A few years ago someone coming to one of my Bible studies had been seeing the results of grace in her life and seemed so hungry for more, but out of fear she backed off from pure grace. She wrote to me and said, “I have too many things that I still believe are found in both grace and truth (principles from the law).” Those parentheses were hers, not mine. It’s still so perplexing even to this day that so many think that truth and law are the same thing, when the scriptures make it so clear that truth and grace are one! They are afraid to let go of the law because they have been working to be good for so long that they are terrified that sin will overtake them if they let go. But what does the Bible say?
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for [because] you are not under law but UNDER GRACE. (Romans 6:14, brackets and emphasis mine)1
Those who are in Christ, born again of the Spirit of God, joined to the Lord are “under grace.” As a new creation in Christ, it is impossible for us to be under the dominion of sin.
Even though the scriptures make it so plain, the fearful and religious will still ask the question that we find in the next verse:
What then? Shall we sin [the verb] because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! (Romans 6:15)
This is the only place that sin is used as a verb in the entire chapter of Romans 6, and it’s used by those who would question whether Paul was condoning sin. For those who don’t understand grace, sin is always a verb that we can somehow control by working hard enough.
We don’t need to fear the freedom we have in Christ. Paul is in no way giving us the freedom to sin. The Gospel doesn’t give us freedom TO sin. It gives us freedom FROM sin – from the imputation of sin! Not only are our sins not counted against us, we have been given a new nature that does not desire sin any more than Jesus desires to sin!
(from pages 140-141 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
