punishable human action. However, on his part, Luther had to deal with the difficult question of the extent to which the righteous God is responsible for evil. In view of the omnipotence of God, which was a given, there was not a great deal of room to maneuver, but Luther had no fear of discrepancies in his image of God. Where necessary, even obscure questions had to be investigated. He began with this statement: There is Satan who has fallen from God, and there is man who has fallen from God. He