Third, that salutary contrition comes from the Gospel.
Third, that salutary contrition comes from the Gospel.
§ 114. (III) “Salutary contrition does not come from the Law but from the Gospel; therefore surely the Gospel is the preaching of repentance.”
We respond. Not only a hypocritical contrition, which grieves because of the punishment, but also the true and serious contrition which grieves because of the sin and the offense against almighty God comes from the Law. Yet even though contrition, even if it is real and serious, is not yet salutary unless it comes to faith in Christ, through which contrite hearts are lifted up and kept from despair, nevertheless from this it cannot and should not be inferred that contrition such as this comes from the Gospel. In and of itself contrition is grief because of admitted sins and the perception of divine wrath. This grief stems not from the Gospel but from the Law, which indeed reveals the gravity of our sins and of God’s anger. The grief which springs from the preaching of the Law becomes salutary and the kind of repentance that is without regret through the faith which comes from the Gospel. “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret” (2 Cor. 7:10). Luther (Disput. 1 contra Antinomos, thesis 8): “Repentance which comes from the Law is only half or the beginning of repentance or is penitence by synecdoche, because it lacks good intent.” Thesis 9: “Even if it perseveres, it becomes the repentance of Cain, Saul, Judas, and all despairing people.” Thesis 21: “Thus, contrary to the teachers of despair, the Gospel begins to teach that repentance should be not merely despair.” Thesis 22: “But the penitent ought to take hope and thus ought to hate sin because of their love for God.”11