Lectures on Deuteronomy

Luther's Works #9

by Martin Luther

Luther’s Works: The American Edition, published by Concordia and Fortress Press between 1955 and 1986, comprises fifty-five volumes. These are a selection representing only about a third of Luther’s works in the Latin and German of the standard Weimar Edition, not including the German Bible. Luther did not agree with the view of many Bible scholars who considered the five books of Moses to be of small value. He saw them as a wellspring of all-important knowledge and understanding. Far from seeing the Book of Deuteronomy as a list of dry laws that had little to do with faith, Luther's Lectures on Deuteronomy was an effort to apply the Deuteronomic interpretation of the Mosaic Law and covenant to both the flesh and the spirit.

Genres: Reference, Biblical Studies, Theology, Christianity

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.

Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.

Reviews

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit after the epic 8 volumes on Genesis, I did feel a little let down by this single volume on Deuteronomy ;-)

It must be noted, of course, that the volumes are not chronological, ie Luther wrote the Genesis pages near the end of his life, whereas this volume comes from some 20 or so years earlier - only a few years after his 95 theses. So here we see a younger Luther, and I believe can be argued (as could for all of us), a less developed theology and even more noticeable, a less developed writing style.

For the first several chapters, much more detail is given for particular verses - whereas after that we tend to have just a commentary on that particular chapter.

What really surprised me after the first 8 volumes, was how frequently Allegory is used (and I would argue commended) in the volume - Luther obviously had changed his view about this later in his life. I must admit I struggle a bit with the Allegorical interpretations of the chapters...

Anyway still an enjoyable read - just not as good as Genesis :)

[Neil White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was insightful to see how Luther, fairly early in his career, acted as an interpreter of scripture theologically. Even though Luther is moving towards a preference for a plain sense reading of the text he still spends a lot of time using the allegorical methods common in this time. The work does give a good picture of Luther's theology in conversation with scripture and has some good insights but not something that most people would reference in understanding Deuteronomy today.