In the era of reformation, some Lutherans argued that the law had no place in Christianity as a result of the damage that pastors had done to the gospel. According to these teachers, preaching the Law would cloud the truth of gospel and lead the church into legalism. Hence the rejection of the use of the law in church. However, it was maintained in the civil realm. As a result, Luther labeled the teaching by pastors “antinomian”. Antinomians were opposed to the proclamation of the law within a Christian congregation.
According to Martin Luther, Christians remain in the flesh they are but are justified and sinners at the same time. Therefore the Law still speaks to him. Luther further claims that the law need not be removed from Church but retained and faithfully driven home. Obviously, in Christianity, a person is supposed to be led to repentance through the suffering of Christ on the cross. However, this does not mean that the law is completely useless, ineffective and needs to be removed from the church. On the contrary repentance comes through the knowledge of the law as well as knowledge of Christ’s salvation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Admittedly, Luther’s Against the Antinomians was authored in 1539 where he further emphasized the need for Law in Christianity. Luther argued that Christians need the law to apprise their obligations, discern how far the holy spirit has advanced us in the law of sanctification and how often and how far we fall short from the glory of God. Without the law it would be so easy for Christian to think that they are doing what is required of them while in a real sense they are not. The overall understanding of Luther in regards to law was its application to pastors and concern about human beings tendency to feel self-righteous.
