1. “The law is not of faith, yet, ‘He who does them shall live because of them’” (Gal. 3:12; see also Rom. 10:5; Lev. 18:5).
The law is not of faith but of works. The principle of the law is not faith but works. The law is not based on faith or on the principle of faith but on works and the principle of works. Under the law we must be those who do in order to live. This is a principle of the law.
2. “As many as are of the works of law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law to do them’” (Gal. 3:10).
According to the principle of the law, only those who do the works of the law can live and be blessed, and since no one can do the works of the law, there is only death and the curse. This is the principle and the declaration of the law.
3. “Whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all” (James 2:10).
The law requires perfection in the keeping of the law. There cannot be the slightest deviation. If one keeps the whole law but eventually stumbles on only one point, it is as if he has broken the whole law. If a link in a chain is broken, the entire chain is broken. If there is only a small break in the filament of a light bulb, the entire light bulb is useless. In order to be approved according to the law, the entire law must be kept completely. This is a definite principle of the law and a clear declaration of the law.
1. “The law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:3).
Although the law is spiritual, holy, righteous, and good, it is weak and even impotent because of the flesh. The law was given because man does not know the flesh yet still relies on it. The law places demands on the flesh to expose the corruption and impotence of the flesh so that man can know the flesh. The flesh is corrupted and impotent. It cannot fulfill even the smallest of the law’s demands, so the flesh makes the law weak and impotent.
2. “Out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him” (Rom. 3:20; see also Gal. 2:16; 3:11; Acts 13:39).
No one can be justified by God out of the works of the law. Man is corrupt and weak, and no one can keep the law because of the flesh. Thus, the law is weak in man.
3. “There is...the setting aside of the preceding commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the law perfected nothing)” (Heb. 7:18-19).
Since the law is weak and impotent through man’s flesh, it perfected nothing in man. Although the law can cause man to know sin and to know himself, it has only this function on the negative side. On the positive side, the law cannot cause man to forsake sin or be justified by God in order to please God; therefore, it can accomplish nothing. Since it accomplishes nothing, it is unprofitable.
According to the preceding passages of the Bible, we should know that God has no intention for man to keep the law. God gave the law to man because He wanted the law to expose man so that he would know himself. Because of the influence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man thought that God wanted him to keep the law. Furthermore, because he did not know himself, man thought that he could keep the law by his own strength. Since God knew that man did not have the strength to keep the law, He never intended for man to keep the law. God wanted man to know his own corruption and impotence through the law and then receive the grace of God.
1. “The kindness and the love...of our Savior God appeared”; “God so loved...that He gave” (Titus 3:4; John 3:16).
The law is according to God’s righteousness, holiness, and goodness. Grace is according to God’s love. The manifestation of God’s love is grace. Love is God’s heart toward us, and grace is God’s action toward us. The action of God’s grace comes out of God’s heart of love. God is involved in actions toward us because He loves us. In His actions toward us, He gave His only begotten Son to accomplish redemption. All of God’s actions toward us are according to grace. Grace comes out of His love. Therefore, grace is the manifestation of God’s love. When God’s love is manifested, it is grace.
2. “The surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).
God’s grace is His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness comes out of love. The love of God causes Him to be kind toward us. When this kindness reaches us, it is grace.
3. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes” (Rom. 4:4-5).
God gives grace to us freely because of His love. We do not need to do anything. If we needed to do anything, what we received would be according to wages, to work, not grace. Wages are earned by working; they are not free. Grace is gained freely through faith. We do not need to work or exert any effort. Whatever is obtained through effort is not according to grace. We do not need to pay a price for grace, because it is given to us freely by God.
4. “If by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6).
God’s grace has no connection to man’s works or actions. Whatever is by grace is not out of works. Works cannot be mixed with grace. Once something is out of works, that is, once works are involved, grace is no longer grace. Since grace is given freely by God, it cannot be earned by works or actions.
5. “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain...I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
The grace of God made the apostle Paul a special person, one who could labor more abundantly than all of them. His labor was not something out of himself but rather out of the grace of God which was with him. Paul’s word shows that the grace of God is not something lifeless, but something living. This living gift is the powerful life of God; in other words, it is God Himself. Grace could make Paul into an apostle and could enable him to do things that others could not, because it is the powerful life of God. Paul obtained the powerful life of God, God Himself. The highest grace that God gives to man, the highest grace that man receives from God, is the life of God Himself.
When John 1:14 and 17; Romans 5:17 and 21; Philippians 4:23, and many other passages in the New Testament speak of grace, they actually refer to the life of God and to God Himself. The grace that we obtain is the life of God and God Himself. This is the reality of grace.