Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther — John Shaqi
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin LutherLuther, Martin
ReligionChristian
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
Luther, Martin
Table-talk
Afterwards the Bible was translated by Hieronymus (who first amended and
corrected the Seventy Interpreters) out of Hebrew into the Latin tongue,
which translation we use to this day in the Church. And truly, said
Luther, he did enough for one man. _Nulla enim privata persona tantum
efficere potuisset_. But he had not done amiss if he had taken one or
two learned men to his translation besides himself, for then the Holy
Ghost would more powerfully have been discerned, according to Christ’s
saying, “Where two or three be gathered together in my name, there will I
be in the midst of them.” And, indeed, said Luther, translators or
interpreters ought not to be alone, for good and apt words do not always
fall to one single man. And so long as the Bible was in the Church of
the Gentiles, it was never yet in such perfection, that it could have
been read so exactly and significantly without stop, as we have prepared
the same here at Wittemberg, and, God be praised, have translated it out
of Hebrew into the High German tongue.
_Of the Differences between the Bible and other Books_.
The Holy Scripture, or the Bible, said Luther, is full of divine gifts
and virtues. The books of the Heathen taught nothing of Faith, Hope, and
Love; nay, they knew nothing at all of the same; their books aimed only
at that which was present, at that which, with natural wit and
understanding, a human creature was able to comprehend and take hold of;
but to trust in God and hope in the Lord, nothing was written thereof in
their books. In the Psalms and in Job we may see and find how those two
books do treat and handle of Faith, of Hope, of Patience, and Prayer.
To be short, the Holy Scripture, said Luther, is the best and highest
book of God, full of comfort in all manner of trials and temptations; for
it teacheth of Faith, Hope, and Love far otherwise than by human reason
and understanding can be comprehended. And in times of troubles and
vexations, it teacheth how these virtues should light and shine; it
teacheth, also, that after this poor and miserable life there is another
which is eternal and everlasting.
_What we ought chiefly to seek for in the Bible_, _and how we ought to
study and learn the Holy Scriptures_.
The chief lesson and study in Divinity, said Luther, is well and rightly
to learn to know Christ, for he is therein very friendly and familiarly
pictured unto us. From hence St. Peter saith, “Grow up in the knowledge
of Christ;” and Christ himself also teacheth that we should learn to know
him only out of the Scriptures, where he saith, “Search the Scriptures,
for they do testify of me.”
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