When we say we are not under the law, but instead under grace, some accuse us of giving people license to sin and encouraging laziness.
Here it is: anybody that wants to sin does not need a license to do so.
On the other hand, those that have tried to cage people with the law would testify, if they are honest, that it does not help that much when it comes to behavior but instead leads to legalism, frustration, and offense.
No external behavior improvement system, driven by promises of blessings and threats of curses, can produce a joyful and sustainable motivation for Christian living.
The believer is not under the law, yet he is not lawless. He is under the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. In several places in his Epistles, Paul took the time to explain to the church how the new creation functions.
The spirit of the believer is recreated perfect and complete. However, the soul needs retraining, having been under the influence of the former old nature for long, so that it will understand the policies and preferences of the new man and align itself accordingly.
This is a place of learning and of growth. However, Paul taught that this cannot be attained by the law or by sheer willpower.
In all his Epistles, Paul first taught the believer about his identity before delving into the matters of behavior. He did this to emphasize the fact that we are not made up of our behaviors. Our behaviors are separate from us. If we are first anchored in the knowledge of our identity, what we believe would lead to effortless right living.
Overall, the admonitions in the Epistles are along the lines that we should not use our freedom to indulge in sinful activities; we are to serve one another in love; we are free from sin not free to sin, and that any teaching that promises freedom to continue making a practice of sin is false; do not hand Satan the chains of sin to enslave you with again; and we should represent our Father and our family well.
These are common sense admonitions to say carry yourself as the new you God has made you to be. They are not requirements for being accepted by God or to earn His blessings. There are no threats of losing your salvation, the impossibility of repenting if you sin “willfully,” or of God removing your name from the Book of Life if you do not meet up to certain standards of behavior. Christianity is not about rules. It is about the life of God at work in the recreated human spirit.
In Part 2, we shall consider some highlights of the Apostles’ exhortations in the Epistles as they regard the behavior of the believer.
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