The Difference Between Law and Gospel

A Word of Truth #104  

The two doctrines of God’s Word—Law and Gospel—are very different from each other, but both declare an SOS.

The Law’s SOS is that it Shows Our Sin. God’s Law tells us what is right and wrong and the punishment for breaking the Law. We daily sin against God’s Law by not doing or saying or thinking what we should, and by doing, saying, and thinking many things that we should not. The Law condemns us as sinners worthy of eternal death.

The Gospel’s SOS is that it Shows Our Savior. The Gospel makes no demands and has no requirements. Rather, it is the “good news” that Jesus has kept the Law for us and has died for our failures by taking the Law’s condemnation upon Himself.

The Law and Gospel have very different messages, but we need them both. We need the Law to show us our sin, but then we need the Gospel to show us we have a Savior who has rescued us from sin’s death.

Love – A One-Word Summary of the Law

A Word of Truth #105  

The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day got a little carried away when it came to the law. They took the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses and expanded them to 613 commandments, with which they tried to control virtually every aspect of people’s lives. Jesus took a very different approach. He certainly kept the law in every aspect as outlined by God in the Scriptures. He did this, in fact, as our substitute since we cannot keep God’s law perfectly ourselves. But when He instructed His disciples concerning the law, He reduced the law to a one-word command—“love!” St. Paul would later tell the Roman Christians, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law…love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8,10).