Prayer and dependence respectful of God’s sufficiency.
And here Luther’s theology and methodology become almost identical. In a typical paradoxical form, Luther seems to repeat almost everything he said about the study when he wrote in 1518:
- It is very true that the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent.
- Therefore.
- Your first duty is to begin to pray; and pray that God may be pleased to do something for his glory.
- Not for your glory or for the glory of another person.
- That.
- By his grace.
- He may give you a true understanding of his words.
- Author of these words.
- As he says.
- “Will everything be taught by God?(John 6:45).
- Therefore.
- You must completely despair of your own ability and ability.
- And rely exclusively on the inspiration of the Spirit (Plass.
- 77).
But for Luther, that doesn’t mean leaving the outside word?In mystical dream, but to immerse all our efforts in prayer, and to throw ourselves in such a way to God that he penetrates, sustains and prospers all our study.
Since Sacred Scripture requires being treated with fear and humility, and examined more with study [!] With a pious prayer only with intellectual agility, this becomes impossible for those who depend only on their intellect and fall into the scriptures. With dirty feet?pigs, as if the scriptures were just a kind of human knowledge, do not harm themselves or those they teach (Plass, 78).
Once again, see the Psalm 119 Psalm 119 not only suffer and meditate, but pray again and again.
Reveal my eyes, so that I may contemplate the wonders of your law, let me understand the way of your precepts. Guide me on the path of your commandments, for I am glad of it. Bow my heart to your testimonies and not to greed; give me strength your way.
Luther therefore concludes that the true biblical way of studying the scriptures is to be saturated with prayer, doubt, and dependence on God, at all times:
Should you completely despair of your own meaning and reason, because through this you will not achieve the goal?Instead, kneel in your small private room and, with true humility and sincerity, pray to God through your beloved Son, who kindly grants you His Holy Spirit to enlighten, guide, and give you understanding (Plass, 1359).
Luther’s emphasis on the importance of prayer for study is rooted in his theology, and this is where his methodology and theology become one. Romans 8. 7 and other passages convinced him that:
The natural mind can’t do anything pious. She does not understand God’s wrath, she cannot fear her properly. You don’t see God’s goodness, so you can’t trust or believe in Him. So, [!] We must pray constantly that God will grant us His gifts (Bergendoff, 301).
Our whole study is useless without God’s work that surpasses our blindness and insensitivity. At the heart of Luther’s theology was a total dependence on the gratuitousness of God’s omnipotent grace, which saves man incapable of the bondage of will. His book, The Slavery of the Will, published in 1525, was a response to Erasmo’s book, Freedom of Will. Luther considered it one of his books? The servitude of the will as his best theological book and the only one in this category worthy of being published (Dillenberger, 167).
To understand Luther’s theology and his methodology of study, it is extremely important to recognize that he admitted that Erasmo, more than any other adversary, realized that man’s inability before God – not the controversy of indulgences or purgatory – this was the central question Man is unable to justify himself, unable to sanctify himself , unable to study as he should, unable to trust that God will do anything.
Erasm’s exaltation of man’s will as free to overcome his own sin and slavery was, in Luther’s mind, an assault on the freedom of God’s grace and, therefore, against the Gospel itself. In his summary of faith in 1528, he wrote:
I condemn and reject as nothing but error all the doctrines that exalt our free will, as opposed to the mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, because, separated from Christ, sin and death are our amos and the devil is our god and prince, there can be no strength, power, intelligence or wisdom, so that we can adapt or model ourselves to life to justice On the contrary, blind and enslaved, we are captive subjects of Satan and sin, doing and thinking what pleases. the devil and rise to God and his commandments (Plass, 1376).
For Luther, the question of man’s slavery to sin and his moral inability to believe or become righteous, including the inability to study properly, the freedom of God, and therefore the freedom of the gospel and, therefore, the glory of God and god’s salvation. Men were at stake in this controversy. For this reason, Luther loved the message of Slavery of will, attributing all freedom, power and grace to God, and every incapacity and dependence on man. In his Galatians exhibition 1:1-12, he reported:
I remember at the beginning of my statement, Dr. Staupitz said to me, I am glad that the doctrine you preach attributes glory and everything to God only and nothing to man; because God (who is brighter than the sun) cannot be wept with glory, kindness, etc. Too much,This word comforted and strengthened me at that time; and it is true that the doctrine of the gospel takes away all glory, wisdom, justice, etc. , to men and attributes them only to the Creator, who does everything out of nothing (Plass, 1374). .
That is why prayer is the root of Luther’s approach to the study of god’s Word; prayer is an echo of God’s freedom and presumption in the heart of the incapable man; thus conceived his theology and continued his studies. how he died.
At 3 a. m. on February 18, 1546, Luther died. His last recorded words were:? Wir sein Bettler. Hoc est verum?. “We’re beggars, are we? (Oberman, 324). Is God free, completely free, in your grace. And we are beggars who pray. Thus we live, and thus study, so that God may obtain glory and we obtain grace.
By: John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod. org. Translated with permission. Source: Martin Luther: lessons from his life and work.
Original: Martin Luther: lessons from his life and his work. © Faithful Of the Department. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. All rights reserved. Translation: Camila Rebeca Teixeira. Revision: William Teixeira.