Back To The Basics: Law First, Gospel Second

In the name of Jesus. Amen. 

There’s a basic rule to life that even the most stubborn farmer knows: the cart doesn’t pull the horse. The cart follows. The horse leads. Confuse that, and you’ve got yourself a mess. The load goes nowhere.

Now, dear friends, if this is true out in the field, it’s even more true in the Church. You see, confusion about what comes first and what follows has plagued the Church for centuries—and it continues to plague the Church today. You see, when Law and Gospel are confused, when Justification and Sanctification are reversed, when good works are put before grace, what results is not a healthy Christian life but spiritual chaos – it is like a cart that doesn’t move. Or worse — a cart running ahead, dragging the horse behind, until both collapse in exhaustion.

So, today, we need clarity. We need to hear the Apostle Paul clearly. We need to confess with our Lutheran fathers. And we need to remember that there is a divine order with much of our theology — because if we don’t get this right, peace will be unsettled, and consciences may be ruined. 

CFW Walther — our dear Lutheran father — understood this well. In his 7th thesis on Law and Gospel, he warns that the Law must always come first. Why? Because unless the heart is crushed by the Law, it will never desire the Gospel. He says, 

“The Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law.”

Dear Baptized Saints, isn’t this exactly what we see in today’s church? People hear the Gospel, come into the church with joy, and then they are given a laundry list of requirements to make God love them more and to become better Christians.  They are given the goodness of the Gospel when first evangelized, and that very Gospel is then stolen from them from the pews inside the church.   

You see, as we heard last week, when the Law is skipped, the Gospel becomes cheap. However, this week, we must understand that the Law must do its killing work first: to expose sin, to shut every mouth, to leave us—like Paul says — imprisoned under sin (Galatians 3:22). Only then does the Gospel have something to resurrect.

We hear all about this in our reading from the Epistle of Galatians.  In Galatians, the Apostle Paul asks it plainly: 

 “Why then the Law?” (3:19).

Now, remember what’s happening in Galatia. False teachers — those spiritual cart-before-the-horse drivers — are sneaking in among the churches saying, 

“Yes, faith is good, but what really matters is your obedience. Yes, Jesus saves, but only if you get your act together. God helps those who help themselves.”

And so Paul says—absolutely not. “The Law,” he says, “was added because of transgressions.” Not as a ladder up to heaven. Not as a way to earn favor. Not as a measuring stick to prove your righteousness. No, the Law comes to show you just how unrighteous you really are. The Law is not a means to justification but a mirror to reveal your sin.

Or, to use Paul’s own imagery, the Law is a strict schoolmaster, a harsh guardian — meant to first discipline us, constrain us, and finally bring us to Christ (3:24). 

In other words, Paul tells the Christians in Galatia that when the Law has completed its divine task of bringing us to the end of ourselves, the Gospel steps in — not as a new law, not as a spiritual self-improvement plan — but as pure promise.

“For in Christ Jesus,” Paul says, “you are all sons of God, through faith” (3:26). 

Indeed, you are sons and daughters of God, not by your works. Not by your potential. Not by your spiritual résumé. You are sons and daughters by faith —faith in the One who fulfilled the Law for you, died in your place, and rose again to make you an heir of the promise.

The Gospel does not demand; it gives. It doesn’t coerce; it invites. The Gospel comes not to burden but to free, to raise the dead, to open the prison doors, and to declare the sinner, a saint.

And so, the point is, the Law must come before the Gospel.  

Now, here’s the danger. Here’s where so much heresy and spiritual abuse creep in. When we get the order mixed up - when we say, 

“You must live right so God will declare you right.” 

Well… everything is lost.  In fact, it would be just like you and me looking to our spiritual fruit to prove we are connected to the Vine.  Again, the order matters.

Let me explain this divine order a bit more using another example and another portion of Holy Scripture.  

Remember Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John: 

“I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). 

As you can see in this illustration, the order matters; the connection comes first. The fruit comes second. You don’t produce fruit to be grafted into Christ —you are grafted into Christ so that you may bear fruit.  Again, the divine order matters.

To reverse that order is to put the cart before the horse and enter into despair. Imagine a branch lying on the ground saying, 

“I need to grow some apples to prove I belong to the tree!” 

It’s absurd. And yet that is what so many Christians are taught to believe—that their fruitfulness makes them worthy. That their behavior proves their status. That they must achieve before they can receive.

Dear friends, don’t fall for it. That’s not Christianity. That’s spiritual slavery. That is putting the cart before the horse.

And so, we must return again and again to this truth: there is a divine order. Law must come before Gospel, being connected to the Vine needs to happen before producing fruit, faith comes first and good works follow… and so forth.  

As a side note, though, perhaps someone might ask the question about now, 

“Are we saying that good works are not important?”

Of course, good works are important!  But they are never the root—they are the fruit – they are the cart.

Do we want to grow in holiness? Absolutely. But we must never look to our holiness for assurance—we look to Christ and His promises for assurance.

Do we want to live obedient lives? Yes! But not because we’re afraid of losing salvation—but because we’ve already received it, and it’s bursting forth in us because of the riches of Christ already given to us.  

* * *

So, to summarize Walther’s Thesis and our scripture reading from Galatians: let the Law do its deadly work—but only first. And then, let the Gospel speak. Let it raise the dead, give new birth, and free the conscience.

Because where the Law kills, the Gospel gives life.

Where the Law accuses, the Gospel absolves.

Where the Law says “Do!”, the Gospel says “Done!”

Don’t reverse the order. Don’t put the cart before the horse. 

In the name of Jesus. Amen.