| A Message from the Interim Pastor…
Martin Luther’s contribution to theological thinking includes the concept of “Law and Gospel.” Luther said that law is what convicts us of our sin and gospel is what frees us. One of his more famous lines is that we are simultaneously saint and sinner, Simul Justus et Peccator. There is a congregation in Denver, Colorado that is named House for All Saints and Sinners.
When I was in seminary, my preaching professor had us use a book titled The Four Pages of the Sermon. The four pages are: law in the text, law in the world, gospel in the text, and gospel in the world. Every sermon should include all four. What is it in the text that convicts us of our sin? What is it in the world that demonstrates our sin? What is it in the text that frees us from our sin? And, what is it in the world that demonstrates our freedom from sin?
That being said, I turn to our theme of looking at Bible passages differently. You see, many folks look at the Bible as law, but not in Luther’s sense of the word. They look at it as a rule book – this is what you’ve got to do (or not do). And, they go on to think that the word gospel just refers to the first four books of the New Testament. Because they approach the Bible this way, they fail to see gospel in a whole bunch of texts. Rather than read Bible passages with the lens of “what you have to do,” what would happen if we read them with the lens of “this is what God has done”?
Take, for example, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” When we read this verse with a law lens, the meaning is clearly that we have to believe in Jesus if we want to have eternal life. (Eternal life in John’s Gospel does not mean going to heaven when we die, but that’s a topic for another column.) In other words, we read it as an if/then proposition – if we believe, then we have eternal life. And, of course, we also read “if we don’t believe, we don’t have eternal life.” But, if we read this verse with a gospel lens, we see it as a promise – we read it as a because/therefore proposition – because we believe, therefore we have eternal life.
The distinction might seem trivial, but when we read the Bible with a gospel lens – what is God doing – rather than with a law lens – what do we have to do – the Bible takes on a whole different meaning. Think about it.
Peace and blessing,
Pastor Michael
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