Fourth, that the Holy Spirit rebukes the world concerning sin (John 16[:8]).
Fourth, that the Holy Spirit rebukes the world concerning sin (John 16[:8]).
§ 115. (IV) “The Gospel is the ministry of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6). Yet in the New Testament the Holy Spirit rebukes the world because of sin (John 16:8). Therefore He does this through the Gospel.”
We respond. Not only the Gospel—that is, the preaching of grace and the public proclamation that the Messiah has come—pertains to the ministry of the Spirit in the New Testament but also the preaching of the Law. Therefore our Savior wished to repeat the Law solemnly and powerfully at the beginning of His ministry. He also committed the power of the Keys to the apostles and equipped them for the ministry not only of the Gospel but also of the Law. He explained that the office of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament was not one thing only—namely, to comfort and to preach grace—but was twofold: to reprove sin through the ministry of the Law and to remit sins through the preaching of the Gospel. All these things were included briefly by Christ when He commanded that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be preached in His name (Luke 24:47).