Martin Luther, Assertio omnium articulorum (1521)

Defence of all the Articles of Martin Luther Condemned by the Latest Bull of Leo X.

Furthermore, since we believe that the holy catholic Church has the same Spirit of faith that it
received at its beginning, why should it not be permitted today to study the holy Scripture,
either alone or above all else [solum aut primum sacris literis studere], as the early church
was permitted so to do? For early Christians had not read Augustine or Thomas. Or tell me, if
you can, what judge [iudex] can decide the question, whether the statements of the church
fathers have contradicted themselves. As a matter of fact, a judgment must be pronounced by
making Scripture the judge, something that is impossible if we do not accord primacy to
Scripture [Scripturae dederimus principem locum] in all questions that are referred to the
church fathers. This means that [Scripture] itself is of itself certain, simple, and intelligible; it
is its own interpreter, testing, judging, and illuminating everything [ut sit ipsa per sese
certissima, facillima, apertissima, sui ipsius interpres, omnium omnia probans, iudicans et
illuminans], as it is written in Ps. 119: ‘Either the declaration, as the Hebrew writer properly
has it, or the opened door of your words, gives light and understanding to the simple’ [v. 130].
Here clearly the Spirit has granted illumination and teaches that understanding is given
through God's word alone [docet per sola verba dei], as through an opened door or first
principle (as they say) [seu principium (quod dicit) primum], from which we must begin in
order to move towards the light of understanding. Again, the principle or head [principium
seu caput] of your words is truth [v. 160]. You see, here also truth is not given except by the
head of God's words, that is, unless you give his words first place [verba dei primo loco
didiceris] and use them as a first principle for judging all words [principio primo usus fueris
pro omnium verborum iuditio]. And what do those eight words [law, promise, decrees,
statutes, word, etc.] do? They take us, who have been condemned because of the perversity of
our desires, and call us back to our origins; they teach us that the first and only things we
should pursue are God's words [solum verbis dei studendum esse] and that the Spirit will
come of his own accord and will drive our spirit out that we may do theology without
danger....

WA 7, 97. (via www.lutherdansk.dk)

English translation from Werner Georg Kümmel, The New Testament: The History of the
Investigation of Its Problems (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972), 21-22 and Oswald Bayer,
Theology the Lutheran Way (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 272 n330.