{"id":4740,"date":"2013-01-04T04:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/?p=4740"},"modified":"2024-03-26T12:35:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T19:35:31","slug":"under-grace-not-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/2013\/01\/04\/under-grace-not-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Grace, Not Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n

The following is taken from Bob Hoekstra’s Day By Day By Grace devotional. Have you picked your reading plan or daily devotional for the year?\u00a0<\/span>Find out which are available at the BLB<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are\u00a0not under law but under grace<\/strong>.”<\/em> <\/span>
\n(Romans 6:14)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Sin dominates all of our lives, unless we are learning of God’s solution. Grace<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0God’s sufficient remedy<\/strong>\u00a0that\u00a0sin<\/strong>\u00a0will\u00a0no longer dominate<\/strong>\u00a0our lives.<\/p>\n

Before<\/strong>\u00a0we came to faith in Jesus Christ, we were\u00a0under<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0dominion<\/strong>of\u00a0sin<\/strong>. We were condemned before God because of our sin. Others may not have been aware of our truly sinful condition. Still, we were so controlled by sin that God called us\u00a0“slaves of sin”<\/em>\u00a0(Romans 6:6).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0law<\/strong>\u00a0brought us\u00a0no hope<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0escape<\/strong>. In fact, the law condemned us.“Now we know that whatever the\u00a0law<\/strong>\u00a0says, it says to those who areunder the law<\/strong>, that\u00a0every<\/strong>\u00a0mouth may be\u00a0stopped<\/strong>, and\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0world<\/strong>may become\u00a0guilty<\/strong>\u00a0before God”<\/em>\u00a0(Romans 3:19). We could never have found freedom from sin’s condemnation by attempting to perform better under the law of God. “Knowing that a man is\u00a0not justified<\/strong>\u00a0by the\u00a0works<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0law<\/strong>\u00a0but by faith in Jesus Christ\u2026for by the\u00a0works<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0law no flesh<\/strong>\u00a0shall be\u00a0justified<\/strong>“<\/em>\u00a0(Galatians 2:16).<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0of God is our\u00a0effective hope<\/strong>. There isforgiveness<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0sins<\/strong>\u00a0by His\u00a0grace<\/strong>:\u00a0“The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”<\/em>\u00a0(Ephesians 1:7). There is\u00a0justification<\/strong>through\u00a0faith<\/strong>\u00a0by the\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0of God.\u00a0“Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be\u00a0justified<\/strong>\u00a0by\u00a0faith<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Christ<\/strong>\u00a0and not by the works of the law”<\/em>\u00a0(Galatians 2:16). There is\u00a0growth<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0spiritual life<\/strong>\u00a0by the\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0of God.\u00a0“But\u00a0grow<\/strong>\u00a0in the\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”<\/em>\u00a0(2 Peter 3:18). None of these heavenly blessings become ours through our ability to live up to the holy standards of God’s law.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0relationship<\/strong>\u00a0with the\u00a0Lord<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0based<\/strong>\u00a0upon\u00a0grace<\/strong>,\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0upon\u00a0law<\/strong>. We\u00a0began<\/strong>\u00a0a walk with the Lord by His\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0at work\u00a0for us<\/strong>. Wecontinue<\/strong>\u00a0walking with Him by His\u00a0grace<\/strong>\u00a0working\u00a0in our lives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

O Lord, my God, I rejoice greatly that I am under Your grace and not under Your law. Your holy law rightly condemned me for my trespasses against You. I thank You for forgiving my sins by Your glorious grace. I praise You for justifying me, declaring me not guilty in Your sight, by Your rich grace. I magnify You for continuing to touch and shape my life by Your inexhaustible grace, in the name of Christ Jesus, my Lord, Amen.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is taken from Bob Hoekstra’s Day By Day By Grace devotional. Have you picked your reading plan or daily devotional for the year?\u00a0Find out which are available at the BLB. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are\u00a0not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14) Sin dominates all of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-misc","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9138,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4740\/revisions\/9138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}