Luther returned to Erfurt from Rome, and in the summer of 1511 was sent
as one of three new professors to Wittenberg. Here he came under the
influence of John von Staupitz, vicar of the Augustinian order, who
showed warm sympathy and understanding toward the earnest young priest.
As yet Luther had been unable to convince himself of God’s love, mercy,
and forgiveness. His quest carried him along the path of good works, but
he never could feel that he had done enough to save himself. He tried
the path of confession but concluded there was more wrong with men than
could be cleansed by enumerating a list of particular offenses.
Luther’s problems of faith did not mount up through clearly defined
stages to a sudden soul-free climax. Rather he passed through a series
of crises. Staupitz did much to comfort him in some of these grave
periods. He encouraged the zealous monk to trust in the God who loved
and sent his Son to redeem man, rather than try to appease God through
his own works.
Staupitz’ theology was quite different from Luther’s. It admitted man’s
weakness and called him to completely submerge himself in God. There was
no striving, no assertion of self. Eventually the individual found peace
in a blissful atmosphere surrounded entirely by God. Luther’s efforts
were virtually the opposite. His every act was replete with
self-assertion directed toward winning merit. He tried the mystical way
of Staupitz but could never completely lose himself in the essence of a
God whom he conceived to be an angry judge.
Luther’s troubled spirit did not lower him in the vicar’s estimation
and, perhaps to get his mind off it, Staupitz advised him to study for a
doctor’s degree and assume the chair of Bible at the university. It was
good medicine, for thus the distressed monk came to closer grips with
the source book of his faith. So far, writings about the Bible, rather
than the book itself, had been his main diet. He studied for the degree
and preached in the monastery’s rickety chapel until October 18-19,
1512, when he became Martin Luther, doctor of sacred scripture,
professor of Bible at Wittenberg University.