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Did Wessel influence Luther?


From their very beginning universities were the seedbeds for new ideas in many disciplines, including religion. John of Wessel, a professor at the University of Erfurt in Germany (1445-1456) introduced some of the new ideas that would pave the way for a completely new form of Christianity. The major transition would come a century later under the leadership of Martin Luther.[i]

“He who thinks to be justified through his own works does not know what it is to be saved . . . the elect are saved by grace alone . . . Whom God wishes to save He would save by giving him grace.”

Did Wessel influence Luther’s work? A number of scholars believe he did, but Luther denied it. He said, “If I had read the works of Wessel beforehand, it might well have seemed that I derived all my ideas from him.”[ii]

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