D4-14: Debunking The FALSE TEACHING That To Obey The Law Is To Deny God’s Grace

I don’t know if you folks have realized it yet but Deuteronomy Chapter 4 is hands down without a doubt one of the most CRITICAL AND KEY CHAPTERS in the whole Bible.

And that’s probably an understatement.

Why do I say such a thing?

Because jam-packed into this lengthy chapter is an extensive deep-dive discussion into the God of Israel’s character, His attributes, the principles that serve as the foundation behind all of His Laws, the consequences for obeying or disobeying Him, and probably, most important of all…

…the proper response of a believer to the redemption and deliverance HASHEM has provided us.

In other words, how to respond to God AFTER He has saved us.

This point actually leads me directly to what is probably THE MOST DISTURBING THING that has ever been taught to believers since around the 4th Century AD, the time of Constantine.

What thing am I talking about?

I’m talking about the totally bogus idea that God’s Grace is an attribute of God that only came about AFTER Yeshua came onto the scene and was NOT an active part of God’s character before that.

They say that God’s Grace, an attribute that Christians most rely on, was only a New Testament dispensation.

Do you know how this teaching ultimately manifests itself and has been promoted in the mainstream church for centuries now?

It manifests itself by presenting the totally false dichotomy that you have to either choose between God’s Grace or His Law in order to be saved.

In other words, the mainstream church has made the Law and Grace mutually exclusive of each other.

They teach that to choose Law is to deny the Messiah…

…and to choose Grace is to accept the Messiah.

Honest God-seeking gentiles are literally forced to choose between the “Way of the Jews” represented by the Torah or the “Way of Christ” represented by the New Testament and that Roman torture and death device known as the cross.

Can you see how this doctrine leads to anti-Semitism?

Think about it.

A gentile possesses zero Scriptural foundation to properly understand the concepts of Law and Grace as defined in Torah.

So when you tell him or her that he has to choose between the Law (the way of the Jews) and Grace (the way of Christ), what inadvertently ends up happening?

It results in him repudiating not only the Torah but the whole Jewish people as a whole?

Boy Satan has sure been working overtime in this area.

The question we need to ask ourselves is…

…is this REALLY the choice set before us?

Does God really demand that we choose either Law or Grace?

Are Law and Grace really mutually exclusive of each other?

Is Law really the enemy of Grace?

Is to obey the Law really a repudiation of the Messiah?

I wanna share a quote with you from somebody is who is the farthest thing from being an apologist for Israel and the Jewish people.

In fact, I would say quite the opposite actually.

His name is Duane Christensen.

He is the editor of the volume in the World Bible Commentary dealing with Deuteronomy and studied at MIT and Harvard.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the World Bible Commentary, it is the one multi-volume work that is recommended by most of the Evangelical Seminaries and Bible colleges in existence today.

Heck, do I need to say more?

Here’s the quote…

“The popular view that identifies Law with the OT and gospel with the NT will certainly not stand up against a careful reading of the book of Deuteronomy as G. Braulik has shown. To understand Deuteronomy, one must recognize God’s PRIOR grace to sinners; that is, the PRIORTY OF GOSPEL (grace) OVER LAW IN THE OT as well as in the NT. Though Deuteronomy stresses that obedience to God’s Torah is essential, it even MORE strongly emphasizes that such obedience is dependent on the grace of God…”

Got it?

Is it clear now?

God’s Grace is contained in His Law…

…in fact, God’s Law IS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS GRACE.

Far from being mutually exclusive, they are inextricably linked to each other.

You can’t have one without the other.

You are treading on very dangerous ground if you hold to or worse teach a doctrine that pits law and grace as enemies against each other.

The truth is it is IMPOSSIBLE to choose law minus grace or to choose grace minus the law…

…yet that is what the mainstream church has demanded of its followers.

If a believer in a mainstream Christian church attempts to obey God’s commands, he is accused of “legalism” or “Judaizing“.

So as we move forward with our study of Chapter Four of Deuteronomy, keep in mind that it is the attribute of God’s Grace that plays a central role in this monumental portion of Scripture.

The truth is God’s Grace has been an essential ingredient at every stage of God’s interactions with human beings in every time period in htory.

Grace and Law are ORGANICALLY CONNECTED and you can’t separate one without killing the other.