“Not Under Law but Under Grace” #534

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14, NKJV)

Being under the Law of Moses only magnified the guilt of Israel’s sin (Rom. 3:19-20). Without God’s grace, sin rules and produces spiritual death. God’s grace in Christ provides escape from sin’s dominion (Rom. 6:11-13). While today’s verse magnifies the superiority of grace over sin, but it does not teach that Christians are free from living under law. We cannot do as we please because we are “not under law but under grace”. If no divine law exists to which we are accountable, then sin itself does not exist, “for where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15). Sin, by definition, is the transgression of the law of God (1 Jno. 3:4). Furthermore, it is notable that sinners are justified “by the law of faith” (Rom. 3:27). On another occasion, the apostle clearly said we are “under law to Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). The truth is, grace does not ignore Christ’s law. We stand in grace when we live by faith, trusting and obeying the law of Christ (Rom. 5:2; Heb. 5:8-9).