Grammar Launches the Reformation

October 29, 2015 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments

Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement | Tags: Martin Luther

Saturday is Reformation Day. It marks the 498th year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on the church door of Wittenburg. As the day commemorates, many esteem this act as having launched the Reformation. But what led Luther to take this monumental step? We can boil it down to a wrestling match with biblical grammar.

In the years leading up to 1517, Luther was a lecturer for the theology faculty at the University of Wittenburg. During 1515 and 1516 he lectured through Paul's epistles to the Romans and Galatians. While working through these letters, Luther began to wrestle with the Church's teaching on the gospel, God's righteousness, the life of faith, and the means of justification (not to mention his personal wrestlings with his own sinfulness). He questioned how could anyone ever be justified before (accepted by) a righteous God. Romans 1:17 became to focal point of his struggle.

Luther writes, "A single word in Chapter 1[:17], 'In it the righteousness of God,' stood in my way. For I hated that word 'righteousness of God,' which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteousness sinner."

In Romans 1:17, Paul is giving the reason why he is not ashamed of the gospel (verse 16). He says that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Luther was wrestling with the three English words "righteousness of God." In Greek, the language in which Paul wrote, there are just two words, dikaiosune theou. The word for God is in the genitive case, which means it has a specified relationship with the word righteousness. Our English word "of" is supplied as the most generic way of specifying that relationship. There are several different ways, though, that genitive relationship can be understood (depending on the context).

The Catholic Church had been teaching that God was the actor of the righteousness (subjective genitive, i.e. God is the subject of the verbal action of righteousness). With this teaching, Luther understood the gospel to be very similar to the Law, in that in both the righteous requirement of God is revealed and God stands ready to punish the unrighteous. Luther did not hear this as "good news" and was tormented with trying to meet God's righteous requirements.

Needless to say, Luther was not satisfied with this understanding of Romans 1:17. He wrote, "I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted."

This is where Luther, with the corroboration of the rest of his study of Romans and Galatians, came to understand the relationship to be genitive of source. God is the source of the righteousness and, in the Gospel, he credits (gives) the righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ. In his words, he says, "There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, 'He who through faith is righteous shall live.' Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates."

Saved by grammar? Not exactly, but wrestling with the biblical text, even its grammar, led Luther to clearly see the one who saves. This joy and hope in the gospel became the impetus for Luther to spark the Reformation by nailing his 95 Theses on that church door. May we also be fed and encouraged and emboldened by wrestling with God's word.

Happy Reformation Day!

Pastor Dale

(Luther quotes are from Luther's Works, Volume 34, p 336-337)

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