About ten years ago, when the gospel of grace was only beginning to spread in the Russian-speaking world, the situation was such that almost all believers were in so-called Galatianism. At the Sunday meetings all they did was hang unbearable legalistic burdens on the necks of God’s sheep. Some were fine with it, others put up with it, and others simply left the churches without ever finding the love of God there.

Glory to the Lord for the gospel of God’s grace, through which the Spirit of God brings us back to our first love, which is not our love for God, but His great love for us. This love gives wings, strengthens, and sets us free from all problems and addictions.

But as always happens when true teaching is preached, the enemy tries to distort it. Just look at how many denominations there are within Protestantism alone. As soon as God gave Martin Luther the revelation of righteousness through faith, all kinds of deviations appeared — either to the legalistic side, that one can only be saved and justified by works, or to the other extreme, which I would like to touch on in this article.

The gospel of grace

In recent years many so-called distributors of grace have appeared, creating groups on social networks. It would be good if they shared personal revelations received through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, but it often happens that they simply fill their groups with “grace content” to gain as many followers as possible.

I remember once, about three years ago, coming across one such group and finding my own articles there, which the group’s moderator was passing off as his own, simply copying them from the New Jerusalem site without even giving the source. What was also surprising was that this man lived in the same city as me, but never wrote to me and never wanted to meet and talk. At first this made me very indignant, and I even tried to block his access to the site, but then the Lord showed me that this was not my battle, but the Lord’s.

By the way, just recently, while listening to one of Joseph Prince’s sermons, I learned that he had had a similar situation. He said that a well-known preacher in America, who used to attack him and the gospel of grace that Joseph preaches, had now begun using Joseph’s revelations in his sermons and passing them off as his own. Personally, this reminds me of the situation in the book of Acts, when the seven sons of a chief priest tried to cast a demon out of a possessed man by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. We can read how it all ended. :-)

Later I learned that the man who had been copying my articles had abandoned his distribution business and gone into Judaism. Not for nothing did the apostle Paul write that when we build, a day of fire will always come and test our work. If we build with precious stones — personal revelations received from the Lord that do not contradict the sound doctrine revealed by the holy apostles in Scripture — such work will stand. As Paul wrote: “each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” (1 Cor.3:13)

So I see no particular need to join all sorts of social groups and argue with so-called distributors of “unlicensed” information. The day of fire will reveal each one’s work. My business is only to share what the Lord has revealed to me personally, and then He Himself will bring the people who, through the articles and letters, will be built up and strengthened in faith and in the love of God. After all, it is not for nothing that the Lord gave all kinds of ministers, of whom Paul wrote in the epistle to the Ephesians, so that we “should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Eph.4:14)

Winds of doctrine

Even in the apostles’ time there were not only Jewish legalists who tried to drag believers in Jesus back into keeping the Old Testament commandments, but also others who turned the grace of God into licence for immorality. The apostles paid special attention to this, especially John, who even wrote a whole Gospel in which he clearly showed that Jesus Christ is God who came in the flesh, because so-called Gnostic teachings had appeared, which rejected the idea that God was born in a human body.

Gnostic teachings are not necessarily ones that deny God’s coming in the flesh, but ones that like to present God’s truths in a “spiritual” light. For example, from an American preacher well known among Russian-speaking believers, I heard that the word rapture is not in Scripture, and that the rapture is a personal experience that Paul wrote about in chapter 12 of the second epistle to the Corinthians.

Perhaps the word rapture isn’t there, just as the word “Trinity” isn’t there, but that doesn’t mean that what these words describe doesn’t exist. The apostle Paul wrote clearly and unambiguously: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Ths.4:16-17) So all teachings like preterism, which says that the resurrection and rapture of believers already happened in the year 70, and the teaching of the “overly spiritual”, who teach that the rapture is a personal experience — all of this is aimed at one thing: to destroy the faith and blessed hope of those who doubt.

The other extreme is all kinds of teachings that Jesus has saved and justified all people, and it doesn’t matter whether a person believes or not. This comes from a misunderstanding of faith, which is often seen as human effort or some kind of striving. No, my friends, faith is not an effort of the flesh, but the gift of God. (Eph.2:8) Jesus said: “Have faith in God.” Faith, like love, is not something we try to produce through fleshly effort; we receive it by hearing the word of God.

Interestingly, before Jesus said “have faith in God”, Peter said to Him: “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” (Mar.11:21) A person receives the faith of God only when the fig tree, which symbolises the works and efforts of the flesh, withers. In other words, the less a person relies on his own efforts, the easier it is, so to speak, for him to receive the faith of God, and with it salvation and righteousness.

Paul said to the jailer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Act.16:31) Paul, why believe in order to be saved? Hasn’t Jesus saved everyone? In the opinion of modern Gnostics, Paul should have said to the jailer: “Jailer, my friend, I want to give you new knowledge — Jesus has saved everyone. Agree with this knowledge.” I want to draw your attention to the fact that all these teachings put the emphasis on all kinds of knowledge and insights, not on faith. That is exactly how the Gnostics of the first century taught, saying that everything depends on “spiritual” knowledge, not on faith in the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Righteousness, too, is not human but God’s, and it is given to all people as a gift. Some put it to work, like the servants in the parable of the talents, while others bury it in the ground. To put it to work means to believe, for Jesus said: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (Jhn.6:29) Notice: our believing is not our work, but the work of God, or more precisely, the work of the Holy Spirit. And to bury it in the ground means to turn salvation and redemption into an effort of the flesh, since the ground symbolises the flesh.

The handwriting against us

Another extreme that people fall into is the teaching that God has abolished the law and there is no law any more, and as proof they quote the apostle Paul’s words from the epistle to the Colossians about the handwriting that God wiped out.

God did not abolish the law, for the same Paul wrote that the law is good and holy, and also that “the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners…” (1 Tim.1:9) Mount Sinai, which symbolises the law, hasn’t gone anywhere, but stands in Arabia to this day. (Gal.4:25) It is another matter that the Lord, together with the angels and the saints, has moved His dwelling place from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, where He judges and will judge not by the law of Moses, but by the law of mercy and liberty.

As for the handwriting that was wiped out, Paul is writing there not about the law, but about the curses of the law. It says there that this handwriting was against us, or, closer to the original, that it was contrary to us. The law in itself is neutral and is not contrary to anyone. For example, there is a law forbidding you to cross the road on a red light. Whom is this law against, and to whom is it contrary? It is another matter that there is a penalty for breaking this law, and that is what is directed against the offenders.

It’s the same with the Law of God. The commandments are holy and good, and some, like “Honor your father and mother”, even have a promise, as the apostle Paul wrote. (Eph.6:2-3) It is a different matter with the curses written by the hand of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 28. It was they that were against us, and it was they that the Lord nailed to the cross, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” (Gal.3:13) Jesus became a curse in our place, and God nailed our curse, in the body of Jesus, to the tree. Hallelujah!!

For those who like to dig deeper, I’ll say that the word for wiped out there is the Greek word exaleiphō (G1813), which literally means to wipe away, to blot out, and all this is said in the context of God having forgiven us all trespasses! (Col.2:13-14) The prophet Isaiah writes about it: “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” (Isa.43:25) This is exactly what the Holy Spirit testifies now: “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb.10:15-17)

“So, Paul, if God has not abolished the law, do we have to keep it?” Of course not, but not because God abolished it, but because a believer no longer lives under the law but under grace (Rom.6:14), and also because we, baptised into Christ Jesus, have died to the law through the body of Christ and now live for God’s righteousness, or more literally IN God’s righteousness.

The law of Christ

Living in grace is not the same as living in lawlessness. That is exactly how many who fall into the legalistic extreme take it when you tell them about the grace of God. And all because they live according to the flesh. The other extreme is when people say that there is no more law and we cannot sin, and turn life in grace into lawlessness.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his part in the gospel, he said: “to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.” (1 Cor.9:20-21) Very interesting words!

Firstly, Paul said that he was no longer under the law, because he knew that he was under grace. And secondly, when he was with the lawless, he did not behave like a lawless man, but as one who keeps the law of Christ. And what kind of law is that? It is the love and grace of God, which he showed to the lawless, as Jesus did to tax collectors and sinners, for it is written that love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom.13:10)

In the epistle to the Galatians Paul wrote: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal.6:2) I have heard some people quote this verse in order to load their own life problems onto other people’s shoulders. But what it is about is that if a person commits lawlessness (and therefore such a person is still living under the law), he should be restored not with condemnation but with the love of God, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ.

Paul also wrote that those who live in grace and freedom should not despise those who are weak in faith (the legalists), and that the legalists should not judge those who live in grace, because God has received us all. (Rom.14:3) So let us not judge one another, but rather resolve not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. For if because of our liberty the conscience of one who is weak in faith is wounded, then because of our knowledge the weak brother perishes, and in this way we are not walking in love, breaking the law of Christ. (1 Cor.8:9-12)

“There you go again, Paul, telling me I have to keep yet another law, called the law of Christ.” Dear friend, if for you this is just another commandment, then you are probably still living according to the flesh, trying to please God with your works; but it is written that the law of Christ is fulfilled not by the carnal but by the spiritual. (Gal.6:1) Love for our brothers and sisters is not our fleshly effort, but the result of a personal revelation of Christ’s love for us. When we come to know the love of Christ through the revelation of Jesus Christ, we are filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph.3:19) And for someone who is overflowing with the love of God, it is very easy to pour it out on others.

It’s like a woman carrying a yoke with two buckets filled to the brim with water. She walks across the field, swaying a little from the overflowing love, and the water splashes to the right and to the left, on the just and on the unjust.