In the sixteenth century, the great reformer Martin Luther wrote the first treatise on distinguishing Law and Gospel. However, Luther’s work was hardly new, since Scripture and its interpreters had always made this distinction. The following quotations show the long history of distinguishing God’s two ways. These examples will help you recognize terms of Law and Gospel and apply His ways in your life as you read the Scripture.
Examples from Scripture
The Lord Commands and Promises, Curses and Blesses (c 2090 BC)
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gn 12:1–3)
The Lord Reveals His Two Ways (c 1446 BC)
“Now therefore, if I have found favor in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in Your sight. Consider too that this nation is Your people.” … The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love … for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Ex 33:13; 34:6–7)
Jesus Preaches Repentance and Forgiveness (c AD 28)
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:14–15)
He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Lk 24:45–47)
The Apostle Paul Distinguished the Work of Law and Gospel (c AD 53)
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.… Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (Gal 3:8, 21–22)
Examples from the Early Church
The Creator’s Twofold Power (c 207)
Both [testaments] belong to [God] who says: “I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal” (Deuteronomy 32:39). We have already made good the Creator’s claim to this twofold character of judgment and goodness, “killing in the letter” through the law, and “quickening in the Spirit” through the Gospel (2 Corinthians 3:6). (Ter, ANF 3:452–53)
The Law and the Promise Cannot Be Mixed (c 380)
The [Gospel’s] promise was distinguished from the Law, and since it is different it cannot be mixed [with the Law], for a condition [of the Law] invalidates the promise. (Tyc, Rule 3)
The Law Kills and the Gospel Gives Life (c 386–98)
In the Law, he that has sin is punished; here, he that has sins comes and is baptized and is made righteous, and being made righteous, he lives, being delivered from the death of sin. The Law, if it lay hold on a murderer, puts him to death; the Gospel, if it lay hold on a murderer, enlightens, and gives him life. (Chrys, NPNF 1 12:307)
The Old Testament Proclaimed Righteousness through Christ (c 412)
His words are, “The righteousness of God is manifested” (Romans 3:21).… This is witnessed by the law and the prophets; in other words, the law and the prophets each testify about it. The law, indeed, does this by issuing its commands and threats, and by justifying no one. It shows well enough that it is by God’s gift, through the help of the Spirit, that a person is justified. The prophets [show this righteousness] because it was what they predicted that Christ accomplished at His coming. (Aug, NPNF 1 5:88–89)
Examples from the Medieval and Reformation Eras
Confess the Lord in Two Ways (Twelfth Century)
Let [your works] confess Him in two ways, let them be clad, as it were, in a double robe of confession. That is: confession of your own sins, and of the praise of God.… Let the humility of confession of your imperfection supply what is lacking in your daily life. For that imperfection is not hidden from God’s eyes. If He has commanded that His precepts should be diligently kept (Psalm 119:4) it is in order that, seeing our constant imperfection and our inability to fulfill the duty that we ought to do, we may fly to His mercy, and say, “Your steadfast love is better than life” (Psalm 63:3a). And not being able to appear clad in innocence or righteousness, we may at least be covered in the robe of confession. (Bern, The Life and Works of St Bernard of Clairvaux: The Advent and Christmas Sermons [London: John Hodges, 1889–96])
The Law Demands, the Gospel Gives (1540)
The Gospel proclaims repentance and the promise of grace and eternal life. The promise should be diligently distinguished from the Law. And although the Law has certain promises of its own, nevertheless, these differ from the unique promise of the Gospel. Moreover, the promises of the Law require the condition of perfect obedience as is said in the first commandment: “I will do good to those who love me” [cf. Deut. 5:10]. But the evangelical [Gospel] promise—about remission of sins, justification, and the gift of eternal life—is gratuitous, offered on account of Christ, without a condition of our merits or our worthiness. (Mel, Romans, p 22)
Why We Distinguish Law and Gospel (1580)
The distinction between the Law and the Gospel is a particularly brilliant light. It serves the purpose of rightly dividing God’s Word [2 Timothy 2:15] and properly explaining and understanding the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles. We must guard this distinction with special care, so that these two doctrines may not be mixed with each other, or a law be made out of the Gospel. When that happens, Christ’s merit is hidden and troubled consciences are robbed of comfort, which they otherwise have in the Holy Gospel when it is preached genuinely and purely. For by the Gospel they can support themselves in their most difficult trials against the Law’s terrors. (FC SD V 1)
Engelbrecht, E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible (xxxi). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.
No comments:
Post a Comment