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The Uses of the Law –2 or 3? A Pastoral Perspective
Rev. James L. Cavanah II, Th.D.
Introduction
In this issue of SIMUL, we seek to address the topic, “Uses of the Law – 2 or 3?” Therefore, the question is one that is both theological and practical in nature. Pastorally, the answer to the question is firmly established in the revealed truth of the Word of God. It is the task and calling of the pastor to preach and teach all God’s holy truth (i.e., Acts 20:27). Sola Scriptura!
On the night in which He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus prayed in the garden. In His High Priestly Prayer (John 17), He petitioned His Father on behalf of all of His disciples in every age and in every place. In His prayer, He petitioned the Father and said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17, KJV). Those words are personal. They have divine origin, they are practical in nature, and they come directly from the lips of our Savior.
Indeed, we find the inspired divine revelation of God only in scripture (see John 6:68; Romans 1:16). Stephen J, Nichols, president of Reformation Bible College, explains that “in response to the medieval church, which had misplaced the Word of God, Luther places the Word at the very heart of the church’s practice and life.”1 The Word alone is the very foundation upon which the Reformation was established. Luther sets forth a clear and enduring principle, the Word of God alone is our only authority in all matters of faith and life.
The words of Luther resound with a theology filled with practical application for every aspect of life. Luther embraced Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:15-17, KJV). Paul’s desire for Timothy and for all followers of Christ is to be “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Luther believed this. The major Reformers embraced this. But how is it possible?
Stephen J. Nichols
In the Holy Scriptures Luther found this divine assurance, “Therefore, whenever anyone is assailed by temptation of any sort whatever, the very best that he can do in the case is either to read something in the Holy Scriptures, or think about the Word of God, and apply it to his heart.”2 To apply the Word of God to our hearts is to embrace the truth espoused by Paul, “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27, KJV). Note the words, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
For every pastor, it is essential to faithfully preach both law and gospel. To this end, Paul sums up the basis of our redemption, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10, KJV). The gospel is never about what we do for God. The gospel is always about what He does for us.
Therefore, how are we to understand these “good works” that God intends for His people to do? In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul reveals the practical means through which God establishes His goal of making His people “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10, KJV). He affirms the fact that our salvation and renewal in Christ (see Romans 12:1-2) comes only as we, God’s people, are “in Christ” – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17, KJV).
On the night of his betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15, KJV), “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21, KJV), and “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10, KJV).
Only “in Christ” (i.e., Romans 3:24, 8:1-2; Galatians 3:26-2; Ephesians 1:10, 2:6 and 10) is the Christian justified and sanctified. To this end, Christ loves us and brings us into fellowship with Himself and with one another in His church as one body.
The Second Use of the Law
The second use of the law has been called by some “the principal use.” By it, we discover our natural estate, separated from God. We are dead in trespasses and sins (i.e., Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). We are without hope and under the condemnation of the law (see Romans 5:16 and 18). It has also been said that the law is a reflection of God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice. When confronted with the power of the law, the second use of the law, we see our unholiness, unrighteousness, and utter depravity. This fact is clearly evident in Scripture and was the personal experience of three well-known biblical figures: (1) Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5), (2) Peter (Luke 5:8), and “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” John (Revelation 1:17). The second use of the law has often been referred to as a mirror. It reflects to us our real and true identity. We are, by nature, lost sinners!
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “But we know that the law is good, if a man uses it lawfully” (I Timothy 1:8, KJV). The law of God has been given to restrain sin. This is the first use of the law (the civil use) and to condemn sin which is the second use or the accusatory use of the law. This brings us to the question: “Uses of the Law – 2 or 3?” As a pastor, I must answer the question and I say, “Yes!”
Martin Luther embraced the fact that preaching is the power of the gospel to both kill and to make alive. Consider these words, “Whereas most theologians emphasize the progressive nature of God’s work through law and gospel first to terrify, then to comfort and convert, and finally to guide the believer, Luther stresses the ongoing and simultaneous quality of God’s work to put to death sinful persons and raise to life new persons in Christ Jesus. From the moment Christians come to faith, Luther contends, they live as people who are simultaneously sinful by nature and righteous by God’s declaration and deed, a condition he describes as living simul justus et peccator.”3
“There is, then, one law of God that works in us and on us in two distinct ways. Further, both uses of the law are related to God’s creatures; through the first to sustain and protect the creation by promoting civil conduct, and through the second to lead people to salvation in Christ.”4
To this end, “God speaks in two fundamentally different ways. He speaks a word of law that threatens sinners with divine punishment, delivers wrath, and brings death and condemnation. Yet He also speaks a word of Gospel that promises grace to underserving sinners, bestows forgiveness of sins, and delivers life and salvation.”5
In Lutheran theology, the child of God, who is both saint and sinner, is constantly hearing the law and the gospel. The law drives us to understand our sinful estate and then Christ comes to us. This is an important point. We do not come to Christ. Rather He comes to us. In His divine power, Christ brings the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16) to us, sinners who are dead in sin, and He works in us to make us alive, to give us the gift of faith whereby we repent of our sins and find forgiveness in Him alone.
Sanctification
Justification is the act of God. So, also, sanctification is a work of Christ through the gospel. In Christ, we are set free from sin and the penalty of sin. In Christ, that is Christ working within us through our gracious union with Him, we are freed to engage in the works that God has ordained for us to do (i.e., Ephesians 2:10), but only as Christ works within us. In other words, we are freed by God, in Christ and Christ in us, to begin to live the life that God intends by the power of the gospel (see Ephesians 1:9 and 3:20; II Peter 1:3).
“While the Law of God promises life to those who keep it and threatens punishment to all who break it, it is powerless to make a person righteous in the sight of God. It is only the Gospel that declares sinners righteous, not on account of their morality or good intentions but solely because of the work of Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled the law, suffered under its condemnation in our place, and been raised from the dead as our Brother.”6
Book of Concord
In Luther’s Commentary on Galatians, he appeals to two uses of the law. Yet, in his Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors, Luther does draw near to the third use of the law when he touches upon “the doing of good works” that include “to be chaste, to love and help the neighbor, to refrain from lying, from deceit, from stealing, from murder….”
In the first preface to his Large Catechism, Luther wrote a similar sentiment, “For it is certain that whoever knows the Ten Commandments perfectly must know all the Scriptures, so that, in all circumstances and events, he can advise, help, comfort, judge and decide both spiritual and temporal matters, and is qualified to sit in judgment upon all doctrines, estates, spirits, laws, and whatever else is in the world.” After having addressed all of the Ten Commandments, Luther added these words in his conclusion, “Thus we have the Ten Commandments, a compend of divine doctrine, as to what we shall do, that our whole life may be pleasing to God, and the true fountain and channel from and in which everything must flow that is to be considered a good work, so that outside of these Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, however great or precious it be in the eyes of the world.”
“Because of fleshly lusts, God’s truly believing, elect, and regenerate children need the daily instruction and admonition, warning, and threating of the Law in this life. But they also need frequent punishments. So that will be roused and they will follow God’s Spirit” (i.e., Psalm 119:71; I Corinthians 9:27; Hebrews 12:8).7
As man is semper simul – always sinful and only made just or righteous by the unmerited love, mercy, and grace of almighty God – the power of the law was looked upon in days past, and by some in our present time, as a means of somehow guiding us or helping us to grow in our relationship with God and our neighbors, but nothing could be further from the truth! The Law is not a guide or a spiritual “punch list” for the Christian. This misunderstanding of the law was the failure of the Pharisees and made obvious in Paul’s own words of personal confession (Philippians 3:2-11).
The law kills and condemns. It does not provide a means of merit to enhance our justification or our sanctification. The law reveals our total and complete sinful nature without Christ. Rather than saying that the law drives us to Christ, perhaps it would be best to say, the law drives us to complete hopelessness, despair, and death. Then, Christ comes to us with the message of the Gospel and gives us complete forgiveness, comfort, and peace.
Third Use of the Law
It appears that Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon both wrote about the third use of the law without ever using the phrase “the third use of the law.” Rather, they used words like Gebot (commandment), mandatum (command), and praeceptum (precept). The terminology may be different, but Luther and Melanchthon were in agreement, God alone works in man to accomplish His divine will.
In both the Short and Large Catechisms, Luther refrained from explicitly using the phrase “the three uses of the Law.” Perhaps, upon deeper reflection, there is good reason for this. Is it possible that Luther preferred words such as “commandment”, “command”, “precept” or “rule” to distinguish God’s guide for life (i.e., John 14:15 and 23; John 15:10) from the law (lex) that accuses (lex simper accusat)? Is it possible that this distinction in terminology was a way of differentiating between the law that always condemns and the “command” (mandatum) that guides the justified who are in Christ in proper godly living?
We need to see and understand the law’s perfection only in Christ (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44). Only in Christ is there a full and perfected fulfillment of law and gospel. In Him and in Him alone, is there direction for the new earthly life of the Christian. One cannot add to what Christ has done. Therefore, in Christ, there is the command (the third use of the Law) to embrace and appropriate the words of Paul, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:1-3, KJV).
The Formula of Concord, Article VI, clearly defines three uses of the law: “God’s Law is useful (1) because external discipline and decency are maintained by it against wild, disobedient people; (2) likewise, through the Law people are brought to a knowledge of their own sins; and also (3) when people have been born anew by God’s Spirit, converted to the Lord, and Moses’s veil has been lifted from them [I Corinthians 3:13-16], they live and walk in the Law [Psalm 119:1]”.8
Pastorally speaking, we must embrace the words of Jesus which describe all of His followers in every age and place, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16, KJV).
The great plague of the Roman Church in Luther’s day and among many Christians in our day, is a false and vain obedience or pretense of self-righteousness based upon manmade rituals, practices, or acts. These were a plague upon Luther’s personal life as well, prior to the work of God in revealing the truth of the gospel to him. The second use of the law condemns and accuses but we must also recall these words, “But we know that the law is good, if a man uses it lawfully” (I Timothy 1:8, KJV). The law must be used lawfully!
The impact of this fact is seen in the first of Luther’s 95 Theses. Clearly, it challenges and affirms the true Christian life, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” It is the function of the law to work daily contrition and repentance in life and not some type of one-time experience of conversion. With this in mind, it is a function of the law to work within us daily calling us to contrition and repentance (second use) and to guide us (third use) in doing the “good works” that Christ produces in us. These works are the work of Christ in us. These are not our good works. They are the manifestation of the new man living within us.
At the Bedside of the Dying
It has been said that the real enemy of human freedom is not the law of God but the power and allure of sin and temptation. Against these forces the law and the gospel remains the only divine revelation of truth. The mirror and the guide of God’s divine law remains the only wholesome witness to the goodness of God and His power in this world.
The pastor is often times called to the bedside of the dying to offer hope, peace, and to bring comfort in the final hour. At that time, it is not the law or one’s sanctification or alleged “good works” that needs to be mentioned. Rather, it is the glorious message of the gospel that must be heard! The Christian must be reminded and called to focus upon Christ alone as the only means of salvation – the vicarious suffering\death, and resurrection. This is what brings peace and comfort.
As to the question: “Uses of the Law – 2 or 3?” As a pastor, I must answer the question and I must say, “Yes” and return to the words of Paul, “But we know that the law is good, if a man uses it lawfully” (I Timothy 1:8, KJV). Therefore, we may refer to the second or the third use of the law as a means of making fine theological distinctions. We may refer to a mirror or a guide. We may see complete separation between the second and third uses or perhaps a degree of practical overlapping.
However, for the pastor who is called to preach, teach, and proclaim the whole counsel of God, the most important truth is the scriptural edification of God’s holy people (I Peter 1:16, 2:5 and 9). Therefore, the law affirms that it is God’s will that His people, redeemed by Christ and are in Christ, should walk in a new life. Paul supported this view of God’s plan for His people with these words, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4, KJV). In Christ, the law is fulfilled. In us, be it called the mirror (the second use) or the guide (the third use), we discover this truth – “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, KJV). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the pastor to properly and correctly preach, teach, proclaim, and walk in law and gospel and to encourage others to do the same, living Coram Deo!
Rev. James L. Cavanah II, Th.D. is Pastor of Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield, Georgia
Endnotes:
1Stephen J. Nichols, Beyond the 95 Theses (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Publishing, 2016), 200.
2August Nebe, Luther as Spiritual Adviser (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1894), 178.
3David J. Lose, “Martin Luther on Preaching the Law” Word & World, Vol. XXI, No. 3, (January 2001), 256.
4Ibid., 255.
5John T. Pless, Handling the Word of Truth: Law and Gospel in the Church Today (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004), 25.
6James A. Nestingen and John T. Pless, eds., The Necessary Distinction: A Continuing Conversation on Law and Gospel (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2017), 15.
7Timothy McCain, Edward Andrew Engelbrecht, Robert Cleveland Baker, and Gene Edward Veith, eds. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 557-8.
8Ibid., 559.
