Part One: Attributes of the Law
The Law Convicts Us of Unbelief
J-909
"However, here the Lord speaks quite differently, and says: 'The Holy Spirit will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.' Unbelief only is mentioned here as sin, and faith is praised as suppressing and extinguishing the other sins, even the sins in the saints. Faith is so strong and overpowering that no sin dare put it under any obligation. Although sins are present in pious and believing persons, they are not imputed to them, nor shall their sins condemn them."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 127. Fourth Sunday after Easter, Second Sermon John 16:5-15.
When the Reformed and Roman Catholics teach about sin, most people think they mean spending too much money on slow horses and fast women. Both confessions place their emphasis upon sanctification rather than faith. However, Jesus taught about sin in a different way.
KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me.
Non-Lutheran preaching of the Law focuses upon sins of the flesh, providing a constant source of guilt without a clear sense of forgiveness. Such Law preaching is usually followed by Law solutions. To pay for his sins, a Roman Catholic must do something: acts of contrition, masses, payments (reparations). The Reformed believer is given a variety of Law solutions: he must yield his life to Jesus, become a prayer warrior, or give up a particular habit. The sins identified are outward and easily visible, in contrast to coveting which cannot be seen and yet prompts so many other sins.
J-910
"You may tie a hog ever so well, but you cannot prevent it from grunting, until it is strangled and killed. Thus it is with the sins of the flesh."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 247.
Luther preached against the sin of not believing the Word of God. False teachers are inclined to exemplify this sentiment, “I will preach about those things which inflame me, but I cannot support parts of the Bible that are contrary to reason or my confession.” Thus there is only a short step between the Reformed who cannot believe in the Real Presence of Christ and the Jehovah’s Witness saying he does not believe in the Trinity. As a recent Jehovah’s Witness said to me, “I cannot believe that Jesus as God prayed to God.” I said, “A cow cannot believe it either.” The greatest work of the Holy Spirit in working through the Law can be seen in showing us that we do not trust the Word completely. We should be thankful that the Holy Spirit has revealed the Gospel to us and nurtured the faith He created. Human reason cannot grasp Christ crucified for our sins.
In the last few decades, conservative Lutherans thought they were mighty fine fellows when they preached in favor of the inerrancy of the Scriptures, a minority view in this age. However, in the Christian Church this is no more remarkable than defending the moistness of water or the color of the sky. A pan-Christian inerrancy conference reveals that the confessions gathered together do not agree on anything except inerrancy, which is also defined in various ways. Lutherans now need to preach against the sin of selective belief in the Bible, showing how the Scriptures are the Book of the Holy Spirit, an integrated and harmonious truth revealed for our salvation and blessings. The sin of unbelief can be seen in many different ways today in the Lutheran Church:
1. People do not trust in the forgiveness of their sins through the atoning death of Christ, so they remain anxious and seek after other cures.
2. Pastors and congregations look for material proof of their success, forcing visible results upon the Gospel when Jesus promised only a cross.
3. Synods, pastors, and congregations do not trust the Gospel, so they lash people with the Law and then provide Law solutions.
4. The constant displays of resentment, grudges, and retaliations in the Lutheran Church indicate that few believe in the forgiveness of sins.
5. Kokomo justification has had such a toxic influence on the Wisconsin Synod, ELS, and parts of the LCMS that faith seems to be something evil rather than the reason for preaching the Gospel.
J-911
"If remission of sins without repentance is preached, the people imagine that they have already forgiveness of sins, and thereby they are made secure and unconcerned. This is a greater error and sin than all error of former times, and it is verily to be feared that we are in that danger which Christ points out when He says, Matthew 12:45: 'The last state of that man shall be worse than the first.'"
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 123.
Our carnal nature, because of Original Sin, is tainted and corrupted in every respect. The Reformed and Roman Catholics do not believe this. The Lutherans say they believe in Original Sin but carry on in the worst Pietistic, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou way. A major step in listening to the Holy Spirit speaking through the Law is to confess, “It is true. Even my noblest thoughts and actions are tainted by sin, so I should stop bragging about what I have done and instead confess what Christ has done for me.”
J-912
"No work is so evil that it can damn a man, and no work is so good that it can save a man; but faith alone saves us, and unbelief damns us. The fact that someone falls into adultery does not damn him. Rather the adultery indicates that he has fallen from faith. This damns him; otherwise adultery would be impossible for him. So, then, nothing makes a good tree except faith."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 475. Matthew 7:15-23.
Using the Law to show unbelief is especially important in this age of Pelagianism. People truly believe they can perfect and save themselves. One amusing example was the grim young couple shown on TV who admitted they did not like fish, but forced themselves to eat it twice a week to make themselves healthier. Others are on a campaign to save Planet Earth by recycling, without ever giving God credit for the miracle of compost. Still others have grasped various cures, therapies, clinics, and movements to find their earthly and heavenly Xanadu. Anyone who denies that this movement has invaded Christianity is delirious.
When we met two Fundamentalists at a hotel, they began speaking about Paul Y. Cho, who had just given a speech at some Christian gathering. I tried to tell them that Cho’s occult religion put him outside of the Christian faith, but they smiled glassy-eyed and repeated their devotion to him. In another situation, a Presbyterian woman started asking me about studying the Bible. At one point she asked about reincarnation. I pointed out the pagan and anti-Christian nature of the concept, but she smiled dreamily and said she still believed in it. Later, when I attended a Church Growth seminar, I sat next to a Church of God minister. He had the look of a man just getting off the plane in Las Vegas, grinning in hyperbolic anticipation. The minister asked me what I thought about the seminar, so I responded about Fuller being anti-inerrancy, inviting Cho, and undermining the faith. He fire-walled me with one terse comment, “I like it.”
J-913
"Today nothing is so common as turning right into wrong and wrong into right by employing all sorts of clever expedients and strange tricks."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1294.
The challenge of Lutheran preaching and teaching today will be to bring this passage—John 16:7—to the forefront. This challenge involves teaching against selective belief and hearing—against cafeteria Christianity where only the favorite dishes are chosen. (No thanks. I do not want that cross. It is much too large for me.) Although this duty will seem to be too difficult for many, and they may likely rebel in many different ways, the message also has within it a source of great comfort. The more we listen to Luther’s sermons, the more we understand how the Holy Spirit alone works contrition through the Law and forgiveness through the Gospel. Luther also helps us see how much pure Gospel is contained in the Old Testament and in each phrase of the epistles (where we may overlook it).
There are really three different styles of preaching in the Christian Church today.
1. The Reformed or Pietistic preacher says, “You are horrible sinners, but if you do what I tell you to do, God may ease up on the judgment you so richly deserve.”
2. The Roman Catholic priest says, “You are horrible sinners, but if you submit to my authority and perform various acts of contrition, I may get you some time off of Purgatory.”
3. The sincere Lutheran pastor says, “We are sinful, weak people, tainted by Original Sin and unable to save ourselves. Nevertheless, Christ has paid for our sins through His death on the cross and has provided the Means of Grace to distribute this forgiveness, which we receive in faith. When God says our sins are forgiven, His efficacious Word removes them forever. Where sin is forgiven, eternal life springs up.”
Many Lutheran pastors now combine the Romanism of the synod with the Pietism of the culture, so their members hear little of God’s Law and even less of the Gospel.
J-914
"A penitent heart is a rare thing and a great grace; one cannot produce it by thinking about sin and hell. Only the Holy Spirit can impart it."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1212.
J-915
"Now God drives us to this by holding the law before us, in order that through the law we may come to a knowledge of ourselves. For where there is not this knowledge, one can never be saved. He that is well needs no physician; but if a man is sick and desires to become well, he must know that he is weak and sick, otherwise he cannot be helped."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 370. Second Sunday after Easter, Second Sermon John 20:19-31.
J-916
"For the heart is ever hostile to the law and resists it with inward disobedience."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 140. Fourth Sunday after Easter, Third Sermon John 16:5-15.
J-917
"Therefore the Holy Spirit rightly and justly convicts, as sinful and condemned, all who have not faith in Christ. For where this is wanting, other sins in abundance must follow: God is despised and hated, and the entire first table is treated with disobedience."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 141. Fourth Sunday after Easter, Third Sermon John 16:5-15.
J-918
"It breaks in not piecemeal on certain works and actions, but reduces to nothing and condemns everything that reason and worldly wisdom propose. In short, He convicts and censures them in and for the very things they do not wish to be convicted in, but rather praised and lauded, as teaching and doing well and right."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 138. Fourth Sunday after Easter, Third Sermon. John 16:5-15.
The Law Always Condemns
J-919
"I have often told you, dearly beloved, that the entire Scriptures consist of two parts, of the law and the Gospel. It is the law that teaches us what we are required to do; the Gospel teaches where we shall receive what the law demands. For it is quite a different thing to know what we should have, and to know where to get it. Just as when I am given into the hands of the physicians, where it is quite a different art to tell what my disease is than to tell what medicine I must take so as to recover. Thus it is likewise here. The law discovers the disease, the Gospel ministers the medicine."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 31. Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, Luke 10:23-37.
J-920
"This is the situation with him: the greater his external restraint from evil, the greater his inward hatred of him who restrains. His character is in the scales; when one side goes up, the other goes down. While outward sin decreases, inward sin increases. We know from experience that those youths most strictly reared are, when given liberty, more wicked than young men less rigidly brought up. So impossible it is to improve human nature with commandments and punishments; something else is necessary."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 268. New Year's Day, Galatians 3:23-29.
The Law is the work of the Holy Spirit, but it is limited to condemnation and threats. For that reason, the Law can never provide the perfection it demands. Lutherans should be especially aware of this limitation, because the Reformed solutions provided by mission boards, evangelism experts, and synodical officials are all Law, but man-made law at best. Luther’s analogy, comparing Law and Gospel to diagnosis and treatment, is still good to use today. I was waiting with a family while the head of the household was in surgery. A former Roman Catholic began talking about her change from the Church of Rome to Pentecostalism. She was much happier as a Pentecostal. I knew that my chance to say something was quite limited, so I pointed out that the Law was the same as getting an x-ray, but all the x-rays in the world would not cure an ailment. Only the Gospel of forgiveness could provide healing. She brightened up when she heard this and I hope paid more attention to the Gospel in the future. Many people I know would have said, “You have to quit the Pentecostals and join my synod.” That would be a Law solution and the wrong one, as far as the immediate problem was concerned.
Because the Law always condemns, it can bear no fruit. The Law can be enforced on anyone and often produces comical results. For instance, mission boards love mission reports but seldom read them. Two pastors tested this principle by sending in phony, inflated, and hilarious reports for months. They had the audacity to tell the mission executive that they would not send any more reports because he did not read them. “Of course I have!” They taunted him into opening the file and reading them, provoking an angry response unbecoming to a minister of the Gospel. The Law by itself produces guilt and moves people to obey, but they cannot love God’s Law through hearing the Law alone. Consequently, correct Lutheran teaching includes both Law and Gospel, with the Gospel predominating.
J-921
Luther: "The lawmonger compels by threats and punishments; the preacher of grace persuades and incites men by setting forth the goodness and mercy of God."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, I, p. 79.
J-922
"What is said there concerning the servant is true here concerning the pupil. Paul employs the two figures to teach us the office of the Law and what it profits. We must, therefore, again refer to the Law and its works, to the fact that works are of twofold origin. Some are extorted by fear of punishment or prompted by expectation of pleasure and gain; others are spontaneous, cheerful and gratuitous, not performed to escape punishment nor to gain reward, but inspired by pure kindness and a desire for what is good. The first class are the works of servants and pupils; the second class, of children and free heirs."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 267. New Year's Day, Galatians 3:23-29.
J-923
"As for example when we feel in our conscience that God rebukes us as sinners and judges us unworthy of the kingdom of heaven, then we experience hell, and we think we are lost forever. Now whoever understands here the actions of this poor woman and catches God in His own judgment, and says, Lord, it is true, I am a sinner and not worthy of Thy grace; but still Thou hast promised sinners forgiveness, and Thou art come not to call the righteous, but, as St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:15, 'to save sinners.' Behold, then must God according to His own judgment have mercy upon us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 153. Matthew 15:21-28.
