_The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by Heinrich Schmid, D.D. Third edition, revised Translated from German and Latin by Charles A. Hay, D.D. and Henry E. Jacobs, D.D. Copyright 1875 and 1889, Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs Copyright 1899, Henry E. Jacobs and Charles E. Hay Reprinted 1961 by Augsburg Publishing House_ Pages 500-520 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART IV. OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. ---------------------- PARA. 50. Preliminary Statement. The Holy Ghost employs external and visible means, by which He produces in men the effects above described, [1] and appropriates to them salvation in Christ, and we can only then consider an effect as certainly produced by the Holy Spirit when it has been brought to pass through these exter- nal means. [2] These means of grace, as they are called, are the Word of God and the Sacraments. All those, then, who through these means have become partakers of the salvation in Christ, constitute an association which we call the Church. Part IV, hence, treats, (1) Of the Word of God; (2) Of the Sacraments as the means of grace; (3) Of the Church. [3] CHAPTER I. OF THE WORD OF GOD. In treating of the Word of God, [4] we consider its efficacy, and the division of its contents. PARA. 51. The efficacy of the Word of God. As the Holy Spirit, through whom alone men are converted, operates only by the Word, this Word must possess the power of producing in man all those effects which are described in the preceding article, On the State of Grace. And this power ------------------------End of Page 500------------------------ is of such a character that it is always attended with success when no opposition is made to it on the part of man. [5] Hence the Word is endowed with efficacy, i.e., "it has an active, supernatural, and truly divine force or power of producing super- natural effects; in other words, of converting, regenerating, and re- newing the minds of men." Hence the Word of God does not confine itself merely to teaching man externally the way of salvation and showing him the means whereby to attain it. [6] Its power is not to be compared to the convincing force which even an eloquent human discourse possesses; hence its power is not a natural one, such as dwells in every human word, but it is supernatural. [7] This power is inherent in the Word because the Holy Ghost attends it; from the moment that a Word of God is uttered, the Holy Ghost is inseparbly and continually connected with it, [8] so that the power and effi- cacy of the Word is fully identical with that of the Spirit. [9] This is a truly divine efficacy; [10] and, just as we cannot conceive of the Holy Ghost as separate from this efficacy, so neither can we conceive of the Word of God as independent of it. [11] We are not, then, in any way to represent to our- selves the relation of the Word and the Spirit as though the Word were merely the lifeless instrument which the Holy Ghost employed, [12] or as though the Spirit, when He wished to operate through the Word, must always first unite Himself with it, as if He were ordinarily separated from it. [13] [1] QUEN. (IV, 1): "We have heretofore treated of the grounds of our salvation; we must now consider the means by which we attain to it. The means, properly so called, on the part of God, are the Word and Sacraments, the saving antidotes to our spiritual disease." The Word and Sacraments are also designated as means of salva- tion under the general idea of the Word--as the Sacraments are designated as the Visible Word. CONF. AUG. (V, 2). FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., XI, 76): "The Father will draw none to Himself without means, but He employs His Word and Sacraments as the ordinary means and instruments." ART. SMALCALD. (VIII, 3): "We must firmly maintain that God bestows His Spirit and grace on none unless through the Word and by the external Word previously declared, that we may fortify ourselves against the Enthusiasts, who boast they have the Spirit -------------------End of Page 501--------------------------------- before the Word and without it, and therefore judge, bend, and distort the Scriptures, or oral Word, as they please, as Muenzer did, and many others at present do, who wish to discriminate very acutely between the Spirit and the letter." HOLL. (991): "The means of salvation are divinely ordained, by which God graciously offers the salvation acquired by Christ, the Mediator, to all men who have fallen into sin, and bestows and preserves true faith in them, and at last introduces all who embrace the merit of Christ and persevere in it into the kingdom of glory." [2] FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., II, 56): "We should not and can- not always judge of the presence, operations, and gifts of the Holy Spirit from our feelings (the manner and time, viz., when they are experienced in the heart); but, inasmuch as these are often cloaked under much infirmity, we should be convinced from the promise that the Word of God preached and heard is assuredly the minis- try and instrument of the Spirit, by which He truly and effica- ciously operates in our hearts." [3] From what was said in the remarks preliminary to the articles on Fath and Justification, it follows that we cannot en- tirely adhere to the systematic division of the Dogmaticians in this Part IV. They do not treat, namely, of Faith and Works until under this head, and they call Faith also a means of salvation, ac- cording to which, therefore, they embrace more than do we under the phrase, means of salvation. This they can do, because they distinguish between "the means of salvation on the part of God, dotika, or those offering salvation (the Word and Sacraments), and the means of salvation on our part, leptikon, or that apprehending the offered salvation (faith in the merit of Christ)." In this section the Dogmaticians also treat the subject of the last things (death, resur- rection of the dead, etc.), inasmuch as they designate these as means "in a general sense, or executive and isagogical, that is, means divinely instituted, without the previous ocurrence of which God does not accomplish the sentence of glorification, and by the final intervention of which men persevering in the faith are introduced into heaven." As we have assigned to the article of faith another place, it also appears better to separate that of the last things from this section, so as to confine ourselves, in it, to the proper and limited concep- tion of the means of grace. [4] The Word, which, in the article Of the Holy Scriptures, was described as the source of knowledge, is here viewed as a means of grace. HOLL. (992): "The Word of God is here considered not as the ----------------End of Page 502------------------------------------- source of knowledge, but as the means of practice or action, by whose intervention the sinner is led by God to eternal salvation." The Dogmaticians remark, in advance, that by the Word they do not understand the bare external letters of the written Word. QUEN. (I, 169): "We must distinguish between the Word of God as it is materially expressed and exhibited in the written characters, points, letters, and syllables adhering to paper or parchment... or also in the sound and the external words formed in the air... and formally considered, as the divine conception and sense which we find expressed in these written letters and syllables and in the words of the preached Gospel. In the former sense it is called the Word of God only figuratively (semantikos); in the latter, however, kurios, properly and strictly, it is the Word of God, the wisdom of God, the mind of God, the counsel of God. We ascribe not to the former, but to the latter, divine power and efficacy." CAT. MAJ., DECAL. (101): "Such is its virtue and power that where it is recalled to mind, or heard and considered with serious attention and interest, it never passes away without fruit, but always engages, retains, and excites the hearer with some new intelligence, delight, and devotion, and purifies his feelings and thoughts. For the words are not putrid or dead, destitute of sap and vigor, but truly living and efficacious." The Symbolical Books do not express themselves distinctly on the efficacy of the Word of God. The more fully stated views of the following Dogmaticians, according to which this efficacy or power is supernatural, if not precisely in the language of the Sym- bolical Books, are still in accordance with the opinons maintained in them. [5] QUEN. (I, 170): "The innate power and tendency of God's Word is always to convince men of its truth, unless its operation is hindered and prevented by voluntary self-assertion and con- tumacy superadded to a natural repugnance." Hence the Word is to be regarded as producing an effect wherever it is used; but at the same time it depends on the conduct of men whether it has the sspecial effect designed by its author. "The second act is consid- ered either as the energeia and operation or as the effect itself. If it be regarded as the energy and operation, then it always accom- panies the Word of God preached, read, or heard, i.e., it always exerts itself when legitimately used, since the Word of God is never inoperative, but always operative. But, if it be considered as the effect itself, this does not always follow, in consequence of the impediment interposed by the subject or on account of the hardness of the hearts upon which it operates. Although, there- ------------------End of Page 503---------------------------------- fore, the effect of the preached Word is sometimes hindered, yet the efficacy or intrinsic virtue itself cannot be taken away or sepa- rated from it. And thus accidentally it may be inefficacious, not from a deficiency of power, but by the exercise of perverseness, which hinders its operation so that its effect is not attained." ... Hence the power of the Word is not irresistible, but resistible (171). This efficacy, as belonging to the Word of God, generally, is predi- cated both of the Law and the Gospel, yet with a distinction. QUEN. (I, 170): "When we attribute to the Word a divine power and efficacy to produce spiritual effects, we wish not to be understood as speaking of the Gospel only, but also of the Law. For, although the Law does not produce these gracious results directly and per se, i.e., kindle faith in Christ and effect con- version, since this is rather to be ascribed to the Gospel, still the letter is not on this account dead, but is efficacious after its kind: for it killeth, 2 Cor. 3:6; it worketh wrath, Rom. 4:15, etc. [6] HOLL. (992): "The efficacy of the divine Word is not only objective or significative, like the statue of Mercury, for instance, which points out the path, but does not give power or strength to the traveler to walk in it, but it is effective, because it not only shows the way of salvation, but saves souls." [7] QUEN. (I, 170): "The Word works not only by moral suasion, by proposing a lovely object to us, but also by a true, real, divine, and ineffable influence of its gracious power, so that it effectually and truly converts, illuminates, etc., the Holy Spirit operating in, with, and through it; for in this consists the differ- ence between the divine and the human word." BR. (123): "(The Holy Scriptures have an active, supernatural force or power) which is to be sought neither in the elegance of their style, nor in the sublimity of their thoughts, nor in the power of their arguments; but it is far superior to every created and finite agency." It is a supernatural power in distinction from that which human eloquence possesses. But in another aspect it is also called natural, inasmuch as the Word of God cannot be conceived of without such an efficacy. QUEN. (I, 172): "We say that there is a natural efficacy in the Word of God, because it naturally belongs to it, and its essence and nature are such that it could not be the true Word of God unless it contained within itself that divine power and virtue to convert men, etc., etc." BR. (124), however, ob- serves: "To avoid ambiguity and disputes, we avoid the use of this term." [8] HOLL. (993): "A divine power is communicated to the ---------------End of Page 504------------------------------------- Word by the Holy Spirit joined with it indissolubly." Hence, there is a native or intrinsic power and efficacy belonging to the Word, deeply inherent in it. The Dogmaticians draw proofs of this, (1) From the qualities which the divine Word ascribes to itself, John 6:63; Rom. 1:16; Heb. 4:12, 13; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:23; James 1:21. (2) From the similar supernatural and divine operations which are ascribed to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, ex. gr., calling, 2 Tim. 2:14; illumination, 2 Pet. 1:19; conversion, Jer. 23:29; regeneration, 1 Pet. 1:23; justifi- cation, 2 Cor. 3:9; sanctification, John 17:17. (3) HOLL. (ib.): "The Word of God, as such, cannot be conceived of without the divine virtue, or the Holy Spirit, who is inseparable from His Word. For if the Holy Spirit could be separaated from the Word of God, it would not be the Word of God or of the Spirit, but a word of man. Nor is there any other Word of God, which is in God, or with which men of God have been inspired, than that which is given in the Scriptures or is preached or treasured up in the human mind. But, as it cannot be denied that that is the di- vine will, counsel, mind, and the wisdom of God, so it cannot be destitute of the divine virtue or efficacy." [9] QUEN. (I, 183): "We are to assume here not only a certain conjunction or union of distinct actions, or even a unity of aims or effects, but also a unity of energy and operation. For the Holy Spirit does not by Himself do something, and the Word of God by itself something else, in the conversion of men; but they produce the one effect by one and the same action. For such is the peculiar nature of the principal and subordinate causes, intrinsically united together, that they produce an effect by one and the same action. Thus the soul and the eye see by a single action, and not by dis- tinct actions." [10] BR. (1124): "Truly that same infinite virtue which is essentially per se and independently in God, and by which He enlightens and converts men, is communicated to the Word, and, although it is communicated to the Word, yet it must be consid- ered as divine." ... But it by no means follows from this that there is a commingling of God and the Word in regard to this divine power; hence BR. (128) says: "They frequently and dili- gently impress it upon us that the same virtue belongs to God and the Scriptures, but not in the same way; for that of God is essential, fundamental, original, and independent, while that of the Scrip- tures is dependent and participative or derived."... Hence it is said of the Word that it exhibits its power and efficacy organikos, or instrumentally.... QUEN. (I, 172): "The divine Word is not ------------------End of Page 505-------------------------------------- the principal agent in the work of conversion, regeneration, and salvation, but it is only a suitable means or organ which God ordinarily uses in producing spiritual effects, not indeed by necess- sity or indigence, as if He so bound His efficacy in the conversion of men to His Word that He could not convert men without any means, or by any other means or organ than His Word if He wished, but of His own free will, because thus it pleased Him. 1 Cor. 1:21." [11] QUEN. (I, 170): "Whether the Word be read or not, whether it be heard and believed or not, yet the efficacy of its spiritual effects is always intrinsically inherent in it by the divine arrangement and communication, nor does this divine efficacy only come to it when it is used. For the Word of God, as such, cannot even be conceived of apart from the divine virtue and gracious working of the Holy Spirit, because this is inseparable from the Word of God." HOLL. (993) uses the following figures: "It possesses and re- tains its internal power and efficacy even when not used, just as the illuminating power of the sun continues, although, when the shadow of the moon intervenes, no person may see it; and just as an internal efficacy belongs to the seed, although it may not be sown in the field." In order to avoid misapprehension, it is expressly observed that the Word does not operate physically (by the contact of an agent, as opium, poison, fire, etc.), but morally (by enlightening the mind, moving the will, etc.); and a distinction is made between the efficacy of the Word considered in the first act and in the second act, or between efficacy and efficiency. When it is said that the Word operates extra usum, when not used, it is only meant that the power is constantly inherent in the Word, just as the power to give light always exists in the sun; so that, when the Word is to produce a certain effect, the power must not first come to it, but that the Word exercises its legitimate influence only where it is properly used." QUEN. (I, 171): "The first act is the operating power dunamis energetike; the second act is the real operation. The Word does not exhibit its efficacy in the second act unless in the legitimate use of it." QUEN. (ib.) (from his Theses against Rathman): "The distinc- tion we make is not unreasonable, between the power, or the first act, and the divine operation, or second act, of the outwardly read or preached Word. Per se, and in itslef, it always is a power, or has in itself a power, to move all readers and hearers, hypocrites as ---------------End of Page 506------------------------------------------- well as believers and converted persons, which is not a physical power, physically included in the letter, like that of medicine, but a divine power, which is always communicated to the read or preached Word by the Holy Spirit. But this power, although it is always present in the preached Word, yet is not always operative on all." HOLL. (994) illustrates this by the following example: "The hand of a sleeping man does nothing, yet neither is the power of action bestowed on it in vain, nor is the hand thus inoperative, dead." The Lutheran theologians, in general, had reason to illustrate very particularly the doctrine of the operation of the Word of God, in order to oppose the Enthusiasts and Mystics, who held that the Holy Spirit operated rather irrespectively of the Word than through it; and to oppose also the Calvinists, who, led by their doctrine of predestination, would not grant that the Word possessed this power per se, but only in such cases where God chose. Hence the position that the Word also possessed a power extra usum was specially defended against Rathman (1628), who denied it, and who appears to have maintained only an objective efficacy of the Word of God. (QUEN. (I, 174) gives the following opinions of Rathman: "Rathman compares the Word of God to a statue of Mercury, to a picture, to a sign, and even to a channel; namely, to instruments altogether passive and inoperative. He asserts, moreover, that the divine efficacy is external to the Word of God, separable from it at any moment, and merely auxiliary (parastatikon); that the Holy Spirit with His virtue joins Himself to the Word only in the mind or heart of man, and only then when it is legitimately and savingly used.") But an efficacy extra usum must necessarily be main- tained, if the Word of God is not to be put on a precise level with every human word. HOLL. (992) thus sums up the doctrine: "The Word of God is the most efficacious means of salvation, for its power and efficacy are not only objective, but also effective; not consisting in moral suasion, but in supernatural operation; not external and coming to it when used by men, but intrinsic in the Word; not accidental, but necessary, by a divinely ordained necessity, and therefore not separable, but perpetual, inherent in the Word itself extra usum, as the first act. This efficacy is truly divine, producing the same effect as the Holy Spirit, who is perpetually united with the Word, which (effect) the Spirit influences together with the Word, by the divine power which belongs to the Holy Spirit originally and inde- pendently, but to the divine Word communicatively and depend- ently, on account of its mysterious, intimate, and individual union with the Spirit." -----------------End of Page 507--------------------------------------- [12] QUEN. (I, 171): "We must distinguish between the mere natural instruments, such as the staff of Moses, the rod of Aaron, etc., employed by God to produce a supernatural effect, and His essential supernatural means, such as the Word of God and the Sacra- ments. The former are destitute of a new motive or elevating power wherewith to produce a new effect beyond their proper and natural power; but the latter, from their very origin and produc- tion, are endowed with a sufficient, i.e., a divine and supreme power and efficacy, nor do they need any new and peculiar elevat- ing power beyond the ordinary efficacy already infused into them for producing the spiritual effect." The later theologians, there- fore, prefer calling the Word a means rather than an instrument of the Holy Spirit, although they do not hold that the latter expression, which is used also in the Symbolical Books, is altogether inadmissi- ble, provided that no mere lifeless instrument is thereby understood. MUSAEUS (in Br., 131) distinguishes between "instruments which are not united with an operative cause, unless they be in use, such as an axe, hammer, etc., and instruments which alwyas have an operative cause impliedly and virtually united with them even when not used;" and he holds that the expression instrument, in relation to the Word of God, is admissible only in the latter sense. Another distinction is that which is made between passive and co- operative instruments. But QUEN. (I, 186) says: "We grant that the Word of God may be called the instrument or organic cause of conversiion, etc., namely, when considered concretely and as ad- ministered, so far as the Word of God is externally read or preached. For these external means are truly organs, into which the Spirit enters with His virtue and efficacy." [13] HULSEM. (in QUEN., I, 186) says: "That elevation of the sense of the Word, as they call it, is by no means an accessory and separate power of the Holy Spirit, which may sometimes be absent from the Word; but the Word of God embraces in itself, by its own natural constitution, wonderful and inexplicable divine energy and power of penetration, far better adapted than the sentences of Senecca and Cato to arouse the minds of readers." PARA. 52. The Law and the Gospel. The Word of God is divided, according to the different re- sults it produces in men, whose salvation it is to effect, into Law and Gospel. [1] I. THE LAW, in which God, by command and prohibition, has made known His will to men, and to the fulfilment of --------------End of Page 508------------------------------- which He has obligated them, [2] is, according to its widest extent, partly general and applicable to all times, and partly given for a certain period and under certain circumstances. The former is called the moral Law, inasmuch as it contains the precepts of God relating to our moral conduct, which remain unchanged at all times, and concern all rational crea- tures. [3] The latter is called the ceremonial and forensic Law, inasmuch as it contains the ceremonial and civil pre- cepts which were given to the Jews during the period of the Jewish theocracy. [4] We have here to consider only the former, as the other has already been abrogated by God. [5] The contents of this were written on the heart of man at the creation (hence it is also called the Law of Nature), and men, as long as they remained in their original state, had in it a perfect rule for their moral conduct; [6] but after the Fall, when their knowledge was obscured and they heard the voice of God in their hearts but imperfectly, it was necessary for God to adopt another method of making known His will to them, and that was most completely done at the delivery of the Law of Sinai. [7] The Law there given contains the most perfect rule for our moral conduct, [8] and applies to us no less than to the Israel- ites. [9] It binds us to the most perfect obedience, and threatens temporal and eternal punishment in case of disobe- dience; [10] but also promises eternal life to him who per- fectly observes it. As, however, no one since the Fall is able perfectly to keep the Law, we cannot say that the Law avails for our salvation, [11] but it rather serves, first of all, to lead to the knowledge of sin, and render man receptive for the salvation that is in Christ. [12] The former the Law effects by teaching us the difference which exists between its requirements and our deeds; the latter, by alarming us the more we come short of the re- quirements of the Law, and by constraining and impelling us to long earnestly for a refuge from the wrath of God with which He has threatened every violator of the Law. Thus the Law drives us to Christ, who promises us such a refuge. It is also predicated of it that it contains a call to repentance, and hence we include within the Law everything which con- -------------End of Page 509------------------------------------------- tributes to repentance. [13] Besides this, the Law serves to maintain external propriety and morality in the unregenerate: bit it is serviceable to the regenerate, because it contains the perfect rule of moral life, both internal and external. Accord- ing to these different designs for which the Law was given, the use of it is divided into political, elenchtical, pedagogical, and didactic. [14] II. THE GOSPEL. As the Law contains the declaration of the divine will, promising a reward to him who keeps it, and threatening punishment to him who violates it, so the Gospel, in distinction from the Law, contains the doctrine of the gracious pardon of sins, which we receive as a gratuity for Christ's sake through faith. [15] Thus, in the preaching of the Gospel, the means are pointed out to men by which they may escape the condemnation which the Law suspends over them. And when men are brought to a knowledge of sin through the Law, the Gospel enters, holds forth the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and all the benefits therewith asso- ciated; [16] and aims at producing faith in them, by which they appropriate to themselves the salvation in Christ. Different, then, as are the Law and the Gospel in their sig- nification, [17] yet there is no contradiction between them. As they were both alike given by God, so they are both always and equally binding; they both alike have a work to accom- plish in all men; they have in view the same final result, namely, the salvation of men, [18] to the attainment of which end each contributes its part. As, by the preaching of the Law, knowledge of sin and repentance are produced, so, by the preaching off the Gospel, faith is effected. The efficacy of the one follows that of the other; but the efficacy of the one does not hence entirely cease where the efficacy of the other begins, for the Law still continues to be a rule for the regenerate, to which he conforms his moral conduct, and it thus works in him a penitence which is renewed daily, inasmuch as it still continually convinces him of his sins. [19] [1] The division of the Word of God, according to its historical publication in the world, into the Old and New Testaments, be- longs to the section which treats of the Scriptures. The division specified above, i.e., Law and Gospel, must be treated under this --------------End of Page 510------------------------------------ article; for the design here is to derive from the Word, and to illustrate, the different operations which must be experienced be- fore man is fully brought to a personal knowledge of salvation in Christ. The division is justified by John 1:17 and 2 Cor. 3:6. The Law was given by Moses, e.g., "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." The Law and the Gospel are not then here identical with the Old and the New Testament; for the Old, as well as the New Testament, contains "a preaching of repentance, and a preaching of the remission of sins." FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., v. 23): "These two kinds of doctrine, viz., repentance and faith, were held in the Church of God from the beginning of the world, yet with a proper distinction. For the posterity of the patriarchs, as well as the patriarchs themselves, not only carefully remembered that man in the beginning was created by God just and holy, and by the guile of the serpent dis- obeyed the command of God, and thus became a sinner;... but they also encouraged and consoled themselves by the most precious announcement concerning the Seed of the woman,... and con- cerning the Son of David who was to restore the kingdom to Israel and to become the light of the Gentiles." [2] HOLL. (996): "The divine Law is the command of God, in which this supreme Lord and Legislator prescribes that which is to be done by men, and prohibits that which is to be avoided, binding them to render a perfect obedience, or, in the deficiency of this, visiting them with punishment." The term Law is also used in the sense "(1) of everything that is taught by God, Ps. 1:2; (2) of the Scriptures of the Old Testa- ment, John 15:25; 1 Cor. 14:21; (3) of the Mosaic Pentateuch, Luke 24:44." HOLL. (ib.): "But here the words Law and Gospel are taken, as far as they are adequately contradistinguished." [3] HOLL. (997): "The divine Law is either universal and per- petual, or particular and temporary. The universal and perpetual Law is the immutable rule of all moral actions, by which God binds all men to do that which is honest and right, and to avoid that which is dishonest and unjust. It is called also the moral Law. The particular and temporary Law is that which God gave to the Israelites alone, binding them to the obedeience of it; it is either ceremonial or judicial, and ceased with the cessation of the Hebrew polity." [4] HOLL. (1026): I. "The Ceremonial Law is the command of God, by which the supreme Lord and Legislator bound the people of the Old Testament, and through Moses prescribed to them a --------------End of Page 511------------------------------------- certain form of external worship, that He might remind men of their sins, show from afar to the contrite a Redeemer, and apply and seal covenant grace by two sacraments and various sacrifices. The external worship, prescribed to the people of God in the Old Testament, consisted in certain rites to be observed about sacred persons, things, places, and times." "The chief end of the Ceremonial Law is the signification and adumbration of the benefits of Christ, as well as their application by sacraments and sacrifices. The subordinate end is the admoni- tion of sin, the observance of proper order in ecclesiastical assem- blies and rites, and the separation of the Jewish Church from all association with the Gentiles." (Id., 1027) II. "The Forensic or Judicial Law is the command of God, by which He bound the Israelites in the times of the Old Testament, and through Moses prescribed to them a form of political govern- ment so that external discipline might be preserved in civil society, and the Jewish polity, in which Christ was to be born, might be distinguished from the polity of other nations. The forensic Law uttered precepts concerning all those things which pertained to the administration of the Israelitic republic, and came under the cognizance of the forum or court of the Jews." (Id., 1030.) "The design of the Forensic Law is (1) The preservation of ex- ternal discipline in civil society. (2) The separation of the Jewish polity from that of other nations. (Id., 1031.) [5] QUEN. (IV, 1): "That the Jewish Law is abrogated is evi- dent from the fact that, since the destruction of the Jewish polity and temple, there is no place for sacrifice or the execution of the forensic Law." [6] BR. (398): "It is otherwise called the Law of Nature, be- cause it is employed about those things which are naturally and per se either honorable or base; whether they be such as agree or disagree with rational nature. It is also called the Moral Law, in so far as it relates to morals, or to the mode of life which is be- coming or unbecoming to a rational creature." HOLL. (997): "The Natural Law is the command of God im- pressed naturally on the minds of all, by which they are informed and bound to do those things which per se are right and honorable, and to avoid those things which per se are wicked and base." QUEN. (IV, 3): "It is the light and dictate of right reason divinely given to man, enabling him intellectually to discriminate between the common notions of what is just and unjust, honorable and base, that he may understand what is to be done and what is to be avoided." --------------End of Page 512--------------------------------------- [7] The Moral Law is therefore divided into the Natural or Connate Law and the Moral Law specially so called. QUEN. (IV, 1): "In original, uncorrupted nature the natural and moral Laws were entirely the same, but in corrupted nature a great part of the Natural Law has been obscured by sin, and only a very small part of it has remained in the mind of man; and so a new promulgation of Law was instituted upon Mount Sinai, which Sinaitic law is particularly called the Moral Law, and does not in kind differ from the Natural Law." HOLL. (1002): "The Moral Law, specially so called, is the com- mand of God superadded to the Natural Law in the divinely re- vealed Word, which was often repeated from the beginning of the world, and at last solemnly promulgated on Mount Sinai and re- duced to writing, distinctly teaching what is right and forbidding what is wrong, directing all our actions and feelings, binding all men to the most perfect obedience, or, in the deficiency of this, to the most excruciating torments." MEL., Loc. Comm.: "The Law is doctrine divinely revealed, teaching what we ought to be, to do and to omit to do." GRH. (V, 223): "The Moral Law is summarily comprehended in the Decalogue." The Dogmaticians generally hold that a primordial Law preceded the Sinaitic Law, by which they understand those preparatory revelations which were given to primaeval men and the patriarchs. HOLL. (1003): "The primordial Moral Law is that which was given to our first parents, Gen. 2:17, then revealed to their pos- terity by the voice of God, and afterwards expounded and taught more fully by the patriarchs, until the solemn promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai.... The primordial Moral Law and the Sinaitic do not differ in substance of doctrine, but in the mode of revelation." HOLL. (1002) thus states the difference between the Natural and the Moral Law: "The Natural Law does not differ as to matter from the Moral Law specially so called, for indeed the Natural Law is summarily contained in the Decalogue; but it differs from it as to form. For (1) the Natural Law is inwardly written by nature on the minds of men, the Moral Law is promulgated externally, uttered by the voice of God, and reduced to writing; (2) the Nat- ural Law is more imperfect and obscure, the Moral Law is more perfect and clear. The former directs external discipline; the latter governs and rules the internal as well as the external conduct of men." Concerning the Natural Law, HOLL. (999) further ad- mits, that "there nevertheless remain certain vestiges of it, namely, ---------------End of Page 513-------------------------------------- universal principles, from which the difference between right and wrong is naturally apparent. Rom. 2:15." [8] We hence find in the Dogmaticians a very exact exposition of the Decalogue, comprehending the whole science of ethics. CHMN. (Loc. c. Th., II, 23): "Such is the brevity of the pre- cepts of the Decalogue that Moses called them ten words. And yet in that brevity is comprehended everything that pertains to the love of God and of our neighbor, and those short sentences are to be the rule and line by which we may ascertain what constitutes sin." [9] HOLL. (1019): "The Sinaitic Moral Law is the perfect rule of things to be done and things to be avoided, neither has it been enlarged by new precepts added by Christ, but only more fully de- clared and purged from Pharisaic corruptions or additions." [10] Quen. (IV, 8): "The internal form of the Moral Law con- sists in a directive and constraining power with respect to doing or avoiding moral acts, binding the conscience to most perfect obedi- ence, or, if this be not rendered, bringing the most dreadful pun- ishment, temporal and eternal, on the violator. James 2:10; Matt. 5:19; Deut. 27:26; Gal. 3:10." And, indeed, "the Law demands conformity not only in external actions, but also in in- ternal; neither is it satified with any interior effort of the will, but it requires love, i.e., the most ardent feelings, and indeed from the whole heart, the whole soul, and all the strength." [11] BR. (630): "The Moral Law has been given for eternal life, but upon the condition of its complete fulfilment (Luke 10: 28; Gal. 3:12). But, since the Fall, no one can render this, and therefore no one can be saved by the Law." Whence HOLL. (1007): "The aim of the Moral Law is (a) the glory of the Law- giver; (b) eternal life, promised upon the condition of perfect obedience. The accidental issue is eternal death. Rom. 8:10." [12] BR. (636): "The Law, which teaches what is to be done and what is to be avoided, and binds to the most perfect observance of these things, charging the most grievous guilt upon all manner of transgressors, by so doing leads men to the knowledge of their sins and to grief concerning then, and so renders them desirous for a mediator." QUEN. (IV, 9): "The subsequent aim is the knowledge of our inability, which fails to fulfil the Law (Rom. 8:3), and the urging of us to seek a remedy." And the addi- tional remark: "This powerlessness ascribed to the Law does not belong to it per se and by virtue of its own nature, but accidentally, by reason of our flesh, which weakens the Law of God, although it is in itself holy and good, and renders it powerless and unable to give us life, or to preserve it, since our flesh is not able to fulfil the -----------------End of Page 514--------------------------------- condition of the Law, i.e., to render to it a perfect obedience, Gal. 3:24; and this is the reason why the impossibility of saving is ascribed to the Law." [13] FORM. CONC. (Epit. V, 4): "Whatever is contained in the Holy Scriptures that convinces of sins, that truly belongs to the preaching of the Law." Therefore, just as the Old Testament contains the Gospel, also (comp. note 1) in like manner the New Testament contains the Law. FORM. CONC. (V, 11): "Yet, meanwhile, it is true and proper that the apostles and ministers of the Gospel should confirm the preaching of the Law, and begin with it in dealing with those who as yet do not feel their sins and are not disturbed by a sense of the divine wrath." Hence to the preaching of the Law can be reck- oned, from a certain view of the subject, even the preaching of the death of Christ. FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., V, 12): "For what more severe and terrible indication and declaration of the wrath of God against sin is there, than the passion and death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? But yet, so far as this displays the wrath of God and alarms men, it is not properly a preaching of the Gospel or Christ, but of Moses and the Law against the impenitent." [14] HOLL. (1021): "(1) The political use of the Law consists in the preservation of external discipline, that wicked and licentious men may be turned away from heinous offences, by presenting be- fore them the penalties and rewards. According to this use, the Law is a bridle or barrier by which sinners are restrained. (2) The elenchtical use consists in the manifestation and reproof of sins, and also in the demonstration of the most severe divine judgment. Rom. 3:20. According to this use of the Law is the mirror of sin. (But the FORM. CONC. already properly observes that the Law does not fully impart the designed knowledge of sin until the comming of the Gospel. FORM. CONC. (Epit., V, 8): `As to what relates to the revelation of sin, the matter stands thus: The veil of Moses is hung before the eyes of all men, as long as they hear only the preaching of the Law and nothing of Christ. Therefore they do not truly come to a knowledge of their sins from the Law, but either become hypocrites, inflated with an idea of their own righteousness, as were the Pharisees, or fall into despair in their sins, as Judas the traitor did. For this reason Christ undertook to explain the Law spiritually, and thus the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all sinners, that, the Law being rightly understood, they may learn how great is that wrath. Thus at length sinners, being led to the Law, properly ascertain the enormity of their guilt. But ----------------End of Page 515---------------------------------------- such a recognition of their offences Moses alone could never have extorted from them.') (3) The pedagogic use of the Law consists in indirectly compelling the sinner to go to Christ. Although the Law formally and directly neither knows nor teaches Christ, yet by accusing, convincing, and alarming the sinner, it indirectly com- pels him to seek for solace and help in Christ the Redeemer. Wherefore the Law is our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ. Gal. 3:24. (4) The didactic use consists in the instruction and direction of all internal and external moral actions. Thus the Law is a perpetual rule of life. Matt. 5:17." QUEN. (IV, 10): "The first use pertains to unregenerate and obstinate sinners; the second and third to men about to be justified; the fourth to those who are justified and regenerate." The FORM. CONC. and the earlier Dogmaticians favor only a threefold use of the Law, political, pedagogical, and didactic. The later Dogma- ticians have divided the pedagogical use into two parts, one of which they call the elenchtical use. The question introduced in the Antinomian controversy, whether the Law is to be inculcated to the regenerate, and its observance urged on them, is thus deter- mined by the FORM. CONC. (Epit., 6:4): "Although they are re- generated and renewed in the spirit of their minds, yet regeneration and renovation are not perfect in all respects in this life, but only begun. Believers are constantly struggling in the spirit of their minds with the flesh, i.e., with their corrupt nature, which cleaves to us even to our death. And on account of the old Adam who yet dwells in the understanding, the will, and all the powers of man, it is necessary that the Law of God should always shine be- fore us."... When, however, the Law is still held before the regenerate, its significance is thus more particularly described: "That the Law here means only one thing, namely, the immut- able will of God, according to which all men ought to regulate their mode of life." [15] FORM. CONC. (V, 5): "We hold the Gospel to be specifi- cally that doctrine which teaches that man should believe, who has not kept the Law, and is therefore condemned by it; namely, that Jesus Christ has expiated and made satisfaction for all sin, and thus has procured remission of sin, righteousness before God, and eternal life, without any merit intervening on the part of the sinner." FORM. CONC. (V, 21): "Everything that consoles terri- fied minds, everything that offers the favor and grace of God to transgressors of the Law, is properly called the Gospel, i.e., the cheering message, that God does not wish to punish our sins, but for Christ's sake to forgive them." -----------------End of Page 516------------------------------------- BR. (631): "The Gospel is the doctrine of the grace of God and of the gratuitous pardon of sin for the sake of Christ the Mediator, and His merit apprehended by faith." Hence, as far as this grace is declared in the Old Testament, so far does it also contain the Gospel. (Note 1.) Hence, BR. (ib.): "This doctrine was re- vealed not ony in the New Testament, but also in its own way in the Old Testament (in the New more clearly)." Such intimations in the Old Testament are cited as occurring, not only in the prote- vangelium to the patriarchs and prophets, but also in the Cere- monial Law. BR. (632): "It is certain that those things which were contained in the ceremonial laws, had the force of Law, so far as they commanded certain acts and rites; yet as far as they repre- sented Christ the Mediator, and His merit to be apprehended by faith, by certain rites, such as types and shadows, they are prop- erly to be considered as Gospel." As to the relation of the Law and Gospel to the Old and New Testaments, QUEN. (IV, 61) says: "The Old Testament and the Law, and the New Testament and the Gospel, are not identical, but distinct; for they differ as the con- taining and the contained. For the Old Testament contains the Law as its part, but not to the exclusion of the Gospel, and the New Testament contains the Gospel as its portion, but not to the exclusion of the Law; and thus the evangelical intention of God respecting the remission of sin, grace, and salvation through the death of Christ, is declared not only in the books of the New, but also in those of the Old Testament." The word Gospel can also be used in various senses. HOLL. (1032): "Generally, but with less propriety, the word is used to designate the whole doctrine of the New Testament, taught by Christ and the Apostles, Mark 1:1; 16:15. Specially, for the doc- trine of grace and the gratuitous remission of sin to be obtained by faith in Christ, whether proposed in the Old or New Testament, Rom. 10:15; Heb. 4:2. Most particularly, for the doctrine con- cerning the Messiah already manifested, Rom. 1:1." Here the word is taken in the second sense, for we are to describe that effect of it, which is different from the effect of the Law. (HOLL. (ib.): "In this special sense, the Gospel is sufficiently contradistinguished from the Law.") In the proper discrimination of these senses, the question is also settled, whether the Gospel also preaches repent- ance. FORM. CONC. (ep. V, 6): "We believe, etc., that if by the word Gospel be meant the whole doctrine concerning Christ [taken, therefore, in the general sense] which He taught in His ministra- tions, that we properly say and teach, that the Gospel is a preach- ing of repentance and the remission of sins. But when the Law --------------------------End of Page 517------------------------- and the Gospel, Moses himself, as a teacher of the Law, and Christ Himself, as a teacher of the Gospel, are compared together, we believe, teach, and confess, that the Gospel does not preach re- pentance or reprove sin, but properly is nothing else than a more cheering message and an announcement full of comfort." On the whole Antinomian controversy, which properly belongs in this connection, see FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., V), in which also the different statements in the preceding Symbolical Books, in re- gard to the Law and the Gospel, are explained according to the different senses given above. [16] FORM. CONC. (Sol. Dec., V, 24): "We believe and confess that these two heads of Christian doctrine should be diligently taught and enforced in the Church of God even to the end of time, yet with a proper distinction. For, by the preaching of the Law and its severe threatenings, through the Gospel ministry, the hearts of impenitent men are to be alarmed and brought to a knowledge of their sins and to the exercise of repentance; yet not so that they may despair on account of their sins, but that they may flee to Christ.... Wherefore, after they have come to a knowledge of their sins by the Law, their alarmed consciences are to be so directed that they may receive solid consolation from the preaching of the Gospel of Christ." HOLL. (1038): "The Gospel preaches and offers to us the grace of Christ, the merit of Christ, and all the benefits derived from Him." QUEN. (IV, 6): "The form of it is the gratuitous promise of grace, Rom. 3:24; 4:13, 14, 16; Gal. 3: 18, given to produce faith, John 3:16; Mark 16:16; Acts 10:43; Rom. 10:9, 10." [17] The distinctions are stated by HOLL. (1039) as follows: "The Moral Law and the Gospel differ: (1) As to the manner of their revelation and recognition. The Law is in some measure known from the light of Nature; for it was communicated to the mind of man at his creation, and it was not entirely extinguished by the Fall, Rom. 2:15. But the Gospel is a mystery plainly concealed from human reason, brought to us from the bosom of the eternal Father by the Son of God, and revealed to us. (2) As to the object. The Law is the doctrine of works; it prescribes and commands what is to be done and avoided, hence it is called the law of works, Rom. 3:27. But the Gospel is the doctrine of faith; it holds forth Christ as the Mediator, His merit, the righteousness and salvation derived therefrom to be apprenhended by faith: therefore it is called the law of faith, Rom. 3:27. (3) As to the difference of the promises. The promises of the Law are conditional and compensatory; they indeed promise life, but under the condition of individual, perfect ---------------End of Page 518------------------------------------- and perpetual obedience. But the promises of the Gospel are gratuitous, because they promise life, not on account of our own obedience, but of another's, namely, of Christ, apprehended by true faith. The promises of the Gospel are, therefore, absolute and unconditional, not simply, but in respect to legal and meritor- ious condition, although they do not exclude the evangelical con- dition or faith, which is destitute of all merit, and the use of the means of faith. (4) As to the subject, to whom they are declared. The Law is to be uttered and sharply inculcated to wicked and contumacious sinners, that they may be brought to contrition; the Gospel is to be applied to the contrite, that they may believe in Christ. (5) As to the disparity of the effects. The Law accuses de- linquents of disobedience, convicts, condemns, alarms, Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 2 Cor. 3:2; but the Gospel exhibits the Saviour, consoles, absolves, vivifies, Luke 2:10; 4:18; 2 Cor. 3:6." HOLL. (996) makes another distinction, which may be here quoted. "The divine Law is not the causative or conferring means of salvation to fallen man, but it is only the pedagogic means to a sinner seeking the causative means of salvation, Gal. 3:24. The Law leads to Christ not directly, but as disease leads to the physician, indirectly and on account of the manifested inability of obtaining salvation by the Law." [18] BR. (633): "The Law and the Gospel agree (a) as to the author of both, who is God; (b) as to the subject to whom they are given, namely, all men; (c) as to their design, which is eternal sal- vation; (d) as to their duration, which is to the end of the world." [19] HOLL. (1041): "The Law and the Gospel practically are united, as if in a certain mathematical point. They concur in producing: (1) the repentance of sinners (repentance consists of two parts, contrition and faith, and so it is the apotelesma, or the common function of converting and regenerating grace. The Law, in converting man, does its part by exciting and producing contrition. The Gospel, in regenerating man, also does its part by enkindling faith in Christ. There results, therefore, repentance, as the effect, from the concurrence of the Law and the Gospel); (2) the renova- tion of a justified person (in sanctification, the Law is at hand as a normative principle, or the rule of a holy life; it prescribes and teaches what is to be done and what omitted, and binds to obedi- ence, but it does not confer new strength for a spiritual and holy life: therefore the Gospel comes in as a succor and productive principle, which furnishes strength and power to men, enabling them rightly to walk in the ways of God. Wherefore the Law and the Gospel concur in producing one holy act in the work of -----------------End of Page 519-------------------------------------- renovation); (3) the preservation of the renewed man in perseverance of faith and godliness (the Law by its threatenings moves the re- newed man the more strictly to suppress his carnal desires, lest, conquered by the flesh, he should lapse into mortal sin, and fall away from the faith; the Gospel, by contantly affording new strength, confirms and increases his faith, so that the renewed man perseveres in faith and holiness. Add to this, that the Gos- pel alone shows the difference between mortal and venial sin. The Law prohibits both, that the renewed man, conscious of his imperfection, may practice a daily repentance. The Gospel con- soles his mind, grieving under a sense of his imperfect obedience and sin, by teaching him that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, Rom. 8:1)." ------------End of chapter on Page 520------------------------------ This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by William Alan Larson and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (260) 452-3149 Fax: (260) 452-2126