Brenz And Paul

Abstract

The life and work of Johannes Brenz has been studied mostly on a local level, although his importance as a reformer ranking just after Luther and Philip Melanchthon has always been known. Brenz's studies-and the course of his life-were given a new direction due to Luther's Heidelberg Disputation on 26 April 1518, in which Luther demonstrated that justification, salvation, and life are granted by God alone. For a theologian of the Lutheran Reformation like Brenz, Paul is held in the highest esteem as the most important witness for justification by God's grace alone. The text Brenz used for his notes on Ephesians is the Latin translation by Erasmus, which accompanied his edition of the Greek New Testament. Paul as the apostle of justification by the grace of God is the center of the book of Acts.Keywords: Ephesians; Erasmus; Johannes Brenz; Lutheran Reformation; New Testament; Paul; Philip Melanchthon