Great Doctrines of the Bible
Lesson 27
Law and Grace – Faith and Works

Introduction
Without argument, both faith and works have their place and use in the Christian life. A believer is justified by grace through faith. He will be rewarded according to his works. As elementary and transparently true as this idea may seem, the concept of personal salvation by grace alone and faith without works is foreign to all but a few evangelical bodies. Practically every religious system and almost all main-line denominations insist upon something supplemental to faith for salvation such as baptism and/or adherence to certain rules and regulations. To insist upon any works for salvation is to again place the sinner under law. Yet the Bible declares we are no longer “under law” but “under grace.” The solution of the differing opinions is not as simple as some might think. The apostle James seems to teach that justification is obtained by our works. Paul seems to teach that justification is available through faith alone. This supposed contradiction has been so misunderstood that even the great reformer, Martin Luther, referred to James as “an epistle of straw.”

Our primary objective in this lesson is to to clarify the biblical meaning of law and grace, or faith and works, so that you will be able to readily identify and understand their distinctive place and purpose.

Importance of this Lesson

• Millions of professing Christians live without the absolute certainty of their eternal salvation. When asked, “Are you saved?” they reply, “I’m doing the best I can,” which reveals that to them, their eternal destiny and welfare depend upon their moral character and good deeds. Since they never know whether these are adequate to satisfy a holy God, they are void of a sense of security or absolute assurance. If you desire such certainty, then it is vital that you fully understand the position and purpose of faith and works.
• There is the matter of law and grace. The Bible states that “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Is a believer saved by pure grace entirely apart from the law? If so, why was the law given, what place does it have in the believer’s life and what attitude should he have toward it? And, if God turned from law to grace, what was wrong with the law? What is grace? What does it mean to “fall from grace”? Can law and grace ever mix? What relationship does grace have to salvation and to the Christian life?
• This lesson is of extreme importance to the understanding of these terms. And the understanding of these terms is essential to your personal sense of security, your completeness in Christ and the absolute assurance of your eternal salvation.

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The Lesson

I. THE SEEMING CONFLICT BETWEEN JAMES AND PAUL CONCERNING OUR JUSTIFICATION

1. Read and study James 2:14-26.
2. Now read Romans 4:2-5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; and Romans 8:1.
3. From a casual reading and a partial understanding, here is what these verses seem to say:
   1. James – Faith alone cannot save you.
   2. Paul – Faith alone can and does save you.
   3. James – Man is justified by his works.
   4. Paul – “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
   5. James – “Faith without works is dead.”
   6. Paul – Faith that depends on works frustrates the grace of God.

II. THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM - Here are three key words to note and understand: Faith, Works, and Justified. (Know These for Exam!)

1. Faith
   1. Paul writes of, and has in mind, faith in a very personal sense. A genuine life-transforming faith in the sacrificial work of Christ for your salvation (Acts 16:31). He preached and taught: a faith that involved repentance (Acts 17:30; 20:21); a faith from the heart that included a confession of Christ as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10); a faith that abandoned all hope for salvation on anything but Christ’s death and resurrection. Read and study Romans 3:27-28; 4:5; 5:1-2; Galatians 2:16; 3:24; 2:20; Ephesians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; and 2 Timothy 1:5.
   2. James has in mind a shallow, insecure faith, a faith that is merely intellectual, totally lacking in genuineness and fruit. He is writing about a dead orthodoxy and he asks the question, “Can that kind of faith save?” Of course, the answer is NO!
      • It would help to clarify the situation if every time James writes of faith that is dead, or faith that cannot justify, you would add, “that kind of faith.”
2. Works
   1. Paul advocated good works as the normal activity of a justified, born-again believer and not as something that was essential to our salvation. A classic passage is Ephesians 2:9-10. In verse 9, he says salvation is “not of works lest any man should boast.” In verse 10, he says we have been “created in Christ Jesus unto good works....” Paul shatters the idea that a sinner can be saved by his works or any deeds of the law (Galatians 2:16; Titus 3:5-6; Romans 4:5). Nevertheless he:
      1. spoke highly of widows who were “well reported for good works.”
      2. told Timothy to exhort believers to be “rich in good works” (1 Timothy 6:18).
      3. wrote to Titus about deceivers who professed to know God “but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16).
   2. James writes of the fruitless, empty lives of merely professing believers, saying that where there are no works there is no genuine faith. “Faith without works is dead.” In James 2:18, he says “I will show you my faith by my works.” To James, works are the natural fruit of faith and the two witness together of a man’s justification. Dr. Harry Ironside has written, “There is no work of grace in the heart where there is no act of grace in the life.”
3. Justified
   1. Paul views salvation from the standpoint of God’s sovereignty. God imputes righteousness to and justifies the ungodly on the basis of faith alone (Romans 3:21-22, 25-28; 4:5-6; 5:1).
   2. James has in view man’s responsibility to demonstrate his faith to others by his works. He is seeing salvation as man sees it (James 1:18-26).
   3. Paul wrote of justification in the eyes of God. James wrote of justification in the eyes of men.
      • Dr. A.T. Robertson wrote, “No man is justified by faith unless faith has made him just.”

III. WORKS – SALVATION

1. The place of works in relation to salvation:
   1. Romans 4:5-6 – “But to him that worketh not, but believeth....”
   2. Ephesians 2:8-9 – “...not of yourselves...not of works, lest any man should boast.”
   3. Galatians 2:16 – “...by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
   4. Galatians 2:21 – “...if righteousness come by the law (works), then Christ is dead in vain.”
   5. Romans 11:6 – “And if by grace, then is it no more of works....”
   6. Titus 3:5-6 – saved us – “Not by works of righteousness which we have done....”
      • Having already discussed James’ view of works, note how clearly these verses teach that works have no part in our salvation. Nevertheless, being saved, we should be “...rich in good works...” (1 Timothy 6:18); “...be careful to maintain good works...” (Titus 3:8).
2. The place of faith in relation to salvation:
   • Faith is the key to salvation
   1. Ephesians 2:8 – “for by grace are ye saved through faith....”
   2. Romans 5:1 – “Therefore being justified by faith.…”
   3. Acts 16:31 – “...Believe...and thou shalt be saved....”
   4. Romans 1:16 – “The gospel...is the power of God...to everyone that believeth....”
   5. Ephesians 3:17 – Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.
   6. Romans 3:28 – “...a man is justified by faith.…”
   7. Philippians 3:9 – “...the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
      • In simple words, you and I are saved by grace through faith, plus nothing!

IV. THE RELATIONSHIP OF WORKS TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

1. Good works are the evidence of genuine faith (James 2:14, 17, 20, 22).
2. At the Judgment Seat of Christ every Christian will be judged according to the deeds done “in” or “through” his body (2 Corinthians 5:10).
3. While salvation is by grace and faith alone, rewards in heaven will be given on the basis of our works (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
4. Galatians 5:6 speaks of “faith that works by love.” Our faith is evidenced by acts of love.
5. Revelation 14:13, speaking of departed saints, says, “their works do follow them.” You can’t take your possessions or your popularity into heaven, only your works. What you do here affects your status there!

V. THE RELATIONSHIP OF FAITH TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

1. We are not only saved by faith, we are being “kept by the power of God through faith” (1 Peter 1:5).
2. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says “and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God...” (Wuest).
3. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
4. The Christian life is a life of faith. It is the key to all spiritual experience.
   1. Through faith in Christ we overcome the world with its pressures, allurements and temptations (1 John 5:4).
   2. Through faith we defeat Satan with all his power, fiery darts and wiles (1 Peter 5:9; Ephesians 6:16).
   3. Through faith we inherit, stand on and claim the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12).
   4. Furthermore, faith:
      1. frees us from the care of material necessities (Matthew 6:30-33).
      2. gives us courage to face the storms of life (Matthew 8:26).
      3. enables us to live above worry and doubt (Matthew 14:31-32).

VI. TO BELIEVE THAT ONE IS SAVED OR JUSTIFIED BY HIS WORKS IS TO PLACE ONESELF AGAIN UNDER LAW AND TO “FALL FROM GRACE”

1. Read Galatians 5:1-6. In verse 1, Paul exhorts us to “stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free.” His primary meaning is that we, through Christ, have been set free from bondage to the Law of Moses. In verses 2-4, Paul deals with the matter of circumcision, the mark of Jewish separation under the law. Some false teachers were insisting that under grace, Gentile and Jewish Christians had to submit to this custom. Paul makes three arguments. He says that if you insist upon this legal custom the following will result:
   1. Christ ceases to profit you anything (verse 2).
   2. You make yourself debtor to the entire law (verse 3; James 2:10; Galatians 3:10).
   3. “You are fallen from grace” (verse 4).
      • Perhaps no text of scripture has been more misused and misinterpreted as the phrase, “fallen from grace.” It is often employed to teach that you can lose your salvation. But by this phrase, Paul meant that if you place yourself back under the law by insisting upon circumcision, you repudiate grace as a principle and means of salvation.
2. This introduces us in this study to the matter of LAW versus GRACE in relation to salvation and the Christian life.

VII. TWO TEXTS TO PONDER

1. John 1:17 – “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” A whole new system and dispensation was ushered in by Jesus Christ. In Him, the Law of Moses, as a governing system, came to an abrupt end.
2. Romans 10:4 – “For Christ is the end of the LAW for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The LAW revealed the righteous will of God but it was unable to make anyone righteous (Romans 8:3). The righteousness available now to all believers is a righteousness “apart from the law” (Romans 3:21), and is the very righteousness of God reckoned to us in and through Christ (Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9).

VIII. A BRIEF STUDY OF THE LAW

1. What is it
   1. As a stewardship or dispensation, it was a period of time from the giving of the law to Moses until the death of Christ. Note Galatians 3:24, “...The law was our schoolmaster...unto (until) Christ.…”
   2. A method of God’s dealing with man which was given to Moses in three parts:
      1. the commandments (Exodus 20:1-26)
      2. the judgments (Exodus 21:1-24:11)
      3. the ordinances (Exodus 24:12-31:18)
         The commandments revealed God’s holy will, the judgments governed Israel’s social life and the ordinances Israel’s religious life.
   3. Generally speaking, and most often, when Christ or Paul spoke of the LAW, they had in mind the Ten Commandments (Matthew 5:17; 19:17; 22:37-40; Galatians 3:10-24).
2. What was its purpose? Read Galatians 3:19-24.
   1. “...It was added because of transgressions...” (Galatians 3:19). That is, it was given that sin might be seen as transgression against God’s righteous will. Romans 7:7 – “...I had not known sin, but by the law.…” (See also 1 John 3:4; 1 Timothy 1:9-10.)
   2. To show that the entire world was guilty (Romans 3:19), and all under sin’s condemnation (Galatians 3:22; Romans 3:9-20).
   3. It was to serve as a schoolmaster until Christ (Galatians 3:24). In Greek and Roman households a child was placed under the care of a pedagogue or “child leader” until the father determined the time when the child would be a full heir to his wealth (Galatians 3:25; 4:1-7). Until Christ came all were under the law (the pedagogue). Through Christ we are made heirs of God and are no longer under the law (Galatians 3:25). (See also Romans 6:14.)
   4. That we might see the inadequacy of our own and all self-righteousness (Romans 10:2-4; Philippians 3:9).
3. What were its weaknesses?
   1. It could not justify anyone (Galatians 2:16; Acts 13:39).
   2. It could not sanctify anyone (Galatians 3:2-3).
   3. It could never produce righteousness in us (Galatians 3:21; 2:21).
   4. It was weak because of the infirmity of our flesh (Romans 8:3).
   5. It had only a ministry of condemnation (Romans 3:19).
   6. It made nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:18-19).
4. What does it do?
   1. Produces blind, bigoted religion (Galatians 1:13-14).
   2. Places everyone under its curse (Galatians 3:10).
   3. Pronounces every man guilty (Romans 3:19; James 2:10).
   4. It prepares us for Christ by revealing our guilt and need (Galatians 3:24, 25).
   5. It nullifies Christ’s death for all who choose to live by it (Galatians 2:21; 3:21-22; 5:3-4).
   6. Appeals to and glories in the flesh (Galatians 6:12).
5. What is the believer’s relationship to it?
   1. To realize that while the law does not save, it was and is “holy, just and good” (Romans 7:12).
   2. Realize that the law is not an evil thing. Christ did not come to destroy it but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He lived in total obedience to it (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:21). We too, should respect it as being “perfect,” “sure,” “right,” and “pure” (Psalm 19:7,8).
   3. While the believer is no longer under law as under its ministry of condemnation or its method of divine dealing (Romans 6:14; 10:4), he must realize that it still reveals the righteous judgment and will of God regarding sin in our lives (Romans 7:7).
   4. That Christ is the “end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes” (Romans 10:4), and that the believer’s whole desire now is to be found “in Christ” (Philippians 3:9).

IX. A BRIEF STUDY OF GRACE

1. What is it?
   1. Love is the reservoir of all that God is (1 John 4:8, 16). Grace is the never-ending stream coming down to man from the infinite reservoir of God’s love. It is the overflow of God’s free, undeserved favor toward man in and through Christ by which salvation and every need of man is bountifully supplied.
   2. Grace is the “kindness and love of God toward man” (Titus 3:4-5).
   3. While the law came by Moses, grace came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
   4. As a stewardship or dispensation, it began with the resurrection and Pentecost and will continue until the rapture of the church (Ephesians 3:2-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
2. What is its relation to salvation?
   1. Grace brought salvation down to man (Titus 2:11).
   2. By grace we are saved entirely apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:4-5).
   3. Grace provides both justification (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:24), and sanctification (Galatians 2:21).
3. What is its relation to the Christian life?
   1. It provides freedom in Christ and the position of a son in the family of God (Galatians 4:5, 31).
   2. Makes available the promise of the Spirit by faith in Christ (Galatians 3:22).
   3. It provides a Spirit-filled life (Galatians 5:5, 22), by which the flesh is defeated (Galatians 5:16).
   4. It is sufficient for every need (2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 4:16; 2 Corinthians 9:8).
4. Can law and grace or faith and works ever be mixed?
   1. As a way of salvation or a means by which to live the Christian life, the two are as impossible to mix as oil and water or darkness and light.
   2. Two clear passages should be sufficient for this point:
      1. Romans 11:5-6 – “...there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work.”
      2. Galatians 5:4 – “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law (works); ye are fallen from grace.

X. SOME CONTRASTS OF LAW AND GRACE
A list of such contrasts could be quite lengthy. Let me encourage you to make your own list. The following is a partial list on which you can build:

UNDER LAW	UNDER GRACE
The sheep died for the shepherd	The Shepherd died for the sheep
Said, “If thou wilt”	Says, “I will”
Required perfect obedience	Supplies power to obey
Demanded righteousness	Righteousness imputed, bestowed
The best man dies	The worst sinner lives
Brings a curse	The curse is removed
Never justifies or sanctifies	Both justifies and sanctifies
Had a ministry of condemnation	Has a ministry of forgiveness
Enslaves	Sets free
Relates to Moses and works	Relates to Christ and faith
Makes nothing perfect	Makes every man perfect in Christ
Made no one righteous	Makes every believer righteous
Says, “You shall not”	Says “Whosoever will”

Conclusion
With Paul, we say, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). One day God opened the curtains of His love and grace walked out on the stage of this world in the person of Christ. Through Him the law was kept, magnified and put away. A whole new age of grace was ushered in. Remember that on your behalf Christ bore the curse of the law and paid your debt in full. Rest your faith in a work that has been done and rejoice in a finished redemption.

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