Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Both Jews and Christians agreed the law condemned us to death, but how we get out of it is quite different.

There is nothing we can do to work our way to heaven because it is a gift from God.

Jesus gave His life to pay for our debt so we would no longer be regarded as guilty!

How does this work? Grace given to us because of Christ’s love and mercy; hence it is only through Christ we have life eternal!

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

James wrote these words to try and correct the mistakes the Jews had written into the laws they upheld. They had turned this basic law on its head and tried to make things positive in their own eyes.

Their law went along the lines of “he who observed any principal command was as good as he who observed all the commands.”

God says we are guilty if we leave out any or break any; which may sound harsh when viewed against the Jewish law, but there is only one truth!

Galatians 5:3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

Religion and Christianity may be seen as being the same by many, but there are subtle differences… Religion is based on laws and Christianity should be based on relationships.

Just as there were arguments back then, there will be many today as well. People will follow religion because it has a known set of laws and is easier to manage.

But if we follow the law, then we should follow the whole law and nothing but the law. Christ says otherwise. He asks us first of all to love Him and love each other, then adhere to the laws He has shown us, not those we make up!