Please see this as a journey of discovery into who and what a spiritual path is for you. Please take some time and think about the questions in BOLD CAPS take out some paper and write your answers out to these 6 questions before we dive into scripture.
1) WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW?
2) HOW IS THE LAW FULFILLED?
3) WHO IS NOT UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE LAW?
4) WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “UNDER GRACE”?
5) WHAT RESPONSIBILITIES DO WE HAVE “UNDER GRACE”?
6) WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE LAW?
Thank you, now let’s look at those same questions plus one more.
Please answer the questions once more based on the scriptures below and take a moment to write your answer on a piece of paper. Take your time and really examine these questions based on the idea that, God Radically Loves you Exactly as you are!
LAW AND GRACE
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW?
Romans 3:19,20- “… that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 4:15- “….the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
Romans 5:13,20- “….until, the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. …And the law came in that transgression might increase…”
Romans 7:5,7-9,13- “….sinful passions were aroused by the law,…. I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” …apart from the law sin is dead… when the commandment came, sin became alive, …that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
1 Corinthians 15:56- “…the power of sin is the law”
Galatians 3: 19,24- “Why the law then? It was added [to cause]* transgressions,…Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”
Hebrews 10:1,3- “For the law… only a shadow of the good things to come…in those sacrifices [of the law] there is a reminder of sins.”
1 John 3:4- “…sin is lawlessness.”
- Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, Danker- page 877A
HOW IS THE LAW FULFILLED?
Matthew 7:12- “…whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them, for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:40- “On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.”
Luke 10:25-37- The story of the Good Samaritan.
Romans 8:3,4- ” For what the law could not do….God did: sending His own Son…in order that the law might be fulfilled.”
Romans 13: 8-10- “…he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this [list of commandments] is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ …love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.”
Galatians 5:14- “For the whole law is summed up in one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 6:2- “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”
James 2:8- “If you are fulfilling the royal law, according to scriptures, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 5:17- “I did not come to abolish [the law of the prophets], but to fulfill.”
WHO IS NOT UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE LAW?
Romans 6:14- “…you are not under law, but under grace.”
Romans 7: 4,6- “…you also were made to die to the law…we have been released from the law…so that we serve in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
Romans 10:4- “For Christ is the end of the law.”
Galatians 2:19- “For through the law I died to the law, that I might live to God.”
Galatians 3:13- “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.”
Galatians 3:25- “…now that faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor [the law].”
Galatians 5:18- “… if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Ephesians 2:14-15- “For He Himself [Christ]…broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing the enmity, which is the law.”
Hebrews 7:18-19- “….there is a setting aside of a former commandment…there is a bringing of a better hope.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “UNDER GRACE”?
Romans 7:6- “…we serve in newness of the Spirit”
Romans 14:14- “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.”
Romans 14:2,22- “One man has faith that he may eat all things,…Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”
1 Corinthians 6:12- “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.”
1 Corinthians 10:13- “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”
Galatians 5:1, 13- “It was for freedom that Christ set us free…For you were called to freedom.”
Hebrews 8:12, 13- “…And I will remember their sins no more. When He said, A new commandment, “He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”
Hebrews 10:1,2,9,14,17- “The sacrifice of Christ makes perfect those who draw near, the perpetual sacrifices are ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, no longer have a consciousness of sins (1).”….He takes away the first [Law] in order to establish the second [Grace]. …For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified… “And their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
1 John 3:6,9- “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who has seen Him or knows Him….No one who is born of God [does] sins, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
1 John 3:19-21,24- “We shall know by this that we are of the truth and shall [persuade] our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if your heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him,…And we know by this that He abides in us, by the spirit which He has given us.”
1 John 5:18- “We know that no one who is born of God sins.”
WHAT RESPONSIBILITIES DO WE HAVE “UNDER GRACE”?
Matthew 22:37, 39- “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (2)
Romans 14:19, 22- let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another…The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.”
Romans 15:2- “Let each of us please his neighbor for his [neighbors] good, to his [neighbors] edification.”
1 Corinthians 8:9- “…take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”
1 Corinthians 9:19, 22- “For though I am free from all [(3)], I have made myself a slave to all that I might win the more….I have become all things to all men , that I may by all means save some.”
1 Corinthians 10:24,31- “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Galatians 5:13,16- “…do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. …walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Hebrews 10:24,25- “…let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together,…encouraging one another.”
1 John 3:22,23- “…keep His commandments and do the things pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE LAW?
Galatians 2:16,21- “…man is not justified by the works of the law…by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. …if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Galatians 3:11,12,21- “…no one is justified by the law before God…the law is not faith,…if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.”
Hebrews 7:19- “…(for the law made nothing perfect)”
Hebrews 10:1- “For the law, …can never…make perfect those who draw near.”
1 Corinthians 15:56- “…the power of sin is the law.”
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUESNCES AND WARNINGS OF GOING BACK UNDER THE LAW?
Galatians 3:2,3,10- “…did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by having faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?…For as many as are under the works of the law are under a curse.”
Galatians 5:1-4- “… keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery…if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you….every man who receives circumcision,… is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Philippians 3:8,9- “… I count all things to be loss…in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.”
Colossians 2:16-18,20-23- “let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to …a Sabbath day- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ…why act as if you were living in the world, do not submit yourself to decrees, such as , “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using) – in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
OTHER SUGGESTED SCRIPTURES
Romans 3:31; 7:1-4; Colossians 3:14; 1 Timothy 1:8-9; James 2:9-11
Original compilation and questions created by:
Joe Quillin
(1) This is a statement of the clear and definite inference in verses one and two.
(2) Refer to HOW IS THE LAW FULFILLED? references.
(3) The word “men” is placed here in the NASV but, at best, is only implied in the Greek.
