The Question of - Law and Grace
Here again this topic can only be presented here as an overview.
The general convention of the period of The Law is from Moses to Jesus and the period of Grace is from the Jesus’ Resurrection till now, is a simple way of describing the times is valid enough.
The reality is that Grace has always been active throughout all of history, just as laws or rules have also been part of men’s lives. It is just that these have played different roles and have been operated at different levels throughout the ages.
So, what was it about the formalising of the Law under Moses and how do we apply the teaching that results from studying about it?
As noted earlier one can study passages before Moses that relates to ‘commands’, ‘instructions’, and ordinances that God expects man to follow even though they are not formally written down. There must be a reason for the setting out of very specific action and behaviour that Moses gives to the People of Israel.
The Children of Israel being specially picked out were given a wonderful task of bringing about the entrance of the Messiah. The trouble was that to carry out this formalised living pattern it was necessary to be constrained in a way that would ensure the Legal Platform was created that God had the Authority to intervene into Man’s History.
The effect of The Ten Commandments was show that there was no way that they could obey these Commandments and so they needed to perform the rites and ordinances set out in the Books of Moses. The salvation that “The Law” provided was in their following these instructions to the best of their ability and when they failed there was an atonement sacrifice to rectify their actions.
Paul the Apostle clearly points out that the action of keeping the Law does not remove Sin but in the act of performing the prescribed ordinances God is able to deem them righteous. So, it is their attempt to conform to God’s Word that “redeemed” them, that is their willingness to confirm God’s Will that declared them to be Righteous. This where the Pharisees got themselves into tangle because they were so convinced that the action of their performing the ordinances made them Righteous that they focused their ability to carry out the ceremony.
You see we have come back to the Will of Man. When we use our will to try to please God it becomes a ‘work’ and stops God from acting towards with Grace. Our actions to please declares that I can do it rather than saying even to be obedient I need your help.
Let’s move on to study the Work of Jesus.
PaulT.