Grace for Grace
When Christ taught His disciples how to pray, He said they should address God as their Father. “So ready, so eager, is the Saviour’s heart to welcome us as members of the family of God, that in the very first words we are to use in approaching God He places the assurance of our divine relationship, ‘Our Father.’ ” 1
God “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” “He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Matthew 5:45; Acts 14:17).
And truly, “every good thing we have, each ray of sunshine and shower of rain, every morsel of food, every moment of life, is a gift of love.” 2
But besides general benevolence sent for all people, the Lord has two especially important gifts of grace which are also offered to us. What are they?
In the gospel according to John, it is written: “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:16, 17).
Here is stated clearly and definitely that two gifts of grace are given by God to us all, to all mankind. One gift of grace is the moral law of ten commandments, regulating the lives of all people, and another is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to redeem the human race, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
It is very important to notice that the second gift of grace was not given to cancel the first, but rather to confirm it: “grace for grace.” The New International Version of the Bible says, “we have all received one blessing after another.”
It is important that these two gifts of grace come out from the fullness of God. They are bound together indissolubly, issuing from one source—the fullness of God, for James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). To refer to only one of these two gifts of grace means to lose the fullness of God.
The word “grace” means unmerited divine assistance given man for his good.
We have to prove on the basis of the Scriptures and to have a clear concept that, besides the sacrifice of Christ in behalf of mankind, the law was given by God for the good of man as well. Besides the text in John 1:16, 17, if we can find in God’s word additional references to the law as being given for the good of man, then we shall have incontestable proofs that the law itself is a gift of grace.
By the mercy of God, we have such proofs:
Let us read what Nehemiah said of the law of ten commandments which had been given by the Lord in the audience of the people: “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant” (Nehemiah 9:13, 14). Notice the words “gavest them . . . good statutes and commandments”, that is, grace.
This is confirmed also by the apostle Paul, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).
The apostle James writes: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). We can see here that the doing of the law leads to blessedness.
In the book of Deuteronomy we read about the privileges of those who keep the commandments of God: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Deuteronomy 4:6–8).
David willed to his son Solomon: “And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself” (1 Kings 2:3).
This is what Solomon wrote: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18). The New Living Translation of the Bible says here: “But whoever obeys the law is happy.”
Let us see that the law is a kind and good gift to man from God.
The Gentiles brought their sacrifices to numerous idols, and their worship was sometimes accompanied by licentiousness and cruelty. The worship of Molech, god of war, was especially immoral. The people brought human sacrifices to him, including children. The Bible tells of one occasion when the king of Moab took his son, his firstborn, and offered him for a burnt offering (2 Kings 3:27).
In contrast to this, the commandment of God says, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). We wonder, is this good for man or not? One was forbidden to kill not only others, but oneself as well. All anger, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs also reduce the life of man and are transgressions of the same commandment of the law. In concern over the well-being of man, the Lord forbids such actions. And again we wonder, isn’t this restriction good for man?
There was much licentiousness in pagan temples. But the commandment of the law of God says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Do not be unfaithful to your wife, to your husband. Do not destroy the family circle! Do not make your children orphans! “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). And isn’t the law, providing family well-being and happiness, a good thing?
Some people in ancient times took their sick and aged parents into a desert place or into a forest and left them there to be eaten alive by wild animals. But the Lord commanded, saying, “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12). The care of the parents is assigned to their children. “Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person.” 3 Isn’t the law, providing care for parents, a good thing?
Amidst the rush of daily duties, people do not have time for useful and necessary rest from their work. Many have much sorrow, affliction, and disappointment through all their days (see Ecclesiastes 5:17). But the Lord, caring for man, has said, “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exodus 20:9, 10). Isn’t this a good blessing provided for man?
Similar examples are many, but those already shown are quite enough to consider the law of God, which gives so much to man, as grace from God. The Old and New Testaments confirm this, and any honest, serious man or woman will agree with it!
It is worthwhile to mention that the longest psalm of David (Psalm 119) is devoted to the law of God, to its greatness and necessity. With the words, “blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord” (verse 1), David begins his solemn song. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (verse 18), he asks. “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (verse 72)—David points out here the moral law of ten commandments, the only law which has been spoken by the mouth of the Lord in the audience of the people (see Deuteronomy 5:22). “All thy commandments are faithful” (verse 86), and he adds to this: “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (verse 97). With great delight he recognizes: “I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad” (verse 96).
This solemn hymn to the law of God is not vain, for the law is a great grace of God along with the sacrifice of Christ.
Let’s see another remarkable statement of David in this psalm: “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (verse 128). All precepts! God is our heavenly Father. He has created man, so He knows what is best for him. Therefore all His commandments concerning morals, food, hygiene, and so forth, are all just and necessary for the good of mankind. We should remember this constantly. But people do not want to understand this and recklessly reject His guidance to their own harm!
We have seen that Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s law are both elements of the grace of God. But we have a question: why does all the Christian world know about one gift of grace and speak of it, but practically keep silent about the second—and even worse, declare that the Ten Commandments are not necessary for us, thus ignoring the grace of God? Why do people today so persistently reject the law of God?
The Bible gives us the answer: This rejection has been evident in all times. In the days of the prophet Hosea, the Lord said, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hosea 8:12). Why are these great and important commandments, given by God to all mankind, counted as a strange thing?
The reason is that the law puts certain restrictions before a man for his own good and happiness, but because of his sinful nature man does not want to submit to these restrictions. He prefers to do what he wants, to his own harm. The words of the apostle Paul describe this condition: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. . . . For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:18, 19, 22, 23).
God, as the Father of us all, cares for our own good, as parents care about the good of their children. But do children make a worthy estimate of what their parents do for them? How do they sometimes respond to their care? Let me present a conversation between two youngsters. One says to another: “My mom is really good, she never punishes me and allows me to do everything I want.” The second replied with sadness, that he had a bad mother, because she limits him in many respects, she does not allow him to be naughty, and can punish him when he disobeys her. But which of these two was the good mother in reality? When grown up, what will these two boys become?
Why has the second mother, restraining the bad impulses of her son, forbidding him to play with fire, electricity, and so forth, appeared in his eyes as a bad parent? Because he doesn’t like her restrictions. He would prefer a mother who would allow him to do everything he wants. But the absence of all restraint leads to evil results. Everyone would agree with this!
Frequently adults are like children, as far as the prohibitions of God’s law are concerned. But if thoughtfully considered, each commandment would prove itself as given for the good of every individual and for all society as a whole.
Suppose there would be no traffic signals and rules. Everyone would drive as he or she would like to! What would be the result? Chaos, crashes, death. But how do some parents obey the existing laws of safe driving? They dislike them, and try to bypass them in every possible way, to break them somehow, not remembering that these laws are given for their good and safety. Many have the same attitude toward God’s commandments and laws established by Him for man. People do not want to understand that all of them are given for their well-being and happiness!
Sinful human nature resists seeing the law as grace from God. But at the same time people refer with great enthusiasm to the grace of Christ’s sacrifice, forgetting that the right to the tree of life in eternity will be given only to those who keep God’s commandments. (See Revelation 22:14).
Man would not have known sin except through the law (see Romans 7:7). This is one benefit from the law. Having known sin, man in repentance pleads to the Lord for pardon and help to overcome the defects of his character and to keep the law. Thus we receive one grace after another, and the one cannot be without the other.
As one final illustration to help us better understand this, let us consider the features of the sanctuary. All would agree that the most important of Israel’s worship to God was the service in the sanctuary.
The most sacred place in the sanctuary was the holiest, and there was the ark with the tables of stone whereupon God had written, with His own finger, the ten commandments of the moral law—God’s gift for the good of mankind.
Stephen N. Haskell writes: “The ark was the central figure of the entire sanctuary. . . . The cover of the ark was called the mercy seat, and was of pure gold. On either end of the mercy seat were cherubim of beaten gold, with their wings stretched forth covering the ark, and their faces looking reverently toward the law of God contained therein. . . .
“He, the merciful God, took His position upon that seat, so that every sinner who comes confessing his sins, may receive mercy and pardon. . . . There can be no government without law. . . . There could be no judgment without a law as a standard of judgment. . . . The establishment, or foundation, of His throne is righteousness and judgment (Psalm 97:2). . . .
“That holy law is the standard by which all will be judged. That law will condemn the guilty; for ‘sin is the transgression of the law’ (1 John 3:4). The same law that condemns the sinner will witness to the righteousness of those who, through faith in Christ, have tried to walk in harmony with its holy precepts, humbly seeking forgiveness for every transgression.” 4
Thus placed in the most holy place of the sanctuary, the ark with the law of God and the cover upon it, the mercy seat, is a remarkable object illustration of the words of John “grace for grace”—not canceling but rather supplementing each other, being the center of all worship to God.
So, “the manifold grace of God” is offered to all of us, consisting of two of the most important and indissolubly connected examples—the law and the forgiving mercy of Christ. We must always keep in mind that we cannot even keep the law without the gift of Christ in our life. His power can strengthen us to be overcomers.
Let us then strive to keep the law of God, which makes our life humane, sensible, pure, and happy. But, if we have broken God’s commandments in some area, let us ask Him for forgiveness. And let us thank God for His fatherly care for us for our salvation, and for two gifts of grace, which He has provided for our good!
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).