The Phaneroo Devotion: Grace And Law: An Imperfect Balance
Apostle Grace Lubega
Romans 10:4 (KJV): “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”
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One of the great divisions in the Church of Christ, both throughout history and even in our day, has arisen from differing understandings of the doctrines of law and grace.
There are those who regard preachers of grace as extreme, and who fear that the message of grace gives men a license to sin. Because of this, they advocate for a balance between law and grace, assuming that the two can coexist on equal terms.
But the truth is that grace can never be balanced with the law because grace begins where the law ends. Grace can only be balanced with faith.
As our theme Scripture declares, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. In Him, the law reached its conclusion, and grace began its glorious work.
This is why the Scriptures also say in Galatians 3:24–25 (NKJV): “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
In the same spirit, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
What a weighty contrast this is. You cannot place on the same scale that which gives life and that which kills. You cannot attempt to merge that which has ended with that which has now come in glory. They are not equal, and they do not stand side by side as though each holds the same place in the believer’s life. One must give way to the other.
This is the force of the instruction in Galatians 4:30: “Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” The old order cannot inherit alongside the new. Hallelujah!
FURTHER STUDY: Romans 8:3-4; John 1:17
GOLDEN NUGGET: Grace can never be balanced with the law because grace begins where the law ends. Grace can only be balanced with faith.
PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank You for this truth. Thank You for the precious and undeniable gift of Your grace. I receive it wholeheartedly and embrace it as the power by which I live each day. I am secure in the knowledge that You are at work in me, both to will and to do of Your good pleasure. I began by grace, I am being sustained by grace, and I will finish by grace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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