The Law/Gospel Rant

173 thoughts on “The Law/Gospel Rant”

1. Hi Michael,

   It’s been some time since you’ve written this, but I want to thank you for writing this. It’s so true! Thanks for the freeing text.

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2. Although I believe Reformed theology is biblical, I often see what you relate – giving sovereign grace with the one hand and taking it away with the other through shifting the focus from God’s graciosness in Christ to our efforts. It kills me everytime and takes me a while to recover.

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3. And the real killer? Hanging the carrot out there that says there is a place you can be where if you do enough you will be ultimately accepted.

   A place the guy up front doing the preaching is comfortably in, but you can never get in no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try. Then comes the condescencing diagnosis of the In-Crowd as to why you can’t, and it all becomes just another game of one-upmanship. Just like high school.

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4. Does that have anything to do with the comment from somewhere that “You can tell when a Christian leader is in trouble when he stops preaching on what he’s for and only preaches on what he’s against”?

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5. Mike, I think I understand what you mean by Gospel-soaked ways of instruction. I think the best preaching gives a clear gospel explanation for 2 reasons- so people who don’t understand the gospel can hear it and hopefully believe, and for those who do understand the gospel to be encouraged by the reminder of what our Savior has done for us. Also, I think the preaching should go further, past “milk” to “solid food,” to deeper teachings, Hebrews 6:1-3.
   A good sermon should instruct us in God’s ways, so that we know how to live:
   2 Timothy 3:14-17

   To answer your question of how the Bible teaches us to deal with depression, I hesitate to answer because I have a long answer, and I don’t want you to have preconceived notions about where I am coming from, based on people you have known, etc. Some people who have responded to my earlier posts here I did not “feel the love” from and I felt judged and that they assumed where I was coming from. If you are against what I am saying, I would prefer you ask a question to clarify rather than cut down what is assumed to be my view.
   Having said that, I will try to be concise, but depression is a multifaceted topic.
   First, there are many different causes of depression.
   1. Physical, such as a thyroid problem, a brain injury, hypoglycemia, etc. Hopefully the physical cause can be identified by a doctor and treated, for example thyroid medicine, rather than immediately prescribing an antidepressant.
   2. Psychological//spiritual, such as trauma, grief, guilt (false or true), unresolved anger/bitterness, anxiety, etc.
   I think identifying the causes of depression can be a huge help in finding out how to find help. Depending on their symptoms and the causes of depression, the Bible can offer a ton of help on the subject. Another factor with depression is that many times people’s responses to depression can further add to their depression. So in cases where the cause may not have a specific Biblical answer, the Bible can help people to know ways to respond to their situation than can bring help, peace, comfort, etc.
   To just choose a couple examples:
   Most people deal with depression at one time or another, including great people of faith such as David and Elijah, pastors, etc., even Abraham Lincoln and other famous historic people. Looking at some of the people in the Bible who had depression can bring comfort and guidance to Christians nowadays dealing with depression, such as Psalm 32, 38, and 77. I think there are times when God has a purpose for our depression, that there is something He is doing in our lives through the depression to bring us into a closer relationship with Him and to teach us things that we would not otherwise learn.
   Another way the Bible can help depression is if it is caused by true guilt and/or anger/unforgiveness/bitterness. The Bible has much to say on these topics, such as seeking forgiveness from God and possibly also from those we’ve wronged, and it’s SO freeing when we do that! This brings us right back to the gospel, that we are free in Christ from what we’ve done, and don’t need to be weighed down by our guilt and shame over our sins, because in Christ we are forgiven completely and His Spirit is working in our lives. We are new creations and set free from the bondage of sin.
   In my own life, when anxiety has been overwhelming, there are times when Philippians 4:4-9 has been a HUGE help, especially trying to give thanks to God and get my mind off of what is overwhelming me.

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6. If someone is taking God’s good grace and using it as an excuse to continue in a way that is unpleaseing to God there is no real repentance their; but that is something that remains entirley between God and that person… No amount of “law”, or a dose of Sunday church will change that…

   What will change a person is taking the focuse of f of them and putting it on to someone else… Such as: spreading the good news, turning the other cheek, making disciples of his people…

   As anyone ever noticed after you’ve done something for someone else like giving rice to a hingry family or opening a door for your irritating co-worked that its suddenly not about you and it’s about them.

   I feel strongly that you can never overcome a sin or a grow if you only focuse on you; which is what church is so much about these days… Come to chruch on Sunday feel convicted for a day fall back into your same stride the next and we’ll see you in a week… Debating over what kind of church is better will get you no where…

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7. I am sorry to keep doing this, but this is amazing! This is worth shouting about. That list of “sins” in Galatians makes so much sense, it’s a “beware” list not a “thou shalt not” list. I wish I could explain it. This is something people can accept as truly good news. I can’t believe I never understood this! If only I could explain it!

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8. Wow. I get it. I see it now. “It is finished.” I can’t explain it, but I get it. So why does Paul have that list in Galatians? I’ve gotta think about this.

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9. By golly, you’re right! And I get a free dog soul with conversion: http://www.irreligion.org/2008/08/27/all-dogs-go-to-heaven/

   But seriously, why do you say that you are toast? Are you saying that you cannot or will not repent? Are you suggesting that it is not possible? Maybe I should go listen to some of those sermons you linked rather than dragging this on.

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10. The Law shows the world sin. The Gospel shows the world to one and only salvation from that sin, Christ crucified. Because Christ died for all does not mean that we turn a blind eye to sin, but rather use the Law to show sin and the need for a Savior. Once sin is realized and the need for a Savior is recognized we can use the Gospel to show that all sins have been paid for on the cross.

    Now as for homosexuality refer to what Paul writes in 1Cor. 6:9.

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11. I like your summary, Charley. It makes sense to me (I think!)

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12. All the ECFs were RC so I avoid them. 🙂

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13. Exactly the problem with Marxism, too: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs.”

    Who gets to make the call?

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14. Spell check is a wonderful thing. I should try it sometime.

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15. Here’s how I understand it. (In an overly simplistic way that will make watchbloggers pull out their red pens 🙂 )

    Law required perfect performance, and since we are not perfect, law is impossible to fulfill. Hence, the law is good, but cannot save.

    Gospel requires faith. Either (1) God chooses to whom He will give faith, and coversly, from whom he will withhold faith (Calvinist), or (2) Good freely gives faith, but true faith requires some human decision to accept it or not to reject it.

    If perfect faith is required, then it must be a gift from God. If a human decision to accept (or not reject) faith is required, then God must allow imperfect decisions. Otherwise, faith is like law.

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16. The Law Gospel distinction is not a ‘modern lens’ through which we view the Scriptures. When believers and their particular situations are addressed by the scriptures, they are either commanded or exhorted to do/not do something, or they are told what God has done. It is just that simple. To deny the distinction you have to overlook the manner in which the scriptures address the individual.

    Furhtermore, this is the only hermeneutic that can make sense of God’s seemingly contradictory behavior in large parts of the scriptures.

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17. Hi Michael. I’ve been re-reading Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (a one-time student of St. Polycarp who sat at the feet of St. John the Theologian). I find I’m curious how you react to Chapters XXXVII through XLI of Book IV of that work. If you haven’t read it recently and don’t recall your reaction, not problem. As I said, I was just curious. I know you’re swamped writing your own book and likely getting ready for another school year.

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18. More sanity!

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19. I live in England – and we’re still obsessed.

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20. I was largely bemused through much of the rant and then through much of the ensuing discussion. Then I’ve been listening to the podcast and a little bit of a light flicked on. I get the part of the rant about the sort of legalism that crushes people. Hey, I was the teen father standing on the edge between looking/stepping further into Christianity or turning toward the non-Christian pluralism that was also part of my childhood formation. I was that teen father who was kicked out of a church during a service from the pulpit because a teen father holding his sleeping infant daughter ‘disturbed’ those good folks. (Marc Antony’s repeated phrase ‘honorable men’ comes to mind.) So yeah. I understand that problem in visceral ways that many probably don’t.

    With that said, I’m not sure it’s possible to even have a meaningful discussion unless we make some effort to use words the way they are actually used in the Holy Scriptures. In this discussion, it seems to me that much is revolving around many and varied interpretations of the words in use. In fact, even the title of the post seems to set “Law” and “Gospel” as antonyms when, in the context of scripture they aren’t really even in exactly the same sphere.

    Contrary to some of the modern Western usage of “Law” as some sort of universal, generic rule most likely tied to the philosophical idea of “natural law”, I’m hard-pressed to find any place in our scripture where it is used that way. (And since that’s really a modern philosophical idea, it would be pretty anachronistic if it were.) Rather, “Law” or “nomos” (and variants) in the Greek seems to pretty much everywhere refer to Torah, the works of Torah that identified the Jews as the people of God, and the Way of Torah by which and under which they shaped their lives. That’s a very specific usage with a great deal of scriptural and historical weight. It seems to me that that must be the starting point for any discussion, not some abstract idea of “Law”. It also seems to me that if you fail to grasp that, you also fail to grasp the significance of things like what Jesus was saying when he called himself the Way and many other such things.

    The “Gospel”, or good news, or euvangelion, is fundamentally the proclamation the crucified and risen Jesus is Messiah and Lord. I once went through and found every place where the “gospel” was expanded in the NT (rather than simply referenced) and that is pretty much right on target. And, as NT Wright points out, historically it’s what the word meant – a proclamation of a new Lord. Now the euvangelion of Jesus is good news for many reasons. Fundamentally, of course, it’s good news because, unlike most others, he is a *good* Lord. He has defeated all powers, including death, and as such we are no longer subject to them. We are no longer ruled by death and the other powers cannot wield it as a weapon to dominate us. He has united the nature of man with that of God so that in and through him we might become one also with God. He is a Lord of mercy, the epitome of the God Jonah understood all too well, an understanding which thoroughly pissed him off.

    But in their usage in the Holy Scriptures, “Law” and “Gospel” are not two poles of one idea. They just aren’t. They each bring in some very different topics and ideas. I would suggest that both are words that it is important to understand in the way they are used and to allow that understanding to sink into you and become a part of your identity and the manner in which you view the world. But do so in the sense they are actually used. It’s hard, because the cultures involved are ancient and in many ways alien to us. But we can learn to see at least as through a glass, darkly.

    Certainly legalism is wrong. But I don’t think it is helpful to attempt to fight it by reinterpreting the Holy Scriptures through modern lenses.

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21. Todd @9:08 AM,

    Huh?

    You are making a whole raft of assumptions about my position that I don’t think are warranted. God’s wrath is never pointless, and not because He ‘likes’ to be angry. I honestly don’t know how you are extracting that from what I said. As to God’s wrath not being eternal (at least in respect to the final state of the wicked) your problem is with the text of scripture not with any assumed belief on my part.

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22. OK, now I am a total fan of Internet Monk. I don’t know what kept me away for so long. Patti & I were part of a storefront Lutheran “experiment” from ’00 to ’07 that had to close down. We used to say “Grace, grace, grace. It’s all about grace,” and “God seeks us out and loves us into wholeness”. Now Patti & I are languishing in the big downtown Episcopal Church which Patti finds extremely strange. And yet there are sweet, thoughtful Christians in the Episcopal Church (as well as any Baptist church), though how they come to be that way is a complete mystery to me. I guess they find Grace at the altar, confessing their sins and receiving Christ’s gracious presence in their lives (either through communion or an altar call). And in Lutheran Churches you often find sin and forgiveness preached by a bored pastor to boring people who just like the church lifestyle.

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23. Gordon: Go read the Catholic Catechsim on the state of a child immediately upon being baptized. Compare it to your view of the purpose of the atone (and btw Catholics say that baptized infants are justified). Then tell me why your view isn’t basically the same: Atonement makes Christian life possible. That life is lived by way of own turning from sin.

    As I said: I’m toast if that’s the case.

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24. Then I humbly submit that the grace preacher is incorrect. Repentance is not “just simply seeing”, it is turning away from sin and toward God. God wants more than acknowledgment (even the demons acknowledge). He wants what is rightfully His: our complete and uttermost love and devotion.

    The atonement of Christ is a gift, received by those (and, as I read it, only those) who want it. And what is the nature of this gift? Is it a ticket to heaven? A get-out-of-hell-free card? No, it is a gate, which opens on the narrow way which leads to life. Shall I stand outside admiring the gate? Shall I say that God made the path, then He made the gate so that I don’t have to follow the path? Or shall I acknowledge that the purpose of the gate is to put me on the path; which leads soon to my own cross?

    If I follow some other path, no matter how straight and narrow it may be, it will not lead to God. If I follow the path and stop at the gate, saying “Who needs this gate? I have a path!” I will not reach God. If I stand outside admiring the gate, discussing it with others, defending the gate from its detractors, but never enter in, what good does it do me? If I enter the gate but turn back because the path is too difficult, will I ever reach God? Of course not.

    So who would want this gate, this gift of atonement? Who can truly accept it? Those who have repented, and are earnestly seeking the way to God.

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25. No one who practices believers baptism considers it “necessary” as in “baptism itself removes sin” except for the Campbellites. Baptists consider it “necessary” but not in an efficacious sense. Paedo Baptists, such as Lutherans, do consider baptism necessary in the active sense. See Luther’s small catchism vs the Second London Baptist confession.

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26. Karl:

    Really you are going to say “Not Christ in me, but Christ for me” ? “Not Christ in me”? Not, “Christ in you the hope for glory”-Col.1:27 Christ in me is not ‘complete’?

    Wowza, not the gospel.

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27. Because we have come to believe that so much of our lifestyle (whether as Americans, or whatever else) is normal and necessary, so we don’t question what we do…instead, we go looking for faults in others to focus on.

    In addition, in America especially, America was founded by people with the “City on a Hill” mentality, that America was somehow innately a “christian nation” and that therefore anything it did was the will of God. So people doing “unchristian things” in the “Christian nation” are automatically the enemy of God, and can be treated accordingly.

    However, if you don’t think of America as the last bastion of Christendom, a lot of that falls apart very quickly.

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28. I don’t understand how you can see the whole “our emnity vs. God’s wrath, etc.” as non transactional. It seems to me that if the whole point of Grace is that God is angry, then we have a defining issue with who God is. In addition to what God’s wrath is actually like.

    I don’t see anywhere in the bible where God’s wrath is A. eternal, B. pointless, or C. simply because he likes being angry and vengeful at people. It’s always purposeful.

    In fact, much of God’s wrath in the OT (where we see most of it) is almost certainly God not protecting people from the consequences of their actions in the world. The curse that God delivers so much of the time is rather an absence of Grace.

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29. I had a dream this morning, this is usually my most enlightening theological introspection. No I’m not saying God told me, but it was interesting. I was chatting with my Lutheran pastor friend and I mentioned perhaps our understanding of Christ passion lied somewhere between the two camps? Sometimes simplicity is the greatest solution. Jesus Christ has died for our sins, it is finished, and is faith ,hope,and love that dashes us against it.

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30. Jjoe, I keep checking back to see if someone has answered you. I hope Michael does answer, as I would like to hear too.

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31. “A grace preacher says that your repentance is just simply seeing what you CAN’T Do and what Christ HAS done.”

    That’s great, Michael. I am going to remember this.

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32. Todd,

    Pastor Cwirla’s sermon links have both the print version and the Mp3 versions on the same page. (Also, you are lucky if he preaches for 25 minutes, with 20 minutes being about average.)

    I don’t know what Piper teaches about grace so I am not in a position to confirm or deny our agreement with him. If you have represented him accurately then, we most certainly do not agree with him.

    The classic understanding of grace in our tradition is the unmerited favor of God toward us because of Christ and His work. It is God’s personal disposition towards us. This is juxtaposed against God’s wrath and our emnity towards Him. It’s the exact opposite of transactionalism.

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33. This is not a rhetorical question – I really would like an answer. Why if we are called to preach the gospel, not the law, do we concentrate so much on the law issue of homosexuality? Especially when it is a minority interest.

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34. From what I have seen and experienced, legalism is pretty much the default setting for all man-made religion. And, for myself, walking, living, and thinking in the realm of grace requires constantly readjusting my mind and heart. God’s saving grace is something we can never merit or earn, but it is something we have to keep our minds and hearts tuned into — so if there is such a thing as a saving “work”, I would say that it is the work of continually denying self and relying on Christ and His work as complete and all sufficient. Sure, sin can keep us blind to or running from God’s grace, but I would add that legalism is an even more effective way of dodging grace and the transforming work that the Giver of grace wants to do in our lives. What Jesus did on that cross not only paid the penalty for all sin for all time, it also delivered the ultimate insult to fallen human pride and self-righteousness. And it’s that insult — that reality that we can never earn or deserve or own or control God’s freely-given grace — that serves as the rock of offense over which many continue to stumble.

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35. Lynette, thank you for continuing our discussion.

    I certainly don’t want to give you the wrong idea by overstating my position, but it seems to me that the pendulum has swung so far away from the gospel in evangelical churches toward “how-to” teaching such as “Five Steps to Being a Better Parent,” or “Ten Principles about How to Manage Your Money,” not to mention the consistent drone of preachers “challenging” us to be more devoted to God in a thousand different ways, that the message has become much more about what we do than what Christ has done and what he does in us by the Spirit. People have come to view the Bible primarily as a manual for living. Our religion has become what one has called, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” That is, it’s about my behavior. It’s about me becoming a better person and more fulfilled. It’s about my efforts to please a distant God. As a pastor, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to or counseled in our churches who are trying to function on all the wrong assumptions, trying to be acceptable to God rather than living gratefully in his acceptance in Christ.

    When we view the Bible as our “instruction book,” especially in our narcissistic American culture, we go to it as we would to a personal trainer for exercise and diet advice. And somehow the whole thing gets turned around so that it becomes about me, my growth, my development, my personal fulfillment and transformation. One more thing to check off my list–now I have in order my physical life, my work life, my family life, my spiritual life. And we love it because we get to try and control the process.

    Lynette, of course Christians need instruction. But there are Gospel-soaked ways by which this happens that are utterly contrary to the ways our cultural Christianity based on moralism teaches us.

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36. Yeah, I get it – didn’t you see my smiley face?

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37. Both those questions are questions answered by the Gospel. They are non-sequitors to those who believe the Gospel.

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38. If I gave you a number, quota or other paramater, wouldn’t that be legalistic? :o)

    It’s not an issue of quantifying or qualifying adequate repentance. Repentance is a gift granted by God, not some state of mind we work ourselves into in order to try to please God. Repentance is the fruit of being drawn by the Spirit to saving faith in Christ.

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39. Glad you said sanctification is by grace alone. that helps me see your position. But:

    I think there’s a little understood fact about human sin that renders the oft-repeated dichotomy of legalism vs. antinomianism(or licentiousness) kind of silly. It’s that an antinomian– one who sins more, cause “hey God forgives me” –is a slave to a law, and the Gospel alone can set him free. Maybe not the OT law, but then neither is most Christian legalism. the law is their craving, their biochemical desires, their felt needs, their personal fulfillment, any number of motivating factors that cause the idolatry of the self. In the same way it could be said that a Pharisee was an licentious addict- one who couldn’t put down the law when it ceased to glorify God. Much like an alcoholic or a college student at a frat party.

    I just hate to see unnecessary dichotomies set up because they cause people to think there’s two(or even more) solutions, and they must be collected like Easter eggs before one “really has it” or “is truly saved.”

    nate

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40. Mike,
    I will gladly answer your question about ways the Bible teaches about how to deal with depression, but first I would like to get a better idea of where you are coming from.
    I agree with what John wrote below, “To understand the gospel is to live the Christian life” and I believe growing Christians use the Bible to know how to seek God and become more like Christ, how to live, etc. So everything we do should have Christ at the center, and specifically, the gospel- the cross, the resurrection, as the center. And therefore the way to understand how to be a godly wife, parent, sibling, neighbor, church member, etc., will be learned from the Bible, as we grow in our relationship with its author, since God speaks to us through His word. Jesus gave us commandments and said that He is the fulfillment of the law. Paul gave us commandments, there are many teachings in the Bible both before and after the cross. I don’t understand what you are saying IF you are saying that we should not look to the Bible to find out how to grow and change and live in our relationship with our Lord.
    What is your perspective?

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41. well said, John.

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42. Just ask how much fruit and who gets to make the call.

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43. Its funny that I read this on Monday.
    On Sunday my pastor, in a Spurgeon-esque, Calvinist leaning Baptist church, said basically that “if you aren’t showing fruit, then you need to repent because you aren’t a Christian”. Not repent and confess your sin – repent because you are not not and never have been a Christian!

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44. I suppose that it’s far more a sense of what isn’t being said.

    Grace should lead us to places other than what we can or cannot do. So far, in this discussion, it’s only an alternative to the law.

    Unfortunately, I don’t have time to listen to the sermons that you linked. If you had text versions, I could read them very quickly and respond, but I simply don’t have hours to sit around and listen to sermons.

    What I have seen, say, John Piper say about Grace is that it is a means of transaction, of justification. If that is one’s understanding of Grace, then it creates a very limited worldview of the ministry of Jesus, does it not?

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45. Christopher, sadly the preaching tended toward the rules, an outward “holiness” , not inward. I had never read the Bible through until I left that church and had been raised on certain scriptures, often out of context, that “supported their doctrine”. Later I devoured the scriptures and every commentary I could find and for the first time came to understand justification and grace. But the old ways of thinking still come back from time to time. Reading this post and the comments has been very helpful. The commenter a little further down who distinguished between justification and sanctification clarified things further.
    Thanks for replying.

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46. Chaplain Mike, thanks. I’ve been fishing for definitions and this helps.

    I’m also a big fan of Jeremiah 31:31 ff:

    31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
    “when I will make a new covenant
    with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah.

    32 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their forefathers
    when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
    because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to [d] them, [e] ”
    declares the LORD.

    33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
    after that time,” declares the LORD.
    “I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
    I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.

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47. It’s not a matter of the gospel on one hand and how to live the Christian life on the other. To understand the gospel is to live the Christian life, to live in the Kingdom of God. The Bible is not primarly a self-help or therapy book; that’s not its purpose. It’s the messy and sprawling story of God’s reckless redeeming grace and favor to us utterly fallen humans, inviting us to his kingdom and his banquet, most supremely and shiningly in Jesus, of course.. That’s its purpose.

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48. gotcha.

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49. Ted:

    Dt 6:4-5 is the law that Jesus uses to kill the Rich Young Ruler. It kills all of us in the 1st commandment. Only Jesus did it PERFECTLY. You folks need to get the difference between the value of doing something and the impotence of doing it sufficiently to save or make a rel with God.

    You must be born again is pure law that opens the door to pure grace, unless you think you birth yourself.

    ms

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50. Ray Comfort uses the law to preach the Gospel. Why would I not agree with that?

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51. Please read my earlier post. There is a difference between “Torah” (the five books of Moses, God’s instruction), and “Law” (the commandments given at Mt. Sinai for Israel). The Torah is the bigger story that includes the Law. The Torah is critical of the Law. The Torah says the Law cannot save. We do not even need to go to the NT to get this perspective. Moses himself says over and over again that the Law will fail because of people’s inability to keep it and that the only hope lies in God’s gracious provision of a circumcised heart, a new Spirit, and a King who will renew God’s blessing in all creation.

    Agreeing with this, and seeing the new era of grace appearing in Christ, Paul makes it perfectly clear in Galatians: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law” (Gal 5.18).

    Gospel-oriented instruction for Christian growth and sanctification has nothing to do with the Law, except to cause us to continually turn us to Christ and his Good News.

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52. But do you consider Deuteronomy 6:4-5 part of the Law? Love the LORD your God…

    And what about the commandment in the NT that says “You must be born again.”? Would you consider that Law or Gospel?

    Maybe both?

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53. Calling the law still “valid” runs up against a lot of Pauline language, not to mention the “fulfillment” language, “shadows” language, law “kills” language and so on.

    The law is true. The law is good. The law never points us in the wrong direction. The law glorifies God. Can I keep going?

    The law kills me. The law cannot save. It cannot maintain the life of God. It can never forgive. It can never show mercy. It cannot make me right with God. It cannot motivate me with Gospel obedience.

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54. Michael, I wonder if this discussion went in the direction you had hoped. The Old Testament is still valid, right? The 10 Commandments still commandments? We may not need to obey all 613 of them, notably the dietary and ceremonial ones, but doesn’t the spirit of the Law still trump man’s law?

    When we’re talking about salvation, grace is the only way to go. I’m with Luther on that point, for having read Ephesians 2 correctly. But let’s remember that Luther wanted to kick James out of the Bible. James, perhaps the most Hebrew book in the NT, pushes works a little too much for Luther’s taste, but I think Luther over-reacted due to his upbringing. Works (or Law, if the two are related) are useful after-the-fact of salvation. Show me your faith without works and I by my works will show you my faith–says James.

    Can’t the Law still be useful to Christians as a means of discipline and accountability?

    Foremost of the commandments in the Law is Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

    Still valid, right?

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55. This post is a great one, and it focuses on the main problem of the church-unbelief. I know that the term unbelief was not employed, however, that is the sum of the matter. We do not believe God. This unbelief is what God charged against the Israelites after having brought them out of Egypt, saying “many perished in the wilderness and that they could not enter in because of unbelief”, Heb.3:17-19.

    Do we believe that God’s salvation is complete, needing Nothing from us? Do we believe that it is as effectual as complete?

    God saves the entire individual: our souls, our minds, our deeds, and on the last day, our bodies.
    He justifies us, then cleans us. This justification is based on the work of the Lamb, and so is the sanctification. As I trust God, I’m empowered by God to obey His commands. Recall that the Law is a command AND a penalty. When God commands in the Gospel, it is always in light of the Gospel.
    For example, we are to not steal, but instead to work with our hand to give to him who is lacking, Eph. 4:28. All of the commands given us are given to us as children that have already been accepted and cleansed. Now, as Christians, God commands us because we have been bought with a price, and we are not our own. My child does not have the right to walk according to her own thoughts and ways, she instead must listen to Dad, and if she doesn’t, she isn’t thrown out of the family, but chastised. This is the chastisement “of which all are partakers” Heb.12:5-8. So, God does in fact clean up our outward conduct so that it is fitting with His character and the justification that we’ve received. This is how the adornment of the Gospel in our lives takes place, to the end that other sinners may see and glorify God.

    At the root of all sin is unbelief. We believe God to be a liar, or are very suspicious of Him, although, with our mouth we declare that God cannot lie. Our actions demonstrate what it is that we trust, and it is the lack of confidence in God to be our whole satisfaction in life that enables us to commit the sins through which we hope to attain some measure of satisfaction.

    So, our Christian walk begins and is carried on to completion by faith in the Son of God who gave himself for us and died for us. Our obedience is the work of God applying the salvation that Christ earned to our lifestyles. We repent and believe the Gospel as a daily walk, a lifestyle. We are constantly turning from sin to Christ for fresh cleansing and empowering. To do otherwise is to walk in unbelief and procure the displeasure of God. It is a displeasure when we try to accomplish God’s work, not trusting Him to complete the work that He began. This trust in Him must be according to His word-nothing more, nothing less. Faith believes God, continually. And when we fail, we believe Him anew, because His mercy through Christ endures forever.

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56. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing and then putting this on your blog. Some preaching of the law is not as blatant as the examples given. It can be very subtle. And, in some churches, it doesn’t always come from the pulpit, but from small group leaders.

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57. “The Prodigal Son could not experience the Grace of the Loving Father until he had been drawn by that Love to repent and return to the Loving Father”

    No, I don’t believe the text supports this view. In fact, what is actually recorded is the Prodigal Son has his eyes set on manipulating his father into letting him back into the household. In fact, his main motivation is that he’s hungry and he knows his father’s servants eat well.

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58. One of the problems in many evangelical churches with which I am familiar is that the “law” that is preached is the Culture War diatribe against society and culture in general, and there is actually not a lot of emphasis even on Christian behavior. Another problem is that pastors have abandoned the true pastoral role of being caregivers for people’s souls and have instead focused on programs and morality-based “preaching.” There are gospel ways of helping Christians put off sin and put on Christ, but it can’t be done from the “stage” or through a packaged course on discipleship.

    So, you have your points, but we must pursue the inefficient, non-spectacular, daily Gospel-soaked solutions, and not take the shortcut of trying to control people’s behavior.

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59. Re; youth pastors, brother you said it! Student ministries are some of the worst offenders in swapping the Law and Gospel. I had a younger friend tell me that the student ministry he attended in college frequently told students to not “bring your mud into the house of the Lord”. My friend left that group shortly thereafter.

    It breaks my heart when l think of all the millions of people who have been burned out, burned up, and just plain destroyed by legalistic preaching, youth ministry, and congregations. It’s probably not a coincidence that the ascendency of legalistic preaching has been accompanied by the rise of virulent atheism…

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60. From “the Doctor” himself, the great Martyn Lloyd- Jones preaching on Rom. 6:1:

    “The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel. Let me show you what I mean.

    If a man preaches justification by works, no one would ever raise this question. If a man’s preaching is, ‘If you want to be Christians, and if you want to go to heaven, you must stop committing sins, you must take up good works, and if you do so regularly and constantly, and do not fail to keep on at it, you will make yourselves Christians, you will reconcile yourselves to God and you will go to heaven’. Obviously a man who preaches in that strain would never be liable to this misunderstanding. Nobody would say to such a man, ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?’, because the man’s whole emphasis is just this, that if you go on sinning you are certain to be damned, and only if you stop sinning can you save yourselves. So that misunderstanding could never arise . . . . . .

    Nobody has ever brought this charge against the Church of Rome, but it was brought frequently against Martin Luther; indeed that was precisely what the Church of Rome said about the preaching of Martin Luther. They said, ‘This man who was a priest has changed the doctrine in order to justify his own marriage and his own lust’, and so on. ‘This man’, they said, ‘is an antinomian; and that is heresy.’ That is the very charge they brought against him. It was also brought George Whitfield two hundred years ago. It is the charge that formal dead Christianity – if there is such a thing – has always brought against this startling, staggering message, that God ‘justifies the ungodly’ . . .

    That is my comment and it is a very important comment for preachers. I would say to all preachers: If your preaching of salvation has not been misunderstood in that way, then you had better examine your sermons again, and you had better make sure that you are really preaching the salvation that is offered in the New Testament to the ungodly, the sinner, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to those who are enemies of God. There is this kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation.”

    (from Lloyd-Jones, “The New Man: Romans 6”)

    As a seminarian, this quote haunts me. I am all too aware that my gospel preaching is so frequently tainted with law. Would that I would preach the true glory of the gospel!!

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61. All this high churchy Lutheran dude can say is “Amen! Hallelujah! Preach it, brother!”

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62. Growing up in my middle-of-the-road CofC church, our working definition of grace was “do your best and God will handle the rest”. Not until much later did I realize that my best could handle about 0.0% of what was required.

    Now I know that its all Christ or nothing at all. But those wriggly little tendrils of self-reliance are still there and will take any opportunity to take my gaze away from Christ and turn it inward. That’s why I need to read stuff like this. And why I long to hear more of it in my home church. But for now this and other resources will have to do.

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63. Ruth,

    It sounds as if the teaching (in your church) that was “targeted at women” might have been built on a misunderstanding or misapplication of Paul’s texts. It is so important to know and understand the issues which Paul was dealing with in the culture of that time. I have to wonder, respectfully, if the pastor who was preaching in your church had done the necessary exegetical work and research to understand those texts. If the preaching tended toward “rules,” the answer might well be no.

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64. Todd,
    As to your point #4. Who is saying or teaching that in this comment thread? The subject is the misuse of the moral Law in preaching or teaching that eclipses the Gospel. This is a far greater problem than real antinomianism, at east in the more conservative wing of the church. In 95% or more of the churches I’ve been to, it’s all about what we need to do, should do, not do and how to to do/not do it. These commands, principles, rules etc. are powerless to create the behavior they demand, so when people fail to live up to them, antinomian is the charge laid against them, and harsher preaching of the law is Rx’d to remedy the situation.
    No one here has said that real faith won’t result in a changed life. Luther and the Lutheran confessions have a whole lot to say about the proper place and need for good works that spring from true faith, so do all of the traditions represented on this thread. However, that is not the subject at hand.
    Listen to the sermons I linked to above and see if they have nothing to say about the Christian life.

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65. MORE BIble Study, MORE Bible memorization/rewordgitation, and Five-Fast-Praise-the-LORDs, of course, always delivered in-your-face from a one-upmanship position.

    After a couple years in such a Godly (TM) environment, discovering Dungeons & Dragons was like going over the Berlin Wall into the West.

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66. Thank u for your post

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67. u2wesley:

    At what point will I know that my repentance is not license? Who will tell me when I’ve repented enough?

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68. Iv’e re-read this 2 times now Michael and in reading it again my thought is this: The gospel always liberates and the law merely castigates . I’d have to agree with you on the you either get it or you don’t.

    Luther said, “There are two hindrances to the Gospel: the first is teaching false doctrine, driving the consciences into the Law and works. And the second is this trick of the devil: when he finds that he cannot subvert the faith by directly denying the Gospel, he sneaks in from the rear; raises useless questions and gets men to contend about them and meanwhile to forget the chief thing…”

    I can’t tell you the # of times I have forgoten that chief thing. I am still recovering (and so are my listeners I can only guess) from preaching my fair share of law and a be good gospel with no true gospel to be heard within a country mile and can only imagine the damage I did and the missed opportunities in failing to simply announce this glorious gospel. This post is cause for both sober examination and wonder filled gospel reflection.

    Thanks.

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69. Ted…isn’t Jesus talking about the complete Old Testament here, rather than just the Law (Ten Commandments, etc.)?

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70. dumbox: I’ll take a brief stab at answering your question. No, covenantal theology should not make it difficult to focus on the gospel. In broad terms it teaches that the covenant of works was instituted in the garden, broken by Adam and Eve and now is fulfilled in the work of Christ. (second Adam) The covenant of grace as instituted at the time of Abraham, speaks of Christ and in subsequent scriptural revelation begins to further open and enlarge what we know about Jesus life and ministry to be and how He is the “gospel” or fulfillment of all of God’s promises. Covenant theology teaches that all who live in unbelief are accountable to God under the stipulations of the covenant of works (which they cannot fulfill) while those who are “in Christ” live within the glory of the covenant of grace and ought to(if they understand it correctly) be people who talk about nothing but the gospel and grace of God. Perhaps it would be helpful for you to check out some of the books Michael Horton has written on covenantal theology. You may not agree with what you read but he would make more sense. blessings. ronh

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71. I wonder if it’s a good idea to send the link to this to a Youth Pastor acquaintance of mine who, well, does this:

    Law youth ministry is a waste of your time. If all you’re doing is trying to make kids behave, make good choices and buy into the church as a place to hang out, then by all means, get another job. Or be honest and just say you’re a moralistic therapeutic babysitter carrying out the wishes of the church to not have any kids make bad decisions.

    I’m seriously praying about it. And the background is not SBC.

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72. A couple of thoughts:

    1. The mentions that I’ve seen on this thread regarding holiness are really, so far as I can tell, talking about justification. As in, “My holiness is Christ’s holiness, through salvation”. But, at least from a Wesleyan standpoint, I’m not sure that that’s what holiness is really about. So

    2. Initial salvation saves us from death, from corruption, from blindness (spiritually), from a great number of backward leading elements. It should begin the lifelong change of who we are. But that lifelong ministry of repentance and inward change (what Nazarenes refer to as Santification) is also seen as a lifelong continuance in becoming more and more like Christ on an inward basis, which in turn influences our outward actions/beliefs/efforts.

    3. So holiness becomes not, in fact, some state of justification where God is no longer going to strike us down for being outside of the law due to some law based balancing of our state, but rather a process of seeking more and more to live in Christ’s love, and have that element by the defining description of our existence.

    4. I think that for far too many people, Grace is just another legal term. “somebody else has paid what I owe”. And it stops there? It has no ramifications? It has no effect on your life? you aren’t changed and consumed by that meeting with God? His presence, His Spirit, His essence, doesn’t act as a catalyst to completely consume and dynamically change what you once called “your life”? Then by God, friend, what Gospel are you listening to?

    God doesn’t just want to change you from hell, He wants to change you and the entire world around you into what creation was meant to be.

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73. Of course that’s part of the problem. But Grace without repentance is license. The Prodigal Son could not experience the Grace of the Loving Father until he had been drawn by that Love to repent and return to the Loving Father. I think another problem is that judgment is confused with condemnation. How many times have you heard the “there is no condemnation in Christ” mantra used when questions of ethics/morality are raised? Which is usually accompanied by an admonition not to be “judgmental.” It’s clear in Jesus’ relationship with his disciples (Mt 18) and in Paul (I. Cor 3) that judgment is an ongoing element in the life of a believer.

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74. You were also talking about another Lutheran dichotomy without mentioning it: Theology of Glory vs. Theology of the Cross

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75. I grew up in a “holiness” church where much of the teaching was from Paul’s epistles and targeted at women (dress, hair, jewellery, etc). For someone who taught grace, Paul still had a lot of rules in his letters. I know well the feeling of thinking I was going to hell from M-F and the emotional sermons and repentance that happened every Sunday. I left this church with much guilt in my 20s and still struggle with grace/law issues. I am no theologian, but have found this discussion very thought provoking. Christopher’s comment about “holiness” brings back some of the things I still have question.

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76. So, you aren’t a fan of Ray Comfort then? 🙂

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77. As one who heard much Law preaching as a child, and almost no Gospel preaching (at least, that I can remember), I do think that we need Gospel preaching for believers, but we also need Law/Gospel preaching for the non-Christians who may be present in the congregation on any given Sunday.

    For the believers, I also think it is helpful for the preacher to at least talk about living holy lives *in light of* the Gospel. Not so that we can be saved or “keep” our salvation but *because* of the fact that we *are* saved, if we acknowledge our bankruptcy before God, and repent and trust in Christ alone (as He tells us). Hebrews does tell us to “strive for the holiness without which we will not see the Lord.” We are perfectly holy in Christ, positionally, and this should be emphasized in the pulpit. Scripture also exhorts those who are positionally holy in Christ to strive for holiness of life.

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78. @ Dan V
    It might help to consider the micro-context of 2Tim 3:16-17 to reconcile your comment with the quote if iMonk.

    «14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how a from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.»

    Paul is saying that the sacred writings have power to change us (make us wise) as long as we use them to God’s appointed end («for salvation») and use God’s appointed means («through faith in Christ Jesus»).

    I take it to mean that whenever I read a portion of scripture God’s aim is to show me how that portion witnesses to Christ and His finished work so that faith in Him is kindled and I become wiser for salvation.

    By this I am changed. But I am changed by the gospel expressed in a particular passage of Holy Scripture. Dows that make sense?

    BTW: Please excuse my englisch. I’m swiss. 😉

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79. How does this viewpoint affect believer’s baptism? Is it necessary if the Spirit is already at work? Is it necessary for the Spirit to begin work? Is it a symbol of imperfect repentance? Honest question.

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80. Any clergy or lay person who tells a severely depressed person that the Bible is the antidote for that illness could very well end up with blood on their hands. It’s no different than counseling parents of a child with cancer that they can pray it away.

    God does give us everything we need, and that includes medication and therapy and a whole lot of other things in addition to the Bible.

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81. Micke,
    What does this comment and link have to do with the current topic?

    Just curious,
    Ken

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82. Thanks, Michael.

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83. Thanks, Patrick.

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84. Isn’t it possible that the very reason we have so much antinomianism in the church is that the church has lost the gospel? After all, it is the Law that stirs up sin and increases it!

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85. Like the rest of the law, you can’t repent perfectly. Like the rest of the law, it’s commanded and can’t be done unless the Spirit is at work in us already and if Christ is the basis of our acceptance.

    There’s the word that will distinquish a law preacher from a Gospel preacher immediately. A law preacher says repent or else. A grace preacher says that your repentance is just simply seeing what you CAN’T Do and what Christ HAS done.

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86. I think one thing is required of me, though, to accept the grace of God: I must repent. This was our Lord’s first sermon (Matt 4:17), which Paul reflects in that same letter to the Galatians (5:19-21).

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87. Mike, Thank you for linking to Walther’s “The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel”. It’s good to know that people are finding it and using it. I wondered where all the extra hits came from, and am glad to see it came from here, where that fine work would be exposed to a larger audience than it otherwise would if it stayed in Lutheran circles.

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88. Right on.

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89. For a refreshing change of pace, and some Christ centered sermons try these links.

    https://faithcapobeach.ctsmemberconnect.net/sermon-ctrl.do?view=0&grpId=7974

    http://www.htlcms.org/sermons/ ( This is Pastor William Cwirla’s church website, and there are some fantastic sermons here.

    Try these first.

    http://www.htlcms.org/index.php?/sermons/sermon/present_suffering_future_glory1/

    http://www.htlcms.org/sermons/sermon/losing_your_religion/ (This one is really entitled ‘Religious Crap’)

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90. Lynette, I would like to hear an example of how the Bible “teaches” us to deal with depression.

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91. Mike, I disagree. When we face problems in life, I believe we should look to God for answers, through His word. For example, if someone is depressed they can look to psychology and get all kinds of answers of what to do, or they can look to the Word of God and find specifics on how to deal with depression, which central to that is the gospel. Why look to the world for answers when God gives us everything we need for life and godliness?
    The Bible’s answers to life’s questions and problems are incomplete to a non-Christian, they are still good advice and practical (such as waiting until marriage to have sex), but there’s no power to live in God’s ways for non-believers. Only through a true relationship with God, which is through the gospel, can we live by His Spirit and put off our old ways on put on His ways.

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92. You’re pouring the 200-proof stuff, my friend. No ice, no water, no ginger ale. The way I like it. It’s what made an Augustinian monk go giddy and have a Reformation. You’ll find out who the drinkers are right away if you keep pouring that stuff.

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93. Lynette…at the risk of overstating here. I don’t think the Bible gives us “advice…on how to live as Christians, marriage, parenting, how to deal with depression, how to evangelize, etc.”

    With all due respect, that is simply not what the Bible is about. But your question points out that this is the common conception most people have of the Bible—it is a book of instructions for us to follow, a book of advice for our lives, a book of principles and how to’s that we can apply. Certain small parts of the Bible contain such teaching, like sections of the Book of Proverbs.

    But the overwhelming theme of the Bible is the Good News of God overcoming the Bad News of sin, evil and death and making a new creation filled with new people who are filled with the Holy Spirit and living in gratitude for Jesus and his redeeming work to the Father who has brought us home wholly by grace.

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94. They should NOT say that to be a good Christian you have to home school, vote whig, always attend Wednesday prayer meeting, baptize you kids by age 12, etc….

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95. I’m lovin’ this post imonk! (though the Calvinist/Armenian discussion following in the comments is too big to wrap my beady little brain around.)

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96. Lynette,

    I think it depends upon how the topics are approached. Example if Christian living is defined as a set of rules, including how much money to give to the church, whether you can partake in adult beverages, etc. that is the law.

    If Christian living is defined as showing grace to your neighbor and to your family, which is much harder to do, then that is the Gospel. An example of that kind of grace would be missing church to take a neighbor to the hospital.

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97. Does the Calvinist teaching concerning the separate covenants of grace and works make it difficult to focus on the gospel? It seems to teach that grace is what God does and works are what we do… (gospel-law). Just curious.

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98. I don’t dispute anything you said – it was a reading of Galatians and the realization that we are saved as well as sanctified by Grace alone that changed the course of my life and ministry 27 yrs ago. But, since then, I’ve seen too much “sinning so that Grace may abound” to think the only way the Church misunderstands and misappropriates Grace is by erring on the side of legalism. I believe that antinomianism is much more rampant than legalism and that cheap Grace is much more of a threat than any ruler-wielding padagogos. The legalists are easy to spot – it’s a straight up us-against-them. But the wolves in sheep’s clothing who talk about Grace are much more subtle – and dangerous.

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99. Are you saying that after the gospel has been made clear, pastors should not teach us what advice the Bible offers on how to live as Christians, marriage, parenting, how to deal with depression, how to evangelize, etc?

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100. Not just Galations, but also so many parts of Romans. And more than that, in the astounding life of Jesus, who shocks me at every turn, and will probably continue to shock me for the rest of my life. To His Glory.

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101. Hi Michael,

     Thank you for a clear warning against legalism. In order to balance it with the other half of the truth, please consider writing a post against Antinomianism.

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102. I am not under the law of Moses but rather the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus my Lord. It’s not a courtroom it’s a Kingdom filled with light ,life , and love. This western preoccupation with law is a limited view of redemption itself. The mystery of redemption goes deeper than all justice being fulfilled at the cross. I don’t only want Christ as my defense,I want Him to be my very life, I don’t see how this would limit the fullness of Christ’s redemptive work for me. Christ has brought fourth a new humanity, a second Adam, I embrace this Kingdom that he purchased with his blood.

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103. Grace to me feels like high-deductible health insurance, use only in emergency

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104. Not Christ in me, but Christ for me. Christ crucified for me, receiving the just penalty of the law for my sins–that is my salvation. There everything is accomplished.

     Christ in me–working in me, deifying me–that is not complete. That leads me back under the law again–the law which has not been fulfilled.

     Christ outside of me, for me, the Lord my righteousness–that is my salvation.

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105. Yes, most of us aren’t taught law-grace, but law-grace-law

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106. Complete honesty here? Grace – freely given, as you portray it here – sounds (just as you said) WAY too good to be true. I am saved by grace, but as the church has taught me for lo these many years, though grace was my introduction, law is what is required of me once I am in. I think that is why law preachers are so popular – because they pander to the continuing mindset that I’m just not doing enough, and if I’d only do more, God would be pleased. And the real killer? Hanging the carrot out there that says there is a place you can be where if you do enough you will be ultimately accepted.

     In my heart I know this is just not true, but there are a load of scriptures when carefully applied (or misapplied, as the case may be) that make me feel eternally insecure.

     Thank you for your thoughtful writing. It helps me on my journey to find real peace in salvation.

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107. Scott:

     Will Willimon, hands down. Has an occasional podcast.
     Paul Zahl http://www.allsaintschurch.net/ASC_sermons.html
     Capon’s book on the Parables
     Luther, The House Postils or any collection of sermons

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108. Ha, wow, interesting.

     Jonathan is right. Thankfully my heart and background is inclined towards the city, projects, and gettos. My church just did a free meal outreach last week in the projects where a woman was murdered two weeks ago. No preaching either (yet), just distributing hot meals with smiling faces and getting to know people.

     When I say “pastor,” I certainly don’t mean the negative stereotype of the business model church CEO. I mean shepherd, guide, teacher, listener, doctor of souls type stuff. Living a full life that includes more than the pulpit one day a week.

     (I do use my gifts “at home” as I am able….but I also have a serious gospel preacher in me that dying to get out. The prayer is for boldness)

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109. Jaz,

     This may not work for you, but it did for me. When I decided that I had to start church shopping again, I knew that I needed some spiritual connection. So, I took a theology class at a local seminary. I don’t remember the denomination, nor did I take any more classes, but it helped.

     Another suggestion is to see if there is a nearby monastery that you can join the monks in their daily prayers.

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110. ‘You can recognize law preaching because it’s always full of references to the Bible being a “handbook for life,” full of principles for a successful life. If your Bible is just a handbook for life, throw it away.’

     Agreed, the Bible is much more than a handbook for life – but it is that, too.
     2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
     When we accept His free gift of grace, God doesn’t leave us hanging, trapped in sin. He has given instructions on how to live a life pleasing to Him! Not to earn salvation, but to live it. I’m so thankful that I don’t have to earn salvation – I’d never measure up! But I’m also thankful I don’t have to continue wallowing in the mire, that He will pull me out and set my feet on solid ground.

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111. Michael, can you share some examples of some really good gospel sermons?

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112. One of the great failures in the western Church seems to be that we are prone to preach a new Law thinking its the Gospel just because its not the old Law. Our hearts are very twisted that way and kills me. I need the genuine “It is finished!” Gospel to live.

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113. That is exactly what our churches (and me) need today. We hear that we need to “do right” and don’t realize that Christ already “did right” for us.

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114. Thank you. That was a beautiful summary of what churches need to preach today. I recently moved and am now in the process of looking for a new church family. Moralistic preaching is common and gospel saturated preaching is not. Thank you for this articulate post that captures much of what I’m looking for as I continue my search.

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115. Isn’t this rant just a long way of repeating Matthew 5:17? “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

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116. The “schoolmaster” line needs to be put in full context, something like Gal 3:15-4:10 maybe.

     Pedagogos is a slave with the job of seeing that a child is brought to maturity through all the necessary kinds of training. He was a surrogate parent of sorts, in charge of all the development of a minor child.

     Paul sees the old covenant as a pedagogos and the new covenant as treating us like sons who have come into our full sonship.

     In many chuches, as soon as you walk in the door, the pedagogos takes out the stick of the law and beats you for not being a good Christian last week and not wanting to be a better one this week.

     The old covenant did its job, but anyone who reads the Bible and says we need more old covenant religion has missed the entire point of Galatians. The Judaizers (or whoever) were seeking to bring old covenant practice into a new covenant community. Paul is saying “First grade is over. We don’t have to have our knuckles cracked with a ruler any more. Not if we are sons. We will be treated as sons, not as slaves….unless we volunteer for slavery.”

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117. OK, I get it, Grace & Law are like oil and water – they don’t mix. But, the Law is still our “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ” (Gal. 3:24). That’s what I think is missing in much of the contemporary discussion about Grace (especially in the Emergent camp). What Bonhoeffer called “Cheap Grace,” an early 20th Century manifestation of antinomianism, is alive and well in much of Evangelicalism. When you live through Psalm 51, you understand Grace in a different way than you did before. You understand that being granted repentance is in fact an act of Grace. You are drawn to the cross as one who loves much because he has been forgiven much.

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118. Lydia:

     Jesus is really rotten at controlling people. That’s why he’s not a very useful sermon topic.

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119. Micheal —
     This is why I stopped going to church a few months back. I feel like God has been trying to teach me the true meaning of grace for the past few years. The culmination has been the reality that there is virtually no Gospel in the evangelical church.

     Now I wonder what is next for me. I miss the friends and fellowship of church, but I refuse to continue to be manipulated and get the crap beat out of me every Sunday.

     You must have very thick skin. I don’t know how you still do it or why you haven’t been kicked out yet.

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120. ..i just had a vision of sorts while sitting here observing the seemingly endless LOOP of comments…here’s what i saw: Imonk sitting at his console..monitors flickering..the radiant heat from the screens makes a small fan a necessity..a semi cold beverage within arms reach…he’s watching the flow of comments stream in…he had earlier thrown them a juicy bone and here they come a runnin…barking..like a pack of wild dogs that keeps growing and each trying to bark louder than the others….in dog language they are all saying the same thing > “im right..listen to me”…”let me tell you…” …”now here’s the thing….” …” God showed me…..” ..”here’s what that really means…” ..”what God is trying to say is…”…and on and on and on…..occasionally a dog fight breaks out and the pack goes into an elevated state of agitation with the hair raised on their backs…The Dod Whisper’er quickly steps in and restores their focus with calm authority ..until the next flare-up. ….. What im learning here is that i have some of the dog in me too and i enjoy the tension… but i think the surest sign of spiritual advancement for any of us is realizing and being able to say ” I dont have a dog in the fight “……

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121. “I really think we have an army of preachers who think that people ought to come hear them “preach” about various life questions and issues. How to have a great family. How to get along at work. How to use money. How to discipline kids.

     Why would I want a preacher to tell me anything about these things? Why are preachers talking about sex, politics and what Jesus wants you to eat? Can anyone admit that the preacher’s ego is often inflated to dangerous level when we let his/her advice about politics or parenting become legitimate material for preaching.

     Preach the Gospel, brother. Then sit down, be quiet and let’s do something else. We can pray, sing or go eat. All good.”

     Amen. I sat under every topic you can imagine preached for 10 years. I heard all about debt reduction, raising kids, happy marriage, women’s roles, how horrible the culture is, etc., etc. But I never heard about sin, sanctification, justification, grace or anything else that was about BEING in Christ. Just a lot of doing. I will never go back to that. As Anne Lotz says, Just give me more of Jesus!

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122. Romans 2:4
     “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

     If God’s goodness won’t turn us to Him, His law certainly won’t.

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123. Thank you for posting this! Reading through the comments I gather that this is a mistake a few were making by equalling the Torah with Law. Not all of the Torah is halakha. There is plenty of aggadah to go around!

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124. I should have written “in a parched landscape” not “and a parched landscape.” That doesn’t make much sense.

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125. There are two things that keep me going when I feel adrift in the rip-tide of evangelicalism. You and posts like this (as well as all the comments that help me realize that I am not alone), AND Matt Chandler’s preaching at the Village Church that I listen to through podcast. I have yet to find another preacher who is more gospel centric in every sermon that they preach. Keep up the hard work Imonk. You are a well of water and a parched landscape.

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126. Two books to recommend: Gerhard Forde’s “Luther on the Theology of the Cross,” echoes many comments here on Law/Gospel; also Paul Zahl’s “Grace in Practice” addresses some of the things BrianD brings up here.

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127. If he will preach the Gospel where it is needed (not in the suburbs but in the inner-cities, under bridges, in the red light districts, projects and ghettos) then the last thing he needs to do is stay at home spend his life reading blogs about the Kingdom of God while never living and building in the Kingdom. The Problem is that we have too many preachers who want their 15 minutes of fame on TBN or the radio. It seems that every new church built in America is built further into the burbs and further into American consumerism, materialism, nationalism, and prosperity gospelism (just made that word into and -ism, how awesome, not really) while they steadily lose track of Jesus’ Gospel.

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128. Michael, you sunk my battleship! Would you mind preaching this every day until we (read: I) get it in our hearts? If you can’t that’s okay, but do keep saying it as much as you can — a dying world (and a dying church) needs the reminders.

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129. i need some help..i appreciate this post and very much needed to hear this not only personally but professionally. i am preaching through 1 Corinthians. i have come to chapter the end of chapter 4 and quickly moving into chapter 5. Paul is laying down the “law.” not in the mosaic sense but he is drawing a line in the sand saying that their arrogance and overlooking of the things happening within the church is unacceptable. it has even gotten to the point that the offender needs to be removed from the church….how is this grace and not law? how can these texts be taught or preached and law not be addressed? i understand that you could argue that it is grace to turn him out so that his soul can be saved, but how is Paul preaching the gospel in these texts? is a heavy dose of law good every once in a while?

     looking for some good Gospel application on 1 Corinthians 4 & 5. please feel free to e-mail be some suggestions. mason.booth.3@gmail.com

     blessings..

     mason

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130. The best definition of liberalism I have heard is life without the need of God. It is the ideal of humanism: that we are basically good and capable within ourselves to improve and progress without the aid of any external interference from God or any other supernatural phenomenon. To me, it makes perfect sense that legalism would lead to liberalism, because legalism teaches that if we try hard enough, we can obey the law on our own, that we must obey it on our own. Charles Finney taught that we are obligated to obey the law, that Jesus could not have perfectly fulfilled the law on our behalf. Such legalism lead to nineteenth and twentieth century liberalism in America.

     I have been telling anyone who would listen for the past five years that all of these principle-pushing preachers out there are spreading liberalism, because they lead people to believe that all one needs is the right formula, rather than a watery tomb in baptism to be raised with Christ to new life. The old Adam doesn’t want to die.

     Legalism is the old Adam pretending to be religious. Once one lets the old Adam establish the definition of religious, then the boundaries are easily shifted.

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131. This discussion reminds me of an old saying (that may not be real accurate, but is humorous at least):

     “What is the difference between a Methodist and Baptist preacher? The Methodist assumes that everyone is saved; the Baptist assumes that everyone needs to be.”

     The real answer is definitely somewhere in between. You can’t beat people with rules and expect salvation. But you can’t blow sunshine up people’s … dresses and expect them to live the life that demonstrates God’s love, either.

     “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Show by example and teach with the word.

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132. Yeah, Dr. Brown was a godsend to me. Pretty much kept me from either succumbing to legalism or to the despair resulting from my inability to be a good legalist.

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133. Thank you, Michael.

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134. Brian D: This is part of my essay “Our Problem With Grace.”

     I have a family, and in my family, I have a son. My son is always my son. That relationship is one of pure grace, and doesn’t depend on any actions on my son’s part at all. Within that relationship, there is a kind of communication that might be called rules. Expectations of behavior are pretty clearly stated, and are reinforced as needed.

     From my perspective, the essence of my relationship with my son does not depend at all on his behavior, but our mutual enjoyment of that relationship does depend on his behavior. To the extent that he gladly lives out my expectations, our relationship proceeds positively. It has been the case, however, that some of the key moments in our history have been violations of those expectations. His actions had consequences, and he was faced with decisions. How would he respond? What would he do? In our case, his response has always been to pursue the enjoyment of our relationship more than his own desires or preferences, and I believe that is not because of punishments, but because of the superior power of love, grace and affection in our hearts. It is a greater pleasure for you to be right with your family–if they love you–than to sacrifice that for your own way.

     But I can imagine a situation where my son needed to be made aware of the value of this family relationship that is his by grace. I can imagine a scenario where his lack of response to truth would lead to me putting him out of the house, and telling him he could not return and enjoy the life of our family until certain changes were made. This is not a question of my love and grace for him. It is not a question of what is in my heart for him. It is a question of how much his life is shaped by that grace, and what steps are most appropriate for bringing us back to a mutual enjoyment of the wonderful gift of being dad and son.

     Church discipline in I Corinthians seems to be about a failure of a church to understand grace. Grace loves so unconditionally that it will not abandon a person to his own rebellion and waywardness without a fight. If my son had drugs in his room, and I knew it and said, “That’s OK. It’s normal,” I would be failing to be loving and gracious, something God never fails to do. So Paul is angry that the church has presented God as one who cares so little about whether someone lives in the enjoyment of his grace that he approves of an incestuous relationship. This is a scandal of a higher order than a sexual scandal. It’s the scandal of cheap grace.

     This passage isn’t about breaking rules. Sometimes Christians go very, very far down the road of sin’s allurements and dwell there for years. When this happens, we shouldn’t be outraged by such behavior, as if the church is scandalized. The church ought to be a scandal of grace every day, and when it’s not, the Gospel is missing. Go find it. Our treatment of that wayward person, in personal relationships and in the congregation, is all about God’s determination to be glorified in the lives of those for whom Jesus died as a substitute and a sacrifice.

     Grace doesn’t approve. Grace just refuses to give up on us. (God really is amazing!)

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135. Thank you for this post. It reminds me that being the odd man out sometimes on this issue means I’m not really crazy.

     I agree with those who have pointed out that the law is attractive because it gives us the illusion of control and influence and action. I’ve seen this particularly in those who came to Christ initially from lifestyles that were out of control (drug addiction, etc.). They start with the gospel but soon grasp onto the law because it’s concrete and gives them things they can do; they feel a need for this. I know people who have ended up tithing rigidly, even to the detriment of their families; put up crosses and on their lawns and massive Christian-themed art in their houses; had disciplined prayer closets and lives, but all to the detriment of the gospel lived out in their lives and relationships. Humility and love slowly fade; discernment sometimes is lacking (no reservations about the Prayer of Jabez, etc.). And that’s the danger: who’s going to critisize the things that look like spiritual development but are in fact holding people back from letting the gospel and grace invade their lives?

     How does the average layperson like me begin to address these things? I’m not a pastor so can’t preach the gospel in that way. Is there much we can do? Suggestions? I get the feeling it’s going to take more than a few pastors preaching about it 20-40 minutes a week.

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136. Michael, what do you say to those Christians who continually sin, and knowing that going back to their vomit is indeed sin…but go back anyway? I’m not just talking about the major sins like gross sexual perversion, or physical abuse, but “lesser” sins like lust, porn, lying, gluttony, having a nasty attitude, laziness and procrastination?

     There are times when we know the bait hanging on the hook isn’t nice and sweet and tasty but indeed putrid and vile…but we choose to believe the lie that what is vile is sweet…and that we can manage it, especially since “it’s not THAT bad”. If we’re lucky, we realize after the fact that we were wrong…and hopefully see that the vile didn’t do what was promised

     Do we need a dose of law to kick our behinds so we’re scared to take the bait? Should we be fervently questioning if we even belong to Christ? Or do we need to imbibe even more in the grace than we normally should?

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137. One of the most tragic pathologies to appear in the midst of a “Law-word”-obsessed Christendom is precisely what manifested among the Pharisees – a desperate marshalling of psychological resources in the service of convincing ourselves and all others that we have, in all the areas that really count, we have indeed kept the Law.

     Why can’t you? becomes the immediate response to others.

     Of course, such a psychological carapace forms that the soul becomes insensitive to the Gospel, and the paradise of the Father manifested to the Prodigal becomes a torment, a hell, to the elder brother.

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138. This is yet another encouraging post you’ve shared. I also enjoyed one you posted awhile back where you used the analogy of an unskilled person with a weedwhacker to describe pastors who tend to be overzealous in their admonishment of errant parishioners. I have made that post required reading for the seminarians under my supervision.

     On the subject at hand, here are a couple of books I highly recommend:

     1) “Grace upon Grace (Spirituality for Today)” by John W. Kleinig. Kleinig is a Pastor in the Australian Lutheran Church and is a brilliant theologian. Everything he writes or speaks is golden – and dripping with the message of the Gospel. This book in particular is an excellent antidote to books like “The Purpose Driven Life.”

     2) “The Hammer of God” by Bo Giertz. This is one of the finest books on Law and Gospel and justification by grace alone ever written. The best part about it is that it doesn’t talk ABOUT the Gospel, it conveys it in story form. It is a series of three “novellas” each about young pastors in a parish in the Church of Sweden. Each young pastor falls into the trap of legalism and each endures struggles and hardships in their ministries as a result. In each story the reader witnesses the pastor in these struggles and undergo a magnificent transformation where they come to see the light of the true Gospel.

     Speaking of Bo Giertz, here’s a little anecdote on the dangers of being law-driven. Bo Giertz is considered by many to have been the last orthodox Lutheran bishop of the Church of Sweden. For decades he warned that the Pietism (legalism) that had infested the Church of Sweden for several generations would eventually and ultimately lead that church down the opposite road of complete liberalism. His prophecy came true as the Church of Sweden no longer views the Word of God as authoritative (at least not in the way that orthodox Lutheranism does). Also they not only bless same-sex unions and ordain homosexual clergy, but they will not ordain anyone who does not support these principles.

     For a long time I wondered why it was that legalism would ultimately lead to a swing in the other direction. It finally dawned on me that it is because when legalism is tried long enough, and (always) without success, the logical conclusion is to simply abandon the law altogether. If you can’t keep the law, give up – marginalize and minimize it enough so that you don’t have to deal with it anymore. As you so astutely pointed out in your post, only when we view the law in light of the Gospel can this error (or any other errors related to legalism) be avoided.

     Thanks again for your post.

     Pax,

     J. Ries

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139. What are the signs of Doomsday, the end of days ?

     The 2 tower, earthquakes, nature striking back, brother against brother ?

     Or like in this horrible story , a mother and sisters against a sick sister struggeling for help, but they have already in secrecy decided to “sacrifice” her ! for money ! !

     read the horrible story here

     http://www.medicalforgery.com

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140. Thank you. You expressed far clearer than I could what I’ve been wanting to say for a long time.

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141. I really don’t understand the disconnect here. The law has been broken by love, death has been swallowed up by life. I want that love in me, I want that life in me, that is salvation, Christ in me working love and life. Give me the divine, give me Jesus Christ Himself, the Holy Spirit deifying me into the image of our Lord, the blood really cleansing me. I am really changing from glory to glory, the word made flesh.

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142. Just a note to commenters: Spam measures are set to send your comment to moderation if it has links, so don’t get upset if your comment doesn’t immediately appear.

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143. Wonderful, Michael. I made it to Mass this Sunday (doesn’t happen often) and the reading was about Jesus taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish that the little boy had and making it so that 5000 men and God knows how many women and children were able to eat and have lots of leftovers. The priest said we should remember to do what we can and let God do the rest. I like that. I feel often that I have very little bread to offer the world, but Jesus has all that the world needs. We just need to let the world know that Jesus has been here, is here and will be here with us forever. All our problems will not go away, but we will have a Comforter to be with us as we go through this life.

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144. There is an additional Biblical exegesis and Biblical theology point here, iMonk, that I would love to explore with you on some other occasion in more detail.

     Those who read the Bible often mistake “Law” for “Torah.” The Torah (and the rest of the First Testament for that matter) is the STORY that instructs God’s people, a story which includes examples of the laws God gave to his people. The Torah, the story, is critical of the Law, and presents it as something that cannot save or make the people into God’s light to the world because they are incapable of keeping it.

     For example, this key passage from Deuteronomy 31, given at a climactic point in the Torah, when Moses is saying his farewells to the people:

     “When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death! Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.” (Deut 31.24-29)

     From the story of Adam and Eve all the way through the Torah, the point is the same as Paul’s point in Romans 5 and 7: the Law cannot save, the Law cannot prevent sin, the Law actually stirs up sin; and Galatians 3: the Law may serve as a temporary “babysitter” to keep sin within bounds as it did with Israel, but it cannot transform or bring about the righteousness God requires.

     Only one thing can, and the Torah has that answer too: “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness” (Gen 15.6).

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145. As a Catholic, I really appreciate this. It’s great to hear that we’re not the only one’s who can be legalistic–that there is an evangelical or two who struggle with the condition. Sometimes, what I hear, is that we’re the only one’s with that particular affliction and that we are hell-bound because of it

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146. …sean…stay at home …we dont need more preachers…thats the problem now…..

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147. You really stepped on some toes with that one, iMonk 😉

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148. Michael, thanks for preaching the Law to this would-be Lutheran (LCMS) preacher by reminding him what a powerful pastoral gift we have in our theological heritage. You are right in saying that it humbles the pastor to acknowledge that his opinions need to take a deep backseat to God’s gracious revelation in Jesus. I know I’m not the only one in my tradition that, left to my own devices, would tend toward moralistic harping with a happy face. Your “rant” here has both convicted and consoled; thanks again.

     For those outside Lutheran circles who would like to read up more on the Law/Gospel distinction, I can offer a few recommendations:

     – For those who prefer bullet-points, you might look at Article V of the Formula of Concord, both in the Epitome and the Solid Declaration (available here: http://www.bookofconcord.org/fc-ep.php#V.%20Law%20and%20Gospel)
     – There’s a nice commentary on the aforementioned Formula L/G article in Timothy Wengert’s book, “A Formula for Parish Practice”
     – C.F.W. Walther’s classic treatment has been abridged to about 120 pages in “God’s No and God’s Yes,” available from CPH
     – John Pless recently wrote a more accessible introduction to L/G entitled “Handling the Word of Truth,” also from CPH.
     – Finally, Gerhard Forde wrote alot on L/G. He routinely drifted into Bultmannian existentialism, and denied the 3rd use of the Law, but some of his stuff taken with a grain of salt, is useful. I’d start with “Where God Meets Man”

     I’m sure my Lutheran brothers could add plenty here. I will say that it’s grasping the Law/Gospel distinction that essentially made a Lutheran out of me after wandering in the post-evangelical wilderness through college. It needs a wider audience.

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149. …this is the kind of post that reminds me of just what it was that attracted me (and got me addicted) to your blog(s) in the first place Michael. Please don’t stop erring “on the side of the Gospel”. We need to hear it over and over and over again–because like kids who are told to stay out of the cookie jar, we tend to forget what we heard 3 minutes ago.

     I now have proof you did visit my blog last night. Hope your chapters are taking form and your family is well.

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150. Thank you so much for this post, imonk. It was a breath of fresh air through my heart this morning, a holistic cure to my recent anxiety. I never thought about the treasure and the field in that way. Keep preaching, brother!

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151. Steve Brown and Keylife are the best balanced presentation of the Law – Gospel issue out there right now. He’s not reformed enough for the TRs, which is good, and not as wacky as Bob George.

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152. Woot! Absolutely right, on all fronts…thanks!

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153. Two thumbs up. 🙂

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154. Michael,

     Right on. I sometimes feel I get more nourishment from reading one post like this that a month of Sunday mornings at church. Why, oh why is that even the best churches I’ve been able to be a part of have found it so hard to make the Gospel, and only the Gospel, their only message?

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155. On grace preachers, don’t forget STEVE BROWN. Very very good.

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156. Preach it!

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157. I also grew up in a church where I was told about the roadmap that is the Bible. It’s so ironic that a preacher could preach that we’re all doing life wrong and that Jesus wants to save your soul in the same sermon, but man, it happened almost every week.

     And I took that home with me and for years of my adulthood thought I could earn God’s favor. What a lie! The simple fact is that I can’t earn God’s favor, yet he gives it anyway! And how great a message that is! Thanks for the reminder!

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158. The thing about law versus gospel is that law is, frankly, easier. We’re all looking, one way or another, for something to do. We want to know how to make this guilt feeling stop or how to get people to become Christian or how to feel more secure in some aspect of our lives, and the law is the quick and easy path: just follow these 686 rules. Ah! Now we know what to do! It doesn’t seem to work, but at least now we have a roadmap to follow! And if it doesn’t seem to be working, then we must have missed rule #347. We’ll just go back and look at that again. See? Know we know what to do, and we feel secure.
     Then the gospel comes along and says, “You can’t do anything.” Suddenly we’re all uncertain again. But if I can’t do anything to solve my problem, then what do I do? Tell me what to do! And the gospel says, “Nothing.”
     And which is easier to write a sermon on? Here’s a list of what you have to do or you can’t do anything?
     Not to say that the gospel says sit on your laurels and stare at the sky for the rest of your life (that would being doing something, wouldn’t it?), but what we are to do is not going to solve our problems the way we want it to. There’s no step-by-step prescription. There’s only Christ. The law just seems easier, faster, and safer. Silly people that we all are…

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159. Man, you’ve been on a roll these last couple of days. We’re in the process of simplifying/forming our liturgy, etc. at my little fellowship. Stuff like this helps put it all in perspective.

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160. Great comments, thank you. I agree 100% and have thought the same things many times, though admittedly with far less eloquence. However, I wonder sometimes if I am the only one who agrees with this and knows it to be true but can’t stop my law-desiring self from popping up like a persistent weed? I’m moved by this and the next thing I know I am pondering things I “ought to do” to live a more Gospel-centered life.

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161. If you want to blow yourself up so grace can put you back together, read “Between Noon and Three” by Robert Capon. Don’t stop when you get offended. Just keep reading.

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162. DLE is absolutely right about the cure. I remember our men’s Bible study going through Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life.” The antidote to that was reading Luther’s commentary on Galatians. And also a fine book by Bryan Chappell that just happened to drop into my lap at the time, “Holiness by Grace”–a terrific and neglected book.

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163. Anyone who doesn’t believe the primary crisis in the SBC right now is the Gospel isn’t going to church. When I say “it’s brutal out there,” I am not lying.

     Larry Wilson: Been there. One reason I want and don’t want to return to the pastorate. Our sheep have become carping older brothers begging us to club that prodigal until he straightens out. The Gospel is foolishness….but surprisingly, that applies to those in the church!

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164. Look out, Michael. You are going to be reported to the internet authorities for promoting “easy believism.” 🙂 Sounds like the message of Christ to me.

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165. Many many thanks, Michael. As I sit in my pastor’s study on Monday morning, these words are like a breath of fresh air. I pastor an SBC church, and my sheep often call for more Law in my sermons. They want to have their “toes stepped on”…or it’s not “real preaching”. As someone told me recently, “Bro. Larry, you need to preach on tithing and how we should dress for church”. I had just been preaching on the glory of Christ! In the SBC, I fear that many SBC churches wouldn’t know a true Gospel message if it sat in their lap and called them Mamma.

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166. DLE: I’ve got a great follow up on this post that you are going to enjoy. Just stand by for a while.

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167. The best cure I know of to destroy an addiction to law is to read the entire book of Galatians in one sitting each day for a month. Maybe then some Gospel will sink in.

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168. Thank you Michael, I couldn’t agree with you more.

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169. Michael, Michael, Michael:
     Once again God has used you to save my sanity after the weekend at church that I have just experienced…and if you knew the details you would know that I am not just using cliche’s. (save my sanity)…God bless you bro

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170. You PREACHED it, bruddah!!!

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171. I struggle a lot with my direction in life. Decision-making about the future, where to be, what to do, the notion of “calling,” etc.

     But THIS, this right here, makes me want to go out and pastor, to communicate this simple, profound Gospel to so many people to whom it’s been miscommunicated.

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172. I distinctly remember humans trying to obey God’s law and continuously epically fail at it time and time again. Where was that at… oh yea, it was call The Old Testament.

     How can we be law preachers when even all of the law pointed right back to God. We obey the law as though we have the power to do it on our own? You are going to fail at it. I promise you. That is why we have to desperately lay our hearts and lives down at His feet and cry out, “My God, help me. I cannot do this without You!”.

     Even God himself declared that the law (which is holy and perfect because in itself pointed back to God who is holy and perfect) increased our trespasses and was weakened by the flesh. Furthermore, the law was NEVER meant to save us. From the jump (Genesis 3:15), it was God who was to save us, not His rules.

     Romans 5:20-21 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

     Romans 8:3-4 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to flesh but according to the Spirit.

     I pray to God, “May the American church would be free of false gospels and moralistic theism.”

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173. Man, this is good, Michael, thanks. I had to sit in so many Army chapels while I was overseas with evangelical Protestant chaplains preaching law at me that it made me sick. I remember my anger, sitting in the pews and looking around at others, and wanting to yell” “Do you get what he is preaching? Do you think you can ‘love more, do this more, pull yourself up?” Please tell me about a Saviour who has done these things FOR me!” Law-only preaching drives people to despair or pride. Let me hear the Gospel too!

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