Understanding Law, Gospel and Works

Here is a link on Covenant Theology by Ligon Duncan. http://www.fpcjackson.org/resources/apologetics/covenant%20theology%20&%20justification/ligons_covtheology/08.htm

This is a segment from his study on the Mosaic covenant. How is the moral law of God to be viewed by believers today? Does dispensationalism naturally lead to a poor view of the law/ gospel distinction as well as a rejection of Lordship doctrine rightly defined?

..........Jesus and Paul stress that our judgment will be by works. In all these ways, we see that the moral law of the Mosaic era continues to be relevant to believers. Paul stresses that blessing comes from keeping the law. Look at Ephesians 6:2. You remember his emphasis? This is the only commandment with a promise. Obedience to parents yields living long in the land of your fathers. Jesus stresses that blessing comes from obedience. In Matthew 5:17-19, He who teaches and keeps all the law, he will be blessed, he will be considered great in the kingdom. In Matthew 7 verses 24-27, the culmination of the Sermon on the Mount, what is Jesus’ point? It was the man who acted upon the demands, the claims of Christ, building his house on the rock, he was the one whose house stood up under the waves. He didn’t just hear the words and think that they were really nice, and was deeply moved by them; he built his house on the rock. The blessing comes from obedience. Hebrews 12:6 stresses that chastening will be done to those who violate God’s law. I Corinthians 11 verses 30-32 teaches the same thing, in the context of the Lord’s Supper of all things. When Paul said, “and many of you are asleep,” he didn’t mean they were taking a long nap. Chastening comes from taking the Lord’s Supper in a flippant way and not discerning the body. That is not manifesting a true connection, appreciation for a mutual love for those in the body. So there is blessing and cursing in the New Covenant, which again shows the continuing function of the law. And as we said, Christians under the New Covenant will be judged by works. Matthew 25 verses 31-33, II Corinthians 5:10,
Now friends this reminds us why it is so important for us to understand justification, sanctification, and the relationship between law and gospel. Because if you don’t understand those things, you cannot preach the Gospel that Paul preached.
You have to preach a justification that has absolutely nothing to do with personal obedience and law keeping, while at the same time, stressing that there is no such thing as a justification without a corresponding sanctification.
And so you have to stress the freeness of grace and justification, while simultaneously stressing that grace reigns in righteousness, to borrow Paul’s words from the end of chapter 5 of the book of Romans, remembering that the purpose of grace in the life of believers is not fire insurance, but it is that we would be transformed into the image of the Son, and restored to the fullness of our humanity. And so Lordship, you see, is not peripheral to Christian experience; it is the ultimate expression of Christian experience.
It is the purpose that God is working for us. And so faith and works must be present in the believer’s life. James’ words, in James chapter 2 are not antiPauline, they are quintessentially Pauline. Paul couldn’t have said it better himself. In fact, he did on a few occasions, say precisely what James says in James chapter 2.
You have to understand those things as we proclaim the Gospel. And if you know this is one of the things that we just need to rehearse, this is one that you are called upon to meditate upon over and over, and over and over. And I will confess, I am slow, these things didn’t come together for me, until I had been working them through for seven years in the context of study in seminary, and in postgraduate training. You have got to commit yourself to reflection and meditation, so you can preach a Gospel of grace which is absolutely free. A justification that has nothing to do whatsoever with me, with what I have done, but at that same time, to stress that grace always reigns in righteousness and that he who has faith has works, and that is a Pauline Gospel.
Now this emphasis is seen elsewhere in the New Testament call to obedience. The Christian life, according to the New Testament, is characterized by joyful obedience. We see it in John 14:15, in Jesus’ word to His disciples. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” “Love to God,” F.F. Bruce says, “love to God and obedience to God are so completely involved in each other, that anyone of them implies the other two.” You can’t love God without obeying Him. And that is exactly what James is poking at. He is saying, “Well, you say you love God, but you don’t obey Him? Well, I don’t believe you love Him.” And that is just what John says in I John. “You hate your brother. Well, God said, ‘don’t hate your brother.’” ‘In fact God said, ‘love your brother.’ So, you don’t love God. They go together.”
Eric Alexander puts it this way. “The evidence of knowing God is obeying God. So the Christian life is characterized by joyful obedience.” This is not against the doctrine of grace. Listen to the words of Martin Luther, who wrote that radical treatise on Galatians, and who himself has been charged with nigh unto half a millennium, by the Roman Catholic Church as being the most wicked antinomian to ever walk the planet, “I would rather obey God than work miracles.” That is not the statement of an antinomian. “I would rather obey God than work miracles.” Now is that antiGospel? No. Obedience to God in the context of grace is, in fact, the ground of freedom because when we recognize it is God we obey, we are freed from the doctrines and opinions and commandments of men.
What is the most frustrating thing in life? To be judged by people on arbitrary standards that you have never seen written down anywhere. Where does it say that I have to wear my hair like that? Where does it say that I have to wear that kind of clothes to be accepted in your group? Where does it say that I have to drive that kind of car, live in that particular part of town? You aren’t their slave, they aren’t your master. God is your master. You are freed from the doctrines, opinions, and commandments of men. His law is the only standard by which you will be judged, because you are freed from the arbitrary and manmade standards of all your would be lords. And that is why even Seneca, the great Latin stoic, said to obey God is perfect liberty. Listen to Thomas Vincent, “God is the only Lord of the conscious, and though we are to obey magistrates and parents and masters, yet we are chiefly to do this because God requires us to do so. And if they command us to do anything which God does forbid, we are to refuse obedience, choosing to obey God rather than any man in this world.”
The charter of Christian freedom is that once we have appropriated the grace of Christ, the law becomes not a burdensome code that condemns us, but it becomes our charter of Christian freedom as the Gospel of Grace and the cross of Christ transforms it. It ceases to be our enemy. It is no longer designed to drive us in our sin to Christ, though it still performs that function. It is the mirror, the royal law, that we see our sin in that continues sends us back to Christ.
As Christians, we must learn how the law functions because it has multiple functions. The New Testament makes it very clear. That God’s revealed will as set forth in His word, and in His law, is the pattern of obedience which He calls us to follow. The revealed will of God is found in the Scriptures where the whole duty of man to God is made known, said Thomas Vincent. As we close, just listen to these words of the New Testament,

John 14:15. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

John 14:21. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."

Galatians 3:10. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."

Ephesians 4:1. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”

Ephesians 4:17. “This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,”

Ephesians 6:6. “not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”

You couldn’t find a better description of the Christian ethic.

Phillipians 2:12. “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;”

I Timothy 6:14. “that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

I Timothy 6:18. “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,”

Hebrews 13:16. “And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

James 1:22. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Ligon Duncan

The doctrine of repentance: The first Word of the Gospel

I am currently reading a book by Richard Owen Roberts. Repentance: The first word of the Gospel. No, not Oral's son. His book is on the doctrine of repentance. I believe this doctrine is one of the most misunderstood, taught and studied of all the doctrines in scripture. I want to post some of the thoughts and ideas he writes in his book. I have seen it written in other blogs and articles, that faith is not a gift of God. Which is the typical arminian interpretation of (Ephesians 2:8-9). Since repentance is so married to faith, I assume they would say that repentance is not a gift of God. The very fact that those who make such statements and write them, are even allowed to take their next breath, that very breath, is a gift from God. (James 1:17). Now certainly, repentance and faith are "good" things, so according to (James 1:17) they,(faith and repentance) obviously come from God. Repentance and faith are necessary for eternal life. Eternal life being a "gift" from God (Romans 6:23).

So, to start repentance is a gift of God. (2 Timothy 2:25), (Acts 11:18), (2 Corinthians 7:9-10)

This will take several posts to fit this in but I think it will be well worth the effort. I will refrain at this point from giving the definition of what repentance is, but ratherI will let the writer define the word repentance as he defines it through the means of biblical theology.

Introduction:
There are several reasons why the doctrine of repentance is so largely neglected and is having relatively little impact in the Church and society.

1. There is a general disregard for biblical doctrine in the church. Church leaders often say "doctrine is divisive and divides". That is a true statement. Preaching the great doctrines of the Bible divides the sheep from the goats. Without careful searching and doctrinal preaching the church becomes an assorted lot of flesh and spirit that is nearly impossible to pastor. A mixture of sheep and goats is a pastors nightmare. Further, the world cannot believe in Christ because it cannot believe in the mixed multitude that calls itself Christian. It has no means whatsoever of distinguishing between the sheep of Christ's flock and the goats of the world that sit side by side in the same sanctuaries and mouth the same religious jargon.


2. Portions of the church that still believe in doctrinal preaching have allowed themselves to become grievously negligent about the doctrine of repentance. Many who sincerely believe repentance is necessary have simply failed to allow the doctrine it's rightful place. They have sought to make converts who neither understand nor practice biblical repentance. Thus the strength of these churches is diluted by unrepentant and unconverted persons in the membership who, nonetheless tragically, suppose themselves "Christians." Massive confusion and ineffectiveness are the result.


3. There is an increasingly common failure in the church in understanding the mandatory nature of repentance. Some seem to be of the persuasion that repentance is an option. "One can repent," they say, "and maybe even should,but it certainly isn't mandatory." In consequence, multitudes have sought to turn to Christ withhout ever turning from their sins. Thus it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the church from the world.


4. Others have developed the preceding error into pernicious doctrine that is being widely taught and preached. This grievously erroneous viewpoint insists that repentance has nothing whatsoever to do with salvation. Repentance is described by these false teachers as a "work". They insist, "we are not saved by works, We are saved by faith alone." Their error is not so much in stressing salvation by faith alone as it is in failing to understand the irrevocable link that always exist between repentance and faith. To assume that sinners can turn to the Righteous One without turning from their own unrighteousness is the height of theological nonsense. In attempting to describe repentance as work," these teachers are much more successful in proving their ignorance of the Holy One. Sad to say, this grievous error is responsible for incredible damage throughout major portions of the church.


5. Repentance has been neglected because of a grievously distorted focus upon the positive. There is a widespread notion that Christianity must always be stated in positive terms. Some have gone so far as to say "If you can't say anything positive, don't say anything at all." Faith is perceived as positive whereas repentance, by such reckoning obviously falls into he category of negative.


6. The doctrine of repentance has suffered at the hands of the Church's large-scale commitment to success. Massive numbers of church leaders have a great love for commitment to ministerial success. Their tendency is to pick and choose the elements of both religious truth and pop psychology that will most readily facilitate the accomplishment of their purpose. A focus on the love of God, the role of faith in human happiness, the benefits of holistic living and the upbeat elements of a well integrated human responsibility, are seen as much more helpful in building large churches than thundering against sin, insisting upon repentance, and issuing warnings about judgement and hell. Consequently, there is a noticeable absence of any vital ministry of the Holy Spirit in these churches. Millions of churchgoers have no idea hat they need to repent because in their church there is an acute lack of the great work of the Spirit in convincing the world of sin a of righteousness and of judgement to come (John 16:8-11). When there is virtually no conviction, it can hardy be surprising that there is little or no repentance and virtually no true conversions.


7. There exists a tragic lack of moral earnestness among religious leaders. Even in cases where repentance is accurately taught and preached, it is commonly done with such lack of moral energy and vital spiritual concern that few indeed catch the urgency of biblically mandated repentance and respond accordingly. How does God feel when His doctrine are set aside? Does He smile in the realization that this new age in which we live and that the old fashioned truths are no longer relevant? Or does He rise in indignation against all those who seek to accomplish His purposes in their way instead of His? Read (Isaiah 63:10).

In urging your most careful consideration of the doctrine of repentance, I am reminded of two very urgent words of caution given by our Lord Jesus Christ concerning our hearing.

(1) "Take care who you listen to" (Mark 4:24)

(2) "Take care how you listen" (Luke 8:18)

In their context, both of these passages make it clear that what a person has, what is added to them, and what is taken from them is immediately affected by their degree of care in listening. These cautions place important responsibilities upon each of us. Our spiritual intake can have a dramatic effect on us. Some being careless about what they hear, will sit for years listening to unsound and unprofitable teaching and preaching and will suffer the loss in withered spiritual lives. Others sit under very solid biblical ministry but are careless about how they hear and, in consequence, the likewise experience little if any spiritual growth, and indeed they may even lose much of what they had earlier gained. These cautions affect all intake of truth and are applicable to reading as to hearing. Just as there are many very sloppy listeners who never really learn to heed neither what they hear or how they hear, so also there are careless readers who pay too little attention both to what they read and how they read. Some waste their lives reading worthless things. But others read important things that seem to make no lasting difference in their lives.

Next Chapter 1

Repentance: The first word of the Gospel