4. § 50. The Word.
§ 50. The Word.
. All salvation and blessedness flow to fallen man from grace as a virtue of God. Objectively that grace, with all its benefits, has appeared in Christ, who acquired and dispenses it in the way of the covenant. The communion of those who partake of Christ with all his benefits bears the name of church or congregation. Now the question arises whether Christ, in the communication of these his benefits, makes use of means or not. The mystics are all inclined to answer this question in the negative sense. Entirely in accordance with their dualistic starting-point, they cannot conceive grace as dependent on or bound to external signs and actions; God himself alone, or the Christ in us, the Spirit or the inward word or light works grace in man, and word and sacrament can do nothing other than indicate and depict that inward grace; the written word expresses what is written in the heart of every believer, and the sacraments set before the eyes outwardly what Christ has bestowed inwardly by his Spirit, cf. Moor I 359 sq. Mysticism in the end came to the same thing as rationalism, which, as expressed by Socinianism, Fock II 559 f. and Remonstrantism, Conf. en
Apol. Conf. c. 23. Limborch, Theol. V c. 66, saw in the sacraments only praecepta ceremonialia, signs of remembrance and acts of confession.
Directly opposite to that stands Romanism, which thinks grace absolutely bound to means. For according to Rome the [194] church, the visible church borne by the invisible Spirit, is the proper, true, perfect means of grace, the sacrament par excellence. For in it Christ continues his divinehuman life on earth, fulfils his prophetic, kingly and especially his priestly office, communicates the fullness of his grace and truth; the church is Christ on earth, Christ, as he, after his completed work of redemption, has entered into the development of the human race bound to space and time, Oswald,
Die dogm. Lehre v. d. h. Sakr. der Kath. Kirche I2 8. And that grace, which Christ has merited and communicated to his church, serves above all to raise man from the natural to the supernatural order; it is a gratia elevans, a supernatural, physical power, which is poured into natural man by the priest in the sacrament ex opere operato, part III 444. As in Christ the divine and the human nature, in the church the invisible Spirit and the visible institute, so in the sacrament the spiritual grace and the visible sign are inseparably connected with one another; outside Christ, outside the church, outside the priest, outside the sacrament there is therefore no salvation. It is so, Christ continues in the church not only his priestly, but also his prophetic and kingly office. But the doctrine of Christ proclaimed in the church serves only to awaken faith, i.e. assent, and the discipline maintained in the church serves only to cultivate obedience to the moral law; faith and obedience, however, are neither of them grace itself, but its preparation and its fruit,
Oswald t. a. p. 10. The word of God, which moreover with Rome is contained in Scripture and tradition and is conceived as a law, therefore has only a praeparatory, paedagogical significance, and faith is only one of the
seven praeparationes ad gratiam, part III 442. The sacrament handed out by the priest is the proper means of grace, through which vera justitia vel incipit, vel coepta augetur, vel amissa reparatur, Trid. sess. 7 prooem.
Between this mystical disparagement and magical overestimation of the means of grace the Reformation took its position and brought about a great change in place and character of church, office and means of grace. For according to the Reformation Christ is the perfect Saviour, the only
Mediator of God and of men, and the church [195] is in the first place communio sanctorum, not mediatrix of salvation, but assembly of believers, who live in communion with Christ. Indeed Christ has instituted offices in that congregation, but all those offices are no sacerdotium but a ministerium, absolutely bound to Christ's word and having no other power than the power of that word. The relation of Scripture and church is thus in Protestantism a wholly different one than in Romanism, part I 367. With Rome the church precedes Scripture, the church is not built on Scripture but Scripture has proceeded from the church, Scripture indeed needs the church but the church does not need Scripture. But the Reformation placed the church again on the ground of Scripture, and Scripture again high above the church. Not the church, but Scripture, the word of God became the means of grace par excellence; even the sacrament was subordinated to the word and without the word had absolutely no significance and power. And now that word was indeed, according to the institution of Christ, administered in the midst of the congregation by the teacher; but that nevertheless did not take away that that word was given into everyone's hand, that it was clear for each and every one who investigated it desiring salvation, that it did its work, not only when it was proclaimed publicly, but also when it was examined and read at home. Thus the Christian man, who accepted that
word not merely with a historical faith but with trust of the heart, was freed from priestly domination; there stood between him and Christ no one or nothing; through faith he had the whole salvation; and in the sacrament he received the sign and seal thereof. Thus the Reformation modified the Roman doctrine of the means of grace. But on the other hand there threatened the danger of mysticism, which rejected the means of grace entirely and could adduce all kinds of grounds for that. For God's omnipotence might not be bound by such external means; he was sovereign and free and could, but yet did not need to make use of such means for the distribution of the treasures of grace. That grace was also no materielles
Etwas, no physical power, no donum superadditum, no elevatio naturae humanae, but it consisted chiefly in restoration into the favour of God, in the forgiveness of sins, in renewal after his image. Therefore [196] it also could not be enclosed in a sensible sign as in a vessel nor also be dispensed by the minister. Christ was and remained the only one who, after he had acquired it, could also dispense it. He appointed no substitute on earth and instituted no priest, but he himself remained exercising from heaven his prophetic, priestly and kingly office; the sign he might entrust to his servant, but he himself nevertheless remained the only dispenser of the thing signified. And did that not also appear in reality? Thousands received every day the sign of word and sacrament, without becoming partakers of grace; and conversely there died daily thousands of little children of the covenant, who never received a means of grace and concerning whose salvation nevertheless believers, on the ground of God's word, were not permitted to doubt. Frightened by these objections, the Lutherans have in part returned upon their steps, and have again bound grace absolutely to the means, introduced emergency baptism, regarded baptism as the washing
away of sins itself, denied faith to the little children. And also in the Reformed churches, particularly in the Anglican, this same Romanizing tendency has repeatedly risen above and come to dominion. But originally the Reformation took another standpoint. One could not limit the omnipotence and the freedom of God; he could also without external means glorify his grace in the heart of sinners; if he made use therein of men and signs, that was to be ascribed only to his good pleasure, to his great love and grace. Therefore Zwingli taught that God had even elected heathens, who had never heard of the gospel, regenerated them and led them to heavenly salvation. And even if the other Reformers did not go so far, they nevertheless had to concede, especially in the case of children of the covenant dying early, that God also without word or sacrament could regenerate and save by the H. Spirit alone, Calvin, Inst. IV 16, 17. 18. Yet they presented these cases as exceptions and held fast as a rule that word and sacrament for those who grew up were the ordinary means by which God gave his Spirit and communicated his grace. The working of regeneration and faith through the preaching of the Word is the ordinaria
Domini oeconomia et dispensatio, quam tenere in vocandis suis solet, Calvin, IV 1, 5. [197] 16, 19, cf. Conf. Belg. 24. Cat. Heid. 64. Conf. Helv.
II 18. Conf. Westm. c. 10. 14. Form. Conc. Sol. Decl. 11, 27: Dominus non solet homines immediate vocare, Gerhard, Loc. XX 121, cf. above p. 17.
This answer does not satisfy, because the number of children who are saved without means of grace is much greater than is generally supposed, and cannot be booked as an exception to the rule; and also because in those who grow up, regeneration by the H. Spirit, if it does not always precede baptism, the hearing of the word of God and faith, can nevertheless certainly precede them. Hence, among the Lutherans, more and more grace
was bound to the means, and specifically regeneration to baptism, and among the Reformed, who conceived the sacraments as signs and seals of bestowed grace, regeneration was thought of as preceding baptism, so that the means of grace did not serve to regenerate, but to bring the regenerated to faith and conversion. Yet this later development also was not free from one-sidedness. That among the Lutherans led back to Rome, and that among the Reformed ran the danger of considering word, sacrament, church and office, yes even the person and the work of Christ for the acquisition and application of salvation, superfluous and necessary only for the manifestation of life and truth outwardly in the world. But thus the significance of the means of grace is weakened and their concept all too much delimited. For the means of grace of word and sacrament do not stand by themselves but are closely connected with church and office, with Christ's person and work. One can indeed ask whether God could not regenerate and save without Christ and forgive sins without satisfaction.
But such questions lead to nothing; we have to rest in the good pleasure of God, that he dispenses salvation in no other way than in and through Christ.
He is the Mediator of God and of men, the only name, under heaven given to men for salvation. But further it has likewise been God's good pleasure to dispense salvation in no other way than through and in the congregation of Christ. Whether God, as Zwingli taught, also caused his electing grace to work among the heathens, can here, since this in any case, according to the confession of all Christian churches, counts as an exception, remain undiscussed. [198] Rule is, that God voluntarily binds the distribution of his grace to the congregation of Christ. The church is the communion and thereby also the mother of believers. God establishes his covenant with the parents and in them with their children. He dispenses his benefits in the way
of the covenant. In that sense it is correct that the church as communion of saints is the great means of grace, of which Christ, according to his good pleasure, makes use to gather his elect from the beginning to the end of the world. The church in this sense indeed very definitely intends the salus electorum; that is not its only reason for existence; it also serves for the perfecting of the saints, for the building up of the body of Christ, for the preaching of the gospel to all creatures, for the glorification of God. But it is then nevertheless also there, in order here on earth to form that holy circle, within which Christ communicates all his benefits, also those of regeneration. In order that it might be able to do that, he communicated his
Spirit to it, poured out all kinds of gifts into it, instituted the offices in it, entrusted to it the administration of word and sacrament. And these too are all means which Christ employs to bring those given to him by the Father and to lead them to heavenly salvation. Yes, the whole guidance of life with its alternations of prosperity and adversity is in the hand of the H. Spirit many times a means to bring the elect to Christ or into closer communion with him. Indeed the concept of means of grace can be taken still more broadly, so that it also includes what on our side is necessary in order to enjoy the benefits of the covenant for the first time and continually, such as faith, conversion, struggle against sin, prayer, cf. Calvin, Inst. IV. Helv. II art. 16. Westm. 14, 1. Schleiermacher, Chr. Gl. § 127. Now it does not deserve recommendation to include all this under the media gratiae. For Christ is not a means but mediator, acquirer and applier of salvation. The church is no means of grace alongside word and sacrament, for all the power entrusted to it consists in nothing other than in the administration of both; church and office give no grace in themselves but only through word and sacrament. And faith, conversion, prayer are rather fruits than means of
grace; they are no objective institutions but subjective conditions to possess and enjoy the other benefits of the covenant. [199] In the strict sense only word and sacrament are to be regarded as means of grace, i.e. as external, sensible actions and signs, which Christ has bestowed on his church and to which he has bound the communication of his grace. But nevertheless these may not for a moment be detached from the person and the work of Christ, nor also from the church as organism and as institute. Christ brings his own in many ways, and he can do this, because he alone, as the acquirer, so also is and remains the dispenser of grace. He therefore does it without or through the word and sacrament; but he nevertheless always does it through the inward calling of that Spirit, whom he bestowed on the congregation; in the communion of that church, which he charged to preach the gospel to all creatures; in the way of that covenant, which received the gospel as content and the sacrament as sign and seal. Cf. art. Gnadenmittel in Herzog1.
Lange, Dogm. § 109. Philippi, Kirchl. Gl. V 2 S. 1 f. Nitzsch, Ev. Dogm.
548. Harless und Harnack, Die kirchl.-relig. Bedeutung der reinen Lehre v. d. Gnadenmitteln 1869. Rohnert, Die Lehre v. d. Gnadenmitteln, Leipzig
1886. Lipsius, Dogm. § 783 f. Frank, Chr. Wahrheit II 298 f. Oosterzee, Chr. Dogm. § 135.
2. The first and principal means of grace is the word of God. Lutherans and the Reformed agree with one another in this. Yet the latter do not discuss the word of God under the media gratiae, because they have usually already treated of it earlier in dogmatics in a separate chapter, Calvin, Inst.
II 7-9. Musculus, Loci Comm. § 11. 20. Junius, Theses Theol. § 23. 24.
Synopsis pur. theol. disp. 18. 22, or also concerning the law with the covenant of works, and concerning the gospel with the covenant of grace,
Marck, Med. Theol. c. 11. 17. This peculiar method of treatment gives no
right to the assertion that the Reformed have not acknowledged the word of God as a means of grace, for time and again they express the contrary, cf. e.g. Conf. Belg. 24. Cat. Heid. qu. 65. But it may indeed be inferred from it, that the word of God for the Reformed had a much richer significance than that it served only, in the narrower sense of the word, as a means of grace.
The word of God is also distinguished from the sacrament in this, that the latter serves only for the strengthening of faith [200] and thus has a place only in the midst of the congregation. But the word of God, both as law and as gospel, is revelation of the will of God, is the promulgation of the covenant of works and of grace, concerns all men and creatures, and has a universal significance. The sacrament can be administered only by the lawfully called minister in the assembly of believers, but the word of God also has an existence and place outside it and then too exercises its manifold operation. As a means of grace in the proper sense alongside the sacrament, the word of God comes into consideration only insofar as it is publicly preached by the teacher; upon the word preached in God's name and by virtue of his mission all the emphasis then falls. But as a rule men have already long come into contact with that word in the family, at school, through address or reading, before they heard it publicly proclaimed in the congregation. The public ministry of the word therefore by no means comprises all the power that proceeds from the word; it does indeed also serve to work faith in those who still lack it, but yet much more to strengthen it among believers in their assembly. In a Christian society the word of God comes to man in all sorts of ways, in all sorts of forms, from all sorts of sides, and it comes to him from his earliest youth onward. Yes,
God in the inward calling often brings that word, already before consciousness has awakened, to the hearts of the children, in order to
regenerate and sanctify them, just as he in every man from his first existence onward writes the work of the law in his heart and implants the semen religionis in him. Therefore here a distinction is indeed to be made between word of God and Scripture. Not in the sense as if the word of God were to be found only in Scripture and Scripture itself were not; but in this other sense, that the word of God by no means always and even not in most cases comes to us as Scripture, in the form of Scripture, but that it, taken up from Scripture into the consciousness of the congregation, from there again goes out in the form of admonition and address, upbringing and instruction, book and writing, tract and discourse to the most diverse people and does its work. And always God stands behind that word; he is the one who causes it to go out to men in those different forms and thus calls them to conversion and life. In Scripture, accordingly, the expression [201] word of God is never identical with Scripture, although Scripture may without doubt be called by us God's word. A single passage may be pointed out where the expression word of God is applied to a portion of Holy Scripture, e.g. to the written law. But otherwise word of God in Scripture is never the same as Scripture, which is already impossible for this reason as well, that Scripture was then not yet complete. The expression word of God has manifold meanings in Scripture and can denote the power of God, by which he creates and sustains the world, or his revelation to the prophets, or the content of the revelation or the gospel that was proclaimed by the apostles, cf. part I 338. But always it is a word of God, i.e. never a sound only but a power, no mere communication but at the same time an accomplishment of his will, Jes. 55:11. By the word God creates and sustains the world, Gen.
1:3, Ps. 33:6, 148:5, Jes. 48:13, Rom. 4:17, 2 Cor. 4:6, Hebr. 1:3, 11:3, Jesus stills the sea, Mk. 4:39, heals the sick, Mt. 8:16, casts out the devils,
9:6, raises the dead, Luk. 7:14, 8:54, Joh. 5:25, 28, 11:43 etc. By the word he also works in the moral and spiritual domain.
3. The word which God employs to make known and to accomplish his will in the moral and spiritual sphere is to be distinguished into law and gospel. When Jesus appears on earth, to announce the coming of the kingdom promised in the O. T., Mk. 1:15, to bring to publicans and sinners, to the poor and prisoners, the gospel of forgiveness and of salvation, Mt.
5:1v, 11:5, 28-30, Luk. 4:18, 19, 19:10 etc., He naturally comes into conflict with the Pharisaic, nomistic conception of religion which prevailed in his time. Yet although He rejects the human ordinances of the ancients, Mt.
5:21v., 15:9, and although He has another conception of murder, Mt. 5:16, adultery, 5:27, oath, 5:33, fasting, 6:16, divorce, Mt. 19:9, sabbath, Mk.
2:27; He maintains the whole law, also in its ceremonial constituent parts, Mt. 5:23, 24, 17:24-27, 23:2, 3, 23, Mk. 1:44, 11:16; He explains it in its spiritual sense, Mt. 5-7, lays the emphasis on its ethical content, regards love to God and the neighbour as its sum, Mt. 7:12, 9:13, 12:7, Mk. 7:15,
12:28-34 and requires [202] another, more abundant righteousness than that of the Pharisees, Mt. 5:20. He himself, although more than the temple, Mt.
12:6, has therefore also placed himself under the law, Mt. 3:15, and has come to fulfil the law and the prophets, 5:17. And therefore He knows that, although He never urges the abolition of the law, his disciples are inwardly free from the law, Mt. 17:26, that his church is founded not on the law but on the confession of his Messiahship, Mt. 16:18, that in his blood a new covenant is established, Mt. 26:28, that in one word the new wine also demands new wineskins, Mt. 9:17, and the days of temple and people and law are numbered, Mk. 13:2. Jesus does not want a revolutionary overthrow of the legal dispensation of the O. Covenant, but a reformation and renewal,
which is of itself born out of its complete fulfilment, cf. deel III 217. And thus it has also in fact proceeded. The church at Jerusalem still held, in the first period, to temple and law, Hd. 2:46, 3:1, 10:14, 21:20, 22:12. But a new conception was preparing itself. With the conversion of the Gentiles the question came to the fore concerning the significance of the Mosaic law.
And Paul was the first who fully understood that in the death of Christ the handwriting of the law had been wiped out, Col. 2:14. By νομος Paul understands, unless a further determination indicates otherwise, e.g. Rom.
3:27, Gal. 6:2, always the Mosaic law, the whole thora, including also the ceremonial commandments, Rom. 9:4, Gal. 2:12, 4:10, 5:3, Phil. 3:5, 6.
And he regards that law not, like the epistle to the Hebrews, as an imperfect, preparatory, Old-Testament dispensation of the covenant of grace, which disappears when the high priest and surety of the better covenant has come, but as revelation of God's will, as religious-ethical demand and requirement, as regulation willed by God of the relation between Him and man. And of this law, thus conceived, Paul now teaches that it is indeed holy and good, and bestowed by God, Rom. 2:18, 7:22, 25,
9:4, 2 Cor. 3:3, 7, but instead of, as the Pharisees asserted, being able to bestow righteousness, it is powerless through the flesh, Rom. 8:3, incites desire, 7:7, 8, increases the transgression, 5:20, Gal. 3:19, works wrath, curse and death, Rom. 4:15, 2 Cor. 3:6, Gal. 3:10 and has only for a time, for pedagogical reasons, come in between, Rom. 5:20, [203] Gal. 3:19, 24,
4:2, 3. Therefore that law has now also in Christ, the seed of the promise, reached its end, Rom. 10:4; the believer is free from the law, Gal. 4:26v.,
5:1, because he has been redeemed by Christ from the curse of the law, Gal.
3:13, 4:5, and has become partaker of the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of freedom, Rom. 8:15, 2 Cor. 3:16, 17, Gal. 5:18. This freedom of faith,
however, does not abolish the law but confirms it, Rom. 3:31, because its requirement is precisely fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit,
8:4. For that Spirit renews the believers, so that they have a delight in God's law according to the inward man and examine what God's holy will is,
Rom. 7:22, 12:2, Ef. 5:10, Phil. 1:10, while they are urged to do God's will by all manner of motives, the great mercy of God, the example of Christ, the dear price for which they have been bought, the communion of the H.
Spirit etc. Cf. on the law in the N. T. Weiss, Bibl. Theol. Holtzmann Neut.
Theol. I 130 f. II 22 f. L. Jacob, Jesu Stellung zum mos. Gesetz, Gött. 1893.
Grafe, Die Paulin. Lehre v. Gesetz2, Leipzig Mohr 1893. Zehnpfund, Das Gesetz in den paulin. Briefen, Neue Kirchl. Zeits. 1897 S. 384-419. Art. νομος bij Cremer enz.
4. This antithesis between law and gospel was, in the Christian church, on the one side, by antinomianism in its various forms of Gnosticism,
Manichaeism, Paulicianism, Anabaptism, Hattemism etc., further sharpened and made into an irreconcilable conflict. The whole O. T. was derived from a lower God, from an angry, jealous, vengeful God, and was now replaced by the wholly different revelation of the God of love, of the Father of Christ. On the other side the antithesis between law and gospel was, by nomism in its various forms of Pelagianism, Semi-pelagianism, Romanism,
Socinianism, Rationalism etc., weakened and erased. Law and gospel were already by the church fathers and later by scholastic and Roman theologians identified with Old and New Testament and then not set antithetically over against each other but regarded as a lower and higher revelation of God's will. Law and gospel do not differ in this, that the former only demands and the latter only [204] promises, for both contain commandments, threats and promises; mysteria, promissiones, praecepta; res credendae, sperandae en
faciendae; not only Moses, also Christ was legislator. But in all this the gospel of the N. T., the lex nova, far surpasses the law of the O. T., the lex vetus; the mysteries (trinity, incarnation, satisfaction etc.) are in the N. T. revealed much more clearly, the promises are much richer in content and comprise especially spiritual and eternal goods, the laws are much more glorious and lighter, since ceremonial and civil laws have been abolished and replaced by a few ceremonies. Further, the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law was temporary and intended for one people; the gospel is eternal and must be brought to all peoples. The law was imperfect, a shadow and example, the gospel is perfect and the body of the goods themselves. The law fostered fear and servitude, the gospel awakens love and freedom. The law could not justify in the full sense, it gave no wealth of grace, it granted no eternal salvation, but the gospel grants in the sacrament the power of grace, which enables one to fulfill God's commandments and to acquire eternal life. In one word, the law is the imperfect gospel, the gospel the perfect law; the gospel lay enclosed in the law as arbor in semine, as granum in spica, cf. deel III 197 and further Suicerus s. v. νομος en εὐαγγελιον. Augustinus, de civ. VIII 11.
In ev. Joh. tract. 30. de spir. et litt. 19. 20. Lombardus, Sent. III dist. 25. 40.
Thomas, S. Theol. III qu. 106-108. Conc. Trid. VI can. 19-21. Bellarminus, de Justif. IV c. 2 sq. etc. Insofar now as the Oldand the New-testamentary dispensation of the covenant of grace, according to its striking form, can on the precedent of Holy Scripture be designated with the name of law and gospel, the distinction made by Rome between the two is, though not in all parts yet in the main, to be approved. But Rome identified Old and New
Covenant with law and gospel entirely, failed to recognize the gospel in the Old and the law in the N. Test., conceived the whole doctrine proclaimed by
Christ and the apostles as gospel, included therein not only promises, but also laws and threats, and thus made the gospel into a second law. The Pauline antithesis of law and [205] gospel was erased. For although it is the case that Paul under the law understands the whole dispensation of the O.
T., he then considers it precisely in its legal form and sets it thus directly over against the gospel. And also when he does that, he acknowledges that the legal dispensation has in no way nullified the promise that had already been made to Abraham, Gal. 3:17, 21, that also in the days of the O. V. the gospel was proclaimed, Gal. 3:8, that also then righteousness was obtained from and through faith, Rom. 4:11, 12, 11:32, Gal. 3:6, 7. Of the law as law, abstracted from the promise, to which it in the O. T. had been made subservient, Paul asserts that it cannot justify, that it increases sin, that it is a ministry of condemnation and precisely thereby prepares the fulfillment of the promise and makes another righteousness, namely the righteousness of God in Christ through faith, necessary. And this antithesis of law and gospel was again perceived by the Reformation. Indeed there occur statements among the church fathers which also testify to a better insight, cf. citations in Suicerus, t. a. p., in Bibliotheca studii theol. ex plerisque Doctorum prisci seculi monumentis collecta, apud Is. Crispinum 1565 p. 195-216. Gerhard,
Loc. XIV 16. But it does not come to clarity, because they always again confuse the distinction between law and gospel with that between Old and New Covenant. But the Reformers, on the one hand holding fast the unity of the covenant of grace in its two dispensations against the Anabaptists, have on the other hand taken into view the sharp contrast of law and gospel and thereby restored the peculiar character of the Christian religion as religion of grace. For although it is the case that law and gospel in a broader sense can be used for the old and new dispensation of the covenant of grace,
in their proper meaning they nevertheless denote two revelations of God's will, which essentially differ from each other. The law too is God's will,
Rom. 2:18, 20, holy and wise and good, spiritual, Rom. 7:12, 14, 12:10, giving life to whoever keeps it, Rom. 2:13, 3:12; but it has become powerless through sin, does not justify but incites desire, increases sin, works wrath, kills and curses and condemns, Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:20, 7:5, 8,
9, 13, 2 Cor. 3:6v., Gal. 3:10, 13, 19. And over against that stands the gospel of Christ, the εὐαγγελιον, [206] which contains nothing less than the fulfillment of the Old-test. ἐπαγγελια, Mk. 1:15, Hd. 13:32, Ef. 3:6, which comes to us from God's side, Rom. 1:1, 2, 2 Cor. 11: 7, has Christ as its content, Rom. 1:3, Ef. 3:6 and brings nothing other than grace, Hd. 20:24, reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5:18, forgiveness, Rom. 4:3-8, righteousness, Rom.
3:21, 22, peace, Ef. 6:15, freedom, Gal. 5:13, life, Rom. 1:17, Phil. 2:16 etc.
As demand and gift, as command and promise, as sin and grace, as sickness and healing, as death and life, law and gospel stand here over against each other. Although they agree in that they both have God as author, both speak of one and the same perfect righteousness, both are directed to man in order to bring him to eternal life, they nevertheless differ in that the law proceeds from God's holiness, the gospel from God's grace; that the law is known by nature, the gospel only by special revelation; that the law demands perfect righteousness and the gospel grants it; that the law leads through works to eternal life and the gospel causes works to proceed from the eternal life granted in faith; that the law now condemns man and the gospel acquits him; that the law is directed to all men and the gospel only to those who live under it etc. On the occasion of this distinction, there even arose difference over whether the preaching of faith and repentance, which nevertheless seemed a condition and demand, did belong to the gospel and
not rather, with Flacius, Gerhard, Quenstedt, Voetius, Witsius, Coccejus, Moor and others, had to be reckoned to the law. And indeed in the strictest sense there are in the gospel no demands and conditions, but only promises and gifts; faith and repentance are just as much as justification etc. benefits of the covenant of grace. But thus the gospel, concretely, never occurs; it is in practice always connected with the law and is therefore through the whole of Scripture always interwoven with the law. The gospel always presupposes the law, and also needs it in the administration. For it is brought to rational and moral men, who are for themselves responsible to God and therefore must be called to faith and repentance. The demanding, calling form in which the gospel appears is borrowed from the law; every man is not first by the gospel but is by nature [207] obligated by the law to believe God on his word and thus also to accept the gospel, in which He speaks to man. Therefore the gospel from the outset lays claim to all men, binds it in their conscience, for that God who speaks in the gospel is no other than he who has made himself known to them in his law. Faith and repentance are therefore demanded of man in the name of God's law, by virtue of the relation in which man as a rational creature stands to God; and that demand is directed not only to elect and regenerate persons, but to all men without distinction. But they themselves are nevertheless content of the gospel, not operations or fruits of the law. For the law indeed demands faith in God in general, but not that special faith which is directed to Christ, and the law can indeed work μεταμελεια, poenitentia but no μετανοια, resipiscentia, which rather is fruit of faith. And precisely because faith and repentance, although man is by nature obligated to them by the law, are content of the gospel, there can be talk of a law, of a command, of an obedience of faith, Rom. 1:5, 3:27, 1 Joh. 3:23. of being disobedient to and
being judged according to the gospel, Rom. 2:16, 10:16 etc. Law and gospel, considered in concreto, do not differ so much in that the law always appears in commanding and the gospel in promising form, for the law also has promises, and the gospel admonitions and obligations. But they differ especially in content: the law demands that man work out his own righteousness and the gospel invites him to renounce all self-righteousness and to accept that of Christ and to that end even grants the gift of faith. And in that relation law and gospel stand not only before and at the beginning of conversion; but in that relation they remain standing through the whole
Christian life, until death. The Lutherans have almost only an eye for the accusing, condemning working of the law and therefore know no higher blessedness than deliverance from the law. The law is only necessary because of sin. In the perfect state there is no law. God is free from the law;
Christ was absolutely not for himself subject to the law; the believer is no longer under the law. The Lutherans do indeed speak of a threefold usus of the law, not only of a usus politicus (civilis), to curb sin, [208] and a usus paedagogicus, to awaken knowledge of sin, but also of a usus didacticus, to be for the believer a rule of life. But this last usus is nevertheless solely and only therefore necessary, because and insofar as believers still remain sinners and must be held in check by the law and led to continual knowledge of sin. In itself, with faith and grace the law ceases and loses all its significance. But the Reformed thought quite differently about it. The usus politicus and the usus paedagogicus of the law have only accidentally become necessary through sin; even if these fall away, the principal usus, the usus didacticus, normativus remains. The law is after all expression of God's being; Christ as man was of himself for himself subject to the law;
Adam before the fall had the law written in his heart; in the believer it is
again engraved on the tables of his heart by the H. Spirit; and in heaven all will walk according to the Lord's law. The gospel is temporary but the law is eternal and is precisely restored by the gospel. The freedom from the law therefore does not consist in this, that the Christian no longer has anything to do with that law, but it is located herein, that the law can no longer demand anything of the Christian as condition of salvation, can no longer condemn and damn him. But otherwise he has a delight in the law of God according to the inner man and meditates on it day and night. And therefore that law must always in the midst of the congregation, in connection with the gospel, be proclaimed. Law and gospel, the whole word, the full counsel of God is content of preaching. A much broader place than in the doctrine of misery does the law occupy among the Reformed in the doctrine of gratitude. Cf. Luther bij Köstlin I 157 f. II 237 f. 496 f. Melanchton, Loci
Comm. de evangelio. Symb. Bücher, ed. Müller S. 87. 181. 533. 633.
Gerhard, Loc. XII-XIV. Quenstedt, Theol. IV 1-72. Hollaz, Ex. 996-1043.
Schmid, Dogm. d. ev. luth. K. § 52. Heppe, Dogm. d. d. Prot. II 225-262.
Schneckenburger, Vergl. Darst. I 127 f. Frank, Dogm. Studien 1892 S. 104135. Zwingli, in mijne Ethiek van Zwingli 47v. 76v. Calvijn, Inst. II 7-9.
Zanchius, Op. VIII 509. Junius, Theses Theol. 23. 24. Ursinus, Explic. Cat. qu. 19. 92. Synopsis pur. theol. disp. 18 en 22. Voetius, Disp. IV 17. V 283.
Witsius, Oec. foed. III 1. Misc. Sacr. II 840-848. [209] Coccejus, de foedere IV 72. VI 179. Moor III 377 sq. Vitringa VI 252-292 etc.
5. Apart from the relation of law and gospel, there is in Christian theology also an important difference concerning the power, the efficacia, of the word of God and thus concerning the relation of word and Spirit. Here too, as extremes on the left and on the right stand nomism and antinomism.
Nomism, which runs on from Judaism through Pelagianism into more
recent rationalism, is satisfied with an external calling, with an intellectual, moral, or aesthetic working of the word, and deems a special, supernatural power of the H. Spirit superfluous in addition, cf. deel III 434v. 451v. Rome too clearly shows itself to be related to this direction, insofar as it weakens the gratia praeveniens, ascribes to faith only the preparatory meaning of a historical assent, more and more takes the side of Molinism and Congruism, and has the proper, supernatural grace and the indwelling of the H. Spirit first communicated through the sacrament, cf. deel III 439-444. The opposite extreme is taken by antinomism, which first sets itself against the law and the Old Testament but then soon against all external word and against all objective, historical mediation of salvation, and expects everything from the working of the H. Spirit, from the Christ in us, from the internal word and the internal light. In the Anabaptism of Schwencfeld,
Franck, Denck e. a. this direction expressed itself most clearly on this point.
External and internal word stand to each other as body and soul, death and life, earth and heaven, flesh and spirit, shell and kernel, foam and silver, image and truth, sheath and sword, lantern and light, manger and Christ, nature and God, creature and Creator. Knowledge of the word therefore in itself gives nothing and leaves us cold and dead. In order to understand it, the internal word is already needed beforehand. Just as words alone can teach us only when we know the things, so Scripture then teaches us something only if Christ already dwells inwardly in our heart. The word is but a sign, a shadow, image, symbol and only expresses, only points out, only recalls what is written inwardly in our heart. The internal word thus
[210] precedes, stands higher than Scripture, which is but a paper word and moreover also obscure and full of contradictions. And that internal word is nothing other than God or Christ or the H. Spirit himself, who is one in all
men, and is the whole full truth. In order to find God and to know the truth, we therefore do not have to go outside ourselves, to Scripture or the historical Christ; but descending into ourselves, withdrawing ourselves from the world, killing understanding and will and passively waiting for the internal, immediate revelation, we find God, we live in his fellowship and are blessed in his contemplation. Cf. above bl. 193 and further also
Cloppenburg, Op. II 200. Hoornbeek, Summa Controv. lib. V. Episcopius, Op. I 527. Quenstedt, Theol. I 169. Maronier, The internal word, Amst.
1890. A. Hegler, Geist und Wort bei Seb. Franck, Freiburg 1892. In fact this Anabaptism was a revival of the pantheistic mysticism, which in the finite sees an eternally changing form of appearance of the infinite and therefore seeks fellowship with God in the depth of feeling, where God and man are one. Over against these two directions of nomism and antinomism the Reformers maintained in common that the word alone is insufficient to bring to faith and conversion, that the H. Spirit can indeed work but ordinarily nevertheless does not work without the word, and that therefore word and Spirit in the application of the salvation of Christ to man go together with each other. Between Lutherans and Reformed there was at first no difference about this. The former too taught that the H. Spirit, although working through word and sacraments as his instruments, nevertheless only by a special power works and can work faith, and that He does that ubi et quando visum est, Symb. B. ed. Müller S. 39. 455. 456.
471. 524. 601. 712. 720. cf. Luther bij Köstlin II 494. Otto, Geist u. Wort nach Luther, Gött. 1898. Melanchton, Ex. ordin. C. R. 23, 15, 18, 37. Loci, ib. 21, 761, 765, and others, Flacius, Chemniz, Hunnius, Hutter, Gerhard bij
J, Müller, Das Verhältniss zw. der Wirksamkeit des H. Geistes u. d.
Gnadenmittel des göttl. Wortes, Dogm. Abh. 1870 S. 155 f. But yet there
was from the outset already some difference. While the Reformed usually present it thus, that the H. Spirit joins himself with the word, cum verbo, the Lutherans [211] prefer to express themselves thus and lay ever more strongly the emphasis on it, that the H. Spirit works through the word as his instrument, per verbum. And while the Reformed always made a distinction between the ordinary and extraordinary manner in which God worked grace in the heart, the Lutherans, out of fear of the Anabaptists, omitted the extraordinary manner more and more and said, Deum nemini spiritum vel gratiam suam largiri nisi per verbum et cum verbo externo et praecedente,
Smalc. III 8, or as Luther repeatedly said: Deus interna non dat nisi per externa. And when now in 1621 the Danzig preacher Hermann Rathmann †
1628 published a writing in which he taught that the word alone had no power to convert man, unless the H. Spirit with his grace came with it,
Herzog2 12, 506, then almost all Lutheran theologians rose up against him and developed as the genuine Lutheran doctrine that the word of God possesses in itself the power of the H. Spirit unto conversion, that that power has been placed in it by divine ordinance and is so inseparably connected with it, that it is in the word even still ante et extra omnem usum legitimum, just as the hand of man, even if it does not work, nevertheless always retains the vis operandi, Quenstedt, Theol. I 169. Hollaz, Ex. 992.
Buddeus, Inst. theol. 110. Schmid, Dogm. d. ev. luth. K. § 51. Philippi, Kirchl. Gl. V 2 S. 29 f.
Now the word, indeed, which goes forth from God's mouth, is always a power that accomplishes that for which God sends it. That is the case in the natural realm in creation and preservation; that is also the case on moral and spiritual ground in the work of re-creation. And this applies not only to the gospel but also to the law. Paul does indeed say of the Old Test. legal
dispensation that το γραμμα ἀποκτεννει, 2 Cor. 3:6, but by that he expresses as strongly as possible precisely that it is no dead letter; rather, it is so powerful that it works sin, wrath, curse, and death; ὁ νομος ὀργην κατεργαζεται, Rom. 4:15, is δυναμις της ἁμαρτιας, 1 Cor. 15:56, διακονια της κατακρισεως, του θανατου, 2 Cor. 3:7, 9. And over against that now stands the gospel as a δυναμις θεο εἰς σωτηριαν, Rom. 1:16, 1 Cor. 1:18,
2:4, 5, 15:2, Ef. 1:13; it is, because it is not a human but God's word, Hd.
4:29, 1 Thess. 2:13, living and abiding, 1 Petr. 1:25, living and powerful, Hebr. 4:12, spirit and life, Joh. 6:63, a light that shines in a dark [212] place,
2 Petr. 1:19, a seed that is sown in the hearts, Mt. 13:3, grows up and is multiplied, Hd. 12:24, is of great value, even though those who plant and water it are nothing, 1 Cor. 3:7, a sharp two-edged sword that penetrates into the innermost being of man and judges all his thoughts and deliberations, Hebr. 4:12. And therefore it is not empty and vain, but it works, ἐνεργειται, in those who believe, 1 Thess. 2:13; and the works that it brings about are regeneration, 1 Cor. 4:15, Joh. 1:18, 1 Petr. 1:23, faith,
Rom. 10:17, illumination, 2 Cor. 4:4-6, Ef. 3:9, 5:14, 1 Tim. 1:20, instruction, correction, consolation, etc., 1 Cor. 14:3, 2 Tim. 3:15. Even in those who perish, the gospel exercises its operation; it is to them for a fall, for an offense and folly, for a stone at which they stumble, for an odor of death unto death, Luk. 2:34, Rom. 9:32, 1 Cor. 2:23, 2 Cor. 2:16, 1 Petr. 2:8.
Over against spiritualism, this power of the word of God, and specifically of the gospel, must be maintained with the Lutherans in its full, rich significance. The antithesis of the inward and outward, of the spiritual and the material, of eternity and time, of essence and form, etc., originates from a false philosophy and is in conflict with Scripture. God is the Creator of heaven but also of earth, of both soul and body, of spirit and matter
together. And therefore the word too is no empty sound, no void sign, no cold symbol; but every word, even of man, is a power, greater and more enduring than the power of the sword; there is thought, spirit, soul, life in it.
If this holds for the word in general, how much more for the word that goes forth from God's mouth and is spoken by Him? That is a word that creates and preserves, judges and kills, re-creates and renews, always exerts its operation and never returns empty. With a human word it makes a great difference whether it is written or printed, is read or is heard; and with the spoken word, again, the form and delivery are of the greatest significance.
The power of the human word also depends on the degree to which someone has laid his heart, his soul into it, on the distance that exists between the person and his word. But with God it is different. It is always
His word; He is always present with it; [213] He continually bears it by His almighty and omnipresent power; it is always He Himself who, in whatever form and by whatever means, brings it to men and calls them by it.
Therefore, although the word of God, which is freely proclaimed by the ministers or is also brought to men in admonition, address, book, or writing, is indeed taken from Holy Scripture but is not identical with that Scripture, nevertheless it is a word of God that comes to man from God's side, is spoken by the Holy Spirit, and therefore also always exerts its operation.
The word of God is never detached from God, from Christ, from the Holy Spirit; it has no subsistence in itself; it is not deistically to be separated from its creator and author. Just as Scripture was not once inspired by the Holy Spirit but is continually borne, preserved, made powerful by that Spirit, so it is also with the word of God that, taken from Scripture, is preached to men in one way or another. Jesus spoke by the Spirit, Joh. 6:63; the apostles, who received that Spirit, Mt. 10:20, Luk. 12:12, 21:15, Joh.
14:26, 15:26, proclaimed the gospel not only in words but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, 1 Thess. 1:5, 6, in demonstration of Spirit and power, 1
Cor. 2:4, and handled it as the sword of the Spirit, Ef. 6:17. Insofar the Lutherans are also entirely right; the word of God is always and everywhere a power of God, a sword of the Spirit; semper huic verbo adest praesens
Spiritus Sanctus. But nevertheless Scripture and experience teach that that word of God does not always exert the same operation; efficax it is in a certain sense always, it is never powerless; if it does not raise up, it casts down; if it is not unto a resurrection, then unto a fall; if not unto an odor of life, then unto an odor of death. The question therefore arises, when the word of God is efficax in that sense that it leads to faith and conversion.
The Lutherans now, in order to render man inexcusable, enclose this divine, supernatural efficacia in the word, but thereby accomplish nothing and must, in order to explain the different outcome of the word in man, take refuge in free will. But the Reformed reckoned with the fact of that double outcome, did not regard the efficacia as an impersonal, magical power that had been laid in the word, but thought of that word always in connection with its [214] author, with the Christ, who administers it through the Holy
Spirit. And that Holy Spirit is not an unconscious power but a person, who is always with the word, always bears it and causes it to be active, but does not always cause it to be active in the same way. He employs, according to the unsearchable good pleasure of God, that word unto conversion but also unto hardening, unto a resurrection but also unto a fall. He always works through the word, but not always in the same way. And if He wills to work through it in such a way that it leads to faith and conversion, then He has no need to add anything objectively to the word. That word is good and wise and holy, a word of God, a word of Christ, and the Holy Spirit takes
everything from Christ. But in order that the seed of the word may bear good fruits, it must fall into well-prepared soil. The field too must be made ready for the reception of the seed. This subjective operation of the Holy
Spirit must therefore be added to the objective word. By the nature of the case it cannot be enclosed and shut up in the word; it is another, an additional, a subjective operation, not an operation per verbum but cum verbo, an opening of the heart, Hd. 16:14, an inward revelation, Mt. 11:25,
16:17, Gal. 1:16, a drawing to Christ, Joh. 6:44, an illumination of the understanding, Ef. 1:18, Col. 1:9-11, a working of the willing and the working, Phil. 2:13 etc., cf. deel III 498. Thereby the Spirit is not detached from the word or separated, not even then, when He, as with little children, works regeneration without any means of grace. For the Spirit who regenerates is not the Spirit of God in general, but the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whom Christ has acquired, by whom Christ reigns, who takes everything only from Christ and who has been poured out by Christ in the church and thus is the Spirit of the church. Leaving aside whether the Holy Spirit sometimes also works and can work in heathens, which in any case is exceptional, as a rule He works regeneration only in such as live under the administration of the covenant. Also little children, who are regenerated by Him, are children of the covenant, of that covenant which has the word of God as its content and received the sacrament as sign and seal. The Holy Spirit thus follows Christ in His course through history;
He binds Himself to the word of Christ and works only in the name [215] and according to the command of Christ. Individually and subjectively, when, e.g., a child is conceived apart from his whole environment, from the church in which it is born, it may have the appearance as if the Spirit worked without the word; objectively and materially the Holy Spirit works
only there where the covenant of grace has extended itself with the administration of word and sacrament. And therefore regeneration in little children, when they grow up, is always recognized by and its genuineness proved in that it passes over into the acts of faith and conversion and then attaches itself to the word of God, which objectively lies before us in Holy
Scripture. The Holy Spirit, who in regeneration applies nothing other than the word, the power, the merit of Christ, of Himself also leads the conscious life toward that word, which He took from Christ and caused to be written down by prophets and apostles, cf. deel III 484. 504. 525 and further Conf.
Belg. 24. Heid. Cat. qu. 65. 67. Helv. II 18. Can. Dordr. III 6. V 7. 14.
Calvijn, passim, bv. Inst. III 2, 33. IV 14, 11. adv. Libert. c. 9. Turretinus, Theol. El. XV, 4, 23 sq. Hodge, Syst. Theol. III 466-485. Bartlett, The letter and the spirit, Bampton Lectures 1888. Müller, Dogm. Abhandl. 127-277.
Dorner, Chr. Gl. II 799. Frank, Chr. Wahrheit II 243.