Welcome listeners. Greetings in Jesus name. Today, we begin Talk 5 — Law vs Grace in the Old Testament (OT), looking in particular in the Law of Moses. Many have the idea that the OT is all doom and gloom, all Law and Judgment.  Some even have the idea that the God from the OT is different from the God from New Testament (NT), because the God of OT is blood thirsty and destructive, whereas the God of NT is full of grace and light. But this is — I must emphasize — a Bad Misunderstanding, a case of serious oversimplification, leading us into error and caricature. That is not good. I hope we can set aside this misconception. The OT Revelation and Dispensation includes BOTH LAW AND GRACE. It is true that the emphasis in the OT is LAW. But it is not true that the OT emphases on only Law, and no Grace.

In this Talk, we shall focus on LAW AND GRACE in the Law of Moses. The Centre of the OT is the LAW of Moses, so called because GOD chose Moses to be His human mediator to reveal and administer His Law to the Israelites as His covenant People. As I mentioned in the first Talk, Israelites were the first recipient of God’s Law. But God’s law does not only apply to Israel, God’s law applies to the whole universe. God’s law applies to all humankind. So it is very important for us to note that, the Law of Moses is not given by Moses, but given by God. It is God’s law; Moses was God’s chosen mediator. The law does not come from Moses; the law comes from God. He is the Source, the Author of the OT. So even though these Laws are typically called the Law of Moses, they are in fact GOD's LAW.

This Law is a Revelation because it reveals to us God's truths and standards of right and wrong, good and bad, and of the consequences of both, whether for better or for worse. This Law reveals God's Dispensation in the OT.  A “Dispensation” is a set of rules and regulations that God lays out as to How HE will deal with Israel, humankind and the earth. The Bible begins with the OT, which starts with the first five books of the Law of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

They set out the National Covenant by which God governs Israel as His People.  But there are Many Layers to this Law.  We shall distinguish the layers because these layers are vital to our understanding of God’s law:

First and Broadest Layer which is covered in the book of Genesis is God's Covenant with all of Humankind. The first set of Law is contained within God's covenant with Adam and Eve as the first pair of human beings He created, and governs all humankind as their children.  It also governs human dominion over all the animals and care for all the vegetation and the physical earth.  This Law is a Dispensation of How God deals with humankind and the earth and all its inhabitants.

The second set of Law which is also in the book of Genesis, is set out in God's covenant with Noah and his family after the Flood.  This replaced the first covenant of God with Adam because the Adam and Eve broke the first covenant. They disobeyed God and believed the devil rather than God.  They thus put all humankind as their children under the bondage of sin and the manipulation of the devil. This Law replaced the Adamic Covenant as the Dispensation as to How God deals with humankind and the earth, and all its inhabitants. Note that this is God’s covenant with humankind. Both Adamic and Noahic covenant covers God’s covenant with all humankind. This is a revelation given by the first book — the book of Genesis, of God’s law given through Moses. This is why I stress, while Israel is the first country to receive God’s law, God’s law applies to all humankind on the earth.

The vast scope of these two covenants shows us that LAW in the Bible goes far beyond the common and popular understanding of Law simply as standards of human conduct and societal rules and regulations.  It governs how God relates with human beings, all living things, the earth itself, and how these relate with each other. We, human beings, not only relate with each other, we relate with animals; we relate with plants and we relate with the physical environment -- the land, the sea, the sky and the atmosphere. And, all of these are governed by the law of God. So, both covenants are the broadest covenants that are God’s covenant with humankind.

The second Layer in the Law of Moses is God's Covenant with Abraham for the Salvation of Humankind. This is the third Covenant, if we count Adam's as the first, Noah’s covenant is the second.  But, it is the second Layer in that both the first two, Adam's and Noah's, deal with God's covenant with humankind and the earth, while this third covenant is different. It is not about God’s covenant with humankind as a whole, but it is about what God wants to do through Abraham.

God's covenant with Abraham deals with How God sets out to SAVE all humankind from sin.  Thus, this LAW is A Covenant of GRACE because it is How God Plans to SAVE all humankind!

We have noted in previous Talks that Grace is God's favour to us that is not earned, achieved or deserved.  So, this Covenant of Abraham with God in the Law of Moses, is An Act of GRACE because humankind in sin do not deserve salvation. In sin, we cannot earn salvation. In sin, we cannot achieve Salvation. It is God himself who decided by law that He will act to save us. So here we have the unique Biblical unity or connection between law and grace. Within the law of God, He has set out the grace to save us even though we do not deserve it.  It is thus clear, on this basis that Law and Grace are NOT in conflict. In God’s plan and design, law and grace work together. They work Together under GOD. In this case, GRACE was set out BY LAW! God Himself, by his own love and truth, makes it a point to act by rule and regulation, to save us. The act of saving us is an act of grace. Yet the act of grace is embedded on how He will view us as human beings. There is no conflict between Law and grace. In fact, we can say that Grace is based on God’s law. 

So this is the first step for us: within the Law of Moses, law and grace do not conflict. But he has set out His grace by law.

In our Next Talk, we will continue our coverage of the OT as to How God applied both Law and Grace, to how He dealt with His People, Israel, in OT History, because that tells us how He relates with us as human beings. Remember the original covenant, the covenant with Adam and Noah, got to do with God’s governance of all humankinds.

Let us pray, “Father, as we enter your words through Moses, help us to see with greater clarity and depth, on how your law and grace work together for your purpose. Step by step, help us with greater understanding of your revelation on law and grace. In Jesus name, Amen.”