Living under grace, not under law

I had a young man who came to see me the other day. His arm was tattooed with the name of his girlfriend. We got to talking about Christianity, and he mentioned that he was a Christian, too. As we spoke, I kept glancing at his rather interesting looking tattoo, admiring it and idly wondering to myself what he would do if he broke up with his present girlfriend. He must have felt a little ashamed of it, because when he noticed me looking at it, he quickly said, a little sheepishly: "Oh. We live under grace, not under law."

Now, that sounded familiar. I don't have any problem with tattoos in general, but I do have an issue with certain doctrinal teachings. I asked him if he attended New Creation Church, and he said yes. I asked him what he meant about living under grace and not under law, and he explained what he thought it meant. Classic NCC stuff. I pointed out to him the usual verses in Matthew 7:21-23, Heb 12:14, 1 John 1:7 etc, about how, as Christians, we are to seek holiness, and how, although the Old Testament ceremonial law had been abolished by Christ, there is a third use of the law (apart from convicting us of sin and pointing to Christ as our schoolmaster), which is to serve as a guide for living a life pleasing to God for those who have been regenerated.

I explained that the law does not apply to us in the sense that we have to fulfill its requirements perfectly before we can be counted righteous, but that we will nonetheless seek to obey it with all our hearts if we have been truly born again.

I sent him on his way with the Paul Washer "shocking" sermon and some Paris Reidhead sermons to listen to, and a silent prayer to God that his heart and his eyes would be opened to the truth.

The root of bitterness

I happened to read Deuteronomy 29 this morning, and was reminded of this young man:

Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, "I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart." The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. (Deu 29:18-20)

I was struck by how this passage perfectly describes the teaching of New Creation Church. "I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart." God will bless me. I live under grace, not under law.

Of course, the standard NCC reply to this would be that this passage is under the Old Testament and therefore does not apply to the New Testament Christian. Is this really so?

Well, if you look at Hebrews 12, you will see this "root of bitterness" alluded to:

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. (Heb 12:14-16)

Notice what this passage (which is in the New Testament – surprise surprise!) is talking about. It's talking about holiness, avoiding sexual immorality. It also talks about the GRACE of God, and how some may FAIL to obtain it. This root of bitterness, if you look carefully at the context in the passages shown, probably refers to a false teacher bringing forth bitter fruit – by teaching that being immoral and unholy is all right because we "are living under grace, not under law" – that "we will be safe though we continue to walk in the stubbornness of our hearts". By this, many will become defiled and fail to obtain the grace of God.

Indeed, as Christians, we DO live under grace and not under law. We could never justify ourselves under the law (I will deal with this in a separate post). But as Christians, we... well, I'll just let the Bible speak for itself:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Tit 2:11-14)

'nuff said. THAT's what it means to live under grace.