The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by CFW Walther

The Proper Distinction Between

Law and Gospel by CFW Walther

~ The Seventh ~Evening Lecture

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In Thesis III, Walther says that rightly distinguishing Law from Gospel is “…the most difficult and highest art of Christians. It is taught only_____________ in the school of ______________.”

Luther says that it is not difficult to know the difference between Law and Gospel – what is the difficult part?

At what point in life is it especially dangerous to confuse Law and Gospel?

Review:

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Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular. It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.

Thesis III

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The intellectually gifted! - “As a matter of fact, the better gifts and the greater knowledge a person possesses, the more easily he is tempted to self-esteem and self-reliance, the more he is apt to take matters easy, and, accordingly, he never arrives at the knowledge of the proper connection and the proper distinction of these doctrines.”

1. We might think that only very wise theologians could master this knowledge. But what kind of people have the most trouble, according to Walther? (pg 50, middle)

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“…Yet the good man, upon the whole, accomplished little because he was poor in distinguishing the Law from the Gospel, habitually mingling the one doctrine with the other.”

2. Chrysostom was a 4th century Christian bishop, know as “the golden-mouthed” because of his fine preaching. But what ruined it all, according to Walther? (pg 50)

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“He taught that a person becomes righteous in the sight of God, not by the righteousness which Christ, by His bitter suffering and death, has acquired for him, but by the indwelling of Christ with His essential divine righteousness in a person.”

3. Andrew Osiander was a Reformation-era example of someone with the same problem. What teaching of his confused Law and Gospel? (pg 51)

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“Ministers who may be classed among the poorest intellectually not infrequently are found to be the best preachers”

Because “…they have duly experienced the force of the Law and the consolation of the Gospel.”

4. According to Walther, which ministers often make the best preachers? Why is that? (pg 51)

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“He will best learn this art who has attained to the love of his Lord Jesus and has experienced the power of the Law and the Gospel.”

5. Who will “best learn this art,” according to Walther? (pg 51)

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None of them! “Everything else that a theologian must know is of less value than this art.”

6. A theologian must have much knowledge and many skills. How many of these are more important than the ability to rightly divide Law and Gospel? (pg 51)

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2 Tim. 2, 15: ”Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”

7. What passage from Timothy encourages us to study this art? (pg 51)

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Feed each person in the household with exactly the food that he or she needs. “…That every one is given his due portion at the proper time”

8. In Luke 12:42-44, Jesus calls him a wise servant who is able to do what? (pg 52)

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“No one still lugging with him the spirit of the world can ever properly learn how to make this distinction. For the Spirit of God does not dwell in a heart in which the spirit of the world still claims a place.”

9. You can’t practice this art, says Walther, as long as you are still lugging around what around with you? (pg 52)

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He might use it wrongly - “Using the quick and sharp Word of God is not all that you have to do. With this sharp sword you may very easily slay souls if you do not minister to their necessities.”

10. Just like it is not enough for a physician to have a sharp scalpel, it is not enough for a Christian to use the sharp and powerful Word of God. What might happen? (pg 53)

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Preach so that every hearer feels: “He means me.”

11. A preacher should preach so that every hearer feels what? (pg 53)

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“These are speedily followed by the soft blowing of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel.”

12. Walther notes that Luther’s sermons “…are full of thunder and lightening.” But what always follows? (pg 54)

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“As long as a person is afraid of dying, he is not a child of God.”

“Oh, those poor worldly people! They are without any joys, any peace, any rest.”

Again, if you were to portray Christians as being exceedingly happy people, utterly without worry and trouble of any kind ,you would not paint a true picture.

13. Preachers must be careful not to make statements that aren’t true. What are three examples Walther gives? (pg 54 bottom and 55 top)

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“…may be misunderstood. For instance, this statement is liable to misconstruction: “Any one sinning purposely and knowingly falls from grace.”

14. Sometimes preachers think that it is enough if they say nothing that is false. But Walther goes further – “You should not say anything that…what? (pg 55)

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Equally liable to misconstruction would be this statement: “Good works are not necessary; only faith.”

The following statement, too, would be liable to be misunderstood: “Sin does not harm a Christian.”

15. Give a couple more examples of statements that might be open to misunderstanding. (pg 56 top)

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The sin against the Holy Ghost.

16. There are also some subjects that a preacher shouldn’t just mention without explaining. Example? (pg 56 middle)

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“…in the pastor’s private ministrations to individuals. In the pulpit he may say sundry things, hoping that they will strike home. But when people seek his pastoral counsel, he is confronted with a far greater difficulty. ”

17. Properly dividing Law and Gospel in important in preaching. But in what other area of ministry is it even more important? (pg 56)

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“To discover to which class these various unconverted persons belong and to apply the proper medicine to them, that is the very difficulty of which I am speaking. My object is to convince you that a preacher can be truly fitted out for his calling only by the Holy Spirit.”

18. Is it not enough for you to know that the person to whom you are speaking is not a Christian; you also must discover what? (pg 57)

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“The greatest difficulty is encountered in dealing with true Christians according to their particular spiritual condition. One has a weak, another a strong faith; one is cheerful, another sorrowful; one is sluggish, another burning with zeal; one has only little spiritual knowledge, another is deeply grounded in the truth.”

19. Where is the greatest difficulty encountered? (pg 57 middle)

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“…it is of the utmost importance for him to understand temperaments.”

20. Any Christian – but pastors especially – must understand what in order to correctly judge and treat people? (pg 57)

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God. “An ordinary preacher may be an excellent theologian, and another, though he has studied all the languages, and God knows what other things besides, may not even be worthy of the name of theologian. Not man, but God, makes theologians. If you think that this statement goes to far, you are still blind.”

21. Who is it alone who makes theologians, according to Luther? (pg 58 bottom)