by Terry W. Benton<\/p>\n
Today there is lawlessness going on at elevated proportions. Even churches that have claimed to be “of Christ” have been divided by a spirit of lawlessness. Some misuse “we are not under law but under grace<\/em>” (Romans 6:15) to give the undiscerning a scripture on which to justify their rebellion against trying to “abide in the doctrine of Christ<\/em>” (II John 9-10) and do the will of God (Matthew 7:21ff). But Romans 6:15 is not saying that grace is lawless and we can do as we please. “Being under law<\/em>” in this text is about sin having the final word about your condition before God. If we are under law, that is, under law with no grace and mercy, then we are under condemnation and have no way out. Of course, that is not our situation. We are under grace which provides pardon, forgiveness, justification. Grace provides “the law of the Spirit of life<\/em>” (Romans 8:2) which is more than a system of mere law. Paul said we are “under law to Christ<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:21). James called it “the perfect law of liberty<\/em>” (James 1:25).<\/p>\n Disciples of Christ must be law-abiding, respecting the full authority of Christ who expresses His will in the New Testament (Hebrews 9:15-17). This “law of the Lord<\/em>” would “go forth from Jerusalem<\/em>” (Acts 2:42; Isaiah 2:1-4; Jeremiah 31:31). The brethren had to recognize the Spirit-guided words of the apostles as extensions of the will of Jesus Christ (John 16:13). The lawless would “twist the scriptures to their own destruction<\/em>” (II Peter 3:16), but the lawful brethren would be careful to “handle aright the word of truth<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:15).<\/p>\n The world is brainwashed by modern philosophy to doubt the existence of absolute truth. Like Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?<\/em>” (John 18:38). He held the philosophy that is so prevalent today. Jesus believed in the existence of absolute truth (John 17:17). What we are seeing today is rebellion against authority, breaking down a civil justice system, creating civil unrest and anarchy. Churches are breaking down the ideas of being lawful and hiding their apostasy under the illusion of grace without law.<\/p>\n The truth is that grace and the law of liberty are inseparable. Get rid of responsibility to the law of liberty and you receive the grace of God in vain (II Corinthians 6:1) because grace teaches the truth that you are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (Titus 2:11-15). Judgment Day will separate the lawless who merely call Jesus “Lord” from those who not only call Him “Lord” but do the will of God (Matthew 7:21ff). There is truth (which implies all else is error) and there is law, the perfect law of liberty, and we must be careful to handle God’s truth and law with great diligence and respect.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry W. Benton Today there is lawlessness going on at elevated proportions. Even churches that have claimed to be “of Christ” have been divided by a spirit of lawlessness. Some misuse “we are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:15) to give the undiscerning a scripture on which to justify their rebellion against…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[177,441],"class_list":["post-38588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-law","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48211,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-under-law-or-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":0},"title":"Are We Under “Law” or “Grace”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Jackson \"Why do some insist that Christians are 'under law' today? We are not under law, but grace. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus\u00a0(John 1:17).\" We must respectfully point out that the question recorded above reflects a serious misunderstanding of the nature\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93842,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-phrase-we-are-now-living-under-grace-incorrect\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":1},"title":"Is the phrase “We are now living under grace” incorrect?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the phrase, \"We are now living under grace,\" incorrect? Answer: The phrase is based on Romans 6:14, but to understand it properly, let's look at the context: \"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62632,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grace-and-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":2},"title":"Grace and Law","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 1:14-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0False ideas don\u2019t always die. They end up getting recycled at a later time when the present generation has forgotten the teachings of the past which showed the ideas to be false. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I remember from childhood a big debate over the role\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-we-are-under-grace-cant-we-be-sexually-active-and-live-pleasing-to-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":3},"title":"Since we are under grace, can’t we be sexually active and live pleasing to the Lord?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Pentecostal Christian and we live by grace, not under the law. Since Jesus died on the cross we have a new covenant. So my question is: I'm in a committed relationship with my girlfriend. Sex is obviously one of the keys to a relationship. I know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works-in-the-book-of-romans\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":4},"title":"Works in the Book of Romans","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0XXIII: 2, pp. 43-45, January 11, 1979 Frequently Paul mentions works or deeds in his epistle to the saints at Rome. Whatever he means by \"works,\" the term expresses something opposed to grace and faith. He insists that justification does not find its source in works.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61540,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-the-law-of-liberty\/","url_meta":{"origin":38588,"position":5},"title":"Notes on the Law of Liberty","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"What is the Law of Liberty? The law of liberty is something that a person can look intently at, to listen to, and to put into practice - James 1:22-25 The law of liberty is something that we are judged by and can be transgressed. It includes laws such as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}