Theological Journal – August 8 Law and Gospel

The Law neither precedes the Gospel as an independent word from God (natural theology), not a separate word from God as a challenge to or competitor with it. Neither is the Law dispensable to the Gospel after Christ (as superseded, fulfilled, or done away with). But what is the relation of the Law to the Gospel? As usual, Karl Barth helps us understand.

We must reject, claims Barth, any version of the Law that requires us to do ‘something’ to make the gospel apply to us.”

We must affirm that the Law expects us to do something since on account of Christ the Gospel already applies to us. Thus “works righteousness,” earning our way with God, is not a concern for Barth as it is with Luther.

Luther’s believes we are utterly passive and do nothing with regard to God; God does everything. Barth cannot buy into this. The problem with works righteousness is not that we do something, take some action with regard to God, thus making human passivity the model of faithfulness (as has often been taught in North American Christianity). I’ll never forget hearing a prominent Presbyterian campus pastor tell his students, “It doesn’t matter what you do as a Christian. Jesus had done it all and accepts you regardless of what you do.” (I’m sure college students resonated well with that’s message!)

For Barth, and the Bible, human action is only wrong when it contradicts, competes with, or in any other way conditions or modifies rather than conforms to the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Passivity is thus ruled out as a model of faithfulness. Indeed, only a most vigorous activism in following Christ in our world, an obedience pictured for us in the Law (because our feeble imaginations need it), prodding us to live it out in ways appropriate to our time and place (because our weak wills require it) since such capacity has been granted us in Christ. This is the good news of the Gospel!