Word and Spirit in Melanchthon’s Loci Communes: Searching for the Relationship between the External and the Internal

During the reformation the relationship between the Bible and the Spirit was an important issue. The theology of early Protestantism focused on the word of God, but also acknowledged the necessity of the work of the Spirit. The word that was outwardly proclaimed as law and gospel was believed to be inwardly empowered by the Spirit. In the development of the Loci Melanchthon switches from an emphasis on the work of the Spirit to an emphasis on the outward word of God. In the first edition the remedy of sin consists of an infusion of the Spirit through the word (per verbum). The work of the Spirit is not expressly called inner or internal as opposed to the outward word and the adjunctive externus is not used for the word. Only in the third generation of the Loci it is applied to the word and the sacraments. The development of the text of the Loci underlines a growing emphasis on the outward word