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Chapter 8 THE STRUCTURE OF REFORMATION THEOLOGY IN THE PERIOD OF PAULINE EXEGESIS ( I 5 I 5 - I 5 I 8 ) SETTING THE GOAL FOR THE LECTURES ON ROMANS (I5I5/I5I6), GALATIANS (I5I6/I5I7), AND HEBREWS (I5I7/I5I8) By itself, the choice of biblical texts interpreted by Luther in his early lectures has programmatic significance. The Psalter as prayer book, but in certain instances as a mirror to confession, could serve to develop more precisely the new understanding of sin. When, after this first great exegeticai attempt Luther resolved to interpret three epistles of Paul (Hebrews then taken to be Pauline), he obviously wanted to continue the intensive study of Paul already begun and to take up in a new way the central themes of Paul's theology. The choice of Romans as the object of the second exegeticai lecture thus takes on special weight: it facilitated the understanding of die entire Bible. First, Luther reiterated the theme of his first Psalms lecture. At die very begin­ ning of die scholia in his Romans lecture he said: The chief purpose of this letter is to break down, to pluck up, and to destroy all wisdom and righteousness of the flesh. This includes all works which in die eyes of people or even in our own eyes may be great works. No matter whemer diese 68 THE STRUCTURE OF REFORMATION THEOLOGY 69 works are done with a sincere heart and mind, this letter is to affirm and state and magnify sin, no matter how much someone insists that it does not exist, or that it was believed not to exist.' Admittedly, Luther did not emphasize the divine judgment in isolation. At the outset of his lecture he made clear that by "establishing sin" Scripture points us to grace, in fact, to the righteousness of God. What is new in comparison with the first Psalms lecture is that he described righteousness as coming from outside: from the outset Luther was certain of the extra nos of "alien righteousness."2 The opening statements in his Romans lecture indicate the considerable progress made since the first courses of lectures. It may be that Luther coined the extra formula in reminiscence of mysticism's reference to raptus or exstasis, by which one is raptured "outside the self" (extra se).3 Naturally, other traditions may also have served him as model.4 Accordingly, it seems altogether possible that Luther was induced to coin this formula through a deepened understanding of the Word that comes to us "from the outside." First, it is important to note that the formula extra nos does not often appear in Luther's early period. Next, as early as in his Romans lecture it can be seen linked to such concepts as the aliena iustitia or extranea iustitia, clearly not adopted from mysti­ cism. Despite the importance of this formula in the Romans lecture, Luther's view of justification may not be extrapolated from it alone. '1W vol. 25, p. 13S. WAS6, 157,2-6 (scholia on Rom. 1:1). LW, vol. 25, p. 136: "God does not want to redeem us through our own, but through external righteousness and wisdom; not through one that comes from us and grows in us, but through one that comes to us from the outside; not through one that originates here on earth, but through one that comes from heaven.Therefore, we must be taught a righteousness that comes completely from the out­ side and is foreign. And therefore our own righteousness that is born in us must first be plucked up." WA 56, 158, 10-14 (scholia on Rom. 1:1): "Deus enim nos non per domesticam, Sed per extraneam lustitiam et sapientiam vult salvare, Non que veniat et nascatur ex nobis, Sed que aliunde veniat in nos, Non que in terra nostra oritur, Sed que de celo venit. Igitur omnino Externa et aliena Iustitia oportet erudiri. Quare primum oportet propriam et domesticam evelli." G. Schmidt-Lauber, Luthers Vorlesung liber den Rbmerbrief1515/1516:EinVergleichztrischen Luthers Manuskript und den studentischen Nachschriften. AWA 6. (Cologne: Bohlau, 1994), 58-62, has shown that in the notation on Romans 1, Luther did not take up statements about the iustitia extra nos/ iustitia aliena. Admittedly, in the course of lectures on Rom. 3:4, he was occupied with the contrast between in nobis and extra nos. See WA 57 I, 150, 12-13; Schmidt-Lauber, 84-86. Precise comparison of Ludier's manuscript of the Romans lecture with its...

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