Under Law vs. Under Grace

We are told in the Bible that all people are under law, every man, woman, and child. Yet we are also
told that we are not under law but under grace? Is this a contradiction? Both statements are made by the apostle Paul and even in the same book. Was Paul confused?

Are we under law or are we under grace?

Today we’re going to take a look at what it means to be “under law” versus being “under grace.”

 

1. God’s Law is Spiritual

 

First of all, let’s notice that God’s Law is spiritual.

 

Rom 7:14 KJV  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

 

Paul tells directly that God’s Law is spiritual in nature and at the same time infers that it has to do with sin.

 

2. God’s Law is Universal

 

Rom 7:1 KJV  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

 

The Law has dominion, it rules over a man as long as he lives. Every man. If the law rules over him then he is “under law.” All men are judged by law.

God’s Law applies to everybody. Everybody everywhere is subject to God’s Law whether they know it or not. Whether they believe in God or not they are under God’s Law.

Man is under God’s Law as long as he lives.

3. God’s Law Deals with Sin

 

As God’s Law deals with our actions, our thoughts, and motivations, why we do things, it has to do with the heart. Are our thoughts pure or are they sinful?

What does it mean to be under God’s Law?

Rom 3:19-20 KJV

(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.

(20)  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

 

Every. All. No flesh.

God’s Law governs, or rules over what is sin. It is by God’s Law that we know what sin is. Sin is the transgression of the Law. (1John 3:4) And God judges even the heart according to his Law. (Pro 16:1-3; Jer 17:9-10)

The Law exposes our sin and guilt before God the Father.

The Whole World is Under Law

 

All are guilty. The whole world comes “under law.”

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Rom 3:23) 

There is none righteous, no, not one: (Rom 3:10)

God’s Law applies to everyone. God made man and as such He has the right, the authority to rule over every man, to judge every man as to whether he does right or wrong. God alone determines what is right and what is wrong.

All have transgressed the Law. All have sinned. All are under the penalty of the Law. The Law of sin and death.

But Paul also says this –

Rom 6:12-14 KJV

(12)  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

(13)  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

(14)  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

So, which is it? Are we under law or under grace?

 

The whole world is under Law –

But We Are Under Grace

 

How can it be that all are under law but we are under grace?

 

Rom 6:15-16 KJV

(15)  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. [Certainly not!]

(16)  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

 

There you have it!

It doesn’t mean we can now go about sinning. It doesn’t mean that we don’t sin either. It means that we no longer practice sin. We don’t serve sin. We don’t make a practice of it. It implies the question –

 

Whom do we serve? Servants are subject to their masters. Are we subjects of the Ruler of Darkness or the King of Kings?

 

Are we servants to sin or servants to Christ? Do we obey the law of sin and death or the law of God?

To whom do we give our allegiance? Are we making it a point to live unto God? If not, we are serving Satan by default.

 

Before we were called out of darkness, we were servants of sin and dead to rights therein. We were under the spiritual law of sin and death and bore the fruits of the same.

 

Rom 6:17-23 KJV

(17)  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

(18)  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. [the NKJV says, “slaves of righteousness”, even stronger]

(19)  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; [transgression after transgression] even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

(20)  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

(21)  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

 

We were free from righteousness when we once served sin but are now free from sin to serve righteousness. We were once slaves to sin but are now slaves to righteousness.

 

(22)  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, [NKJV says “slaves] ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. [fruits of the Spirit]

(23)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

We no longer yield the fruits of unrighteousness serving the lust of the flesh but the fruits of the Spirit, servants to God, bearing fruits unto holiness. The wages of sin is still death but God has given us the most precious gift of eternal life through Christ.

Rom 6:1-14 KJV

(1)  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

(2)  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

 

We still sin. But we don’t practice sin. We don’t make a habit of it. Being under grace does not mean out from under obligation to obey God’s Law. Being under grace means out from  under the penalty of the Law for breaking it, in a state of repentance and forgiveness to walk in newness of life.

 

(3)  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

(4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

(5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

(6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

 

The old man is dead to sin through Christ. That person we once were is dead and buried! 

We are no longer slaves to sin. We no longer serve sin.

 

(7)  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

(8)  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

(9)  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

(10)  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

(11)  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

We are alive unto God through Jesus Christ! We live unto God!

 

Therefore, we can say –

(14)  For sin shall not have dominion over [us]: for [we] are not under the law, but under grace.

 

We were held captive, dead in our tracks, by the law of sin and death! Sin no longer has us enslaved. We have escaped its power and its penalty of death. We have been delivered from the law to now serve a new Master in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Rom 7:6)

 

Rom 8:1-5 KJV

(1)  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

(2)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

(3)  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

 

Through God’s grace, Jesus Christ came to earth and took the death penalty on Himself that we so justly deserved and freed us from sin.

 

(4)  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

(5)  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

 

 

We too have died symbolically, in the watery grave of baptism and were “resurrected” to walk in newness of life, in the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus free from the law of sin and death. We have died to that in which we were held captive to our sins, under law, under judgment.  

 

We no longer walk after the spirit of death but after the Spirit of life!

 

 

Gal 5:16-18 KJV

(16)  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

(17)  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

(18)  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

 

Those who have God’s Holy Spirit are not “under law” but “under grace.”

 

Conclusion – to sum it up

 

God only has two categories –

1.     For His people who have God’s Holy Spirit – under grace

2.    For everybody else – under Law

If you are not called, chosen, and faithful, then by default, you are in the second category, “under law.”

We who have God’s Holy Spirit are no longer “under law” but “under grace.” Forgiven of our sins by the sacrifice of Christ.

God’s Spirit is not in every man and woman today as many of the world’s religions teach. That is a doctrine of the coming one-world religion.

No one comes to the Father unless He draws them. (John 6:44)

No one comes to the Father but by Christ. (John 14:6)

Many are called but few are chosen. (Matt 20:16)

God may call them, but if they don’t repent, get baptized, and have hands laid on them to receive the Holy Spirit, they are none of His.

If they do not have God’s Holy Spirit, they are still “under law” and subject to His wrath.

 

 

Rom 8:9 KJV

(9)  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Rom 8:14 KJV

(14)  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 

We who have God’s Holy Spirit are no longer under law but under grace; this amazing grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

How special and precious is that gift from our loving Creator!

 

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