SOURCE: "Law and Gospel or Gospel and Law? Calvin's Understanding of the Relationship," in Calviniana: Ideas and Influence of Jean Calvin, edited by Robert V. Schnucker, Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc., 1988, pp. 13-32.

In the following essay, Hesselink proposes that though Calvin sees an antithesis between Law and Gospel, their relationship is complementary in that humanity is "driven by the law to seek God's grace. "

The Subject Of Law And Gospel has been a special Lutheran interest. Check any book on Luther or a Lutheran dogmatics and there will usually be a section or chapter on law and gospel.¹ This is not true of studies of Calvin or dogmatics (theologies) written in other traditions. There will be references to, and occasionally treatments of, the law—but rarely will there be a special section entitled "law and gospel" as such.² Thus, for centuries this theme has been largely a...