There has been a lot circulating, at least here in American Christian circles, attempting to teach the difference between law and grace. Much of this has been propagated by a man in Singapore through television and through his books, and has been accepted as truth by so many here and around the world, I suspect.
I've seen evidence in the small circle of the people in my own world, become evangelists to this teaching, even using the exact same terminology that the man who they heard it from does. Their enthusiasm, because they say they have received so much freedom from condemnation through this man's teaching, may be akin, in some cases, to when they first received Christ and were born again. I don't doubt the sincerity of the freedom they have received, nor their desire to "help others see the light" as they believe they have, so that others too, can be "set free."
The problem I have is for those who follow blindly one man's interpretation of the Scriptures of what it means that we are no longer under the law, but are now (since Jesus Christ) under grace. I believe this man's explanation is based on a false foundation, and is infecting the hearts and minds of believers everywhere. It is satan's ploy to use Scripture and the subject of Grace deviously, through how this man interprets it, to lead many astray. He tried it with Jesus on the temple mount, and he'll try it with us too, as he has through this teaching. The difference is that Jesus used countering Scripture to defeat the enemy, and not fall prey to his devices of using isolated Scriptures put together to prove something is truth. If satan had convinced Jesus to jump off the mountain because "He will give His angels charge over you," then Jesus sadly would have either died or been seriously injured.
So many have just accepted hands down this interpretation from a man to be the gospel truth, and not to even consider "the whole counsel of God" or ask the Spirit for discernment. It sounds and looks so gooooooooood, but it contains soooooooooooo much error. Seems like satan has used the same method he used in the garden also (pleasing to the eye or flesh), to snare so many unsuspecting souls through this dangerous teaching.
Although, I won't go into the places I believe this man is in error, I will put forth what I believe is true on this very important subject. I'm not pushing this belief, or selling any books or taking up a collection, but just asking you to consider before God and His Spirit what is written below to see if it may check with your spirit. We all must test the spirits to see if they are from God or not. I put myself and what I see on that same chopping block.
Not being under the law does not mean we disregard God's revealed will through the 10 commandments. It means that the law of sin and death (this is the law we are not under, not the 10 commandments) has been annulled , or is not longer in use. This law of sin and death (not the 10 commandment or anything else that is God's will revealed in His Word *) meant that "if you sin, you die." Now, under the law of love or grace, if we sin against God's will, including the 10 commandments, and we are truly repentant, there is forgiveness for us, not death. (Because of the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, and when we are "in Him" we have access to that forgiveness or grace.)
Jesus sums up the 10 commandments for us, making them easy for us to understand telling us to love God and mankind, meaning that they are all based on love. They aren't rules for us to follow, so to speak, to make as a checklist, but they are what will happen progressively more and more when we have His love in our hearts if we've submitted ourselves to the cross where our own will dies daily, so that His will and heart can take dominion in and through us.
Even when we act unloving to others, which we do everyday, there is forgiveness offered, because of His grace, but the 10 commandments remain as the standard nonetheless, along with His Will expressed in other places in His Word.* We are not to disregard them or cast them aside, thinking we are not "under them" any longer, but we are to, by the power of His Holy Spirit released in and through us, follow them.
Again, the Law that we are not under is not the 10 commandments or His expressed Will according to His Word*, but is "the law of sin and death."
*-I believe that the Levitical law has been revoked, now since we all are priests and kings unto God, and not just a chosen group as it was under the Old Covenant. They had to have specific and unique directives from God to a carry out what Jesus has already fulfilled as the High Priest under the New. Whereas, the 10 commandments were for all people who are in Him everywhere.
