Law and Gospel.
(De discrimine legis et evangelii.)
Since the content of Scripture is divided into Law and Gospel, it cannot be otherwise than that a doctrinal exposition corresponding to Scripture deals throughout with Law and Gospel and their relationship to each other. Already in the introduction it had to be explained in the description of the Christian religion in its difference from the pagan religions that the Christian religion is gospel religion, while all non-Christian religions bear the character of law religion. In describing theology as the fitness for the public doctrinal office in the church (ή ίκανότης ή εκ τον ϑεον, facultas docendi), it was shown that the theological habitus also included the fitness to recognize and teach law and gospel both in their unity and in their diversity. In the doctrine of God (De Deo), a distinction was made between the natural and the Christian concept of God, showing that the triune God revealed in Scripture is the God who is gracious to sinners or the God of the Gospel, while the natural concept of God does not go beyond the Law and therefore may well lead to an evil conscience, but not to a good one. Because sin is non-conformity with the divine law (ανομία), in the doctrine of sin (De peccato) it was necessary to set forth what the divine law was that obligates all men at all times and in all places. In the doctrine of grace (De gratia Dei salvifica) it had to be explained that the saving grace is favor Dei propter Christ, which proclaims the gospel, and stands in exclusive opposition to the iustitia inhaerens vel vitae, which the law demands. The doctrine of the acquisition of grace through Christ (De opere Christi) sums up that Christ took the place of men under the duty and punishment of the law given to men. In the doctrine of the appropriation of grace (De gratia Spiritus Sancti applicatrice), the law was eliminated as a means of grace, and it was shown that only the gospel is a means of grace, because it both presents the forgiveness of sins acquired from Christ and, through such presentation, works and strengthens faith. The conversion (conversio)
260 > Law and Gospel. [English ed. ~ 220-221]
of man before God consists in the conversion of man from the law, namely from his innate opinio legis, to the Gospel. The Christian doctrine of man's justification before God (De hominis iustificatione coram Deo) is taught correctly only when the particulis exclusivis are held to, that is, everything is carefully separated out that belongs to the realm of the law and the works of the law. Also in the doctrine of sanctification and good works (De sanctificatione et bonis operibus) it had to be emphasized that not the law, but only the gospel works sanctification and good works. Therefore, if in the following we deal with "Law and Gospel" under a special section, this can only be a compilation of what was said earlier. But this compilation is very necessary and useful in our time. While the old Lutheran theologians take a very detailed look at De lege et evangelio or De discrimine legis et evangelii, this chapter is either completely missing in more recent doctrinal presentations, or it is only mentioned in passing. Frank, among the newer theologians, has also drawn attention to this. He says:904) "Not easily has a doctrine in our Evangelical church been more steadily recorded, theoretically worked on, and practically applied than the doctrine of Law and Gospel. It was so essentially connected with Luther's way of life, with the basic doctrine of the Evangelical Church of justification by grace through faith, with the shaping of the confession, which in the 5th article of the Formula of Concord drew the result from the doctrinal controversy with Agricola and the later controversies of that kind, that one cannot well imagine a continuity of the publica doctrina without this point of doctrine. In the teaching of the catechism, the relationship between the first and the second main part leads again and again to the inculcation of the difference and the connection between the law and the gospel. It is characteristic of the present situation that this part of the Evangelical paradosis is also considered unsuitable and contrary to the right Evangelical knowledge. … That man in himself stands in a legal relationship to God, with the consequent order: Do this, and you shall live; and that grace and the gospel are certain from God to the transgressors of this law, is denied. … For this reason
904) Dogmatic Studies. Erl. and Leipzig, 1892, pp. 104 ff.
261 > Law and Gospel. [English ed. ~ 221-222]
it might be time to draw attention to this point, which is especially close to the practical theologians, to the guidance of the soul of every Evangelical Christian". The fact that newer theologians do not know what to do with the article of doctrine of law and gospel, especially do not know the difference between law and gospel, is due to the fact that they have given up the satisfactio vicaria and thus necessarily fall from the gospel to the law, even if they use the word "gospel" abundantly, and even think that they have grasped the meaning of the gospel more deeply than in earlier times.
What we would like to say about the law and the gospel and their relationship to each other, we put together under the following sections: 1. The concepts of law and gospel. 2. Law and gospel in their juxtaposition, or what is common to both. 3. Law and gospel in their opposition, or wherein they are opposites. 4. Law and gospel in their relation to each other, or wherein they are practically to be bound together. 5. The difficulty of distinguishing law and gospel; 6. The importance of this distinction. 7. The deniers of the difference between law and gospel.