Grace And Law

THE ROLE OF GRACE AND LAW FOR THE CHRISTIAN

By the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul attests to the fact that Christians are dead to sin, alive to God, and slaves to righteousness. Up to this point, he has dealt with righteousness in relation to the law and grace. Romans chapter 7 is known for the great debate it has provoked about holiness and sanctification. Who is the вЂ?wretched man’ of verse 24? Is this person regenerate or unregenerate? If this person is regenerate, then is he or she mature, immature, or backsliding? Is the believer expected to view the law as evil, believing that the law provokes and prompts us to sin? Are Christians free to live apart from the law? Paul answers these questions in Romans 7:14-25. He does this in two ways. First, Romans 7 establishes that there is warfare between flesh and spirit, between our old Adamic nature and our new nature in Christ. Second, he establishes in Romans 7:14-25 that there is nothing we can do for GodвЂ"but He intends to do everything through us.

In Romans chapters 6 and 7, Paul addresses two extremes. One extreme argues, �Since we are under grace, then we are free to sin’. The other extreme argues, �To be sure, we are saved by grace, but we are to live under God’s Law if we are going to please Him.’ Paul addresses the first group of extremists in Romans chapter 6 while addressing the second group in chapter 7. Romans chapter 6 addresses how we are to stop doing bad, evil, and wrong; it taints and distorts our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 7 teaches us that our �good works’ will never be good enough. One aspect of the argument addresses a common thought to those who use grace as a license or permit for unrighteousness in contrast to those who use the law as a ground for legalism.

The importance of Romans 6:14

Those who resided in Rome had the same problem in the secular context as the people in Corinth had in the church of Jesus Christ. They both struggled with what many have described as, �antinomianism’. According to Terrie L. Miethe, antinomianism is, �…the belief that being saved by grace rather than works frees Christians from all moral obligations and principles.’ Miethe gives here a very clear and concise definition of antinomianism; but I would liken antinomianism to free action without moral or ethical restraints. Or to put it another way, it is the belief that salvation and true righteousness can be maintained by faith alone without works or without the law. It is important to bring up antinomianism because I am convinced that this is the major problem that Paul addresses in chapter 7 and here is why.

Meithe points out that �…there are two basic forms of antinomianism.’ Meithe affirms that the first form �…holds that the moral law plays no necessary part in bringing a sinner to repentance…while the second form holds that though the moral law can and does lead to repentance, it has no relevance to the life of the repentant believer afterward.’ The second states that the believer can live as he or she chooses because they have been forgiven by God. Paul clearly rejects the first view in Romans 7:7 while rejecting the second view in Romans chapter 6.

In the briefest terms, chapter 6 of Romans instructs us that true righteousness is the requirement for the Christian and confirmation of their salvation. In Romans chapter 7, Paul teaches us that, while the requirement for Christian discipleship is true righteousness, it is nevertheless humanly impossible due to the weakness of our flesh united with the power and preeminence of sin.

I believe that much of the confusion of Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7 is because some have not made the distinction between justification addressed in chapter 6 verses sanctification addressed in chapter 7.

The entire theme of Romans 7:14-25 correlates, in my view, to Romans 6:14 where Paul says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” John R.W. Stott says, вЂ?the antithesis between law and grace indicates that he is referring to the way of justification, which is not by our obedience to the law, but by God’s sheer mercy alone’. In Galatians 5:18 Paul writes, вЂ?if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law’. Stott goes on to say of Galatians 5:18 that вЂ?…between law and Spirit indicates that he is referring to the way of sanctification, which is not by our struggling to keep the law, but by the power of the indwelling Spirit.’ I believe that Paul is clear: for justification we are not under the law but under grace; for sanctification we are not under the law but we are led by the Spirit.

This is clear in his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul the apostle clearly indicates what we have been saved from, in Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedienceвЂ"among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

While Paul clearly reveals in Ephesians 2:1-3 what we have been saved from, he indicates in Ephesians 2:10 what we have been saved for:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, iwhich God prepared beforehand, jthat we should walk in them.

I think that these two scriptures (Ephesians 2:1-3 and Ephesians 2:10) give us a summary of that which Paul addresses in Romans chapter 7, and even in chapter 6.

When God provided salvation through Jesus Christ, He provided us with a salvation that must result in the production of good works, which is the predominant theme of chapters 6 through 8 of Romans. In addressing sanctification in chapter 7, Paul addresses to the Romans that sanctification and holiness are a human impossibility, in and of itself.

Romans 7:1-6

The use of or (Ἢ) links this section with the sixth chapter of Romans. Bob Deffinbaugh notes, �Our death in Christ constituted us as dead to sin, Paul taught in chapter 6 (verses 1-12). Now Paul illustrates how our death in Christ frees us from the Law.’ In these verses, Moo notes that, �…death