Questions & ANSWERS:
The following questions were asked of us, and they bring together several subjects that are closely related: God’s law, obedience, grace, healthful living, Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, the inheritance of the saints, and the plan of redemption.
Scripture connects these truths, but we must be careful not to confuse them. The law has its work, grace has its work, and both must be understood in the light of Jesus Christ.
Question 1
Is God a legalist, and is the Bible based upon legalism? Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and He declared that He had kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10). Do these statements teach legalism?
Answer
God is lawful, just, and orderly. His government rests upon righteous principles, and His commandments express His will and character. Obedience matters.
Still, we should hesitate to call God a legalist. Legalism commonly refers to attempting to earn acceptance or justification before God through obedience to the law. That is not the gospel.
Scripture declares:
“A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.”
—Galatians 2:16
The problem is not with the law. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). The problem comes when we ask the law to accomplish something it was never given the power to do.
The law can reveal sin, but it cannot pardon sin. It can show us the righteous standard, but it cannot create righteousness within us. It can expose our need, but it cannot provide the remedy. That remedy is found only in Christ.
When Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” He was not teaching that obedience purchases His love or earns salvation. He was showing that obedience is the natural fruit of love. We do not obey Christ so that He will save us; we obey because, by His grace, He has saved us and is working within us.
Obedience is the fruit of a saving relationship with Christ, not the price we pay to obtain one.
Question 2
Does the violation of the principles of health go against God’s will? Can someone claim to possess truth while knowingly living contrary to the laws that govern the body?
Answer
God cares about the way we treat our bodies. Scripture teaches that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and that we are to glorify God in both body and spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). The Christian should therefore seek to honor God in eating, drinking, working, resting, and every other area of life.
Healthful living is not separate from spiritual life. The clearer our minds and the stronger our bodies, the better prepared we are to understand truth, resist temptation, serve others, and accomplish the work God has given us.
However, we should be careful about concluding that anyone who has not yet accepted or practiced a particular health principle possesses no truth at all. People grow as light comes to them. A person may be struggling with long-established habits, limited knowledge, illness, poverty, or circumstances that we do not fully understand.
There is also a difference between ignorance, weakness, and the deliberate rejection of known duty. God understands that difference, even when we do not.
Health reform should therefore be taught as part of God’s work of restoration, but it must always be joined with patience, mercy, and the gospel. Its purpose is not to give us another standard by which to condemn people. Its purpose is to bring every part of life under the gracious rule of Christ.
Question 3
Is grace simply another name for the law? Does the grace of God abide only with those who are already observing His commandments?
Answer
Grace and the law are not the same thing, although they are not opposed to one another.
The law reveals God’s righteous standard and exposes our sin:
“For by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
—Romans 3:20
Grace is God’s undeserved favor toward sinners and the divine provision by which we are forgiven, restored, and empowered to live a new life.
If grace were given only after we had succeeded in keeping the commandments, none of us could ever receive it. Scripture tells us:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
—Romans 5:8
Grace meets us while we are sinners, but it does not leave us as it found us. The same grace that pardons also teaches and transforms:
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
—Titus 2:11, 12
We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works. Yet the grace that saves us also creates us anew “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8–10).
Grace does not abolish obedience; it makes genuine obedience possible. The law shows us what righteousness looks like. Grace forgives our failure and brings the life of Christ into the believing soul.
Question 4
Is Jesus simply seated at the right hand of the Father awaiting the judgment, or is He presently ministering in the heavenly sanctuary?
Answer
Christ is actively ministering for us in the heavenly sanctuary.
Scripture identifies Him as “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8:2). His being seated at the Father’s right hand does not mean that He is inactive. It describes His position of authority, victory, and honor.
As our great High Priest, Christ represents us before the Father. He applies the benefits of His sacrifice, intercedes for the believer, and ministers on behalf of everyone who comes to God through Him.
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
—Hebrews 7:25
The cross and the heavenly ministry are not competing works. Christ offered one perfect sacrifice for sin, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and now appears “in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24).
Our salvation rests not only upon the fact that Christ died, but also upon the fact that He rose again and lives as our High Priest.
Question 5
When will the saints inherit the earth?
Answer
Jesus promised, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). That promise will be completely fulfilled when sin has been removed and the earth has been made new.
At Christ’s return, the redeemed will be gathered to Him. Revelation 20 describes the saints living and reigning with Christ in heaven for a thousand years. At the end of the millennium comes the descent of the New Jerusalem with the Lord and saints, the final judgment and the complete destruction of sin, death, and rebellion. Revelation 21 then presents God dwelling with His people upon the earth made new.
Peter wrote:
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
—2 Peter 3:13
The inheritance of the saints is not an eternity spent as disembodied spirits. God’s purpose is restoration. The earth that has been scarred by sin will be renewed, and the redeemed will dwell in the presence of God without sorrow, pain, death, or separation.
Question 6
Were Adam and Eve created unable to keep God’s commandments? After they sinned and were driven from Eden, what did God provide to save humanity? What is the plan of redemption?
Answer
Adam and Eve were not created unable to obey God. They were created upright, innocent, and capable of remaining faithful. They did not fall because God made obedience impossible. They chose, whether knowingly or by deception, to distrust His word and disobey His command.
Through that transgression, sin and death entered the human experience. Once fallen, humanity could not undo its guilt, repair its sinful nature, or restore itself to fellowship with God. No amount of human effort could recover what had been lost.
Yet the plan of redemption was not an emergency measure hastily devised after Adam sinned. Christ was foreordained as our Redeemer “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:19, 20).
Immediately after the fall, God gave the first gospel promise:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
—Genesis 3:15
The promised Seed is Christ. He would enter the human family, live without sin, bear our sins upon the cross, rise from the dead, and minister for us in the heavenly sanctuary. Through repentance and faith in Him, sinners may receive pardon, justification, a new heart, and power to obey.
Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves, but their own covering could not remedy their condition. God provided coats of skins. Together with the sacrificial worship revealed afterward, this pointed forward to the truth that humanity’s covering and restoration must come from God. An innocent substitute would stand in the sinner’s place, directing faith toward Jesus Christ:
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
—John 1:29
The plan of redemption is God’s complete work to rescue humanity from the guilt, power, and ultimately the presence of sin. It includes Christ’s incarnation, His righteous life, His sacrificial death, His resurrection, His heavenly ministry, the work of the Holy Spirit, the judgment, the destruction of sin, and the restoration of the earth.
It is not merely a doctrine to be acknowledged or a religious observance to be performed. It is the great theme running through the whole Bible: God in Christ reconciling fallen humanity to Himself and restoring His image in everyone who believes.
Conclusion
These subjects cannot be properly understood when separated from Christ.
The law reveals God’s righteous standard and exposes our need. Grace brings forgiveness and transforming power. The principles of health bring even our physical lives under God’s restorative work. Christ’s heavenly ministry assures us that our living High Priest is working on our behalf. The promise of the new earth shows us the final result. And the plan of redemption brings all of it together.
God’s purpose is not merely to pardon sinners while leaving them unchanged. Neither is it to demand righteousness from fallen humanity without providing the power to live it. Through Christ, God forgives, restores, transforms, and finally makes all things new.
