During the past two weeks I received two emails dealing with the issue of Law and Mercy (also referred to as Torah and Favour or Law and Grace). These two aspects are often pictured as directly opposite to each other and as mutually exclusive in the lives of those who desire to be faithful to Scriptures. The classical understanding of most people in the christian world is that the Messiah kept the law and gave his life for those who had always tried (and failed) to keep the law, so that they (and others) may be saved through mercy (or favour or grace) and thereafter continue to trust in mercy (or favour or grace) alone, not trying to keep the law any longer. If you are still trying to keep the law, they say, you do not understand what it means to be saved by grace and, moreover, you are trying to undo what the Messiah has come to do.

I think the time has come for us to clearly make a stand against, and radically depart from, this false representation (and over-simplification) of Scriptures. Most of the times when we are confronted with a point of view similar to what is expressed above, we respond by trying to justify our own view, using one or two Scriptures that we’ve learned by heart and quote these in the hope of saying something that would make the other person to reconsider his/her viewpoint. But in the process we forget that what we are doing in reality is standing up against a religious system that has been established (and has become a doctrinal and ecclesiastical stronghold) for almost 2000 years. Trying to dismantle, single-handedly, the almost universal belief (and all the lies and twisted arguments connected with this belief) that "Jesus came to set us free from the law", is like coming up against one of the greatest forces known to mankind. In some cases, where the powerful hand of Yahweh the Almighty intervenes, our honest testimony in this regard may help to open the eyes of an individual who has been held captive by this religious stronghold for many years. But in the majority of cases people will not easily be convicted or changed in their mindsets. In cases like this, we should stop trying to create the impression that the difference between "us" and "them" is only a slight variation of opinion and that "we" and "they" are still sharing the same basic belief. We are not! Not if we are serious about Scriptures as a whole! Not if we choose to take the Scriptures as our point of departure and not a system of religion! Let as take one more good look at what Scriptures are saying in this regard.

A good starting point in this investigation would be to recognise the fact that law and mercy have always been presented as two sides of the same coin and that the idea was never to understand them as mutually exclusive and contradictory to each other. Here are just a few examples.

Another important insight gained from a study of the Pre-Messianic Scriptures is that Yahweh had clearly revealed (through his prophets) that the Messianic era would be an era characterised by Yahweh showing his favour and his mercy and his righteousness in an extremely intensified manner, WITHOUT DOING AWAY WITH THE LAW OR TORAH! This may be seen in the following verses.

These examples are taken from one prophet only, the prophet YeshaYahu. Does this mean that YeshaYahu envisaged an era when the law of Yahweh would be replaced by mercy? Most definitely not, as one may clearly see in the following verses from the same book:

Keeping in mind what is clearly revealed in the Pre-Messianic Scriptures about the meaning and the context of the coming of the Messiah, let us now once again look at some of the typical statements often made, based on an extremely limited and one-sided understanding of the New Covenant / Messianic Scriptures (quotes taken from an internet article about Law and Grace).

"Grace means … we should not keep the law of the OT because the scripture makes it clear no one can". (Yahweh’s mercy is seen in forgiveness, not in lowering his own standards).

"A believer of the Body doesn't become more spiritual by keeping the law but actually sins by putting himself under the law." (Let us therefore keep the law, not to become more spiritual, but to honour the One who gave the law).

"It is impossible to please (Yahweh) by following the law, because the law is not of faith." (Scriptures teach that faith / belief without works is dead; also that law and faith do not cancel out each other).

"No law or act of obedience can help us to prepare (for the new heavens and earth), it has to be grace." (Scriptures repeatedly urge believers to choose to be obedient to Yahweh).

"So many do good works because they think it is demanded of them, instead of it flowing out of natural lifestyle of faith." (It is the "natural lifestyle" within many "christians" that leads them to transgress the law and disregard the teachings of the Almighty).