Is Grace the Antitode for Sin?

Is the teaching of Grace the antidote for sin?

I have two points to this question:

1. Neither the preaching of Law nor the preaching of Grace guarantee that someone will never sin. In fact, I don’t see anywhere in the Bible that Grace is guaranteed to do that for us. And if we want it to be the antidote for sinful behavior, maybe we are missing the point of it all.

I have been around a lot of people who preach Grace and who preach Law. And I’ve found that they’ve all been susceptible to sinful behavior because of the weak flesh that we all live with. 

2. However, Grace can do something that legalism will never do, because Grace reveals something about God that legalism denies. 

Grace reveals a heart so full of love that we cannot define its boundaries. It reveals a mercy that endures forever. This very language shows that there is a depth to God’s goodness that goes beyond our understanding. As we let God’s unconditional love affect our heart, we find ourselves growing in Christlikeness. 

This is another point where legalism and Grace separate. Legalism would define Christlikeness by outer behavior like not smoking, not drinking, not using foul language, not watching certain movies, not wearing certain clothes, church attendance, bible reading or even taking political positions. 

Christlikeness produced by Grace is the fruit of the Spirit that is felt first inwardly and then manifested outwardly. It is the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You begin to feel love, joy and peace in a way that rule-keeping never produced for you. That same love is then extended to others and especially towards those in whom it seems that sin abounds. 

We find ourselves feeling love and empathy for those that we previously looked down upon. We find peace as we look through the eyes of Christ and see precious humans who are loved by God, rather than seeing them as enemies.  We feel joy and therefore we bring joy, like radiant sunshine into a world desperately needing that. This has been my experience of Grace. It’s real. It’s a proven experience. And nobody can take it or talk me out of it because it’s not my theology, it’s my heart that is falling in love with God and with people. 

Wow! That sounds like the fulfillment of all the Law!

So, while Grace, at least in my case, seems to not have affected whether or not I use certain words, drink certain things, go to certain places, wear certain things or eat certain things (I’m sure I still do things that can be judged as “wrong” by many people), I love how I am falling in love with God and with others. 

If you think that the greatest commandment of loving God and people is important, then I would recommend you look into God’s Grace. Consider it and contemplate it for a while. Taste and see that the Lord is good. This is amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.