I am identified as a cradle Lutheran.  I was baptized on June 13, 1937. I have been worshipping God in the Lutheran tradition all of my life.

Early in my life, I was introduced to the Bible.  One of the understandings I received, was that God penetrated space and time.  Space and time are a definition of history.  God constantly inter-reacts with history.  Scripture is our authoritative source of God's effect with history from the beginning of the world until the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Bible then gives us an account of how the early believers continued to be affected by God's impact on history.

Early on, when I read scripture, I identified the Old Testament as the testament containing God's law.  God's law meant God's judgment upon us.  It was in the New Testament that I assumed I would find the gospel.  The gospel means the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The law told me what I was to do and not to do.  The epitome of the law was the 10 commandments.  The gospel told me of the love of God

through Jesus Christ. The epitome of the gospel was Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection.  It was simple to understand.  Before Jesus Christ, the people of God had the law.  After the arrival of Jesus and with his death and resurrection, we had the good news of Jesus Christ.

The law was obvious in the Old Testament.  Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden because they sinned.  Cain was made to wander because he murdered Abel.  The people who built the Tower of Babel were sent throughout the world because of their arrogance and pride.  The floods came because of evil in the world.  The people of Israel wandered in the desert for forty years because of their disobedience.  David's rule of Israel suffered because of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.  Story after story after story told about people who were punished because of their sinfulness and their disobedience to the law of God.

The New Testament was filled with joy and positive stories.  The nativity story is one of two poor people who gave birth to Jesus while angels celebrated before shepherds.  Time and time again Jesus healed the sick, cured the crippled, and sent evil spirits away from those who were possessed by them.  Jesus talked about the love of God.  Jesus gave us new thoughts about how to live as children of God.  Paul wrote to new Christians and told them they were adopted by God, they were brothers and sisters of Jesus, and they were inheritors of the kingdom.

Paul said, as I mentioned in my previous article, that we are justified by faith through grace.  We are justified in the eyes of God; we are made one with God, through and because of Jesus Christ.

However, later in my life, I came to understand what Luther meant.  Luther believed that when we read scripture, it is possible to see that there is law and gospel in all of Scripture.  We can read about the law from the first words of the Bible to the end of it.  We can read about gospel from Genesis to Revelations.

Yes, God did send Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, but God also clothed them. That's
good news.

God made a wanderer out of Cain, but he put a mark on him so no one could kill him.  That's
good news.

God disbursed the people from the Tower of Babel because of their arrogance and pride and by doing so; all of the earth became inhabited by humanity.  God demonstrated God's love.

God brought a flood and because of his respect for humanity, Noah and his family were rescued and life continued on this earth.  God loves the world.

The people of Israel wandered and during that wandering, they were formed into a nation.  God loves the people of Israel.

David's kingdom suffered after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.  However, Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba was Solomon. He was the king of Israel at the height of Israel's power.  God forgives out of love.

When we look at the 10 commandments we find that the commandments not only tell us what we are to do and not to do, it tells us of the gifts of God, out of love:

Furthermore, time and time again, we read these words in the Old Testament, "You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love."  These are the most common comments throughout all of the Old Testament.

And then there is the New Testament.  There is the testament of the gospel.

Can there possibly be a law in the gospel?  After all, the New Testament is the story of God's love as demonstrated by Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection.  There is good news after
good news.

But as we read the New Testament, we discover that Jesus has given us two commandments.  The first law is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and mind, and with all you strength and love your neighbor as yourself.  The second law he gave to us is to love one another as he has loved us.  The Sermon on the Mount is called Jesus' new law for Christians.  Jesus' parables also mention both law and gospel.  Time and time again, we read in the gospels and the letters of the apostles how we are to live and how we are to respond to God because of God's love for us, his grace, mercy and love.

When we open our hearts to the words of the gospels, we will find that these words will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted.  For when we are afflicted, we sense the brokenness of creation through sin and we can embrace the good news of the gospel.  When we are self-comforted, many times the law reminds us of our imperfections, our shortcomings and our character defects.

There is always law and gospel in scripture.  It is difficult to find both when we isolate certain texts and use them as a specific focal point.  Yet, when we grasp the full meaning of scripture, both the law and the gospel, side by side, as we look at scripture's principal story, we might be able to see law and gospel throughout.  In the midst of knowing that, we also will realize that God loves humanity.  God loves all of us.  God created this world and found it was good.  God created out
of goodness.