Under the Law: Grace and the Fourth Commandment
Under the Law.—This is an expression that occurs several times in the writings of the apostle Paul, in the use of which he shows that Christians are not under the condemnation of the law, because of the pardoning grace of Christ. We often hear professed Christians use it to excuse their transgressions of God’s law, but always—strange to say—with respect to the fourth commandment. If the claims of the fourth commandment are presented before them, and the blessings which follow its acceptance urged upon them, they will say, “I am not under the law but under grace,” just as though God’s grace gave them the privilege of trampling the law of God underfoot; for if it is true of the fourth precept, it is true of the first and third and seventh, and every other. The fact is, grace frees from sin, “the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:5. And grace is manifested in keeping the whole law, as Christ did.