The Gospel and the Law, Where Do The Two Fit?

“If you believe, actually believe, never having been there personally to see Jesus beaten to a bloody pulp, nailed to a cross, dying, and then buried and three days later risen back to life, but nonetheless, you believe that actually happened, you have an active faith in that event, and then you ask Jesus into your life, then you are saved, period. It is now up to Jesus to do the “works” in you. That is what the new covenant is all about. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13. The very Biblical definition of the new covenant that Jesus’ death ushered in, is that God, not us, will write his law, regardless of whether you prefer the OT or NT version, into your heart and mind. God does the “writing”. Jesus via the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and writes his law into our hearts and minds. Now folks, that doesn’t make the law evil. How can something be evil that Jesus is busy writing into our hearts and minds? Makes all those preachers who preach against law look a little silly now, doesn’t it? Law & Grace is a very difficult subject to understand, theologically, because as John states in 1st John 3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” That is the simple Bible definition of sin. And then throughout the New Testament, believers are told not to sin, to put sin out of our lives. And yet, we’re told at the same time that obedience to the law is not a requirement of salvation. Now isn’t that enough to mess up a new-believer’s mind? I would say so. That is also why there are almost as many different interpretations of Law & Grace as there are denominations. So it would behoove us to get to the bottom of the matter, and that is just exactly what Paul in his letter to the Galatians does.” As I read through the Epistles section of my site, for my own edification, and to tune it up for the new version of the site, I was reading through the commentary I wrote on the first chapter of Galatians, and realized that somehow I’d come to a better understanding of Law & Grace and the Gospel, and where each fits into the salvation of an individual, and how each works.  It was in a section of Galatians 1 that I just had bolded & Italicized, the text you just read above this paragraph,where I realized I’d come to a pretty good explanation of Law & Grace in such a way that would prove agreeable to both the Calvary Chapels and Sabbath-keeping Churches of God.  The Calvary Chapel’s in their explanation for Law & Grace don’t like to use the work “Law,” but they are keeping 9 out of the 10 Commandments to the Spirit level, just as we in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God are keeping 10 of the 10 Commandments to the Spirit level.  Every group out there that seems to really be keeping God’s laws in the spirit (Matthew 5:17-48; Galatians 5:22-23), has a different definition for Law & Grace, but in their obedience to the Laws of God, they almost match each other, showing that something is wrong with everyone’s individual definitions and understanding of Law & Grace,but in their obedience they are almost in lockstep. And I’ve seen this from direct observation.  From my strange and meandering spiritual journey (see https://unityinchrist.com/author.htm) from the dying Worldwide Church of God, to the Calvary Chapels, to the Messianic Jewish believers, back to the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (from house-churches, then back into United, then back to a local Messianic Jewish congregation, then during and after COVID-19, online services of both Beth Yeshua Philly and UCG.org), I came to see that they all had differing definitions for Law & Grace, but everyone’s basic obedience to the Law of God was almost identical.  Considering the definition of the New Covenant in both Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13, that makes sense, since the obedience is being empowered by God’s directly writing his Laws into the hearts and minds of believers, regardless of how physical individuals and church leaders might define Law & Grace.  What people tend to have a lot of misunderstanding about is what actually brings Salvation into a person, and this is reflected in their differing explanations for Law & Grace.  By Paul’s definition throughout his Epistles, step 1, the salvation of an individual is brought on by the acceptance and asking of Jesus Christ into a person’s life, accompanied by their belief in the actual death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ through faith, and faith alone.  That is what Paul teaches in Galatians and throughout his Epistles.  Then afterward, step 2, God, Jesus Christ, via the indwelling Holy Spirit, whom God immediately places within the asking new-believer, starts writing his Laws into the heart and mind of that new-believer, giving that person a powerful love for God and the things of God, and the Laws of God.  I remember back to my conversion, that those were the identical feelings going through my mind, and led me to the ordering of the Worldwide Church of God’s booklet The Ten Commandments, whereby I was then led to love them and start keeping them, all Ten Commandments.  It was out of a motive of love that my obedience was driven, not by anything I heard from the pulpit.  But the acceptance and proof that Jesus was the Messiah came first, proven to me via all Worldwide’s broadcasts and booklets, proving the existence of God and who Jesus Christ was.  It was, looking back, almost as if God was jumping into me, and filling me with this love-motive for God, and the laws and things of God.  This belief in Jesus Christ and acceptance of him and his sacrifice, although not necessarily properly explained by the Worldwide Church of God, except through all their booklets, had to come first, and it did.  My faith in those facts came first, and that is what Paul seems to point out, that we have to accept the facts of Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection  first (1st Corinthians 5:1-4), that is the acceptance of the Gospel of Salvation (vs 1-4, and actually the whole Gospel of Salvation is defined by Paul in the entire 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians).  Then, second, God, Jesus Christ, activates the New Covenant (written in his blood, as Jesus explained in his last Passover service), as defined in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13, by starting to write the Laws of God into the heart and mind of the new-believer.  This includes a strong love for God and Jesus Christ, God the Son, and the things of God.  Romans 8:1-17, Galatians 5:22-23, 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 and Matthew 5, being summed up in verses 43-44, where Jesus showed the goal of the Law of God pointed toward not just love toward the brethren, but love toward even our very enemies.  If you see that kind of love active in a group of people or an individual, you are seeing the Holy Spirit in action.  That is the diamond-tipped pen of God writing his laws into the hearts and minds of believers.  At the birth of the New Testament Church of God in Acts chapter 2, God switches over from the Old Covenant demand for obedience (which all too often even our pastors can be doing from the pulpit and their member letters) to the New Covenant empowerment of obedience.  And this empowerment is most often seen under the stress of persecution, which many Christians down through the ages have suffered and patiently endured, even to their deaths, which persecution may be headed our way in these end times.  So, the salvation of an individual is a two-step process, the first step being brought on by a person’s acceptance and believing in the presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as defined by Paul in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians.  The second step is empowered by God and Jesus Christ, God the Son, directly, by the placing of the Holy Spirit within that individual, which then proceeds to, over a lifetime, write the Laws of God into that person’s heart and mind.  Sanctification is also a two-step process, upon conversion, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice pays for all of our sins, we are sanctified, justified and glorified, as Paul stated in 1st Corinthians 1, and then, over a lifetime, God works the process of sanctification.  I think, especially from our perspective in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, we have not understood this two-step process of conversion, and the importance of the 1st step, which does not involve obedience to the Law of God, but to a direct and immediate faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Messiah.  If baptism is meant to bring on the Holy Spirit (by our interpretation of that process defined in the Book of Acts), might it actually be more advantageous to baptize immediately those who have professed a faith in Jesus Christ, and his death, burial and resurrection, then to wait until that individual is obeying God’s Laws to our satisfaction?  In Acts chapter 2, their baptism was immediate, and throughout the Book of Acts, it was immediate.  Have we had the cart before the horse?  Anyway, these are my musings and meditations, based on the commentary I wrote for my website on the Book of Galatians.  For a commentary on Hebrews 8:1-13, defining the New Covenant, see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews%208%201-13.htm.  It defines the Laws of God Jesus writes into our hearts and minds in a more thorough coverage of that subject.