Laying the Foundation: Martin Luther—1513

When an emergency called a pastor away, a layman was asked to conduct the Bible class that gathered the next morning. Later he told his pastor that he had never studied the Bible as intensely as he had that evening. Teachers understand the rigors required for planning their lessons.
Martin Luther had received the title Doctor of Theology and was now considered a teacher of the church by the religious authorities of his day. He now occupied an influential position in the organized church within Saxony, a strategically important territory of the Holy Roman Empire governed by Frederick the Wise. He was given an office in an upper story of Wittenberg’s Black Cloister, overlooking the Elbe River. As had been his custom as a monk, he threw himself into his new duties with uncommon vigor.
Luther began his Biblical instruction at the university with lectures on the Psalms in July or August 1513. He wrote marginal notes on the sides of the text. Existing notes reveal that at the outset he treated the text according to the common method of interpretation practiced in medieval times, which made use of a confusing fourfold understanding. This included the literal meaning and three additional layers or applications of the text. An example of this is found in his lecture on Psalm 69:1–3: “The first three verses are understood in a fourfold way. First, literally about the suffering Christ. Second, about the holy martyrs, His members, following His example, and suffering similarly in the flesh…. Third, in a tropological way, namely, that the Christian acknowledge himself to be in sins and miseries…. Fourth, it is a prophecy concerning the misery of the church which it appears to be experiencing in our times.” However, in his printed preface to the Biblical text (after citing Moses, Zechariah, Peter, and Paul) Luther clearly states: “From these we draw the following guideline for this dark, yet holy labyrinth: Every prophecy and every prophet must be understood as referring to Christ the Lord, except where it is clear from the plain words that someone else is spoken of. For thus He Himself says; ‘Search the Scriptures … and it is they that bear witness to Me’ (John 5:39).” This overarching principle was stated clearly as the foundation for understanding the Bible and arose out of the inspired text itself.
Luther concluded his first series of lectures on the Psalms in 1515. In 1515–1516, he gave his first lectures on Romans. These early lectures reflected the fourfold method of interpretation that had characterized the Roman Church for centuries. Then in 1516–1517, he delivered his first lectures on Galatians. It is clear from the written notes taken by students during these lectures that Luther had abandoned the traditional fourfold interpretation of Scriptures and replaced it with the contextual, literal meaning and the fact that Christ is the self-identified subject of the entire Bible (The Grammatical–Historical–Christological Interpretation). With this transition, the cloud of pagan, philosophical, and medieval elements, which had obscured the chief teaching of justification by faith alone, was burned away.
The new principles of interpretation that Luther employed in his dogged study of the text soon revealed the true light and power of the Gospel. This led to what is called his “Tower Discovery,” where he clearly understood “the righteousness of faith” as God’s gift, distinct from the righteousness of works. In his Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Writings of 1545, Luther himself refers to the discovery in 1518 as having taken place in his study at a time when he was engaged with his second series of lectures on the Psalms. Some scholars have placed it within the 1518-1519 timeframe. Others have dated the “Tower Discovery” to as early as his first lectures on the Psalms (1513–1515). These first lectures on the Psalms, for instance Psalm 36:6 and 71:19, seemingly corroborate this early date despite the fact that Luther’s recollection of the full clarity of the revelation and his methodology indicates a slightly later date. Although the precise date is difficult to ascertain, it must be said that once Luther began to employ the method of interpretation presented by the Bible itself his tower experience was inevitable, as well as its aftermath, which took shape in the Reformation. One followed the other as surely as the full light of the sun follows the dawn. The study of the Bible was moving back to its ancient foundation.
In our times, a fog of popular human philosophies and assumptions hostile to the plain reading of the Scriptures has returned to lectures, writings, the media, and our own temptations. The church and the Christian need to guard against these philosophies and assumptions.
Give thanks to God that the light of the Gospel still shines brightly among us, for with it the Spirit is given and by it alone the church and the Christian are drawn to heaven. Not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. Give thanks also that we can read a good translation of the Bible and understand the plain meaning of Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians and teach our children as Luther taught his students. The teachers and students of the true church all rest and have always rested in the same truth and shine with the hope that is in them.
Thomas E. Smuda is pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Deshler, Ohio.