Law and Gospel: Philip Melanchthon’s Debate with John Agricola of Eisleben over Poenitentia

Written by Timothy J. Wengert Reviewed By Carl Trueman

This volume belongs to the series. Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought which is being produced by Baker in the USA and Paternoster in Britain under the general editorship of Richard A. Muller. The series is itself most welcome for bringing to the attention of the wider scholarly public various facets of Reformation and Post-Reformation thought which have been all but neglected until now. This volume fulfils this purpose admirably, highlighting the development of the thinking of Luther’s deputy, Melanchthon, on the relationship between those classic Lutheran categories, law and gospel, in the course of a particular debate which was ongoing in the 1520s and 1530s.

The book focuses on the dispute between Melanchthon and John Agricola. As such, it would appear to form a complementary volume to Wengert’s other monograph. Human Freedom, Christian Righteousness(OUP, 1998) which deals with connected themes in the context of Melanchthon’s exegetical debates with Erasmus. Wengert is a pupil of David Steinmetz and the Paternoster volume reflects all of the strengths associated with those trained in Reformation studies at Duke. Careful attention is paid to Melanchthon’s biblical exegesis, both in the context of contemporary events and against the background of medieval Catholicism; in addition, Wengert accents the practical purpose of exegesis in the sixteenth century. While today’s exegetes may think their task is done when the canonical intention of the given text is laid bare, for Melanchthon, as for Agricola, the task was not complete until the word of God had been brought to bear on the world around them. This is where the dispute developed: the question at its heart was, does the gospel precede or follow repentance? In other words, do you repent because you realise that God has been good to you in Christ, or because you have been brought to the edge of despair by the demands of the law, at which point the promise of the gospel intervenes? Not surprisingly, the conflict erupted not simply in the context of exegesis but in the context of ecclesiastical pedagogy. The question was one of how the Lutheran gospel of grace could be communicated to the masses in a manner which they could understand and which would not simply lead them to a radically defective antinomian understanding of grace. Melanchthon had opted for a cautious approach that used the language of medieval piety but in a Lutheran manner; Agricola regarded this as subverting God’s grace and pushing theology back to the works righteousness of Rome. This difference triggered the long running debate that was to reveal more and more radical differences between the theologies of the two men as the years went by. Remarkably, their friendship survived for a long time throughout the polemical exchanges, though it was ultimately to founder in a sea of bitter recrimination.

The book is significant as offering a compelling interpretation of the means by which such distinctive and important Melanchthonian positions, such as the third use of the law, the role of the human response in salvation, and the forensic nature of justification developed. That Wengert roots these developments within the context of actual controversy, discontent among students at Wittenberg, and the need for the Reformers to catechise the laity, makes the volume all the more welcome. Such a path need not necessarily lead to a radical historicist relativisation of theology; rather, it should enhance our own understanding of the tradition to which we belong. Theological ideas are historical actions; thus, not all apparently dogmatic or exegetical problems can be solved simply with dogmatic and exegetical categories. Intellectual historians have long known this; those unconvinced of the truth or usefulness of this insight might do worse than read Wengert on Melanchthon.


Carl Trueman

Carl Trueman is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania.