Information Related to "Grace and Law: Why Are They Inseparable?"
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The word grace is regularly used by some religious people as if it replaces all need to obey God's law. That conclusion is not only inaccurate, it is also diabolical!
Here is the reason: Without law there would be no need for grace. The word grace, as the Greek word charis is translated in the New Testament, means freely shown "favor"-a gift (it's from charis that we derive the English word charity). In a religious context the word grace is used most often for the gift of forgiveness. It refers to how God extends His favor to repentant sinners by forgiving their former disobedience of His law-their "sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25, NRSV).
This is necessary because "everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4, NIV). If there is no law to break, there is no such thing as sin. And if there is no sin the very idea of grace, as God's forgiveness, has no meaning at all.
God does not just dismiss our sins, our lawless acts. Nor does He simply ignore them. Rather, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3) so "that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).
In other words, it was to make God's favor-His grace-available to all who repent (by turning away from sin) that Jesus "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).
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