Grace, not Law

Not under Law?

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6.14

In what sense are we under grace and not under Law?

We are not under law in the sense that the Law’s power to condemn the sin it exposes (Rom. 7.7) is nullified by the death of Jesus. As Paul says in Colossians 2, Jesus has cancelled the writ of judgment against us by nailing it to the cross in His own body. Thus we are not under the Law as to judgment and, correspondingly, we are not under it for achieving newness of life.

The Law is established for us, and we will learn, delight in, and keep it as the Spirit teaches us and renews us in His mind and the mind of Christ (Rom. 3.31; 8.5-9). Sin thus has no dominion over us for in Jesus we have died to sin. Now we are under grace. God looks upon us favorably, as His own dear children. He communicates that love to us continuously by His Word, in Jesus, and through created things. And by His grace He empowers us to heed His Word and walk in His Law, not for judgment but for life and love.

We are under grace, that is, under the Lordship of Jesus, and we obey His Law, by the working of His grace in and through us, that we might demonstrate our love for Him and be agents of His love to others.

In the newness of life we enjoy in Jesus, we live in an economy of grace, and grace has dominion over us, according to God’s gracious Law, for our blessing, the blessing of the world, the coming of Christ’s Kingdom, and the glory of God.

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