We must make a proper distinction between law and gospel. Yes, of course. C. F. W. Walther lectured to young theologians in 1887-1888 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis about the proper distinction between law and gospel. To him this distinction was crucial to the right preaching of God's Word to God's people. His students took short hand notes of the lectures and a book containing those lectures became a classic among Lutherans the world over: The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel. In his lectures Walther quoted primarily from the works of Martin Luther, who had likewise emphasized that, for the sake of the clear proclamation of the free grace of God given to sinners for Christ's sake, the distinction between law and gospel needed to be carefully maintained in the church's preaching and practice.

But this is none too obvious to many theologians, preachers, and commentators on Scripture. When I was a graduate student at a Baptist seminary, my Baptist colleagues thought of the distinction as a Lutheran imposition on the text of Scripture, not a distinction drawn from Scripture. However, the distinction between law and gospel did not originate in Luther. It is not a uniquely Lutheran theological tool. The whole "distinction" language can be traced back at least to Augustine of Hippo, who spoke of the distinction between the law of works and the law of faith. This language arose out of Augustine's consideration of biblical texts as he battled the Pelagians, who taught that righteousness before God could be achieved by human obedience to the law of God. The Bible certainly demands obedience to the divine law, but that implacable demand shows the need for the divine grace in Christ that is received by faith, not by works; and for that reason excludes boasting in God's sight.

"The law of deeds, that is, the law of works, through which boasting is not excluded, and the law of faith, by which boasting is excluded, differ from each other. It is worth our while to consider this difference, so that we are able to observe and discern it. Indeed, hastily one might say that the law of works lay in Judaism, and the law of faith in Christianity. This is so insofar as circumcision and the other works prescribed by the law are just those which the Christian teaching no longer retains. But there is a fallacy in this distinction, the greatness of which I have for some time been endeavoring to expose. To such as are sharp in appreciating distinctions, especially to yourself and those like you, I have possibly succeeded in my effort. Since, however, the subject is an important one, it will not be unsuitable, if with a view to its illustration, we linger over the many testimonies which again and again meet our view. Now, the apostle says that that law by which no man is justified (Rm 3:20), entered in that the offence might abound (Rm 5:20), and yet in order to save it from the aspersions of the ignorant and the accusations of the impious, he defends this very law in such words as these: 'What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness' (Rm 7:7-8)."

Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, 1.21