Wood (1969) goes further to say: “The
fathers of the Church were subjected to the same test of fidelity to the Word.
Although it is true that Luther appealed again and again to the primitive
Church as well as to Scripture itself, and quoted the fathers with a profusion
and facility, he nevertheless refused to bow to their authority wherever it
conflicted with the disclosures of the Word” (pg. 125). It is interesting that
Wood would mention that Luther rejected their authority “wherever it conflicted
with the disclosures of the Word.” This would be an indication that Luther
rejected the authority of the fathers of the Church if he didn’t agree with
them regarding the interpretation of a certain verse. Many of the
sermons/homilies and interpretations that the fathers of the Church provided
were accompanied by the text of Scripture on which they were commenting as well
as many references within the actual interpretation referring back to the
verses being interpreted. Examples of this can be seen in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
series and individual interpretive texts written by the fathers of the church.
This is another example of Luther trying to manipulate interpretation to
suit/support his views; in other words, he only accepted as authoritative those
fathers of the church whose interpretation agreed with what he thought was the
proper interpretation.
Luther claims that the sole authority
for him is Scripture itself. When one thinks of “Scripture,” one may assume
that Luther speaks of the entire Bible as it existed at that point and
attributing equal authority to all the text contained within the concept of
“Scripture.” However, according to Edwards (1994), “Luther was telling his
readers that not all Scripture was of equal value” (pg. 112). Luther urges
Christians to focus most of their reading on the Gospel according to St. John,
St. Paul’s letters to various nations, and the first epistle of St. Peter. This
poses a problem for readers of the Bible. Anyone who is familiar with the Bible
knows that there are many cross-references between both the Old and New
Testaments as well as between the Old Testament books and the New Testament
books. If one were to look solely at the New Testament and focus on the books
that Luther regards as the most important, one may miss many important
cross-references between the Gospel accounts of Sts. Matthew, Mark, and Luke and
the epistles of St. Paul. Some of these cross-references help enumerate certain
concepts in Scripture and explain them, hence supporting Luther’s claim that
Scripture interprets itself. By only focusing on some of the books in
Scripture, the reader may miss important explanations made in other books.
Another problem that Luther’s
exclusive selection poses is that of bias. Luther makes the claim that the
Gospel does not require works but only faith in order for one to be saved (pg.
111). According to Edwards (1994), this justifies Luther’s excluding the
epistle of St. James from the list of the most important books in the New
Testament (pg. 113). Luther, promoting the belief in sola fide (“faith alone”), would have difficulty justifying the
verse in the epistle of St. James that states: “Thus also
faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Therefore,
this could be an explanation for his bias in excluding any works that deal with
the concept of faith and works versus faith alone.
Works Cited:
Works Cited:
Edwards, M. U. (1994). Printing, Propaganda and Martin Luther. Berkeley: University of California Press.
St. Athanasius Orthodox Academy.
(2008). The Orthodox study Bible.
Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Wood, A. S. (1969). Captive to the word: Martin Luther: Doctor
of sacred scripture. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
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