Philip Melanchthon

Professor of Greek at Wittenberg; Luther’s colleagueAlso: Philipp Melanchthon

Scholar of Greek who came to Wittenberg in 1518 and worked beside Luther. He helped revise the German New Testament, took part in the Marburg Colloquy and wrote a life of Luther in 1546.

Martin Luther wrote that the elector Frederick the Wise called Melanchthon to Wittenberg in 1518 to teach Greek (Luther, Preface to the Latin Writings (1545) on the year 1518). In 1522 the two went through Luther’s German New Testament together before it was printed (Luther, Letters, to Georg Spalatin, 30 March 1522), and Luther later named him among those who laboured with him over the book of Job (Luther, On Translating on the translation of Job); see Luther Translates the Bible into German.

At Marburg in 1529 he was paired with Huldrych Zwingli in the private talks (Zwingli, Letters, to Vadian, 20 October 1529) and signed the articles (Marburg Articles signatures). In 1546 he wrote a short life of Luther from what he had heard from Luther and seen himself; it says that Luther posted his theses on the church next to the castle (Melanchthon, Life of Luther part 1). See also the Augsburg Confession.

In the timeline

1522 to 1534, firm date
Luther Translates the Bible into German
In hiding over the winter of 1521–22, Luther translates the New Testament into German; it is printed at Wittenberg in September 1522. The Old Testament follows in parts, and the complete Bible appears in 1534.
1 October 1529, firm date
Luther and Zwingli Meet at Marburg
In October 1529 Philip of Hesse brings Luther and Zwingli together at Marburg. They sign fourteen articles of agreement and a fifteenth recording that they could not agree whether Christ’s body and blood are bodily present in the bread and wine.
25 June 1530, firm date
The Augsburg Confession
At the Diet of Augsburg seven princes and two cities present the emperor Charles V with a statement of their faith in twenty-eight articles, drawn up by Philip Melanchthon. Lutheran princes and cities bind themselves to it again in the Book of Concord of 1580.