Heritage: Martin Luther on Scripture  

                                                                                                                                                                     Vol. XIII, No. 1, January 2000

Luther wrote: "Our enemies object against us that we are contentious, obstinate, and intractable in defending our doctrine, and even in matters of no great importance. But these are the crafty fetches of the devil, whereby he goes about utterly to overthrow our doctrine. To this we answer with Paul that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. In philosophy a small fault in the beginning is a great and foul fault in the end. So in divinity one little error overthroweth the whole doctrine; ... The doctrine is not ours but God's, whose ministers only we are called; therefore we may not change or diminish one tittle thereof. ... we have all the articles of our faith grounded upon the Holy Scriptures; those the devil would gladly corrupt and overthrow; therefore he assaileth us so craftily with his goodly argument, that we ought not to break charity and the unity of the churches."

[Quoted from Edward M. Plass, This Is Luther (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis) pp. 51-52.]