More On Grace

More On Grace

So, what role, if any, does The Law have in the life of the Believer? Jesus said that not one iota would pass from The Law until all is accomplished.

Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

If The Law is still in effect for the Believer (not one iota would pass from it) then we must keep EVERY law, no exceptions, in order to attain righteousness. You cannot omit (relax) ANY of them, or teach anyone to omit any of them. The scribes and Pharisees were those considered blameless in The Law. Your righteousness based on keeping The Law would have to exceed theirs, who were blameless.

The sad truth about the scribes and Pharisees is they did “relax” some of The Law, otherwise they would never have been able to keep it.

Jesus is not trying to tell His followers that they must continue to keep The Law. Far from it! Instead He is assuring them that once He has “fulfilled The Law” that our righteousness would be based on something greater than The Law. If we would identify with His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating at the right hand of Father, and receive the gifts that Christ sent us in the Holy Spirit, our righteousness would be based solely on His sacrifice, not our own keeping of The Law.

The only way our righteousness could “exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,” who were blameless, is for us to be judged based on the righteousness of Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV) But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The Law was necessary so Christ could come and fulfill it, allowing us to partake of the salvation provided by His sacrifice through faith. Give Him praise!