Luther's knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was limited and yet this didn't stop him from translating the Bible into German. During his time at Wartburg he worked on it diligently and at a pace that surprised even him. In fact he worked at it so feverishly that in January of 1522, shortly before he left the castle he wrote to Nicholas von Amsdorf that he seemed to "shoulder a burned beyond my power"

When he left the castle and arrived back in Wittenberg in early March he had with him a complete working draft of the New Testament in German. Luther had bypassed the traditional Latin text used by the Church in favour of working from original Greek manuscripts thus ensuring that he rendered a more accurate translation.

At Wittenberg he collaborated with his best friend Philip Melacthon who was Professor of Greek at the University to clean up the draft. They presented the first edition to Spalatin and through him to Prince Frederick in May of 1522 and by September 1522 the first edition of the New Testament in German was printed by Melchior Lotter.

The first print run was between 3,000 and 5,000 copies and by December they were doing a second print run. By the grace of God, the German people finally had access to the Bible in their own language.