Law or Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

LAW OR GRACE

Rom 6:5-14

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

NIV

There it is, plain and simple, we are not under the law, but under grace. At the time, we know the law is good, for it serves to show us our transgresses or makes us conscience of our transgresses and therefore our need for Jesus. But we died, at least our old self died and we were born again, just as Jesus told Nicodemus what must happen in order to see the kingdom of God. The old self, the one who was indeed a slave to sin, was a dead man walking and as one who fulfilled the flesh, we could not see the kingdom of God for we were blind, because we were living in the darkness. However, this new life has freed us from the grip of sin, although that does not mean we have attained perfection, or sinlessness, for if we could do that in the earthy body, then there would be no need for Jesus to suffer that cross or the grave. Nevertheless, we are freed from slavery to the master of sin, the devil. So, we count ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ. We have to come to the conclusion that sin no longer reigns supreme in our lives, for we have set our path on the way of God. Do we do it perfectly? Unfortunately, we do not live perfect lives, yet because we believe God, we have been rendered as innocent. It is interesting that if we are not under the law, but under grace, then if we are no longer under the law, we have no sin, for it is the law that defines what sin is and shows us and makes us aware of what sin is. Certainly, the law still exists, for Jesus did not cancel the law, but simply fulfilled the law, living a perfect life. Of course, Jesus is God incarnate, and we would expect God to be perfect in every aspect, in all three of his persons, the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is why Jesus is the only perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world, for our sins. He took us from under the condemnation of the law, and put us under his divine grace, for Jesus has set us free, and we are free indeed. Still, that is the requirement that we offer ourselves to God, and not to evil. It is also interesting that it has nothing to do with good deeds or the number of works we do, but it is about grace, and so once again we must always be aware that we should not continue to live for sin, so that God’s grace would increase, but that we are to make every effort to keep ourselves focused on Christ, our hearts and minds ever aimed at Jesus. Of course, we are never going to be perfect, yet we should try to attain it. However, we still come back to this point that the reason sin does not reign within us is that we are not under the law. That would conclude that living under the law causes sin to reign within us. Therefore, in the simplest of terms, because we are under grace, sin is not counted against us for being in Christ, we have fulfilled all the laws, and are under grace instead. Who would want law, when we can have grace?