This volume contains the continuation of Luther's expositions on the New Testament, from the 7th chapter of the Gospel of St. John to the Epistle to the Galatians, the shorter exposition of which has been brought into this volume.
In contrast, we have had to assign Luther's detailed explanation of the Epistle to the Galatians, which in Walch's old edition is in the eighth volume, to the ninth volume in order to give it the necessary strength. This change was made necessary by the following circumstance: Walch included in an appendix to the ninth volume the "very first exegetical work of Luther on the Psalms of David" according to the Wolfenbüttel manuscript. Recently, however, another manuscript of Luther's has been found in Dresden, 1) which forms an integral part of these lectures on the Psalter. What is contained in both manuscripts must therefore be united into a whole, as the Weimar edition of the Psalter has already done.
1) This writing was discovered in 1874 by Dr. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and published in 1876 by Seidemann under the title: "vr. Martin Luther's First and Oldest Lecture on the Psalms from the Years 1513-1516."
The ninth volume of our edition contains the same material as the third and fourth volumes of our edition, both of which have been combined under the title: Dictata super Psalterium. There is no room for it in our ninth volume, since this alone makes up an entire volume. Therefore, there was nothing left to do but to take the mentioned piece, which does not belong to the interpretations of the New Testament anyway, out of the ninth volume, and to save this whole writing for a supplementary volume, while filling the resulting gap (over a thousand colums) by the great explanation of the Epistle to the Galatians. In order to fill this volume again, we have added Luther's marginal glosses on the Bible of the Old and New Testaments in an appendix. That they belong to the interpretations of the Old and New Testaments, and are therefore also appropriately placed in this section (Walch brings them in the 21st volume), requires no proof. The most suitable place for them, however, would be at the end of the 9th volume.
If we had placed them there, however, a tearing apart of the great explanation of the letter to the Galatians (which we wanted to avoid) would have been unavoidable.- The marginal glosses have been freed from many, in part very gross, errors.
About the interpretation of the 6th, 7th and 8th chapters of St. John, the necessary has already been said in the seventh volume, and the chronological overview of these sermons has been continued there (according to the table of contents) until the end of the 8th chapter. Although the location of the sermons has been indicated according to the page number of Walch's old edition, each sermon can be found in our edition without difficulty, because the relevant page number of the old edition is indicated in the upper margin of each page.
It is not necessary to enumerate here the writings contained in this volume, since these can be seen from the table of contents; also, there is no need for a further introduction, since the remarkable has been communicated in the first note to each writing. We have only one thing to add here. In the note to the short explanation of Joh. 6, 37. (Col. 258) it is not mentioned that this interpretation is also found in the collections of letters, namely in Aurifaber, Vol. I, col. 142b.; Löscher, Ref.-Acten, Vol. Ill, p. 959; De Wette, Vol. I, p. 224; Erlanger Briefwechsel, Vol. I, p. 414. 12, February 1519 results from the accompanying letter Lu
In the Jena edition, this interpretation has the last place among the writings from the year 1518, and the first words are missing in it, which are found in Aurifaber and give the interpretation the epistolary form: Gratia et pax in Christo, mi Spalatine; so also in this volume according to the Jena edition.
In the interpretation of the 17th chapter of John, we have compared not only the German editions, but also the Latin translation of Vincentius Obsopoeus contained in the Latin Wittenberg edition, through which we have been able to improve the text several times, and to determine fluctuating readings. The same has happened with the interpretation of the 7th and the 15th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians. In the first note to the latter scripture, we believe we have cleared up a dark point in the history of the Reformation. Compare "Lehre und Wehre," Jahrg. 36, p. 248 ff.
The shorter interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians is presented in a new translation. This was necessary because the translation by Vincentius Heidnecker, 1) which can be found in the previous editions, is not only outdated and
1) Förstemann has expressed the assumption (Weimarsche Ausg., Bd. II, 437) that Heidnecker means the well-known Latin Vincentius Obsopöus, schoolmaster in Ansbach, but this does not seem credible to us due to the nature of the translation. Compare Luther's favorable testimony about him in the letter of April 25, 1526, De Wette, Vol. VI, p. 77.
incomprehensible, but also wrong in many cases. All those sections that contain linguistic explanations, especially from Greek and Hebrew, are omitted by Heidnecker, e.g. in the first chapter at the end of § 36 and at the beginning of § 39; likewise at the beginning of § 43; a large section of § 69 and § 70; in the second chapter in § 9, § 16, § 22, § 28 and § 31; in the third chapter in § 26 2c. What we have called § 33 in the first chapter is entirely missing. The same omissions are also in Walch. Of the translation of the first redaction, which Walch had promised (in the preface to the 9th volume, p. 7b) to deliver alongside that of the second redaction, almost all of the longer sections are missing in his edition, e.g., Cap. 2, § 65, § 88; Cap. 3, § 7, § 14, § 24 and others.
We leave here some samples from Heidnecker's translation. The Latin is listed according to the Erlangen edition, Heidnecker's translation according to the 9th volume of Walch's old edition.
Gal. III, 142: Nam in Christum credentibus omnia munda, indifferentia, licita sunt, quaecunque vel praecipiuntur vel prohibentur externis ceremoniis corporalibusque justitiis, nisi quantum sua sponte aut pro caritate sese eis subjicere velint, that is: For for those who believe in Christ, everything that is either commanded or forbidden in external ceremonies and bodily righteousness is purely, a middle thing, permitted, unless someone freely
willingly or for the sake of love wants to submit to the same. - Heidnecker translates (Vol. 9, 15, § 3): "Since in Christ all things are pure to the faithful, and without distinction proper, they are commanded or forbidden, 1) with outward ceremonies and bodily righteousnesses. Tit. 1, 15. Unless one would submit to them of his own free will, or out of love."
Gal. III, 152: nam hi [sc. mores] soli offendunt superbos, et haereticos non2) faciunt, that is: because at the same (annoying life) only the hopeful get annoyed, but it does not make heretics. - Heidnecker translates (Vol. 9, 27): "for such churches alone vex and make heretics."
Gal. Ill, 176: sine querela, that is: blameless. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 53): "without accusation".
Gal. Ill, 187: qui Mariam Jacobi fere alteram Mariam solet appellare, that is: who commonly calls Maria Jacobi "the other Maria". - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 65): "who commonly cares to call Mariam Jacobi."
Gal. III, 257: unde surdi fiant christiani that is: how deaf people can become Christians. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 143): "whence, however, do Christians become deaf?"
1) Who wants to sign the good?
2) uou is missing in the Weimar edition and in the Erlanger edition, we have inserted it after the Jena edition. Also in the edition which Heidnecker used, it will not have been there. But this does not excuse that he referred M to seolssias.
Gal. III, 277: Sed ad apostolum. That is: But let us return to the apostle. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 164): "And how did he [Jerome) also understand the apostle."
Gal. III, 279 : est ipsum testamentum, est res, quae testatur, etc.. That is, there is the will itself, there is a thing that is decided 2c. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 166): "In every will there must be three things: ... the will itself, that is the thing, which is appointed to one by the testator." Because he regards res, quae testatur as a closer explanation of testamentum, he loses here one of the four things that belong to the will, mentioned again immediately afterwards in § 64.
Gal. III, 291: jam irritare promittentis bonitatem videtur, that is: then one sees that it [the law] makes the goodness of the promisor futile. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 178): "so it is regarded as irritating the goodness of God, who made the promise."
Gal. III, 295 : massam perditionis et maledictionis, that is: (the whole human race be) a lost and accursed multitude.-Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 183): "a matter of eternal corruption and malediction."
Gal. III, 312: Sareptana Sidonis mulie, that is: the wife of Sarepta in Sidon. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 204): "Sareptana, the wife of Sidonis."
Gal. III, 352: communi termino terrae, that is: by common lan.
desgrenze.- Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 243): "with the same aim of the earth."
Gal. III, 375: Sic enim Dii vocantur, vocantur veraces, justi, sancti, quae solius Dei sunt, cujus participatione et adhaesione tales sunt, that is: For in such a way they are called gods, they are called true, just, holy, which is God's alone; by the fact that they have a part in him and are attached to him, they are of such a nature. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 273): "So also the gods are called true, righteous, holy, which alone are of God, and from the participation and attachment they are such."
Gal. III, 386: non mutabitis, that is: you will not be fickle. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 284): "ye shall not be changed."
Gal. III, 401: Nihil est ergo, quod queraris, that is: So you have no reason to complain. - Heidnecker (Vol. 9, 289): "So now this is a vain and useless question, if you ask."
Is it not to be wondered at that such an exceedingly bad translation has been able to make the rounds through all the collections of Luther's writings, and that to this day no attempt has been made to replace it with a better one?
We consider it superfluous to praise the writings contained in this volume in particular, since it is generally known that they are among the most important and most delicious of Luther's intellectual products.
belong. He himself, who almost always spoke disparagingly of his writings, still says years later (for he had preached on them in 1537 and 1538; the statement was made in December 1542) about his interpretation of the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of St. John: "After the holy Bible, this shall be my most valuable and dearest book. (Cf. Mathesius, Luther's Life, St. Louis Edition, p. 199.)
As an addition to this volume, we offer the honored reader a collection of more than seven hundred and eighty proverbs from Luther's writings.
Now may God in His mercy grant that these salutary writings of Luther may also be read diligently, so that His blessing will not fail to come to pass, both temporally and eternally, because we are thereby built up on the one and only foundation of all blessedness, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Louis, on the day of the Reformation Feast, 1892.