Legal Isn’t The Standard

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

For the past few days this scripture has been on my mind. “All things are lawful”, how are all things lawful? We know there are a lot of things God would rather we don’t do, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t cheat and many more. So are all things really lawful?

I think the first thing we must do to understand this is to look at the purpose of the law and why we are dead to the law.

In Romans 5 it says law came so that sin might abound. So the purpose of law was the revelation of sin. There are two schools of thoughts about this. The first being, before the law men were sinning but didn’t know because there was no law. The second being, focusing on the law makes you more likely to commit sin. I focus more on the latter because the word abound means great quantities, so sin must have increased because of the law.

So, Adam brings sin into the world, the law proliferates sin and Jesus, the second Adam, brings redemption from sin. All things are lawful because when you were under the law, you were judged by the standards of the law, which we cannot keep in our own strength and sin will abound.

“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

By the same standard you judge, you are judged. If you judge others by the law you will be judged according to the law. But there’s a better option, there is the standard of righteousness.

“But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When Paul says all things are lawful but not all things are helpful, he is referring to a life under the grace of God that we receive by faith in Christ. The reprieve of the law is not the permitting of sin, but the death of it. Christ changes the standard of living. If when you focus on the law, sin abounds, the when you focus on the righteousness of Christ, grace abounds to help you overcome sin.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I love this scripture, Christ is the end of law. Life under the law is the constant attempt to earn your righteousness by your actions and not to receive righteousness by Christ and let that be the source of our actions.

When you live under grace you may make mistakes, but God isn’t condemning you, it’s not illegal, but recognise that those mistakes aren’t helpful, so don’t take it as a free pass to make them. The law is dead but our choices aren’t about legality anymore their based on our faith and love for Christ.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬