Question:  Dear Greg,

            I come from a legalistic background and have recently been understanding God’s grace to where I do not find eternal security in the legalistic behaviors that are preached all over today.  My question is: as I begin to discover grace, what perspective should I have when I read the Old Testament?  Also, what issues that we face today do you find that the Bible specifically addresses and wants us to abstain from (i.e., homosexuality)?

            Thanks,

            William

Answer:  Hello William,

            Thanks for allowing us to be of service to you—it is encouraging to know that by God’s grace the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ is getting through the minefields and detours of religion!

            The perspective that God’s grace brings to the old covenant includes:

1.      appreciation that the one true God was progressively giving his plan to us, first working through the people of Israel and then in Jesus to all nations and peoples.

2.      insight into the work, ministry and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  All of the old covenant was fulfilled in and through his life and work on the cross.  The old covenant is the appetizer, the prelude—the old covenant prepared the way for Jesus, and reading it with a Christ-centered focus helps us discover obvious signs of his first coming.

3.      the law, as Paul tells us in Galatians, brings us to Christ, in that it shows us the futility of ever hoping to be righteous enough of and by our own efforts to earn God’s love.  In that regard, Christ is the end of the law—he is the purpose and goal of the law.

            Secondly, you ask about those commands that Christians should obey—both in terms of overt doing, and in abstinence.  Many ask a similar question—if grace is so all encompassing—if grace is the answer, then why should we even try to do anything “good” at all?

            The new command of Jesus is that we love one another (John 13:34 -35).  In some respects this was not new (see Matthew 22:37 -40), but the way in which God enables that love to be produced is new (and was when Jesus said it).  Jesus lives his life in us, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves (Galatians 2:20 ).

            The love that Jesus lives in us and the behaviors that he produces as he lives his new, resurrected life in us are not some intangible, ill-defined warm feelings, but are practical and real.  There are behaviors that the Holy Spirit produces and there are behaviors that our flesh produces—and they are set in sharp contrast in the New Testament.

            For further study, you may wish to take a look at the following passages.  Some of these passages contrast the fruit of the Spirit with the fruit of the flesh (for example Galatians 5:19 -26).  See also Ephesians 4:25-32, 5:1-21; Colossians 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-15; Romans 12:8-14; Revelation 21:8 and 22:14 -15.  As for specific references to the fact that the Holy Spirit does not produce homosexual behavior and that such behavior is a fruit of our flesh, see Romans 1:18-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

            These New Testament commands and behaviors are not legalistic, for they are not behaviors that we produce by our own effort.  They are not behaviors that manipulate God into blessing us or allowing us into the kingdom of heaven.  They are, instead, the new life of Christ that is reflected in men and women who seek and follow him.  As Paul tells us about his own life (in Romans 7), the fact is that in this life we Christians have a war—a war between the Spirit that indwells us and our body of flesh.  There are times when the flesh wins a battle (and God forgives us) but because we are in Christ and he in us, the outcome of the war is certain.  In Christ we have the victory (see Romans 8:28 -39).

            Hope this helps William—let us know if we can be of any further help.  May God bless you as you commit your life to our Lord and Savior.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht