GRACE is a wonderful expression of the Love of God. Few have perceived its vast scope, its marvelous liberality in its realm and place of operation. The grace of God has been minimized and presented as something so skimpily and sparingly given, that most of the believers have found that they had to be very careful not to count too much on it, but to be sure to supplement it with some of their own goodness, in order to feel safe about their standing with God.
But it can be made too elastic. It can be stretched so far that it turns into lasciviousness. It can be stretched so far that it runs into plain Antinomianism.
The conclusions that the writer referred to above draws from the declared fact that this is an "administration of grace" — Eph. 3 — is that nothing but grace can be administered during this time.
Now if this holds good because this is an administration of grace, then the same principle must work when an administration is of a different character.
Thus the time from the giving of the Law at Sinai was an Administration of Law. It was a "dispensation of death" — 2 Cor. 3. — Then, on the same principle, there could not be anything but law and death administered during that time.
The grace administration allows nothing but grace.
The law administration allows nothing but law.
If one is true, both are. If one is wrong, both are.
But the writer has admitted (properly) that grace was operating all the way thru, even from Adam.
The reason it was an administration of Law was that law was the predominating factor, but it did not exclude grace.
E.A. Larsen
