Not under law, but under grace What Does it Really

Mean?

Picture this scenario. You discover that a brother in church has been
living a double (or in other words, wordly) life. Too many rumours
have surfaced about him living in gross sin for you to dismiss them all.

Moved by concern and holy love, you privately confront that brother
about the rumours and about what you have observed with your own
eyes.

The brother does not confirm nor deny the accusations. Instead, he
brushes off your concern with a single statement: I am not under
law, but under grace.

His nonchalance disturbs you. Nonetheless, you wonder to yourself
that perhaps he may be right. Maybe, I am too self-righteous and
legalistic, you think to yourself.

After all, when the brother said I am not under law, but under grace,
isnt that a direct quote from the bible? If so, does being a Christian
mean that it is ok for us all to live in sin and yet feel no
condemnation at all about this? After all, God understands our
weaknesses, right?

To address this question, we first need to re-visit the passages of
scripture where the phase not under law, but under grace is found:

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
any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an
instrument of righteousness.
14
For sin shall no longer be your
master, because you are not under the law, but under
grace.

15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace? By no means!
16
Dont you know that when
you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are
slaves of the one you obeywhether you are slaves to sin,
which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to
righteousness?
17
But thanks be to God that, though you used
to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the
pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
18
You
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.

19
I am using an example from everyday life because of your
human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as
slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now
offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
20
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control
of righteousness.
21
What benefit did you reap at that time from
the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in
death!
22
But now that you have been set free from sin and
have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to
holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23
For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:11-23; NIV; emphasis mine)

Many people quote the phrase not under the law, but under grace
out of context. For in Roman 6:14 (For sin shall no longer be
your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace
[emphasis mine]), it is NOT the law or grace that is the main
subject of the sentence.

Instead, the main subject of the sentence is sin. (We also infer this
from the entire paragraph)

What this verse is really trying to communicate to us is that as a
consequence of being under grace, we must no longer allow
ourselves to live under sins control.

Consistent with what Paul says about no longer allowing ourselves to
live under sins control, earlier in the paragraph (in verse 13), he
commands us not to offer any part of yourself to sin (NIV;
emphasis mine).

Now, every human being is born with a sinful nature, and that sinful
nature stirs up all kinds of sins within the individual.

If everyone is born with a sinful nature, how can it be possible for
anyone not to live under sins control?

Ah, beloved it is only possible because of grace
i
!

Specifically, Gods grace opens up the possibility for us all to live by
the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; NIV)

Indeed, when we willfully chose to live by the Spirit, we will not
gratify the desires of the sinful nature! (Galatians 5:16; NIV;
emphasis mine)

And when we are led by the Spirit this way, we are not under law
(Galatians 5:18; NIV; emphasis mine)

Now, please read the following passage from Galatians, and all this
will start to make more sense to you:

13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your
freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another
in love.
14
The entire law is summed up in a single command:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
15
If you keep on biting and
devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by
each other.

16
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature.
17
For the sinful nature desires what
is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the
sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you
do not do what you want.
18
But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under law.


19
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery;
20
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions
21
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn
you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit
the kingdom of God.


22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23
gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
24
Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions
and desires.
25
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step
with the Spirit.
26
Let us not become conceited, provoking and
envying each other. (Galatians 5:13-26; NIV; emphasis mine)

Lets us come back to the brother that we discussed at the beginning.

In the epistle to the Galatians, we find a list of the acts of the sinful
nature sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like
(Galatians 5:19-20; NIV).

The brother becomes guilty of gratifying the desires of the sinful
nature (Galatians 5:16; NIV) whenever he engages in one or more
of the above acts. At the same time, whenever he engages in one or
more of the above acts, he resists the influence or leading of the Holy
Spirit, for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature
(Galatians 5:17; NIV; emphasis mine)

So, even though he claims to be not under law, his habitual
ii

gratification of the desires of the sinful nature suggests that he is not
led by the Spirit and therefore in direct contrast to what he claims
he is in fact actually still under law (see Galatians 5:18; NIV)
iii
.

Now, supposing this brother repents and yields to the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, he experiences victory over sin (through the grace of
God) as he allows the Holy Spirit to lead him.

Since sin no longer controls him, he can now then testify and rejoice
over being not under law, but under grace, as his life has become
the personification of the bible verse that says: For sin shall no
longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but
under grace. (Romans 6:14; NIV; emphasis mine)

This is not the end of the story, however, for the brother needs to
maintain allowing the Holy Spirit to lead him. Indeed, it would be
perilous if the brother (who has so far been under grace) suddenly
backslides and allows himself to be re-controlled by the sinful nature,
for he risks re-becoming a slave to sin, which would ultimately lead to
punishment in hell, as the passage of scripture below alludes to:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace? By no means! Dont you know that
when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient
slaves, you are slaves of the one you obeywhether you
are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience,
which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that,
though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey
from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed
your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have
become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:15-18; NIV;
emphasis mine)

This begs the question of how can a believer keep himself/herself
from backsliding and from re-becoming a slave to sin? The answer is
in verses 17 and 18 cited above.

Specifically, verse 17 reveals that there were those under Pauls
leadership who used to be slaves to sin (note the past tense). Also,
this same verse alludes to the fact that these believers were kept
from re-becoming a slave to sin by their heartfelt obedience to the
pattern of teaching that had claimed their allegiance (emphasis
mine).

In other words, as long as their allegiance to that pattern of teaching
remained strong, these believers were kept from re-becoming a slave
to sin.

Indeed, Paul wrote that these individuals had not only ceased from
being a slave to sin, but had graduated to become slaves of God.
This spiritual graduation was evident by the increasing holiness in
their lives, and Paul must have been pleased to assure them of the
eternal life that awaited them (which was a result [see verse 22
below] of their holiness)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the
result is eternal life (Romans 6:22; NIV; emphasis mine)

We again return to the hypothetical scenario that we discussed at the
beginning.

Supposing it comes to your attention that a brother or sister is living
in sin, it is then your duty to confront him/her:

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault,
just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have
won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two
others along, so that every matter may be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen,
tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the
church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
(Matthew 18:15-17; NIV [2011 version]; emphasis mine)

Indeed, the consequence of that individual continuing to live in sin
would be tragic for him/her:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn
you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21; NIV;
emphasis mine)

This is why confronting a brother or sister living in sin, is so very,
very important. It could make a difference between eternal life or hell
for him/her, for it says in scripture:

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire
and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear
hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude
1:22-24; NIV; emphasis mine)





All scripture is cited from the 1984 edition of the New International Version
(NIV), unless otherwise stated.
Written by: Roy Chan Yeow Chuan
Version dated: 16 October 2014
FREE for circulation and distribution; this essay was written as a public
service.
For enquiries, write to: yeowchuanchan@gmail.com





i
It is only possible because of grace, which God provides abundantly to those who
are willing to receive, for Romans 5:17 (NIV) says: how much more will those
who receive Gods abundant provision of grace Paul also cited Jesus in telling him
(Paul) that: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9; NIV; emphasis mine)
ii
I use the word habitual here because I think it is important to make a distinction
between the believer who is living in sin from the unwitting believer who sins
occasionally. The believer who sins habitually is at risk of remaining as or re-
becoming a slave of sin. It is a very dire thing to become (or to remain) as a slave
of sin, for we read in the epistle to the Romans: Just as you used to offer the
parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now
offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to
sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at
that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
(Romans 6:19b-21; NIV)
iii
Or to put it in another way: the brother still needs the law. To understand why we
say that the brother still needs the law, you have to understand why the law was
given in the first place. Galatians 3:19 (NLT) says: Why, then, was the law given?
It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. Similarly, according
to Romans 5:20 (NLT), God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful
they were. That said, the brother who still persists in sin needs the law to show
him how sinful he is, and how he has yet to live by the Spirit, so as to avoid
gratifying the desires of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16; NIV).