Previous translations of the word “alone” in
Romans 3:28Luther offers another line of reasoning in his “
Open Letter on Translating” that many of the current Cyber-Catholics ignore, and most Protestants are not aware of:
“
Furthermore, I am not the only one, nor the first, to say that faith alone makes one righteous. There was Ambrose, Augustine and many others who said it before me.”
Now here comes the fun part in this discussion.
The Roman Catholic writer Joseph A. Fitzmyer points out that Luther was not the only one to translate
Romans 3:28 with the word “alone.”
At 3:28 Luther introduced the adv. “only” into his translation of Romans (1522), “alleyn durch den Glauben” (WAusg 7.38); cf. Aus der Bibel 1546, “alleine durch den Glauben” (WAusg, DB 7.39); also 7.3-27 (Pref. to the Epistle). See further his Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen, of 8 Sept. 1530 (WAusg 30.2 [1909], 627-49; “On Translating: An Open Letter” [LuthW 35.175-202]). Although “alleyn/alleine” finds no corresponding adverb in the Greek text, two of the points that Luther made in his defense of the added adverb were that it was demanded by the context and that sola was used in the theological tradition before him.
Robert Bellarmine listed eight earlier authors who used sola (Disputatio de controversiis: De justificatione 1.25 [Naples: G. Giuliano, 1856], 4.501-3):Origen, Commentarius in Ep. ad Romanos, cap. 3 (PG 14.952).Hilary, Commentarius in Matthaeum 8:6 (PL 9.961). Basil, Hom. de humilitate 20.3 (PG 31.529C).Ambrosiaster, In Ep. ad Romanos 3.24 (CSEL 81.1.119): “sola fide justificati sunt dono Dei,” through faith alone they have been justified by a gift of God; 4.5 (CSEL 81.1.130).John Chrysostom, Hom. in Ep. ad Titum 3.3 (PG 62.679 [not in Greek text]). Cyril of Alexandria, In Joannis Evangelium 10.15.7 (PG 74.368 [but alludes to Jas 2:19]).Bernard, In Canticum serm. 22.8 (PL 183.881): “solam justificatur per fidem,” is justified by faith alone.Theophylact, Expositio in ep. ad Galatas 3.12-13 (PG 124.988).To these eight Lyonnet added two others (Quaestiones, 114-18):Theodoret, Affectionum curatio 7 (PG 93.100; ed. J. Raeder [Teubner], 189.20-24).Thomas Aquinas, Expositio in Ep. I ad Timotheum cap. 1, lect. 3 (Parma ed., 13.588): “Non est ergo in eis [moralibus et caeremonialibus legis] spes iustificationis, sed in sola fide, Rom. 3:28: Arbitramur justificari hominem per fidem, sine operibus legis” (Therefore the hope of justification is not found in them [the moral and ceremonial requirements of the law], but in faith alone, Rom 3:28: We consider a human being to be justified by faith, without the works of the law). Cf. In ep. ad Romanos 4.1 (Parma ed., 13.42a): “reputabitur fides eius, scilicet sola sine operibus exterioribus, ad iustitiam”; In ep. ad Galatas 2.4 (Parma ed., 13.397b): “solum ex fide Christi” [Opera 20.437, b41]).See further: See
further :
James Swan also had a written debate with a Roman Catholic on Luther's use of the word "alone." That can be found here.
In your numerous cites of Catholic writers, it is not that they are “correcting” the vulgate, they are emphasizing the works are not sufficient. Certainly Bellarmine was no Lutheran, and to pretend that he is buying into Luther’s bad translation is disingenuous. If you are going to open up your book (on my word, I have only used my head for my major points), then this discussion will unravel, as St. Thomas has a great deal to write about justification, and to take a phrase out of such a discussion is a parlour trick.
The word isn’t in there. Luther added it. If it were just to make for better German, Germans wouldn’t have to lean on it for a radically different theology. Scads of literate Germans read the Latin, and didn’t come up with Luther’s version.
Every year, when the reading turns to 2nd Corinthians, and the term “bowels” is used in a way unfamiliar to most modern Americans, our priest explains what is meant. That is preferred to changing the word to something that might be more in tune with modern idiom, but NOT what God inspired the Sacred writer to write.