Bible Studies

Is Grace a Green Light to Sin?

by Michael Edwards 
06/14/26
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A persistent objection to the pure gospel of grace claims that freedom from the Law gives believers a license to sin. Some insist we remain under the dominion of the Ten Commandments—including the Sabbath—and will face final judgment based on how well we kept them in addition to our faith in Christ. The Apostle Paul directly confronted this error.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2, NASB) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? May it never be! (Romans 6:15, NASB)

Grace is not a green light to sin. It is the power that breaks sin’s mastery: For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace. (Romans 6:14, NASB)

The Law, especially the Ten Commandments, was never intended to justify or empower us. It brings condemnation and a curse. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them.” (Galatians 3:10, NASB) One violation makes us guilty of all (James 2:10). No one can keep it perfectly. This is why we do not want to be under the Law—it places us back under condemnation, the curse, and the law of sin and death.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:2, NASB) We have been gloriously released. Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1, NASB)

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Father’s commands and the entire Law. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17, NASB) On the cross He took the full penalty: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13, NASB) Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us... He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14, NASB)

Paul makes it unmistakably clear: we cannot be under both Law and grace. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4, NASB) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Galatians 5:18, NASB) We were put to death to the Law through the body of Christ so we might belong to Him and serve in newness of the Spirit, not oldness of the letter (Romans 7:4, 6).

We will not be judged by the Law. Believers have already passed from death to life (John 5:24). Our standing rests entirely on Christ’s finished work, not our partial success at Law-keeping. The Law was a tutor to lead us to Christ; now that faith has come, we are no longer under that tutor (Galatians 3:24-25).

Under grace, Jesus gives us His higher commands: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40, NASB) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you...” (John 13:34, NASB) This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. (1 John 3:23, NASB)

True grace never leads to careless living. The same cross that frees us from the Law’s dominion also crucifies the old self. The indwelling Holy Spirit produces love, joy, peace, and holiness—fruit the Law could never create. We are dead to sin and alive to God, called to walk in freedom, not return to bondage.

If someone claims we remain under the Ten Commandments’ dominion and will be judged by Sabbath-keeping or Law performance, they are promoting a different gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Stand firm in the freedom Christ purchased. His grace is not permission to sin—it is power to live as new creations, safe forever from condemnation.

The verses in Romans below is how a believer is called to live and thus by default keep God's desire and reason for writing the law. Love is the Spirit of all of God's law. The Spirit of a law is the reason or intent the author wrote the law in the first place. The Spirit of the law is the only thing that can truly please and fulfill the authors intent for writing the law. You can easily see that Jesus walked by the Spirit of the law and the Pharisee's walked by the letter. The letter can be twisted and misused as we see with the Pharisee's. The Spirit is a much higher standard than the letter. Love keeps us from harming another but it also leads us to help one another as we saw Jesus do on the Sabbath. The Pharisee's only knew and followed the letter and accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law. Rom 13:8-10 NASB