In Front | Two Approaches to the Law, Part 2

You will have noticed that “saving us from sin” is not one of the purposes of the Law in the Lutheran point of view. Lutherans believe that the Law is incapable of really saving us from sin. Only Christ can do that through His reconciling sacrifice. 

Reformed theology, led by John Calvin, takes a similar approach. It suggests that the Law was given 1) to make God’s will known and restrain sin, 2) for teaching the evil of sin and directing our attention to Christ and 3) to guide believers in their moral lives. These purposes are tabled with relevant passages below.

You will have noticed the similarities between these two traditions. Before we move on, let’s match each Lutheran point of emphasis with the one from the Reformed tradition that is most similar. There are meaningful differences in the precise way these traditions interpret these purposes, but it’s enough for us now to note that the Law has enduring importance to each of them and that there are deep commonalities between Lutheran and Reformed traditions in the way the Law is valued. 

References:

WAJ. “Lesson 10.” WAJ. Accessed October 20, 2018. https://whataboutjesus.com/study-bible/explore-the-bible/lesson-10/. 

Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms: Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology, 2017, pp. 384-385.