The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by CFW Walther

1. The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by CFW Walther ~ The Twenty-Ninth ~ Evening Lecture

2. Review: • In his 16th thesis, Walther warns that pastors shouldn’t try to make people believe that they are truly converted if they have merely gotten rid of a few…what? • What must take place in the heart before truly good works can be done? • Can a preacher make men godly by urging them to do good works?

3. 1. What is even worse than an ungodly minister? (pg 307 top) • “In the infallible judgment of God it is worse to be a lukewarm than a cold minister; it is worse to be a lazy and indifferent minister, who serves in his office because it is the profession in which he is making his living, than to be manifestly ungodly.” • “The inevitable effect is that the poor souls of his parishioners become infected by him, and finally the entire congregation is lulled into spiritual sleep.”

4. 2. What attitude toward his spiritual duties will every preacher and minister of Jesus Christ show? (pg 308 top) • “Every sincere preacher and minister of Jesus Christ shows himself full of zeal and earnest determination”

5. 3. A pastor should never say less than what God’s Word says. But what is equally harmful? (pg 308 top) • “he can commit a grievous sin also when his presentation of Christianity and the demands which he makes upon Christians are in excess of what the Word of God declares.”

6. Thesis XVII • In the thirteenth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when a description is given of faith, both as regards its strength and the consciousness and productiveness of it, that does not fit all believers at all times.

7. 4. What kind of ministers most frequently make this mistake? (pg 308 middle) • “Young ministers who are still without great experience frequently make this mistake.” • “They imagine that, in order to prevent hypocrites from regarding themselves as Christians, they cannot raise the demands which they make upon those who are Christians too high.”

8. 5. Obviously, every minister wants to rouse his people and warn them against self-deception. However, his ultimate aim must be what? (pg 308 bottom) • “His ultimate aim must be to lead his hearers to the assurance that they have forgiveness of sins with God”

9. 6. What kind of statement must a pastor (or any Christian!) never say unless he is absolutely certain of the truth of his statement? (pg 308 bottom) • “For this reason he must be careful, for God’s sake, not to say: ‘Any one who does this or that is not a Christian,’ unless he is quite sure of his ground. Frequently a Christian may act in a very unchristian manner.” (!!)

10. 7. What kind of being does Paul say the Christian is in Romans 7:18? (pg 309 top) • “He describes a Christian as a double being.” • “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

11. 8. Romans 7:14 states that even Christians are still servants of sin in the sense that they still have their sinful flesh. But what is the Christian’s attitude toward that master? (pg 309 middle) • “he does not obey his master gladly” • “He renders obedience with the utmost reluctance. Accordingly, the apostle cries in v. 24: ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’”

12. 9. What kind of sins can a Christian commit and still be a Christian, according to Walther? (pg 310 middle) • “If he commits sin from weakness or in rashness, he can still be a Christian.” • “a minister has no right to denounce a person as an unchristian because he is not doing all that he should, as long as the person maintains that he does not will his imperfections.”

13. 10. James, 3:2, talks about the “perfect man.” What is his meaning? (pg 310 middle) • “He means to say that there is no such thing as a perfect man” • “by the use of the pronoun ‘we’ he includes himself, all the apostles, and all the saints in this estimate.” • “A Christian sins not only in thoughts, desires, gestures, and words, but also in his actions, which makes it evident to all the world that he is still a poor, weak man.”

14. 11. Isaiah 64:6 says, “we are all as an unclean thing.” We would all of us have to be damned if God did not do what? (pg 310 bottom) • “If God would not spread the cloak of Christ’s righteousness over us, we should have to be eternally damned and lost.”

15. 12. If it were possible to attain perfection in this life, which teaching of Christ would make no sense? (pg 311 top) • The Lord’s prayer. • “Our Savior taught all Christians to offer up this daily petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses.’” • “Now, to represent a Christian as he is not, namely, perfect…or to enumerate marks of a true Christian which are not found in all Christians, means to misrepresent a Christian.”

16. 13. What’s wrong with this statement: ‘Indeed, an unchristian is a miserable being. While serving the world and sin, he is pursued by furies.’(pg311 bottom) • “Now, that is not true.” • “Many unchristians live without any qualms of conscience.” • “On the other hand,’ you will say, ‘a Christian — oh, what a happy being he is! He is free from all anxiety, free from doubt,’ etc. All this is not so. Thousands upon thousands of Christians are, on the contrary, filled with anguish and despondency and are continually fighting with themselves and crying: ‘Oh, wretched man that I am!’”

17. 14. It’s important for us to remember that the blessedness of Christians does not consist in… what? (pg 312 top) • “The blessedness of Christians does not consist in pleasant feelings, but in their assurance that in spite of the bitterest feelings imaginable they are accepted with God and in their dying hour will be received into heaven.” • “That is indeed a great blessedness!”

18. 15. What typically happens to a person’s temperament after he is converted to the Christian faith? (pg 312 bottom) • Sometimes…nothing! • “A Christian retains his natural temperament even after his conversion.” • “A person with an irritable temper keeps that disposition, and it may frequently get the better of him.”

19. 16. Job did indeed say, “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” But what is it dangerous to imply based on those words? (pg 313 middle) • That because Job said that, all Christians say that (not true). • “Many a Christian grows impatient in trouble. His impatience may become violent even over trifling matters. When he spiritually comes to himself again, as it were, he is ashamed of himself.”

20. 17. is it possible for a Christian to commit even “gross sins”? (pg 313 middle) • Yes. • “It cannot be said to be a criterion of a Christian that he never commits a gross sin. That does happen occasionally.” • “but whenever this is the case, the Christian surrenders unconditionally to the Word of God.” • “God’s Word convinces him that he was wrong, and then he humbly asks forgiveness, while a hypocrite persists as long as he can in the claim that he has done right.”

21. 18. What mistake do preachers often make as regards the subject of death? (pg 313 bottom) • “Many preachers picture the Christian as a person who does not fear death.” • “That is a serious misrepresentation, because the great majority of Christians are afraid to die.” (!?)

22. 19. When a preacher is drawing a picture of a Christian, what test should be always apply? (pg 313 bottom) • “Do not, for God’s sake, draw a false picture of a Christian; but whenever you have drawn the picture of a Christian, see whether you can recognize yourself in that picture.”

23. 20. What dreadful spiritual sin can — and often does — crop up even in Christians? (pg 314 top) • “Even pride in a very pronounced form can crop out in a Christian” • “This is one of the worst vices, because it is a transgression of the First Commandment.” • “Observe the disciples of the Lord quarreling with one another about who was the greatest among them. If this incident had not been recorded in the Bible, we could hardly believe that the apostles quarreled like children about their superiority.

24. 21. Why has the Lord’s Prayer sometimes been referred to as “the greatest martyr on earth”? (pg 314 middle) • Because we often speak it without thinking. • That is why “it is wholly incorrect and false to picture the Christian as being always fervent in prayer and as if praying were his most cherished occupation. It is not so.”

25. 22. To what temptation might a merchant be particularly susceptible? (pg 314 bottom) • “Merchants, in particular, are in great danger of turning misers. If they were not warned and admonished, they would be dragged into perdition as if caught in a snare, and would be lost forever.”

26. 23. Does the inability to speak articulately and passionately about one’s Savior mean that such a person is not a Christian (pg 315 middle) • No. • “When new members are to be received into the congregation and you have to talk to them, you must not regard them as godless, unconverted people if they do not immediately engage in a religious conversation with you.” • “There are people who cling to their Savior, but are unable to talk much about their faith.”

27. 24. Even though your hearers are Christians, Luther says, how must you not treat them? (pg 316 top) • “For this reason we must not treat our hearers as if they were in no need of being admonished and urged by God’s Word to lead a godly life.” • “Beware of negligence and laziness in discharging this duty! For the flesh is slothful.”

28. 25. Luther includes himself and says, “We have not yet reached the point where…” (pg 316 middle) • “… our flesh and blood would be active and leap forward with sheer joy and delight to do good works and obey God, such as our spirit desires and our faith demands.” • “On the contrary, with all our incessant urging and prodding we can scarcely get them to move.”