Martin Luther on Authority of Scripture
Scripture alone is the final, only infallible authority
The rule is: The Word of God shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel.
THE POSITION
Scripture alone establishes doctrine, over against both the Fathers and the papacy. Luther will discuss Augustine's opinions only after the abuses are gone, because 'it will not do to frame articles of faith from the works or words of the holy Fathers.' The rule he states in their place is absolute and admits no second source. He treats the papal claim to decide 'above and contrary to Scripture' as the same error as the radicals' claim to the Spirit without the Word.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
18 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Augustinian friar whose protest over indulgences opened the Reformation, and the theologian for whom justification by faith and the bondage of the will are the whole of the gospel. This entry rests on his own writings only — The Bondage of the Will (1525), the Smalcald Articles (1537), the Large and Small Catechisms (1529), Concerning Christian Liberty (1520), the Heidelberg Disputation (1518), the Church Postil and his biblical prefaces — and deliberately excludes the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord, which are not his.
Cite this page
"Martin Luther on Authority of Scripture", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/luther/scripture-authority (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/luther/scripture-authority).