Luther on Galatians

Martin Luther’s reputation as a lover of Scripture precedes him. And one of his favorite books of the Bible was Galatians. On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols traces the history of Luther’s writings and teachings on this book.

On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, we are returning to our good friend, Martin Luther, and his lectures and commentaries on the book of Galatians. Luther loved the epistle of Paul to the Galatians. At one point, he called it, "My Katie." That's a compliment that goes two ways: it goes both to his wife and it goes to this epistle. It is Paul's epistle of liberty, and we can understand why Luther loved it so much. He lectured on it first in October 1516 through the spring of 1517. Now, you know that he started those lectures one year before he posted his Ninety-five Theses. Of course, there's a connection to Luther being immersed in Galatians as he is looking at what is happening in the church. He lectured again on this epistle in 1519, and those lectures were published as a commentary.

In the dedication to the 1519 edition, Luther says, "In these days, most distinguished sirs," referring to the people that he's dedicated it to, "I have babbled forth some trifling observations about indulgences." Well, that's, Luther's classic understatement of the Ninety-five Theses. He goes on to say, "For in my remarkable stupidity and very serious blundering I was measuring sins and errors by the standard of God's commandments and the most holy Gospel of Christ.” Well, that’s classic Luther dripping with sarcasm, saying, "What we have here is a clash, a clash between the words of the Pope and the words of the church on the one hand, and the Word of God on the other." Later in this dedication, Luther would say, "I give God's Word such preference over the words of His Pope that I have no hesitation at all in passing judgment according to it on all the words and deeds of the Pope." So, there's Luther; he's going to take his stand on Scripture, and what we are seeing here is the plank of sola Scriptura.

He has one more comment that is worth noting from this dedication to his 1519 commentary on Galatians. He says, "I am devoted to Christian piety and instruction; and in this respect I am more learned than those who have made nothing but a mockery and laughingstock of God's commandments with their impious parading of human laws. I have had only one aim in view. May I bring it about that through my effort those who have heard me interpreting the letters of the apostle may find Paul clearer and may happily surpass me. But even if I have not achieved this, well, I shall still have wasted this labor gladly; it remains an attempt by which I have wanted to kindle the interest of others in Paul's theology; and this no good man will charge against me as a fault." So, that was Luther's intention—not only lecturing on Galatians to his students there at Wittenberg, but publishing them as a commentary, that it would spark an interest in the theology of Paul.

In 1531, Luther decided to lecture on Galatians again, and he revised his lectures and published another set of lectures; this was published in 1535. In the preface to the 1535 edition he says, "We have taken it upon ourselves in the Lord's name to lecture on this Epistle of Paul to the Galatians once more. This is not because we want to teach something new or unknown, for by the grace of God Paul is now very well known to you. But it is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions."

Well, as you know, this church or these churches in Galatia that Paul had established, in which Paul preached in, they entertained a false gospel. And so Luther did not think at all that his own church and the churches of Germany were immune; so he labored to, once again, set forth the theology of Paul for the people of God.

Well, that's our good friend Martin Luther and his commentaries from 1519 and 1535 on Paul's epistle to the Galatians. I'm Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.