Bible Study This thing called Grace

[JohnD]

The longer I live in Christ the more I see what I ( and I think most people) misunderstood about God's grace.

I mean, the typical misunderstandings like God is too busy for us, or we've sinned too badly for God to forgive us, or we need to belong to a particular denomination that claims it is the TRUE way... rookie misunderstandings and all set aside...

...I am trying to get at the heart of what grace actually is.

Take the major biblical covenants for example.

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NASB95)
6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Galatians 3:24-25 (NASB95)
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

The Law of Moses was the preparatory covenant for the Law of Christ.* That first there had to be the grounds for conviction and the utter futility of man's attempt for self righteousness / ability to redeem one's self / pay restitution for sin. Before the grounds for unmerited favor / undeserved forgiveness / redemption paid for by the Daysman's own self sacrifice. Compelling humanity to plea for mercy rather than justice.

* 1 Corinthians 9:19-21 contrasts the two Laws (yes Laws, read carefully) which Galatians 6:2 actually names the latter

But then we go about trying to impose the Law of Moses again on each other and ourselves. The Judaizers have been dead almost 1900 years and we in the 21st Century have taken up their cause trying to force Old Testament Law into New Testament Grace (despite the books of Galatians and James warning us about this).

James 2:10 (NASB95)
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

Galatians 3:1-13 (NASB95)
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”
12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—

I used to beat myself and others over tenets of the Law of Moses which only apply if one is foolishly trying to keep the Law of Moses. One of my callings was the passage where Peter is called to feed the Lord's sheep. This was in contrast to my own interpretation of that calling to beat the sheep. A major no-no in the age of Grace / the era of Sabbath Rest / entering into the Lord's rest. All the more reason to realize our calling to the priesthood rather than the laity since only the priests are blameless for profaning the Sabbath...

Matthew 12:5 (NASB95)
5 “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

This is the sabbath era. Every day is shabbat!

Yet we are to work to get the Gospel out and to train up the next generation to do the same.

Sin yes it still bogs us down and must be dealt with (the repercussions here etc)... but the eternal destiny is no longer an issue with the Christian.

1 John 2:1 (NASB95)
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin

I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin

Get it?

God is not winking the eye at sin.If this seems like a license to sin... perhaps you'd better make sure you are truly saved in the first place... or if you are saved and see it this way be prepared for a very active Heavenly Father in your life who will take you to the woodshed (that means to get a beating / whipping for you younger folks who never had a spanking).

I bear the stripes of this foolish mind set myself and testify to you that God is very concerned about how you act and obey him. He loves you too much not to be.

Proverbs 3:12 (NASB95)
12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

It does hurt and the sin was never worth it. Do not be a hard head like I was.

He is simply providing perpetual forgiveness for the believers in his Son to allow us to set that issue aside to get others saved.

1 John 2:1 (NASB95)
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

1 John 1:9-10 (NASB95)
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

False teachers try to make this out to be the initial dealing with sin and claim this is written to / about unbelievers so that you only have to deal with the confession of sin once... but 1 John 2:1 and 1 John 2:12-14 leaven no room for doubt that this is written to believers.

 

[Kathi]

Amazing Grace One of my all time favorite hymns
Ephesians 2:8 Grace is the only way any of us can enter into a relationship with God.Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving and that would you and me.

 

[JohnD]

But for the Christian, or the Church as a whole to set out to correct or fix the world is a fools venture.

What about the perverse and evil people?

Witness Christ to them!

They need Jesus just as much as you and I did before we were believers and evil and perverse.

Even homosexuals?

Even homosexuals.

But they are gay...

Let God and them sort it out, just like he is sorting out our evil and perversions...

One thing to learn about judging others (we are called to render right judgments, by the way) is that the road of sin and perversion we find others on we are on ourselves just usually less far down the road... but it's the same road!

Give you an example.

Matthew 5:27-30 (NASB95)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Men get beaten up pretty good over this.

1. the address of the passage is New Testament but the setting was actually Old Testament / Old Covenant.
2. the passage was (as were most verses in the Sermon on the Mount) in response to the Sanhedrin's misinterpretation of the Law of Moses.
a. Rabbi Hillel taught among the many infractions that a man could divorce his wife over, going around with an uncovered head or showing men (who are not her husband) her legs (even if accidentally) were divorceable offenses / adultery (based on Leviticus 18:8 and Isaiah 47:1-3)
b. Jesus was answering Hillel. Note Jesus did not refute Hillel. Leviticus 18:8 / Isaiah 47:1-3 lead to Hillel's conclusion. Only... the good Rabbi forgot all about Job 31:1-13! And THAT is what Jesus was saying in his response to Hillel's teaching in Matthew 5:27-30.

Until then, it was one-sided / biased against women. Like today Matthew 5:27-30 being taken out of this context to be one-sided / biased against men...

There is the letter of the Law and the spirit of Grace at work here. BE CAREFUL!! The greatest temptations for men and women involves our sexuality. Flee from it like a scared rabbit if you have to, avoiding it is best... but good luck with that these days... the fashions today demand women wear nearly nothing and men get a terminal case of elevator eyes. BE CAREFUL!!

Well, I could go into this further in another thread. Here I am only pointing out that ultimately, any sexual activity (including exposure or ogling) conducted outside God's design between one man and one woman for one lifetime is a perversion of that design / mandate. And what we sometimes judge as completely alien to our standards are simply people further down the same road named Pervert Blvd. And we should be cautious rather than self righteous.

 

[JohnD]

Homosexuals I am acquainted with (after their initial reaction to my open walk with Christ) see in me a difference in the way I deal with them than most Christians do. And this is the best witness I can give them. I do not affirm their homosexuality anymore than I would affirm adulterers etc. But I treat them with dignity and respect as people as much in need of a Savior as we all are. And this (they have said) is a stronger witness to them than the mistreatment they have gotten at the hands of those who were "out to save their soul."

 

[JohnD]

This world is passing away...

1 John 2:15-17 (NASB95)
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.