Ephesians 2.8, 9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, sot that no one may boats.

Many contemporary Christians apparently cannot think about the Law of God as anything other than a false means of salvation. It almost never fails: Whenever I have preached anywhere on the Law of God, someone will always confront me at the door, wagging his finger and insisting that we are not saved by the Law. I always agree and explain that I did not in any way suggest that we are. Nevertheless, this is what people hear.

We know that we are saved by grace, that’s true. None of our own doing is involved, except to receive what God, by His Spirit, has awakened us to receive – the knowledge of God and His Kingdom. We are saved by the Law only in the fact that Jesus’ righteousness and suffering fulfilled all that the Law requires for wretched sinners to enjoy the favor and presence of God. But we have nothing to contribute to that.

So it is an unlawful use of the Law to insist, in any way, that our keeping the Law of God contributes to our being saved. We are not saved by obeying the Law of God. And we are not saved by believing in Jesus and keeping the Law of God.

We are saved by grace through faith. The Law of God, of course, comes into our salvation, but never in any ways as a means, only as a fruit. But, more on that later.

For an introduction to the Law of God and its proper uses, download the free PDF, “A Kingdom Catechism.”