The Law Within Is Much Better Than the Law Above!

For those of us who preach and teach the Doctrines of Grace and the mercies of God in the New Covenant, the most frequent reprisal comes from Roman Catholics and of course all Arminians, alike. To proclaim faith alone in Christ alone is to incur the accusation of antinomianism -- lawless living.  I doubt if I've read a better explanation of this than I find in Jeffry D. Johnson's book: The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism.  This is what he writes:

"In the old covenant, the law was written on tablets of stone and placed over the sinner.  Because of this, the sinner was under the law; therefore he was bound by the law to keep the law in order to be righteous in the sight of God . . . One the other hand, in the new covenant, the essence of God's moral law has been written upon the fleshly tablets. In this sense, the law is no longer placed over the sinner but within him.  God's new covenant people, in other words are no longer under the law but under grace.  Nevertheless, the grace does not lead to sin (Romans 6:1-2). Grace accomplishes two things: One, it brings about the forgiveness of sins by the merit of Christ's righteousness.  Two, it brings about a true desire and the inward ability to obey the law of God . . . This is why the law has two different labels.  In the old covenant it is called the law of bondage (Rom 7:1, Gal 4:3-5, 3:21-25), while in the new covenant it is called the law of liberty (Jam 1:25, 2:12). The law in the Mosaic Covenant led to bondage, because it demanded a righteousness, which sinners could not perform, while the law in the new covenant leads to liberty, because it finds no fault in those who stand by faith in the righteousness of Christ.  The law written upon tablets of stone led to bondage, because it opposed the stubborn and rebellious hearts of the Israelites'; conversely the law in the new covenant is liberating because it instructs Christians on how to express the love that they have for God and their neighbors.  Christians are in no way opposed to any of the normative commands of God; they delight in the statutes of God, as much as they delight in God Himself." [1] [emphasis mine]

So, as a Christian, when God's laws are placed before us, they resonate in our hearts, not to condemn us, for they are fulfilled to perfection in Christ, but to propel us -- to energize us -- out of great love, that we might live in a way that pleases our Savior.  The law over a person judges and condemns. The law within a person, inspires and motivates.


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1. Johnson, Jeffrey D., The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism, Free Grace Press, Conway, AR, USA, 2010, Page 173-174