Luther on How to Study Theology - Prayer, Study of God's Word, and Trials

I would have been quite content to see my books, one and all, remain in obscurity and go by the board. Among other reasons, I shudder to think of the example I am giving, for I am well aware how little the church has been profited since they have begun to collect many books and large libraries, in addition to and besides the Holy Scriptures, and especially since they have stored up, without discrimination, all sorts of writings by the church fathers, the councils, and teachers. Through this practice not only is precious time lost, which could be used for studying the Scriptures, but in the end the pure knowledge of the divine Word is also lost, so that the Bible lies forgotten in the dust under the bench (as happened to the book of Deuteronomy, in the time of the kings of Judah)


Although it has been profitable and necessary that the writings of some church fathers and councils have remained, as witnesses and histories, nevertheless I think, “Est modus in rebus,” [There is reason for the way things happen. Horace] and we need not regret that the books of many fathers and councils have, by God’s grace, disappeared. If they had all remained in existence, no room would be left for anything but books; and yet all of them together would not have improved on what one finds in the Holy Scriptures.


It was also our intention and hope, when we ourselves began to translate the Bible into German, that there should be less writing, and instead more studying and reading of the Scriptures. For all other writing is to lead the way into and point toward the Scriptures, as John the Baptist did toward Christ, saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease” [John 3:30], in order that each person may drink of the fresh spring himself, as all those fathers who wanted to accomplish something good had to do.


Neither councils, fathers, nor we, in spite of the greatest and best success possible, will do as well as the Holy Scriptures, that is, as well as God himself has done. (We must, of course, also have the Holy Spirit, faith, godly speech, and works, if we are to be saved.) Therefore it behooves us to let the prophets and apostles stand at the professor’s lectern, while we, down below at their feet, listen to what they say. It is not they who must hear what we say.


I cannot, however, prevent them from wanting to collect and publish my works through the press (small honor to me), although it is not my will. I have no choice but to let them risk the labor and the expense of this project. My consolation is that, in time, my books will lie forgotten in the dust anyhow, especially if I (by God’s grace) have written anything good. Non ere melior Patribus meis. [I am no better than my fathers. I Kings 19:4] He who comes second should indeed be the first one forgotten. Inasmuch as they have been capable of leaving the Bible itself lying under the bench, and have also forgotten the fathers and the councils—the better ones all the faster—accordingly there is a good hope, once the overzealousness of this time has abeted, that my books also will not last long. There is especially good hope of this, since it has begun to rain and snow books and teachers, many of which already lie there forgotten and moldering. Even their names are not remembered any more, despite their confident hope that they would eternally be on sale in the market and rule churches.


Very well, so let the undertaking proceed in the name of God, except that I make the friendly request of anyone who wishes to have my books at this time, not to let them on any account hinder him from studying the Scriptures themselves. Let him put them to use as I put the excrees and excretals of the pope to use, and the books of the sophists. That is, if I occasionally wish to see what they have done, or if I wish to ponder the historical facts of the time, I use them. But I do not study in them or act in perfect accord with what they deemed good. I do not treat the books of the fathers and the councils much differently.


Herein I follow the example of St. Augustine, who was, among other things, the first and almost the only one who determined to be subject to the Holy Scriptures alone, and independent of the books of all the fathers and saints. On account of that he got into a fierce fight with St. Jerome, who reproached him by pointing to the books of his forefathers; but he did not turn to them. And if the example of St. Augustine had been followed, the pope would not have become Antichrist, and that countless mass of books, which is like a crawling swarm of vermin, would not have found its way into the church, and the Bible would have remained on the pulpit.


Moreover, I want to point out to you a correct way of studying theology, for I have had practice in that. If you keep to it, you will become so learned that you yourself could (if it were necessary) write books just as good as those of the fathers and councils, even as I (in God) dare to presume and boast, without arrogance and lying, that in the matter of writing books I do not stand much behind some of the fathers. Of my life I can by no means make the same boast. This is the way taught by holy King David (and doubtlessly used also by all the patriarchs and prophets) in the one hundred nineteenth Psalm. There you will find three rules, amply presented throughout the whole Psalm. They are Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio.


Firstly, you should know that the Holy Scriptures constitute a book which turns the wisdom of all other books into foolishness, because not one teaches about eternal life except this one alone. Therefore you should straightway despair of your reason and understanding. With them you will not attain eternal life, but, on the contrary, your presumptuousness will plunge you and others with you out of heaven (as happened to Lucifer) into the abyss of hell. But kneel down in your little room [Matt. 6:6] and pray to God with real humility and earnestness, that he through his dear Son may give you his Holy Spirit, who will enlighten you, lead you, and give you understanding.


Thus you see how David keeps praying in the above-mentioned Psalm, “Teach me, Lord, instruct me, lead me, show me,” and many more words like these. Although he well knew and daily heard and read the text of Moses and other books besides, still he wants to lay hold of the real teacher of the Scriptures himself, so that he may not seize upon them pell-mell with his reason and become his own teacher. For such practice gives rise to factious spirits who allow themselves to nurture the delusion that the Scriptures are subject to them and can be easily grasped with their reason, as if they were Markolf or Aesop’s Fables, for which no Holy Spirit and no prayers are needed.


Secondly, you should meditate, that is, not only in your heart, but also externally, by actually repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so that you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them. And take care that you do not grow weary or think that you have done enough when you have read, heard, and spoken them once or twice, and that you then have complete understanding. You will never be a particularly good theologian if you do that, for you will be like untimely fruit which falls to the ground before it is haft ripe.


Thus you see in this same Psalm how David constantly boasts that he will talk, meditate, speak, sing, hear, read, by day and night and always, about nothing except God’s Word and commandments. For God will not give you his Spirit without the external Word; so take your cue from that. His command to write, preach, read, hear, sing, speak, etc., outwardly was not given in vain.


Thirdly, there is tentatio, Anfechtung. This is the touchstone which teaches you not only to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God’s Word is, wisdom beyond all wisdom.


Thus you see how David, in the Psalm mentioned, complains so often about all kinds of enemies, arrogant princes or tyrants, false spirits and factions, whom he must tolerate because he meditates, that is, because he is occupied with God’s Word (as has been said) in all manner of ways. For as soon as God’s Word takes root and grows in you, the devil will harry you, and will make a real doctor of you, and by his assaults13 will teach you to seek and love God’s Word. I myself (if you will permit me, mere mouse-dirt, to be mingled with pepper) am deeply indebted to my papists that through the devil’s raging they have beaten, oppressed, and distressed me so much. That is to say, they have made a fairly good theologian of me, which I would not have become otherwise. And I heartily grant them what they have won in return for making this of me, honor, victory, and triumph, for that’s the way they wanted it.


There now, with that you have David’s rules. If you study hard in accord with his example, then you will also sing and boast with him in the Psalm, “The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” [Ps. 119:72]. Also, “Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep thy precepts,” etc. [Ps. 119:98–100]. And it will be your experience that the books of the fathers will taste stale and putrid to you in comparison. You will not only despise the books written by adversaries, but the longer you write and teach the less you will be pleased with yourself. When you have reached this point, then do not be afraid to hope that you have begun to become a real theologian, who can teach not only the young and imperfect Christians, but also the maturing and perfect ones. For indeed, Christs church has all kinds of Christians in it who are young, old, weak, sick, healthy, strong, energetic, lazy, simple, wise, etc.


If, however, you feel and are inclined to think you have made it, flattering yourself with your own little books, teaching, or writing, because you have done it beautifully and preached excellently; if you are highly pleased when someone praises you in the presence of others; if you perhaps look for praise, and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it—if you are of that stripe, dear friend, then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears. Then do not spare any expense! Decorate them with golden bells, so that people will be able to hear you wherever you go, point their fingers at you, and say, “See, See! There goes that clever beast, who can write such exquisite books and preach so remarkably well.” That very moment you will be blessed and blessed beyond measure in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, in that heaven where hellfire is ready for the devil and his angels. To sum up: Let us be proud and seek honor in the places where we can. But in this book the honor is God’s alone, as it is said, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” [I Pet. 5:5]; to whom be glory, world without end, Amen.

LW 34.279ff. HT: Matt Harrison

Death

"If the resurrection doesn't sound like the Gospel, you haven't really considered how great and powerful death is. An ordinary man might conquer a vice. He may fix a hole in his reasoning. But he will never defeat death."

Josh Strodtbeck

Death

There are a lot of different kinds of Good News, but there is little good news in “My argument scored more points than your argument.” But the news that “Christ is risen!” really is Good News for one kind of person: The person who is dying. If Christianity is not a dying word to dying men, it is not the message of the Bible that gives hope now.

The late Michael Spencer, aka, Internet Monk.

Conceding To Your Enemies.

I can get pretty defensive about things, even faith. Perhaps being defensive isn't always the best way. Whenever Jesus was confronted with a trick question he always seemed to find away to pin the question back on the one asking.

The other day a friend said I shouldn't go to church because it's lame. Our natural tendency would be to say "It's actually really cool, we have a hip pastor, a sweet praise team, and God is cool too. You should come." People aren't stupid. Church isn't about having a sweet praise team and a hip pastor.

I always think of things after the fact, but I completely should have conceded he was right. Church is lame because that is who it is for. Our status before God is dead and lame, blind and deaf to him. But it was through love that God sent his only Son into our flesh to reconcile the world to himself - to live and die a perfect death in our place. In fact it was while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We mocked him, "He can heal others but he can't save himself." But it was for this reason he endured the cross. "By his wounds we are healed." Christ didn't come to be served but to serve. He took on our weak body of humanity in the incarnation, brought it into death and came out alive. This is our hope. In ourselves we have no life and righteousness. He gives us his life and righteousness so we might be raised from the dead. It was in his weakness that he is victorious. It is in Christ we see how bad our sins are. Lame, yes? Yet lame and dead he hung on the cross to save us.

When you realize how lame it actually is, and how Christ identifies with us in this, it becomes so much more than lame. It is life.

Sins

If we make our sins look small, we make Christ look small. -- C. F. W. Walther, Law and Gospel

There Is a Necessity for Creeds.

The word Creed means "I believe." Often people will say "I don't have a creed, I only have the Bible." However, such a statement would only work in a perfect world. Almost all christian denominations will say they teach scripture and yet come to different conclusions. If you ask someone what the Bible teaches they will inevitably start saying what they "believe" in their own words. They make up a creed on their own - it's inescapable. Either they refuse to have a formal creed because they don't take a hard stance on what scripture teaches or they don't realize they have a creed, (although less formal). A statement of faith cuts through the word play and draws truths out from scripture to interact with people's notions of God. When men make these statements it will either be Biblical or not Biblical. Statements of faith are not automatically contrary to scripture because in scripture there are people who make statements of faith all the time.


Even a heretic can say "I only have the Bible." In fact, during times when the Roman Empire was warming up to Christianity such heretics existed and denied Christ's divinity. The heresy was quite pervasive, causing difficulty in the Church and a council was convened to figure out how to deal with this teaching. The Church united to confess scripture truthfully in the words of the Nicene Creed, formulated in Nicea, 325 AD.

These kinds of councils weren't foreign to the Church. Even in the time of the Apostles, church councils were formed to deal with heresy. The Council of Jerusalem took place in Acts 15 and dealt with the problem of circumcision. In like manner, the council of Nicea re-confessed the teaching of scripture and thereby made a statement of faith. It simply clarified in a concise way what we receive from Christ by the Spirit in Holy Scripture.

Creeds are consequently an orderly way of marking boundaries of faith to positively express Christ, and to call those back to repentance who do not believe in the necessary teachings of scripture. It is also an appropriate way for us to confess and believe our salvation because it has been founded and elaborated in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - which is the name of God by which we receive our salvation.

The Creeds are always about Christ. (If it isn't about Christ it isn't Christian.) One of the most basic creeds comes from St Paul in Philippians 2. "Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord." And so in the very early Church the most basic creed was "Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus meaning the man, Christ meaning the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, Lord that he is God. However even this needed to be quickly elaborated.

The creed kind of took a pragmatic shape throughout history. Because people would often twist what the Bible said, Christ needed to be confessed more fully and formally. So what you get from the early church was a basic expression and then out of necessity a unified expression. The basics needed to be unpacked by scripture to maintain its proper meaning and orthodoxy. Therefore the longer creed is still the same as the basic creed, however it is more thorough in defending those essential truths.

Like anything, even something simple, if you try to explain it and break it down, it will seem more complex. Surprisingly, the Creed is still pretty simple. If you quickly glance it over it might seem like head knowledge. But it's important to remember that the confession is not just an intellectual "I believe that" but its an "I trust in" statement which clings to Christ. The statements are all from the Bible, the word of God.

The Apostle's Creed was probably the first unified Creed. It wasn't written by the Apostles but only named after their teaching. the Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen

Before the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds, churches would each make their own creed locally. But as common heresies came up so did the need for common (formalized) confessions to maintain unity and fellowship in the faith. In confessing the Nicene Creed today, we recognize the Christians (saints) who went before us, who stood for sound doctrine. They passed on the true teaching of scripture to us through history, and we stand even with those who died for this confession. And so we confess with them and give testimony to the common confession of every Christian. When we stand up to recite the creed we stand in fellowship with all the company of heaven. We are united in one faith, one church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. The Trinitarian faith isn't new tradition, but we are tied into one ancient Church with the same, single confession: Lord Jesus Christ.

The Nicene Creed (And Scripture texts)

The Nicene Creed is an important expression and confession of the Christian faith because it deals explicitly with God's nature and how he brings about our salvation. It's accuracy is important because we are saved by faith. Faith isn't an abstract concept. Our faith must be put in the right place. Jesus Christ. If we get Christ wrong we get God wrong and the Gospel wrong. The Nicene Creed is entirely scriptural. God's salvation comes to us in Trinity because God is Trinity. Each person of the Trinity has a special role in our salvation as revealed by Scripture. Everything in this creed is based on the scriptures as necessary for our salvation. It is Christ centered.

Nicene Creed:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

If you would like to see what it looks like with scripture references backing everything up (Click on the reference and it will take you to the verse):

[The Father] I believe (John 14:1) in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), the Father (2 Peter 1:17) Almighty (Revelation 4:8), Maker (Job 4:17) of heaven (Genesis 1:1) and earth (Psalm 104:5), and of all things (Genesis 1:31) visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16). [The Son] And in one Lord (Ephesians 4:5) Jesus Christ (Acts 10:36), the only-begotten Son of God (John 3:16), begotten of the Father (Hebrews 1:5) before all worlds (Colossians 1:17), God of God, Light of Light (2 Corinthians 4:4-6), very God of very God (John 1:1), begotten (John 1:18), not made, (John 17:5) being of one substance with the Father (John 10:30); by whom all things were made (Colossians 1:15-18); who for us men (Matthew 20:28), and for our salvation (Matthew 1:21), came down from heaven (Ephesians 4:10), and was incarnate (Colossians 2:9) by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18) of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34-35), and was made man (John 1:14), and was crucified (John 19:18) also for us (Romans 5:8) under Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:2); He suffered (1 Peter 2:21) and was buried and the third day He rose again (1 Corinthians 15:4) according to the Scriptures (Psalm 16:10); and ascended (Luke 24:51) into heaven (Mark 16:19), and sits at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 1:3); and He shall come again (John 14:3) with glory (Matthew 16:27) to judge (Matthew 25:31-46) the living and the dead (Acts 10:42); whose kingdom (John 18:36) shall have no end (Revelation 11:15). [The Holy Spirit]And I believe in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17) and Giver of life (2 Corinthians 3:6), who proceeds from the Father (John 14:16-l7) and the Son (John 15:26) ; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified (John 4:24); who spoke by the Prophets (2 Peter 1:21). And I believe in one (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) holy (Ephesians 5:27) catholic (1 Corinthians 1:2) and apostolic (Ephesians 2:20) Church (Ephesians 1:22-23). I acknowledge one Baptism (Ephesians 4:5) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38); and I look for the resurrection of the dead (I Thessalonians 4:16), and the life of the world to come (Revelation 22:5). Amen. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

* catholic means the universality of the church and does not reference the Roman Catholic Church