Full Text for Theses on the Law and Gospel (Text)

$mags Of Blacli Religion : An Historical Kaleidoscope MILTON C. SERNETT I An Address To Lutherans I I I Messianic Prophecy And Messianism RAYMOND F. SURBURG be Analysis Of Exodus 24, According To .Modern Literary, Form, And Redaction l~ritical Methodology I WALTER A. MAIER i '~heses On The Law And Gospel DAVID P. SCAER ',oak Reviews Theses on the Law and Gospel 1. Is the Gospel primary for theology? Primary call llavc ~1.~0 meanings. 'The Gospel is primary in tlle sense that: it is the chief content of preaching and thc final goal. The Gospel is not priinarj- in the sense that it is the first step in theology. 2. What is then the first step in theology? The Gospel call only be preached after a ~~un~ber of prior assumptions l~ave been made. The number of prior assun~ptions can vary dependin% on llo~v they are divided or counied. 3. Does this mean that the Gospel is really depencleni: on sonzethi~zg or someolze elscl No! The Gospel never hits a person in a moral or ethical ~;acuum, but o11l.c. has saving rfficac!- 1\;11ere a person has at least a sense of guilt, but it-is not dcpe1zclc1l.t for its content. 4. Is a sense of personal guilt the only prior assumption? \o, there are others. Qefore a person can receive the Gospel, 11e 111~1~1: have an awareness in sonle sense or another of a God who holcls Ililll morally responsible. 5. Does this l~lean that there must be mere intellectual or rational awareness of God before the Gospel is preaclled? No, there must be more than a mere intellectual lzno~vledge. A yhilosophical concept: of God as tlic Pri.111e Cause, pri17rn car~sn, of a11 things is not sufficient. What is required is I(no~.illedge of a n~oral God ~nalroi>cr i.clniioiishjp ivith God the Law is never replaced. 111~~,fn1: as thc Law threatens all breakers of the Law, the Law is replnccd by thc Gospcl. The Gospel is not the news that the L,aw docs not jlolci persons ;~cco~intablc, hut rather it is thc news that Gocl Ilo]ds lcsilr C11,ist :~ccountablc €01: our trans$ressio~ls. 31. \\'ill the I'>a\v he aboljshed in cternltv or the parousia? As icing :,a tlicie is ci-cnlioi~? rllerc nzill be 1.2~. Llivinc creation always 172s tl~c I,a\\i btlilt into it. 'T'l~e sccontl table of the Law wit11 its rcgitl;l[io~~s for sucicty will pass away whcn the earthly society is sq~cl-cccicd by t-hc heavenly one. T-Io~vcver in glory redeemed nlan- );j~itl \\.ill obey tl2c lirst table of t-lle I. ~YY 1~rfcctTy at a11 times. OnIy one God will bc acl;no~-r;ledgciI and His nallle honored and wor- I. 'rl1i.i~ the first th]-~~ cornrnn~~dnlcnts can be summarized as lo\.i~~;< Cotl. I,;\ien thc sccolltl tnblc ~vill be fulfilled perfectly because the cctlccmcil 1vil.l Jovc cacll othel: perfectly. lljc tllrcats of thc Lan- will bc totidly invalid in heaven because in Cl~rist 11lc retleen~cd have kcpt the Law perfectly. Up011 the nl~just t11c I,a\\. \1:(11.lis its ~vrath fo~:cser. Tod:ly the Law even threatens the "oltl i\dan~'! ill Christians, that ol~stinate part which refuses to be coll\.c~.tc:il. \\ orlis tlol~c hv threats clo not pertain to or assist salvation. 22. -1. hc J-il~\; can .;lnd does exist outside of special or super- nat111-a1 ~.c\.c:lation. Can the sanle be said about the Gospel? No! The Gospcl csists only 1111.o~igh a spccial act of God's love. This is called (rr~~~~. 11 js not fol~~~d ~JI ;tnd thro~gh creation aild it may not be ;dci, ti lied 1vit11 Go(lJs o:cn tive low or with His acts of forebearancc or ICII~CIICI. in I~I- visiti~l~ tllc sjnncr im~ncdintely with tllc consequences of his sin. 2 3. I\?hcrc call thc Gospel 1)c fou~~cl? Tllc Gospel always js at least n typc of intellectual inforlilation \\:Ilich Go0 Ilils ]?~ol;icied since the fall into sin. It is sinlply God's 1~'onlisc that I-l[c ~vill 1,xovidc the solution to man's predicament in sin. Before tllc New 'Testament times it is the news that a descendant of E1.c \vill arisc from fallen ~na~~lrocedures and through the use of valid hermeneutics1 procedures j though not recognized), even where such procedures are ignored or explicitly denied. 34. Is it possible, even hypothetically, that if it could be demonstrated that the Scriptures deny the Gospel, that we still ~vould or could hold to the Gospel? This .is not possible! If we accept Scriptures as the on131 norin or source of all teaching in the church and/or as the word of Gocl, and if we conclude that they in all. their parts have no Gospel, then we must conclude that there is no Gospel. For what a person should do to please God or to be saved, he is dependent upon God's revealed requirements. God then informs him of the Gospel. In this scheme the Gospel is dependent upon God. God is not dependent on the Gospel! 35. Can the church guarantee the Gospel? NO, only God is the guarantor of the Gospel. The church is God's creation through the Gospcl not the crcator or guarantor of the Gospel. It is not the func- tion of the church at any time to sit in judgment upon nihat God may or nlay not say or what He has indeed said. Neither docs the church supply the interpretation to what God has said. God does not speak unclear words. The chrrrch's function is to believe these words and to preach these words to those who still do not I~elieve. The church has no function, authority, or power to tell us what the Gospel is. It also has no power to create or perpetuate the Gospel ivhere Gocl has not provided it. 36. Do wc because we are Lutherans recognize the Gospel as the final and forcnlost word of God? Lutherans are frequently dis- tinguished from other denominations because our statcd purpose is to preach the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. The founding fathers of the Lutheran Church and its early major teachers agree in this. The Lutheran Confessions give testimony to this. Still we as Luther- ans do not adhere to this devotion to the Gospel because n7e are Lutherans, but rather because we have committed ourselves to the Holy Scriptures as the word of God. In fact it is downright "un- Lutheran" to state that we l1old to any tenet of L~ltheran theology, including the Gospcl, si~lzyly becnz~se it is Lutheran. The Lutheran Church ~ind its Confessions arc no Inore guarantors of the word of Gocl and the Gospcl than the Roman Church is the guarantor of the divine truth. The church receives the word of God with a grateful heart, believes the Gospel ailti through its life and testimony calls others to re1)entancc. 3 7. If the Holy Scriptures are restricted in regard to permissible interpretation by the intent of the tvriters, and if the Holy Scriptures collectively and in the individual books provide the Gospel in all clarity, how is it that not all who use the Holy Scriptrrres find the Gospel? There is no prior guarantee that everyone who hears the v7ord of God will properly receive it, The parable of the Sower and the Secd teaches us to expect unbelicf as man's natural response to Gocl's word. Some reject God, others reject His word, and others simply do not understand or falsify His word, There are some who recognize the Scriptures as the word of Gocl and do not have the Gospel. Others do not explicitly recognize the Scriptures as the word of God and have Gospel. Still ot]lers recognize neither the Scriptures as \lrorcl of God nor the Gosyel. ~h~ yenson for rejectioil of any word of God, including the ~~~~~l, is sllecr unbelief, Even a clear understanding of the GorFel does exist, this does not assure that the Gosllfl will be accepted for its sarillg purposes. Satan is the factor in ally interpretation, fault):, impeufect, incoml~l~t~, or unclear. He twists clear words of ~~d to lJis own purpose [Gen. 3 : 1E.l. He is ultimately and person- ally for the concept that the Holy Scripture not necess;lrily tra(j1 tile Gosl>el and still urges LIS to believe the Gospel. Soon afterl illis 'suspei~dcd-in-a-vapr Gospel" also disappears. Until iesus appears as universal judge, interlx-etations conflicting with ihc int-ent \rill multiply. S~OSC who do this do it without ilnlx~"jt:y bllt must suffer the just consequences, "But woe to that iuan by khom thc offensc comcs!'" 38. Is the Gospel a unifying principle in interpreting the Bi131c' ']'he Gospel is thc one goal for .i.iihich God gave us the Holy Script~~rc:s. l\l~hci~ t11c cJ~ri~tiall coines to the conviction that God 11as Pmlailned to I~im the Gospel in one section of the Scripture, he cxpccts to hear or read thc same good news in other sections of the Scriptul:cs even bcfore llenring or reading them. 111 some cases he \rill hear thc accusing Li1\.1; or Gospel, or Law applied to Christian living. Sometimes he ~vill find all of these in one section. Thcrc ~vill 11e some scctions llard to ~inderstand not because Gocl spc'alis u11clearl!l but I~ccausc of the interveiling ):ears and the c11ang.s i1.1 ci11ti11.e~. Thesc sections will be judged in light of the clcarcl- ones. 'The d ifficu1.t scctions do not detract krom those sections n;hc~:e thc lne311i1.1g is 1110re ;tppar~lit. In this way we may speak of the Cospcl as a unift.jtig principle. Since cacl; passage of cacll book, each book of both Testaments, scr\.c to dcc1al:c Jcsus Cllrist as the Savior anti. liedeeiner, the Gospel as goal of thc Bible unifies tlic Bible. God. as tl.1~ author of the Bible is the unifying principle so far as thc source is concernecl. Christ aild salvation is the uilifying l~rinci~lc so,fnr as the goal is concerned. 3 9. Docs thc Gospel as message save us? The Gospel ns nlessnge does ~ot save us. 'The Gospel as the nezvs that Cod hns 1.et7eerrzed us from sin cloes sa\~e us. TT7ordS words, c\;cll religious \vol.ds arc niitlloul: ultinlate saving value even though t1.e~~ words might have an emotional or l,ellefit when they are spokc:n. 40. What act- is then really the redenlptive act? Gospel peach- ing is not a redc~n~~tive act. The only redelllptive act is the sacri- ficial death of Jesus through which He satisfied all God's require- lilents. Resurrection is not a redemptive act in this sense, rather it is God's Own certification of approval on the death of Jesus and what it accomplisl~ccl. 41- What is the relation betnlcen the act of God, Jesus' atoning death by crucifixion, and the Gospel? The Gospel comes out from the cross and receives its significance and meaning from cross. withoilt the cross there is no Gospel indeed be no Gospel! Jesus' atoning death could have existed without the Gospel, that is, .rvithout being included in a message for the benefit of man. In other words, the Gospel is dependent on the cross; the cross is not dependent on the Gospel-proclamation of the cross. God did however freely and lovingly choose to declare His on7n atonenlent in the cross! God was not compelled by His nature or the revelation of His nature in the Law to declare in the Gospel His act of atone- ment in Jesus. 32. What is the relationship of the atoning death of Jesus to the word of God? This question must be answered in two parts: A. The word of God, as Law which Mias God's prior purpose, outlines the requirements by which a man can be justified before God. It also carries with it its own penalties. Thus the word of God sets the requirements for the ,life and the death of Jesus, if Hc is going to redeem mankind. B. Following (at least Iog~caIly so) the completion of Jesus' redenlptive activities, God reports what Hc has done for the world out of love, The word of God as God's own guarantee stands between the event of the cross and its proclamation. To summarize, the word of God sets down the requirements for a death of atonement and then proclaims that God has indeed fulfilled these requirements. In all of theology, Law, Gospel or what- ever, the Word of God-and not Gospel-is the controlli~zg principle. 43. Call we still say that the Gospel is the controlling principle in theology and its goal? The controlling principle in theology is always God (ancl His Word) and the goal is always Jesus as the Law-fulfiller. Gospel, as message, is functional in this task and only the Gospel can direct faith to Jesus. It is a worship of words (logolatry) to hang on to the proclama- tion as proclanlation (kerygmalotry). This is important to state since the most prominent and infIuentia1 school of theological thought holds to this very thing of believing the message for the message's sake. We hold to the message not for its own sake bu.t because of what the message reports and contains, the death of Jesus for sins. 44. Is it the church's obligation to apply thc Gospel to society, the structures of society, or the world in general? As this question is tvordecl, the answer must be an emphatic no. The church does not apply just Gospel. It preaches the Law to all but preaches the Gospel only to the penitent, that is, those who have felt the sting of Law in their hearts. The Gospel also has no effect on organizations as organ- izations. It can have its effects on individuals who believe in Jesus and who participate in society. But the Gospel is not intended for society, governments, or civic groups in general. If we assign to the Gospel the task of affecting society, then we have turned the Gospel into. Law. The conl~llon bond between church and society is recognition of a nloral law and riot a revealed law and Gospel. 45. Do Christians live by the Gospel instead of living by the Law? Christians have been saved by believing the Gospel and no longer do the)? live b)~ the fear and threats of the Law. Jesus through His perfect perfornlance of the Law's denlancls and His all atoning 'Theses On The Lnav And Gospel _I --_ - 6 3 death under the Law's penalties has freed man from earning his own salvatio~l according to the L.aw. Christians do live their lives under the Gospel freed from the 1,an;'s threat of punishment. 46. Does this mean that the Christian is totally free from the J,a~r? Salvation is g!ven freely apart from the Law. This is the mes- sage of St. Peal whlch was rerli~ed in the Eeforlnatioll by Luther. h~ this new state under the Gospel, the believer, frced by Jesus from the demand of the Law to earn His salvation, sees the Law in a new light and lives according to the Law also. 4 7, Doesn't the Law a.ln7ays dellland and threaten and thus is it not opposed to the Gospel? To the sinner the Jdaw demands and threatens; but to the child of God the Lam I~ecomes what God had originallr; irltended it: to be, the perfect cxpression of how God wants His children to live. This is called the Third Use of the Law in the Lutheran Confessions. Luther saw this and put it so beautifully in his explanation of the Ten Conlmand~nents in the Slllall Catechism. God docs not placc prohibitions before the believer, but gives him positive conimancls. Jesus csplained this as Iove ancl told the parable of the Good Samaritan as an illustration of ho-iv Christians are to love. StiU \vc are saved not l~ecause we love or do the Law iin a positive way, but because Tesus died for LIS, as the Gospel declares.