Law and gospel, they go together. That's a helpful summary that I've found in teaching. It's not just law with no gospels. Not like, well, because that leads you to moralism, despair, condemnation. Some people think, oh, well, I guess we just need to do some law here or it's just gospel. The problem with that way of talking is that that's not the gospel. God accepts you on account of the bloodshed for you on a cross because of your sin needed to be paid for. If you don't preach the law in gospel, you don't preaching the one true God.
Proponents of the law-gospel distinction have often emphasized the need for them to appear in the right order. But how important is that order? In this episode of White Horse Inn, hosts Michael Horton, Justin Holcomb, Bob Hiller, and Walter Strickland discuss what’s at stake if the law and gospel are out of order or confused.