Law and Gospel are What the Bible is About

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The theme for this morning’s sermon is this: Law and Gospel explain to us the whole meaning of the Bible.

How do we read and understand the Bible? This question was the basic question that we answered this summer during our Lutheran Faith Class. If there is one thing that matters most to us as Christians, it is Bible Study, both on our own and as a congregation. This is the question that people ask me all the time. Sure they read the Bible … but What does it mean?

How do we read and understand the Bible? We could even ask the question a different way. How are we supposed to listen to a sermon? When I first arrived here, there were many who asked me to simplify the sermon or to come down to our level. That is something I have tried to do without being condescending to any of you. That is something I have tried to do, having attended chapel each day for 8 years, hearing sermons from hundreds of different pastors, and coming from a town and state far away from here.

How do we listen to a sermon? Paul answers this in our epistle for this morning. He talks about Law and Gospel. Luther talked about Law and Gospel. C. F. W. Walther one of the founders of the Missouri Synod, wrote his most famous book on Law and Gospel. The circuit visitor in Plainville has been having a weekly video on Law and Gospel. But Pastor, what is Law and Gospel?

Law and Gospel is how we read and understand the Bible. The Law we find in the Ten Commandments. The Gospel we find in the Apostles’ Creed. The Law we find in the Confession of our sins. The Gospel we find in the Absolution of our sins. The Law we find in our three enemies, sin, death, and the power of the devil. The Gospel we find in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Law and Gospel is found on nearly every page of the Scripture. It is the way we read and understand the Bible. What does this mean? Is the famous question from the Small Catechism, and it is the primary question that we have as Christians studying God’s Word. How do we read and understand the Bible? How am I supposed to listen to the sermon?

Law and Gospel. Take the Parable of the Good Samaritan for instance. This is our Gospel reading for the day. What is the Law portion of this reading? We take a look at the context of the parable to understand the point of the parable. A guy asks Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We would think that that is the wrong question, but Jesus turns the guy back to the Ten Commandments. He turns him back to the Law. For this guy is a secure sinner, a self-righteous independent person who needs to hear the Law.

This we know because he then asks, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, he made the Law so small that he could get around it. He made the Law something that is attainable. He really thinks that he is a good person. He thinks the inheritance is already his without even trying. He does not need to be told that he is forgiven, if he isn’t even repentant. What need does he have of righteousness when he already thinks that he is? He keeps the commandments among his friends and at church, why does he need to care about the poor or his enemies?

Jesus then tells the story we know so well. The robbers steal from the man, and then they hurt him. What commandments have they broken? They broke the Fifth Commandment, You shall not murder, and the Seventh Commandment, You shall not steal. Is this who we are? We ask ourselves.

We probably say that we are not, and I don’t think that is the point of Jesus’ story. We aren’t supposed to be the robbers. But do we see murderers and robbers in our country? Of course we do. They go to prison for it. There is an external civil punishment for sin. This is the Law. But so also are the lesser sins, like cutting corners in order to make a bigger profit. So also it is the Law that we help and support our neighbor in his body, whether with groceries or visiting in the hospital.

Then the priest and the Levite enter the scene. The guy is still beaten up, poor, unclean, and left for dead on the side of the road. What do they do? They should keep the Commandments, care for the man’s wounds, provide him with food, water, and shelter. They are the religious people, the church people, the Christians, the Lutherans in the story for today. They should, but they don’t.

Although they didn’t murder or steal, they did not help or support their neighbor in his body, nor did they help him to improve and protect his possessions and income. They were no better than the murdering robbers from before. This is the connection that Jesus wants to make between the self-righteous man asking Him the question about eternal life and in the story. That your neighbor might be your enemy. That your neighbor might be the poor. That your neighbor might be really suffering. That we really ought to help them.

This is the Law. Who among us could wriggle out of it? Who among has not been either the robbers or the religious people in this story? This is the part of the sermon that shows us our sins, that convicts us, that offends us, that causes us to be sorry for our sin. This is where the robber hits the road. This is where we are left for dead in our trespasses and sins.

This is where most sermons you hear on this text then get it wrong. Because most sermons you hear on the internet, most sermons you hear in our world, then make us out to be the Good Samaritan. Be the Good Samaritan today, or some such thing like that. But then we are left with more Law. Then the whole story has no Gospel at all. There is no forgiveness, there is no work of God, there is no comfort for the suffering. Be a good neighbor, love your neighbor, take care of the poor, and you’ll gain eternal life. It’s just the same as the guy asking the question. He is self-righteous and independent and don’t worry, he’s got this all under control.

No, the point of the story is that Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Jesus is the one whose neighbor is His enemy, and yet He dies for us. Jesus is the one who takes the place of the beaten man upon the cross and suffers because of the world and its sin. Jesus is the one who has mercy on us, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, bandaging up the wounded.

This is the Gospel, not more of what you must do, but the Gospel is all about what Christ has done for you. The Gospel is that free gift from God through the death of His Son. The Gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ has perfectly obeyed the Law in order to offer you the Gospel. The Gospel is outside of you, your works, your righteousness before the world, or whatever.

The Gospel is what Christ has done for you, taking your place, redeeming with His grace, that you may be confident of the forgiveness of your sins, that you may be certain about the life everlasting, and that you may believe that He came into this world for your sins. Christ pays the price for you when you are near death, when you tempted to despair, and when you are struggling through this veil of tears. Christ Jesus is Himself the Good Samaritan, your Good Samaritan, who shall care for you each and every day.

How do you read the understand the Bible? It is through the Law and the Gospel. How do you listen to a sermon? It is through the Law and Gospel. What does this mean? It means that the Bible is full of this Law and Gospel, that the pages of Scripture apply to us. We are convicted of sin and comforted of the forgiveness of sins. We are worried about death, but Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and shall raise you also from the grave. We are tempted by the devil, but Jesus has conquered the devil by His death on the cross and that victory will never be defeated.

Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that is the Gospel, dear friends, in its absolute sweetest.

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. James Peterson
First Lutheran Church
Phillipsburg, Kansas