Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel

Rating:
Summary: Too Distinct a Distinction
Review: Even though the lectures given in this book were spoken over a hundred years ago, in the 1880s, it impressed me how well they address the current state of affairs in the Christian church. In many instances, the situations Walther describes fit exactly with today's. Although the 39 evening lectures were originally given and directed to men in training to become pastors, I believe all Christian laypeople can greatly benefit from reading this volume.

The primary goal of the 25 theses laid out in the book were to clarify the two distinctive teachings of the Bible: the Law and the Gospel. The Law, as summarized in the 10 Commandments shows our sinfulness and the punishment we deserve for violating the law. The Gospel, however, is the joyous proclamation of Christ resurrected, and His conquering of sin and death. In this we find our comfort as Christians, knowing that although the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). The significance of what Walther discusses in these theses, is that when we confuse Law and Gospel, try to separate one from the other, or only teach one of these doctrines, we invariably distort the true teaching of Scripture and lead people astray despite our intentions. When applied to our daily study of the Scriptures, church teaching, and other aspects of the Christian life, the distinction of Law and Gospel provides profound insight into the Bible. Many confusing parts of the Bible, especially parts that may seem contradictory are clarified when we see the distinction of Law and Gospel.

Overall, I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in a clearer understanding the teachings of the Bible. Although the book may seem intimidating (its ~415 pages long), it is broken up into 39 lectures as I mentioned before, and each is about an hour's worth of reading. The lectures were also given in an informal style, so it's not overly difficult reading (occasionally the English is a slightly different from today's usage since the translation isn't very recent, but it isn't archaiac by any means). And finally, what really makes this an excellent book is that it is Christ-centered.

Rating:
Summary: Helps bring clarity to the Christian faith
Review: Even though the lectures given in this book were spoken over a hundred years ago, in the 1880s, it impressed me how well they address the current state of affairs in the Christian church. In many instances, the situations Walther describes fit exactly with today's. Although the 39 evening lectures were originally given and directed to men in training to become pastors, I believe all Christian laypeople can greatly benefit from reading this volume.

The primary goal of the 25 theses laid out in the book were to clarify the two distinctive teachings of the Bible: the Law and the Gospel. The Law, as summarized in the 10 Commandments shows our sinfulness and the punishment we deserve for violating the law. The Gospel, however, is the joyous proclamation of Christ resurrected, and His conquering of sin and death. In this we find our comfort as Christians, knowing that although the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). The significance of what Walther discusses in these theses, is that when we confuse Law and Gospel, try to separate one from the other, or only teach one of these doctrines, we invariably distort the true teaching of Scripture and lead people astray despite our intentions. When applied to our daily study of the Scriptures, church teaching, and other aspects of the Christian life, the distinction of Law and Gospel provides profound insight into the Bible. Many confusing parts of the Bible, especially parts that may seem contradictory are clarified when we see the distinction of Law and Gospel.

Overall, I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in a clearer understanding the teachings of the Bible. Although the book may seem intimidating (its ~415 pages long), it is broken up into 39 lectures as I mentioned before, and each is about an hour's worth of reading. The lectures were also given in an informal style, so it's not overly difficult reading (occasionally the English is a slightly different from today's usage since the translation isn't very recent, but it isn't archaiac by any means). And finally, what really makes this an excellent book is that it is Christ-centered.

Rating:
Summary: A classical Christian work written in America
Review: In the never-ending human struggle to determine right and wrong, to live the golden rule, to live in peace with our fellow man, we often forget what the basic message of the Bible really is. C.F.W. Walther, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and also president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO, presented a series of "lectures" on the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. This book is the compilation of those lectures. Walther never intended that these be published; however, his students felt that the contents of Walther's lectures was too good to be ignored. Gathering together their notes, they put together this volume which is still a primary resource for pastors today. It is worth your while to read this book and to look at the basics of the Christian faith.

Rating:
Summary: Too Distinct a Distinction
Review: The Law-Gospel distinction in this book is exaggerated. This book is useful to understand the views of Lutherans but of very little practical use. There is no interaction with difficult texts such as Revelation 14:6-7 and Galatians 3:21. Each of the six tests have simple counterexamples.

In the end this book does provide a method of determining whether something is "Law" or "Gospel" but the distinction is not all that useful.