Martin Luther's Commentary Vol. IV - Selections from 1 Corinthians Hardcover

Martin Luther's Commentaries are an essential reference, not only for understanding his reformist activity but also for grasping the change in the method of biblical exegesis and exposition that occurred after the Reformation.

Until then, the method used by the Roman church was allegorical interpretation, which subordinated the biblical text to the ecclesiastical or doctrinal system established by the Church's magisterium. Luther's hermeneutical principle starts from the premise that God reveals himself in Scripture and not in the ecclesial structure, granting Scripture undeniable authority. From a mere object, the biblical text transforms into a subject; and the Bible, previously subjected to the doctrinal system, now begins to undermine its foundations.

Luther focused his commentary on Paul's letters to the Corinthians on what we could call two major thematic blocks: The Christian Home and The Resurrection. For his energetic and reasonable defense of the sanctity of marriage and family life, Luther could well be considered an apostle of married life and a defender of women's role. The German reformer, Bible in hand, as was his custom, not only maintained that Christian marriage is a religious vocation superior to celibacy and monastic life but also opposed the common and widespread opinion of his time that disparaged marriage as a "bond" tending to degrade the role of women in society. If one considers that Luther wrote this commentary while still celibate (1523), his words acquire extraordinary relevance.

He centered the second block of commentaries on what he defines as the essential point of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the flesh. Scholastic theology, influenced by Platonic thought, had given so much importance to the immortality of the soul that it had almost forgotten the resurrection of the body. Luther stands as an uncompromising defender of the resurrection of the flesh, according to the Scriptures, and writes about the afterlife in such universal and modern terms that they have lost none of their interest today.

Pages: 239

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