If you are new to the law and gospel distinction like me, I recommend reading a book by Mike Abendroth called Law & Gospel (A Primer). He does a wonderful job at explaining the hermeneutic thoroughly yet simply, and although it’s a small book it has huge implications for our lives and how to read the bible. I’m a naturally skeptical person and he also helped ease my worries about this doctrine being unbiblical, and showed how it is biblical and not a new or man-made idea. (At the end of this article there are links to some free resources that are also incredibly helpful.)
With that being said, the law and gospel distinction is right alongside covenant theology in terms of how it changed my life and how I understand God’s word. Before knowing this distinction, the bible was kind of confusing to me in certain parts and at times seemed contradictory (emphasis on “seemed” because the bible does not contradict itself). I knew God’s word to be true but I had a hard time putting some of its pieces together. But after learning about what the law is, what the gospel is, and how they interact with each other, it clicked and I am learning how it all makes sense and the way in which it affects our lives and assurance before God.
In short, the law is “do” and the gospel is “done”. The law is God’s perfect standard for righteousness which He requires of all His creatures. We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. As Jesus says these two commandments are what the entire law of God depends on. Upon hearing what God requires of us in combination with honest introspection, we see that we fall very short of God’s standard of righteousness. This is how God by His Spirit shows us our sin and our need for His mercy. That’s where the gospel comes in. The gospel is what God has done in the Person and work of Jesus Christ for sinners in order that we may be completely forgiven of all of our sins and counted righteous with the perfect righteousness of Jesus. This distinction gets to the very core of how we are saved. We do not “do” anything to be saved, we trust in Jesus who did everything for us in order to be made right with God. So there can be no mixture of law and gospel (or glawspel as some say) or else the law is no longer law and the gospel is no longer gospel.
One of the greatest examples of law/gospel distinction comes from Jesus in the parable of the rich young ruler. Erick Sorensen at 1517 ministries does a wonderful job at breaking this down here and I encourage everyone to check it out. Jesus didn’t give the gospel to that man in the parable, but many teachers preach on this passage as if He did and the gospel message becomes law; do this and then God will save you. That is not gospel, folks, that’s law. So why didn’t Jesus give the man the gospel when he asked what he must do to inherit eternal life? Like Erick said, Jesus was exposing his sin and what he was trusting in to save him. I loved how in the end Erick said if the rich young ruler had come to Jesus knowing he was a sinner in need of His grace, Jesus would have given it to him. But that’s not what the man did; he asked what he must do.
There are countless examples of this distinction in the bible that I won’t go into now, but I really encourage everyone to see it for themselves. Become so familiar with what both the law and gospel are that when they are mixed, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I know for me this is clearing up a lot of confusion and my assurance before God continues to grow. And for my OCD crowd, don’t forget that our assurance goes up and down throughout our lives. It’s not about chasing a feeling; it’s about seeing our beautiful God and resting in Him.
God bless you all and may we all continually see more of our Savior and less of ourselves.
(Here are some of the free resources I mentioned:)
- The Pactum – Law and Gospel
- Theocast – Law/Gospel Distinction
- White Horse Inn – What is Law & Gospel?
- An article on Romans 11:6
–Katrina
Gospel Assurance 