As he studied and learned the scriptures, he became extremely fearful of God and was very concerned about how he would one day be forgiven for his sins. This weighed heavily on him to the point that he became eccentric in his attempts and methods to make amends. He eventually left for Wittenberg and became a professor of theology while working on his doctorate. It was around this time that his thinking began to change. He began to read and interpret the Scriptures for himself instead of blindly following the message the Church preaches on the subject. One day, while preparing for a lecture, he came across the phrase "the righteous shall live by faith" (Christ pp195), which transformed his thinking about God and the doctrine of good works of God. Church. He then began to believe that God was a just and benevolent God and that forgiveness did not depend on his own justice. He began to see that humanity could not be righteous because we were prone to sin from the beginning and that all it took was for someone to place their faith in Jesus Christ for God to declare that person a sinner..