The Big Idea
Know, therefore, that you must be concerned not only about hearing, but also about learning and retaining it {Scripture} in memory, and do not think that it is optional with you or of no great importance, but that it is God’s commandment, who will require of you how you have heard, learned, and honored His Word. - The Large Catechism, from the Third Commandment
You should diligently learn the Word of God and by no means imagine that you know it. - What Luther Says, Vol 1. p. 79
That the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory - not for yours or any other person’s - He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words. For no master of the divine words exists except the Author of these words, as He says: “They shall be all taught of God” (John 6:45). You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit. - What Luther Says, Vol 1. p. 77.
For a number of years I have now annually read through the Bible twice. If the Bible were a large, mighty tree and all its words were little branches, I have tapped at all the branches, eager to know what was there and what it had to offer. - What Luther Says, Vol 1. p. 83
The Goal of Literacy for the Sake of the Gospel
“Hence, it is also a stupid undertaking to attempt to gain an understanding of Scripture by laboring through the commentaries of the fathers and a multitude of books and glosses. Instead of this, men should have devoted themselves to the languages. Because they were ignorant of the languages, the dear fathers at times expended many words in dealing with a text. Yet when they were all done they had scarcely taken its measure; they were half right and half wrong. Still, you continue to pore over them with immense labor even though, if you knew the languages, you could get further with the passage than they whom you are following, As sunshine is to shadow, so is the language itself compared to all the glosses of the fathers. ” - Luther’s Works Vol. 45, To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany that they Establish and Maintain Christian Schools, p. 364