Destined To Reign – Part 14 – The Problem With Mixing Law and Grace

Dear friends,


Do you know how many believers today have a confused perspective of God? What would cause believers to think that God is sometimes angry with them, but at other times pleased with them? Why would some believers think that their heavenly Father would actually punish them with sicknesses and diseases when it would be unthinkable for them to inflict such draconian measures on their own children? What causes such confusion in the body of Christ today? This confusion stems from what is called “Galatianism.”



Galatianism is essentially a mixture of covenants. It is the intermingling of teaching about God which contains a little bit of the law and a little bit of grace. The church in Galatia was struggling with this, and from the severity of Apostle Paul’s tone to the Galatians, it is obvious that he regarded this issue very serious. You will never find Paul saying to the believers in the church of Corinth, “O foolish Corinthians!” Yet, we know that the church in Corinth was in a mess. The people there were involved in all kinds of outward sins. They were in strife, envy, and jealousy, and some of them were even going to temple prostitutes. They were believers suing one another in court. The people were also misusing the gifts of the Spirit. All in all, there were all kinds of immoral activities going on in the church of Corinth. Yet, not once did Paul call them “foolish Corinthians”, or in our modern term, “STUPID Corinthians!” Search your Bible. You won’t find even one instance. On the contrary, Paul affirmed the Corinthians and told them, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1: 9)” He spoke positively to them, assuring them that they “come short in no gift (1 Corinthians 1: 7-8)” and that they would be confirmed to the end, and “be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1: 7-8)”. Isn’t that amazing?



Wrong Doctrine Is Worse Than Wrong Behaviour



Now, notice the stark contrast between Paul’s treatment of the Corinthians church and the Galatian church. To the church in Galatia, he said, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you …? (Galatians 3: 1)” Further on, he says again, “Are you so foolish? .. (Galatians 3: 3)” Paul was angry! He was upset with what was happening in Galatia and he made it clear that he was not happy at all with the Galatians. Most people would expect Paul to be more upset with the believers in Corinth, but he was not. His intense reaction towards the church in Galatia reveals what is of priority to God. It is clear that in God’s eyes, believing the wrong doctrine is worse than exhibiting wrong behavior!



In case you did not get it the first time, let me say it again: To God, wrong doctrine is far worse than wrong behavior. When it came to wrong behavior in Corinth, Paul was cool and collected towards the believers. He was able to handle their wrong behavior because he knew that the grace of God was able to their spree of wrong behavior. That’s why he was able to speak positively to them, even telling them, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Jesus Christ… (1 Corinthians 1: 4).” But when it came to the wrong doctrine in Galatia, he rebuked the believers there because they nullified God’s grace by mixing it with the law. In the very first chapter of the book of Galatians, Paul says, “I marvel… (Galatians 1: 6)” or as you and I would say today, “I am appalled …” What appalled him? Paul continues: “I marveled that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1: 6-7)”



Paul was angry because the Galatians were turning away from the “grace of Christ” to a “different gospel”, and because there were some people who wanted to “pervert the gospel of Christ.” Paul had preached the gospel of grace to the Galatians, but there were Judaizers who introduced elements of the law to them, mixing God’s grace with the law. Do not belittle this problem. It was a serious problem and it made Paul very angry. Since Paul was full of the Holy Spirit and his anger was Spirit-inspired, it would benefit us to really understand why the mixture of law and grace angered him.



Allowing Mixture Perverts The Gospel Of Christ



Paul was very firm with the Galatians. By allowing the grace to be mixed with the law, the Galatians had perverted the gospel of Christ. Paul had preached the gospel of grace to them, but after he left, some Judaizers came and told them lies like, “Yes, it is good that you are saved by grace, but it is not enough for you to just have Jesus. You must also know and abide by the law of Moses to be pleasing to God.” In essence, they were saying, “Grace is good, but grace must be balanced with the law.” So they taught the Galatians things like the Ten Commandments and told them that they had to be circumcised. Paul’s response was to pronounce a “double curse” (Galatians 1: 8-9) on those who preached the false gospel to the Galatians! His tough stance towards those who preached “mixture” represents the heart of God today.



You Cannot Balance Grace With Law



I believe in grace while some of you may believe that you must also keep the law to be justified. Does it really matter? Well, it mattered enough to Paul for him to pronounce the double curse. Many believers do not think that it is not a serious matter to have mixture. But our response to the mixture of law and grace should be in alignment with Paul’s – he was appalled that the Galatians were mixing law and grace.



In most places today, the problem is not “pure law”. You will not find pure law in Christian churches. What you will find in many places today is a mixture od law and grace. You will hear teachings that combined the old and new covenants. You will hear things like, “Yes, you are saved by grace, but now that you are saved, you had better not take it for granted. You have to start living a holy life by keeping the Ten Commandments.” You may also hear thing like, “Law and grace must be balanced. They are like the guard rails on each side of the highway that will keep cars from going to the ditches. After you are saved by grace, you need the law to keep you from lawlessness.” This is called mixture – you have a little bit of grace and a little bit of law. Many believers think that this – balancing the law and grace – is all right. However, what man calls balance, God calls mixture.



You cannot balance law and grace. Your justification is either entirely a work of His grace or it is by your own work. His grace will be nullified when you add even a little mixture of man’s own effort to be justified. This is mixture, and God hates mixture.

While most people have no problem with agreeing that they have been saved by grace, they are nevertheless still subjecting themselves to the law. They are depending on the “work of the law” or their obedience to the law to earn, merit, and deserve God’s blessings. When they do well in their own estimation, they expect to be blessed. But when they fall short and fail, they heap on themselves guilt and condemnation and expect to be punished.



In the new covenant, God does not want us to be blessed when we obey the law and cursed when we fail. Doesn’t such a system sound awfully similar to the old covenant (Deuteronomy 28)? Grace is the undeserved, unmerited and unearned favour of God – the moment you try to merit the free favours of God, His grace is nullified. In the new covenant, God wants us to be blessed on account of His Son and what He did on the cross. It has nothing to do with our performance or ability to keep the law. Those trying to be justified by their law-keeping still have an old covenant mentality, even if they profess that they are in the new covenant. They have reverted to the old system that was based on works and obedience, rather than trusting in the new system that is based on faith and believing. When you mix the old and new covenants, i.e., law and grace, you lose both and the benefits of the two covenants are nullified. How do we know this. Let us look what Jesus said in Mark 2: 22, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskin, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” The new wine represents the new covenant of grace, while the old wineskins represent the old covenant of law. Old wineskins are brittle, hard and inflexible, like the law. When you pour the new wine of grace into the old wineskins of the law, you will lose both because the wineskins will be ruined and the wine will be spilled.



I can’t understand why many believers are still trying to balance law and grace. If you are for the law, be for the law completely. If you are for grace, then be for grace completely. It is impossible to balance the two of them! That’s why Jesus also said in Revelation 3: 15-16: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” For years, I have heard preachers preaching that in Revelation 3: 15-16, Jesus was referring to people who are not “red-hot for Jesus.” Have you heard that expression before? What does “red-hot for Jesus” means? Traditionally, we have been taught that it means reading 10 chapters of Bible daily, witnessing to your colleagues at work, attending all prayer meetings, etc. To be cold means just the opposite. The verse has always been preached as though it were about our actions and behavior. However, it wouldn’t make sense if He was referring to actions and behavior, because wouldn’t being lukewarm for Jesus still better than being completely cold? So, why would Jesus want the church of Laodicea to be cold (if they were not hot), rather than lukewarm?



Be Hot Or Cold, Not Lukewarm



So, what do Revelation 3: 15-16 really mean? The two verses only make sense when they are interpreted in the light of the mixture of the covenants of law and grace. Jesus was saying that He would the church in Laodicea be cold (entirely under law) or hot (entirely under grace). You see, even if you were at least completely under the law, it would lead you to despair and into the saving arms of Jesus. The law would unveil to you your sinfulness and inability to keep the full measure of it, and this would cause you to see your need for His grace. But, when you have mixture, where you believe in grace but still hold on to the law, you neutralize the convicting power of the law to bring you to the end of yourself so you will cry out for the grace of the Saviour. That is why you cannot be cold and hot at the same time, or be for both law and grace at the same time. The moment you try to balance grace with the law, you neutralize both, and each covenant is robbed of its full effect in your life. You become lukewarm because of the mixture, and God hates mixture because it robs you of the power to reign in life through the abundance of His grace.


Amen!

Dedo Suwanda

From "Destined To Reign" by Joseph Prince