The Twenty Sixth Evening Lecture (Pages 275-284)

For this lecture, Dr. Walther began the evening by discussing that in order to be a true Christian, genuine faith is an indispensable requisite. Also, in order to be a true minister, the ability to express in proper terms the things that must be believed is needed in addition to faith. Then Walther covers the meanings of words that rationalistic preachers re-define. Repentance and conversion: amending, or reforming, one’s life. Sanctification: walking in the path of virtue. The anger of God: the serious purpose of God. The predestination of God: men’s fate. The Gospel: the teaching of Jesus.

Then Walther enters Thesis 15, which is, “ In the eleventh place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is turned into a preaching of repentance.” He then explains how both ‘repentance’ and ‘ Gospel’ have a “wide” meaning and a “narrow” meaning. The wide meaning of repentance is it signifies conversion viewed in its entirety, embracing knowledge of sin, contrition, and faith. The narrow meaning of repentance is to signify the knowledge of sin and heartfelt sorrow and contrition. Then walther makes the good point, “For there will not be faith in a heart that has not first been terrified.” The narrow meaning of Gospel is found in Romans 1:16, which is, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” The wide meaning of Gospel is signifying anything that Jesus preached, including even His very poignant preaching of the Law. You will have to note this fact in order to understand our thesis correctly: a commingling of Law and Gospel takes place when the Gospel of Christ, that is, the Gospel in the narrow sense, is turned into a preaching of repentance.

A few good points Walther later makes are, “Unbelief, no matter in what relation it is viewed, is forbidden in the First Commandment. When I commit the sin of unbelief, I sin because I break the Law, which requires me to trust in God and believe His Word. The Gospel did not come into the world to reveal the sin of unbelief; this sin had been previously revealed by the Law.”

Then he brought the evening to a close with, “Next Friday we shall try to ascertain in which passages of Scripture the term Gospel is clearly used in the strict sense. This matter is quite important, especially for young preachers, if they are to learn how to express their thoughts correctly.”