Is Christianity Law Or Grace?

To the minds of many, Christians are miserable people living within the prison of rules and regulations. Furthermore, they see Christians as only pretending to obey the rules they profess. The sex scandal within the Roman Catholic clergy is symptomatic of a general hypocrisy belonging to all Christians, as many see it. Christians, they suppose, use rules to pretend to be superior to others and as a pretext for judging others. It saddens me that more than a few of you reading this article have that view, but I cannot ignore that you do. Neither dare I simply dismiss your judgments without taking a hard look at modern Christianity.

First, I must establish the crucial point that genuine Christians are no different than anyone else by nature. The propensities to lawless behavior belong to all humans by nature. Those who are Christians are not in any sense exceptions to that fact. Actually, Christians are often weaker and more inclined to sin by nature than others. The factor that distinguishes Christians is their attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ. God out of His free grace sent Christ to take the place of sinners under His holy law. Christ did obey every command of God perfectly, thereby earning the right not to die. But He did die. He voluntarily gave His life up to the punishment of the Divine Justice in the place of ungodly law-breakers in order to save them the devastation of God's wrath. All legitimate Christians know very well that they have no hope with God in terms of keeping commandments. Rather, the commandments of God condemn them. Their only confidence with God is Christ.

Next, with regard to law-keeping, Christians do not regard the law as a means for gaining anything from God. However, they do understand that the One true God is holy and that He has expressed a portion of His holiness in the establishment of righteous commands to govern man's life before Him. Thus out of love for God they endeavor to obey God's rules. They realize that their very best efforts at obedience are terribly flawed in God's sight. Only the mediation of Christ can make their sin stained obedience acceptable in any sense before God. Furthermore, they know that their obedience to commands does nothing to improve their standing with God. Their standing is entirely in Christ. They also live in the conviction that their many sins in failing to obey God as they wish does nothing to diminish their standing with God. Their standing is entirely in Christ Whose obedience was perfect and Whose death wiped away all their guilt. Yet, they do try to obey God because they love Him. Also, they see God's law as what is best for them in this world. The law of God protects from many exceedingly dangerous sins, which would inflict much pain in their earthly lives.

Love for God and love for man also motivates Christians to hold up God's law before their non-believing friends and neighbors. God's law is inflexible in terms of its insistence upon right behavior. The fact that people do not see God as real or His law as binding changes nothing with regard to the binding nature of that law. The law condemns them. Apart from Christ, every person's relationship with God depends upon their keeping His commandments; but this is impossible. By holding God's law before people, Christians hope to persuade them of their danger and to convince them through God's grace to call upon Christ to be their righteousness and shelter from the wrath they have earned. In no sense do right-thinking Christians see themselves as morally superior to unbelievers. But, they know that they are safe before God in Christ and others are not; thus, they urge people to flee to Christ by faith.

The message of Christianity is not "keep the commandments so that God may accept you." Anyone who conveys that idea is not conveying the truth. The message is: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may be saved from your sins. That is, saved from your violations of God's law.