Living Under Law and Grace
The memory is seared in my mind. Maybe because of its frequency. Maybe because of its life impact. Whatever and however, I can see every detail. I can hear her voice. I can see the action that brought me, terror. It was the same thing every Sunday.
Upon entering my house following lunch, my mom would utter the words that make me shudder to this day. “Go upstairs and hang up your clothes.” Now, this was not the part that made me uneasy, but the words that follow. “I will be up to check in a few minutes.” I knew what that meant. I knew what was coming.
Time passed slowly in the moments as I awaited the arrival of my Drill Sargent…I mean, Mom. I would wait in humble anticipation as she walked into my room, opened the closet, and checked my clothing. I was hopeful, every week hopeful, that this would be the day. Then the inevitable happened. She would say, “These are not hanging neatly, son. Take them off the hanger and do it again.” There it is. The dreaded words. Do it again.
I could take this blog in many directions from here, but I am going to focus on the ideas of law and grace. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I rejected the theological construct of dispensationalism while in college. I did so on this basis, dispensationalism does not clearly and easily define God for the average Christian. There are broad terms like law and grace, but what do they mean?
Over my entire life, I have heard people say, “Well, that was under the law; we are under grace.” In all fairness to dispensationalism, many details cannot be explained in a quick comment, but that is the problem. See, the average believer walks away from that comment assuming that there is no grace under the law and no law under grace.
I want to take a quick moment to explain this concept if you are not familiar with it. In broad terms, the Old Testament is law and the New Testament is grace. This is illustrated by the giving of the Jewish law in the OT and the giving of Christ’s life in the NT. Of course, both of these are absolutely true. But, is it true that there is no grace under the law and no law under grace? The answer is a resounding no.
I do not have time to write a detailed dissertation here, so please let an example of each suffice. First, there was grace under the law. King David experienced this when he sinned with Bathsheba. David committed murder and adultery, both punishable by death under the law. Nathan the prophet states, “Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin.” This sounds like grace to me. David deserved death, but God withheld it.
In the NT, we see so much grace, but is it true that there is no law? 1 Cor 6:9-10 “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.” This certainly sounds like law to me.
In an age where everyone seems to be triggered by, well, by everything, let me assure you that my mom was an amazingly loving person, despite her German personality. No, I have not suffered trauma from my mom’s proclivity for neatness. In fact, this single Sunday tradition formed me in more ways than you’d imagine. I am a highly neat and administrative person because of my Mom. So, while some may read my hyperbole with an air of disdain toward my Mom, I do not.
My mom had a wonderful balance of grace and law. My mom passed away 15 years ago this month. During her life, there was never a day that she did not hug me and tell me she loved me… stoic German that she was. Life is about balance. Oddly enough, I’m preaching on balance from a different perspective this Sunday.
In the end, we need law, and we need grace. The law keeps us safe. It teaches us appropriate boundaries. It gives us comfort in knowing what is and what should be. I function best when I clearly understand expectations. Grace is there when we make a mistake or step out of line. God abounds in grace. That is the beauty of following Christ. I try my hardest to do the right thing, but when I don’t, there is an infinite loving God ready to forgive.
So, thanks, Mom, for making me who I am today. My boss thanks you. My wife thanks you, and I thank you. Thanks for helping me live comfortably under the tension of law and grace. To my dispensationalist friends, I still love you and respect you; I disagree with you. I disagree with the idea of once saved always saved on the same basis, but that’s for another day and another blog. For now, I’m pretty sure I need to hang up some clothes.
Through Time 