Following are some of Agricola's radical statements concerning the Law
and the Gospel. The first thesis of his _Positions_ of 1537 reads:
"Repentance is to be taught not from the Decalog or from any law of
Moses, but from the violation of the Son through the Gospel.
_Poenitentia docenda est non ex decalogo aut ulla lege Mosis, sed ex
violatione Filii per evangelium_." (E. 4. 420.) Thesis 13: "In order to
keep the Christian doctrine pure, we must resist those [Luther and
Melanchthon] who teach that the Gospel must be preached only to such
whose hearts have previously been terrified and broken by the Law.
_Quare pro conservanda puritate doctrinae resistendum est iis, qui
docent, evangelium non praedicandum nisi animis prius quassatis et
contritis per legem_." (421.) Thesis 16: "The Law merely rebukes sin,
and that, too, without the Holy Spirit; hence it rebukes to damnation."
Thesis 17: "But there is need of a doctrine which does not only condemn
with great efficacy, but which saves at the same time; this, however, is
the Gospel, a doctrine which teaches conjointly repentance and remission
of sins." (421.) In his _Brief Summary of the Gospel_, Agricola says:
"In the New Testament and among Christians or in the Gospel we must not
preach the violation of the Law when a man breaks or transgresses the
Law, but the violation of the Son, to wit that he who does not for the
sake of the kingdom of heaven willingly omit what he should omit, and
does not do what he should do, crucifies Christ anew." (St. L. 20,
1622ff.; Frank 2, 313, Gieseler 3, 2, 137; Pieper, _Dogm_. 3, 265ff.)
A commingling of the Law and Gospel always results in a corruption of
the doctrines of conversion, faith, and justification. Such was the case
also with respect to Agricola, who taught that justification follows a
contrition which flows from, and hence is preceded by, love toward God.
Turning matters topsy-turvy, he taught: Repentance consists in this,
that the heart of man, experiencing the kindness of God which calls us
to Christ and presents us with His grace, turns about, apprehends God's
grace, thanks Him heartily for having spared it so graciously, begins to
repent, and to grieve heartily and sorrowfully on account of its sins,
wishes to abstain from them, and renounces its former sinful life.
"This," says Agricola, "is repentance (_poenitentia, Buessen_) and the
first stage of the new birth, the true breathing and afflation of the
Holy Spirit. After this he acquires a hearty confidence in God,
believing that He will condone his folly and not blame him for it, since
he did not know any better, although he is much ashamed of it and wishes
that it had never happened; he also resolves, since he has fared so
well, never to sin any more or to do anything that might make him
unworthy of the benefit received as if he were ungrateful and forgetful;
he furthermore learns to work out, confirm, and preserve his salvation
in fear and trembling...: this is forgiveness of sins." (Frank 2, 247.)
These confused ideas plainly show that Agricola had a false conception,
not only of the Law and Gospel, but also of original sin, repentance,
faith, regeneration, and justification. Essentially, his was the Roman
doctrine, which makes an antecedent of what in reality is an effect and
a consequence of conversion and justification. Viewed from this angle,
it occasions little surprise that Agricola consented to help formulate
and introduce the Augsburg Interim in which the essentials of
Lutheranism were denied.