Law and Gospel

“Some people believe that one finds law in the Old testament and Gospel in the New. It is true that the Old Testament was much concerned with the law of God. It attempted to make men sin-conscious and aware of their need of divine salvation. The Old Testament prophesied the Gospel of Christ, however. Many New Testament Gospel passages quote Old Testament verses as their foundation. The means of salvation in the Old Testament was, moreover, fundamentally the same as it is now, namely, justification by faith. The New Testament also contains law; indeed it sharpens the moral law of God, being even more penetrating in its demands than the Old Testament. The New Testament is concerned largely with the presentation of the saving Gospel of Christ, however. We may, therefore, say that the Old Testament contains salvation by faith, as well as law, and the New Testament contains law as well as salvation by faith. The New Testament difference resides in the fact of its clearer presentation of the Gospel because of the incarnation and passion of the Lord Jesus Christ” (J.C. Wenger, Introduction to Theology, 27).