The Law and the Gospel ... Our summer study on Sunday evenings included a careful look at the role of the Law in a "right" presentation of the Gospel. On this past friday, Steve Camp addresses this issue in his blog (http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/) by sharing an ancient (Calvin) and a modern (Sproul) whose dealings with this matter are very insightful. The blog is posted below:
Friday, August 19, 2005
The Law and the Gospel
...and The Threefold Use of the Law by Sproul/Calvin
The law of God has all but been abandoned today in gospel preaching and has produced "Finneyesque fruit" of half-hearted committments and temporary conversions all across our nation. The "new life" claimed by nearly forty million evangelicals today makes one wonder: if there is so much light in America, why is everything becoming so dark? Antinomianism is rampant today in evangelicalism (cp, Rom. 6:1) and due in part to the absence of the law in the proclamation of sola fide. I trust the following will encourage you to live by the Word of God, the gospel of God, and the law of God.
"Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:19-20).
"So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (Romans 7:12).
"When God gives orders and tells us what will happen if we fail to obey those orders perfectly, that is in the category of what the reformers, following the biblical text, called law. When God promises freely, providing for us because of Christ's righteousness the status he demands of us, this is in the category of gospel. It is good news from start to finish. The Bible includes both, and the reformers were agreed that the Scriptures taught clearly that the law, whether Old or New Testament commands, was not eliminated for the believer (those from a Dispensational background may notice a difference here). Nevertheless, they insisted that nothing in this category of law could be a means of justification or acceptance before a holy God ... The law comes, not to reform the sinner nor to show him or her the "narrow way" to life, but to crush the sinner's hopes of escaping God's wrath through personal effort or even cooperation. All of our righteousness must come from someone else-someone who has fulfilled the law's demands. Only after we have been stripped of our "filthy rags" of righteousness (Isa. 64:6)- our fig leaves through which we try in vain to hide our guilt and shame-can we be clothed with Christ's righteousness. First comes the law to proclaim judgment and death, then the gospel to proclaim justification and life. One of the clearest presentations of this motif is found in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. In the sixteenth century, the issue of law and grace was more clearly dealt with than at almost any other time since the apostles." - Modern Reformation (May/June 2003: "Good News: The Gospel for Christians")
THE THREEFOLD USE OF THE LAW by R.C. Sproul
Every Christian wrestles with the question, how does the Old Testament law relate to my life? Is the Old Testament law irrelevant to Christians or is there some sense in which we are still bound by portions of it? As the heresy of antinomianism becomes ever more pervasive in our culture, the need to answer these questions grows increasingly urgent.
The Reformation was founded on grace and not upon law. Yet the law of God was not repudiated by the Reformers. John Calvin, for example, wrote what has become known as the “Threefold Use of the Law” in order to show the importance of the law for the Christian life.1
The first purpose of the law is to be a mirror. On the one hand, the law of God reflects and mirrors the perfect righteousness of God. The law tells us much about who God is. Perhaps more important, the law illumines human sinfulness. Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.”2 The law highlights our weakness so that we might seek the strength found in Christ. Here the law acts as a severe schoolmaster who drives us to Christ.
A second purpose for the law is the restraint of evil. The law, in and of itself, cannot change human hearts. It can, however, serve to protect the righteous from the unjust. Calvin says this purpose is “by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice.”3 The law allows for a limited measure of justice on this earth, until the last judgment is realized.
The third purpose of the law is to reveal what is pleasing to God. As born-again children of God, the law enlightens us as to what is pleasing to our Father, whom we seek to serve. The Christian delights in the law as God Himself delights in it. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). This is the highest function of the law, to serve as an instrument for the people of God to give Him honor and glory.
By studying or meditating on the law of God, we attend the school of righteousness. We learn what pleases God and what offends Him. The moral law that God reveals in Scripture is always binding upon us. Our redemption is from the curse of God’s law, not from our duty to obey it. We are justified, not because of our obedience to the law, but in order that we may become obedient to God’s law. To love Christ is to keep His commandments. To love God is to obey His law.
Summary 1. The church today has been invaded by antinomianism, which weakens, rejects, or distorts the law of God. 2. The law of God is a mirror of God’s holiness and our unrighteousness. It serves to reveal to us our need of a savior. 3. The law of God is a restraint against sin. 4. The law of God reveals what is pleasing and what is offensive to God. 5. The Christian is to love the law of God and to obey the moral law of God.
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