Grace Christian or Law Christian
Time Magazine’s March 26th issue has an interesting analysis of Republican Presidential hopefuls who are segregated into either “salvation” or “condemnation” Christians. Apparently, a Christian views things from the perspective of saving someone or condemning someone. The article implies that Christians in the first category follow the Ten Commandments (as it supposedly has many “thou shalt nots”) and those in the latter group follow the Commandments summarized by Jesus.
Chirst himself said that he didn’t come to abrogate the Law but to perfect it. Hence his summary of the Ten Commandments into two succinct ones, doesn’t mean that His two laws, supercede those given to Moses. If the Ten Commandments are from God, they must be perfect and the Law ala Jesus cannot be more perfect. Jesus’ merely gave us another way to view the Ten Commandments.
The two commandments of Jesus actually makes us see the Ten Commandments more clearly. For example according Jesus’ Second Commandment, we should love each other as we love ourselves. This surely can be read as “thou shalt not drive drunk”, which was not mentioned on Mt. Sinai, but is encapsulated within the law that states “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” depending on the outcome of the drunk driving episode. If someone is injured, it would be akin to robbing the person’s peace of mind and security.
As Christians, we shouldn’t play the Commandment of Jesus against that given by Moses as both come from the Father. It’s also misguided thinking that we should say we are “salvation” Christians or “damnation” Christians. To be effective witnesses and evangelizers we should be “grace” Christians and at times “condemn” wrongdoing. We should be able to courageously say that “thou shalt not commit abortion”, and not paraphrase, “thou shalt always be live giving”.
It’s not a matter of one or the other, it’s being either at the appropriate time.
