Erasmus, Romans 3:28 and Faith Alone: "Vox sola, tot clamoribus lapidata hoc saeculo in Luthero, reverenter in Patribus auditur"

Martin Luther is often criticized for allegedly adding the word "alone" to his German translation of Romans 3:28. Ironically, it was a Roman Catholic scholar that best defended Luther on this: Joseph A. Fitzmyer pointed out a number of people previous to Luther also saw the thrust of "alone" in Romans 3:28. There's another popular historical snippet sometimes used similarly to defend Luther's translation, this time from Reformed theologian Charles Hodge:

That a man is justified by faith. If by faith, it is not of works; and if not of works, there can be no room for boasting, for boasting is the assertion of personal merit. From the nature of the case, if justification is by faith, it must be by faith alone. Luther's version, therefore, allein durch den glauben, is fully justified by the context. The Romanists, indeed, made a great outcry against that version as a gross perversion of Scripture, although Catholic translators before the time of Luther had given the same translation. So in the Nuremberg Bible, 1483, "Nur durch den glauben." And the Italian Bibles of Geneva, 1476, and of Venice, 1538, per sola fede. The Fathers also often use the expression, "man is justified by faith alone;" so that Erasmus, De Ratione Concionandi, Lib. III., says, "Vox sola, tot clamoribus lapidata hoc saeculo in Luthero, reverenter in Patribus auditur." See Koppe and Tholuck on this verse.

According to Hodge, Erasmus similarly knew that others previous to Luther used the word "alone" in Romans 3:28. Erasmus is claimed to have said, "Vox sola, tot clamoribus lapidata hoc saeculo in Luthero, reverenter in Patribus auditur" (The word alone, which has been received with such a shower of stones when uttered in our times by Luther, is yet reverently listened to when spoken by the Fathers). The quote seems suspicious. Luther began translating the New Testament in 1521 and released a finished version in 1522. Certainly Erasmus had some sympathy to Luther's cause early on, but by 1524 their polite ties were severed over the freedom / bondage of the human will and the relationship of faith and works. It would be surprising to find Erasmus defending Luther at any time on this issue! 

It seemed simple enough to search out the context of this statement from Erasmus (especially since it was a renowned Reformed scholar citing it!).  However, the exact opposite occurred: I could not locate it. I did discover though that Erasmus said something like it without mentioning Luther... at all. 

Documentation

I'm going to work backward in searching for the sources Hodge mentions. He says, "See Koppe and Tholuck on this verse." "Tholuck" refers to Fred Augustus Gottreu Tholuck, Exposition of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: With Extracts from the Evangelical Works of the Fathers and Reformers (Philadelphia: Sorin and Ball, 1844). Hodge certainly appears to be citing Erasmus via Tholuck verbatim on page 113. Notice the Erasmus citation is almost exact except Hodge cites "De Ratione Concionandi, Lib. III" while Tholuck cites "De ratione conciondi 1.3." 

"Koppe" appears to refer to Johann Benjamin Koppe, and I think Hodge had in mind Koppe's Novum Testamentum Koppianum.  I could find no extant copies online to see exactly what Hodge was referring to from this source. Koppe wrote in the eighteenth century, so seeing exactly what Hodge was referring to would be interesting since it predates Tholuck's nineteenth century comment. 

"De Ratione Concionandi"refers to the book by Erasmus, Ecclesiastes: On the Art of Preaching (Ecclesiastes: sive de ratione concionandi) (1535).  I spent some time searching the works of Erasmus for any of the volumes of "De Ratione Concionandi." Of the volumes I was able to locate, I found no instance of the exact quote "Vox sola, tot clamoribus lapidata hoc saeculo in Luthero, reverenter in Patribus auditur." I'm not alone in this. In the nineteenth century, James Morison did the same thing. He states, 

Tholuck says that Erasmus (Liber Concion. lib. iii.) remarks,—vox sola, tot clamoribus lapidata hoc seculo in Luthero, reverenter in patribus auditur,—“The word alone, which has been received with such a shower of stones when uttered in our times by Luther, is yet reverently listened to when spoken by the Fathers." Hodge repeats the quotation and the reference. We do not know where Tholuck picked it up. But while the observation seems to bespeak, by its peculiar felicity and piquancy, an Erasmian origin, it is certainly not to be found in that great repository of felicities, and wisdom, and wit, and semi-garrulities,—the Liber Concionandi.

To answer Morison's question, Tholuck could have picked up the quote from any number of sources. 

If one does a search specific to eighteenth century books, a number of hits appear with attribution to Erasmus. The quote goes back further. In the early seventeenth century, Lutheran theologian Johann Gerhard states, "Erasmus wrote to someone: 'The word 'alone' which in our time has been assailed by so many outcries in Luther, is reverently heard and read in the fathers" (Latin source, English translation from On Justification through Faith - Theological Commonplaces, p. 317). The quote makes it all the way back to the sixteenth century: In 1591, Martin Chemnitz also cites it: "Therefore we can correctly say with Erasmus: 'This word sola, which has been attacked with so much noise in the era of Luther, was reverently heard and read among the fathers'" (English source). Still though, there is no meaningful reference. There is a sixteenth century source that predates Chemnitz by ten years (1581) that includes some important aspects of the quote:

Notice some striking similarities to the quote under scrutiny. First, the source is said to be "Eccl 3." Second, some of the quote is exactly presented: "vox Sola, tot clamoribus hoc seculo lapidata." There are blatant dissimilarities as well. First, Luther is not mentioned. Second, the church fathers are not mentioned, but rather, Hilary of Poitiers is. If one searches the writings of Erasmus focusing on Hilary rather than Luther, significant clues are revealed. Note the following observations from The Collected Works of Erasmus: 

The author cites "book 3 CWE 68 967" for footnotes 828 and 829. "CWE 68" stands for "Collected Works of Erasmus." "book 3" refers to "The Evangelical Preacher, book one (Ecclesiates sive de ratione confitendi) (1535)." This appears to correspond to the reference given above by Tholuck (De ratione conciondi 1.3) On page 966-967, Erasmus states: 

Interestingly, footnote 1399 states, "Erasmus is no doubt alluding to Martin Luther and the central theological issue of the Reformation, justification by faith alone (sola fides)."
  

Conclusion

I think it's probable to say that "book 3 CWE 68 967" (expounded above) is the original source of the quote eventually used by Hodge and others. I'm uncertain who added "hoc saeculo in Luthero" to the quote. Erasmus penned his original words in 1535. Martin Chemnitz was the first I could locate adding Luther to the citation (1591). Was it Chemnitz? I don't know. If it was, his basic crime would be adding explicit meaning to what Erasmus was probably implying (i.e., Luther) and changing Hilary to "fathers." Also, the context of the comment from Erasmus was not an exegetical exposition of Romans 3:28, but rather, a passing comment made on Matthew 9:6.  What I find most interesting is that if Erasmus had Luther in mind, he penned these words about a decade after his harsh battle with Luther. I find that amazing: Erasmus was able to get beyond his personal encounter with Luther and still defend his translation of including "alone"... in a roundabout way.  

Addendum

 

This source posits the early Erasmus agreed with Luther in some sense about "faith alone." 

Debunked Luther: No One Can Give Himself Faith, It is a Gift of God"

Here's a Martin Luther quote found on a Facebook page dedicated to Martin Luther and the Reformation (shared from another FB page)-

Is this something Martin Luther wrote?   I don't think so. Is it something he believed? Yes. 

Documentation

From a cursory search, I found no instances of the exact "no one can give himself faith, it is a gift of God" attributed meaningfully to Luther.  The exact form of the quote though can be found in the writings of Soren Kierkegaard. In his Journals and Notebooks he states, 

Conclusion

It's within the realm of possibility that some sort of English Luther quote in this exact form exists, but I did not locate anything in this exact English form meaningfully attributed to Luther. If the quote was taken from Kierkegard "But no one can give himself faith, it is a gift of God I must pray for," notice the addition of the words, "I must pray for." In the context of Kierkegaard's remarks. he makes a concession that salvation has an aspect of human contribution. Kierkegaard follows up the comment by asking: is the desire to pray for faith also a gift of God? His point is that in some sense there must be a place for human contribution in salvation, however small, if not, the conclusion is "fatalistic election."  

Would Luther agree with Kierkegard? Granted, they were from different time periods with different concerns, however, I think Luther would oppose Kierkegard on the point. In his Preface to Romans (cf. LW 35:371), Luther states: 

Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn't ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn't do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn't know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.

Now justice is just such a faith. It is called God's justice or that justice which is valid in God's sight, because it is God who gives it and reckons it as justice for the sake of Christ our Mediator. It influences a person to give to everyone what he owes him. Through faith a person becomes sinless and eager for God's commands. Thus he gives God the honor due him and pays him what he owes him. He serves people willingly with the means available to him. In this way he pays everyone his due. Neither nature nor free will nor our own powers can bring about such a justice, for even as no one can give himself faith, so too he cannot remove unbelief. How can he then take away even the smallest sin? Therefore everything which takes place outside faith or in unbelief is lie, hypocrisy and sin (Romans 14), no matter how smoothly it may seem to go.

From these paragraphs, it is possible to extrapolate the sentiment that faith is a gift of God. Some years back I did an entry on Luther believing faith is the gift of God.  

Debunked Luther "I sin continually. But Christ has died, and forever lives, as my redeemer, priest, advocate, and King."

Here's a Martin Luther quote I came across on a Facebook page dedicated to Martin Luther and the Reformation cut-and-pasted from a John MacArthur appreciation page.   

 

Is this something Martin Luther wrote?  No!

Documentation

The quote in the picture above is said to come from "Luther on the Christian Life by Carl Trueman." Whoever concocted this picture probably had this book by Carl Trueman in mind: Luther on the Christian Life. I do not own this book. Relying solely on the Google Books text search and Amazon's "Look Inside" text search of the book, I did not find any trace of the quote. Perhaps whoever created this text and picture wanted only to document the picture used? Notice, the background picture of the quote is the exact front cover of Trueman's book.  

A cursory Google search of this quote reveals rather quickly who wrote it  originally: John Newton. I found the quote in a book from Newton entitled, Twenty-five Letters, Hitherto Unpublished. The quote appears in a letter written March 17, 1757. The quote is found here.

Context

What could have been done for me that the Lord has not done? yet still I am a cumberer of the ground; I am, by grace, kept from such sins as would dishonour my calling openly, and stumble my brethren, but the wickedness of my heart is amazing. I may especially mention three sins most unsuitable to men in general, but still more to believers, and, above all believers, most unsuitable to me, I mean pride, ingratitude, and insensibility. The instances in which the two former discover themselves are more in number than the hairs of my head; yet I am so much under the power of the third, that, for the most part, I sit still as if nothing were the matter. Thus much for the dark side. Blessed be God, amidst so many causes of mourning in myself, it is still my duty and my privilege to rejoice in the Lord: in him I have righteousness and strength, pardon and peace. I have sinned—I sin continually— but Christ has died, and forever lives, as my Redeemer, Priest, Advocate, and King. And though my transgressions and corruptions, my temptations and my enemies, are very many and very prevalent, the Lord, in whom I trust, is more and mightier than all that is against me. From this consideration I would adopt your inference, “What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" It is to be lamented that any persons should so mistake the doctrine of free unchangeable grace, as to imagine it has a tendency to introduce licentiousness; but much more to be lamented, if a real believer should give occasion to such a reproach by his remiss, careless, or worldly behaviour. I hope I do in my heart detest and abhor the thought of continuing in sin, that grace may abound, but I fear my practice condemns me of it; for sure there are many who are not favoured with such a view of God's unchangeable love as I am, who walk in heaviness, and darkness, and fear, and yet are more zealous, humble, and sensible, more abounding in good works, more impressed with a sense of sin, and more careful in redeeming time than I am. My path lies between two dangerous extremes legality and presumption; and I am continually inclined to one or the other, according to the difference of my frames. Thus I am made up of contradictions.

Conclusion

Luther did not write this quote, nor did Carl Trueman attribute the quote to Martin Luther in his book, Luther on the Christian Life. An immediate tip off that Luther didn't write it is that he did not use the phrase prophet, priest, and king in regard to Jesus Christ. Most often, the phrase is attributed to Eusebius and then popularized by John Calvin.  In his book, Carl Trueman points out, 

Trueman cites LW 31: 353-354. There Luther does affirm Christ as priest and king. Luther says, "Now just as Christ by his birthright obtained these two prerogatives, so he imparts them to and shares them with everyone who believes in him... Hence all of us who believe in Christ are priests and kings in Christ, as 1 Pet. 2[:9] says; “You are a chosen race, God’s own people, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (LW 31:354). In my cursory search, I did not come across any instances of Luther referring to Jesus as "prophet" in the sense of the way it's used in "prophet, priest, and king." Did he ever do it? I don't know. 

A ridiculous aspect of this quote has to do with people I attempted to interact with that posted it.  On both Facebook pages, I pointed out Luther did not write it.  On the Martin Luther and the Reformation Facebook page, I left a brief comment that Newton wrote it... which garnered no response. On the John MacArthur Appreciation page, the comment I left was not allowed to be posted. The quote is no less true because Luther did not write it!