You put a believer under the Old Covenant law when you quote to them the consequences for breaking the Ten Commandments or promise them special blessings for living like a Jew. You may think you’re helping a believer when you do this but actually you are taking them further away from Christ and empowering their flesh. Galatians 3 says that anyone who wants to live under the law is under a curse, because cursed is anyone who does not continue to do all the things written in the law.
2 Corinthians 3 says that the law covenant was a ministry of condemnation and death. When you put a believer under a reliance on the Old Covenant law you are putting them under condemnation and death!
Hebrews 7 says that Old Covenant reliance on the law is weak and useless because the law cannot make anyone perfect. Therefore that covenant had to pass away in order for a new one to be established that makes us perfect not through reliance upon our flesh but upon faith in Christ.
Galatians 3:23 says that before faith came we were under the supervision of law but once faith came we were released from the law and are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Romans 7 says that we died to the law in order that we may belong to Christ. You cannot be under both. It’s one or the other! To rely on both is equated to spiritual adultery according to Romans 7. To put believers back under the law is to send them into spiritual adultery and to nullify the power of Christ working in their lives.
Galatians 3:1-5 says we are not perfected by the law but by faith in Christ and the power of the Spirit working in us though faith.
You destroy this power of the Spirit working in a believer when you put them back under a reliance on keeping the law in order to be mature or perfect or holy. Christ is our perfection! He is our holiness. In Him we are made perfect and holy forever and because of that we can now live out that holiness in our lives. We simply work out what Christ has worked in. We don’t look to the law we look to Christ! The more we look to Christ and see Him and rely on Him the more mature we will become! In fact to become more holy or mature simply means to rely more upon Christ and less upon ourself. This is where the power for transformation comes from!
Why do we make such a big deal about grace? Because it’s only through the grace of God that believers and churches are transformed into Christ’s likeness and empowered to live a holy and supernatural life! We see that mixing the law with Christ destroys the faith of believers and puts them back in the flesh and shipwrecks in them true spiritual life. We are passionate about the grace of God, not because we want to win arguments, but because we are passionate about seeing the Church of Christ becoming powerful and supernatural in this world that doesn’t just save a few but transforms nations and culture!
(If you want to establish this kind of grace in your life then I encourage you to get our books, study them, devour them, get them into your heart and lives and build your life upon the foundation of Christ which is grace!
