THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
Prayer: O God, enlighten me that I may rightly understand Your Word. From Your Law let me learn to know my boundless spiritual ruin. But from Your Gospel let me learn to know Your grace, which is in Christ Jesus, my Savior, which saves me from my utter ruin and gives me eternal salvation. O merciful Lord, let me abide in true faith in Your Gospel, the secure place of refuge against every curse. Amen. (C.M. Zorn, The Lord Will Answer p. 174)
The Text, St. Matthew 5:17-26 (v. 20). “For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lord, we will follow You on the way of truth to life everlasting. Amen!
Dear hearers of the Word, both Law and Gospel: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
What’s the central message of the Bible? That Jesus is the only way of salvation. (ELS Catechism Q. #9).He came to be the way to the Father; we recall that after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, the way to the Father was blocked.
But Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). It’s what Jesus did – in His life, death and resurrection – that accomplished this and saves us from our sins. But in order to benefit from it, you need faith. Faith comes only through God’s Word: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).
So that’s also what Jesus did to bring us to the Father: not only what He did, but also what He said. The Bible says: “No one has seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side, He has declared Him” (Jn 1:18). It also says: “God spoke in time past by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son” (Heb 1:1-2).
We connect the hearing of His Word to what the Holy Spirit does when we hear the Word being preached, or as we read the Bible. But properly speaking it’s Jesus Himself who brings God’s Word to the world, speaks and preaches it, who speaks the truth. He said: “I speak what I have seen with My Father” (Jn 8:38), and He said: “just as the Father has told Me, so I speak” (Jn 12:50). In Mark’s gospel, at the very beginning of His ministry, right after His baptism and temptation, the first thing we hear is: “Jesus came preaching” (Mk 1:15). In the earliest days with His disciples, we hear Jesus say: “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth” (Mk 1:38). He is The Preacher.
So now when Jesus preaches this famous sermon, what do you expect Him to say? Especially if He is the Way to the Father who unblocks the way for all sinners, and if as He said He “did not come to judge the world but to save the world?” (Jn 12:47) Of course you expect Him to preach the forgiveness of sins, to say right away, “Come on in to eternal life!”
But that isn’t how Jesus starts. He teaches the commandments that condemn us for our sins. In fact, He starts with the 5th Commandment – “You shall not murder” – and shows that even if you think you aren’t guilty of it, you are – if you have sinful anger, or wish evil or revenge on someone (that’s what “Raca!” means), or speak unkindly to someone, which shows what’s in the heart – Jesus says you are “in danger of hell fire.” As 1 John says, “whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (3:15).
You might wonder why Jesus is doing this. At first it doesn’t seem right that Jesus is condemning sins. What about the verse that says: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him”? (Jn 3:17) This leads people to say that Jesus doesn’t condemn anything, so His Church isn’t being like Jesus when it condemns sins.
Jesus appears to be agreeing with them when He says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He is saying that when it comes to the commandments you are not to be a Pharisee. You are not to look at the sins of someone else, even the depravity in society, and shake your head at how bad everyone else is. You are to look in the mirror and see if you are perfect – because that is the only righteousness by which you can enter heaven.
This might lead people to think that Jesus is saying not to talk about the sins, that you have to “shut up about it” when it comes to actual sins. To speak against these sins gets you accused of being unkind, unlike Jesus. “He would never do that!” they say. But notice, Jesus does talk about the sins. He’s not saying to shut up about these sins. He condemns them. Here He actually condemns moresins than people usually do, the sins you don’t see like hatred in the heart. But why, if He came not to judge but to save?
This is where it helps to know about the Law and the Gospel.
We understand that there are two main teachings in the Bible: the Law and the Gospel. This is not just our idea. This is what the Bible says. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Timothy is told that what he must do to be “approved to God” as a pastor is to be sure he’s “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Jesus explained what this division is, when He decreed “that repentance and remission of sins be preached” (Lk 24:47). These are the two divisions: repentance – what the Law produces – and remission of sins, the Gospel.
So we have to know what the Law is and what the Gospel is, but especially we have to know how they are different.
The Law says what I must do and must not do, what God commands me to do and forbids me from doing. This is what the 10 Commandments say: “you shall” and “you shall not.” In direct contrast to that, the Gospel is not at all about what I must do or not do; it says what Jesus did for me, it says what God gives to me, totally apart from my doing. Another example: The Law shows you God’s anger over your sins, not the love of God. But the Gospel shows us no anger of God at all,only His forgiving love – grace.
Now this is all very basic. It seems like the simplest thing in the world.
· Law: “Do this!”
· Gospel: “Jesus did it for you!”
· Law: “You must be perfect in thought, word, and deed!”
· Gospel: “You can’t be perfect, Jesus was perfect for you, all that you have not kept is forgiven by God!”
The difference is clear. So who can’t figure out what’s Law, what’s Gospel, and how it applies to you?
If it’s so easy and clear, everyone should have knowledge of his/her sin, should have no difficulty repenting, should have a clear conscience, should not feel the need to compare their own righteousness with others, should not ever feel burdened or pressured, or burden or pressure anyone else, should always love to do God’s will, should willingly be led by God’s Law as their guide and never resist His Law, should feel sure of His forgiveness, should find it easy to forgive others, and have no anxiety about facing death and judgment since they know not only the Law but also the Gospel.
So, anyone have any problems with these things? Yes, all the time! See, even if you know what the Law is and what the Gospel is, you have difficulty bringing yourself to repent. You struggle to have a clear conscience, and often have a burdened and troubled conscience. Or you have times when you aren’t willing to be led by God’s Law but do what your sinful nature wants. Even if you know the Gospel, that Jesus died for you, you can feel unsure of your forgiveness, or feel judged.
This is why the Law and Gospel aren’t just a thing sitting there in the pages of the Bible. They are to be preached. They are to be applied to your conscience, even as you read the Bible. This is what Jesus is doing.
Here when Jesus “takes the Law into His hands and explains it spiritually” [Formula of Concord V:10), as He teaches the 5th commandment, how it condemns everyone, then the 6th commandment and how it condemns everyone, etc., we are seeing the chief purpose of the Law: that it shows you your sins.
Why is Jesus doing it though? This is known as His foreign or strange work, it isn’t natural for Him to speak words of condemnation. But He does it for an important reason. It’s so that you don’t stay in your sin, so your sins don’t stay unrepented of and stay upon you condemning you, but so you can get rid of your sins and bring them to Him to be forgiven.
On the other hand His proper work, His intended work, the reason He’s here, is to forgive sins. The main issue, which goes back to Jesus’ words about not having a Pharisee righteousness which is just outward, is to not hear Jesus speaking about them, whoever they are. He’s speaking to you. But His goal isn’t to condemn the sins; His goal is to forgive the sins!
The Law is preached to show you your sins and how you need a Savior. Then the Gospel is preached to you, your sins are forgiven, to announce that you have no sins blocking your way to God. But you can’t appreciate the Gospel, it won’t matter to you, without the Law doing its work first.
Jesus is the original preacher of this, and now He does this preaching through the pastors He sends, to faithfully preach both Law and Gospel.
Remember, Jesus says here that to “enter the kingdom of heaven” you need the “righteousness [that] exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.” Pharisee righteousness is just outward. Jesus is speaking of true righteousness, to be completely in the right with God, with no sins.
This is what the Law and the Gospel are for: to give you this righteous-ness. The Law, to lead you to repent and bring your sins to Jesus, get rid of them. The Gospel, to declare that in Christ you have this righteousness. You’re holy and pure in God’s sight. He cleanses you. He gives you this righteousness. That’s the Gospel. This is what you hear, and receive, in the Lord’s Supper: His righteousness that’s now “your righteousness.” You actually “enter,” you’re actually in, “the kingdom of heaven.” Amen!