6. The importance of distinguishing the law from the gospel.
The importance of the distinction of law and gospel is evident from the fact that through it, as we have already seen, a man becomes a Christian and remains a Christian. In other words, without distinction from law and gospel, there is no personal Christianity. This is the thought that Luther prefaces his 1532 "Sermon on the Difference between the Law and the Gospel"992) : "This difference … is the highest art in Christianity, which all and every one who boast or accept the Christian name should be able and know. For
subjects the carefully prepared sermon to a final revision from the point of view of whether the law and the gospel are also handled correctly in it, namely in such a way that, as far as the sermon comes into consideration, the secure are frightened and the weary and burdened are comforted.
991) St. L. IX, 802. 806 f. Following on from this, the question has occasionally been raised as to how it stands with the ministerial activity and ministerial success of a personally unbelieving pastor. The fact that through the ministry of a pastor who is personally unbelieving, i.e., who does not himself distinguish law and gospel in his heart, other men are nevertheless converted, i.e., accomplish the distinction of law and gospel in their hearts, is due to the fact that the effect of the Word of God does not depend on the personal state of faith of the preacher. It is true that a pastor who does not accomplish in his own heart the distinction of law and gospel will have great difficulty in public sermons and even more in the exercise of private pastoral care with regard to the proclamation of law and gospel. After all, cases are conceivable and real in which a personally unbelieving pastor presents the law and the gospel from the Scriptures, from right theological instruction, and from rightly prepared sermon books in such a way that both knowledge of sin and faith in the gospel are wrought in the hearers.
992) St. L. IX, 798 ff.
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where this aspect is lacking, a Christian cannot be recognized before a Gentile or a Jew; so even it is because of this difference." And as for the objective Christian doctrine, it is Christian only in so far as in it the difference between the Law and the Gospel is recorded. This point has already been made at length in the doctrine of justification under the section, "The Doctrine of Justification and the Distinction of Law and Gospel."993) Indeed, the Christian doctrine of justification coincides in substance with the distinction of law and gospel. And to be sure, the separation of law from justification must be a pure one. Justification, as Luther reminds us, must also not be made dependent on one faithful "Lord's Prayer,"994) if the doctrine is to retain its Christian and comforting character. We refer here to a passage in Walther's Pastorale where it is stated: "To the purity of doctrine belongs also that the word of truth be 'rightly divided,' that is, that law and gospel be well distinguished." 995) As a warning, Walther specifies the most viable mixtures of law and gospel. He writes: "Whoever deprives the law of its sharpness through the gospel, and the gospel of its sweetness through the law; whoever teaches in such a way that those who are secure are comforted, and those who are frightened by their sins are still more frightened; whoever, instead of pointing to the means of grace, points those who are afflicted by the law only to prayer for grace; who, in the exposition of the law, its demands and threats, presents it as if God, according to the law, were content for the Christian to do as much as he can, but overlooks the weaknesses, and presents the gospel as if it were only a consolation for the already pious; he who seeks to induce the unborn to good works by the demands, threats and promises of the law, and demands of those who are still without faith the relinquishment of sin, love of God and neighbor; he who demands a special degree of repentance and comforts only those who have already become other men; he who confuses not being able to believe with not being allowed to believe, and the like: such a one does not rightly divide the word of truth, but mixes and blends law and
993) II, 659 ff. <w:t>994) Cf.<w:t xml:space="preserve"> the quotation from Luther II, 660, note 1542.
995) Pastorale, p. 79 f.
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Gospel with one another; his doctrine, therefore, though he otherwise preaches Law and Gospel, is, indeed, properly defined in right distinction, a false one."
Furthermore, it should be especially emphasized what was mentioned earlier, that only with a pure separation of law and gospel is preserved the comforting character of the Christian religion. For as by the interference of the law with the gospel Christ's vicarious fulfillment of the law, and thus Christ's merit, is denied,996) so by the same disorderly and ungodly procedure also the certainty of God's grace for men is abolished997) and thus Christians are robbed of the consolation which they need in life and death. There can be no talk of the certitudo gratiae et salutis, which is to be found among Christians,998) until man is completely free from the law in his conscience before God, that is, until he believes, through the action of the Holy Spirit on the basis of the Gospel, that God does not require a single work for the attainment of grace and salvation, but accepts him as he is, irrespective of what he does or does not do, for the sake of Christ. Concerning this necessary banishment of the law from the conscience when grace and salvation are involved, Luther says: "It is impossible for Christ and the law to dwell in the heart at the same time; for either the law or Christ must depart. If you stand in the opinion that Christ and trust in the law can dwell together in the heart, then you should certainly know that it is not Christ but the devil who dwells in your heart, who accuses and terrifies you under the form of Christ and requires the law and the works of the law for righteousness. But the right Christ, as I also said shortly before, does not address you because of your sins, nor does he make you trust in your good works. And the right knowledge of Christ, or faith, does not dispute whether thou hast done good works unto righteousness, or evil works unto condemnation, but holds plainly, If thou hast done good works, thou shalt not therefore be justified; if thou hast done evil works, thou shalt not therefore be condemned." 999)
Finally, it should be pointed out that the distinction between law and gospel is necessary for the understanding of Scripture.
996) Gal. 4:4- 5; 2:21.<w:t>997) Gal. 3:10.
998) Rom. 4:16. <w:t xml:space="preserve">999) St. L. IX, 619.
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The Formula of Concord is said to hold over this distinction "with special diligence" because the same is "a particularly glorious light, which serves that God's Word may be rightly divided and the holy prophets' and apostles' writings actually declared and understood." 1000) There is no exaggeration in this confessional statement. Scripture says, on the one hand, "Do this and you will live," and on the other, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life." How can we deal with these scriptural words, which are like yes and no to each other? It is not possible in the way that we refer the law to the town hall with the Antinomians. Christ forbids us to do so when he says: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven."1001) Nor does he go about it in such a way that we relegate the Gospel, which tells us of Christ's satisfactio vicaria and of justification by faith without works of the law, to the Middle Ages with the Unitarians and modern theologians, or to a period of defective formation of Christian doctrine. Christ's apostle also forbids us this reference when he says: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!" 1002) But Paul preached the gospel of Christ's substitutionary satisfaction and of justification by faith without the doing of the law.1003) Nor can the controversy between the words of the Law and the words of the Gospel be done in such a way that we would compromise between them and say: Man is saved and justified partly by grace for Christ's sake, and partly by his own works. Scripture rejects this compromise when it says, "And if by grace, then, is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace."1004) Thus only one way of understanding Scripture, remains: we let both the words of the law and the words of the gospel stand in their entirety, but distinguish between law and gospel in such a way that we let them remain in the areas assigned to them by God. The law is for the revelation of sin, not for the forgiveness of sin.
1000) 633, 1. [Trigl. 951, 1 🔗] <w:t xml:space="preserve">1001) Matt. 5:19 <w:t>1002) Gal. 1:8-9.
1003) Rom. 3:23-24, 28.<w:t xml:space="preserve"> 1004) Rom. 11:6.
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For the latter purpose the gospel is given. Therefore, if the law has revealed sin, it is to be kept silent and the gospel alone is to have and keep the word, as has been explained in detail above. This, and only this, is how the Scriptures are understood.
We would like to point out a few more details. Not only the Roman, but also the Protestant synergists of all shades make scriptural passages like 1 Cor. 10:12: "Whoever lets himself think that he is standing may well see that he does not fall" and scriptural passages like Rom. 8:38 f.: "I am sure that neither death nor life … may separate us from the love of God. may separate us from the love of God," and then teach in all seriousness that a Christian should not be certain of his salvation, but should vacillate between fear and hope. He who can distinguish between law and gospel leaves both series of scriptural statements standing in their entirety. But he refers the scriptural passages that contain warnings against apostasy to the Christian according to the old man, inasmuch as the Christian is still troubled by carnal certainty, which is to be rebuked from the law, and the scriptural passages that state the certainty of salvation he refers to the Christian according to the new man, inasmuch as the Christian as a poor sinner is to believe the gospel and actually does believe.1005) — Also the passage Heb. 12:14: "Without sanctification no man shall see the Lord" has been given whimsical and impossible interpretations in order to harmonize it with the scriptural words which promise salvation to faith without works of the law (χωρίς έργων νόμον). The proper harmonization is that the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews are recognized as law, namely, as a warning against carnal security, and therefore are to be held against Christians insofar as they stand in danger of falling prey to carnal security. In so far as Christians are frightened and humbled and believe the gospel of salvation for Christ's sake, those threatening and punishing words are of no concern to them.