Monday, May 21, 2007
Misunderstood Grace
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
—Romans 6:1–2
I am shocked at what some people today will do and still claim to be Christians. They will blatantly do what the Bible tells them they should not do.
The idea that you can do whatever you want as a Christian and still be forgiven isn’t unique to our day, however. Paul had to refute it in the book of Romans: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1–2).
Paul was saying that we can’t sin so that God’s grace may overflow. It is a false teaching that says that you can go out and blatantly disobey God, and God’s grace will cover it. It is a perversion of the teaching of the grace of God.
The Bible says that the grace of God is given to us so that we might say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age as we wait for the return of Christ.
It doesn’t say that the grace of God was given to us so that we can do whatever we want and break His commandments with abandon. Grace and law work closely together. The law tells me that I am a sinner. Grace tells me how to deal with my sin.
While it is true that the Christian is no longer under the constraint or the extreme limitations of the law, it doesn’t mean that he or she should disregard it altogether. It means we should obey it because we want to, not because we have to.
What you believe determines how you will behave.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,