R
Rand_Al_Thor
Guest
luther considered an apostle named by the Lord un-apostolic…interesting.
I’ve read a letter of luther’s where he explains WHY he added “sola” to that passage in Paul. It is an extremely long letter, in which he begins by stating repeatedly that he is the only one that can translate the bible, and even says that he can pray, while the “papists” cannot. He doesnt answer the question of why he changed it until the end of the letter. In the preceeding paragraphs he talks a lot about translation; how sometimes you have to change some words because to literally translate would make no sense in the other language. Now I’ve studied language, so I know that this is true. However, this part of the letter is easy to see through, because it has nothing to do whatsoever with the addition of “sola”. I believe that luther went to all the lengths of talking about translation and changing the phrasing of some sentences to draw attention to that part of the letter, and thus make people think that the “sola” was necessary as an addition to be understood in German.
He trips himself up–with anyone who is thinking while reading this–when he doesnt equate the addition of “sola” with translation. luther says basically, “Paul should have put ‘only’ in here, so I did.” Well, had Paul meant “only faith” he would have written “only faith”. He didnt.
This is not the only part luther changed. In the Gospel of Luke, at the Annunciation, he changed Gabriel’s greeting to Mary so that it sounded the same as the way he greeted everyone else he came to. luther did this, he says, to take away from the reverence to Mary. He defends this change by saying “Gabriel didnt greet others the way Mary is greeted; that’s not the way he greeted people.” Well, did luther stop to think for a second why Gabriel may have addressed Mary differently? I’ll give you two guesses why Gabriel greeted her differently, but you’ll only need one.
One thing protestants, and lutherans especially, dont like to think about (besides the fact that they now use James) is that luther not only appendixed the Apocrypha and Letter of James, but the book of Revelations as well. In my experience that has been the favorite book to draw quotes out of for them (especially the “not adding or taking away anything from this book”…ironically).
I’ve read a letter of luther’s where he explains WHY he added “sola” to that passage in Paul. It is an extremely long letter, in which he begins by stating repeatedly that he is the only one that can translate the bible, and even says that he can pray, while the “papists” cannot. He doesnt answer the question of why he changed it until the end of the letter. In the preceeding paragraphs he talks a lot about translation; how sometimes you have to change some words because to literally translate would make no sense in the other language. Now I’ve studied language, so I know that this is true. However, this part of the letter is easy to see through, because it has nothing to do whatsoever with the addition of “sola”. I believe that luther went to all the lengths of talking about translation and changing the phrasing of some sentences to draw attention to that part of the letter, and thus make people think that the “sola” was necessary as an addition to be understood in German.
He trips himself up–with anyone who is thinking while reading this–when he doesnt equate the addition of “sola” with translation. luther says basically, “Paul should have put ‘only’ in here, so I did.” Well, had Paul meant “only faith” he would have written “only faith”. He didnt.
This is not the only part luther changed. In the Gospel of Luke, at the Annunciation, he changed Gabriel’s greeting to Mary so that it sounded the same as the way he greeted everyone else he came to. luther did this, he says, to take away from the reverence to Mary. He defends this change by saying “Gabriel didnt greet others the way Mary is greeted; that’s not the way he greeted people.” Well, did luther stop to think for a second why Gabriel may have addressed Mary differently? I’ll give you two guesses why Gabriel greeted her differently, but you’ll only need one.
One thing protestants, and lutherans especially, dont like to think about (besides the fact that they now use James) is that luther not only appendixed the Apocrypha and Letter of James, but the book of Revelations as well. In my experience that has been the favorite book to draw quotes out of for them (especially the “not adding or taking away anything from this book”…ironically).