The difference in our being under law or under grace are two entirely different realities. The person who is under the law is the person who has never been born again / regenerated by the Spirit of God. Such a person cannot please God no matter how hard they try. Why? Because they are trying to please Him (in the only way they know how) in, with and by their flesh (i.e. their old Adamic / sinful nature). They have yet to be crucified with and risen in Christ. So long as the person lives, then they (in their flesh) remain subject to the laws of sin and death. Simply put, God's law was given NOT to be broken - ever. It was given to be obeyed! There is no escaping death for breaking it. (See Mystory)
This means that SIN is involved, and wherever there is sin there is also DEATH, both bodily and spiritual Death (i.e. separation from the living God). To put it mildly, such a person sins in all that they may do, and they are powerless to stop it, even though they don't see it that way, not having new eyes and heart to see it with. There is only one way to escape from the penalty of the law, and that is to die now with Christ before spiritual death and the judgement for breaking His holy law demand payment in full.
The person under grace is the person who has DIED or has been CRUCIFIED (i.e. PUT TO DEATH) with Christ", thus they are delivered from the law and its judgement, both experientially and positionally. This MIRACLE occurs because one believes in what God says and repents of their sin as they turn to Christ. Such a person is then RE-NEWED or RE-BORN with and by the Power of God: The Holy Spirit.
This is NOT (as some say) a matter of believing it happened (whether one feels it did or not), but of absolutely knowing that it happened. It is at this time that we become a NEW man, a whole NEW person, made with a heart that is after God's own - made in the image of Jesus Christ. We go from night to day; from our death to His life, as we become God's children.
Part of the conversion to Christ (or DISCIPLESHIP) experience must also include new Christians taking off their shoes (so to speak) for they Know they are walking on HOLY Ground. Every word that God speaks is HOLY, and therefore anything He says (whether written for our hearts, or spoken to our hearts and verified by the Bible) must never be taken lightly or wrongly. There must be a healthy fear of God (on the one hand) that balances off the love of God (on the other). It is the fear of the Lord that makes straight and lights the path we walk by - it is the love of Him that walks it!
A Christian neither thinks nor sees the same as they once did. In becoming a Christian he is instantly put at peace and rests in God! It is at this very moment as well that the person (or new creation in Christ) understands as never before who God is as well as what the things of God are. Not only do they know what sin is and what it does, but they know what Grace is, what it does and what it means as well. All things become new - and he is fully aware of this change in him caused by Christ in sending him the Holy Spirit.
Below is my attempt to put some of these Scriptures together and comment on them....
To begin with, our being made convinced that we are sinners, and that we have no righteousness of our own, and that we await the coming judgement as guilty men comes only through the sending of the Holy Spirit - John 16:8-11 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
We are told by God that only in His making us a brand new creature is what interests Him - Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Now all men DIE physically because of SIN, proving that SIN (through Adam's disobedience) had entered into the world! - Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
The Holy moral law came in order to shine its light on and expose sin for what it was and what it does, in the way of making sin even more sinful - Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
More on this: - Romans 7:7-12 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
This means that the law is capable of exposing (i.e. Highlighting) our sins; which works death in that person, to appear even more exceedingly sinful and deadly than once thought, thus truthful - Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Therefore we see that the purpose of the law is to expose our sins with even more light for what they are What our sin has done is to separate us from God. Such exposure to sin is what points us in the direction of Christ.
I say this because... Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Adam disobeyed God as OUR representative and (because of him, many) sinned and died both spiritually as well as physically. Christ obeyed the Holy Law FOR US. He didn't sin and after 3 days rose again, and by faith in him are we made righteous (just as if we had never sinned) - Romans 5:18-19 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
There was a time between the time that Adam fell and the giving of the law that sin was not imputed to men - Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
This was God's way of dealing with sinners and with sin - Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;.
It is in the breaking of the law where we see what sin is - 1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
So whether or not one realizes that they are sinning, no one can escape the penalty of sin - Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Keep this in mind as we study what God is saying - 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be IN Christ, he is a new creature: old things (all that we were in Adam) are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
We see that the primary objective of salvation then is not our becoming more religious, but in our becoming an entirely new creature.
Simply put this makes all men in Adam (who is their father in the flesh) sinners, and all sinners stand guilty before God - Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Here we see the operation of God's Grace, where He is willing to forgive us our sins. The requirement is to believe on Him by doing all that He says - Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
During this time God did not hold men's sins accountable. Sin began and was in the world the moment Adam fell. It wasn't until the time of Moses when sin became Imputed for breaking God's Law (just as Christ's Righteousness becomes Imputed to all who believe).
With or without, they all died anyway - even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam had done ("Thou shalt not"). What a contrast between Adam and Christ, who was yet to come - Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Now it doesn't matter if one has and uses the law or not - Romans 2:14-15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another)
Today all men know (unless their conscience is seared) right and wrong, which proves that the moral law exists in them.
Although God cannot and does not just brush away sin, His Grace and Mercy was and is greater than sin - Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Grace much more abounded because - 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
May God bless you with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Biff & Suzanne
