The Obedience of Faith: Law, Gospel, and 1 John - Part 1 (w/ Doug Van Dorn)

This article is a summary of the following episode: The Obedience of Faith: Law, Gospel, and 1 John - Part 1 (w/ Doug Van Dorn)

Should Christians use the law to make believers question their salvation?

That question sits at the center of this conversation. We talk with Doug Van Dorn about how the law functions before and after someone comes to Christ, and why Scripture’s use of the law should not leave believers trapped in fear.

Listen to the full episode on Theocast, YouTube, or Castos. Part 2 continues on Doug’s podcast, Reformed Fringe.

The law before and after Christ

The law does real work in the life of someone who has not yet believed. It exposes sin. It shows us we cannot meet God’s standard. It drives us outside ourselves to the only Savior who can.

That is not the same work the law does once we belong to Christ.

After conversion, the law still teaches us what love of God and neighbor looks like. It still names sin. What it must not become is a weapon that keeps the Christian forever unsure whether the Father has received them. The gospel announces that Christ has already done what the law demanded. Faith receives him. Assurance grows from that finished work, not from watching ourselves for signs that we have finally measured up.

Undermining assurance is not clarity

Some preaching treats continual doubt as spiritual seriousness. If you are not questioning your salvation, the thinking goes, you must not be taking holiness seriously enough. So the law is brought in again and again, not to instruct the believer, but to unsettle them.

That is not gospel clarity. Clarity would point us to Christ. It would distinguish law and gospel so that the guilty hear the command that convicts and the promise that saves. When the law is used to keep Christians in perpetual fear about whether they are truly his, something has gone wrong in the pastoral use of Scripture.

We have written elsewhere about how repentance itself is a gift rather than an entrance fee. See Must I Repent to be Saved? The same instinct applies here. The Christian life is not a treadmill of proving that our turn toward God was sincere enough.

Confidence in Christ, not continual doubt

Scripture does call us to examine ourselves. It also gives us strong reasons for confidence. Our hope rests in the righteousness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ, not in the intensity of our self-scrutiny.

Believers still stumble. We still need repentance, correction, and encouragement. None of that means we must live as if the verdict is still out. God keeps those he saves. The obedience of faith is real, but it is the fruit of union with Christ, not the condition that finally earns his welcome.

If you want more teaching on resting in that finished work, our free ebook Rest walks through faith versus faithfulness with the same concern: weary Christians need the gospel, not another performance loop.

Law, gospel, and 1 John

Much of the conversation turns toward 1 John, a letter often pressed into service as a checklist for deciding whether someone is truly converted. Read that way, nearly every verse becomes a new reason for doubt.

We press for a better reading with Doug. 1 John belongs in a law-and-gospel conversation. The letter comforts believers who already belong to Christ, warns against false teaching, and describes the life that flows from knowing him. It was not written to leave the church trapped in fear.

That reading matters for how we preach, counsel, and talk to our own hearts. The law still speaks. The gospel still saves. Christians are meant to have assurance and confidence in Christ rather than a life of continual doubt.

This is only Part 1. The conversation continues on Reformed Fringe with Doug Van Dorn. Start here with the full episode: The Obedience of Faith: Law, Gospel, and 1 John - Part 1.