Sovereign Grace

I've been hoping to come to this for some time...and it just hasn't panned out very well. I have a host of things on the TODO list right now that aren't getting done.

But given the apocalyptic nature of the times—I believe the weather report for Hell included some freezing once the Cubs won the World Series—my thoughts have turned on and off towards the sovereignty of God.

One of the significant contrasts between the Old and New Testaments is how the former pairs law with anarchy and the latter law with grace.

The OT is replete with examples of flawed and failed kings, with everyone doing what is right in his own eyes, and with promises for the Messianic king. The setup is made more pronounced by seeing the holy and righteous law indiscriminately condemning everyone it touches—I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.

It is tempting, and my wont, to discuss the contagious and destructive holiness of God, and how the only remedy for that is found in the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ, but I wanted to note why, I think, the themes of the NT are so dramatically different.

Broadly speaking, because the OT speaks of law in contrast to anarchy, it points out our unwillingness and inability to keep it. Where no king is, anarchy reigns and everyone does as he pleases. The pattern is most pronounced in the book of Judges, I think, but it is not the only case—Lamech in Genesis is presented as a vigilante, taking vengeance as he sees fit rather than giving way to God's justice. (In this way, I hasten to point out, the Mosaic covenant is hardly retrograde: instead of giving carte blanche to take your own revenge, it actually limits you.) Law, then, as seen in the OT, is set largely against man's desire to be his own master and go his own way.

The NT opposes law not to anarchy, but to grace. Why is this?

I haven't fully developed the train of thought, but I think it is because Jesus is the true King whose sovereignty is unchallenged. He is the King. His will shall be done. He is the ultimate, final, and complete authority over all that is given to him by his Father, and we know this is true because he was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection. It is not an accident that the epistle to the Romans begins with the declaration of the Lordship of Jesus Christ ("... our Lord Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David ... and declared to be the son of God with power ... by the resurrection from the dead.").

The extent of his authority means that there is no longer any possible escape into the anarchy of our self-kingdoms. What has replaced this is his grace. Because the Father grants him all authority in heaven and earth, he judges and stays judgment, executing the law and granting grace.

Grace, in other words, is enabled not only by his death, but by his sovereign power; it is because he is sovereign that he gives grace. It is because his authority is incontestable that he can assure us of his favor.

There is more to dig at here (e.g., seeing all power as the authority over life and death—for this is what the power exercised by authority really boils down to), but I am writing on very limited and overextended time. Hopefully time will present to pursue it, but I am guessing it will be months and months before I come back to this again.

Even so, amid the Sturm und Drang of these past months and years, it is a comfort in my relatively undisturbed pocket of existence to be reminded of the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ. He is the King, and we pray for his soon return. Maranatha!