"The Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ" (Carlstadt, Canonicis Scripturis (1520)
"The Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ" (Carlstadt, Canonicis Scripturis (1520)
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Jul 17, 2022
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Did the co-leader of the Reformation try to change NT canon so Jesus was exclusively primary + Book of Acts?
An overdue proposal for reform today to reform to Carlstadt’s Division of Canon.
We are talking about Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt.
Born 1486-1541
When Luther arrived in 1511 at Wittenberg, Carlstadt was Professor of Theology at its university. Carlstadt had been twice Rector of the University of Wittenberg. He was also Canon and Archdeacon of the University's church called Stifskirche. It was he who conferred a doctorate on Luther in 1512. 1 Luther always admitted that Carlstadt was his superior in learning.
At first, Carlstadt as teacher and Luther as pupil were seen as joint allies. In 1517, they worked together on putting up the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg. They debated Eck together in 1519.
They both wrote reformation works on similar themes in 1520.
Carlstadt wrote in 1520 in his book on Canon;
“The Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ."
(Andreas von Carlstadt, Canonicis Scripturis (1520) Sect. 161) quote in Charles Beard's Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany (1896) at 401 (in Latin).)
Beard explains: “Plainly the adoption of Carlstadt's principle would have made it impossible for the Reformer [Luther] to embrace a Pauline theology, except under the condition of finding it in the books of first and greatest authority, the Gospels themselves.”
Charles Beard's Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany (1896) at 401
“But his most remarkable position -- one which Luther would have fiercely contested -- ...is that the first [books of the NT] are to be preferred to that of the second....On this ground, the word of Paul is not to be put on a level with that of Christ.”
Charles Beard's Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany (Reprint 2009) at 278; (1896 edition at 401) quoting Carlstadt, De Canonicis Scripturis (ed. Credner) section 161), and quoted in (1896) at 401.)
For the NT, Carlstadt made a parallel division: (1) the Gospel and Acts were of first rank; (2) the 16 Epistles [including James] comprising Paul and 1 John and 1 Peter were of second rank; and (3) Revelation, and the remaining epistles, including Hebrews were in third rank. See Friedrich Bleek, An Introduction to the New Testament (1877) Vol. 2 at 274.
Paul versus the Book of James.
Carlstadt, in particular, in this booklet Canonicis openly disagreed with Luther that one could reject the book of James as noncanonical based upon doctrine obtained from Paul. First, Carlstadt said you must first determine what is canon. Then one can determine one's doctrine. His slogan was canonicity before doctrine. If one reverses the procedure, then one's personal doctrine, however commendatory, turns into a weapon by which genuine Scripture is rejected or down-played unnecessarily.
See John Warwick Montgomery, “Lessons from Luther on the Inerrancy of Holy Writ,” God's Inerrant Word (1974), reprinted online at http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar37...
Luther's Aggressive Response
Luther was angry with Carlstadt's reforms, his downplay of Paul to second rank behind Jesus, and Carlstadt's theological acceptance of the Epistle of James which Luther in 1522 said was an “epistle of Straw.” (Luther, Preface to the New Testament, 1522.)
Luther went so far as to say that Moses and the Prophets did not speak authoritatively either when they endorsed works in salvation--they too failed to build on gold and precious metals and would be proven later to be burnt up with fire--while the man of God can only hear God's words of grace.
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