Originally posted June 29, 2011, at ELCA Southeastern Synod Blog. Republished with permission of the author.
Did you ever notice the sign that warns you that the speed limit will soon drop? In some states it says “Reduce Speed Ahead.” In other states it reads “Reduced Speed Ahead.” What a big difference that one little “d” makes.
The sign that says “Reduce Speed Ahead” is giving an order. It is the one with the power telling everyone else what to do. “You there, SLOW DOWN or else.”
On the other hand the sign that reads “Reduced Speed Ahead” is giving a friendly warning, a kindly suggestion — “If I were you, I’d slow down, the speed limit’s lower up ahead and you don’t want to get a ticket.”
Law and gospel
Is it too much to give these a Lutheran reading and say that one is law and the other is gospel? I don’t think so. Often the difference between law and gospel in the Christian life is as small as one little letter; more a matter of nuance, inflection and emphasis than anything else.
Too often we in the church carelessly turn opportunities to speak gospel into occasions of more law-giving. Stewardship, church attendance, morality, etc., frequently become occasions to make rules and give orders rather than provide openings through which people can commune with God and neighbor.
I had two grandmothers. They both loved me (and all their grandchildren) dearly. They both were good to us and were generous to us from within their limited means.
One was what Mark Twain called, “a good woman in the worst sort of way.” She lived by a rigid, somewhat Victorian, code of behavior and expected her grandchildren to comply with that code. She sternly gave us instructions on how to behave.
The other was what I came to call my “grace place.” She had a similar understanding of moral behavior but she encouraged it through conversation and questions and by the way she treated us and others in her life.
We are signposts
I believe we, both as individuals and as the ELCA, are called to be a “grace place” for the world. It may require for some of us a tiny shift in perspective, a shift as small as the letter “d.”
We are called to think about how we say things to others, how we tell them about the goodness and love of God, how we live before others the life God has called us to.
We are called to be signposts on the road of life, like John the Baptist pointing others down the road to Jesus. What does our sign say? Is our sign law or gospel? Does it demand and repel? Or does it invite and welcome?
Find a link to Delmer Chilton’s entry at ELCA Southeastern Synod Blog at Lutheran Blogs.
It's great to see "Law and Gospel" discussed on a Lutheran website!
I don't know if this discussion goes deep enough, though. From what I read of this post, it's all about morality. The distinction here seems to be: Do you follow the Law because you are told to or because you want to, with the suggestion that we should all want to follow the Law. I think this misses the Gospel message, because it doesn't frame our problem correctly. If it was just a matter of phrasing the Law correctly and explaining the Law correctly (if I were you, I'd slow down, or all of these "Gospel" "invitations" suggested above), we wouldn't be in the messes that we are. The problem is that we disobey the Law. The problem is that it doesn't matter whether it says "reduced speed ahead" or "reduce speed ahead", we ignore it. And ignoring the Law has bad consequences, bad God-given consequences. Everything from "Get out of my garden!" on. It is that problem-- our God problem-- that is why we need the Gospel.
Nor is the Gospel a new route to doing the Law. It is a completely new way of God doing business with us. God gives Himself for us on the cross, and in so doing, creates new life within us. This is the central focus of the Law/Gospel distinction: the cross and resurrection. New life in Christ is not about speed limits. We're freed from our sins to drive the speed that best glorifies God and serves our neighbors, whether it is 45, 75 or what-have-you. How fast we're driving (morality, ethics, the rules) is not the focus. The focus is what God has done for us in Christ and the transformative power of that Gospel.
The author writes: "What does our sign say? Is our sign law or gospel?" Does this mean we have to chose one or the other? I believe that we should be a "grace place" for others, but I can't help wondering what laws does the ELCA want to "reduce"? Also, I am surprised by Peter's comment: "(morality, ethics, the rules) [are] not the focus." I know myself, and I know that if I am "freed" from focusing on morality, even for just a little while, I will "crash my car."
Karen,
This is the problem: all the focus in the world on morality doesn't keep you from crashing. The gift of Christ is that when we crash, He pulls us from the wreckage and gives us new life. Every single time. Trying harder next time doesn't change the fact that we're in bondage to sin. Only Christ can end that bondage, and it's not through helping us fulfill the Law. Freed from that bondage to sin, we can live as true people of God. Certainly we live as sinner-saints in this world, and continually fall back into the Old Adam or Eve. One such fear is that we can't trust Christ to drive, that if we let go of the Law and our justification based upon it, that we'll just be heinous sinners. For the Old Adam or Eve, that's true. But not for the new life in Christ. God is working a new creation here.
Now, Peter, with all due respect, anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that this point of view is just a bit silly. If today I go to my doctor and am diagnosed with an STD, I will know, for sure, that I have "crashed my car." I can have sola fide 'til Kingdom Come, but I am still going to pay a steep price in suffering for whatever lapse in morality -- "taking my eyes off the road" -- I may have had. I learned in high school driver's ed that it is better to not have the crash in the first place.
Karen,
Aside from the possibiliy of getting an STD because you or your partner were raped, had a blood transfusion or the other messy ways STDs can be passed on without infidelity, I'm not arguing that actions lack consequences or that they're even undeserved. That's God's Law at work. You don't even need God to talk about God's Law, because these consequences are universal (ie, everyone is under God's Law). Similarly, the observation that love of others is the easiest summary of Law is universal to many cultures. The problem is that we don't follow the Law. That means the Law culminates for us in eliminating sinners, aka death.
But this is the very foolishness of the Gospel. Jesus comes into the world and He ends up on a cross. He suffers the consequences all of us sinners do, even though He alone is righteous. God raises Him from the dead because of this. Death itself is undone. The promise God gives us in Jesus is not that we'll never crash again, but that we have new life. Whatever lapse in morality we had is not the end because God creates new life within us. Back to STDs, freedom in Christ means not being defined by your disease. Maybe you'll decide to work to help others with STDs, or research a cure for them, or maybe you'll plant prairies or serve homeless people. It places some constraints on your life, but through grace, it does not lock you out of the best life has to offer- the joy of God's grace.
Think of Mark 2:17-- if you could fulfill the Law, there would be no need for Christ. While Christ fulfills the Law in his death on the cross, we are freed from the Law. Consider Paul's bold statement in Galatians 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Long ago, I had a wise, old teacher of Theology who said: "People believe what they want to believe." By the way, my Grandpa was a Lutheran minister, so of course I understand that I cannot fulfill the Law by my good works. Liberal theology, in my humble opinion, has wreaked havoc on our poor country and culture... and I just don't want my kids to get STDs.
Karen,
The awful truth is that we can't control that. STDs are a fine example of the problem. Your kids could do everything perfectly, but that won't protect them if they got raped or even if they married someone who had an STD. There are things we can do to reduce the liklihood of STDs, such as testing, avoiding casual sex, getting your children vaccinated for HPV, using protection when one does have sex, etc, etc, but these aren't guarantees. Nor is getting an STD the end.
Peter, needless to say, I wasn't really concerned about my kids and STDs. I was just using this as an example -- but let's continue. (Once again, common sense.) The chances of my kids getting raped by someone with an SDT, or even marrying someone w/ an STD, are SLIM. The chances, however, are much greater that they will have casual sex or use drugs, and pick up something bad. Why could this happen to the kids now, much more than, say, in 1955? THE CULTURE. And yet, the development of the ELCA doctrine follows the culture, the Hollywood/San Fran/Left-Coast Culture. P.S. this thing about a kid getting an STD (e.g. HIV) not being the end: for a mother, it is the end.
Everyone should read C.F.W. Walther's "The Proper Distinction of Law and Gospel." That would clear up our confusion about Law and Gospel. It's a shame Walther doesn't get more respect in the ELCA. Of course, one could also read the Lutheran Confessions. They have a little something to say about Law and Gospel too. Bottom line: the Gospel does not negate the Law. The Law without the Gospel is hopeless; the Gospel without the Law in unnecessary. Both are the Word of God and must be preached in the proper time and way.
Thank you, Chemnitz! Both! Mercy and Justice. Gospel and Law. The Jews say Chesed and Gevurah. This is not hard.
Chemnitz
CFW Walther's law gospel distinction is helpful because he's so clear about what the law is and what the gospel is. Another great read is Herman Steumpfle's Preaching Law and Gospel.
Delmer Chilton
You have a great point here about the way we speak. Reading both of the road signs I only see law. Reduced Speed Ahead is sure a whole lot kinder and gentler way to address another person than to command that they Reduce Speed Ahead but in either case they are both ways of stating the law.
The law isn't a bad thing because it orders our lives; but the way we share the law can be upbuilding or devistating. You make this point very well as you write,
"Too often we in the church carelessly turn opportunities to speak gospel into occasions of more law-giving. Stewardship, church attendance, morality, etc., frequently become occasions to make rules and give orders rather than provide openings through which people can commune with God and neighbor."
Thanks for this point,
Peace to you,
John
Speaking of CFW Walther, here is a vintage (1962) paper looking at Walther theses on distinguishing Law and Gospel: http://www.crossings.org/archive/ed/CFWWalther.pdf
Peter
That "vintage" paper is valid today. No doubt a helpful critique of a mechanical use of Walther's distinction for any Lutheran in North America of any generation.
pax
John