THE distinctive natures of the law and the gospel, and yet the necessity of their unity in the right understanding and practice of Christianity, have ever since the beginning of the Christian era engrossed the attention of both religious scholar and layman. The Jews, who were deeply versed in what they considered the right interpretation of the Mosaic law, found themselves almost totally deaf to the gentle voice of the gospel when Jesus came proclaiming its good news.
These followers of Moses believed that salvation was theirs only in the degree that their works fulfilled the veriest letter of the law. They therefore could not conceive that the spirit, which Jesus preached, but which to their sense seemed to set aside the law, could be worthy of acceptance. Jesus, however, among his very earliest public utterances, hastened to assure them that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He even declared positively, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
To-day there still appears to be in the thought of the world at large more or less darkness as to the manner in which the law and the gospel are to be harmonized and united in Christian practice. Some would set aside the law, as given by Moses, almost entirely, claiming that Jesus' teachings alone are necessary; while others still hold almost as rigidly to the letter of the law as did the Jews at the time of our Master's advent. Even the Christian Scientist finds it necessary to watch continually that he may give to each just its proper place if he would demonstrate Christian living perfectly.
