12TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY-1
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Grace and pe ace b e multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus.
It certainly has not escaped him who has read the writings of the Old and New Testaments with just a little attention, that they contain two entirely different doctrines; it would appear to our foolish reason that God himself were showing us two ways by which a person could receive eternal salvation. The doctrine which God once caused to be announced through his servant Moses upon Mt. Sinai amid frightening revelations of his glory is clearly an entirely different one from the teaching of the crucified Christ; to preach this latter doctrine the apostles were sent forth 1500 years later into all the world.
It is one teaching when in God's name Moses tells the people of Israel: "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments," Ex 20: 5.6; and it is an entirely different one when, on the other hand, Christ says to Nicodemus: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Jn 3:16. Yes, they are clearly entirely different teachings when Christ says in one sermon: "Repent," and adds, "and believe the Gospel." They are entirely different teachings when St. Paul says in one place: "Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil," Rom 2:9, and in another passage: "That is, the word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom 10:8-10.
There is no doubt: God's Word presents,two doctrines; the one demands that we fulfil God's will, the other entices us to faith in his dear Son; the one announces God's wrath and eternal death, the other announces God's grace and eternal life; the one announces a curse upon the sinner, the other a blessing; the one leads him into hell, the other opens heaven to him; the one gives him up for lost, the other shows him the way to definite deliverance and help; the one is like a heavy hammer which smashes the rocks, the other is as gentle as balm and oil which heals and soothes the hurts of the soul; the one is as frightening as a storm, the other as gentle as the mist in early morning.
And both of these doctrines we find in the Old as well as the New Testaments; all the prophets and apostles use both; yes, even Christ according to his prophetic office preached both; Zechariah predicted in chapter 11, that as the true Shepherd he would pasture his flock with the staff called Beauty and the staff called Bands. By both of these staffs we must understand the doctrine of the holy Law and the doctrine of the gracious Gospel.
From all this, my friends, we see that one cannot possibly understand God's counsel for salvation aright, if he does not know the different purposes which God had and still has with the revelation of his holy Law as well as the gracious Gospel. Without the knowledge of the relationship in which both of these doctrines stand to one another the whole Bible remains a dark, unexplainable, yt:3, a locked book.
The Epistle of this Sunday as well as the one next Sunday leads us to the important doctrine of the Law and Gospel contained in God's Word. In our
today’s text we are shown the difference and in next Sunday's text the glorious harmony of Law and Gospel. Let us therefore take up as our meditation the first subject mentioned.
The text. 2 Corinthians 3:4-11.
My friends, if we want to understand correctly the purpose of the Epistle just read, we must know that in the congregation at Corinth false teachers had arisen, who pretended that they also were apostles of Jesus Christ and preached the Gospel; however, they maintained that according to God's Word one must not only believe in Christ, but also keep the Law if one wanted to be saved; for in God's Word works are just as urgently demanded as faith in the promised Messiah. They, therefore, mixed the doctrine of the Law with the doctrine of the Gospel. Our today's Epistle is directed against these false teachers, when the apostle shows that both, Law and Gospel, are indeed contained in God's Word, and that both have their glory, but that both must be clearly distinguished from one another, if one wants to show a person the way to salvation. Accordingly, permit me to present to you the important doctrine:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
1. We Will Study This Difference Under The Guidance Of Our Text, and
2. Ponder What This Study Demands of Us.
Oh God, without whom no one is capable of thinking, to say nothing of speaking or doing, good, have mercy on us all; open my lips that my mouth may show forth your praise and truth; and may all hearers hear it to their soul's health and salvation, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
I.
Even in our times nothing is more usual, my dear hearers, than for teachers and hearers, even those those who want to follow God's Word, to mix the doctrine of the Law with the doctrine of the Gospel. Yes, many suppose that when they correctly fuse Law and Gospel into one, when they say that faith in Christ makes one righteous and saves yet not faith alone; one must also live piously according to God's commandments, this is the true middle way, this is the best understanding of God's Word.
However, my friends, as acceptable as this appears to our reason, one can scarcely think of a more horrible falsification of God's Word than this one. For if one in this way mixes Law and Gospel, one nullifies both; then no sinner can ever be sure of the forgiveness of his sins; then Christ's reconciliation is beclouded and the whole foundation of all true comfort begins to totter and waver.
If, therefore, anyone does not want to deprive himself of the comfort which God has intended for all men, if anyone is glad to find the way by which a poor sinner can be righteous before God and be eternally blessed, he must learn to separate the Law from the Gospel, as day from night, as light from darkness, yes, as far as the heavens are from the earth.
The first thing which the apostle says in our text about Law and Gospel is this, that he called both a " ministration,” that is, a service to be done. From this we see: Both doctrines are from God, and both doctrines according to
God's will should, therefore, be also taught in God's Church, the Law not without the Gospel, the Gospel not without the Law. What God once revealed upon Mt. Sinai through Moses amid thunder and lightning and the quaking of the earth, namely, the holy Ten Commandments, which he uttered there with a loud voice and wrote out with his own finger on two tables of stone, are just as well God's Word, apply no less to all men without distinction, and must, therefore, be preached just as well to all men who want to be saved, as those great deeds of God, which on Pentecost the Spirit caused the apostles to proclaim with fiery tongues. The same God who commanded: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," that same God also says to his servants: "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and sins." Is 58:1.
Although in our text the apostle calls not only the Gospel but also the Law a ministration, he also says that God has " also made us able ministers of the New Testament, NOT of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." V.6. We see from this: Even though a servant of Jesus Christ preaches the Law, this is in no way his true ministry. According to the testimony of our text, his real duty is rather to preach the Gospel. Hence, the real means by which our souls are delivered and brought to God and into heaven is not the Law but the Gospel. This is the first thing, therefore, which every hearer must hammer home if he intends to grasp the difference between these two doctrine; if we had only the Law, no person could be saved; how we are saved is revealed to us only in the Gospel.
This difference becomes even more clear when in our text the apostle calls the Law " the letter" and the Gospel " the spirit," and adds: " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." St. Paul means to say: The Law is a doctrine which God himself wrote in letters on tables of stone on Sinai; it is a beautiful, divine writing which we can indeed read, but without the Gospel it is and remains nothing more than writing. True, there in clear letters we read what we are to do and not do, but where is the power to fulfil the Law? "Thou shalt! Thou shalt!" the Law cries out, but that is also all it can do; it indeed shows the wretched person his debt, but if he hears nothing else he is lost; with all its commandments and threats and promises the Law cannot change his flesh ly heart and give him the power to do what the Law demands, namely, love God above all things and his neighbor as himself. "Thou shalt! Thou shalt!" is the letter of the Law, but even more loudly man hears his heart say: Ah, I will not, I cannot, I have no power to!
Not until the sinner hears the Gospel: Believe on the Lord Jesus who will help you; he died for your sins; he will forgive you your sins; he wants to make you righteous and save you freely and out of grace and mercy, not till then does he hear the word which does not remain a letter; it brings the Holy Spirit; it brings peace and joy and delight, and power into the heart of the sinner, so that he trusts God, at last studies God's Law with pleasure and with a free, willing spirit does what God demands of him.
" The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." writes the apostle, that is, the Law truly reveals to man his death; it shows him that he is dead in sin; it shows him that for the sake of his sins he has deserved to die in time and eternity; however, it lets him remain in his death, shows him no way of coming out of death, but the more clearly this fact enters his mind and heart, the more he must despair of ever being delivered from his misery and saved. The Gospel, however, is the comforting message from God's own mouth directed toward that wretched, sinful, lost man, as we read in Ezekiel 16: "When I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live." V.6
The Law tells us what we must do and at the same time shows us that we
are unable to do it. The Gospel, on the other hand, tells us what God has done for us. and that in our stead he has fulfilled what we could not.
The Law reveals to us our sickness and causes us to feel the mortal wounds of sin in our soul. However, the Gospel shows us the heavenly Physician and real Helper; in itself it is the balm which soothes the wounds of the soul and brings us eternal healing.
The Law shows us our poverty, makes us naked before God and all his holy angels, so that we stand there in the shame of our nakedness. The Gospel discloses to us God's heavenly gift and his divine alms. It helps us in our poverty. It shows where we can receive everything we need, all the garments of salvation to cover our soul free of charge, so that we can confidently appear before God's judgment.
The Law cries out: You are lost, for you have not done what God has commanded you. The Gospel says: Sinner, do not despair; here is help, for here is Jesus Christ, a Savior for all sinners, for great and small, for old and young. Through the Law is the knowledge of sin and God's wrath; through the Gospel is the knowledge of the expiation of sin and grace in Christ. This the apostle states even more clearly in our text when he says: " The ministration of condemnation, the ministration of righteousness." V.9.
God's Law, therefore, is not a casual, wretched teaching of morals or ethics, which merely tells how we should live respectably, honorably, and uprightly before men; no, wherever the Law is actually preached in its purity, it preaches to all men nothing but eternal damnation; for the Law is spiritual, that is, it has a spiritual meaning; it concerns the soul and intends to have the sinner's whole heart. It preaches: Men are to be completely holy and pure in thoughts, words, and deeds, as holy as the holy God and Father in heaven, and it adds the terrible threat: "Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all the words of the Law to do them." Anyone wishing to become righteous through the Law must also pay the very last dollar which he owes God; God will not take away one letter, on tittle. The apostle, therefore says, that the Law preaches damnation to all men without exception, for none can keep it; each and every transgression pronounces damnation upon us. The Gospel, however, preaches righteousness to us, not ours which we could never work, but Christ's righteousness which God wants to give us freely and without charge, if we believe in him, our Substitute, Savior, and Redeemer.
However, the most glorious difference which the apostle makes in our text between Law and Gospel is the last when he says: The ministration of the Law ceases but the ministration of the Gospel remains. The apostle means to say: True, the Law must be preached to us sinners in all its sternness; true, we must recognize our misery in this mirror, perceive our worthiness of damnation, and in terror feel in our hearts God's threats; however, the Law is not to hold our death constantly before us; this must cease. It should strike us only so long until we hurry to Christ. At the very moment, so to say, when the Law rejoices over the frightened sinner and seems to have conquered us, when we no longer know how to escape its threats, and when finally we cast ourselves down before God helpless and miserable just as we are, and, thinking of Christ, surrender ourselves unconditionally and cry out: "Oh Lord, do not let the pains of your death be lost to me a wretched sinner', then the Law must cease; then its terrors end and the Gospel reveals to the poor sinner a free city in Christ the crucified, where Moses with his curse can no longer reach him. The lightning of the Law can no longer strike a sinner the moment he has fled under the protection of the gracious wings of the Gospel. The moment the sinner can no longer endure the blinding glory of the Law and he looks in faith at the glory of the grace of his Savior, the thunder of the Law must become silent, and in joy the Christian can say with Peter upon the mountain of Christ’s transfiguration: "It is good to be here (with Christ); here let us build huts."
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Yet in order that everyone may learn to understand this even better and apply it to himself for healing and blessing, permit me to answer the second question: What this study of the difference between the Law and the Gospel demands of u s.
II.
At the beginning of our text the apostle indicates the first reason, when he says: " Such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit." Vv.4-6. Humbly St. Paul here confesses that he also had not known how to make the proper distinction between the Gospel and the Law and thus carry out the office of the New Testament, if God had not made him able to do that. Therefore, see, my dear Christian, if you want to learn to divide Law and Gospel properly not only in doctrine but also in your heart for your salvation and use both correctly, you must ask for this blessed art. The Holy Spirit is the only Teacher who can teach you this correctly to your soul's salvation. Here the reflection of our reason is of no help; without the Holy Spirit God's whole revelation, Law as well as Gospel remains dark, inexplicable, contradictory, yes, foolishness. Without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit you will never truly perceive neither why the Law nor why the Gospel is given to you; all this you must learn.
From all said in the first part everyone by sincere prayer for the Light of the Holy Spirit must, therefore, note the following: The Law as well as the Gospel is a doctrine which comes from God, and both must be preached in God's church if hearers are to learn the whole counsel of God to their salvation. Therefore, do not believe that in an Evangelical sermon the stern Law dare not be heard; nor forget that the Law is not preached, so that it is kept at least outwardly, or that by such a miserable seeming fulfilment of the commandments one would become righteous before God. Anyone wishing to be righteous by the Law just does not know how much the Law demands of us; he is like the Jews who, because they did not understand the Law, thought they had kept the Law and must reject Christ. Never forget: No one becomes a Christian by doing a few good works according to the Law, but not until he has become a Christian through faith can he do what pleases God.
Anyone who thinks: I will keep God's commandments as much as possible, so that: I am a good Christian, is still on a false way; he still does not know what a Christian is; he considers a Christian a heathen who is pious. Not by works but by faith one becomes a Christian. Anyone who thinks: I will be safe, I will believe in Christ and do good works in order to be saved through both, mixes Law and Gospel and still does not know what faith is. Know that if the question is: How can I be righteous before God and be eternally saved? absolutely no Law, absolutely no works, absolutely no merits are required; in the matter of the justification of the poor sinner before God we must remove the Law from the Gospel as far as heaven is from earth.
If you ask: How do I become righteous before God ? how do I become a Christian? How am I saved? God's Word gives you no other answer than: Believe on the Lord Jesus! If you have come to true faith, then the correct good works will follow of themselves. First you must be concerned that you become a good tree; if you are, then you will spontaneously bring forth good fruits. First you must be concerned that your heart is a good fountain, then the living water streams of good thoughts, good impulses, sincere love to God and his Word will flow of itself.
But, you ask, why has God then given his holy Law ? Ah, my dear man,
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we would be unhappy, yes, eternally lost if God would have given us fallen men his Law so that by keeping it we would be saved. For then no person would be saved. True, God at one time did give us the Law for this purpose; but man has fallen, he is even born as a poor sinner; therefore, no one is now able to keep it perfectly. Now the Law is preached to you only that you should recognize your fall, come to feel your death of sin and God's wrath, and thus be driven to look around for other help, for a better righteousness, for Jesus Christ who alone can help you out of your sins to gain righteousness, from death to life, from wrath to grace, from hell to heaven.
Ah, you who do not yet see that you are lost sinners and, therefore, still do not seek your salvation alone in Christ, but place your trust either completely in your works, or half in Christ and half in your righteousness and piety: Come at last to recognize the difference between the Law and the Gospel. First look into the mirror of God’s Law and there learn to feel your death of sin, your misery, your helplessness without Christ; then you will also seek your righteousness, your rest, your peace, and your blessedness alone in Christ and certainly find it through faith.
You, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, who have already seen by the Law how wretched you are without Christ, who have already experienced the killing power of the Law: Why are you still so despondent? Why do you let your day to day stumblings always take away your rest in Christ? Why are you still so often frightened at the threats of the Law? Why do you again and again seek to attain a better confidence in God by your own improvement, by your own works, running, and chasing? Oh bear in mind, that is not the way to a lasting rest. If you recognize that you can be righteous and be saved only through Christ, oh, then do not continue to mix Law and Gospel ! The Law has already killed you; it has already done its part, carried out its work in you; do not let yourselves be frightened and worried any longer by the Law, but flee to the place whither it should drive you; seek protection in the wounds of Jesus; there Moses' curses must become silent.
If you would gladly fulfil God's Law, then first of all separate it completely from the Gospel, first reject all your own works and lay the correct foundation with Christ's righteousness; upon that alone place all your trust; then the more you will hold God's mercy in Christ before your heart, the more you will recognize his gifts, his blessings, his free grace from the Gospel, the more able and willing you will become to serve God again and not walk under the Law but after the Law. Ah, pray God daily, that he will teach you daily the high art of separating Law and Gospel in daily exercise; then the Law will cause the Gospel to comfort you and the Gospel Will cause the Law to be lovely; then your sins will drive you to Christ who has erased them; every day Christ will conquer and kill more sin in you, until finally you will through the Gospel carry away an eternal victory over sin, Law, death, and hell. May Jesus Christ grant this to me and to you. Amen.