The Gospel, understood properly, is not the preaching of repentance.
The Gospel, understood properly, is not the preaching of repentance.
§ 109. So with the foregoing set forth, we will [now] show that the Gospel, understood properly and specifically, is not the preaching of repentance on the following bases. (1) The Gospel, understood properly, is the preaching of grace; therefore it is not the preaching of wrath.
(2) “The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith without the Law” (Rom. 1:17; 3:21). Therefore inasmuch as preaching about sin and good works pertains to the Law, it does not pertain to the Gospel in the proper sense of the word.
(3) The distinction between Law and Gospel must be carefully maintained. Yet the Gospel is turned into the Law if the preaching of repentance is attributed to it.
(4) It is not characteristic of a free [gratuita] promise to accuse or to terrify. Yet the Gospel is a free promise (Rom. 15:8; Gal. 3:16).
(5) The assertion that the Gospel, in its proper sense, is the preaching of repentance is quite close to Antinomian errors, it obscures Christ’s merit and benefits, and it deprives pious minds of true consolation. Here should be placed what was brought out earlier in § 15 and also the points made about this topic in the symbolic writings of our churches.8