The Law or Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE LAW OR GRACE

Rom 4:13-17

13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

NIV

What strikes us first is that it is impossible to legislate a promise. In other words, we either live under legislation or a promise. The law can never bring us righteousness, but it does reveal our need for the promise. It is interesting that if there was no law at all, there would be no transgression. When we consider this Greek word translated as transgression, it has a direct meaning of going over, which implies going over to sin, because we know the law reveals sin as no one is able to perfectly follow the law. They will always fall short and if we attempt to live under any portion of the law, we will be judged by the law, and that means being subject by the wrath of God. Trying to live by any portion of the law means that we have no value in the promise and consider the promise worthless. How can we ever hope for eternal life without putting all our value on the promise and rendering the law as only serving to prove we need the promise. What we do not understand is why so many believers want to refer to the law as a means to find a way to live in pleasing God. Even the Ten Commandments which were first written on stone by the finger of God, are the basis for all the law that was given to Moses, are the law that reveals our need for the promise. Those commandments do not bring us righteousness and so we wonder why we want to include them in our faith. Did not Jesus fulfill all the laws, or did he only fulfill the law given to Moses? Yet, Abraham lived before the law, however, the greatest testimony about him is that he believed God. Because Paul makes it clear that Abraham is the father of many nations, we are one of those nations, and because we believe God, as Abraham did, we are his offspring through our faith in the promise. We are children of the promise, and so we should live with that being our focus rather than attempting to abide by the law, or in our modern times, the rules and regulations that some would want to impose on us. What we think is that if we live by faith in the promise, we show God that we love him with all our being, our mind, spirit, soul, and body, and we love each other as he loved us. Jesus said that all the law and all the words of all the prophets are wrapped up in that simple truth. If we love God and others, we would never do anyone any harm in any way whatsoever, because we are in Christ who fulfilled all the law. Therefore, let us shed off the yoke of bondage the law imposes on us and live according to the promise, the grace of God, for it is by grace we are saved, and it is by grace we have been transposed from dead to life. The law brings death, and the grace of God brings life. we chose grace over law, we choose truth over tradition.