(Sermon is audio only)
Small Catechism Review
The Conclusion of the Commandments
We’ve now briefly reviewed the First Chief Part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Ten Commandments, over the last several weeks. All that remains is what Luther calls the “Conclusion” of the Commandments. Some have called it the “Close” of the Commandments, but that doesn’t capture the meaning, especially because it doesn’t come at the “close,” at the end of the commandments, but at the beginning. Right after the First Commandment, right after God has forbidden His people from having any other gods and from making carved images with which to worship those gods, He speaks the words which Luther rightly applies to all the commandments as the “conclusion” we are to draw, since the First Commandment governs all the rest:
What does God say about all these commandments? He says: “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, who visits the sin of the fathers upon their children who hate Me, to the third and fourth generation; but to those who love Me and keep My commandments, I do good for a thousand generations.” What does this mean? God threatens to punish all who transgress these commandments; therefore, we should fear His wrath and not disobey them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep them; therefore, we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly obey His commandments.
Recently someone tried to make a point about the way the government is trying to force people into getting the COVID vaccine. They cited a pastor (of course), who argued something like this. “If the government has to make you afraid and threaten you in order to get you to obey, it’s out of step with the God of the Bible. Our God is a God of persuasion, not of threats.” So I brought up the Conclusion of the Commandments with this person, because it does no one any good to misrepresent the Christian religion in the fight against government oppression. The person had to retract the statement. Because while the Gospel is all about divinely empowered persuasion, the Law is all about threats. Threats of punishment for disobedience and promises of reward for obedience.
Let’s look at the text itself. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I, the Lord, Yahweh, your God, the only true God, He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come. I, the Lord your God, that is, the very same one who has just done wonders in Egypt, ten horrible plagues against the Egyptians, so that you could go free. I, the Lord your God, that is, the very same one who passed over your houses marked with the blood of the lamb, saving you from death and destruction. I, the Lord your God, who parted the waters of the Red Sea so that you could pass through, who has led you for 50 days through the barren wilderness, providing bread from heaven and water from a rock. I, the Lord your God, who has just commanded you not to have or worship or serve any other God—I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
Now, we normally think of jealousy as a vice, as a sinful attitude, and among us sinners it usually is. Jealousy is the anger and resentment we feel when we see someone else getting or having something that we think we deserve more. It’s usually sinful, but not necessarily so. For example, a teenager decides to do something really nice for his parents. While they’re gone, he spends the whole cleaning the house, inside and out, cleaning the yard, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, everything. And then, when mom gets home, she praises the brother or the sister who did nothing at all. And even though the teenager tells the truth about what happened, the mom just can’t stop praising the do-nothing brother or sister. That would be a justifiable reason for jealousy on the part of the one who did it all.
So the Lord God is provoked to jealousy when His benefits are attributed to someone else, to a false god who did nothing. God provides everything for His people, even the very world we live in, the sun and the moon and the air we breathe, and men still give the credit to someone else, to false gods, including themselves, giving themselves credit for what God, in His mercy, has done. That makes Him justifiably jealous.
But He doesn’t mope in His jealousy. He punishes. He visits the sin of the fathers upon their children who hate Me, to the third and fourth generation. If the fathers hate God, and so break His commandments, chances are they teach their children to do the same. And their children teach their children, and on and on, and God’s threat follows each generation that hates Him. To the third and fourth generation, there are consequences for idolatry and godless behavior. The only thing that can end that cycle of disobedience and punishment is repentance and faith in Christ, from which flows all true obedience to God’s commandments.
And then the Lord God promises, but to those who love Me and keep My commandments, I do good for a thousand generations. The only way anyone can love God is by first knowing Him as the God whom we have offended with our sins, and as the God who gave His Son into death as the payment for our sins. The promise of the Gospel, of forgiveness to all who flee in faith to Christ, is what persuades sinners to believe in Christ. And from faith comes love, first for God, then for our neighbor.
Some people say that certain laws shouldn’t exist, because laws don’t change hearts. For example, some say there shouldn’t be a law criminalizing abortion, because that wouldn’t change anyone’s heart. But again, the purpose of the Law isn’t to change hearts or to create faith in God. It’s to curb bad behavior and to incentivize good behavior, so that society doesn’t crumble and self-destruct in lawlessness. It’s the use of the Law we call the “Curb” or the “Club.” God does threaten and God does punish, and whenever we see the disobedient punished, we are supposed to fear God’s wrath, as Luther says, and learn not to disobey Him.
But, but, that sounds like thunder and lightning preaching! Well, remember when the Law was given, there was thunder and lightning and fire and billows of smoke at Mt. Sinai. Better to have thunder and lightning and fire in the preaching of the Law and in the threats the Law makes than to face the eternal flames of hell. As Jesus once said, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yes, people should be afraid to disobey God. He is the Judge, and His threats are not in vain. As the writer to the Hebrews says, It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep them; therefore, we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly obey His commandments. But, but, that sounds like bribing people! Not a bribe, but incentive for our Old Man, who needs that prodding and pushing, and hope for our New Man, who is eager to receive the rewards God promises with thanksgiving and joy, even as Jesus Himself was motivated to obedient to death on the cross because of the reward promised to Him—not the reward of His own glory, but the reward of pleasing His Father and of saving sinners.
To summarize: God threatens punishment for disobedience and promises rewards for obedience, not to change our hearts, but to control our behavior. That’s the Law’s use as Curb or Club. Its other two uses are just as important. Remember? It serves as a Mirror to show us our sins. And when we see our sins, then the Law serves as Curb again, with its threats, to make us rightfully afraid. Then the Gospel comes in and comforts the fearful and penitent: Christ has suffered for your sins. The threats of punishment against the disobedient were carried out against Jesus on the cross, so that all who take refuge in Him are no longer under wrath, but under grace, no longer condemned as lawbreakers, but justified and forgiven as righteous through faith in Christ.
Then, finally, the Law comes back in with its Third Use, as Guide, and shows us how to put love for God and our neighbor into practice, and then the Law comes back in once again as Curb, not to threaten, but to promise us extra incentives and the hope of God’s grace and every blessing when we keep His commandments. And then when the weakness of our Old Man prevents us from doing all the good we want to do, the Law comes back in as a Mirror and as a Curb and accuses, but then the Gospel comes back in and assures us that God is faithful, and that His acceptance and forgiveness depend, not on how well we obey, but on Christ alone.
The Ten Commandments are the Law, and the “Conclusion” of the Commandments is that we ought to obey God and not disobey Him. Until the Law has done its work on you, revealing your sins and bringing you to fear God’s wrath and punishment, you’re not ready for the Gospel. But once the Law has done its work and broken your heart and crushed it, the Gospel comes along to offer you God’s solution to your lawbreaking—faith in Christ, who kept the Law for you and suffered its penalties in your place. The Gospel is beautifully summarized for us in the next part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Second Chief Part, the Apostle’s Creed. Starting in two weeks, that will be our weekly focus, too. May God grant us His blessing! Amen.
