Locus 17 — The Spirit and the Letter
Gospel "the ministration of the Spirit." For he believes that without the knowledge of the Gospel, the Law pro duces only philosophic discipline or terrors. But disci pline, that is, the righteousness of human reason— whether of Pompeius Atticus, or hypocrites who are without true fear of God and true faith, which invokes
God by the knowledge of Christ—is nothing but the letter, that is, a shadow which does not bring life. Re garding the terrors, as in the case of Saul, it is manifest that our minds are terrified by the knowledge of the wrath of God when they are not guided by the word of the Gospel, and they flee God and rush into despair and eternal destruction. them amidst the raging of tyrants. These comparisons are allegorical interpretations, and to create them prop erly and beautifully is a matter of great learning, wis dom, and judgment. And yet, just as the laws or the Gospel accounts are not figurative, and, without the ardent emotions kindled by the Holy Spirit, are mere letters and shadows, so these allegorical interpreta tions without these emotions are doctrine and letters.
When Paul says in Rom. 7[:14], "The law is spir itual," clearly he is speaking of the moral law, and he is not trying to transform it into allegory, but he calls it spiritual because it is the spiritual judgment of God, not only civil discipline (that is, the laws of Solon and others like them which instruct us regarding external disci pline). But the Law of God demands ardent spiritual emotions, knowledge, fear, trust, and love of God, and finally perfect obedience. On the other hand, the judg ment of God is the frightful ministration of divine wrath which presses upon all men—not only because of their outward sins, but also because of their inner darkness and uncleanness. Paul is speaking of this horrible judg ment, but not with Origenistic allegories and fables. It is most regrettable that this very important doctrine, which belongs to the church—the use of the Law, the ministration of the Gospel, faith, the giving of the Holy
Spirit, the true exercises of faith, prayer, and, finally, the emotions kindled by the Holy Spirit—has been ob scured and obfuscated by these dreams of Origen, who failed to interpret correctly the letter and the Spirit.
But the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit.
Nothing is sweeter than this word and nothing can be imagined which is more pleasant. It is clearly affirmed through the preaching of the Gospel that the Hply Spirit is given, as it says in Gal. [3:14], "That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." When our minds are terrified, they hear the voice of the Gospel and believe that for the sake of the mediator our sins are truly remitted, and the Holy Spirit is received and new light is kindled in our hearts, as it is written in Zech.
[12:10], "I will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and of prayers," that is, with My comfort I will guide them and with My Holy Spirit I will help them, so that they may know that they have been received into grace, and having received it they may call upon God and be obedient to Him. But Paul clearly says that the Holy
Spirit is given through faith or to those who believe.
Therefore, in the case of those who do not blush with a feeling of the wrath of God and do not believe the word of the Gospel but remain contemptuous of God or in doubt, for them the Gospel is only a letter and a shadow which has no effect.
Always and at all times, all doctrine, whether Law or Gospel, to the unregenerate is only letter and a fleet ing shadow, that is, it does not bring new and eternal light and life. But the promise of the Gospel at all times was the ministration of the Spirit to those who believed or were born again through faith. When the reconcili ation which has been given has been received for the sake of the mediator, and when faith has been kindled, then the Holy Spirit begins the new and eternal light and life in us, as it says in Rom. 8[:6], "The mind of the Spirit is life and peace." Moreover, it is extremely im portant in this article to consider the power and worth of the ministration of the Gospel. The passage in 2 Cor.
3[:18] clearly asserts that through the Gospel the Holy Spirit is given. Therefore, we should not seek other revelations or enthusiasms without the Gospel, but we should rest content in the promise of the Gospel itself, because when we do this, it is certain that the Holy
Spirit is efficacious.
Therefore, we must set aside the ravings of Or igen who says that the letter is the grammatical sense used in the description of ceremonial and historical mat ters, but the Spirit is the allegorical interpretation of these ceremonies and historical events. Following this hypothesis he later on took far greater license than the church can allow and dreamed up fictitious interpre tations, almost as a painter does when he paints im aginary creatures such as chimaeras, sea monsters, and centaurs.
There is one natural meaning for the language of the prophets and apostles in the individual state ments, which their phraseology, correctly understood, creates in keeping with the precepts of their common ability to speak, and this shows their reason for speak ing as they do. In other cases, the rituals themselves or the historical events are sometimes images or ex amples of other things. For example, the Passover lamb was a sign or symbol of the death of Christ, which was to take place in the future. When Daniel was kept alive in the midst of the lions, this was an example of the deliverance of many learned men and the entire church, which, by a similar blessing of God, protects
But in regard to discipline, we have already said under that locus that all men who have not been born again or are extremely weak need to be urged forward and made accustomed to virtue by the discipline ac cording to the Law which does apply to us. And else where I have mentioned the four causes or reasons, of which the first is that it is necessary to be obedient to the discipline when God commands it. The second is that we may avoid punishments, because God hor ribly punishes the violation of His discipline, as all the
morals and to zeal for learning the teachings about God; that it might lure forward the faint-hearted by the fear of punishment. But its great virtue is that by this discipline we are called to Christ, not because the dis cipline deserves or merits the remission of sins, but because Christ is not efficacious in those who despise
His discipline, who persevere in the violation of disci pline against conscience. These points we have fully discussed above. catastrophes of the world testify. The third is that all the rest of mankind is in need of peace and tranquility, for we should not think that we live only for ourselves.
The fourth is the most important of all, namely, that "the Law is a schoolmaster unto Christ,"[Gal. 3:24], And it is the duty of a schoolmaster not only to urge but also to teach. Therefore, this description should commend the Law to us. It wishes that it be placed before us, in order that it may teach us regarding the wrath of God and good works; that it should habituate us to good
Locus 18 Calamities, the Cross, and True Consolations by his self-willed crime. David, by an act of his will, seized the wife of another man and drew down upon himself and his nation terrible calamities. A person can enumerate as many examples of this kind of thing as there are sands upon the seashore.
Although it is evident that the thoughts and elo quence of all wise men in the church and among the heathen are exhausted in deploring human miseries, yet all confess that the enormity of this grievous burden which the entire human race must bear cannot even be fully understood.
In regard to the voluntary action, the philosophers to some extent see the cause, but they do not see the primary cause for the accidental evils of men. The church in its teaching—as it has been handed down from the very beginning by the voice of God and prop agated by the patriarchs, the prophets, Christ, and the apostles—makes proclamation regarding the source of accidental evils. Thus we must note this distinction be tween human philosophy and the heavenly doctrine on this point. Not only is the source indicated clearly, but also the true and reliable comforts and remedies are offered to us.
A large number of frightful examples exists, and examples are set before us in order that we may be warned about our weakness and be humble about it and not rush into dangers and punishments because of our stupid lusts. And our daily life also hhows ex amples of this to the unlearned. Wise men have always argued about the reason why the nature of man, which is above other animate creatures, is subject to so many miseries; what is the source of death; why there are so many diseases; why is the destruction of our bodies in direct opposition to our plans and wishes; why there are terrible confusions among the nations, changes, ruinations, pestilences, people starving to death, cities buried by earthquakes, whole nations drowned in floods, great cities almost completely destroyed by sud den fires, and finally many other tragic events which befall us collectively or individually without our consent.
The principal cause of death and the many other calamities of the human race, the godly and the un godly, is the first stubborn disobedience of our first par ents, and this stigma has been passed down to their posterity. Thus it says in Rom. 5[:12], "Through sin death entered into the world, and death came upon all men, for all are guilty." If human nature had not been turned against God, that vigor would have remained which is life-giving and which had been bestowed by God upon human nature, nor would men have been subject to corruption like vegetables and flowers and the beasts of the field. But after man lost his integrity or wholeness, matter became weaker and began to be like the nature of vegetables and animais. And thus
God, who had been angered because of sin, allowed our wretched nature, which had been deprived of His gift, to fall into death, as it says in Ps. 90[:7], "We have been consumed by Your anger." And now all the ac cidental (automata) evils pertain to the same cause of our distress.
The philosophers look for the cause of these things in matter, which they say flows by an eternal force to other forms and seeks changes. From this idea
Aristotle constructed his dogma of the privation or dim inution in matter. I do not doubt that this idea was first developed by thinking of human death and miseries, and then by the incessant alternations of birth and death of all plants and animal life which we see. He
[Aristotle] believed that these incomprehensible alter nations took place, that things went and returned, be cause of the lacks or desires which are found in matter.
Then other philosophers came along and added their ideas, such as the concept of efficient causes or the concurrence of stars and their positions which pro duced variations in matter. Hence in Manilius [Astronomia I.Ill] we read, "And all things are moved by the god and face of the heavens, by the various stars in their movements in their predetermined order."
Following this corruption of our nature, there is a great darkness in our minds, also many errors, great weaknesses, many lusts, faulty emotions, and con tempt for the judgment of God. Thus Cain and Esau, even if they were born of upright parents and carefully brought up to be virtuous, were motivated by evil lusts, ambition, and jealousy. And daily the Greek saying [at tributed to Solon] is fulfilled by Absalom, Anthony, and countless others like them who dream that they shall obtain empires: "Driven by their desires, empty men count up empty possessions." Thus by the errors and evil desires which follow the corruption of our nature, we pile up evils, so that even the pagan poet exclaims as he laments the misery of mankind, "The earth is full
Thus the philosophers, in the midst of this thick darkness, ask the causes of human death. And what
Menander says is very true, namely, that accidental (automata) evils are infinite, yet even more numerous are self-willed (hekousia) evils, that is, the cause of these things is either an error in judgment or a will which is stubbornly opposed to right judgment. Thus Pompey by an error started a civil war, and Paris, by an act of his will, kidnapped Helen and thus brought a war upon Asia. A murderer brings punishment down upon himself