Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/120

76 pereat, qui perit; ego sic sentiam deo propitio semper (Weim. Ed. 5, p. 452).64a The question "Scripture or reason," as well as the combination "Scripture and reason," were a priori impossible for him a disciple of Occam, for with Occam he looked upon the human "ratio" as the most uncertain factor. Kropatscheck and especially Seeberg have emphatically asserted this, and their assertion has been ably seconded by O. Ritschl.64a

It is quite another question at what time and in which measure the Scriptures became of importance for Luther's personal religious life. His lectures on the Psalms and especially on the Epistle to the Romans now put us in a position to gain more reliable data. Scheel, Thimme, O. Ritschl, and Tschackert inform us on this score. "Tota justitia hominis ad salutem pendet ex verbo per fidem;" "Vera justitia fit credendo ex toto corde verbis Dei;" "Quando verbo eius credimus. Per tale credere nos justificat i.e. justos reputat;" "Sola reputatione miserentis Dei per fidem verbi eius justi sumus" we already read in his lectures of the Romans. The gospel for him is no longer the "nova lex" as during the whole of the Middle Ages, but the means of grace, "nuntius bonus."64a

We now can readily trace how he gradually progressed from the allegorical interpretation of Scripture to the historical, which emphasizes the "sensus literalis," even though he never fully abandoned the former. Zoeckler, Grundt, and Eger have discussed this as well as his position to the Old Testament. Not later than 1520 we already read the sentence: "Scriptura sacra ipsa per se sui ipsius interpres" (Erl. Ed. v. n. 5, p. 160). Especially in his book against Emser, 1521, he energetically defends the "grammatical" or "historical" sense of the