This month’s preaching article continues a series that gives readers a taste of several different aspects of preaching. Articles will discuss preaching’s purpose (why we preach), content (what we say), form (how we arrange what we say), context (where and to whom we preach), and the person of the preacher (the preacher’s relationships with his listeners and with God and his Word).

Last month we thought about law-gospel negligence,¹ which can happen in multiple ways and for varied reasons. But so can its counterpart: law-gospel obsession.

I can imagine how some preachers might react to the term: “Law-gospel obsession? Could there be such a thing? If you mean that we are obsessed with proclaiming God’s law to expose sin and God’s gospel of forgiveness in Christ, then we should all have an obsession with law and gospel!”

Very true! Proclaiming law and gospel, sin and grace, is the calling of Christian preachers. But the term “law-gospel obsession” here doesn’t refer merely to keeping law and gospel as the foundation of every sermon. No, the term, as David Schmitt uses it, refers to prioritizing law and gospel proclamation to the exclusion of every other thing related to preaching.

Law-Gospel Obsession Defined

Preaching law and gospel is central to Christian preaching, but law-gospel obsession occurs when the focus of preaching is reduced to only law and gospel. “This is what is meant by the error of Law and Gospel obsession: a godly concern becomes an obsession that limits God’s gift of the dynamic art of preaching and diminishes the fullness of Lutheran homiletics.” (37)

How can it happen? “Law and Gospel obsession occurs when the preacher focuses upon Law and Gospel polarities in preaching with such rigor and all-consuming attention that everything that occurs in the office of preaching is reduced to an overly simplistic bad-news-then-good-news paradigm.” (36-37)

Law-Gospel Obsession Overtaking Sermon Form

What law-gospel obsession often looks like is every sermon following the same pattern: law, then gospel, regardless of the text or the hearers or any other consideration. Inductive movement, narrative forms—things very common in Scripture—never appear in a sermon, because the sermon form is set a priori: convicting law followed by consoling gospel. That would be an instance of law-gospel obsession overtaking any consideration of sermon form.

Law-Gospel Obsession Overtaking Textual Integrity

Another manifestation of law-gospel obsession sidelines or ignores the text for the sermon itself. Our intentions may be good; no matter the text, we know that the redeeming work of Jesus is the beating heart of the whole Bible. Nevertheless, we may so focus on preaching Christocentrically that we fail to preach textually. “Law and Gospel obsession occurs when the principle of Christocentricity overrides the principle of textual integrity and the preacher uses a text to lead to Christ but does so by ignoring or distorting what the text actually means in its context.” (37)

One way this can occur is “by means of an atomization of the text. The preacher locates a word or phrase within the text that can be used to perform Law and Gospel application among his hearers. He then isolates that word or phrase from the rest of the text and uses it in a rhetorical design that accuses his hearers of sin and proclaims salvation to his hearers.” (38) Sometimes finding a key word or phrase does lead a preacher to a way to preach law and gospel. But what Schmitt envisions here is ignoring the text in favor of preaching law and gospel, rather than preaching law and gospel in a way that the text (or preceding context) suggests. I’ve fallen into this trap, and I would guess that other preachers have too. The following could be an on-target critique of my preaching at times: “What the preacher says is true, but is it textual? Notice how the Christocentric interpretation has overshadowed textual integrity.” (38-39)

Law-Gospel Obsession Overtaking Exhortation

A related mistake is to take a paraenetic section of a text, that is, a section in which the writer encourages Christians to good works, and to use it only to expose sin. Take Paul’s exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “pray continually.” The preacher notes that we do not, in fact, pray continually, or as often as we should. But Jesus did pray perfectly, and his atoning death removes our sin . . . and the preacher makes no more mention of Paul’s encouragement to pray. True, the law always accuses our flesh; when we hear an exhortation to pray, we naturally—and appropriately—confess that we have not prayed as we ought. But is that the only inspired aim of “pray continually”?² Paul has proclaimed the gospel clearly in 1 Thessalonians; now he gives parting exhortations to those given life by that gospel. Preaching the text here means preaching Paul’s exhortations according to their original rhetorical purpose. Law and gospel might come more naturally from referring to an earlier section of the epistle.

(On a personal note, Schmitt’s words have made me do some reflecting on how the Preacher Podcast functions. Those who have listened to a few episodes note that I almost always ask the participants to help preachers identify law and gospel in the text for the day. And sometimes we may focus on law and gospel for the preponderance of our time and not spend enough time discussing points for connection to listeners’ lives. Let me offer this clarification: just because each episode of the Preacher Podcast highlights points of law and gospel does not mean that we intend preachers to preach only law and gospel to the exclusion of anything else.)

Recall from our previous series of articles the four “threads of discourse” essential to every sermon: textual exposition, evangelical proclamation, theological confession, and hearer interpretation. Law-gospel proclamation, which we are focusing on here, is “evangelical proclamation.” David Schmitt’s chapter shows how evangelical proclamation can overtake the other threads. So far we’ve seen how law-gospel proclamation can overtake textual exposition and hearer interpretation; see the chapter of the book for a fuller explanation. Finally, we turn to how evangelical proclamation can overtake theological confession.

Law-Gospel Obsession Overtaking Teaching the Faith

Law-gospel obsession can appear when teachings of the text are marginalized. The lectionary offers opportunities throughout the year to teach many different aspects of Christian doctrine. While a thorough and interactive study of each teaching may be best in a Bible class setting, the chance to do some basic instruction during the sermon is one that the preacher doesn’t want to pass up. “Well,” a preacher may ask, “which am I supposed to be doing in my sermon—teaching truths from the Bible or proclaiming law and gospel?” David Schmitt’s answer: both. He explains:

While theological confession communicates the teachings of the faith in the sermon (doctrinal content), evangelical proclamation opens up those teachings (proper distinction between Law and Gospel) so that they are heard in relationship to God’s gracious work in Christ (the total effect of the sermon). (41) . . .

For example, through theological confession, a preacher might teach divine omnipotence in the sermon. He takes time to establish what it means to believe in God the Father almighty. Through evangelical proclamation the preacher enables the hearers to receive this teaching as a word of comfort. . . . In this case, as the doctrine is treated, evangelical proclamation is offered, and the hearers receive this teaching of faith as a blessing rather than a burden. (41-42)

When law-gospel obsession happens, the preacher passes up every opportunity to teach the doctrinal truths of the text in favor of proclaiming sin and grace. Again, proclaiming sin and grace is good, even central, to the preacher’s task. But it can be done in a way that includes other priorities of preaching.

Law-gospel negligence and law-gospel obsession. These two extremes lead me to reflect on my preaching, and perhaps they will lead you to do the same.³ May we all keep law-gospel proclamation central in our preaching, while also being mindful of other preaching priorities.

This article in Devote Yourself was contributed by the team that previously created and distributed Preach the Word. View past preaching-related articles at worship.welsrc.net/downloads-worship/preach-the-word.

¹ Last month, as we began considering the content of preaching, we looked at part of a chapter in the 2001 book Liturgical Preaching, which CPH republished ten years later under the title Preaching Is Worship: The Sermon in Context. The chapter is “Law and Gospel in Sermon and Service” by David Schmitt. The latter half of the chapter has to do with twin dangers preachers face: law-gospel negligence and law-gospel obsession. Page numbers refer to the chapter in the 2001 edition of the book, Liturgical Preaching.
² We are heading into another discussion here—that of the third use of the law. We will have to delay a full consideration of that important topic for a future article.
³ The whole chapter of the book is well worth a read, as Schmitt also engages some of Walther’s theses on law and gospel.