The Boldness of Grace

AM Psalm 87, 90 • PM Psalm 136
Jer. 13:1-11 • Rom. 6:12-23 • John 8:47-59

In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul tells the Church in Rome not to live towards sin, but for righteousness. He reminds the people sin no longer has any control over them because they are no longer under the law but under grace. This is a tricky passage and is often times used by people who are motivated to say that they Jewish law is bad, but I think that we can come to a clearer understanding of what Paul means in this law/grace comparison.

What could Paul mean when he says that those under the law were slaves of sin? He isn’t intending to equate the law and sin, but instead to show the frame of perspective that the law (especially under the well-intentioned Pharisees) could bring to daily life; that is, being overly concerned with what might be a sin or not. We can see this issue at question clearly in a moment like when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath and got in trouble with the religious elite for breaking the Sabbath. Jesus tells them that the Sabbath is for humankind to rest, not to prevent helping a neighbor! When we consider this, it makes it simpler to see what Paul was trying to teach.

To be under the dominion of grace means, then, to be living from a perspective where one lives positively, not out of what one can’t do for fear of transgression, but what one can do to share goodness and carry out a righteous life. Someone under the dominion of grace who sees another in need doesn’t have to ask, “Will I be doing something bad by trying to help someone in need?”.

Paul is also careful to remind us that just because we are under the dominion of grace, we don’t get a free pass to do sinful things just because we want to. It is important to be able to make the distinction between being legalistic and antinomian, or against any rules. If we are afraid that any action might be a sin, how could we live enough to do any good? And likewise, if we totally rejected all rules and lived according to our passions, we would be truly living under the dominion of sin and would do no good at all. Thanks be to God who gives us the grace to boldly go into the world and share his righteous goodness.

Written by Curtis Moneymaker

Curtis is the Youth Director at St. Paul's, and he always looks forward to the joy and laughter of Wednesday dinner with the youth.