MARTIN LUTHER's name is inextricably bound up with Paul's Epistle to the Romans. It was his rediscovery of this part of the New Testament that had for so long been misunderstood and neglected that played such an important part, under God, in the coming of the great sixteenth century Reformation.
It was on 3rd November 1515 that the professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Wittenburg began to lecture on Romans. It followed a series on the Psalms. Some three years before, Luther had first come to Wittenburg in Saxony as successor to his superior in the Augustinian Order, Johan von Staupitz. Dr Staupitz had wisely discerned that the only way Luther was likely to find relief from the deep conviction of sin he was experiencing was through a study of the Word of God itself and so had appointed him to his own post.
It was as Luther slowly and carefully prepared his lectures that he came at last to a full understanding of the central scriptural doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ. The lectures took just under a year to complete (no long summer break in those days!). It was followed by the series on Galatians.
The notes were never revised or repeated as Melanchthon became lecturer on this subject. The earliest manuscripts were lost for some time, but a good copy came to light at the end of last century in the Vatican Library (of all places!) and the original was found in Berlin.
Luther's style shows a break from the Mediaeval tradition and marks the beginnings of the modern exegetical method which is both textual and historical. The preserved notes clearly only give a bare idea of what it must have been like to hear him speak. He was a master teacher and there was undoubtedly much said in the lecture room that does not appear in the published version.
When the commentary was first published in 1552 Luther added an introduction of about eight pages. Known universally as Luther's Preface to the Romans its fame has been greatly enhanced by a famous occurrence just over 200 years later in London, England.
It happened in a meeting in an upper room in Aldersgate Street on 24th May 1738. It was, of course, John Wesley's famous experience where he felt his heart "strangely warmed". Luther's Preface to the Romans was being read at the time. Wesley wrote in his journal: "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death".
Wesley regarded this as his conversion - it certainly marked a great change in his life and was a decisive factor, in God's providence, in the amazing events of the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century which followed. Many since have recognised the value of this great work.
The American Lutheran, J Theodore Mueller, said the commentary, " ... deserves general study not only because of its vast devotional material, but also because of its clear and sharp emphasis on salvation by grace through faith. ... Fraught with profound thoughts, it witnesses everywhere to the sincere piety of the great Reformer."
Earlier this century another American pastor, Donald Grey Barnhouse, wrote: "Beyond question Luther's Romans is one of the great books of Christian history and well deserves devotional reading by believers." Who knows what God might yet accomplish by means of this remarkable commentary on this even more remarkable book.
This article first appeared in The Evangelical Library Bulletin
