Shepherd the Flock

It is my intention to share a few things about the law (or Law, as in Old Testament Law) versus the Gospel in the coming weeks. The issue is so broad and entailed that I do not intend to cover every issue, but I’m hoping that setting forth a few basic, Biblical principles will help spur some profitable discussion here, not to mention some profitable edification for those who haven’t researched all the issues on their own.

Of course, it should go without saying that I will be presenting a Reformed position of the use the law, as opposed to a Dispensational or Antinomian position. For a primer, you could read the 1689LBC chapter on this issue. I intend to defend the Reformed understanding against recent objections.

But for today, in William Perkins’ The Art of Prophesying, in a discussion of biblical hermenutics, Perkins says:

“The basic principle in application (sermon application) is to know whether the passage is a statement of the law or of the gospel…the law exposes the disease of sin, and as a side-effect stimulates and stirs it up. But it provides no remedy for it. However, the gospel not only teaches us what is to be done, it also has the power of the Holy Spirit joined to it. When we are regenerated by Him we receive the strength we need both to believe the gospel and to do what it commands.”

“…many statements which seem to belong to law are, in the light of Christ, to be understood not legally but as qualified by the gospel…’For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off…But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it‘ (Deut 30:11,14). This same sentence which is legal in character in Moses, is evangelical in character in Paul (Rom. 10:8.)”