Will we want to "Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Yes. Will we want to love our neighbours as ourselves? No. We will want to keep the new commandment that Jesus gave that we love one another as he has loved us. Yes.This new commandment is so much bigger than the 10 commandments, and all the other 600+ additional commandments. The new commandment encompasses everything.. We wont keep the new commandment because it will make us right with God, we will keep it because God's grace has been pored out on us and we have been made righteous through Jesus. we now keep the law, encompassed in the new commandment, out of relationship and desire, not out of fear of punishment. 

Jesus said I have come to give you life. The law only bought death. Even the 10 commandments are spoken of by Paul as a ministration of death. The old commandments are obsolete, The new commandment has superseded. This is what the book of Hebrew establishes in its teaching. We now live under grace, by faith which leads to life, not under law which leads to death.

Anthony Verderame, Speaker ♦ Counselor ♦ Mind Coach ♦ Helping individuals & churches experience lives that thrive!

As I was taught many years ago: Jesus gave His life FOR us to give His life TO us and to live HIS life THROUGH us!!! When we live/walk in the truth of this, we "grow in the grace and in the KNOWLEDGE [intimately knowing] of the Lord Jesus." Because He IS the fulfillment of the Law, all that is gloriously left is intimacy with Jesus and to live grace upon grace rather than striving upon striving upon striving (living by the law). As the last verse in Rom. 11 says, "For by HIM and through HIM and to HIM are ALL things!" It starts….continues…..and ends with Jesus! It's ALL Jesus!!!

Dr. John Boyd, Board Chairman at Calling All the Nations

Jesus, God Incarnate, was perfectly summed up by John as being "full of grace and truth." Show me someone who ALWAYS acts and reacts with grace and truth and I'll show you someone who truly knows Jesus! The exhibition of grace on our part requires death to our selfish selves. To walk in truth requires obedience to the One who called Himself the TRUTH. I believe the world is less impressed by our pedigrees or our standings in religious circles than by the graciousness and truthfulness exhibited in the way we relate to people, whether they be members of our congregations or the non-believers we encounter daily. Let's determine to know Jesus and then to imitate our perfect role model in all that we do and say. The world is watching!!!

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

With Christ came grace and truth which supercedes the law. Christ fulfilled all the Law's requirements, which means we now live according to the Spirit and not according to the Law. Christ has set us free, as GK Chesterton aptly put it: 'so goodness could run wild.' 
The law was a schoolmaster, a guardian to lead us to Christ. But now that Christ has come and fulfilled the Law's requirements, we live by the Spirit. 

Hence circumcision went out the window as did geneologies as did 'an eye for an eye'. 
Yes the law remains for the lawless for the same reason that civil law remains in society - to provide boundaries for judging right behaviour. 
But the Law on its own can never justify us, nor is it ever to be cited as our justification or means of justification. Otherwise Christ died in vain. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves, he became sin for us that we share in his righteousness. He is ever our justifier and justification. 

You can't read the Sermon on the Mount without realizing Jesus was changing the rules, at least the rules as Moses had laid them out. 
No longer were the people of God allowed to retaliate against their enemies, they were to love them instead. 
No longer were the people of God to curse other people, in fact Jesus warns against calling anyone a 'fool.' 
No longer could a man divorce his wife the way Moses had prescribed. 

Jesus in changing the rules was giving evidence that the old was passing away, that the One saying 'But I say unto you' was in fact the real Lawgiver, the Eternal One, the one who in fulfilling the law's demands had come to set us free. 

Ironically the freedom he gives us in many instances asks even more of us than did the law! Rather than give a tenth, we are to give everything if we are to be like our Master. 
The re-distribution of wealth as prescribed in the OT teaching about gleaning, tithing, restitution, debt forgiveness and Jubilee is replaced by an ongoing wealth re-distribution so no one is poor and the Jubilee never ends. 
We are to love our enemies which is much harder than what Moses had prescribed and Christ's strictures on divorce far more constraining than what Moses had stipulated. 
In reading through the Sermon on the Mount and the corresponding passages in Luke 6 and Luke 12, it really seems as though Jesus is exacting an even harder law than the law of Moses! 

But with Christ would also come grace - not just in the theoretical sense - but for the community as well. It marked the end of animal sacrifice, as well as the end of community 'stoning events' for people caught in adultery or idolatry. It shifted the emphasis of spiritual growth from aiming to be a 'Pharisee of the Pharisees' to showing mercy as God shows mercy. It moved God's people from being judges to being ministers of reconciliation. 

The difference has to do with equipping. When Moses gave the law, it was without the necessary empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The people had to do it on their own. Vital to the Law's role in God's dealing with humanity, was its very simple and yet humiliating lesson - we can't please God on our own! 
But with Christ's death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit is given and with the Spirit the grace and empowerment for us to live and behave as God's children.

Paul Bucknell, President & Founder of Biblical Foundations for Freedom

As someone has pointed out, grace has several levels of understanding. So does the term law. For some it refers to the individual laws of the OT, to others any commandment, while others think of the Old Covenant. The question becomes vague with lots of possible answers. Let me just first briefly reflect on the first question.

I love grace, God’s grace–the undeserving touch of kindness wishing us the very best in life. He calls us in numerous ways to live under His gracious care. There is no limit to understanding the depths of God’s love seen in His grace under which we are constantly showered. Check out one of our many free web resources on grace and works under a larger treatment of Grace and Graciousness: http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/Topics/Grace/Grace014.html

Coming at this discussion of law and grace from a different perspective is: Reformation: Bringing long-lasting godly changes to our society – an expository treatment of Deuteronomy 21:15-21 on the the law can be properly understood and applied to our time. http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/References/OT/Pentateuch/Deuteronomy/Deut21-0_Reformation.html

Raymond Driskill, Evangelist, at Wake Up Call Ministries

Grace is the gift from God that exempts us from being in sin and not knowing the law. Because of grace extended to us from the sacrificial death of Christ, we are forgiven. However we are not to try God on this grace and because of love we do the law. It's not the law that saves so we cannot acquire salvation by works however because of our obedience to God and Christ Jesus we show Him our love and with that love we can abide in Him and He in us.

John Swain, Volunteer Worker at Bethany Community Church Harpenden

Forgive me I have got this wrong, or miss-interpreted what people are saying in their comments, but it seems to me that the trend in these comments is that although grace has set us free we now do the law out of love, and that OT law scriptures are to be re-jigged and applied to our times. I believe some of the comments regarding the sermon on the mount are incorrect because people are not rightly dividing the word of truth. At the sermon on the mount Jesus was speaking as one under the law, to people under the law. For these people their religious system had developed so well that they now felt they were fulfilling the law by doing all their rites, ritual and sacrifices. "You say don't commit murder, but I say if your anrgy in your heart you have committed murder already." "You say don't commit adultary, but I say if you look on a woman to lust after her you have committed adultary in your heart." Don't you see what Jesus was doing? He was pushing the law to it's extremes and showing that you cannot fulfill God's righteous requirements through the law. The law is designed to bring us to the end of ourselves, and throw ourselves on God's mercy. When we do He graciously forgives and forgets. 
Question:- When did the new covenant come into effect? Answer:- not until the death and resurrection of Jesus. How can I be so adamant about this? read Hebrews 9:16-17. So Jesus' teaching, especially to the crowds was predominantly teaching under the law. His main grace teaching was to those who wanted to follow him. 
Prior to Jesus' death and resurrection there was no way anyone could be born again, born of the Spirit. So the law was necessary for containing sin. After the death and resurrection of Jesus all could be born again. Now there are two groups of people. Those who are in Christ and those who are not, those in the kingdom of light and those in darkness. For those in darkness the law is required to help contain sin, but for those in the kingdom of light the law is obsolete, finished, done away with. We no longer live by the law but by the Spirit. The only command Jesus gave was to love others and as he had loved us. If we are truly born of God we have the Holy Spirit who will lead and direct us. That's why it was so important for the disciples to wait for the infilling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They weren't equipped to go out into the world and make it on their own. They needed their regenerated spirit to be linked to God's Holy Spirit which would give them the necessary power, courage and direction to live God's way free from the law. 
Only when we put our Holy Spirit saturated spirit in charge of our soul does our flesh get dethroned and lose its power. This is how we crucify the flesh and live to righteousness.

Kurt Kelley, Bassist/Vocalist at Treehouse Productions. Community Outreach Worker, Volunteer at Nursing Homes, Churches, etc...

Grace is what God offered us through Christ on the cross. 
Grace is what we expect towards ourselves and our own sins. 
Grace should only be applied to those 'little' sins WE personlly struggle with. 
LICENSE is what we really mean concerning ourselves. 
However, JUDGMENT is applied towards those whose sins are different than ours. Those people dont deserve the same Grace that we have.

Dr. John Boyd, Board Chairman at Calling All the Nations

Grace is what God continues to offer all of mankind. He is the God of Grace. 
Grace is an unexpected gift from Almighty, All-knowing, Holy and Righteous God. 
The grace of God covers all confessed sin. 
Should we sin that grace will abound? God forbid! 
God judges all unconfessed sin with death for unbelievers and loss of rewards for believers. 
No one deserves the favor of God...that's why it is called GRACE! 
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Anthony Verderame, Speaker ♦ Counselor ♦ Mind Coach ♦ Helping individuals & churches experience lives that thrive!

EVRYONE…….PLEASE…….READ JOHN SWAIN'S COMMENTS!!!!! PLEASE! Brother John, you took the words right out of my heart. You eloquently spoke the truth in love. HE is the vine WE are simply fruit hangers…..period!!! The life that flows through the vine & through the branches (you & me) is what produces the fruit. No matter how hard we TRY to produce the fruit (LAW) it is futile!!! We are to simply REST in the vine & it's life! The result will be that people will "taste" the wonderful fruit produced in our lives!!!! Hallelujah!

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

With respect to John Swain and Anthony's boisterous Amen of John's entry, I humbly disagree. 
Yes - for sure, grace is our acceptance despite our unworthiness. It is unmerited favour and the entry of God's spirit into our lives to do in us what we can't do without Him. 
But if we think it just that, we run the risk of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer so aptly called 'cheap grace' - a grace which confers favour without responsibility, without cost. 
Costly grace is the realization that what Christ expects of us is to be like him, to walk as he walked, to live out the high standards set out in the Sermon on the Mount. 
The Sermon is our constitution - the call to live in a way totally contrary to the world's way - the way of the cross, the way of loving one's enemies and laying down one's life for one's friends, the way of turning the other cheek, of selling all to provide for the poor in response to an invitation to carry a cross, to die daily... 
This too is grace - for whenever such activity exists among us, we recognize it for what it is and can only be - the work of the Holy Spirit among us, Christ in his people, the hope of glory. 
The Sermon on the Mount is far more than an amplification of the law of Moses - it is the signature of his kingdom, the character and holiness of the church when Jesus shines in her midst, the hope and light of the world. It is costly, it is all too rare, but any notion of grace without it is cheap grace, grace without salt, without flavour without impact in our world...

Anthony Verderame, Speaker ♦ Counselor ♦ Mind Coach ♦ Helping individuals & churches experience lives that thrive!

I appreciate your sincere desire to follow God & love Him as you describe. May I suggest you please reread my last comment regarding the vine & branches. The living and doing by the believer IS Jesus! We live BY His life. There is nothing good within us…..which includes our own efforts ("good works"). Again, I do appreciate your sincere & devout approach to the sermon on the mount, but biblically & historically it IS true that the New Covenant did NOT begin until Jesus died & rose from the dead.

I think we're missing the whole point. Salvation is a LIFE and DEATH issue NOT a sin issue. According to Col. 2:13-14 (& other places) Paul reminds us that while we WERE dead He made us alive & cancelled the debt. In other words, salvation is the imputation of LIFE for a dead man & that LIFE is Jesus. So, having been made alive we now live (by faith) by the life of the one who made us alive.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Gal. 2:20)

http://thenormalchristian.wordpress.com/law-vs-grace-lingo/

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

Lest we not be as disagreed as I think we are, I'm taking the liberty of quoting Bonhoeffer. In writing of Martin Luther's return from the 'cloister to the world', Dietrich writes: 

"It is a fatal misunderstanding of Luther's action to suppose that his rediscovery of the gospel of pure grace offered a general dispensation from obedience to the command of Jesus (i.e. The Sermon on the Mount)... 
"It was not the justification of sin, but the justification of the sinner that drove Luther from the cloister back into the world. The grace he had received was costly grace. It was grace, for it was like water on patched ground, comfort in tribulation, freedom from bondage of a self-chosen way, and forgiveness of all of his sins. 
"And it was costly, for, so far from dispensing him from good works, it meant that he must take the call to discipleship more seriously than before. It was grace because it cost so much, and it cost so much because it was grace. That was the secret of the gospel of the Reformation - the justification of the sinner... 
"In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day. So far from dispensing him from discipleship, this grace only made him a more earnest disciple... 
"When he spoke of grace, Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience of Christ. Only so could he speak of grace. Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine word for word. But they left out its invariable corollary, the obligation of discipleship...Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship." from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'The Cost of Discipleship.' 

Anthony, if you are saying the same thing, then we are agreed. If not, we are only the latest participants in a debate that began with Jesus' words 'Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven...'(Matthew 7:21) 
The Apostle John said it best: 'The man who says, "I know him," but does not do as he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him MUST WALK AS JESUS DID.' (1 John 2:3-6) 

Only by doing what God commands, do we give evidence of God's grace working in us. Grace holds us to a higher standard than did the law, but unlike the law, grace enables us to embrace its extraordinary cost, so that we live and walk as Jesus did.

MONICKARAJ ARUL PRAGASAM (Global Citizen Concept), DUBAI HEALTH AUTHORITY (DHA-P-0059763), DUBAI, U.A.E.

GRACE is God's Riches At Christ Expense. Christ Jesus has been expended for mankind by the greatest Lover of mankind, God the Father. Christ Jesus himself is the end of law. When one has come into Christ, he by default is placed into a higher plane, he needs to follow as hear the inner voice of the Holy Spirit Who has taken residence in Him, who speaks to Him through his spirit. Spirit to spirit by the word of God which in itself is spirit and life. At this level he becomes a son by ADOPTION, not a son by commandment. GOD BLESS YOU AND THE READERS OF THIS COMMENT .....

Anthony Verderame, Speaker ♦ Counselor ♦ Mind Coach ♦ Helping individuals & churches experience lives that thrive!

@John Thank you for the Bonhoeffer's quote. Here's a question. I agree that one who is made alive in Jesus will "obey" and display His love. How DID Jesus walk? He walked in absolute dependency on His Father. He made it clear that He did not GO….DO….or SPEAK unless the Father told Him. For us, God is always bringing us to realize our self-dependency in order to walk in total dependency. 

I don't get to worked up anymore, because I've discovered that like in my own life, the Law (in any form) WILL accomplish its two-fold work to (1) bring us to death (to our self-efforts/self-life) and (2) lead us to Jesus who IS our life!!! 

Either way, we are all still a unique, special part of His Body and we therefore belong to each other. 
Blessings!!!

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

The reason I raise the issue of grace being coupled with discipline is because we are so prone to being deluded. 
When someone says, "I am dead in Christ and yet Christ lives in me' - he is saying something quite scriptural but also something quite subjective. If by that confession he stands to the sidelines while his fellow citizens the Jews are being forced to identify themselves by a yellow star, the first step that would ultimately lead to their annihilation, you really have to question if his confession is valid or not. For clearly, Jesus would not step aside. 
We are to test ourselves to see 'if we are in the faith.' What is that test? 
If we are dead in Christ and yet Christ lives in us, how is that tested? 
By an objective standard - that applies to everyone who claims to 'walk as Jesus walked.' 
So what is that standard? 
The Sermon on the Mount and for that matter every other command Jesus gave. 
If we say we are 'alive in Christ' and killing our enemies, we are something other than Christ was. When we say 'we live and move and are active by His Spirit' and are not selling what we have to provide for the poor, we are something other than Jesus was. 
This is something Bonhoeffer was especially aware of. The strongest supporters of Hitler among Christians came from the German Evangelical Church, specialists in grace but as Bonhoeffer rightly called it, 'cheap' rather 'costly' grace.

Michael Nimz, Anabaptist Network Outreach Worker

So, let me see if I have gotten the main points; grace is salvation and law is death. This seems to be a bit antinomian for my liking. It also seems to exude a little Marcionite heresy. Grace needs to lead us to do the will of Jesus, but how does that helps us to grow in Christ's likeness? If Jesus said that he didn't come to abolish the law, what does it mean when he says that he fulfilled the law? If we are growing in Christ's likeness do we then begin to fulfil the law? Can the the law be seen as tools for grace? (Of course, not all laws can be used to exhibit grace,)

Kurt Kelley, Bassist/Vocalist at Treehouse Productions. Community Outreach Worker, Volunteer at Nursing Homes, Churches, etc...

From what Ive observed from many of my Evangelical cohorts down here in South Florida: 
Grace is: What we expect from God, and assume applies towards us, and our own personal sins and struggles. However, we do NOT extend that same grace towards those whos sins and struggles are different from our own. 
Or, to simplify even more, the attitude seems to be, 'Jesus blood only covers my kinds of sins, not YOURS.'

Simon Zelikman, at Emmanuel's Doorpost

His Grace, is His "forgiveness", His compassion and understanding for and of our flesh nature, it is ALL HIS, GRACE, it is not something you can claim full possession of, or think to own as your own. 
We are "saved" by His Grace when we ask for forgiveness/remission of our sins, and only if we have truth in the heart, and Faith in His saving blood of the Passover Lamb, that is what Passover is all about, it is death/sin passed us over. 

His fulfilling of the Law is talking about Remission of Sins, it is Atonement for sin, which was always washed away with blood, and it was done only through the Law of the Priesthood He installed and taught to His people, and when He taught the New Passover, and the cup with which we drink of His Blood in memory of Him, and the Bread we break as the Body of His Truth, the Word, ........... the Passover! 

He became the High Priest and the Temple rebuild, for all who would be His priest, this is the Law Fulfilled, and our only "Atonement" for Sin, and this is why the "works" of that old law no longer had power to save, because the Vail was rent and that old priesthood blood sacrifice had no more power to atone for sin, and those "works" no longer "saved" nor did they "Atone" for sin. 

We may strive to walk in His Grace, and we may have The Way into His Atonement for sin in His blood, but we do Not own Grace or His Atonement, and there is nothing cheep about it, the more you walk in His Truth, the more it becomes truly heavy for those who have truth in the heart, and remember what He did and suffered, so sinning continually is not possible for those who truly seek to walk in His Grace! 

Before His coming as the new Passover Lamb, and giving Himself as the Blood sacrifice for us, They had Faith in things seen, and the only forgiveness of sins possible for thousands of years as He taught His people by His Priesthood of Levite priests, but they all knew were God is, and where He would come from, and those who believed in Him then, knew of the True Temple and Tabernacle of God in heaven, which we seem to completely forgotten about, or why the Temple distorted was there by His Law for thousands of years, and for what. 

We are saved by Faith, which is believing in things unseen, and this is talking about His heavenly Temple and Priesthood, His Atonement of sins, for He is our Passover Lamb, and He is the Law Fulfilled!!! 

God bless, 

Cheryl Draeger, Pastor; Ecumenical Fellowship Church (House Church)

You will find this amusing. I just named one of my dog's puppies, "Grace". Not only is it a nice name, but one can meditate on the the many meanings of the word Grace. It's a nice though, positive, uplifting, and there can be many messages in this one word.

Simon Zelikman, at Emmanuel's Doorpost

Yes, this is all .......... amusing.

Robert Oliver, Pastor at KJV BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH

Beloved believers, there are actually "3" Laws: The Law of Moses, The Law of the Spirit, and Kingdom Law. Which Law you belong under all depends upon the dispensation in which you exist. From Mt Sinai to the Cross the Jews (not Gentiles) were under the Law of Moses. From the time of the Cross to the Rapture of the Body of Christ both Jews & Gentiles who are Born Again are under the Law of the Spirit. From the beginning to the end of the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ all occupants will be under Kingdom Law, which Law Messiah preached in Matthew 5,6, and 7 as He desired to bring the Kingdom then, but because the King was rejected the Kingdom was "postponed" until the 2nd Advent.

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

Robert: 
Only if you're a dispensationalist are you under 3 laws. 
If a Christian, then only one: the law of the Spirit which sets us free from the law of sin and death and free to fulfil the law of Christ which is to bear one another's burdens and to love one another as He has loved us.

Cherie Sheridan, CEO/President "On Track" Restoration Project

This morning the Lord had given me Ephesians 1:2. "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." God's grace is the ability to do what you could not do of your self and to fulfill it with His peace in you as you do it. It by God's grace that we do the will of the Father. People have this messed up. His grace is empowerment to fulfill your Kingdom assignment. It's time to think like a citizen of the Kingdom of God. We don't need God's grace to continually cover our sin. We need His grace to do His will. In doing His will we will not sin. It is necessary for the body of Christ to start walking as mature citizens and get out of the diaper interpretations of the word. We are seated with God in Christ in heavenly places. 

It's God's grace that empowers us to go through tough times and trials in His peace. It is God's grace that empowers us to make the hard decisions and see them through to the end. It is God's grace that keeps us moving forward as we grow in the things of God. 

Don't get stuck in elementary interpretations of God's word. We must become Christ-minded to do the works that Jesus did and greater works. To walk in the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.

Bruno VAN de VLIET, National director of Every Home for Christ

about the law, as in the law of Moses, has no say in the Christians life. We are no longer under the law, that's why Jesus died for, to free us from the law. The law is for the jews not for anyone else. 
When you refer to the law of love, of course that is applicable to us as Christians.

John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited

Michael:

Your entry had me racing to my dictionary!"Antinomianism: 
1. Theology The doctrine or belief that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil, or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace.

1. The belief that moral laws are relative in meaning and application as opposed to fixed or universal. (See http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Antinomian controversy)

"Marcionite heresy" - originating with the 2nd Century Christian bishop 'Marcion', who "concluded that many of the teachings of Jesus were incompatible with the actions of the god of the Old Testament, Yahweh. Marcion responded by developing a dualist system of belief around the year 144. This dual-god notion allowed Marcion to reconcile supposed contradictions between Old Covenant theology and the Gospel message proclaimed by Jesus...Marcion declared that Christianity was in complete discontinuity with Judaism and entirely opposed to the Old Testament message. Marcion did not claim that the Jewish Scriptures were false. Instead, Marcion asserted that they were to be read in an absolutely literal manner, thereby developing an understanding that YHWH was not the same god spoken of by Jesus." (see http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Marcion)

When I became a Christian in my mid-twenties, it was like drinking pure water for the first time. Whatever I had tasted before grace came was contaminated - by agenda (my own or another's), by self-righteousness (strictly my own), and this pungent thing we Christians call sin, but somehow in my own context was something far worse. An inner pollution that made me smell real bad. 
Then Christ came and like the Bible says: everything around me became new. A new creation, a new life, a new reason for living, a new love for my neighbour and for God.

But as renewed as I was, it didn't have much bearing on my driving habits nor on my willingness to pay my car insurance. My poor insurance agent, would patiently call me every month to persuade me that I ought to pay my premiums. I was short with him, even though my public confession of Christ quite vocal. 
And then a new manifestation of grace appeared. My driver's license got revoked. I was driving a transit bus full of passengers when I ran through a red light and the police pulled me over and that was it for my bus driving career. 
It isn't hard for me to recall the mindset that governed my early days in the faith but definitely I had bought hook, line and sinker into both the antinomian and Marcion heresies. I was above the law (that of Moses, Christ's law and civil law) because Christ had saved me.

Six months later after barely passing my driver's reinstatement test, I approached over a dozen insurance brokers and companies - only to have all of them decline me for insurance. 
Finally in desperation, I called the broker who had so patiently endured my constant rebuff and arrogance and asked him sheepishly, if he might be agreeable to having me as a client again. 
Grace of all graces, he accepted me as though a son and needless to say I paid every premium he sent thereafter as though heaven would be denied me if I didn’t.

Not only did his kindness to me entirely implode my notions of grace, and taught me that grace was both an unmerited gift and an unbelievable/joyous responsibility; it has profoundly shaped the way I have done business ever since. With bus driving no longer a career option, I went into the insurance field instead and although I have not yet attained the standard set by that kind broker of years ago, nor even less the standard Jesus calls me to as Lord, I have had an enduring soft spot for people who don't pay their premiums and who insist the rules don't apply to them.