RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Law and Gospel Law, Hebrew
duction from natural secret effects of grace, the law practically gained the upper hand.
Luther put law and Gospel into the strongest opposition. The law demands and frightens, the
Gospel bestows and consoles; but they 5. Luther, belong together and exhaust the whole
content of Scripture. In order to understand this, we must distinguish in the law content and form. Its content is the unchangeable will of God; without its fulfilment there is no salvation- but it is not to be fulfilled merely as a condition of salvation, but in the spirit of " a loving delight in the law," contrasted with the common pleasure-seeking piety. Thus Luther advanced a step beyond Augustine and the mystics, since with them hope preponderates, while for him eternal life ae°ins here on earth in reconciliation with the law; ind since their love of God is a retired, holy indifference, while his love of God manifests itself in 1 trust in God which is elevated above sins and death and governs the world and manifests itself in ;he love of our fellow men. According to its form, ;he law brings man before the " throne of judgment." It is a demand and threat of punishment igainst a contradicting will. In this respect it is only temporary; for the thought that the favor of God night be earned is not only impossible in considiration of original sin, but " a dream which is false n itself," a robbery of the honor of God, idolatry; jod is not a " huckster," it is his nature to give everything gratuitously. It is true, the content of die law as humble trust in God and inclination .oward good conduct contradicts the form of the aw as a rule of retribution, but in this very form t is a means of God to accomplish his purposes. Jn the one side, it guards against external transgressions and upholds public peace; on the other side, by disclosing and magnifying our spiritual jansgressions it destroys our self-sufficiency and wakens a feeling of guilt and longing after forgivng grace. After this has been accomplished, the Kospel steps in — by assuring us of forgiving grace, t awakens love to God which gladly fulfils the law md thus experiences salvation already in this life. The Gospel has three characteristic traits. It is )romise or attestation of the divine will of grace ,0 the consciousness, it is promise of the**forgiveless of sins, it is promise of the forgiveness vouchiafed in Christ for the awakened conscience. It is .he active cause of faith which supports conscience without blunting it. With this faith the whole relemption is realized in principle; for it is the noving power for the fulfilment of the law. By ixtending over the whole life, it is the fulfilment of .he first commandment, and by becoming a prayer )f thankfulness and supplication, that of the sec- )nd; and the desire to pass on our blessings to )thers produces in us an inclination to love our ellow men, and by paralyzing the attraction of worldly goods and evils by means of trust in God t gives the power to realize this inclination. But ill these abilities Luther traces back also to a sec- Hid gift beside forgiveness, namely, the Holy Spirit, ^.s the unchangeable will of God, the law is also ;he measure for the manner of the realization of ;he order of grace. In this respect, the inviolabil-
ity of the divine will as expressed in the law must be fully satisfied. This is the case in so far as the forgiveness of sins in the penitent is the very means of realizing its content. But Luther postulated also the satisfaction of the law by the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, in contradiction to his statement that the law has only a pedagogical import. The fulfilment of the law is to take place in a natural manner, without reflection on the law, just as the good tree brings forth its fruits. The good must spring from a good disposition; but by this comparison Luther places himself in contradiction, not only to Christ and John, but also to Paul, since it excludes reflection on every objective norm and the motivation of good-will by the thought of the aim of eternal life. But since for Luther the new life of the Christian is still in a state of growth and maintains itself only by continual struggle with the remnants of sin, he teaches that the Christian still needs education through the objective law. As he can think, however, of an objective order of the law only in the legal norm of right which threatens punishment, instruction and admonition by the law appear to him as something that is in contradiction to the spiritual condition of the new man; and thus Luther makes Christian life dualistic, instead of showing how it stands under a moral law without losing the character of its freedom. (J. GoTTSCHiCKf.)
Bibliography: The literature on §§ 1-3 is given under Biblical Theology; that on § 4 under Doctrines, History of. On § 5 consult: J. Kostlin, Luthers Theologie, Stuttgart, 1863; T. Harnack, Luthers Theologie, i. 475- 480, Erlangen, 1862; S. Lommatzsch, Luthers Lehre, Berlin, 1879; E. Troltsch, Vernunft und Offenbarung bei J. Gerhard und Melanchthon, pp. 127-143, Gottingen, 1891. On the general problem: S. H. Tyng, Lectures on the Law and the Gospel, New York, 1848; J. M. Armour, Atonetiient and Law, London, 1885. Consult also Atonement.