The Law and the Gospel

The delineation of and disinction between Law and Gospel is fundamental to Christian theology.

Martin Luther drew a clear divide between the two, essentially identifying all commands of God as "Law" that can we never perfectly fulfill and therefore only condemn us, and all His promises—especially as mediated through the atonement of His Son Jesus Christ—as "Gospel."

There are other, subtly different ways to define the Law and the Gospel, and then different theological positions concerning the relationship between Law and Gospel, and the place of the Law in the life of the believer. These positions appear to reflect to a certain degree the distinctions between different hermeneutical systems—for example, Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, and New Covenant Theology.

And none of this is abstract theorizing. If our understanding of what the Gospel is impacts our doctrine of justification, then our understanding of what the Law is impacts our doctrine of sanctification—and therefore how we are to live as believers in a right relationship with God.

As always, we must be careful when determining the proper application of the Law in the life of believers, to avoid the twin perils of legalism (emphasizing the Law at the expense of the Gospel, in the most extreme case teaching justification by our own righteousness) and antinomianism (emphasizing the Gospel at the expense of the Law, and disregarding the calls to holiness that appear in every book of the New Testament).

Above all, we are justified and made right with God solely by His sovereign grace, through the unmerited gift of His faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. As redeemed believers, adopted sons and daughters of God the Father and brothers and sisters of His Son Jesus Christ, we have full assurance of salvation, and He will preserve us until the end.

Great damage has been done through bad teaching to grant believers (real or nominal) either false assurance or no assurance—in both cases on the basis of good works that the hearer does or does not do. Our assurance rests in the finished work of Christ.

Nevertheless, it is manifestly clear from every book of the New Testament that—even as redeemed believers bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ—we are called to live and conduct ourselves in a certain way. I struggle with this every day; but this principle seems inescapable. And the only answer, the only solution—whether you're a Lutheran, a Calvinist, or a Mennonite—is to turn to the Cross in repentance every day, rest in Christ, and seek the grace of God through the guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit, so that we can live as God calls us to live, even if we can never perfectly do so until Christ returns or calls us home.

Here are some articles and sermons by teachers of the past and present that have helped me start to get a handle on all this:

* J.C. Ryle on "Justification and Sanctification."

* John Warwick Montgomery on "The Third Use of the Law" as a didactic guide for believers.

* John M. Frame on "Law and Gospel."

* Not directly related to the Law-Gospel distinction, but concerning the relationship between assurance and sanctification: Phil Johnson on "Assurance and the Struggle with Sin" (MP3 sermon audio).