Why then did God give the law?

       First, God's law was designed to show our mistakes, 

not to correct them. Grace was designed to correct our 

mistakes. So, look at the law as a mistake detector and 

Grace as a correction detector. If God didn't give the law, 

man would not have known good from bad. Now that we 

know good from bad, the antidote(solution) to this bad attitude 

is Grace(God's love and mercy); and Grace came by Jesus. 

      So, look at it this way. When ever you have a sickness 

and you go to the hospital, what happens? You get tested 

right? A device is used to have you tested in order to know 

what is wrong with you. In other words, the testing device 

diagnoses the problem. Now, does the testing device serve 

as the medicine? Definitely not. So, the obvious thing would 

be for you to get the medicine to cure that sickness right? In 

the same way, we were sick because of the sin committed by 

Adam. So, the law served as a testing device to test us. In 

other words, the law diagnosed our problem so that we would 

be aware of the sickness(sin) in us. Now, the only way to cure 

this disease(sin) in us is not by using the same testing 

device(law). The only way to cure this disease(sin) in us is by 

using the antidote(medicine) called Grace. Grace is Jesus. 

Grace is the mercy of God which empowers you naturally to 

do good without making any efforts. Your only effort is the 

Holy Spirit that works in you and through you. That is why the 

bible tells us  "...we are no longer under the law but under 

Grace"(Rom 6:14). Grace is easy but not cheap. It is pretty 

much easy to accept it. Just open your mouth and sincerely 

accept Jesus into your life wholeheartedly and He will 

manifest His power in you for good. So if someone asks you 

this "if I am not under the law, how then am I supposed to 

know what is good or bad"? Your response should be "the 

Holy Spirit that works in you as your conscience would tell 

you the right thing to do". Awesome right?   

     
     The second reason God gave the law was to show a 

shadow of the Christ. Heb 10:1 says "the law is only a 

shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities 

themselves. For this reason, it can never by the same 

sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect 

those who draw near to worship".  As you can see, I did not 

make this up. This is a quote directly from the bible. God 

gave the law in order that we will already see a shadow of 

the good things(Jesus) that are yet to come. So, this is what 

we need to understand: the law is holy but the law itself can't 

make you holy. The bible says that the law is a shadow. So 

ask yourself this question: Can a shadow do you any good? 

Can the shadow of a sandwich feed you? Can the shadow of 

money fill your bank account? Definitely not! Only the product 

itself can satisfy the need right? Therefore, the law(a shadow) 

can not satisfy the need for righteousness but the product 

itself(Grace or Jesus) can satisfy the need for righteousness. 

      Bear in mind that the law has so many do's and don'ts 

that no one on earth could fulfill except God the son(Jesus). 

So Jesus fulfilled all the requirements and gave us the free 

gift of Grace. Grace in simple terms is described as the 

exceptional unmerited favor from God. 

     The third reason God gave these do's and don'ts(the law) 

was to show the jews that they could never be perfect by their 

own will or strength. God was proving to them that there was 

no amount of good they would do that would please 

him(God). And that is why many people were suffering from 

the numerous commandments and feeling guilty of sin. Think 

with me for a second. Can you honestly feel free and happy if 

you have too many laws to follow? Never! May I remind you 

that there are over 613 laws in the old testament 

scriptures(see book of Exodus). So if you want to please God 

with behavior, you need to follow all 613 laws. You can not 

follow only 600 of them and tell God that you have tried. 

Nope! God is the perfect God and so if you want to please 

Him with the law, you need to follow all 613 of them. The bible 

even says "whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at 

just one point is guilty of breaking all of it"(James 2:10). So, it 

is either you follow all 613 of the law or nothing at all. But 

because it is impossible for man to follow all these do's and 

don'ts, Jesus(God the son) fulfilled the law, ended it, and 

gave us Grace. No man fulfilled all these law requirements 

except king Jesus. When Jesus came, He knew that we could 

not follow all these do's and don'ts. Therefore, He decided to 

fulfill them for us(Matt 5:17) and in place of it, He gave us a 

free gift - Grace. So Christ ended the law(Rom 10:4) and 

gave us Grace. Yet, most of us(including christians) are still 

trying to fall back to the law.   

        Please listen to this important statement very carefully: 

satan is able to tempt you only where there is a law. If 

there is no law, satan can't tempt you. So if you believe you 

are not under any laws, satan can't tempt you and he would 

run away from you. Let me prove it to you. Take the example 

of Adam and Eve in the garden. According to the book of 

Genesis, we learn that  Adam was living freely and happily; 

and didn't face temptation whatsoever(Adam wasn't under 

any law). But the moment God gave him one law, satan(the 

tempter) showed up. Ask yourself that why did satan not 

show up or tempt Adam until God gave Adam a law? It was 

just one simple instruction i.e "eat of all trees but do not eat of 

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"(see Gen 2:17). So 

you see, when you are under a law, that is when satan tempts 

you. More so, if you are under so many laws, the temptation 

will be more and you won't be able to live a free life under 

grace. 

      Now, let me reverse a little and make something clear. I 

hear some preachers say that it was God's original plan for 

Adam to be tempted so that Adam will leave the garden and 

he won't be imprisoned in the garden. First of all, God is the 

God of Grace, love and mercy and He will never plan to hurt 

His children. Pain comes only from the devil but when it 

happens, God uses that painful situation for His glory. It was 

not God's will for Adam and Eve to fall into temptation. Bear 

in mind that God did not threaten Adam; He only warned him 

nicely about that particular tree. The truth is that God was 

hoping that Adam and Eve would enjoy in the garden and that 

human beings would enjoy in the garden for generation to 

generation with no pain and struggle. Who says God could 

not expand the garden and make the entire world to be as 

beautiful as the garden? He probably would have done so if 

Adam and Eve did not disobey and fall into temptation.    

        In conclusion, God always been gracious and loving. 

However, He gave the law to clearly demonstrate to us that 

we could not survive without His Grace. 

       

Grace + Law = ?

         Let us assume that a child is born in jail and is now twelve 

years of age. For twelve years, this boy has never been 

exposed to any laws(either in the bible or in the country's 

constitution). Would you honestly tell me that this child won't 

know good from bad? Better yet, would he or would he not by 

nature be aware of certain bad things? In my own humble 

opinion, I think there are certain things he would know, by 

nature, to be wrong for instance hurting someone else. 

Therefore, he has God-given instincts in him to tell whether 

some things are wrong. The point is that God's Grace has 

naturally given us the instinct of awareness. We don't need 

laws to define our relationship with God. We don't need 'law + 

Grace' as well; we need only Grace(God's love and mercy). It 

is by God's Grace that we know what to do and what not to 

do. Do you recall the story of how God created man in his 

image? The bible says "God...breathed into his nostrils the 

breadth of life..."(Gen 2:7). So by nature, we have God's 

breadth in us. Therefore, his Grace that abides inside of us 

tells us by instinct how to operate in life.

       Before diving deeper into these, let me pause here to 

explain that two covenants with God have existed in the 

history of mankind. However, only one is in use or is 

supposed to be in use today(the second one). These 

covenants are:

1. The Old covenant(Ex 24:7): This covenant is about God's 

law which has over 613 commandments i.e the big ten plus 

603 more. These commandments are found in Ex:20 - 

Ex:24. 

2. The New covenant(Matt 26:27-28): This covenant is about 

God's Grace(love and mercy) which has no law whatsoever. 

      

      God gave the law(through Moses) only after he saw that 

the jews were ungrateful for his Grace(love and mercy) 

towards them(Exodus 14). God gave these 

commandments to them not to make them righteous and 

holy; God gave these commandments to show man's 

mistakes and numerous sins. Then many years later, God 

gave Grace(Jesus) to save us from the law and to make us 

righteous and holy. How then can we mix the strength of 

sin(law) and the strength of holiness(Grace)? Remember, the 

law in itself is perfect and holy(see Rom 7:12) but when the 

law is associated with man, it causes sin(see 1Cor 15:56). In 

other words, the law itself is holy but it does not make man 

holy; it instead makes man to sin more and causes more 

condemnation. On the other hand, Grace gives us a peace of 

mind and a sense of love, joy and forgiveness. 
       
       Many at times, I hear people say that law and Grace go 

together. Here is my question. Is there any new testament 

scripture that says that? If you can back up that statement 

with a scripture in the new testament, I will be willing to learn 

that. However, I can back up my claim that "we are no longer 

under the law but strictly under Grace" with so many 

scriptures in the New testament bible among which include:  

Rom 6:14, Rom 10:4, 1Cor 15:56, Jn 1:17; just to name a 

few. The reason I am emphasizing on the New testament is 

that the New testament is all about Grace(Jesus). The old 

testament was all about the law because Jesus wasn't yet 

existing in the flesh. So, Grace(Jesus) was not yet fully 

revealed according to old testament scriptures even though 

God has always been the God of Grace(mercy).  In addition 

to that, when you say that law and Grace(Jesus) go together, 

my question is "how can you mix old wine skin and new wine 

skin"?The old wine would burst the skins and the new wine 

will be ruined(see Mk 2:22). You need to throw something 

old(law) which is obsolete and embrace something 

new(Grace); so that the new thing is not ruined. In other 

words, the law is old fashioned but Grace is new fashioned i.e 

Grace is in fashion. Grace is more or less like new technology 

which will never run out of fashion. Cool huh? 

          When we say Grace and law go together, the question 

we should ask ourselves is "how can we mix an old 

relationship with God(old covenant) and a new relationship 

with God(new covenant)"? Let us assume that John and Jack 

were enemies from birth and could not see eye-to-eye. 

Fortunately, one blessed day, something incredible happens 

and after so many years, they decide to be best of friends. 

The truth is that their relationship has now changed, right? Is 

it possible to mix their new relationship(friends) with their old 

relationship(enemies)? Definitely not! Therefore, we can not 

add our new relationship with God(Grace) to the old 

relationship with God(law). Please don't get me wrong here. I 

am not saying that God saw us as enemies in the old 

testament. God has always had the nature of Grace in him 

but He couldn't express His fatherly love and mercy to man 

because man rejected Him through disobedience(Adam and 

Eve story in Gen 2:4-Gen 3:24). 

       In the old testament(i.e before Christ came), we had a 

separation with God because of the Adam and Eve sin. In 

other words, there was a barrier separating man from God. At 

the time, not any one could just communicate with God or 

offer sacrifices to him. If you needed to request something in 

particular from God, you needed to do so with the help of a 

high priest or God's chosen prophet(e.g high priest 

Melchizedek, prophet Moses, prophet Daniel). So, there was 

a barrier between God and man; and the law strengthened 

that barrier.     

      On the other hand, in the new testament(after Christ 

came), that barrier between God and man was broken. That 

explains why the curtain in the temple tore in two pieces(Matt 

27:50-51); the curtain signified the barrier between God and 

human beings and now that it was torn, that barrier was torn 

as well. This broken barrier was made possible by God's 

Grace(Jesus). So anyone in Christ(under Grace) can 

communicate with God freely at any unlike before. Because 

Grace(Jesus) has made us holy, we can now boldly come in 

the kingdom of the most high unlike before(where the law 

condemned). So my question still stands, how can we mix 

this new incredible covenant of Grace with the old 

condemning covenant of law? It can't work. Recall that the 

power of the Holy Spirit would tell you what to do and what 

not to do. 

            The bible says "...God sent forth his son...made 

under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might 

receive the adoption of sons. And because we are sons,...the 

spirit of God in our hearts would cry out Abba Father"(Gal 

4:4-6). If you meditate(think about over and over) on this 

scripture, you would notice that before God the son(Christ) 

came to the world, human beings were really not considered 

as his children(sons) of God, by God the father himself.  

There was basically a non father-son-relationship and the law 

made it worse. God wasn't pleased with that and so He 

decided to send his son(Jesus) who was so full of Grace(love 

and mercy) to change that relationship. When Jesus(God the 

son) died on the cross, human beings were now considered 

as children of God, by God himself. So, as you can see, it is 

very important that we understand and value this new 

relationship with God(love and mercy) and let go of the old 

relationship(condemnation by the law).     

            Please, always bear in mind that Grace and law can 

never go together because they are very incompatible. Let me 

make this crystal clear with the following simple equation: 

Grace + law = nothing   or   Grace + law = 0.

      It really breaks my heart when people say "we are no 

longer under the law but we still need to follow some law". If 

we say this, then we haven't yet understood the gospel of 

Grace. According to the gospel of Grace, we are no longer 

under the law, period! How can we say "we are no longer 

under the law but we still have to follow some law"? Isn't that 

contradictory? As someone under Grace, your conscience(i.e 

the holy spirit in you) would tell you what is right; not the law.  

          The mistake we keep making is that we think that God 

is kind and merciful only to those who obey his law. No! That 

is false and misleading. My dear friends, I am here to tell you 

that God is kind and merciful to everyone who accepts his 

Grace(Jesus). In other words, God is kind and merciful to 

everyone who accepts him sincerely(i.e born again or saved). 

When you become born again, Hod would be so kind to you 

that when you leave this world, you would go straight to his 

kingdom(Heaven). Let me prove it to you. Jesus clearly said 

to Nicodemus "unless a man is born again, he will not see the 

kingdom of Heaven"(Jn 3:3). And no; to be born again doesn't 

mean you should follow God's law. If that be the case, then 

no one would ever see the kingdom of Heaven; because no 

one can follow all 613 commandments found in the law. To be 

born again means to be under the Grace(love and mercy) of 

God. The person under God's Grace is guided by the Holy 

Spirit, not the law.  

     

Differences between Law & Grace

1.  Someone under the law does good in order to please God 

but someone under Grace does good because he really 

wants to do it; in other words, he is doing that good thing with 

love and sincerity.   

2. The law is like a remote control. People under the law don't 

understand why they are doing the good. All what the law 

says is "just do it". But people under Grace understand why 

they do good. They do it with sincere love. 

3. People under the law do good because of fear of 

punishment from God. Therefore, one reason people follow 

the law is so that they shouldn't be punished. But people 

under Grace do good without any fear or condemnation. 

4. When people under the law do bad by accident, they feel 

really guilty about it and spend weeks, months and even 

years begging for forgiveness; forgiveness that Jesus 

already took care of more that 2000 years ago. Whereas, 

when people under Grace do something bad by accident, all 

they say is "Lord, I am sorry about that and I thank you for 

already forgiving me". Period! And then they move on with 

their lives. 

5. The law tells you to do good but Grace teaches you how to 

do good. For example the law will tell you to love your 

neighbor but Grace will teach you how to love your neighbor.  

6. The law is the old covenant which came by Moses but 

Grace is the new covenant which came by Jesus(see Jn 

1:17).  

7. If you are still following any law, what you are saying is that 

Moses is your savior but when you are strictly under 

Grace(Jesus), what you are saying is that king Jesus is your 

savior. 

8. People under the law must follow all 613 do's and don'ts 

but people under Grace don't have to follow any do's and 

don'ts because they are told what to do only by the Holy 

Spirit. 

      I know this is somehow shocking to some people but here 

is the truth: the the NLT Bible says "for the person who keeps 

all of the laws except one is guilty as a person who has 

broken all of God's laws"(James 2:10). Therefore, you can't 

say "we are not under the laws but we have to follow some 

laws". Well, not according to this verse. You can't follow 

some, and throw some. We have two choices: we either 

follow all 613 do's and don'ts(the law) or we follow no law at 

all(Grace). This claim is proven in James 2:10 as written 

above. 

      In conclusion, it is much more logical to be strictly under 

the Grace of God which was given by our Lord and savior 

Jesus Christ. Grace is all about love, mercy and forgiveness 

but the law is all about condemnation, condemnation, and 

more condemnation. 

              * If you are guilty of one law, you are guilty of all others(Jas 2:10) *

Must we, Should we?

           Remember, we are no longer under any laws whatsoever. 

Therefore, we don't have to(must not) pray in tongues. 

However, it would be awesome and beneficial for our spiritual 

communication with God when we pray in tongues. Grace will 

lead us to speak in strange languages(tongues) in due time. 

Remember, God is a Spirit and so communication in the spirit 

is only through tongues. Besides, Paul said "I would love for 

you all to speak in tongues…"(1corinth 14:5). Praying in 

tongues is very beneficial.  

       Also, we don't have to(must not) sow a seed.There is 

no law saying that we must sow a seed. You know why? 

Because we are not under any laws whatsoever.  However, 

the power of Grace would lead a child of God into sowing a 

seed because what you reap is what you sow (see Gal 6:7).  

      In addition to that, we don't have to(must not) give tithes  

to God. Better yet, we don't have to give the first 10% of our 

wages as tithes to God. There is no law saying that we must 

give 10% of our wages to God. You know why? Because we 

are not under any laws whatsoever. However, it will be 

awesome to give whatever amount the Holy Spirit has put in 

our hearts to give. It could be 5%,10%, 20%, 30%. Now, have 

I said that you shouldn't give 10% of your wages as tithes? 

Definitely not! Please don't get me wrong. What I am saying 

is that you are not under any law to give 10% but you can 

decide to give 10% if only  your inner heart(Holy Spirit in you) 

tells you to give that amount. It all depends on your 

heart(conscience). Remember, only God knows the heart of 

men. If you decide to go to the extent of giving 50% of your 

wages as tithes without any love, then there is no point giving 

it.    

      Furthermore, we don't have to spread God's word, or 

evangelize or prophesy or help the poor or do any good thing. 

You know why? Because we are not under any laws what so 

ever. However, as a child of Grace, it would be awesome to 

do these good things in Jesus' name for His glory. The Holy 

Spirit would obviously want you to do these awesome things. 

In fact, the Holy Spirit does good things through you. You can 

not tell me that because you are not under any of God's laws, 

Grace would tell you to steal, lie, or cheat. LOL. No my dear 

friend, that is not how it works. That is called 'extreme Grace' 

and that is not what I am in support of. Even though we are 

not under any of God's laws, Grace will empower us to do 

good; and far much better than those under the law.

Tithing:  

        Let me use this opportunity to elaborate more on tithing. 

Like I said before, we are not under any law of tithing; 

therefore, we are not forced to tithe. However, as a child of 

Grace(Jesus), it would be awesome to tithe. So here is the 

thing. Under the old covenant of the law, people tithe because 

they are scared of the punishment of God. Mal 3:8-9 says 

"will a man rob God?Yet, you have robbed me. But you say 

wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are 

cursed with a curse for you have robbed me, even this whole 

nation". Let me make something crystal clear: God does not 

curse His children anymore. This verse was referring to those 

under the old covenant(the law). As children under 

Grace(Jesus), we are no longer under any laws whatsoever; 

you know why? Because Jesus fulfilled the law(see Matt 5:17) 

and gave us Grace. The bible says "..for you are not under 

the law but under grace"(Rom 6:14). Why are we still trying to 

fulfill the law which Jesus already fulfilled? Why are we being 

so ungrateful? Most churches today still tell people to give 

tithes else they will be punished or cursed. That is old and 

archaic doctrine and it is about time we know this truth; the 

truth which satan has been hiding from us for decades.  

     Have I said we shouldn't give tithes? Definitely not. What I 

am saying is that we should tithe not because we are scared 

of God's punishment or curse(as said in the law in Mal 3:8-9), 

we should tithe instead because we have the love of God in 

our hearts. The truth is that people under the law give tithes 

only because the law says so; therefore they don't do it with 

love. People who follow the law grumble and complain in their 

hearts and find it hard to give their tithes freely. However, 

people under Grace(Jesus) give tithes with love because they 

are doing it from the bottom of their hearts; knowing that God 

is always pleased with them regardless. These folks(those 

under Grace) don't complain or murmur in their minds 

because they know God would always provide. Let us take a 

quick look at this scenario:

      Assuming there are two persons in a church called Tom 

and Harry. Tom follows strictly the God's Grace but Harry 

follows God's law. Tom gives gives 5% of his salary as 

tithes to God but Harry gives 10% of his salary as tithes to 

God. Tom is giving that amount based on sincere grace of 

God but Harry is giving that amount based on the 

law because he wants to follow God's law. Now, whose tithe 

do you think God would honor more? The one who gave less 

from the bottom of his heart(Tom) or the one who gave more 

just because the law stated so(Harry)? If you understood 

what I explained in the previous paragraphs, then you would 

know the obvious answer to this question.    

     My dear brethren in the Lord, if we go around telling 

people to give tithes else God will curse them, then we do not 

even know God. If we tell people that they should tithe in a 

particular amount(e.g 10%) else God won't bless them 

enough, then we still don't understand who God really is. God 

is the most caring, loving, merciful father who will never hurt 

His children(not after He gave us Jesus). When you sincerely 

accept Jesus(Grace) into your life, you have accepted the 

mercy of God. And from that moment, it is the Holy Spirit that 

tells you what to do; not the law. The law is only there to 

condemn everything you do but Grace is there to save you 

and love you. Let me put it this way: the law condemns the 

best of you but Grace saves the worst of you(Creflo Dollar). 

Change of law:

     At this point, let us talk more about change of law. In Heb 

7:1-22, we learn that Melchisedec was a high priest of the 

law. In fact, he was one of the greatest high priest at the time. 

But guess what? The bible says "..even Jesus made a high 

priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec"(Heb 6:20). It 

goes further to say "if perfection could have been attained 

through the levitical priesthood,…what further need was there 

that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec 

and not be called after the order of Aaron"?(Heb 7:11). From 

this verse, it seems to me that priest Melchisedec could have 

appointed another priest from the tribe of Levi(such as Aaron) 

but he instead chose Jesus. As we all know, Jesus was not 

just any priest but the 'priest of change'. The next verse says 

"for when the priesthood is changed, the law must be 

changed also"(Heb 7:12). Therefore, as far as priest Jesus is 

concerned, the law has changed. In other words, Jesus is not 

concerned about the law anymore, Jesus is now concerned 

about Grace(mercy and love). So, as followers of Christ, we 

are never for one moment condemned by Christ(God the son) 

and Jehovah(God the father). Heb 7:19 says "for the law 

made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; 

by which we draw near to God". 

      Ladies and gentlemen, what more proof do we need? We 

should stop killing ourselves without the law and live freely 

under the new covenant of Grace(Jesus). As a born again 

christian, there is nothing you can do that would make God 

angry with you. God will never condemn you because He 

really loves you. As a born again christian(new child of God), 

doing something bad does not change God's opinion of you; 

instead it changes your opinion of God(Darlingston Johnson). 

Have I said you are free to do bad things? No! Doing bad 

things definitely has its own consequences but it doesn't 

change God's love for you; it doesn't change God's opinion 

about you. Grace(Jesus) empowers us to do good but in case 

we do something bad, all we have to say is "Lord, I am sorry 

about that but I thank you for already forgiving me because of 

your blood which took away the sins of the world". Period! 

And then you move on with your life with no condemnation. 

You don't have to feel bad for months and months worrying 

about a mistake which God has already forgiven. Remember, 

Jesus' blood washed away our past, present and future sins 

so that we would always remain righteous and holy in Him; 

that is how powerful the blood is. The bible says "…we have 

been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus 

Christ once for all"(Heb 10:10). Therefore, we are holy not 

because of any good thing we did, but because of every good 

thing Jesus did; for us. So we can't take Jesus' blood for 

granted because, what He did was done once and for all. He 

is not going to do it again. That explains why He said on the 

cross "it is finished"(Jn 19:30); meaning that He finished his 

great mission on earth by giving us the free gift called Grace 

i.e mercy, love and unearned favor. Why then should we 

insult this gift and fall back to the law which only condemns us 

and makes us feel guilty and worried???