THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE.
By G. T. Wilson
THE dispensation of grace runs parallel with the Gospel of Christ. The Bible reveals no such thing as a dispensation of law separate from the dispensation of grace. Men have never been saved by any other means than grace, and the power of God manifest through the Gospel of Christ. “Sin is the transgression of the law;” and “all unrighteousness is sin.” “Wherefore, the law is holy; and the commandment is holy, and righteous, and good.” Rom. 7:12 (Syriac Version). As the law is righteous and good, “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. No attempt of the sinner to obey the law will make him righteous. The law only proves him more worthy of death, and he has not power to save himself from its penalty. Here is where the grace of God comes to the sinner’s relief. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.” “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:4, 5, 8–10. Grace is the unmerited favor of God freely bestowed upon the sinner. “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.” “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Rom. 1:16, 17. Sin is the violation of God’s law; grace is His unmerited favor to the transgressor; and the Gospel of Christ is the power of God that saves the believing, repenting one from sin. “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” Rom. 5:20, 21; 6:1, 2. These texts show why the law was spoken at Sinai; it was that sin might be made to appear to the people exceedingly sinful. Their sinful practises in Egypt had almost effaced the law of God from their hearts, and they had mixed errors with the truth until they had only faint conceptions of their duty to God and to each other. This was why Jehovah made known His moral precepts, that all Israel, yea, all the world, might know God’s will, and have no excuse for committing sin. It was for this reason that God wrote His law on the two tables of stone, and gave them to Moses, that they might be taught to the people. Ex. 24:12. While the law showed how abundant sin was, by type and shadow God revealed the Gospel of Christ by which men were saved. Adam’s one sin brought death to all his posterity; but the abundant grace of God in Christ brings life and peace to every repentant, believing sinner, for his many transgressions. Law and grace go hand in hand. The law shuts up the sinner under its condemnation, and makes him long for a deliverer; then it is that grace reveals the Saviour, who alone can ransom him from sin. In Christ was combined both the law and the Gospel. He was the Ten Commandments in living action, for He was the truth. He was grace, a sacrifice of sweet savor to His Father, offered in the sinner’s behalf. He bore the curse of the law, that we might have the freedom of the Gospel. He tasted death, that we might enjoy the blessings of life. He became sin, that we might become righteous. He bore the penalty of our disobedience, that we might share the benefits of His obedience. So “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Says the psalmist, “Thy law is the truth.” Ps. 119:142, 151. Therefore, there is no separating the law, which is the truth, from grace in the Gospel of Christ. G. T. WILSON. Avondale, Cooranbong, N. S. W.