2 Important Teachings

Luke 10:25-28

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It’s been said that there are two important teachings in the Bible, two big overarching truths that you find throughout the Bible, and they are these teachings, law and gospel. The law is something I think that’s easy for us to understand. We have laws in our world and our country. We have directives as far as what we are supposed to do and what we are not supposed to do, like pay your taxes or don’t speed or don’t steal. And if we don’t follow the rules, if we don’t obey the law, we can expect punishment.

Well, God, too, has laws or rules written in his word. Things like love your neighbor as yourself, things like be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect or don’t hate or don’t lust. We think about those things scattered throughout the scriptures, telling us what to do or not to do and threatening punishment if we disobey.

There’s another teaching in scripture, though, and that’s the teaching of the gospel. And again, it’s something that you’ll find woven throughout the Holy Scriptures. Sometimes the gospel has been summarized in this way that it is the good news. It’s a completely different message from the law. The law makes us feel bad as we see how we have fallen short and how we have not done what God demands. But the gospel comforts us. It assures us that our sins have been paid for in Christ. It assures us that heaven is secure because of what Jesus has done for us. It makes no demands, but simply says, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

Now these truths are woven throughout the Scriptures, and each have their purpose. We often say that the law is meant especially to show our sin, to show our need for a Savior. And the gospel does show that Savior, reveals that Savior to us. A portion of Scripture that I like to turn to where we see this principle in practice is recorded in Luke chapter ten. And this is right before that familiar story of the Good Samaritan. And it says this

An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?”
He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”
He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-28)

At first glance, for a Christian, this story seems perplexing. We might say, I thought that we are saved by grace, not through our work. So why does Jesus tell this man, follow the law, love God perfectly, love your neighbor perfectly, and you will live. You will have eternal life. Well, it’s important for us to recognize what this story is. It’s law, isn’t it? Right? What they’re discussing there is entirely law. The man gives a summary of the law. Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the summary of the Ten Commandments. Jesus tells him, do the Ten Commandments. Follow them perfectly and you will live.

And it’s true. Why does Jesus bring that up? He uses the law as a tool to show this man his sin. He wants to show this man the impossibility of following the law to get to heaven so that he might turn to Jesus and say, that’s impossible. I have no hope of heaven. So that Jesus might share with him the gospel, the good news of salvation.

And so we see those truths in the Bible, woven throughout law and gospel again and again and again. It’s important for us, as we are reading through the Scriptures, to understand what we are reading. Is this something that falls into the category of law? If so, it’s supposed to show our sin and our need for a Savior. And if it’s gospel to be comforted by it, to be comforted what God has done for us in Christ.

So hopefully that clarifies some things for you as you’re reading the scriptures yourselves and maybe as you begin to see so clearly these doctrines show up again and again and again. Amen.