"In general, Luther here still follows the traditional manner of his day, presenting a fourfold interpretation of a passage and labeling these interpretations as literal (or historical), allegorical, tropological, or anagogical, but in the printed preface to the Biblical text he announces from the very beginning that all prophecy and every prophet should be interpreted as speaking of Jesus Christ, “unless it is evident in clear words that the reference is to someone else.” Yet after this identification of the prophetic meaning of the Psalter, Luther is not averse to adding extended applications of the meaning according to the fourfold pattern of scholastic hermeneutics. His interpretations are, however, all under the control of his basic rule that none of them may come forward with anything that is not elsewhere expressly stated. “Otherwise Scripture would become a mockery.” Christ is in all interpretations the beginning. Thus whenever Luther makes use of the fourfold interpretation in these Dictata super Psalterium, he sees to it that it is under the guidance of the sensus principalis, which is Christ. This unity prompts him to say: “In this way all four interpretations of Scripture come together to one magnificent stream.” In fact, he can lump all four under a single heading: “All of these are Christ at the same time."
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