The Gospel
1 1 8 Th e Works of Huld reich Zwing li
man , when he i s come into the depth Of sins , contemneth .
But Christ, after His triumphant return from the dead, imme di ately showed Himself to His di sciples and, having had inter
_them for forty days , ascended of Hi s own motion to the Father in sight Of the disciples [Acts 1 :
All this I have briefly narrated the more willingly, in order t o make clearer to every beholder the righteousness of Christ by which He healed the wound of Adam . For we are still dealing with the point that Christ is our righteousness, our innocence , and the price of our redemption .
For to thi s end He di ed for us and rose again , that He might declare the mystery Of our deliverance and confirm the hopes which , when men saw that He had di ed and afterwards by His own power had become alive again , could not but be made sure in regard to life ever lasting after this life . For in that he died, he di ed unto si n , course with "
Rom . 6 : 1 0; but n ot unto His sin , for He was absolutely free from si n , but unto ours . And He rose again in order that we may know that we have been made alive through Him .
TH E GOSPEL
Christ suffered all these things for us .
If we could have won salvation by our own works or our own inn ocence , He would have died in vain , Gal . 2 : 21
. The nature Of the Gospel may, therefore , now be briefly expressed as follows .
As regards the name, to preface the subject with that , it is kn own to all that it means nothing but "good tidings .
But what those tidings are must be learned from the words Of Him who brings them .
He sent forth His disciples with the injunction , Mark
1 6 : 1 5 :
"Go ye into all th e world , and preach the gospel to the whole creation .
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be condemned .
Here we learn , first, that the gospel is a thing which saves the believer We have , then , what it does , but we do not yet have what it is .
We must, therefore , consult another Evangelist, which is by far the most convenient way of coming to an understanding of the Holy Scriptures .
Luke , then , 24 : 45 -47, writing Of the same idea and of what happened on the same day , namely , that on which Christ rose , says :
"Then opened he their mind , that they might understand the Scriptures , that it is written
O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i on so and so , and that it behooved Christ to suffer so and so, and on the third day to rise from the dead , and that repentance and remission of sins sh ould be preached in his name unto all nations .
Here we have clearly what the gospel is and how it ought to be preached .
This is the gospel , that sins are . ' remi tted in the name of Christ ; and no heart ever received tid ings more glad . But it is desirable to explain the plan thereof a little further , for when that is known we shall get a closer view of the thing itself . Christ taught [Lk . 24 : 47] that repent ance and remission of sins were to be preached in His name unto all nations .
First, I think it is generally agreed that " as in Mark In my name , " is used here for "force , power , might , majesty, "name " i . e. , in my might or power ,
And in Acts 3 : 6 Peter says :
In the name , "shall they cast out demons .
" i . e. , through the force or power , "of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk .
And, a little later [3 : 1 6] "And by faith in his name hath his name made this man strong, whom ye see and know , etc .
"By faith in his name " — ~ what else can it mean than having faith in His power and force ?
"His n ame hath made strong , i . e . , His power and majesty ?
Through Christ, therefore , it is brought about that we repent of our former life .
For I showed clearly enough , where we were considering man , that without the grace of God man knows himself just as little as without it he recog
ni zes God .
It has to be through the power of God that man knows himself .
In order, then , that one may repent Of one 's errors, it is necessary that on e shall know that one 's errors are errors , which certainly is not in the power of the flesh , i . e. , Of man . For he is so blind in his own concerns that he never condemns himself in anything .
If it comes to pass that he condemns himself, it comes to pass not through his own power but another
's .
But this other 's power cannot be the power of other flesh , for the nature of all flesh is the same .
The other power, therefore, that brings man to a knowledge of himself must be of the Spirit .
And this I constantly inculcate in the sense that I leave nothing to man , to whom some, on the con trary, ascribe so much . It is a result wrought by the Divine
Spirit alone that man knows himself .
But unless knowledge precedes, no self -abasement follows .
For who w ould abase him
1 20 Th e Works of Huldreich Zwing li self unless he saw in himself something Offensive ?
Christ teaches first, therefore, how repentance should arise and be preached in His name ; i . e. , that it is through His power that man knows himself and is disgusted with himself when known .
Then , to return to the exposition of Luke ' s words , unless we repent, are disgusted with ourselves , ashamed of ourselves , Christ does n ot become saving and valuable to us wh o n ow know what law is and what si n is .
Hence I must tell, in the second place, h ow repentance must take its beginning .
When , therefore, Divine Majesty formed the plan of redeeming man , it did not intend that the world should persist and become inveterate in its wickedness .
For if this had been the plan , it would have been better never to have sent a redeemer than to have sent one under such condi tions that after redemption there should be no change from our former diseased state . It would have been laughable if He to whom everything that is ever to be is seen as present had determined to deliver man at so great a cost, and yet had intended to allow him imme di ately after his deliverance to wallow in his Old sins . He pro claims , therefore, at the start, that our lives and characters must be changed .
For to be a Christian is nothing less than to be a new man and a new creature [II Cor . 5 :
There fore , when He had sent His forerunner, * he began by saying , Repent ! For Divi ne Justice is so exasperated that unless you
ohangs your character you are sure to suffer bitter punishment, P yea, utter destruction and death . I proclaim no far off event, lest forsooth you scorn me, as once happened to Ezekiel [Ezek .
33 : 30 but on e which is already at your doors .
For n ow is the axe laid at the root of the trees , so that, unless you Jchange your life , you will be utterly rooted up
" [M t. 3 : 1 0] Thus it came about that those who were influenced by the preaching of that most blameless man saw clearly that their way of life must be absolutely changed ; and so they came to him in crowds, and were washed by him in the River Jordan as th e sign by which he marked those who , having reviewed their former lives, found nothing in them which did not deserve condign punishment, and , understanding this , turned their
"John the Baptist .
1 22 Th e Wo rks of Huld reich Zwing li baptize you wi th water unto repentance (by the baptism of water , therefore , they were inducted into repentan ce)
"but he that cometh after me is mightier than I , whose shoes I am n ot worthy to bear : he will baptiz e you i n th e Holy Spirit, and in fir e.
But what else is it to baptize with the Holy Spirit than to make the conscience glad and at peace through His coming ?
And how can it be made at peace unles s it have a firm hope someone who it knows for certain cannot deceive ?
To bapti ze with the Holy Spirit is , therefore , nothing else than Christ
's giving us His spirit, which so enlightens and attracts our hearts that we trust in Hi m , lean on Him , who is the Son of God , who was sent for us, whose brothers we become by His mercy , not by our own merits .
John , therefore, shows that our life is such that it needs correction , although when we have cor rected it we find n ot in ourselves anythi ng through which we can hope to be saved .
John , then , sends us to Chri st, saying that it is He in whom we shall find salvation , even free salva tion .
This the divine Evangelist and Prophet thus set forth , John 1 : 26 -27 " ( John , namely , wh o was baptizing) "bap ti z e in water ; but in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not .
He it is who will come after me, who was before me , the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose .
"I "
Here we rightly understand that John sends us to one who stood among them , or was born in the midst of them .
A little while after he says [Jn . 1 : 29
"John seeth Jesus coming unto him , and saith , Behold the Lamb of God , that taketh away the sin of the world ! This is he of whom I said ( noti ce h ow he repeats his previous words) ,
"After me cometh a man who was before me, who was mightier than I .
And I knew him n ot : but that he shoul d be made manifest to Israel , for this cause came I baptizing in water .
The divine Baptist shows by these words that Christ is the Lamb that atones for the universal disease of sin , and that he himself is preaching a baptism of repentance before Him that He may be made manifaet to Israel .
For when man through repentance has come to the knowledge Of himself, he finds nothing but utter despair .
Hence , wholly distrusting himself, he is forced to take refuge in the mercy of God .
But when he h as begun to do that, jus tice makes him afraid .
Then Christ appears , who has satisfied
O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i on the divine justice for our trespasses .
When once there is faith in Him , then salvation is found ; for He is the infallible pledge
"he that gave up a Son for us, how will he n ot with him also give us all things ? of God 's mercy .
For "
Rom . 8 : 32 .
The justice Of God and a heart conscious of all its sins frighten us .
For what do we not all meditate and concoct ?
What hopes do we not indulge in of pleasure , pelf, and greed for glory ? Hence , when we ar e so terrified by the righteousness of Him to whom we ar e hastening , and by our consciences , which are driving us headlong to despair , Christ, the Son Of God, comes to help our distress ; for with Him as Redeemer, with Him as Advocate , wi th Him spendi ng everything for us , we may hope all things in the hands of the Father .
O unspeakable wisdom of God , 0 measureless bounty , 0 still greater mercy , surpassing all men ' s hopes !
God enlightens us, so that we know ourselves .
When this happens, we are driven to despair .
We flee for refuge to His mercy , but justice frightens us .
Here Eternal Wisdom finds a way by which to satisfy His justice— a thing wholly denied to ourselves— and at the same time to enable us , relying on His mercy, to enjoy Him .
"He sends His Son to satisfy His justice for us , and to be the indubitable pledge of salvation ; but on condition that we become new creatures, and that we walk having put on Christ [II Cor . 5 :
The whole life of a Christian , therefore, is repentance .
For when do we not si n ?
Hence Christ , when He first sent out His disciples to preach , bade them preach the same thing which John and which He Himself had preached, Matt . 4 : 1 7 and Mk .
6 : 1 2 ; Lk . 9 : 2 .
For they, too, warned men to change their very wicked lives, and declared that the ki ngdom of God was at hand . * But I ask your attention to what follows, in order that the nature Of repentance may become still clearer and that at the same time I may answer an Objection , whi ch is to this effect :
If we are to understand Christ in this way, as the sacrifice which , Offered but once , made satisfaction for the sins Of all , we shall all be more inclined to follow our lusts , inasmuch as all these sins can be committed with impunity ; for Christ is
'Comp are wi th thi s t reatment Zwi ngl i s Ei ne kurze Chri s tlich e Ei n lei tu ng , th e secti on on the Go spel .
1 24 Th e Wo rks Of H uldreich Zwing li the pledge that all sins are washed away .
I will first of all show by the Holy Scriptures h ow Christ is the only One through whom there is approach to the Father, and that He alone blots out all sins . For then the argument that these people us e will find its place .
That Christ, then , i s the only One through whom there is approach to the Father will be plain for this reason , that if God could have been reached in any other way there woul d have been no need of Christ 's death .
It is well , however, to bring His own words before us .
Of these I will first set down those by which He bears clear witness that He is One sent for the salvation of all ; then those by which He bears witness that He i s the only One through whom salva tion is given ; for " precedes "is "is the only .
"God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son , that whosoever believeth on him should
John 3 : 1 6 says :
" By these words the whole reason and meaning of the Gospel are explained— the reason , that God gave His Son because He so loved the world ; the meaning, that whosoever believeth on Him attains eternal life . n ot perish , but have eternal life .
A little later the divine Baptist says [Jn . 3 : 35-36] "The Father loveth the Son , and hath given all things into his hand .
He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life ; but he that believeth not the S on sh all not see life , but the wrath of God abideth on him .
This passage makes for both points ; that is , as well for the point that Christ is a means of salvation for all , as for the point that He is the only means of salvation for all .
's main purpose is to show that He is such food that whosoever eateth Him shall live ; that is ,
He is such a treasure of the soul that whosoever fixes his heart and hope on Him will have eternal life .
For He came down from heaven , He says , that the world through Him might have life .
In this same chapter He says :
In John 6 : 53 -58, Christ "Verily , verily , I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath eternal life .
To all , there fore , wh ose h0pe is in Him He is a means of salvation .
In John 8 : 1 2 He says :
"I am the light of the world .
He that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness , but shall have the light of life .
To everyone that follows him , there fore , He is light ; to all the faithful He is , therefore , a means
1 26 T h e Wo rks of Huldreich Zwing li to the knowledge of the truth , I Tim . 2 : 4 .
And He is n ot only so good that He would have it, but also so rich that He can . For
" John 1 : 1 6 .
For "of his fulness have we all received, " Rom . 1 0: 1 2 .
Now I will show that Christ is the only means Of salvation .
"he is rich unto all that call upon him , In John 6 : 53 He wh o is alone our salvation Himself speaks thus :
"Verily , verily , I say unto you , Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man , and drink his blood , ye have no life in you .
I will first Of all give a summary of this sixth chapter .
Christ had fed many thousands of people on a few loaves of bread , and they afterwards followed Him the more eagerly in order to fill their bellies without trouble .
For there were but few who came to Him in Order to be made better by His teaching .
When Christ, wh o knows the heart, saw this , He reproved their hypocrisy and insatiable gluttony and warned them to seek the -giving food of the soul ; that this was the work most pleasing to God .
And although they, remembering their former feast, understood by food or bread nothing but that provision by the eating of which we sustain our strength , Christ was yet ever speaking of that food which restores the famished heart .
For He had come to refresh hearts ahungered for heavenly things .
He says, therefore , that He is the bread true and life of life [Jn . 6 : 33 , 51 ] which cometh down out of heaven , and which giveth life unto the world .
What else would they think 's sake than how Christ could be eaten ?
And so they of here who had come for their belly ' recoiled in horror .
But He , to show plainly in what way He is food or bread , says :
"The bread which I will give is my flesh , for the life of the world .
"Ye are turning over many things in your minds as to this food which I am promising .
One wonders at its chareter, another is aghast at an apparent barbarity .
Why do ye ever stay so close to earth ?
See ye not that I am trying to rouse your sluggish minds with parables ?
Why rise ye not , therefore , at last to higher things ?
Again , see ye not that , th ough I sometimes seem to those wh o are still too much given
His meaning is this : over to the flesh to do it rather violently— s ee ye n ot, I say, that I purposely g o from these external and crude things to the internal and Spiritual ?
I came not to feed the body, but to bring back the human heart to God .
While ye are occupied
O n T ru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n with the memory of bread for the body , I am occupied with the way in which I may put into the mouth Of your souls food that is spiritual .
And while ye are thinking of bread for the body , I am teaching that there is a food that can renew the heart , which bread made of flour cannot in the least do .
This food is myself : the bread which I promise to give is my fles h , which shall be given up for the life of the world .
This makes the heart glad and secure of salvation , if it believes unshakenly that I have been given up for the life Of the world through the glory and grace of the Father .
This is the food in the strength of which ye shall walk even unto the moun tain Of God "
[ cf .
Ps .
Isa .
But the more the Jews were taught , the less they understood and the more they shrank from the flesh and blood of Christ , i mag ining that it was these they were invited to crunch and to drink , and thinking it a monstrous and savage thing that they should be summoned to such a feast .
Christ, perceivi ng that their stolidity proceeded from unbelief, smote them still more heavily , and according to the prophecy of Isaiah 6 : 1 0 [cf . Jn
. made their heart fat , and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes , sayi ng [J11 .
"V erily , verily , I say unto you , Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man , and drink His blood , ye have no life in you
"however much commo tion ye make among yourselves , I certainly must be eaten and "
; as if to add , "
And after much more He says plainly [JI1 . that the flesh Of which they were thinki ng profiteth nothing , eaten , Of course , in the physical way they shrank from ; that it is the spiritual manducation of which He was must be drunk . speaki ng that quickeneth ; that by the words which He was going to speak the human heart becomes alive and strong .
"If you eat bread , I say, the body is strengthened ; if you eat me , i . e. , if you trust in me , your hearts will be strong unto God .
So much on the subject Of thi s chapter , at greater length , perhaps , than brevity allows , and yet more briefly than the occasion demands ; but it h as been done for the sake of those wh o do n ot see the allegory here and have found therein occa sion for many errors , whi le yet Chris t meant to teach by it nothing other than the sum and substance of the Gospel , namely, that He was sent from heaven to suffer death for poor
' Wo rks Of Huld reich Zwing li
1 28 Th e mortals .
This fact would have such saving virtue for th e poor creatures that the soul that would rely thereon woul d be far more strengthened and be rendered far stauncher than the body i s by the use of bread .
But n ow I come to the words I quoted [Jn .
Except ye eat,
. e. , except ye firmly and heartily believe that Christ was slain for you , to redeem you , and that His blood was shed for you, to wash you thus redeemed ( for that is the way we are in the habit of showing bounty and kindness to cap
ti ves -first freeing them by paying a ransom , then when freed washing away the filth with which they are covered) ,
"ye have
n o life in you .
Since, therefore , Christ alone was sacrificed
for the human race, He is the only One through whom we can come to the Father .
In John 1 0: 1 He teaches the same thing in other words :
Verily, verily, I say unto you , he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold , but climbeth up some other way, the same i s a thief and a robber
"I am the door : by me if any man enter in , he shall be saved .
Since , therefore , to enter by any other way than by the door is the mark of thieves and robbers, and since Christ is the door , they are thieves and robbers who either seek , or teach others to seek salvation in any other way than through Christ . Christ,
; and a little farther on :
therefore , is our only means of salvation .
And let no on e at this point raise the objection that this passage applies to the shepherds only and not also to the general method of salvation ; for it is so pregnant with meaning that it teaches just as clearly by what way everyone can come to God as it does how they to whom that charge has been committed ought to feed the sheep of Christ .
For He speaks just as solemnly and anxiously of the sheep as of the shepherds , as i s easily apparent to one who considers attentively .
In John 8 : 36 He says to the Jews :
"If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed .
But there is one only Son of God ; it is , therefore , only through Christ that we are freed from the yoke of Sin and made sons of God .
To the same effect is the allegory of the vine and the branches , in John 1 5 , Since Christ deduces the following :
"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the
The Wo rks of H uld reich Zwing li
sins which were committed before He came . * These errors arose from the fact that, while thinking themselves profoundly versed in the nature of Christianity, they were profoundly ignorant of it ; for it is based upon faith , n ot upon wisdom , knowledge, or prudence ; and since they had not faith they became vain in their reasonings [cf. Rom . 1 :
For Chris tian faith i s a thing that is felt in the soul Of the believer, like health in the body .
Any on e can easily feel whether that is bad or good .
S O the Christian feels h ow his heart is in a bad plight because Of the burden of Sin , and , on the other hand , feels h ow well Off it i s in that there is a sure remedy in Christ .
It usually happens, also , that those who are always well do not make sound health of so much account as do those who suffer from long or severe illnesses .
SO Christ is n ot so priceles s a possession to those who feel n o sickness of the soul as to those wh o feel and suffer pain .
Hence it h as come about , since we do n ot know ourselves thoroughly, i . e. , deep in to the core ( for we know nothing of the illness and its gravity) , that for us
Christ has never been the means of salvation and priceless treas ure that He is . But if we had ever truly suffered pain from our
disease,
. e. , if we really know ourselves , what worthless and diseased cattle we are , while we yet wish to appear to all men as great, noble, righteous , holy ; how completely given over to evil desires, so that we let our passions gui de us in everything if, I say, we had ever been sensible of our disease , our pain would have been so great that after the physician had relieved it we never should have thought of saying,
"I will be ill again , "I will Sin again .
The man wh o has broken a leg, and has found a good physician who h as restored the inj ured limb , i . e., "Y ou are lucky to have found such a physician .
Go and break your leg often ; for that physician can cure anything . does n ot say to himself,
But all through his life , wherever he goes, whithersoever he turns , he looks out and takes care not to break his leg again .
For he h as felt h ow painful it is to restore a broken limb , how tedious to lie a whole month upon 's back or upon the one Side only .
So those who , when they hear that Christ has made atonement for the Sins of all , exult one "Thi s Romi sh doctri ne Zwi ng li has refuted at length i n hi s Ad Frida 'n/ um Li/ nd overum ewpos tu la ti o .
I/ i