Distinction between Law and Gospel: Fact or Fiction? Matters Much or Little? (Part 7)

We have addressed the biblical reasons for distinguishing the law in different covenant arrangements and have demonstrated this as a legitimate biblical interpretive filter which is central in all scripture, we must now address the contextual range of the word law in scripture.

Understanding Five Uses of “Law” in Scripture

1. Law is used in scripture to speak of principles and dynamics in different covenantal worlds. Listen to these words from Paul:
Romans 8:1 “Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
2. We can see here that law is not about obedience of any kind but rather the principles and realities in the covenantal world based on Christ perfect law-keeping. Law here is telling us about the dynamics that exist in the covenantal headship of Christ in the new creation or the covenantal headship of Adam in the old creation. To read law here and simply chalk it up to being a command is misplaced and confusing. We must distinguish the use of law here from others. Law here is about how we are learning about how we can obey God by learning the laws of the new creation-grace universe that we exist in by faith.
2. Law is used to speak about keeping it in the covenant of works.

Review the following from Matthew to see an example of this:

Mt 19:6-21 6 Just then someone came up and asked Him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” 7 “Why do you ask Me about what is good?” He said to him. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he asked Him. Jesus answered:

Do not murder;
do not commit adultery;
do not steal;
do not bear false witness;
19 honor your father and your mother;
and love your neighbor as yourself.

20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told Him. “What do I still lack?” 21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

Many read the law here and think that Jesus is calling this man to salvation by turning his moral life over to God with better conformity. The idea being that Christ is calling this man to salvation through some ultimate pledge of moral allegiance. Here we see the law being used to bring the sinner to see His total inability to be a perfect law-keeper (if you want to be perfect Jesus says) in order to see the need for Christ-obedience to be credited, and to bring the sinner to see His need for someone to receive the penalty for his lawbreaking.However, we know that whenever law-keeping is being used as the cause or ground, either initially or finally, of our justification and redemption, and/or our condemnation and exile and punishment, we are hearing the law administered in the conditional covenantal framework of law. Here we see the law being used to bring the sinner to see His total inability to be a perfect law-keeper (if you want to be perfect Jesus says) in order to see the need for Christ-obedience to be credited, and to bring the sinner to see His need for someone to receive the penalty for his lawbreaking. The law of God is being used here not to justify but to condemn us and kill and create the need for Christ to fulfill this law and bring us into the unconditional grace framework. The law is not being used here to guide or sanctify us but to bury our morality. We must distinguish the way the law is being used in the conditional framework lest we preach the law here as a means of salvation and consequently damn all who listen to us.

3. The law is used to speak about the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).

Here are a few examples of this. In Psalms we read:

Psalms 19 “The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one's life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up.”

Many read texts like this or similar statements in Psalms 119 as reason to deny the law and gospel distinction as we see here a very positive interaction with God's law by David.David uses law not to speak about it (ten commandments under Moses) as some sort of means of grace that renews our souls, but about how the whole redemptive narrative which has law and gospel (law in the covenant of works and in the covenant of grace) saves, renews and carries the saint. People often quote texts like this as a decisive rebuttal of the way we distinguish law and gospel. The assumption is that David is using law in reference to the ten commandments. If this is the case then it flies flat in the face of the way God has stated that the law of God administered under the Mosaic covenant does not renew one's life but rather slaughters and buries it (Romans 7). However, it is important to note what is the contextual use of law in this setting as we get no indication in this Psalm or others that this use of law essentially is speaking as to how wonderful and sanctifying the ten commandments are. It is very important to note that the law for the Kings of Israel did not speak merely to the ten commandments, nor the covenant of law by Moses, but it spoke to the first five books of the bible which contained the Adamic creational covenant, the Abrahamic covenant of grace, and the conditional covenant of Moses that the King was to regularly read (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). This means that the law for the King spoke to God's redemptive story from creation, fall, and all the covenants which came through Adam, Moses, and Abraham. God's law speaks to the foundational layers of God's redemptive story from Genesis to Deuteronomy which is the comprehensive transformative revelation of God's promises, works, and will. David uses law not to speak about it (ten commandments under Moses) as some sort of means of grace that renews our souls, but about how the whole redemptive narrative which has law and gospel (law in the covenant of works and in the covenant of grace) saves, renews and carries the saint. We must distinguish this use of the law, if we are to properly understand its usage.

4. Law as the eternal will of God.

There are places in scripture where law simply speaks to the eternal will of God that flows from God's character. The law of God is not some sort of arbitrary standard that exists devoid of God, but something that is connected to who He essentially is.

1 Corinthians 7:19 “Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God's commands does.”

We see Paul here speaking simply to the fact that God is God, and so is always to be seen as the supreme good where all ultimate allegiance is owed at any time and in any place. Those made in His image live in a transcendent ought (need to obey and be under Him as God) whereby, whatever He wills is our concern. This is not necessarily about the law in the covenant of grace nor the covenant of works, but simply the transcendent reality that God is owed all from all at all times. We must distinguish the law here as it is not about crushing and killing us to make way for Christ works and new covenant headship, nor is it about how the grace of God frees us to obey by faith, the law of God, rather it is simply about the fact that all creation, particular image bearers, must be in full allegiance to Him. God's will is our ongoing primary concern. The law is not being spoken of as being reflective of one covenantal framework or the other. If someone reads this use of law as some sort of reason for, “no one keeps the law, Christ must keep it,” they have misused the usage. If someone else reads this as cause to say, “if we do not obey the law of God enough, we are not saved,” they also missed the point of law used in this text.

5. Law as it speaks to the time period from Moses to Christ.

Galatians 3:23-26 “Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

If law here speaks specifically about the covenant of works, then Paul is saying that until Christ came we could not relate to God by faith (see Ga 3:25). We know very clearly that people related to God by faith through the Abrahamic covenant, both before Mosaic covenant, through it, and after it (Galatians 3:6-9). So what does this mean that there was a time of law that ended when Christ came? Does this mean that the law no longer matters at all when Christ comes since it ends according to Paul at the coming of Christ? If we simply see the word “law” in some sort of indiscriminate way then, yes. However, we have been stating very clearly that law must be regularly distinguished in its usage. Paul is speaking about the whole time period from Moses to Christ where the nation of Israel as a whole was under the Mosaic covenant side-by-side with the Abrahamic. When Christ came that conditional covenant with the nation of Israel ended and the Abrahamic covenant found its final stage in the new covenant. This use of law is about Christ ending that time period and bringing in a new one where God's people no longer exist in an earthly theocratic Kingdom under the Mosaic covenant, but in a heavenly Kingdom now only under the New covenant (covenant of grace).Law here is not about the covenant of law crushing us, but about the time period in redemptive history where the people of God were under the Mosaic covenant as a nation until the coming of Christ (note that even though the crushing and killing of the law covenant is a part of this discourse, this part is about the time period from Moses to Christ). Law can be used three times in one chapter in three different ways if we do not consider the way it is used. Law here is about a time period that covers Moses to Christ where God was dealing with His people in the on-earth kingdom in the midst of the Mosaic covenant. This use of law is about Christ ending that time period and bringing in a new one where God's people no longer exist in an earthly theocratic Kingdom under the Mosaic covenant, but in a heavenly Kingdom now only under the New covenant (covenant of grace). Obeying the law here is about living consistent with the post-Mosaic era in the post-Christ-cross era and no longer seeking to go back to that pre-Christ-Mosaic era.

In this section, we have covered five contextual uses of the law that are related, yet distinct and demonstrated how distinguishing these uses brings us to very different meanings, applications and outcomes. We see how flattening out the law to have a non-contextual and non-covenantal qualification (law and gospel distinction) leads us to error.