Keeping The Law

Q. In your Q+A “Another Dispensation?” you said, “The primary difference between Law and Grace was that before the cross a believer was required to express his or her faith by keeping the Law.” [last sentence].

What do you mean by “keeping the Law” ? James 2:10 says – For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

A. What I meant was that all believers since Adam have been saved by faith.  Those before the cross by the Redeemer who was coming, and those after the cross by the Redeemer who had come.  But during the Dispensation of Law believers expressed their faith by keeping the Law.  Not that keeping it saved them, but that it was a demonstration of their faith that  kept them in good standing with the Lord and brought them great blessing. (Deut. 7:12-15)  Keeping the Law in the absence of faith actually angered the Lord. (Isaiah 66:1-4)

James 2:10 is a warning to those would keep the Law in the absence of faith, as an act of works. He was saying if you’re going to keep the Law better make sure you keep all of it all the time, because the Lord can’t overlook anything and you won’t get a 2nd chance.