That the Law does not know Christ; therefore it does not accuse unbelief.
That the Law does not know Christ; therefore it does not accuse unbelief.
§ 110. Here there must also be an explanation of the prize argument by which they try to prove that the Gospel, in its proper sense, is the preaching of repentance: The Law does not know Christ the Mediator. But the benefits of Christ the Mediator are proposed to us only in the Gospel. The apostle says, “The Law is not of faith” (Gal. 3:12). Therefore it also will not accuse unbelief, that is, ignorance or contempt of the Messiah. From this they conclude that the Gospel especially reproves these sins: ignorance of the Son, contempt of Him, unbelief, rejection of the divine mercy that is set forth in Christ, and despair.
We respond. There are some who make a distinction between the matter and form of unbelief in the explanation of this argument. They apply this in the following way. As concerns the matter of unbelief, the Law, insofar as it is the Law, teaches nothing about the person, office, and benefits of Christ nor about free justification through faith in Christ. Rather, it is solely from the Gospel that the following are learned: who Christ is, why He was sent, what His office is, what benefits He imparts, and with what instrument we grasp them. But as regards the form or the term—that is, as concerns the guilt of unbelief—though the Law at least in general accuses a contempt for the coming Messiah while the Gospel does this in particular, nevertheless the Gospel does not do this of itself, simply, or directly, or insofar as it is the Gospel, whose proper voice is: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” [John 3:36]. Instead, it does this (1) in a certain way and manner; (2) according to antithesis or what is contrary; (3) in terms of the consequence; (4) in terms of accident or secondary respect, namely, the fault of those who do not believe and who perish of their own free will. That is what these men say.
§ 111. We respond more simply with the distinction between the Law alone and the Law as illumined by the light of the Gospel, and also with the distinction between the revealing of unbelief and the accusation of it. The Law commands people to believe every word of God; the Gospel reveals the hidden wisdom of God: that Christ, who died for us on the altar of the cross, is our righteousness before God [cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil 3:9]. The Law concludes: “Therefore believe this word of God.” The Law rebukes all sins, and thus also unbelief. In its antithesis the Gospel shows that not believing in Christ the Mediator is a sin and, in fact, the greatest of all sins. The Law concludes: “Therefore on account of this sin you are reproved and condemned.” It was in this sense that blessed Luther said (in the commentary on Galatians 2) that “the Law and the Gospel in practice are closer together than a mathematical point.”9 Nevertheless it remains the proper function of the Law to reprove sin, to work wrath, and to condemn; it remains the proper function of the Gospel to comfort, to lift up, and to save.
This can be clarified using a similar example. The civil or forensic law sets forth the major premise: whoever is a thief should be hanged. The judge takes up the case and with sufficient evidence proves: “This Titus or Sempronius is a thief.” The conclusion is added on the basis of the law: therefore he must be hanged. Here the hanging of the thief is correctly attributed to the law which accuses and condemns the thief to the punishment of strangulation, even if the judge adds the minor premise and applies the law to the deed. So also the moral Law sets forth its own major premise: whoever is under sin is cursed. The Gospel adds the minor premise: whoever does not believe in the Son is still under sin. The Law concludes: therefore he is under a curse. Here also the accusation and condemnation of a person because of unbelief is attributed to the Law, though the Gospel’s teaching adds the minor premise. “The Law concludes all under sin” (Gal. 3:22). Therefore whoever does not believe the Gospel, which points out Christ the Mediator, remains under the curse of the Law; and in this way the Law very vigorously and harshly exercises its function of accusing and condemning, and there is no need for any new accusation through the Gospel. For this reason it is expressly said in John 3:36: “He who does not believe in the Son, the wrath of God remains upon him (μένει ἐπ’ αὐτόν).” With the weight of this he is pressed down even into hell.
Therefore the accusation of unbelief pertains to the Law, which, to be sure, is illumined by the light of the Gospel. It is to this that Luther is looking when he says, “The work of faith in Christ and the sin of unbelief which is opposed to it are reduced to the First Commandment.”