Grace and peace to his most sincere disciple and brother in the truth of Christ, Georg Spalatin.
My dear Spalatin, up to now you have asked me for a number of things that were within my means or that I had dared to do. But now you are asking me to give you instructions on how you should study the holy scriptures, so you are asking for a thing that is far beyond my ability, because I myself cannot find anyone anywhere to guide me in this important matter. For here one is of one mind and another of another, even the cleverest and most learned. You have Erasmus, who writes publicly that St. Jerome is such a teacher of the church that he alone wants to have him regarded as such. If I were to oppose this with St. Augustine, someone would say that I do not judge correctly and would be suspicious, because I am of his order, and Erasmus' opinion has long since been accepted and is on the day when he says: "It is a great impertinence if someone wants to compare Augustine with Jerome. Others have other opinions. And I, after my poverty and after my poor sense, would not like to pass a definite judgment among such great judges. As far as Erasmus is concerned, I always praise him highly, and defend him against those who do not know the liberal arts either out of malice aforethought or out of laziness, and take care with all diligence that I do not break out with things in which I do not agree with him, lest I make him even more hated by his adversaries with my speeches. Although there is much in Erasmus that, as I see it, is quite foreign to the knowledge of Christ, namely, that I should speak as a theologian, not as a linguist; otherwise it is certain that Jerome himself, whom Erasmus
with such high praise, if he should live, would have seen nothing more learned and spiritual than Erasmus' writings. But know that if you were to divulge this judgment of mine about Erasmus to another, you would severely violate the rights of friendship. I do not tell you this without reason; for there are many, as you know, who are bent on seizing every opportunity to cast suspicion on the fine sciences. Therefore, keep secret what I have said here; indeed, do not believe me until you have convinced yourself by reading it.
But since you insist that I should write how I conduct my studies in Scripture, I will not conceal anything from you, as my dear friend; but in such a way that you do not necessarily follow me, but only receive it with judgment.
(3) First of all, it is certain that the holy Scriptures cannot be comprehended by any man's diligence and understanding, therefore the first business must be to begin with prayer, that is, to ask, if it is pleasing to God, that you may perform something in His honor, putting aside your own and all men's honor, that He may graciously bestow upon you the right understanding of His holy Word. For there is no one who is a master of the Scriptures, except God Himself, who gave the Word, as Christ says, John 6:45: "They shall all be taught of God." Therefore, you should completely give up on your studies and acumen and trust only in God and the influence of the Holy Spirit: believe one who has experienced it.
(4) Now, when you have made up your mind that you will thus despair in humility, you shall read the Biblia from beginning to end, that you may first of all badly read the Histories.
220 vs i, 8s. Letter to G. Spalatin on how to study the Scriptures. W. x. 262-264. 221
grasp. For this, St. Jerome will help you perfectly in his epistles and interpretations. But for the knowledge of Christ and divine grace, and for the secret understanding of the spirit, I think that St. Augustine and Ambrose should rather help you, especially because St. Jerome keeps it too much with Origen and leads so much allegorical interpretation.
Here you may now, if you like my way, make the beginning of St. Augustine's book "vom Geist und Buchstaben", which our Carlstadt, a man of incomparable diligence, has now interpreted and put into print with beautiful explanations. After that you can read Augustine's book against Julian; item, against the two epistles of the Pelagians. Then you can also add St. Ambrose's writing on the vocation of all pagans, even if this is so far from the
The rest I will report to you at another time, when I have found your approval in the present one. The rest I will report to you at another time, when I have found your approval in the present. Forgive me my boldness that I speak my opinion in such an important matter and go further in it than these great people.
Finally, I am sending you Erasmus' letter of protection; however, I must painfully regret that such a fire has broken out among these princes of science. Erasmus has by far the upper hand in this and uses a more adroit language, but also a sharper one, although he takes care to maintain the friendship. Farewell, my Spalatin. From our monastery, on the day of St. Prisce (January 18) 1518.
Several interpretations of this can be found in:
IV. Theil, Auslegung der 22 ersten Psalmen, kurze Einleitung, wie der Psalter nützlich zu lesen sei.
Part VII, Interpretation of the Gospel of John, Sermon
about the saying Joh. 5, 39. etc.: "Search the Scriptures".