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Law & Grace

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This small work, by the Founding President of Grace Theological Seminary, is an excellent work by a classical dispensational writer. McClain, is known for tremendous scholarly work as is remembered by those who have read his magnum opus, "The Greatness of the Kingdom", which even got the likes of George Ladd fuming. Law and Grace is divided into 10 chapters which helps to understand McClain's approach. 1) "The Law" in New Testament Usage, 2) How the Law Could Give Eternal Life, 3) Law Unable to Save Men, 4) The Divine Purpose in Giving the Law, 5) God's Written Law and Israel, 6) The Mosaic Law and Gentiles, 7) The Christian and the Law, 8) Dangers of Putting Christians Under the Law, 9) The Standard of Life for Christians, 10) Objections, Questions and Problems.

McClain, having been a dispensationalist, holds the common view that Christians are not under the law. He even goes as far as to go against the modern trend to divide the law into three sections: moral, ceremonial, and civil. Since he does not trichotimize the law into these sections, he does not feel we can place a Christian under just the moral law because one cannot divide the law.

One must read this book when studying law and grace. While it is just a brief treatment, it is an excellent starter to this subject. McClain was a brilliant writer and that is affirmed even by his opponents. He is missed as he has gone to be with the Lord. In conclusion, read this book. It will stimulate and perhaps provoke your thinking, which is what Christians need.

In this era of rapidly encroaching legalism and liberalism, the Church sorely needs to rediscover Alva McClain's concise work on the true biblical relationship of Law and Grace. If it were required reading in every Theology 101 class and church, there would likely be a lot less infighting between believers. This would not only increase the biblical unity God desires for His children, but also our testimony to the world.

Upon looking closer at the breadth of Scripture, I must concur with McClain that while the Law contains components, it was an indivisible unity that cannot be taken apart piecemeal to suit one's theology. This is revealed to us not only in the biblical record, but in also the Jewish traditions as well. Many past and present doctrinal misinterpretations come from well intentioned but myopic mono-cultural theologians who only interpret Scripture through their western cultural grid. C. Gordon Olson in his books on a mediate view of salvation also recognizes this cultural ignorance or chauvinism as well. Getting the Gospel Right: A Balanced View of Calvinism and Arminianism

There are too many verses that describe the contrast/distinctions between Law and Grace (esp. Romans & Galatians) to just ignore, or treat as some kind of spiritual allegory that replaces Israel with the Church. Galatians is still alive and well in the Church today. Paul's experience in Romans 7 and his rebuke of Peter and Barnabas for reverting back to the Law should be a reminder to us of just how easy it is to go backwards!

What of the legalist's infamous charge of Antinomianism? As Dr. McClain points out in Chapter 10, the preacher who proclaims a gospel of grace should not be surprised at this false charge, as the Apostle Paul was accused of the same thing in Romans 3:8. He goes on to say that if you are not falsely charged with antinomianism you are probably not teaching the gospel of grace as it should be. He adds; "For in the gospel of salvation by grace alone in Christ we are honoring the law and establishing the law. By His death our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied in full all the law's holy and just demands. The real antinomians are the legalists, for they either take only one element of the law, or they strip it of its penalties or they soften and relax its demands; to this extent they are "against" (Greek "anti") the law."

I highly recommend this book and when you are done with it be sure to check out another of Dr. McClain's classics; Greatness of the Kingdom.

Are Christians somehow under obligation to keep the "moral" law? Do Christians need to be exhorted that, even though Christ fulfilled the law both by His perfect obedience as well as by His atoning death, that they are still under the "moral" law? The answer to these questions is an unreserved, passionate "NO! " There is not even a Biblical basis for such a division of the law (I must admit I once applied this division to my biblical interpretation). Alva J. McClain, the founding president of Grace Theological Seminary, has written a short treatise on the Christian's relationship to the law. This book is a quick-read and very helpful. I am currently studying Galatians 3:10-22, so the reading of this book is particularly timely.
Bottomline, the message of the New Testament is that the Christian is no longer under the Law. However, one will find NT appeals to the theological principles found in that Law because "the moral essence of the immutable Lawgiver was reflected therein" (see article by Nathan Busentiz at http://www.sfpulpit.com/2008/02/28/wrapping-up-the-law/). We are not under the law, but because that law itself is inspired scripture, it is full of valuable doctrine and useful lessons for believers. It falls in the in the "All scripture is....profitable" of 2 Tim 3:16-17. McClain suggests that the Christian should approach the will of God as follows (Chapter 9):
a. The will of God
b. in the context of grace
c. given in our Lord Jesus Christ
d. revealed in the entire Word of God written

The chapters are as follows:
1. "The Law" in NT Usage
2. how the law could give eternal life
3. law unable to save men
4. the divine purpose in giving the law
5. God's written law and israel
6. the mosaic law and gentiles
7. the Christian and the Law
8. the dangers of putting Christians under the law
9. the standard of life for Christians
10. objections, questions, and problems

It was Augustine who said "Love God and then do as you please." That is definitely not McClain's position. After reading and re-reading "Law and Grace," I think its message is right on. It promotes neither legalism nor licentiousness. It is one hundred percent in favor of holy living, and not of throwing the Law out the window, but yet being ever so careful as to NOT commit the grievous mistake of the legalists of divorcing the commands in Scripture from all the concrete examples of the grace, mercy, and love of our Lord that we see mingled throughout its pages, and thereby failing to see THAT (as opposed to sterile duty) as the very modus operandi for any obedience to those commands. In no way is this booklet advocating that notion that "love is all you need." But where some people only know one extreme or the other, McClain, by exegesis, has found the proper balance between the two unbiblical extremes. The Christian is neither in debt to keep the Law, nor free to do his own will. Rather, he lives wholly in the sphere of grace. And yet, grace does not embrace sin; grace renounces sin! So the more we see Christ, the more we see grace. But the more we see the Law, the more we see Christ!

Point: The Christian is not under the law, nor any part of it.

Path: McClain discusses "The Law" in NT usage, How the Law could give eternal life, Law unable to save men, the Divine purpose in giving the Law, God's written Law and Israel, The Mosaic Law and Gentiles, the Christian and the Law, Dangers of putting Christians under the law, the standard of life for Christians, and finally objections, questions and problems.

Sources: McClain primarily substantiates his argument through his study of Galatians.

Agreement: Many have tried to divide the Law into different categories, and therefore show how the believer is still under sections of the Law. As I read the New Testament it seems to teach that the believer is not under the law because the Holy Spirit indwells and guides. Therefore, it is no longer the law that leads, corrects, and stimulates to do good, it is the Holy Spirit. He has essentially "written the law upon their hearts" (I am sure McClain would cry if he saw that).

Disagreement: I have not yet struggled through teaching the Sermon on the Mount nor the 10 Commandments, otherwise I am sure I would find fodder.

Personal App: All Scripture is profitable.

I have often found, through the years, that a smaller book dealing with a specific topic is often a better book --Dr. McClain's book on the Mosaic Law, and it's relationship with Christian life, is no exception. We are awash in the idea that Christians should somehow be "under" the Mosaic Law, or the "moral parts" of the Mosaic Law, or the "Ten Commandments," in the modern Church. While I understand the concern over people who proclaim Christianity, and yet don't live like Christians, I also think this concern is a little overblown. If we expect no priest between us and God, then we should refuse to stand between God and other believers, as well.

Dr. McClain begins this short book by discussing the usage of the word "Law" in the writings of the Apostles. He convincingly argues that this word virtually always refers to the Mosaic Law, rather than some other law of God, or even some other body of law. The next chapter moves into what is bound to be somewhat controversial, how the law could give eternal life. His contention here is that if you actually could follow the Mosaic Law perfectly, then you could really attain eternal life. The problem is, of course, that none of us can follow the Mosaic Law perfectly, from the moment of birth onwards.

The counter to this argument is that we are born in sin, rather than simply sinning from the first breath we take. The law can only lead to eternal life for those who are not born with a sin nature, which leaves all normal humans out.

In the fourth chapter, the author discusses why God gave us the Mosaic Law. Here his emphasis is on the idea of keeping sin in check, rather than as a day-to-day law code for Israel --but these two concepts are not really opposed to one another. In chapters 5, 6, and 7, he discusses the Law and Israel, the Law and gentiles, and finally the Law and Christians.

Chapter eight moves into the meat of his argument, discussing the dangers of putting Christians under the Mosaic Law. His central point is that if you put Christians under the Mosaic Law, you have made grace of no value --you have spurned grace for the Law. He also discusses problems with trying to follow some part of the Law and not others, referring back to his own discussion about the unity of the Law in earlier chapters.

If the Law is not the standard of life for Christians, then what is? In chapter 9, Dr. McClain argues the proper standard of life is through the Spirit --that while using the Law as a reference, the Christian should seek maturity in the Spirit for daily living. Finally, the author provides some objections to his thesis, and his answers to these objections.

If you're interested in understanding the relationship between the Mosaic Law and the Christian life, this is one of those slim little volumes worth taking the time to read.

In this short pamphlet, McClain (a Dispensationalist theologian) lays out the manner in which a Christian is related to the Law. If you have questions about the nature, use, purpose, and application of the law both in the past and in the present, this little work does an excellent job laying out the answers from the writer's perspective.

Every now and then I come across a book that contains such biblical clarity and insight that I wonder why it isn't on every kind of recommended booklist. Dr. Alva McClain's brief, but engaging study of the relationship of "Law and Grace" in the life of the Christian is one of those books. Though only 80 pages long, McClain has skillfully used 10 chapters to systematically address the biblical foundation of his study, and at the same time tackled the weaknesses in popular and historical viewpoints on Law and Grace.

McClain uses a simple textbook style in each chapter to outline his material, which I found really aided my understanding of his various points. Though unlike textbooks, McClain's personal writing style pulled me into what very well could have been a dry, well, textbook-like rendering of the material. That is certainly not the case in this book. I also appreciated that his notes were conveniently cited at the bottom of the appropriate page instead at the back of the book, which aided in my progress through his study.

Unlike the more popular viewpoints of Law and Grace today, McClain concludes that once an unbeliever is redeemed, he or she no longer lives under the Law, but has been translated to a completely separate relationship in Christ. The current viewpoints trisect the Law into three parts, moral, ceremonial, and civil or penal. McClain rejects this position since it tears apart what God has made one Law and also because the believer has been removed from the sphere of the Law (which Paul, in 2 Cor. 3:7, referred to as the "ministration of death) and enters into a New Covenant of grace, submitting then to the commandments of Christ. In chapter 9, McClain covers what he calls "The Standard of Life for Christians" where the distinctives of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant are compared. In response, the critic may say, "So, is there any value in the Law for the Christian?" On several occasions in the book, McClain anticipates the howls from his critics and so he cites at least two reasons why Christians should highly esteem the Law and not simply dismiss it altogether. Sorry, you will have to read the book to discover his insight on this important matter.

McCain makes an interesting comparison of the language of the Law and the language of Grace in Christ, which was something I had never noticed before and so I found this especially interesting and informative. He quotes the Law and then compares the New Covenant of Grace equivalent. An example would be, (Law) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Contrast this language with (Grace) "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). McClain says, "The passage from Deuteronomy brings us into the presences of a Great White Throne; the passage from John' pen puts a rainbow round about the throne. If we are wise, we will always read the two texts together." A second example is (Law) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Now, hear Grace, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another" (1John 4:11). Again, McClain says, "It is the same duty, but now enshrined in the context of grace." He adds a few more examples, but I think you probably get his point. I had never made this kind of a comparison.

Dr. McClain's book Law and Grace" may not be impressive according to its number of pages, but it is certainly rich in theological and practical content. In my opinion, this paperback should grace the shelves of every Christian's bookcase. It is remarkable that this book was originally published in 1954, yet it seems as fresh and relevant as if it were published today. Just this morning I received correspondence from a friend who referred to the Law as if it had been removed from the Decalogue by Christ on the cross, that it should be ignored as if it were of no value. I need to send this good brother in Christ this book.

As a bonus, Dr. McClain addresses in his final chapter objections, questions and problems. As any good teacher would, McClain uses this chapter to summarize the contents of his study. Highly recommended reading.