The question has
been, Is the preaching of the Holy Gospel strictly speaking only a preaching of
grace
which proclaims the forgiveness of sins, or is it also a preaching of
repentance and reproof that condemns unbelief, since unbelief is condemned not
in the law but wholly through the Gospel?
6. But when the law and Gospel are opposed to each other, as
when Moses is spoken of as a teacher of the law in contrast to Christ as a
preacher of the Gospel, then we believe, teach, and confess that the Gospel is
not a proclamation of contrition and reproof but is, strictly speaking,
precisely a comforting and joyful message which does not reprove or terrify but
comforts consciences that are frightened by the law, directs them solely to the
merit of Christ, and raises them up again by the delightful proclamation of
God’s grace and favor acquired through the merits of Christ.
8. Nevertheless, as long as all this—namely, the passion and
death of Christ—proclaims God’s wrath and terrifies people, it is not, strictly
speaking, the preaching of the Gospel but the preaching of Moses and the law,
and therefore it is an “alien work” of Christ by which he comes to his proper
office—namely, to preach grace, to comfort, to make alive.
And this is the preaching of the Gospel, strictly speaking.
1. Hence we
reject and deem it as false and detrimental when men teach that the Gospel,
strictly speaking, is a proclamation of conviction and reproof and not
exclusively a proclamation of grace.
Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article V, Law and Gospel (emphasis added)
Two things up front. I like it better when I don't work on posts on my day off. But I end up doing it to myself. So enough whining. Secondly, this will be a longer post because the vast majority of the words I offer for your consideration are not mine.
GRACE has become almost a magical word in the ELCA. It is both a sword and shield, because anyone who does not agree with you "just doesn't understand grace." This tends to include pastors who preach that God might actually have in mind that we DO something, as well as the concept that God might think that certain things are NOT OK. "He just doesn't understand grace. If he understood grace better.... (fill in the blank)."
The words that I feel a compulsion to share with you today on the topic of grace are not mine. They are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his work which in English we call "The Cost of Discipleship." The issue this brilliant theologian was addressing was the increasing tendency in The Church to "cheap grace." He proposed that true discipleship is based in "costly grace." And he set forth the difference between them in some detail. I want to add quickly that the man who wrote these words also wrote powerfully, "The Christian Faith is forgiveness of sins. Nothing more and nothing less." (Life Together) But forgiveness leads to "the joy of salvation" when there is a real sense of what we have been forgiven. That is why I included the portions above on the preaching of Law and Gospel. It is those who have a deep sense of sin who rejoice in the forgiveness received by God's grace and love through Jesus Christ. It we don't get sin...we won't appreciate grace. OK, enough, sorry. As promised, "The Cost of Discipleship."
“Cheap
grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring
repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession,
absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross,
grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be
SOUGHT, again and again, the gift which must be ASKED for, the door at which a
man must KNOCK.
“Such grace is costly because it
calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus
Christ. It is costly because
it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only
true life. It is costly because
it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all - it is costly because it
cost God the life of his Son - ye were bought at a price - and what has cost
God much cannot be cheap for us. Above
all it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to
pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.
Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God.”
“The price we are having to pay today in
the shape of the collapse of the organized church is only the inevitable
consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a
cost. We gave away the word and
sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed and absolved a whole nation
unasked and without condition...
But
the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard....
“Cheap
grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our Evangelical Church.”
