mymakersdaughter
Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2004
- Messages
- 731
Luther's Tower Experience:
Martin Luther Discovers the True Meaning of Righteousness
An Excerpt From:
Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Works (1545)
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546
Translated by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB
from the
"Vorrede zu Band I der Opera Latina der Wittenberger Ausgabe. 1545"
in vol. 4 of _Luthers Werke in Auswahl_, ed. Otto Clemen, 6th ed.,
(Berlin: de Gruyter. 1967). pp. 421-428.
Translator's Note: The material between square brackets is
explanatory in nature and is not part of Luther's preface. The
terms "just, justice, justify" in the following reading are
synonymous with the terms "righteous, righteousness, make
righteous." Both sets of English words are common translations of
the Latin "justus" and related words. A similar situation exists
with the word "faith"; it is synonymous with "belief." Both words
can be used to translate Latin "fides." Thus, "We are justified by
faith" translates the same original Latin sentence as does "We are
made righteous by belief."
Meanwhile in that same year, 1519, I had begun interpreting the
Psalms once again. I felt confident that I was now more
experienced, since I had dealt in university courses with St.
Paul's Letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the Letter to
the Hebrews. I had conceived a burning desire to understand what
Paul meant in his Letter to the Romans, but thus far there had
stood in my way, not the cold blood around my heart, but that one
word which is in chapter one: "The justice of God is revealed in
it." I hated that word, "justice of God," which, by the use and
custom of all my teachers, I had been taught to understand
philosophically as referring to formal or active justice, as they
call it, i.e., that justice by which God is just and by which he
punishes sinners and the unjust.
But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a
sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure
that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no,
rather I hated the just God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I
did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got
angry at God. I said, "Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners,
lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by
every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments? Why does God
heap sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel
threaten us with his justice and his wrath?" This was how I was
raging with wild and disturbed conscience. I constantly badgered
St. Paul about that spot in Romans 1 and anxiously wanted to know
what he meant.
I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the
mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: "The justice of
God is revealed in it, as it is written: 'The just person lives by
faith.'" I began to understand that in this verse the justice of
God is that by which the just person lives by a gift of God, that
is by faith. I began to understand that this verse means that the
justice of God is revealed through the Gospel, but it is a passive
justice, i.e. that by which the merciful God justifies us by
faith, as it is written: "The just person lives by faith." All at
once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise
itself through open gates. Immediately I saw the whole of
Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from
memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings, e.g.,
the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God,
by which he makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which he
makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the
glory of God.
I exalted this sweetest word of mine, "the justice of God," with
as much love as before I had hated it with hate. This phrase of
Paul was for me the very gate of paradise. Afterward I read
Augustine's "On the Spirit and the Letter," in which I found what
I had not dared hope for. I discovered that he too interpreted
"the justice of God" in a similar way, namely, as that with which
God clothes us when he justifies us. Although Augustine had said
it imperfectly and did not explain in detail how God imputes
justice to us, still it pleased me that he taught the justice of
God by which we are justified.
_________________________________________________________________
This translation was made by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB, for the
Saint Anselm College Humanities Program. It is distributed by
Project Wittenberg with the permission of the author.
(c)1983 by Saint Anselm Abbey. This translation may be used freely
with proper attribution. You may distribute, copy or print this
text, providing you retain the author and copyright statements.
Martin Luther Discovers the True Meaning of Righteousness
An Excerpt From:
Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Works (1545)
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546
Translated by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB
from the
"Vorrede zu Band I der Opera Latina der Wittenberger Ausgabe. 1545"
in vol. 4 of _Luthers Werke in Auswahl_, ed. Otto Clemen, 6th ed.,
(Berlin: de Gruyter. 1967). pp. 421-428.
Translator's Note: The material between square brackets is
explanatory in nature and is not part of Luther's preface. The
terms "just, justice, justify" in the following reading are
synonymous with the terms "righteous, righteousness, make
righteous." Both sets of English words are common translations of
the Latin "justus" and related words. A similar situation exists
with the word "faith"; it is synonymous with "belief." Both words
can be used to translate Latin "fides." Thus, "We are justified by
faith" translates the same original Latin sentence as does "We are
made righteous by belief."
Meanwhile in that same year, 1519, I had begun interpreting the
Psalms once again. I felt confident that I was now more
experienced, since I had dealt in university courses with St.
Paul's Letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the Letter to
the Hebrews. I had conceived a burning desire to understand what
Paul meant in his Letter to the Romans, but thus far there had
stood in my way, not the cold blood around my heart, but that one
word which is in chapter one: "The justice of God is revealed in
it." I hated that word, "justice of God," which, by the use and
custom of all my teachers, I had been taught to understand
philosophically as referring to formal or active justice, as they
call it, i.e., that justice by which God is just and by which he
punishes sinners and the unjust.
But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a
sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure
that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no,
rather I hated the just God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I
did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got
angry at God. I said, "Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners,
lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by
every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments? Why does God
heap sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel
threaten us with his justice and his wrath?" This was how I was
raging with wild and disturbed conscience. I constantly badgered
St. Paul about that spot in Romans 1 and anxiously wanted to know
what he meant.
I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the
mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: "The justice of
God is revealed in it, as it is written: 'The just person lives by
faith.'" I began to understand that in this verse the justice of
God is that by which the just person lives by a gift of God, that
is by faith. I began to understand that this verse means that the
justice of God is revealed through the Gospel, but it is a passive
justice, i.e. that by which the merciful God justifies us by
faith, as it is written: "The just person lives by faith." All at
once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise
itself through open gates. Immediately I saw the whole of
Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from
memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings, e.g.,
the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God,
by which he makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which he
makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the
glory of God.
I exalted this sweetest word of mine, "the justice of God," with
as much love as before I had hated it with hate. This phrase of
Paul was for me the very gate of paradise. Afterward I read
Augustine's "On the Spirit and the Letter," in which I found what
I had not dared hope for. I discovered that he too interpreted
"the justice of God" in a similar way, namely, as that with which
God clothes us when he justifies us. Although Augustine had said
it imperfectly and did not explain in detail how God imputes
justice to us, still it pleased me that he taught the justice of
God by which we are justified.
_________________________________________________________________
This translation was made by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB, for the
Saint Anselm College Humanities Program. It is distributed by
Project Wittenberg with the permission of the author.
(c)1983 by Saint Anselm Abbey. This translation may be used freely
with proper attribution. You may distribute, copy or print this
text, providing you retain the author and copyright statements.
