man, and, justified by faith, knew a joy no man or circumstance could take away. He became a leader of men, for his joyous faith had released him utterly from all fear of Church, clergy, their threats of hell and blandishments of heaven (Atkinson 26).
What Luther did was to return to the source of the Church, to the Bible itself, for support and guidance. He rejected the idea that the scriptures had to be interpreted by the Church and that the truth of the scriptures was what the Church said it was. Luther saw the scriptures as the record of the apostolic witness to Christ and that as the proper source for all doctrine:
Since the apostles are the foundation of the church, their authority is basic. No other authority can be equal to theirs. Every other authority in the church is derived from following the teachings of the apostles and is validated by its conformity to their teaching. This means that only the Scripture can e
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