What's a Lutheran? (3) The Distinction Between Law and Gospel

Lutherans believe that God communicates to human beings (both in the Scriptures and elsewhere) in two distinct ways: as law (“you should do this and this is what will happen if you do, or don’t do, what you should”) and as gospel (which means “good news,” the news of what God has done and will do for you).  For Lutherans, both law and gospel are necessary and complementary, but the difference between law and gospel should never be confused.

Martin Luther taught that God uses law in two ways.  First, the law expresses God’s will for our lives.  If we only lived in accordance with the Ten Commandments – respecting everyone’s life, relationships, goods, and reputation, not coveting, taking time to rest, honoring ancestors, giving devotion only to God and not to idols that enslave – life would be delightful and pleasant, and we’d be living into God’s desire for us.  But the law also shows us our failures to live up to its demands – and therefore helps us to see our need for the gospel.  The gospel is the good news of what God has done for us in Christ – grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, renewal of life.

If God uses the law in these two ways, other ways that law is often used in religion comes from the enemy of God, and Lutherans reject these uses of God’s law.  For example, when the law is used to instill feelings of shame and crushing guilt, or causes us to resent what we feel as an imposition on our freedom, or to make us who follow the law feel superior to others who we imagine don’t follow the law – these are signs that a power other than God is at work and need to be resisted.