The antinomian views that repentance (contrition) is not wrought by the
Law, but by the Gospel, and that hence there is no room for the Law and
its preaching in the Christian Church, were uttered by Agricola as early
as 1525. In his _Annotations to the Gospel of St. Luke_ of that year he
had written: "The Decalog belongs in the courthouse, not in the pulpit.
All those who are occupied with Moses are bound to go to the devil. To
the gallows with Moses!" (Tschackert 481; _Herzog R._ 1, 688; E. 4,
423.) The public dispute began two years later when Agricola criticized
Melanchthon because in the latter's "Instructions to the Visitors of the
Churches of Saxony" (Articles of Visitation, _Articuli, de quibus
Egerunt per Visitatores in Regione Saxionae_, 1527) the ministers were
urged first to preach the Law to their spiritually callous people in
order to produce repentance (contrition), and thus to prepare them for
saving faith in the Gospel the only source of truly good works.
Melanchthon had written: "Pastors must follow the example of Christ.
Since He taught repentance and remission of sins, pastors also must
teach these to their churches. At present it is common to vociferate
concerning faith, and yet one cannot understand what faith is, unless
repentance is preached. Plainly they pour new wine into old bottles who
preach faith without repentance, without the doctrine of the fear of
God, without the doctrine of the Law, and accustom the people to a
certain carnal security, which is worse than all former errors under the
Pope have been." (_C. R._ 26, 9.) Agricola considered these and similar
exhortations of Melanchthon unfriendly and Romanizing, and published his
dissent in his _130 Questions for Young Children_, where he displayed a
shocking contempt for the Old Testament and the Law of God. In
particular, he stressed the doctrine that genuine repentance
(contrition) is wrought, not by the Law, but by the Gospel only. In
letters to his friends, Agricola at the same time charged Melanchthon
with corrupting the evangelical doctrine. (Frank 2, 252.)
At a meeting held at Torgau, November 26 to 28, 1527, the differences
were discussed by Agricola and Melanchthon in the presence of Luther and
Bugenhagen. The exact issue was: Does faith presuppose contrition?
Melanchthon affirmed the question, and Agricola denied it. Luther
finally effected an agreement by distinguishing between general and
justifying faith, and by explaining that repentance (contrition),
indeed, presupposes a general faith in God, but that justifying faith
presupposes the terrors of conscience (contrition) wrought by the Law.
His decision ran "that the term faith should be applied to justifying
faith which consoles us in these terrors [produced by the threats of the
Law] but that the word repentance correctly includes a general faith,"
_viz._, that there is a God who threatens transgressors, etc. (_C. R._
1, 916.)
In agreement herewith Melanchthon wrote in the German _Unterricht der
Visitatoren_, published 1528 at Wittenberg, that, in the wider and more
general sense, the term "faith" embraces contrition and the Law, but
that in the interest of the common people the word "faith" should be
reserved for the special Christian or justifying faith in Christ. We
read: "Denn wiewohl etliche achten, man solle nichts lehren vor dem
Glauben, sondern die Busse aus und nach dem Glauben folgend lehren, auf
dass die Widersacher [Papisten] nicht sagen moegen, man widerrufe unsere
vorige Lehre, so ist aber doch anzusehen, weil [dass] die Busse und
Gesetz auch zu dem gemeinen Glauben gehoeren. Denn man muss ja zuvor
glauben, dass Gott sei, der da drohe, gebiete, schrecke usw. So sei es
fuer den gemeinen, groben Mann, dass man solche Stuecke des Glaubens
lasse bleiben unter dem Namen Busse, Gebot, Gesetz, Furcht usw., auf
dass sie desto unterschiedlicher den Glauben Christi verstehen, welchen
die Apostel _iustificantem fidem_, das ist, der da gerecht macht und
Suende vertilgt, nennen, welches der Glaube von dem Gebot und Busse
nicht tut und doch der gemeine Mann ueber dem Wort Glauben irre wird und
Fragen aufbringt ohne Nutzen." (_C. R._ 26, 51f.)