“You aren’t under the law, but under grace.”
Romans 6:14
The majority of Christians do not know what this actually means.
It's time to clear some of the confusion on this statement. It's time for believers to understand what they are saying when they quote this from Romans 6:14.
The Christian community teaches its followers that “they aren’t under the law anymore.” This comes from Paul’s words, again, in Romans 6:14, where he says this: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Christianity has actually given us a completely false interpretation of this Scripture and has built doctrines around something that they’ve mistakenly taken to mean something that it actually doesn’t.
To put this in context, it would be helpful for us to refer to a couple of other verses from Paul.
“Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."
Galatians 3:13
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yahusha has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8:2
See, many people assume without investigating, that Paul was talking about being set free from having to obey the commandments of Yahuah (God). However, by using more than just one Scripture to decipher what Paul was actually saying, we learn that this “law” Paul said we were no longer under was the “law of sin and death.”
He explains this by telling us that our Messiah redeemed us from the CURSE of the law, because the curse of disobedience results in eternal death.
Our Messiah did not come to free us from obedience to the Father’s commandments—He freed us from the curse of the law of sin and death by becoming a curse for us. He became the sacrificial Lamb to defeat death by laying His life down with His own blood that brought us a New Covenant.
This understanding of what the Scriptures are actually saying, crumbles Christianity at its foundation and core.
The “curse” is not the law itself.
The “curse” is disobedience to it.
The curse is the result of transgression of the Father’s commandments.
This is why being “under grace” means that the works of the law no longer justify us. However, Yahusha’s sacrifice never changed the definition of obedience. When we accept our Redeemer from the curse of our disobedience, we are making a commitment to following Him and walking as our Teacher walked.
The New Covenant instituted a new system of atoning sacrifice—we needed a new spirit within us to empower us to walk in obedience. The difference now is that the curse for our disobedience doesn’t eternally condemn us now that we are in Messiah. We are given grace to clean us up when we stumble and fall short.
“For all have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
It's not about getting it completely perfect—it’s about learning how to love the Father’s ways. True love, by nature, gives us a desire to submit. That is all our heavenly Father has ever wanted.
The law was weak in that one could keep the entire law, but still be sinful in the heart.
That is why Yahusha rebuked the Pharisees by telling them they needed to clean the inside of their cup (their heart) so that the outside would be clean. This is what Paul meant when he said, “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).
The true test of our faith is learning to love Yahuah’s ways. Christianity has robbed us of this understanding. We have been conditioned and programmed to believe that His ways are burdensome and that unrighteousness and disobedience is “freedom,” and that’s what it means to be “under grace” now. Unfortunately, this is actually an insult to the spirit of grace. This is a salvation issue—and this is so serious. There are souls at stake.
People, when quoting Romans 6:14, fail to put the first part of that verse in context. What Paul was saying was this:
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law [of sin and death], but under grace.”
Ahh, the importance of context.
Sin is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). That is the definition of sin, and it will always be the definition of sin. If our Messiah came to set us free from obeying the law (commandments), then there would be no need for grace, because you’ve abolished the standard to identifying what sin is. Grace is the gift we are given that comes with the empowerment to OVERCOME sin. Setting us free from being slaves to sin now means being slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18).
Righteousness can only be defined by using Scripture as our dictionary.
“Your commandments are righteous.”
Psalm 119:172
Yes, we are made righteous because of our faith in Messiah. That’s step one. But Paul exhorts us further to present ourselves as “instruments of righteousness.”
The Greek word for instrument is “oplon,” which means “a tool or weapon; used literally or figuratively as an offensive weapon for war.” Righteousness is a part of our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:14). We have been taught to believe that the law (torah) and obedience are incompatible, that you either have the “law” or you have “grace”—but you can’t have both. This couldn’t be further from the truth, because Scripture teaches us that they work in harmony. Yes, we are “under grace” now. Works no longer justify us—faith does. But Yah’s people still have a standard to live by.
What we must do is ask the Most High to give us the mind of our Messiah. We need to ask Him to help us see things the way He wants us to see them, to teach us His ways and pray for the empowerment of His grace to help us walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh. This is the good news Yahusha came to bring. If you believe He came to set you free from obedience to His Father’s commandments, then the Messiah you are following is not the true Messiah.
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4
“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults.”
Isaiah 51:7
“...My righteousness will not be abolished.”
Isaiah 51:6
Ask yourself this—if the same Spirit that raised Messiah from the dead lives in us...if the same Spirit that caused Him to walk perfectly in the Father’s ways lives in us...do you honestly believe that same Spirit would lead you into disobedience?
The Father would never send you His very own Set-Apart Spirit to lead you to disobey His commandments.
Many of us have been deceived by the doctrines of demons of false teachers and it is time to come out of this strong delusion and “mystery of lawlessness.”
With love,
Stephanie