In my study of the Book of Concord, I have started in on the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord. In the fifth article, you will find a discussion of the Law and the Gospel. It is the opening paragraph that came to mind again when I was re-reading Bonhoeffer's treatise on the Psalms.

The distinction between the Law and the Gospel is a particularly brilliant light. It serves the purpose of rightly dividing God's Word ( II Timothy 2:15) and properly explaining and understanding the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles. We must guard this distinction with special care, so that these two doctrines may not be mixed with each other, or a law be made out of the Gospel. When that happens, Christ's merit is hidden and troubled consciences are robbed of comfort, which they otherwise have in the Holy Gospel when it is preached genuinely and purely. For by the Gospel they can support themselves in their most difficult trials against the Law's terrors. (FSD, Article V, 1)

[Translate this: another caveat against the danger of teaching only works!]

The reason this came to mind was that I am working my way through the sixth round of praying the Psalms. Again, as with the last attempt to pray them, I am trying to keep in the forefront of my mind that they are the words of Christ, they are His prayers for us, His Word to us. I struggled through this before, so when I finished with 150, I thought I should try once more.

And, though I mentioned there are parts of Bonhoeffer's work that are confusing to me, I have been reading the treatise again and comparing the Psalm examples as I plow through his teaching. The bit I focused on today was those on Guilt, the repentance Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) and others (14, 15, 25, 31, 39, 41, etc.).

They lead us to the confession of guilt and direct our complete confidence to the forgiving grace of God, so that Luther has quite correctly called them the "Pauline Psalms." (51)

The first part of this section covers how it is that Christ, the sinless One, could even pray about sin. The easy answer lies in the Cross. It was there He, the innocent Lamb of God, was made to be sin, so that its eternal consequence could be met for all time, for all of us, the sinful ones. But the more complete answer lies in the fact that Christ is the Son of God and the son of man. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He became flesh, He became a man, so that He would also know our every experience, giving us the comfort that every temptation known to man was faced by the One who loves us enough to suffer for our sake. He understands our lives, He knows our sin, so He is the perfect One to pray these words on our behalf and to teach us what to pray.

But, that does not bring us to why the bit from the Formula popped into my mind. Law and Gospel. Both should be taught, but one is not the other.

And here it is clear that the believing Christian certainly has to say not only some thing about his guilt but also something equally important about his innocence and his justification. It is characteristic of the faith of the Christian that through God's grace and the merit of Jesus Christ he has become entirely justified and guiltless in God's eyes, so that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). And it is characteristic of the prayer of the Christian to hold fast to this innocence and justification which has come to him, appealing to God's word and thanking for it. So not only are we permitted, but directly obligation--provided we take God's action to us at all seriously--to pray in all humiliation and certainty: "I was blameless before him and I kept myself from guilt" (Psalm 18:23); "If thou tested me though will find no wickedness in me" (Psalm 17:3). With such a prayer we stand in the center of the New Testament, in the community of the cross of Jesus Christ. (53)

If I am following this correctly, Bonhoeffer is saying that even our prayers of confession of our sin must (not should) have both Law and Gospel! Yes, we need to confess our sin (as illuminated by the depth of the Law and our utter inability to keep it) and ask for forgiveness (repent of our sin), but even as we note how we have wronged God by this, that, or the other, we still stand in innocence (Gospel). We are still washed clean (the Law fulfilled). Therefore, we need to acknowledge His gift of Objective Grace, thanking Him for the mercy He shows us, because while it is good and right for us to confess our sins, we nevertheless are forgiven before we voice a single word of our confession. God sees us only through the cross...even in our confession!

Boy did I have to ponder this for awhile.

Think on this matter and then hear the voice of Christ as you pray His Word to us:

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

~Psalm 130