Law and Grace: Co-workers But Not Co-redeemers

One of the most fascinating movie storylines is the story of Les Miserables. The depth of language, story, passion, grace, and sorrow that is found within the narrative is remarkably beautiful that only a few can match. The wide range of human emotion and experience draws me in far more than most fiction tales. I do not want to ruin the entire story, as I wish for you to read the book or watch the movie (but seriously, read the book), however, I want to discuss a certain character in the movie. His name is Javert, the inspector/police officer.

Javert, like many of us, is a passionate man. His mission throughout the movie is to bring justice and to uphold the law. He becomes increasingly frustrated as the repentant criminal Jean Valjean escapes. However, Javert does not see Valjean's repentance but only sees his sin. This is demonstrated numerous times throughout the musical version, in Javert's own words, "You must think me mad! I've hunted you across the years. Men like you can never change, a man such as you..." But I cannot think of anything more revealing than when Javert refers to Valjean as, "24601," which is Valjean's prison ID, rather than Valjean's name.

Now, Valjean was a criminal, but he was repentant, and even better, he became an upstanding man in society, but above all, he was a believer in Jesus Christ. It was the gracious act of a bishop that caused this change in Valjean, and he gave his soul to Jesus Christ. As Christians, we understand this on a very personal level. We know that we have been changed by Christ. We see this directly in Colossians 3:9-11, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” However, we often are in the same position as Valjean, when he often says, "Who am I?" Because the truth is that we are a mix of both Valjean and Javert. We love God's grace for ourselves, but we are less passionate about pursuing justice for someone else. This truth has been loud to me as my own pastor did a series on Jonah this previous summer. In this series, we see that Jonah loved God's grace for himself, but wanted wrath and justice poured out on the Ninevites.

At one point in the Les Miserables story, Javert had come to a point where his own life was spared by Valjean, and later, when Valjean needed mercy, Javert granted it. Javert was stricken by this. He says, "I am reaching, but I fall. And the stars are black and cold... as I stare into the void, of a world that cannot hold. I'll escape now from that world, from the world of Jean Valjean... there is nowhere I can turn, there is no way... to go on!"  

How often have we all felt like this? How often have we made others feel like this? We pursue justice as we have been given mercy. We are passionate about the Law, well at least what we consider to be the Law. We are consumed by justice and forget to focus on the grace given to us. Javert did not recognize his own act as an act of mercy, but of injustice on his own part, and sought to pay the penalty of letting a criminal go. Javert was focused on the Law, where there was no hope. 

We find this truth (the Law does not save) in Scripture. “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" Galatians 2:21. This is specifically referring to God's law, and Javert was focused upon man's law. However, though distinct, neither can offer redemption as this is not the purpose of Law, but to provide boundaries in which our freedoms may roam. To focus upon the Law for salvation is like a man looking in a mirror and using the mirror to clean the dirt he sees. In the same way, we see the unrighteousness within us by the Law (yes, even man's law), but to focus upon it without the Gospel that saves, is to have no hope. To only see our own condemnation without the hope that saves, one will be consumed with terror and tragedy, like Javert.

We ought not to be like the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35, who was forgiven of his own debts but was harsh to those who owed a lesser debt. In the same way, as God has forgiven us of our massive debt, we must also beg for God's grace for others. We must not delight in judgment on others as we delight in grace for ourselves. We can delight in the fact that God's judgment is just, but we must not delight in the pouring out of His justice on others.

 If God gives a grace that changes us, like the bishop's grace that changed Valjean, we ought to give a grace that also seeks to change others. It is focusing on that grace that gives us hope, for it is grace that is not only the content of our hope but also the power that brings us hope. For our hope is found in the beauty of Christ's fulfilling of the Law for us, achieving the righteousness for doing that, and trading that for our sin, and He bore our sin and death upon the tree (2 Peter 2:24). 

Let us not forget the hope of God's grace in our own lives, that when we discuss the requirements of the Law, it is by grace that we are not served the penalty of the Law. There is much talk today about “justice,” and many Christians are requiring others to fulfill the demands of the Law in the name of justice. However, when you require the demands of the Law without the Gospel, you are falling into the heresy of legalism. But when you also require the demands of the Law instantaneously, you are forcing an over-realized eschatology on people that says “that which will only be fulfilled in the New Heavens and the New Earth should be fulfilled right here and now.” Too often in modern “justice,” movements you see this, a demand for perfection according to the given standard of justice, and yet the Christian doctrine of sanctification says that this does not happen instantaneously but progressively. The Christian doctrine of eschatology says that this will be fulfilled when Christ returns and not before. We cannot demand people to uphold God’s law without God’s grace, so let us keep our eyes fixed upon Christ who was full of grace, that we may be gracious toward others because it is by grace that God’s kingdom comes. We can move toward justice, but this is only fulfilled by God’s grace both in our lives and through our lives.