Friday, February 20, 2009

Balanced Preaching - Law vs Grace vs Lawlessness

When I think about Law and Grace, this is what I see, when I consider only God's system:
  • Law vs Grace

But when I look at the bigger picture and include the godless system, this is what I see:-
  • Law vs Grace (God's system) vs Lawlessness (godless system)

We all know that the preaching of pure Law is legalism and the preaching of lawlessness is Antinomianism. And none of us in our sound mind would support either types of preaching.
They are considered extreme. They are considered to be imbalanced.

So, what is balanced preaching? Some of us suggest that it is a mixture of Law and Grace. Such a conclusion is arrived at because we considered only God's system, i.e. the two covenants, and fail to consider that there is a separate godless system. As a result, this is what we see (erroneously, I believe):
  • Law vs Grace = Law vs Lawlessness
We fail to realise that importance of differetiating between:
(a) the comparison of God's convenants (Law and Grace) and
(b) the comparison between God's system (Law and Grace) and the godless system (Lawlessness).

The failure to do so has caused much confusion and misunderstanding in the Church, with regard to the preaching of pure grace.

We should be clear that God's system of covenants is that we are either under one or the other. We cannot mix both. If we mix the two, we nullify both. We cannot mix new wine with old wine skin. If we do so, you lose both. Jesus wants us to be either hot or cold, not luke warm.

The mixture of Law and Grace is Galatianism (which the apostle was agressively against, as recorded in the book of Galatians in the New Testament).

Therefore, my conclusion is as follows:
The preaching of pure Law is Legalism. The preaching of lawlessness is Antinonmianism. Both are extreme and imbalance, and should rightfully be rejected by the Church.

The preacing of a mixture of Law and Grace is Galatianism. It is unbiblical and confusing. It robs the believers of the blessing of enjoying the power of God's covenants. Such preaching should, according to the apostle Paul, be rejected by the Church.

The preaching of pure Grace is preaching of the Gospel of Christ, which is balanced preaching.

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