Luther Got to Cranmer
The Bible is not a rulebook or a catalogue of good examples to keep us in line, but primarily the overarching story of God’s saving grace in Jesus. Reformation Anglicans join the English reformers in recognizing that God’s word speaks in two ways: law and gospel. Law is the portion of Scripture that commands, prescribes, and exposes our guilt. The law is God’s moral measure and his requirement of perfection. It’s seen in words like “should,” “ought,” ‘you must” and “you shall.” But the law has no power in itself to fulfill what it demands (a scale tells you that you need to lose ten pounds, but it doesn't lose it for you!). The law is wonderful: holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), but it screams for a solution outside of itself. The gospel is the solution - when we couldn’t, Jesus Christ did. Jesus lived the life of perfect obedience when we tried and failed and he died the death that we deserve - as our substitute. He is the end of the law for righteousness (Romans 10:4). “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).
Martin Luther was enamored with the law/gospel distinction, finding it not only helpful, but necessary for understanding and interpreting the Bible. “Anyone who can properly distinguish the gospel from the law,” Luther said, “may thank God and know that he is a theologian.” As the Bible describes it, the problem with being human is our utter inability to do what God requires. But thanks be to God, that is not the end of the story! The gospel announces the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the perfect fulfillment of the law for us, and then it invites us to receive all the benefits of his perfect life and sacrifice by simply believing it to be true. As Luther once put it: The law says “do this” and it is never done; the gospel says “believe this” and it is already done.
Anglicans are not Lutherans, of course, but Luther’s influence on the English reformers was profound, fundamentally influencing the way they understood the good news of God’s salvation. The Elizabethan historian John Foxe memorably wrote:
"There is nothing more comfortable for troubled consciences than to be instructed in the difference between law and the gospel. The law shows us our sin; the gospel shows us the remedy for it. The law shows our condemnation; the gospel shows our redemption. The law is a word of ire; the gospel is a word of grace. The law is a word of despair; the gospel is a word of comfort. The law is a word of unrest; the gospel is a word of peace. The law says pay your debt; the gospel says Christ has paid it. The law says you are a sinner, despair you shall be damned. The gospel says your sins are forgiven, be comforted you shall be saved. The law says where is your righteousness? The gospel says Christ is your righteousness."
Thomas Cranmer was influenced by Luther in many ways, weaving the distinction between law and gospel into his writings. His Holy Communion liturgy, for example, begins with the law (recitation of the Ten Commandments or the Summary of the Law) which naturally and inevitably leads to: “Lord have mercy upon us!” The sobering awareness of our brokenness before the law’s demands begs for the relief and comfort of the gospel in the sermon and the Creed: a recitation of what God has done for us when we tried and failed to live up to the law’s standards. Cranmer’s ordering of the Homilies was intentional and indicative of the same distinction. After the first homily on Scripture, in which Cranmer describes the words of God’s law and gospel, the second homily leads the whole church to see its sinfulness and need (“Of the Misery of Man”). This then is quickly followed by the Homily on Salvation which announces the good news of God’s gospel. This law and gospel narrative is then followed by three homilies that describe our lives lived in response to God’s gracious gift. Cranmer heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested the words of Scripture as law and gospel. Anglicans today also find this distinction helpful and hopeful as they read and interpret the Bible.