Editorial March 8, 1975 Issue

The Law and Grace

Carl J. Welz

The law of God, which governs all of His creation, is the law of perfection. This law maintains His children free of disease— whether disease of the body, of the economy, of human relationships, or of any function of nature or civilization. Imperfections appear only in that which is outside of His creation—the unreal. To the extent we identify ourselves with God as His children, we experience God's government and are free. To the extent we identify ourselves with mortal existence, we are not free.

As human beings we see God's love for His creation expressed in terms of moral law, which is stated simply in the Ten Commandments. Through obedience to these Commandments we know what type of conduct identifies us as children of God. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. . . . Thou shalt not kill. . . . Thou shalt not covet,"^{Ex. 20:3, 13, 17;} and so on, set before us behavior goals in the direction of God's perfection. Our obeying them expresses reality—our true identity as ideas of the divine Mind. But to gain freedom from disease, we need the humility that prepares us to receive God's grace.

Paul warned against boasting that we are doing all the right things under the law. He spoke of justification as coming not by works but "by faith without the deeds of the law." Yet he added: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."^{Rom. 3:28, 3;}

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

Baptism: Its Deep Significance