[18] The appearance of Melanchthon's Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae (Wittenberg and Basel, 1521) was of subsequent importance to the Reformation.

Melanchthon discussed the "leading thoughts" of Paul's Letter to the Romans and used this platform to present a new doctrine of Christianity; one where faith in God was more important than good deeds.

Loci communes contributed to the gradual rise of the Lutheran scholastic tradition, and the later theologians Martin Chemnitz,[c] Mathias Haffenreffer, and Leonhard Hutter expanded upon it.

[20] In his Unterricht der Visitatorn an die Pfarherrn im Kurfürstentum zu Sachssen (1528) Melanchthon presented the evangelical doctrine of salvation as well as regulations for churches and schools.

[citation needed] Others point out that he had not sought the part of a political leader, suggesting that he seemed to lack the requisite energy and decision for such a role and may simply have been a lackluster judge of human nature.

[citation needed] He worked for an agreement on this question, as his patristic studies and the Dialogue (1530) of Johannes Oecolampadius had made him doubt the correctness of Luther's doctrine.

[citation needed] In agreeing to various Catholic usages, Melanchthon held the opinion that they are adiaphora, if nothing is changed in the pure doctrine and the sacraments which Jesus instituted.

[citation needed] After Luther's death he became seen by many as the "theological leader of the German Reformation"[25] although the Gnesio-Lutherans led by Matthias Flacius accused him and his followers of heresy and apostasy.

[24] In 1552 the Elector of Saxony declared himself ready to send deputies to a council to be convened at Trent, but only under the condition that the Protestants should have a share in the discussions, and that the Pope should not be considered as the presiding officer and judge.

As the statement "good works are necessary for salvation" appeared in the Leipzig Interim, in 1551 its Lutheran opponents attacked Georg Major, Melanchthon's friend and disciple.

Melanchthon persevered in his efforts for the peace of the church, suggesting a synod of the Evangelical party and drawing up the Frankfurt Recess, which he defended later against attacks.

[27] In lecturing on the Librorum de judiciis astrologicis of Ptolemy in 1535–1536, Melanchthon expressed to students his interest in Greek mathematics, astronomy and astrology.

On the left hand side of the note were the words, "You will be delivered from sins, and be freed from the acrimony and fury of theologians"; on the right, "You will go to the light, see God, look upon his Son, learn those wonderful mysteries which you have not been able to understand in this life."

[citation needed] Melanchthon's importance for the Reformation lay essentially in the fact that he systematized Luther's ideas, defended them in public, and made them the basis of a religious education.

I am the rough pioneer who must break the road; but Master Philip comes along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God has richly endowed him with gifts."

Luther also praised Melanchthon's revised Loci and called him "a divine instrument which has achieved the very best in the department of theology to the great rage of the devil and his scabby tribe."

[36]As a reformer, Melanchthon's work was characterized by moderation, conscientiousness, caution, and love of peace; however these qualities were sometimes said to only be lack of decision, consistence, and courage.

He took pains to safeguard unity in doctrine by theological formulas of union, but these were made as broad as possible and were restricted to the needs of practical religion.

[38] Melanchthon also believed that the disciplinary system of the classical "seven liberal arts", and the sciences studied in the higher faculties could not encompass the new revolutionary discoveries of the age in terms of either content or method.

His conception of faith corresponded with his view that the Church is the communion of those who adhere to the true belief and that her visible existence depends upon the consent of her unregenerated members to her teachings.

Originally he intended a development of the leading ideas representing the Evangelical conception of salvation, while the later editions approached a plan of a text-book of dogma.

His principal works in this line were Prolegomena to Cicero's De officiis (1525); Enarrationes librorum Ethicorum Aristotelis (1529); Epitome philosophiae moralis (1538); and Ethicae doctrinae elementa (1550).

[40] His contribution to Christian ethics in the proper sense can be seen in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology as well as in his Loci, where he followed Luther in depicting the Protestant ideal of life, the free realization of the divine law by a personality blessed in faith and filled with the spirit of God.

The principle of his hermeneutics is expressed in his words: "Every theologian and faithful interpreter of the heavenly doctrine must necessarily be first a grammarian, then a dialectician, and finally a witness."

He stayed aloof from dogmatizing or rhetoric in the Annotationes in Evangelia (1544), the Conciones in Evangelium Matthaei (1558), and in his German sermons prepared for George of Anhalt.

[42] Melanchthon also produced the first Protestant work on the method of theological study, as well as his Catechesis puerilis (1532), a religious manual for younger students, and a German catechism (1549).

[40] As a philologist and pedagogue Melanchthon was the spiritual heir of the South German Humanists, such as Reuchlin, Jakob Wimpfeling, and Rodolphus Agricola, who represented an ethical conception of the humanities.

By his activity in educational institutions and his compilations of Latin and Greek grammars and commentaries, he became the founder of the learned schools of Evangelical Germany, using a combination of humanistic and Christian ideals.

As the law is a divinely ordered pedagogue that leads to Christ, philosophy, its interpreter, is subject to revealed truth as the principal standard of opinions and life.

[44] There have been preserved original portraits of Melanchthon by three famous painters of his time - Hans Holbein the Younger with one version in the Royal Gallery of Hanover, Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder.