Our Confidence comes from knowing God as not only the sovereign Creator who created all things, and upholds it, but also in the fact that He sent his one and only son to die upon the cross for the sins of the elect alone.
How does providence help us?
The Heidelberg Catechism says
What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence doth still uphold all things?
That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things which may herafter befal us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.
The purpose is so that we may be patient in suffering.
Ultimately the believers comfort lies in Knowing that their sins have been expiated and the wrath of God has been propitiated on their behalf.
Showing posts with label Heidelberg Catechism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heidelberg Catechism. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Our Confidence
Thursday, October 17, 2019
The Law and Gospel distinction found throughout not only Lutherism but also Calvinism
I was once in a debate with an individual who was and perhaps even still ensnared with the heretical teachings of the Lordship salvation camp. This individual said that the Law and Gospel was not a big definite doctrine in the history of the church besides the Lutheran's and in particular Luther. Here I list several authors and theologians that present this doctrine as most important to know.
"On this subject we call the 'Word of God' (for we know well that the eternal Son of God is also so named) the canonical books of the Old and New Testament; for they proceed from the mouth of God Himself.
We divide this Word into two principal parts or kinds: the one is called the 'Law', the other the ' Gospel'. For, all the rest can be gathered under the one or the other of these two headings." - Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, pg. 36
"Now, of all doctrines the foremost and most important is the doctrine of justification. However, immediately following upon it, as second in importance, is this, how Law and Gospel are to be divided. The distinction between the Law and the Gospel shall now claim our attention and form the subject of our earnest study." -C. F. W. Walther, The Proper distinction between Law and Gospel, Pg. 5
"By 'the law' here is meant the moral law as a covenant of works, and by 'the gospel' is meant the gospel in its strict and proper sense. To know the difference so as to be able to distinguish aright between the law and the gospel is of every it most importance to the faith, holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise for a man so to believe as to 'be filled with joy and peace in believing.' If he does not know the difference between the law ...and the gospel he will be apt, especially in affair of justification, to confound the one with the other. The consequence will be that his painful experience, bondage will be mixed with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life. If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all his salvation from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the affair of his justification. This was the great error of the Judaizing teachers in the churches of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification, and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very nature of it and make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept the law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he should be accursed." -John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel
In his Epistle to the Romans, contrasting the law and the gospel, he says, 'Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that a man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' Do you perceive how he thus discriminates between the law and the gospel, that the former attributes righteousness to works, but the latter bestows it freely, without the assistance of works? -John Calvin, The Institutes, 3.11.17. Pg. 669
"All Scripture should be divided into these two chief doctrines, the law and the promises. In some places it presents the law. In others it presents the promise of Christ; this it does either when it promises that the Messiah will come and promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life for his sake, or when, in the New Testament, the Christ who came promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life. By 'law' in this discussion we mean the commandments of the Decalogue, wherever they appear in the Scriptures. For the present we are saying nothing about the ceremonial and civil laws of Moses." - The Book of Concords, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 4 on Justification, Pg. 108. The version I have is edited by Theodore G. Tappert.
Perkins spoke of the law and gospel distinction: "And first of all, the law, showing a man his sin and punishment thereof, which is eternal death: afterward the Gospel, showing salvation by Christ Jesus to such as believe." -William Perkins, A Golden Chain, pg. 171.
"Now in order that we do not open our mouths too wide and marvel at the skill of these false spirits, and thereby abandon the main articles, and thus deceitfully be led off the track (for thereby the devil succeeds through these prophets), I will here briefly recount these articles of the Christian faith to which everyone is above all things to pay attention and hold fast.
The first is the law of God, which is to be preached so that one thereby reveals and teaches how to recognize sin (Rom. 3[:20] and 7[:7]), as we have often shown in our writings. However these prophets do not understand this correctly, for this means a truly spiritual preaching of the law, as Paul says in Rom. 7[:14], and a right use of the law, as he says in 1 Tim. 1[:8].
Secondly, when now sin is recognized and the law is so preached that the conscience is alarmed and humbled before God's wrath, we are then to preach the comforting word of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins, so that the conscience again may be comforted and established in the grace of God, etc.
Christ himself teaches these two articles in such an order (Luke 24[:47]. One must preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name. 'And the Spirit (he says in John [16:8]) will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.' You do not find either of these two articles in this one or any other of the false prophets. They also do not understand them, and yet these are the most important and necessary articles." - Martin Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Pg. 160
The Heidelberg Catechism with the commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus teaches us from the start what is the doctrine of the Church.
It says, "The doctrine of the church is the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and gospel concerning the true God, together with his will, works, and worship; divinely revealed, and comprehended in the writings of the prophets and apostles, and confirmed by man miracles and divine testimonies; through which the Holy Spirit works effectually in the hearts of the elect, and gathers from the whole human race an everlasting church, in which God is glorified, both in this, and in the life to come." - Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Dr. Zacharias Ursinus, Pg. 1
Then on Pg. 2 of the Commentary, it says, "The doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures. The law is called the Decalogue, and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins, through faith. This division of the doctrine of the church is established by these plain and forcible arguments."
Also Tyndale says,
"The keys whereof they greatly boast are no carnal things but spiritual, and nothing else save knowledge of the law and of the promises or gospel: if any man for lack of spiritual feeling desire authority of men, let him read the old doctors. If any man desire authority of scripture, Christ saith ( Luke 11): woe be to you lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves and they that come in ye forbid. That is, they had blindes the scripture whose knowledge (as it were a key) letteth into God, with glosses and tradition." -William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, pg. 65 - 66
Here Tyndale shows us that the key of heaven is nothing but the law and gospel rightly divided.
Also Joseph Hussey says, "But I must not go and propose the mysteries of the Gospel to men in that way, making them tenders of Salvation, as if it were a mere creature's business that rested only between them and me! For proposals imply in a manner, equal terms on both sides; but in Effectual Grace God can and doth sovereignly impose Himself by the Gospel on his own, II Tim. 2:19; and yet in that imposing act they are made a willing people. He puts his own Gospel on them, as afterwards Christ's yoke, Matt. 11:30, but he puts not on them another Gospel, nor confounds the Law with the Gospel, but keeps them both distinct. He puts his Gospel on them, before they take any clear evangelical impression, {'that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter,' Rom. 7:6,} or serve in any evangelical duty." - God's Operations of Grace, Pg. 191
Robert Traill says "Let us carefully keep the bounds clear betwixt the law and gospel; which 'whosoever doth, is a right perfect divine,' saith blessed Luther, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: a book that hath more plain sound gospel, than many volumes of some other divines. Let us keep the law as far from the business of justification, as we would keep condemnation, its contrary. For the law and condemnation are inseparable, but by the intervention of Jesus Christ our surety, Gal. 3. 10, - 14. But in the practice of holiness, the fulfilled law given by Jesus Christ to believers as a rule, is of great and good use to them; as hath been declared." - The Doctrine of Justification vindicated from the Charge of Antinomianism, Pg. 287
"On this subject we call the 'Word of God' (for we know well that the eternal Son of God is also so named) the canonical books of the Old and New Testament; for they proceed from the mouth of God Himself.
We divide this Word into two principal parts or kinds: the one is called the 'Law', the other the ' Gospel'. For, all the rest can be gathered under the one or the other of these two headings." - Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, pg. 36
"Now, of all doctrines the foremost and most important is the doctrine of justification. However, immediately following upon it, as second in importance, is this, how Law and Gospel are to be divided. The distinction between the Law and the Gospel shall now claim our attention and form the subject of our earnest study." -C. F. W. Walther, The Proper distinction between Law and Gospel, Pg. 5
"By 'the law' here is meant the moral law as a covenant of works, and by 'the gospel' is meant the gospel in its strict and proper sense. To know the difference so as to be able to distinguish aright between the law and the gospel is of every it most importance to the faith, holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise for a man so to believe as to 'be filled with joy and peace in believing.' If he does not know the difference between the law ...and the gospel he will be apt, especially in affair of justification, to confound the one with the other. The consequence will be that his painful experience, bondage will be mixed with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life. If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all his salvation from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the affair of his justification. This was the great error of the Judaizing teachers in the churches of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification, and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very nature of it and make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept the law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he should be accursed." -John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel
In his Epistle to the Romans, contrasting the law and the gospel, he says, 'Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that a man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' Do you perceive how he thus discriminates between the law and the gospel, that the former attributes righteousness to works, but the latter bestows it freely, without the assistance of works? -John Calvin, The Institutes, 3.11.17. Pg. 669
"All Scripture should be divided into these two chief doctrines, the law and the promises. In some places it presents the law. In others it presents the promise of Christ; this it does either when it promises that the Messiah will come and promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life for his sake, or when, in the New Testament, the Christ who came promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life. By 'law' in this discussion we mean the commandments of the Decalogue, wherever they appear in the Scriptures. For the present we are saying nothing about the ceremonial and civil laws of Moses." - The Book of Concords, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 4 on Justification, Pg. 108. The version I have is edited by Theodore G. Tappert.
Perkins spoke of the law and gospel distinction: "And first of all, the law, showing a man his sin and punishment thereof, which is eternal death: afterward the Gospel, showing salvation by Christ Jesus to such as believe." -William Perkins, A Golden Chain, pg. 171.
"Now in order that we do not open our mouths too wide and marvel at the skill of these false spirits, and thereby abandon the main articles, and thus deceitfully be led off the track (for thereby the devil succeeds through these prophets), I will here briefly recount these articles of the Christian faith to which everyone is above all things to pay attention and hold fast.
The first is the law of God, which is to be preached so that one thereby reveals and teaches how to recognize sin (Rom. 3[:20] and 7[:7]), as we have often shown in our writings. However these prophets do not understand this correctly, for this means a truly spiritual preaching of the law, as Paul says in Rom. 7[:14], and a right use of the law, as he says in 1 Tim. 1[:8].
Secondly, when now sin is recognized and the law is so preached that the conscience is alarmed and humbled before God's wrath, we are then to preach the comforting word of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins, so that the conscience again may be comforted and established in the grace of God, etc.
Christ himself teaches these two articles in such an order (Luke 24[:47]. One must preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name. 'And the Spirit (he says in John [16:8]) will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.' You do not find either of these two articles in this one or any other of the false prophets. They also do not understand them, and yet these are the most important and necessary articles." - Martin Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Pg. 160
The Heidelberg Catechism with the commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus teaches us from the start what is the doctrine of the Church.
It says, "The doctrine of the church is the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and gospel concerning the true God, together with his will, works, and worship; divinely revealed, and comprehended in the writings of the prophets and apostles, and confirmed by man miracles and divine testimonies; through which the Holy Spirit works effectually in the hearts of the elect, and gathers from the whole human race an everlasting church, in which God is glorified, both in this, and in the life to come." - Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Dr. Zacharias Ursinus, Pg. 1
Then on Pg. 2 of the Commentary, it says, "The doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures. The law is called the Decalogue, and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins, through faith. This division of the doctrine of the church is established by these plain and forcible arguments."
Also Tyndale says,
"The keys whereof they greatly boast are no carnal things but spiritual, and nothing else save knowledge of the law and of the promises or gospel: if any man for lack of spiritual feeling desire authority of men, let him read the old doctors. If any man desire authority of scripture, Christ saith ( Luke 11): woe be to you lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves and they that come in ye forbid. That is, they had blindes the scripture whose knowledge (as it were a key) letteth into God, with glosses and tradition." -William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, pg. 65 - 66
Here Tyndale shows us that the key of heaven is nothing but the law and gospel rightly divided.
Also Joseph Hussey says, "But I must not go and propose the mysteries of the Gospel to men in that way, making them tenders of Salvation, as if it were a mere creature's business that rested only between them and me! For proposals imply in a manner, equal terms on both sides; but in Effectual Grace God can and doth sovereignly impose Himself by the Gospel on his own, II Tim. 2:19; and yet in that imposing act they are made a willing people. He puts his own Gospel on them, as afterwards Christ's yoke, Matt. 11:30, but he puts not on them another Gospel, nor confounds the Law with the Gospel, but keeps them both distinct. He puts his Gospel on them, before they take any clear evangelical impression, {'that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter,' Rom. 7:6,} or serve in any evangelical duty." - God's Operations of Grace, Pg. 191
Robert Traill says "Let us carefully keep the bounds clear betwixt the law and gospel; which 'whosoever doth, is a right perfect divine,' saith blessed Luther, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: a book that hath more plain sound gospel, than many volumes of some other divines. Let us keep the law as far from the business of justification, as we would keep condemnation, its contrary. For the law and condemnation are inseparable, but by the intervention of Jesus Christ our surety, Gal. 3. 10, - 14. But in the practice of holiness, the fulfilled law given by Jesus Christ to believers as a rule, is of great and good use to them; as hath been declared." - The Doctrine of Justification vindicated from the Charge of Antinomianism, Pg. 287
Friday, April 27, 2018
Jerome Zanchius, Zacharias Ursinus, Martin Luther vs. John Macarthur
John Macarthur is known to have brought in the heretical Lordship Salvation heresy into the church. When defining what it means for Christ to be Lord he says basically that it is a lifestyle change. He connects this and other doctrines with how we live or what we do. He says, "Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). That is the single, central, foundational, and distinguishable article of Christianity. It is also the first essential confession of faith every true Christian must make: 'If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved' (Rom. 10:9). The belief that someone could be a true Christian while that person's whole lifestyle, value system, speech, and attitude are marked by a stubborn refusal to surrender to Christ as Lord is a notion that shouldn't even need to be refuted." Macarthur is an existentialist. Unless something is experienced it cannot be true. On top of this he is a dispensationalist.
However, this isnt taught by any of the Reformers. Luther never defined Christ's Lordship in conjunction to our obedience. He says in the Larger Catechism found in the book of Concord on pg. 414 "If you are asked, 'What do you believe in the Second Article, concerning Jesus Christ?' answer briefly, 'I believe that Jesus Christ, true Son of God, has become my Lord.' What is it to 'become a Lord'? It means that he has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and from all evil. Before this I had no Lord and King but was captive under the power of the devil. I was condemned to death and entangled in sin and blindness."
Luther also says on the same page, "Those tyrants and jailers now have been routed, and their place has been taken by Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and righteousness and every good and blessing. He has snatched us, poor lost creatures, from the jaws of hell, won us, made us free, and restored us to the Father's favor and grace. . . . Let this be the summary of this article, that the little word 'Lord' simply means the same as Redeemer, that is, he who has brought us back from the devil to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and now keeps us safe there."
None of these blessings have an existential truth connected to it.
Ursinus says, "When we, therefore, say that we believe in our Lord, we believe, 1. That the Son of God is the Creator of all things, and therefore has a right over all creatures. 'All things that the Father hath are mine.' 2. That he is in a peculiar manner constituted the Lord, the defender and preserver of the church, because he has redeemed it with his blood. 3. That the Son of God is also my Lord, that I am one of his subjects, that I am redeemed by his blood and continually preserved by him, so that I am bound to be grateful to him. And, further, that his dominion over me is such as is calculated to promote my good, and that I am saved by him as a most precious possession, a peculiar purchase, secured at the greatest expense." - Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, pg. 205
Jerome Zanchius says the that the term Lord means that God has absolute sovereign rights to do as He pleases.
Jerome Zanchius says, "As Lord or Sovereign of all, He does as He will (and has a most unquestionable right to do so) with His own, and in particular fixes and determines the everlasting state of every individual person, as He sees fit. It is essential to absolute sovereignty that the sovereign have it in his power to dispose of those over whom his jurisdiction extends, just as he pleases, without being accountable to any; and God, whose authority is unbounded, none being exempt from it, may, with the strictest holiness and justice, love or hate, elect or reprobate, save or destroy any of His creatures, whether human or angelic, according to His own free pleasure and sovereign purpose." - Absolute Predestination, Pg. 38
However, this isnt taught by any of the Reformers. Luther never defined Christ's Lordship in conjunction to our obedience. He says in the Larger Catechism found in the book of Concord on pg. 414 "If you are asked, 'What do you believe in the Second Article, concerning Jesus Christ?' answer briefly, 'I believe that Jesus Christ, true Son of God, has become my Lord.' What is it to 'become a Lord'? It means that he has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and from all evil. Before this I had no Lord and King but was captive under the power of the devil. I was condemned to death and entangled in sin and blindness."
Luther also says on the same page, "Those tyrants and jailers now have been routed, and their place has been taken by Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and righteousness and every good and blessing. He has snatched us, poor lost creatures, from the jaws of hell, won us, made us free, and restored us to the Father's favor and grace. . . . Let this be the summary of this article, that the little word 'Lord' simply means the same as Redeemer, that is, he who has brought us back from the devil to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and now keeps us safe there."
None of these blessings have an existential truth connected to it.
Ursinus says, "When we, therefore, say that we believe in our Lord, we believe, 1. That the Son of God is the Creator of all things, and therefore has a right over all creatures. 'All things that the Father hath are mine.' 2. That he is in a peculiar manner constituted the Lord, the defender and preserver of the church, because he has redeemed it with his blood. 3. That the Son of God is also my Lord, that I am one of his subjects, that I am redeemed by his blood and continually preserved by him, so that I am bound to be grateful to him. And, further, that his dominion over me is such as is calculated to promote my good, and that I am saved by him as a most precious possession, a peculiar purchase, secured at the greatest expense." - Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, pg. 205
Jerome Zanchius says the that the term Lord means that God has absolute sovereign rights to do as He pleases.
Jerome Zanchius says, "As Lord or Sovereign of all, He does as He will (and has a most unquestionable right to do so) with His own, and in particular fixes and determines the everlasting state of every individual person, as He sees fit. It is essential to absolute sovereignty that the sovereign have it in his power to dispose of those over whom his jurisdiction extends, just as he pleases, without being accountable to any; and God, whose authority is unbounded, none being exempt from it, may, with the strictest holiness and justice, love or hate, elect or reprobate, save or destroy any of His creatures, whether human or angelic, according to His own free pleasure and sovereign purpose." - Absolute Predestination, Pg. 38
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
No difference between the law of Christ and the decalogue
In sundry other places of their confessions they explain their meaning more fully thus: Many laws were uttered by Christ of which Moses knew nothing; for instance, the law to love our enemies, the law not to seek private revenge, the law not to demand back what has been taken from us, ect. All these matters the papists declare to be 'new laws.' This is wrong; for even Moses has said: ' Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with ...all thy might,' Deut. 6,5; and: ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' Lev. 19, 18. Now, Christ did not abrogate this law of Moses, but neither did He publish any new laws. He only opened up the spiritual meaning of the Law. Accordingly, He says in Matt. 5, 17: 'Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' That means that He did not come to issue new laws, but to fulfill the Law for us, so that we may share His fulfillment. - C.F.W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, pg. 73-74
"The law is called the Decalogue, and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins through faith." -Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg, pg. 2
"The law is called the Decalogue, and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins through faith." -Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg, pg. 2
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Thursday, January 8, 2015
The importance of the difference between Law and Gospel
It is very important to know the difference between the two principle points of Christianity or else one would become liable to the charge of legalism or licentiousness.
"By 'the law' here is meant the moral law as a covenant of works, and by 'the gospel' is meant the gospel in its strict and proper sense. To know the differemce so as to be able to distinguish aright between the law and the gospel is of every itmost importance to the faith, holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise for a man so to believe as to 'be filled with joy and peace in believing.' If he does not know the difference between the law ...and the gospel he will be apt, especially in affair of justification, to confound the one with the other. The consequence will be that his painful experience, bondage will be mixed with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life. If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all his salvation from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the affair of his justification. This was the great error of the Judaizing teachers in the churches of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification, and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very natof it and make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept the law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he should be accursed." -John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel
"The principal DIFFERENCES between these two parts of the doctrine of the church, consist in these three things:
1. In the subject, or general character of the doctrine, peculiar to each. The law prescribes and enjoins what is to be done, and forbids what ought to be avoided: whilst the gospel announces the free remission of sin, through and for the sake of Christ.
2. In the manner of the revelation peculiar to each. The law is known from nature; the gospel is divinely revealed.
3. In the promises which they make to man. The law promises life upon the condition of perfect obedience; the gospel, on the condition of faith in Christ and commencement of new obedience. Hereafter, however, more will be said upon this subject in the proper place." - The Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus
"By 'the law' here is meant the moral law as a covenant of works, and by 'the gospel' is meant the gospel in its strict and proper sense. To know the differemce so as to be able to distinguish aright between the law and the gospel is of every itmost importance to the faith, holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise for a man so to believe as to 'be filled with joy and peace in believing.' If he does not know the difference between the law ...and the gospel he will be apt, especially in affair of justification, to confound the one with the other. The consequence will be that his painful experience, bondage will be mixed with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life. If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all his salvation from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the affair of his justification. This was the great error of the Judaizing teachers in the churches of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification, and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very natof it and make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept the law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he should be accursed." -John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel
"The principal DIFFERENCES between these two parts of the doctrine of the church, consist in these three things:
1. In the subject, or general character of the doctrine, peculiar to each. The law prescribes and enjoins what is to be done, and forbids what ought to be avoided: whilst the gospel announces the free remission of sin, through and for the sake of Christ.
2. In the manner of the revelation peculiar to each. The law is known from nature; the gospel is divinely revealed.
3. In the promises which they make to man. The law promises life upon the condition of perfect obedience; the gospel, on the condition of faith in Christ and commencement of new obedience. Hereafter, however, more will be said upon this subject in the proper place." - The Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus
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