For Lutherans there is a five hundred year old understanding of what St. Paul means by ὀρθοτομοῦντα, and it simply means to properly interpret Scripture. And within Lutheranism that proper interpretation, aka hermeneutic, is understood as the Law-Gospel Dialectic.
The Law-Gospel Dialectic can be summaraized as follows:
God's word is, in a sense, comprised of two words, or two things God says to us. Commandments (aka Law) and Promises (aka Gospel).
There is what God commands, which is His Law; and there is what God promises, Gospel, Good News.
This Dialectic can be seen in one of the earliest things Martin Luther ever said, in his 1518 Heidelberg Disputation, "The Law says 'Do this' and it is never done. Grace says 'believe this' and it is already done."
In the context of the Heidelberg Disputation this is, Luther has explained that human works simply never can gain man any righteousness before God, because of the problem of sin. So, in fact, good works though having the appearance of righteousness are, because of sin and without faith, in fact mortal sins. On the flip side the works of God may not have the appearance of good (namely the suffering and death of Jesus Christ), but are nevertheless truly good and save us. So that human works cannot save; but the works of God do in fact save. Human arrogance, because of sin and the pride of the flesh and his desire for glory seeks righteousness in his own works, but his own works avail him nothing toward his being righteous before God; on the converse it is only by the work of God through the suffering and cross of Jesus Christ that does render a person righteous before God.
So the Law of God--what He commands--is indeed right and good, the good works of man do not fulfill the Law of God; only the singular righteous work of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for us, fulfills the righteous Law of God; and it is only by grace alone which gives to sinful men the righteousness of Jesus--received by faith alone--that renders a person just before God.
So whenever the Scriptures say "Do" we understand here God's righteous commandment. But whenever the Scriptures say "Believe" we have here the good promise of God concerning what He Himself has done for us already; for He gives freely what He promises, and this is received by faith alone, passively. So Luther would, later in his life when making an analogy for faith call it the empty hands of a beggar. The hands are empty, doing nothing, but into those empty hands God gives every good and gift, and the hands passive receive it doing nothing to earn it. So is faith the empty and passive reception of what God gives.
From this, the theologians of the Reformation would then speak of the Three Uses of the Law.
1) The Law commands what is good and right, giving us the objective righteousness of God.
2) Since the Law commands what is good and right, and we see what is objectively righteous in it, when we look at ourselves through the Law--as though a mirror--we behold in ourselves our total failure and inability to do what is good and righteous. And thus the Law shows us that we are, in fact, sinners. Sinners who cannot do anything to attain righteousness by our works and efforts by seeking obedience to the Law; and paradoxically, that the harder we try to be obedient the more sinful we find ourselves to become. This, as the Apostle says in Romans 7, " Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure." (Romans 7:13)
3) For the one who has faith, the Law remains the standard of life; not for justification (for it cannot and does not do that), but as the rule which guides and instructs us in new obedience born of grace. So the commandment given is that I should love my neighbor as myself, and though by my works I do not fulfill it so as to be righteous before God on account of sin; nevertheless my neighbor still requires food to fill his hungry belly, and water to quench her thirst, clothing and shelter to warm them and protect them from the elements. And so the way of the Christian is to be fashioned and ordered by a life of horizontal righteousness toward our neighbor, which exists solely by the grace of God and the freedom which comes from our salvation.
God, having attained and achieved for us what we could never attain or achieve, grants to us new life in Christ, life which is a free gift, and a life which is lived by the Spirit, in freedom and love; not toward lawlessness by kills faith, but toward fulfilling the royal law of love, as a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ invited and called to carry his/her cross in this world.
For God alone saves us, justifying us freely by His grace, by the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ alone (Gospel). And now we, with an conscience awakened by God, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, as a new creation in Jesus walking in love and obedience by cooperating with God--not for our justification, but as disciples of Jesus, as followers of Jesus, as a people who take Jesus seriously in this world, and are called to desire God's will. That our prayer, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" should not be prayed in vain. In other words, sanctification. The ongoing work of God in our lives conforming us to Christ, which shall continue until it is finished--on the Last Day. For "He who began a good work in you will continue that good work until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Perfection is never our possession in this life, but it is God's accomplishment at the resurrection of the dead. For now "we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12) In this life we carry a cross, warring against the old man (1 Peter 1:14), hoping for that time when the earth shall be full of justice (2 Peter 3:13).
We are, therefore, simul iustus et peccator, both saint and sinner. The old and the new in conflict; the lusts and passions of the flesh which we must flee from by seeking refuge in Christ. trusting in Him alone for forgiveness, whose suffering, death, and resurrection alone saves us and justifies us before the Father.
So that there needs to be a preaching of both Law and Gospel. The Law to condemn our flesh and lusts, and call us to repentance, that we should then behold the love and grace of God in Christ and cling only to Him, for His Gospel is peace, and the power to save all who believe.
And in this we find that the whole of Scripture declares to us Jesus Christ and our desperate need for Him, and that in Him alone is our refuge and salvation.
-CryptoLutheran
