Blogs
The Distinction Between Law And Gospel Emerged From Augustine’s Struggle With Pelagius
When many Christians think about the Reformation, they do not think about the distinction between law and gospel. Indeed, it is a truism for not a few modern Reformed folk that the distinction between law and gospel is solely a Lutheran conviction. Of course, this would come as a great surprise to Calvin, Beza, Ursinus, Olevianus, and many others who taught the very same distinction between law and gospel that Luther taught but, nonetheless, when they think of the Reformation (if they should happen to think about it) they think about sola Scriptura or sola fide or perhaps soli Deo gloria.
What does it mean to be under the law?
There seems to be a fair amount of confusion today about what it means to be “under the law.” And there’s confusion about what it doesn’t mean. Some suggest that all of the members of the Old Covenant were “under the law.” Others say that for a believer to accept any commands or directives from God is to be “under the law.” Some believe that to accept the moral law, revealed in the Old Testament, as normative for the believer is to be under the law. But the phrase “under the law” is technical terminology in the Pauline epistles for something very specific.
The Law as a Covenant of Works vs. a Rule of Life - Part I
I believe much of the confusion over the law stems from not understanding how it is a covenant of works. The late Meredith Kline once said that those who reject or do not understand the covenant of works are the ones who end up putting others under it. This is because if we do not recognize the covenant of works in Scripture – such as in Genesis 1-2 and Romans 2:6-13 –
then we will interpret those sections as normative for believers. For example, a Roman Catholic I was recently interacting with quoted Romans 2:6-13 as proof that believers will be judged by
their works.
What does it mean to be under the law?
In my last post I discussed the relationship of the Law of God to the believer. While the Law is the standard for how believers are to live, it is no longer in the form of a covenant of works where they must do it in order to obtain, secure, or keep eternal life. The Lord Jesus came as the Last Adam and was born under the Law in order to fulfill its righteous requirements. As we saw last time, the Law as a covenant of works has both a promise of blessing and a threat of a
curse based on one’s performance to it. If at any point the person under the Law fails to perfectly and perpetually keep it, then he is cursed with eternal death (Gal. 3:10).
The Three Uses of the Law
There has been much confusion over the relationship of the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) to the believer throughout church history and especially in our day. There are antinomians who, in one way or another, deny the Law of God, whether it is by crossing out the 4 th Commandment, or by saying that the Law was only for the Jews and has no place in the Christian’s life, or by declaring that God broke his Law in order to love (as one famous heretic
recently said).