If we seek to deepen and renew our understanding of the gospel and prepare for the unity of the church, Luther’s theology will be extremely significant for the present and the future not only of the Lutheran Church but of all Christianity…
A comprehensive presentation such as this can be only an incomplete selection… Luther’s theology is a way of thinking. Completeness could therefore neither be sought nor achieved…
In studying their work, one of course notices the danger which threatens every attempt to present material from the past in a way that will be of vital significance for the present situation, that is, to present Luther… as the supporter of the author’s own theology. If one is aware of this difficulty, however, one can consciously guard against it…”
INTRODUCTION
“Intensive study of Luther’s theology is particularly rewarding because of his originality. The voice with which Luther speaks to us is unmistakably his own. Luther however did not intend to say anything particularly original. He felt he was commissioned only to explicate rightly the truth…
All Luther’s theological thinking presupposes the authority of Scripture. His theology is nothing more than an attempt to interpret the Scripture…” He is not a Dogmatician, but an Exegete. “He distinguishes what he can say on the basis of Scripture from his own theological opinion. Since the latter cannot be proved from Scripture, Luther feels that no one is bound to accept it. For this reason he claims only that he has himself understood—and taught others to understand—the Holy Scripture some-what better than the scholastic theologians had…”
Luther “never wanted to be anything else than an obedient hearer and student of the Scripture…”
The validity of the Church and its leaders depends on their conformity to Scripture.
“We may trust unconditionally only in the word of God… Scripture never errs. Therefore it alone has unconditional authority. The authority of the theologians of the church is relative and conditional. Without the authority of words of Scripture, no one can establish hard and fast statements of dogma in the church.”
“The authority of the word of God which confronts us in Scripture and in the creeds establishes itself in our spirit and heart through experience. Of course, Luther also knows that there are elements of Christian truth which are beyond experience and must simply be ‘believed.’ But when it comes to the heart and center of the gospel… sin and grace, Luther appeals not only to Scripture and the consensus of the church, but also to his own experience… Experience is one of the principles of his theology. It is, of course, not a source of knowledge in and by itself, but it definitely is a medium through which knowledge is received. Theological knowledge is won by experiencing it …
He intends to bring the old truth of Scripture and of dogma out of obscurity into the light, and to let its real meaning shine forth…
In this process of exposition, the old truth admittedly becomes new truth because it is received in a new situation by men whose theological concerns and frame of reference are [different]…”
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