5. The difficulty of properly distinguishing law and gospel.
The separation of law and gospel is difficult. Not in theory, because it is easy to say what is law and what is gospel. Not only shorter but also longer definitions of law and gospel are easy to memorize. The distinction between law and gospel is difficult in practice, especially in one's own heart and conscience. Luther rightly reminds us again and again that the separation of law and gospel is beyond the powers of the natural man and can only be accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit. The reason for this lies in the natural constitution of man. The natural man seeks God's grace and salvation from the law, that is, he seeks that from the law which is obtained only through the gospel. This, the opinio legis, is a fixed idea with him. And every man remains on this fixed idea until God's grace and power turns his heart away from the law and toward the gospel.982) Again, from this point — from the point of the distinction between law and gospel — it becomes clear that the conversion or becoming a believer of a man is merely a work of divine grace and omnipotence, without any cooperation on the part of man. Seen in terms of the inner psychological processes, conversion takes place in such a way that the divine judgment of condemnation, which is spoken into the heart of man through the law, is replaced by the divine judgment of justification through the gospel.
979) Mark. 9:43 ff.<w:t>980) 2 Cor. 12:7 ff: 1 Cor. 9:27.
981) 645, 24. [Trigl. 969, ibid., 24 🔗]<w:t>982) Apol. 134, 144. 145. [Trigl. 197, Apol., III, 144 f. 🔗]]
284 > Law and Gospel. [English ed. ~ 241-242]
This process, however, can only take place through God's work of grace and power. Therefore Christ says: "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him",983) and therefore the apostle Paul reminds the Christians that their faith in Christ is a gift of grace (έχαρίσϋη ύμΐν … τό εις αυτόν moT€veiv)984) and an effect of God's power, by which Christ was raised from the dead.985) To come to Christ or to believe in Christ is nothing else than to separate law and gospel in the heart, to believe the judgment of the gospel against the judgment of the law. It has not been possible to understand that Christ describes the entrance into the kingdom of God, which always takes place only through faith, with the words: "The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who need power seize it" (ή βασιλεία των ουρανών βιάζεται, καί βιασταί άρπάζονσιν αυτήν).986) One has found it inappropriate to think of faith, which after all does not stand in the power of man, nor is it a compulsion, as an act of "heaven-storming" violence. But one forgets that "to believe" is so much as: to seize against the condemnation judgment of the law the pardon judgment of the gospel. Because this is not done by human, but always only by God's creative power, so faith is described as a "doer of violence" (βιαστής). Therefore, Luther, Chemnitz, and other ancient theologians take it for granted that the άρπάζειν την βασιλείαν των ουρανών, "to usurp the kingdom of heaven," refers to faith.987) But they take this for granted because they held that the faith by which a man becomes a member of the Christian Church is not a dormant condition in the heart (otiosa qualitas), but fides actualisist, namely, the act produced by God's power, which distinguishes between law and gospel, that is, against the condemnation judgment of the law seizes the justification judgment of the gospel. And just as the initial separation between law and gospel, by which a man becomes a Christian, is so difficult that it is accomplished only by God's action, so is the continuing separation, extending through the whole Christian life,
983) Joh. 6:44.<w:t>984) Phil. 1:29.
985) Eph. 1:19. 20; Col. 2:12.<w:t>986) Matt. 11:12.
987) Cf. II, 520, note 1210.
285 > Law and Gospel. [English ed. ~ 242-243.]
by which the Christian remains a Christian, situated entirely outside the sphere of human power. Therefore, Scripture says of Christians that they are saved to salvation by God's power through faith. For to be saved to salvation by God's power through faith is nothing else than to distinguish law and gospel by God's power, to oppose the condemnation judgment of the law, which enters the heart as a result of daily and past sins, with the acquittal judgment of the gospel. Luther says, "It is not in the power of man to remove this terrible terror which the law brings about, or any other sadness of heart." 988) Luther therefore also thinks it good that the Christian should not be lonely, but have the company of a Christian brethren, so that when the time of the law and the time of the gospel collide in his heart, the Christian brethren may be at hand with a word of the gospel, whereby the divine power of the gospel against the condemnatory judgment of the law may become effective.989) — As for the difficulty of distinguishing between Law and Gospel for the pastor, Luther's well-known words belong here: "Let him who is well able in this art of separating the Law from the Gospel, set him on high and call him a Doctor of Holy Scriptures." It is necessary to teach the Law and the Gospel in their juxtaposition and binding with each other in such a way that those who are sure are always frightened and those who are frightened are always comforted. To this end, the pastor must not break either the law or the gospel, must not take away the sharpness of the law by adding the gospel, nor the sweetness of the gospel by adding the law, but must know how to keep both within the areas in which they are to be effective according to God's will and order, as was explained earlier. In the face of this task, the pastor will despair of all his own skill990) and will agree with Luther when he says: "Without
988) St. L. IX, 446.<w:t xml:space="preserve">989) A. a. O., 421.
990) 2 Cor. 3:5: Ουχ δτι ικανοί εσμεν άφ' εαυτών, λογίοασϑαί τι ώς εξ εαυτών, άλλ' ή ικανό της ημών εκ του ϑεοϋ. These words, according to the context, refer precisely to the right judgment and handling of the Law and the Gospel. The right Christian sermon, which consists in the right separation and binding of law and gospel, is always a gift from above and has to be asked for. It is highly advisable that the pastor also
286 > Law and Gospel. [ [English ed. ~ 243-244]
the Holy Spirit it is impossible for to make this distinction between the Law and the Gospel. I experience it in myself and see it daily in others, how difficult it is to distinguish between the doctrines of the Law and the Gospel. The Holy Spirit must be master and teacher here, or no man on earth will be able to understand or teach it. … The art is common: soon it is said how the law is another word and doctrine than the gospel; but to distinguish practice and to put the art into practice is effort and work. St. Jerome also wrote much of it, but like a blind man of color." 991)