of November 11, 1517. *) Translated from the Latin.
Luther explains the 35th thesis of the above disputation.
His brother in Christ Georg Spalatin, secretary to the Elector of Saxony.
JEsus.
Hail. With all my heart and through your kindness, dear Spalatin, I thank our most noble prince, because I have received the cloth. But I also thank you, yes, what do I not have to thank you for? By the way, I wonder what may have happened to him, I say, who told you that Augustine, in his book "On Christian Doctrine", deals with the matter of insurmountable ignorance, while this holy man, in that entire book, deals only with the first and last part of rhetoric, namely the invention and the lecture, for the instruction of the doctrine of the Christian people.
With the ignorance behaves the. The matter is like this: The scholastic teachers have taught until now that there is a twofold ignorance in any matter, especially that which relates to our salvation. One is a deliberate and gross ignorance, when one sees that one acts in such a way that he deliberately and knowingly wants to be ignorant; the other is an insurmountable ignorance, when one acts in such a way that it is not up to him if he does not receive knowledge; and of the former they say that it increases sin, but of the latter that it completely excuses it.
Against this, as you see, I have put my thesis and my opinion is briefly this: By all means every ignorance is insurmountable for us, but no ignorance is insurmountable for the grace of God; for out of ourselves we are able to do nothing, but out of the grace of God we are able to do everything, and the more we strive out of ourselves for wisdom, the more we approach
*) Latin in Aurifaber vol. I, p. 42; Löschers ReformationS-Acta, vol. 1, p. 84V; De Wette, vol. I, p. 74 and Lrl. AuSg., Briefw., vol. I, p. 127.
30 L. Br.-W. 1,128. I. Against the semipelagian school theologians. W. rvill,i7. 31
We are guilty of foolishness, as Solomon says [Eccl. 7:24], "I thought I would be wise, but it came from me"; and as the apostle Rom. 1 writes that the Gentiles have done. Therefore it is not true that insurmountable ignorance excuses from sin; otherwise there would be no sin in the world. Be at ease and pray for me.
From Wittenberg, November 11, 1517. B[ruder] Martin Luther, Augustinian.
Other related writings that provide information about Luther's position on Aristotelian philosophy and theology can be found in the following places:
a. Letter from Luther to Joh. Lang. End of September or beginning of October 1516. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 552.
(Concerning the disputation of Bartholomäus Bernhardt von Feldkirch [in this volume no. 1] about man's ability and will without grace).
b. Letter from Luther to Spalatin. In this volume: Appendix No. 3.
(Against Erasmus' theology of true righteousness that is before GOD).
c. Letter from Luther to Joh. March 1, 1517. In this volume: Appendix No. 4.
(Luther's judgment of the theology of Erasmus.)
d. Luther's letter to Joh. Lang, May 18, 1517. In this volume: Appendix No. 1.
(Luther reports how Aristotle decreases).
e. Letter from Luther to Joh. June 16, 1517. In this volume: Appendix No. 2.
(Luther reports that he prepared some for Aristotle to the disgrace of a master's degree).
f. Luther's letter to Joh. Lang. Walch, old edition, vol. XV, 485.
(Luther's Judgment of Aristotle and the Doctrine of the Scholastics. With special reference to the Günther disputation on scholastic theology).
g. Letter from Luther to Staupitz. March 31, 1518. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1356.
(About the hatred of the scholastic theologians against Luther in consequence of his appearance against their theology).
h. Letter from Luther to Spalatin. Walch, old edition, vol. XV, appendix no. 10.
(Against the dialectical treatment of theology.)
i. Sermon against the conceit of holiness and merit of works. On the 10th Sunday after Trinity. (There erroneously 11.) Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 1284.