So what did Luther say?

J I. Packer, in a sermon on the Puritans' understanding of Scripture, remarked on Martin Luther's formula for making a theologian. A theologian, said Packer (quoting Luther), is made under the simultaneous pressure of three forces:

• oratio - prayer for the illumination of Scripture by the Holy Spirit


• meditatio - practice of careful meditation on Scripture


• temptatio - denoting every force of distraction from the above

Packer's is a different reading from the one to which I had grown accustomed. My version had been as follows:

• oratio - preaching/teaching


• meditatio - careful meditation on Scripture, primarily, & philosophy & culture secondarily


• temptatio - temptations. sin

Mine had not been so scripturally attuned. So who has misquoted Luther? Is it Packer, with his scripture-centric reading, or Luther scholars & the theological community with their more existential whole-life approach?

hermeneutics; Martin Luther; Puritans; natural theology; fides quaerens intellectum.