First part.
From temptation to fall.
V. 1. And the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that God the Lord had made.
In the previous chapter we heard how man was created on the sixth day in the image and likeness of God, that his will should be good and pure, and that his reason or understanding should also be sound, so that what God wanted or said, man should also want, believe and understand. Such pure and perfect knowledge must necessarily be followed by the knowledge of all other creatures; for where the knowledge of God is perfect, the knowledge of other things under God must also be perfect.
These things show how terrible and horrible the fall of Adam and Eve must have been, by which we have lost the mind of reason, so gloriously and beautifully enlightened, and the will, which was directed according to God's word and will. Thus we have also lost the honor of our bodies, so that now walking or being seen naked is the greatest shame, which at that time was the most beautiful honor and a special advantage of the human race over all other animals. But like all this, the greatest harm is that not only is all this lost, but it is followed by a reversal and turning away of the will from God, so that man does not want or do what God wants and gives, item, that we do not know what God is, what grace is, what mercy is, nor what sin is in itself. These are truly terrible infirmities, and those who do not understand or see them must be blinder than a mole. Experience teaches us much of such sorrow, but we cannot fully feel how great it is.
We cannot look at the image in the state of innocence, as we can grasp and understand it, in which the will was good and the reason was righteous; in addition, the body of man was full of the highest honor and glory. If we now consider the loss and deprivation of such gifts, we can reflect and understand to some extent what a shame and sorrow original sin is.
(3) Therefore, they give rise to many great errors that make light of this terrible damage, and philosophically speak of corrupt nature as if it were not corrupt. As they say, then, that the natural powers have remained intact not only in man's nature but also in the devil. But this is obviously false. For what and how little of it has remained, we can see and feel to some extent; but how much of it we have lost, they truly do not see who still argue that the natural powers have remained intact. For the will, which should be good and righteous and please God, be obedient to God, trust God and use the creature rightly and with thanksgiving, is lost, so that our will makes a devil out of God, shies away and is frightened when God's name is mentioned, especially when it is pressed with God's judgment. But does this mean that the natural powers are intact?
4 Now consider other lesser things, which are far below God. The marriage state or union of man and woman is ordered by God, but how terrible is it after sin? what nonsense and rutting is in the flesh? Therefore, after sin, this union is no longer done publicly as a work of God, but even married people flee the light and hide themselves. So we still have the body, but, dear God, how miserable and wounded and corrupted in many ways! We also have the will and ver-
But how in many ways it is shattered, insane and weakened! For as reason is darkened and weakened by great and various ignorance, so also the will is not only broken and destroyed, but is even turned away from God, is hostile to God, and rushes with desire to evil, since it should do the opposite.
Therefore, one should not so surely make such manifold corruption of nature harmless or small, but great, namely, that man has fallen from God's image, from God's and all other creatures' knowledge, from the most honest nakedness into blasphemy, into hatred and contempt of God, yes, that is even more, into enmity against God; not to mention the cruel tyranny of the devil, to which this wretched nature must be subjected for the sake of sin. Therefore, I say, let such things be made great, so that where the greatness of the harm and the disease is not rightly recognized, the remedy is not recognized nor desired. For the more you revile and belittle sin, the more grace will also become small and little.
(6) Now this is what Moses said above, that Adam and Eve were not ashamed when they were naked. Neither of them burned at the other with vile lust, but when one looked at the other, they recognized God's goodness, rejoiced in God and were secure in His goodness; since we now not only cannot escape sin, but also fall into despair and enmity with God. Which terrible case clearly enough indicates that the natural powers have not remained intact.
7 But even more insolently may the sophists say this of the devil, in whom there is much greater enmity against God, resentment and rage, than in man: if he was not created evil, but had a will that was according to God's will, which he has lost; has also lost the most beautiful and purest mind, and has been transformed into an abominable spirit, which rages and rages against its Creator. For is this not the greatest disruption, that he has been turned from God's friend to the
most bitter and obdurate enemy?
(8) But against this they bring Aristotle's saying, when he says that reason always stimulates and drives to the best; they also presume to confirm this saying with other sayings of the holy Scriptures, item with that, that the philosophers say that right reason is the cause of all virtues. Now I do not say that this is not true when it is understood of the things which are subject to reason, as when it is said how to rear and govern cattle, build houses and sow fields: but in higher and superior things it is not true. For how can one call reason righteous that is hostile to God? and how can one call the will good that resists God's will and does not want to be obedient to God?
9 Therefore, when they say that reason directs and leads to the best, you say, yes, to the best of political and civil affairs, of which reason can judge; in the same it says, judges and leads to that which is honest and useful in the flesh and in the world. But how can it be called good in higher and spiritual matters, because it is without all knowledge of God and has even turned away from God's will? Now this is also known, when one teaches about the knowledge of God, and deals with the fact that reason may be set right again, then it is found that those who want to be of the best reason and will (that I call it so) are most bitterly hostile to the gospel.
(10) Therefore, in theology, we should first say that reason in man is most hostile to God and God; secondly, the will, since it wants to be most honest, is most contrary to God's will: as from this comes hatred of the Word and persecution of pious Christian teachers. Therefore, as we have understood, we should not minimize but rather magnify this harm that has come upon human nature because of the sin of our first parents: then it will follow that we will lament our sorrow and misery, and sigh for the Lord Christ, your only physician and helper, who for this reason has received from the Father
is sent, that these damages and wounds, which the devil has inflicted on us through sin, may be healed through him, and that we may return to eternal glory through him.
(11) As for the history described by Moses in this chapter, I have given my opinion before, namely, that I believe that this temptation and temptation happened on the Sabbath, so that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day, Adam first, and Eve in the evening. The next day, early on the Sabbath, Adam preached to Eve about God's will, how the most gracious Lord had created the whole paradise for the benefit and pleasure of mankind; that he had also created the tree of life out of special kindness, from which the strength of the body could be renewed and constant youth preserved; but he had forbidden one tree, the knowledge of good and evil, from which one was not allowed to eat, therefore one had to keep and render such obedience to a kind Creator. Perhaps, as he told her about it and led her around in the paradise, he would have shown her the same forbidden tree. Thus, Adam and Eve, in the most splendid perennial of innocence and righteousness, full of all peace and security for the sake of trusting in such a kind and gracious God, went about naked and bare, speaking of God's word and commandment, praising and thanking God as is proper on the Sabbath. There, unfortunately, Satan came and reversed all this within a few hours, as we shall hear.
Here again a whole bunch of questions is found. For cheeky people ask: Why then did God let happen and allow the devil so much that he tempted Eve? Why did Satan pursue her in the form of a serpent rather than another animal? etc. But who can show the cause of all things that the divine majesty, as we see, has caused to happen? Why do we not rather learn with Job Cap. 9, 2. and Cap. 33, 13, that God cannot be accused in court, nor can He be held accountable to us for the things He does or causes to happen? Why do
Do we not also agree with him that grass and trees are not green all year round? Just as I believe that there would have been a constant spring in paradise, without winter, snow and frost, which are now after sin. But all this is in God's will and power, and we have enough to know it; but to ponder and inquire about it more really and more closely is an ungodly presumption. Therefore we, who are the clay of His hands, Isa. 64:8, should refrain from disputing about such things and not judge God our Lord, but rather let Him judge us.
(13) Therefore, let this be the answer to all such questions and arguments, that it pleased God that Adam should try himself and exercise his ability. As he still does today; when we are baptized and placed in Christ's kingdom, he does not want us to be idle, but to practice his word and gifts. That is why he allows us poor and weak people to be sighted by the devil. In this way we also see that the Church, which is now, praise God! swept and cleansed by the Word, must stand in constant danger and struggle. For the Sacramentarians, Anabaptists and other swarm spirits are stirring up, attacking and tempting the Church with all kinds of temptations; in addition, there are also other internal trials and temptations. God allows these things to happen, but not because He has decided to leave the church or to let it remain in trouble and perish, but, as the Book of Wisdom says in Cap. 10, 12, the church and devout Christians are left in the battle so that they may overcome and learn by experience that wisdom is the strongest of all.
(14) Here is another question, whereof it may be argued with less danger, but with more profit; namely, why do the Scriptures thus involve all things, and not rather clearly and openly say, that the angel, being fallen, took hold of the serpent, and spake by him, and deceived Eve? To this I answer thus: That the Scriptures have thus involved it, so that it would be reserved for the Lord Christ and His
Spirit, which should shine through the whole world, like the sun at noon, and open and discover all the mysteries of the Scriptures. And because such spirit of Christ was in the prophets, they understood such parables of the Scriptures.
(15) Now I have said that the serpent (as the animals have different gifts among themselves) was especially cunning by nature, therefore it was more convenient for the devil's game than other animals. And there is a clear testimony of this here in the text of Moses, who says that the serpent was more cunning than all animals on earth. We are now surprised that there is such a strange cunning in the fox to pursue; likewise a peculiar wit and skill to flee the danger: as it is known that when he is tired, he throws his tail to the dogs that chase him; if the dogs now catch him with great impetuosity and stand still, he takes a great run and thus escapes. There are other animals like this, whose special cunning and dexterity amaze us. But in the serpent all these things were special and excellent, therefore it became a convenient and comfortable tool for the devil to chase Eve.
She said to the woman, "Yes, should God have said that you should not eat from all the trees in the garden?
(16) Of this temptation the sophists also dispute what manner of temptation it was: whether Adam and Eve sinned with idolatry, or with pride, or safety, or with the mere eating of the apple? But if we want to think about this matter diligently, as is proper, we will find that this was the highest and most severe challenge and temptation. For the serpent attacked the good will of God, and subjected himself to prove from the prohibition of the tree that God's will against men was not good, and thus attacked the very image of God and highest ability that was in the perfect and not yet corrupt nature; yes, he subjected himself to and endeavored to turn back and abolish the very highest will of God.
service that God Himself had ordained. Therefore, we argue in vain that it was this or that sin, for Eve is tempted to all sins by being driven to act against God's word and good will.
017 And Moses therefore spake very carefully, saying, The serpent spake; that is, with that word he controverted the word. But the word which the Lord had spoken to Adam was this: "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This word was Adam's gospel and law, his service to God and obedience that he could render to God in this innocence. This is what Satan is doing, and this is what he is doing to turn back, and this is not his only intention, as the foolish and inexperienced think that he is pointing out the tree to them and instructing them to break fruit from it. He does indeed instruct them, but he adds a different and new word to it, as he is still wont to do in the church.
(18) For if the gospel be taught pure and true, men may be assured of their faith, and beware of idolatry. But where this is done, Satan does not celebrate, but subdues and tempts himself in many ways, either to lead people away from the word, or to counterfeit it. Thus, even in the time of the apostles, many heresies arose and were stirred up in the Greek church. One taught that Christ was not the Son of God; another said that he was not the Son of Mary. As even today the Anabaptists impudently and ungodly say that Christ took nothing of Mary's flesh. And in the lines of St. Basil, some have specially dared to deny that the Holy Spirit is God.
(19) We have also had examples of this kind in our lines, in which, after the pure doctrine of the gospel has come to light again, there have been found many a tempter of the works and of the word of God; and there are other temptations besides these, and they do not cease, such as that the devil drives men to fornication, adultery, and other abominations and vices. But this temptation, when Satan GOt-
The one that attacks the word and works is far more serious and dangerous and especially affects the church and the saints.
20. In this way, Satan makes himself at Adam and Eve, so that he takes away their word and they abandon the word and trust in God and believe his lie. And when this has happened and he has brought it to this, it is no wonder that a man becomes proud and a despiser of God and men, becomes an adulterer, a murderer etc. Therefore, this is certainly the sum and origin of all temptations, which brings with it the fall or transgression of all God's commandments. For unbelief is the cause and origin of all sins, and when the devil has either wrested or counterfeited the word from the hearts and brought them to unbelief, nothing is difficult for him anymore. So, since Eve allowed herself to be deprived of the word by lying, it was very easy for her to get to the forbidden tree and break an apple from it.
Therefore, these are foolish thoughts that the sophists and monks have here, that after Eve had seen the tree, she had more and more desire to break off the apple, until finally, overcome by the desire, she brought it to her mouth. For this was the highest temptation, namely to hear another word, and to depart from that which God had spoken before, namely, that if they had eaten of the tree they would die. But let us look at Moses' words one by one.
First, Satan imitates God. For as God had first preached to Adam, so he preaches here also to Eve. And it is true, as it is said in Proverbs: In God's name all misfortune arises. For as from God's word, if it is righteous, comes blessedness, so also from it comes destruction, if it is counterfeit. But I do not call the falsified word only the verbal preaching, but also the inner thoughts, delusion and good judgment, if they fall away from the word. And Moses indicates such here with the word: "They spoke." For this is how the devil dealt with it, that he led Eve away by his speaking from that which was
God had said. And so, after he had removed the word from the way, he corrupted the best will that man had before, so that he went against God; he also maddened and corrupted the mind, so that he doubted God's will. From this follows a disobedient hand that goes against God's commandment to break the apple; then also a disobedient mouth and teeth that go against God. In sum, unbelief or doubt in God and His word is followed by 'all evil. For what can be worse than disobeying God and obeying the devil?
(23) Such cunning and wickedness of Satan is followed by all heretics, who, under a pretense of goodness, tear God and His word out of people's eyes, and present them with a new God, who is nowhere. For when one looks at their word, they seem as if there is nothing more holy, nothing more devout. They testify with God that they seek the benefit and happiness of the church with all their heart; no one curses those who preach false doctrine more than they do; they confess and let themselves be heard seriously, as if they desire with the utmost diligence to spread God's name and glory far and wide. And what can one say? They do not want to be regarded or held as heretics or teachers of the devil, and yet they do nothing else but suppress the right doctrine and obscure God's knowledge.
(24) For this reason the case is soon over; for careless people let themselves be led away by the word into dangerous disputations, and after they are not satisfied with the word, they ask how and why this or that happens? Just as Eve, as soon as she hears the devil put the word in doubt, is lost, so also when we doubt whether God wanted us miserable and damned sinners to be saved by Christ, it is easy for us to be deceived and put on fool's caps, and persuade ourselves as if we had to be saved by works.
So the devil can soon paint a new god, so that people do not even notice it. For he also gives a word,
but not such as is given by God, namely that one should preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ, but such that one acquires forgiveness of sins when one becomes a monk etc. and prays, fasts and sings a lot etc. So when God's word is changed or falsified, new gods come, as Moses says in his song, which our fathers did not honor, Deut. 32, 17.
(26) Such snares of the devil are to be known, and are good. For if Satan taught that one should kill, commit fornication, disobey one's parents, anyone could soon see that he smelled something forbidden by God; therefore one could easily beware of him. But here, when he puts forward another word, disputes God's will, and speaks before the name of God, of the church, of the people of God, one cannot so easily beware of him, but it requires a sharp judgment of the spirit that we can distinguish between the right and the new God; just as Christ makes a distinction when the devil wants to persuade him to say that the stones should become bread, that he should let himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. For there he wanted to persuade him that he should undertake and dare something without God's word. But he could not deceive Christ as he deceived Eve. For Christ keeps the word and does not allow himself to be led away from the right God to a wrong and new one. For unbelief and doubt, by which one departs from the word, is actually a source and origin of all sins; but because the world is full of this, it remains in idolatry, denies the truth of God and makes itself a new god.
27 Thus a monk is an idolater, because he makes these thoughts as if this were the way to eternal life, if he keeps to the rule of Francis or Dominic. But this means to paint a new god in front of oneself and to practice idolatry. For the right true God says that this is the way to eternal life, if one believes in Christ. Therefore, when such faith is gone, unbelief and idolatry follow, which gives the glory of God to works. Thus are
All Anabaptists, Sacramentarians and Papists are idolaters, not because they worship stones or wood, but because they abandon the Word and worship their own thoughts.
Therefore this text belongs to us, so that we learn from it that this temptation of the devil was the beginning of the original sin, when he led Eve away from the word of God to idolatry, against the first, second and third commandment. For that is where these words actually belong: "Yes, should God have said?" This is a terrible audacity of the devil, that he makes a new God and denies the first true and eternal God with such great defiance and presumption. As if he wanted to say: "You are truly fools, if you believe that God has spoken in this way; for God is by no means one who asks whether you eat or not. For since it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how can you accuse God of such envy that He would not have you be wise?
29. But this unspeakable wickedness shows sufficiently, although Moses only remembers the serpent and not the devil, that Satan was the author and master of this deal. And the fathers and prophets, although these things are complicated, have seen through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that this was not the serpent's doing, but that in this serpent was the spirit that was hostile to innocent nature, of which Christ clearly says in the Gospel John 8:44 that he did not exist in truth and was a death-slayer and liar. For clearer and clearer to indicate that this would be God's and man's enemy, has actually belonged to the gospel.
(30) But the fathers saw this very thing, and thus concluded: It is certain that at that time all creatures were still in perfect obedience, according to this saying: "God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. But here such a spirit arises from the serpent, which is God's enemy and falsifies and perverts God's word, so that he
put the innocent man into sin and death in such a way. Therefore, it is clear and evident that there was something evil in the serpent, which actually wants to be called God's adversary, a lying spirit and murderer, in whom is the greatest and most horrible presumption, that he is not ashamed to falsify God's commandment and to drive man to idolatry, because he knew well that through this idolatry the whole human race would have to die and perish. These are truly terrible things, if we want to consider them rightly: we also see that among the papists and other cults and sects there are examples of the same presumption, so that they falsify God's word and deceive the people.
Eve at first resists the tempter finely, for she is still governed and guided by the spirit that shines before her; as I have shown above that man is perfect and created in the image of God; but in the end she does not endure, but allows herself to be persuaded.
But on what day the angel fell is uncertain, whether it happened on the second or third day of creation. This alone can be proven from the gospel, that Satan fell from heaven; as Christ testified in Luc. 10:18 that he saw him fall. But whether at that time the heavens were completed or still raw and unfinished, I do not know. So this disputation does not really belong in this place. But this really belongs here, that we see that the greatest wickedness and the most horrible presumption are here with each other, that this spirit is not afraid to doubt the commandment of the divine majesty, especially because he knows what a great misery of the whole human race would follow.
33) Secondly, one should also consider the special cunning of the devil, which can be seen first of all in the fact that he touches the highest powers of man, and assaults and challenges the image of God, namely the will, which was right against God. "The serpent's cunning," says the text, "was greater than that of any beast of the field." But this cunning is above all the natural cunning of the serpent, in that it is with man.
The serpent was not able to do this by natural power because it was subjected to the rule of man. The serpent was not able to do this by natural power, because it was subject to the dominion of man. But the spirit that speaks from the serpent is so cunning that it can overcome man and persuade him to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Therefore, a creature of God that is good does not speak in this way, but the most severe enemy of God and of man, who is also a creature of God, is not created so evil by God, "for he does not exist in truth," as Christ says John 8:44. This follows clearly from the Gospel and this text.
34. then this cunning is also noticed by the fact that Satan attacks the human nature where it is weakest, namely the female person, Eve, and not the man, Adam. For even though they were both created equally righteous, Adam was above Eve. For just as in the whole of nature the male power surpasses the female, so also in perfect nature the male was somewhat above the female. That is why the devil must not make a move on Adam, because he sees that he is a little more excellent: for he is afraid that his pretensions might fail him. And I also believe that if the devil had first tempted and attacked Adam, Adam would have won. He would rather have trampled the serpent under his feet and said: "Be quiet, the Lord has commanded us to do something else. That is why Satan tries Eve as the weaker part and tries her strength, because he sees that she relies on her husband in such a way that she does not think she can sin.
(35) And here again we have a reminder of divine permission that the devil is forbidden and allowed to attack the animals, as he attacks the serpent here. For there is no doubt about it, it will have been a real serpent, in which Satan dwelt and held conversations with Eve. But that one disputes about it, whether it looked like a human face, is ridiculous. For the serpent was a beautiful little animal before the fall, otherwise Eve would not have talked to it so surely. After the fall
Interpretation of Genesis 3:1.
But not only has the beauty of the serpent changed; for God threatens it that it should crawl on the earth afterward, since it had previously walked straight like a rooster; item, that it should eat the ground and the earth, since it had eaten better fruits before; But this security is also lost, which Eve had at first; because we flee from the serpents, they flee from us again, and nature has come to such harm because of sin; just as we have lost the honor of walking naked, the sincere will and pure mind. I also believe that the serpent has lost much of his cunning, which Moses praises here as a special gift of the Creator. As the serpent is therefore evil among the animals, I believe that it was first beautiful, good, blessed and lovely, so that not only man but also the other animals loved it and enjoyed it. That is why she was very useful to Satan for this purpose, so that he spoke through her and brought Eve down.
These are my thoughts about the natural serpent, which Satan wanted to abuse, which before was the most beautiful little animal without a poisonous tail and ugly scales. For all these things came upon them afterward for sin's sake; as we see that in Moses there is a law that the beasts which had done a death stroke should be killed again, for no other cause than that the devil sinned by them and killed man. So also the serpent was punished as a testimony of this fall and devilish wickedness.
37 As far as grammar is concerned, the Latin text gives the little word aphki by cur, why. However, although it is not almost inconsistent with the opinion as it stands here, it is not actually given enough. For the first and greatest challenge is when one disputes about God's counsel, why God has made this or that so? But to my mind, the little word cur, how or why, does not have so much to do with it, but rather lies in the word elohim, God; for this makes the challenge stronger. As if the serpent wanted to say: You are truly very mad and foolish, if you think that God did not want you to be
eat from this tree, who has made you masters of all the trees in paradise, yes, he has created them for your sake. How can he, who has granted you everything, not grant you the fruit of this tree, which is so sweet and lovely? For this is Satan's way of taking away the word and the knowledge of God from them, so that they may think to themselves and conclude: "This is not God's will, God did not command this. For the fact that he has this opinion also confirms what follows, since the serpent says: "You will not die. For the devil is all interested in how he may deceive us from the word and faith, that is, from the right and true God, to a false one.
(38) And all devils follow this way; as Arius said: Do you think that Christ is God, who himself clearly says that the Father is greater than I? So also the sacramentarians: Do you think that the bread is the body of Christ and the wine his blood? Christ never thought of such uncomfortable and inconsistent things. When people dwell on such thoughts, they gradually get away from the Word and fall into error.
39 Since this is the main part of all contestation, that one doubts whether God has said this, the emphasis is to be placed more on the word "God" than on the word "should," which gives a weak understanding. Therefore, I like it better to read, "Should God have said that you should not eat from all kinds of trees in the garden?" For Satan does not go there primarily to ask the reason why God said this, but rather so that Eve may be persuaded and believe that God simply did not say it, so that he may take away her word and win it away. For he sees that reason is easily deceived when God and the Word are lost under God's name and Word. To this end, it is also spoken in the most insidious way, that it speaks in general and sums up all the trees. As if to say: You have a general dominion over all animals, should God, who has given you such a general dominion over all animals, not also give you a general dominion over all animals?
have all the trees? Rather, you should consider that just as God has subjected the whole earth and all animals to you, so he has also given you the use of all the things that grow from the earth.
(40) This is certainly a great temptation, so that she will be able to make Eve's heart think that God is not against herself. For if he had given them a general power over all creatures at the same time, he had also given them power over all trees. And so it follows that the commandment not to eat from the tree is not God's commandment, or at least not to be understood as if God did not want one to eat from the tree.
So Satan puts two temptations before you, so that he may seek one thing. The first is, God has not said this, therefore you may well eat from this tree. The other is: God has given you everything, therefore you have everything and this one tree is not forbidden to you etc. Now both temptations are to lead Eve away from the word and faith. For this commandment given to them by God not to eat of this tree proves that Adam with his descendants, even if nature had remained perfect, would have lived in faith until he was taken up from this temporal life into the spiritual. For where the word is, there is also necessarily faith. Now here is a word that he should not eat of this tree, otherwise he shall die. Therefore Adam and Eve had to believe that this tree was contrary and hostile to life; therefore faith is also included with this commandment.
We, who have passed from sin to righteousness, and from the mortal body to the immortal, also live by faith. But we have another word, which Adam did not have in the perfect nature, who was simply to be transferred from the natural life to the spiritual. That is why I said above that this tree in the middle of paradise would have been like a church, in which this word of God would have been preached, that the other trees were all wholesome and healthy, but this one alone was harmful.
Therefore, they would have learned to be obedient to God and perform this service, that they would not eat of it, because God would have forbidden it.
(43) Thus, the uncorrupted, perfect nature, which had righteous knowledge of God, nevertheless had a word or commandment that was above Adam's understanding and had to be believed. But this commandment was given to the innocent nature so that Adam should have a sign or way to serve God, to give thanks to God, and to instruct his children. But because the devil sees this and knows that it is above man's reason, he tempts Eve to first consider whether or not this is God's commandment and will. This is the origin and main cause of all temptation, when reason, without the Word, dares to judge God and His Word by itself.
44 For God intended that man should have cause for obedience and outward worship by this commandment; item, that this tree should be a sign by which man proved that he was obedient to God; but because Satan makes it a matter of dispute whether God commanded this, he deals with it by turning man away from such obedience and causing him to sin.
(45) This would have been the only blessedness if Eve had stood and stood on God's commandment, and had not allowed herself to be seduced by other disputations, whether God had commanded it; and after God had created all things for the sake of man, whether this one tree was created to corrupt man? It seems as if it were wisdom to inquire into these things thoroughly and actually: but as soon as the heart begins to indulge in such disputations, it is done. Now let us hear what Eve answers.
V. 2. 3. Then said the woman unto the serpent, We eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, Eat not of it, neither touch it, lest ye die.
In the beginning it is still well: Eve makes a difference between the other trees and this one and tells God's commandment. But there she sinks down, because she experiences the punishment.
counts. For she does not tell it thus, as she had threatened God. For he had said plainly and directly: "Whichever day ye shall eat thereof, ye shall surely die. She does not take this statement, which is to be understood as absolute and bad, as absolute, but adds, "that we may not die at all. This is a noticeable falsification that should not be ignored. For it indicates that Eve wavered from faith to unbelief, since as the promise demands faith, so does the threat. Therefore she should have concluded: If I eat of it, then I will surely die. This faith, however, Satan assaults and attacks so deceitfully that Eve adds the little word "perhaps". For the devil had already persuaded her to think that God would not be so cruel and merciless that he would kill her for the sake of an apple; thus her heart was already drenched with the devil's poison.
Our text is badly given here because it reads as if Eve were telling her words, when she is telling God's words and adds the word "perhaps" from her own to God's words. That is why the deceitful spirit has so soon found out and started its deceit. For he primarily sought how he could lead Eve away from the word and faith, which he has now brought so far that Eve falsifies God's word, that is, he had turned her away from God's will, as St. Paul says, so that she followed him, 1 Tim. 5, 15. But this is the beginning of the fall, to turn away from God and turn to the devil, that is, not to remain steadfast in the word and faith. When the devil sees such a good beginning, he presses on with all his might and opposes it as if it were a wall that hangs and has fallen down, so that he oppresses Eve.
V. 4. 5 Then the serpent said to the woman: Ye shall not surely die: but God knoweth that in the day ye eat thereof, then shall your eyes be opened, and ye shall be as God, and shall know what is good and what is evil.
This is Satan's rhetoric, so that he may even oppress the poor female, after
when he sees that she has turned away from God and has decided to listen to another preacher. Since he says above (v. 1): "Should God have said", he obviously did not deny the word, but sees how he questioningly made Eve doubt it. Since he now sees that he has brought it to this, he starts here with the highest presumption to deny God's word altogether, to punish God with lies and to accuse Him of being unkind and cruel. He is not satisfied with the fact that Eve had added to the word of God and said: "perhaps," but now turns the doubt into a denial: "you will not die.
(49) Now we see here how terrible a thing it is when the devil begins to tempt a man, for one fall always follows another, and a seemingly small sin causes a grave and great fall. A great sin was that Eve turned away from God and His word and listened to the devil; but much greater is the one that happens here, that Eve falls in with the devil, who punishes God with lies and, as it were, strikes her with fists; therefore, she is no longer turned away from God alone, as in the first temptation, but starts here with the devil to despise God, to deny God's word, and believes the father of lies against God's word.
(50) This shall be a trial unto us, that we may learn what a man is. For if this has happened in nature, while it was still righteous and perfect, what will happen to us? And the examples are before our eyes: for we see that many of those who praised God with us in the beginning of the gospel, and gave thanks that he had restored his word to the day, have not only fallen away again, but are also against us.
51 Thus, when the Arians began to fall away from the faith of the divinity of the Son of God, they soon fell into such nonsense that they became enemies of the true church and persecuted it most cruelly. We have also seen similar examples in the case of the Anabaptists. For after first being led by the devil to the doubtful word "perhaps," they then turn the "perhaps" into a "not" and become "not" from "perhaps.
Apostates from God are also God's persecutors. For they follow their father, the devil, who, after he fell from heaven for the sake of sin, Luc. 10, 18, has become the most fierce enemy of Christ and His Church. Such examples are not lacking today. For we have no greater enemies than those who have fallen away from our teachings. For from this sin follows this frightening speech, Ps. 14, 1.: "The foolish say in their heart, There is no God." For they are not satisfied with the fact that they are fallen, that they have turned away from God, but they also have to dispute God and His word.
(52) For this reason we must have this rule in particular, which we should look to and take refuge in throughout life, as if it were a sure anchor: that when we are certain that what we have and confess is the word of God, we fall into it with simple faith, and do not arrogantly dispute about it. For all presumptuous disputations entail a certain fall.
(53) The word of the Lord Christ concerning the Lord's Supper is clear: He says of the bread, "This is my body, which is given for you," and of the cup, "This is the cup of the New Testament in my blood. Now, when the sacrament enthusiasts abandon the faith of these words and dispute how this can be, they gradually end up denying and disputing the word of Christ outright, as happens here to Eve.
So also, since Arius thinks of God as the simplest unity, he first states this proposition: Perhaps Christ is not God. After that, he puts together so many inconvenient and unfounded things that he defends them completely and concludes with certainty that Christ is not God. And there is nothing wrong with the fact that John says John 1:1: "The Word was God"; nor with the fact that Christ is called baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Matth. 28:19; nor with the fact that we are commanded by God to believe in Christ, to worship Him and to call upon Him, Acts. 13, 39. Ps. 97, 7. But how could we do anything more imprudent and presumptuous than that
we presume to judge God and His Word, who are to be judged by Him?
Therefore, one should simply stand and insist that when we hear God say something, we believe it and do not argue about it, but rather take our reason captive to the obedience of Christ. Here belongs the saying of Isaiah 7:9: "If ye believe not, ye abide not." For even if we were to go astray and tear one another apart, we would never understand how it is that the eye sees, the ear hears, or what the soul is; and yet we carry all these things about us, and use them every day and every moment in all our works. How then shall we understand the things which are above all our five senses in the word alone? As it is written in the word alone, that in the supper the bread is the body, and the wine the blood of Christ. Therefore we should believe it; we should not understand it, nor can we.
As for this text of Moses, these were very simple and simple words: "From the tree in the middle of Paradise you shall not eat," but reason did not understand the cause of these words, why God wanted it that way. Therefore, as soon as Eve inquisitively investigates this and is not satisfied with the fact that God had commanded and said it, she is lost. And this temptation is a true example of all temptations, by which the devil challenges the word and faith. For before Eve gets the air to eat the apple, she has already lost the word that God had said to Adam. If she had kept this word, the honor towards God and the faith would have remained in her; since, on the other hand, after having lost the word, she finds in herself God's contempt and obedience towards the devil.
This is useful for us to know, that we learn to stand firm in temptation, as Peter says in 1 Epist 5:9, and to resist the tempter, so that we hold fast to the word and close our ears and do not let in what is not according to the word. For such suffering and temptation of Eve is our doctrine, that we should not turn away from the word and the temptation.
Let faith lead away and the like have to suffer.
58. that follows in the text: "God knows that your eyes will be opened," or "will become open," has two meanings; for one can either understand it as if the serpent had said it so that Eve should become angry with God, as he would be unfavorable to her, since he had forbidden her such a useful fruit; or, as I understand it, that he praises God with it, so that he might the more easily captivate and seduce Eve. As if she wanted to say: God is truly not such that he wants you to live in darkness, without knowledge of good and evil; but he is kind, does not begrudge you anything that can help and be of some use to you, and will also be well pleased that you are like him.
When the devil praises our Lord God, he certainly has a shear knife in his hand and intends to cut off the throat of man. For this case is very easy and soon to happen, if to that, to which the desire otherwise carries you, also the pretext of the word and will of God comes. This causes me to understand that Satan has said this, rather to persuade Eve that God is kind, than that he wants to judge her into thinking that God is envious. But I leave everyone free to follow whatever opinion he wants. The sum of it is that he tries to lead Eve away from the word and to persuade her to do what was forbidden in the word. For he is a bitter enemy of the word, because he knows that in its obedience stands all our salvation.
(60) But here it is not asked uselessly: How is it that Eve does not yet feel her sin? For even though she had not yet eaten the apple, she had already sinned against the word and faith, since she had turned from words to lies, from faith to unbelief, from God to the devil, from worship to idolatry. Since this is the main part of the sin (for breaking off the apple was not the main part), how is it that death did not follow soon after? how is it that she does not feel her sin? yes, how is it.
that after eating the apple, she does not feel death before persuading Adam to eat it too?
(61) The schools dispute various things about the highest and lowest part of reason, and say that Adam is the upper part and Eve the lower. But let us leave such unlearned and scholastic things and follow the right understanding, which is this.
First of all, God is long-suffering, which is why He does not let the punishment follow the sins soon; otherwise we would soon perish in the sins. Such long-suffering of God is abused by the devil, who finds it useful and convenient for his purposes that man does not feel the sin soon. Therefore it happens that because the punishment stops, Satan makes the heart full of certainty that man not only does not notice that he has sinned, but also takes pleasure and joy in his sin. As we see in the case of the pope and the papists, if they could see with their eyes and hearts the torment and torture of consciences, yes, of people's damnation, to which they bring them through false teaching, they would undoubtedly change their teaching. But now the devil makes a noise before their eyes and blinds them, as it were, so that they cannot see God's wrath and their judgment; therefore, in the midst of their most grievous sins, they live with all security, joy and rejoicing, flaunting and throbbing as if it were well done.
This is exactly what happened to Eve. Through unbelief she had fallen away from the word in lies, therefore she was already dead before God's eyes. But because Satan still holds and restrains her heart and eyes, she not only does not see nor feel death, but gradually gains more and more desire for the apple and tickles herself in this idolatry and sin. If she had not left the word, it would have been an abomination in front of her to look at the apple in such a way that she would have wanted to eat it; now, however, she deals with this sin with pleasure. Since she would have run away before, if she had seen another reaching for this tree, she cannot wait now, because the sin is breaking out of the heart and the other limbs.
pervades. Therefore, this lust and desire to eat the apple is like a plague arising from sin, which is finally followed by death, although Eve, because she sins, does not feel it, as follows.
Second part.
From the miserable fall of man.
V. 6: And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat of, and pleasant to look upon, that it was a good tree, because it made one wise: and she took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave it also unto her husband, and he did eat.
Notice here how sin gradually creeps and is poured into all the senses. For what does Eve fail to do that serves to make sin greater and more serious, after she believes the devil against God's commandment that she will not die, but rather that her eyes will be opened so that she may know what is good and what is evil? Her eyes cannot see enough, and she considers it a small thing that she has God's knowledge and right reason, but also wants to know what is evil. This is actually the devil's natural poison, that she wants to be wiser than she is commanded by God. For this wisdom is death, and obviously hostile and contrary to the wisdom of God in the Law, which makes it consider as righteousness that which is sin, and as the highest wisdom that which is the utmost and greatest foolishness.
For this reason there is once again an emphasis in what the Latin text has left out, namely, that the tree has pleased her and moved her to pleasure, that it has made her wise. For in all temptations and temptations the devil is wont to bring it about that the farther a man gets from the word, the more learned and wise he lets himself think. Thus the sacramentarians consider it great wisdom to say that bread is bread, that wine is wine, and not the body and blood of Christ. And so Arius thinks that he has achieved great fame and something special, because he has found from some sayings that he draws on his error evil and unjust.
that the Word was before the creatures, but was still created. Thus the Anabaptists also consider this to be great wisdom, so that they can mouth off and blabber impudently that the water cannot touch the spirit or the soul, but only affects the bare skin, and therefore baptism does nothing for the forgiveness of sins. As we know, then, that such swarm spirits have baptized without water in some places, and yet boast that they have never disagreed with us in doctrine. And it is true, there is a wisdom, but a devilish wisdom, which is contrary to the word and wisdom of God. This is the devil's own temptation, that he makes us as wise against and above the word of God as he himself was in heaven; and this temptation of wisdom far surpasses all other gross temptations with fornication, avarice, pride and the like.
66 The word hiskil means to be wise, therefore maskil means a wise man and a prudent man; as Psalm 14:2: "God looks from heaven on the children of men, to see if anyone is wise and asks about God"; and Isa. 52:13: "My servant" jaskil, "will do wisely": but it actually means wisdom, by which God is known. Eve had this light or knowledge in her heart before, like a bright sun, because she had God's word, then also the knowledge of all creatures. But because she was not satisfied with this wisdom, she wanted to climb higher and recognize God differently than He had revealed Himself in His word. This is the terrible case, by which it loses the right wisdom and falls into the highest darkness and blindness.
But as the devil did then, so he does now. God tells us not to believe the gospel of His Son and thus be saved. This is the true wisdom, as Christ also says John 17:3: "This is life eternal, that they may know thee, that thou alone art true God, and that thou hast sent Jesus Christ. A monk despises this wisdom and turns to another thing, puts on a cap and girds himself with a rope, vows chastity etc., and thinks that he thus wants to please God and become blessed. This is the high wisdom
The reason for this is that the devil and original sin have planted in this wretched nature the vainness of worship and religion, so that people abandon the word that God has given for salvation and fall into their own thoughts. Just as Eve, who was created in the right wisdom, lusted after another wisdom apart from and against God's word, and for the sake of this wisdom sinned so manifold with all her senses, with sight, thoughts, desires and actions.
(68) Therefore, do not listen to those who still argue that it is a cruelty that this whole nature has been miserably corrupted and put to death and other miseries for the sake of an apple. For when Epicureans hear this, they laugh it off as a fable. But whoever reads and contemplates the text diligently can easily see that the bite of the apple is not the cause, but the sin, that Eve sins against both tables and against God and his word itself; and sins in such a way that she throws God's word far away from her and becomes completely the devil's disciple.
(69) This can in no way be disparaged or diminished, for the causes of this punishment that we have upon us are great and important, namely, such an abominable sin and abominable turning away from God. This is what we should look at and think about, and not only speculate on the broken and eaten apple. For those who only look at this work and not at the sin from which this work followed, they cannot avoid it, they must accuse God of cruelty, that he has struck the whole human race with such great punishments for the sake of such a small sin. Therefore, they become God's enemies and despair, or, in an Epicurean way, they ridicule it as a fable.
70. Therefore, one should look at the word. But this is the word of God. As great as the word is, so great is the sin that is committed against it. This sin oppresses and brings under itself the whole of nature: for how could nature here be obliged and overcome that sin which is so great and exuberant that it cannot be measured? Therefore, if one is to overcome this sin, he who brings with him abundant righteousness, namely God's Son, belongs to it.
And this also shows Satan's cunning. For with the sweetness of the apple he does not first make Eve sin, but attacks the highest virtue of man, namely the faith in the word. Therefore, unbelief and turning away from God is the root and origin of all sins, just as faith is the origin and root of righteousness. And Satan first leads away from faith to unbelief. Since he had brought it about with Eve that she no longer believed the commandment given by God, he then easily persuaded her to touch the tree, break the apple from it and eat it; for the outward disobedience follows the sin that is committed in the heart. And so the nature of sin is to be considered according to its proper greatness and gravity, in which we are all lost. Now follows how sin is revealed with its punishment.
V. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they saw that they were naked; and they wove fig leaves together, and made them aprons.
(72) I have said above that all the temptations of the devil are of the same kind and form, namely, that he first tempts (faith) and leads away from the word, and then sins follow in the anchor table. For this we learn ourselves, that it is so. What follows belongs to the description of sin, what form it takes when it is in the works, and what it is like when it is done and over. Because it is in the works, it is not felt; otherwise, if we thought about the misery and harm it brings, we would think about it and turn away from it. But because the harm is hidden, after we have come from faith, we continue safely and take hold of the work: as Eve took hold of the apple, after she was persuaded against God's word that she would not die, but her eyes would be opened and she would become wiser. When she has heard the devil's poison, she reaches out her hand to the forbidden fruit and eats it with her mouth, thus sinning through all the senses of body and soul; and yet she still feels the sin.
She does not, because she eats the apple with pleasure and makes her husband do the same.
This is the same in all temptations and sins, both of lust and of anger and avarice. For since sin is in the works, it is not felt, nor does it frighten or bite, but presents itself in a friendly, sweet and merry manner. And it is no wonder that it is the same with us, who are poisoned by the poison of original sin from the sole of our feet to the crown of our heads, because it happened while nature was still perfect. That is why we see how godless people, then also the swarming spirits, who either never had the faith or fell away from it again, are as sure as they are so vehement and obdurate to defend their error, so that they also do not refuse to die. For this is the characteristic of sin, that it cannot be felt for a time; but when it is afterwards revealed by the law, it oppresses man too much.
74. But before this revelation, because sin is in the works, Eve's eyes are not open, otherwise she would have died before touching the apple. But because the eyes are not yet open and unbelief remains, the desire for the forbidden apple also remains, as does the desire to gain wisdom, which was also forbidden; and so poor Eve is swallowed up body and soul in unbelief, so that she cannot see that she is doing evil. Such examples of certainty are found in church history. Arius thought he was now in heaven because he had found how to mock and reject the sayings of the divinity of Christ.
But this security does not last forever. For as soon as Eve's eyes are opened, she remembers the law which she had forgotten before, by which she was forbidden to eat from this tree. And before she knew this law, she was without sin; as Paul also says Rom. 7, 9: "I lived without law"; not that the law did not exist, but that he did not feel the threat and punishment of the law: therefore he made himself believe that he was without sin. For "through the law comes knowledge of sin," Rom. 3:20,
and when the law comes to life again, sin also comes to life at the same time. Moses indicates this in this story of Adam and Eve, because he says: "Their eyes were opened"; as if he wanted to say: The devil had not only blocked Eve's eyes, but also her heart through the unbelief and disobedience of all members, inwardly and outwardly. But since the sin is accomplished, he is pleased to have their eyes opened and to see what they have done. For here the devil seeks another hold, that those who have sinned should die in despair and perish.
76 Therefore this history is like an interpretation of Paul's saying, when he says Rom. 3, 20: "By the law comes knowledge of sin. For the law does nothing but reveal and bring to life the sin that lies dead or asleep before the knowledge of the law; as it is said to Cain Gen. 4:7: "If you are not righteous, sin will lie dormant until it is revealed." For because it is in works, it rests; but when the law comes, the eyes are opened, that man may remember what God has commanded, and what punishment He has ordained and decreed for the transgressors. When this happens, so that the law reigns in the conscience and becomes powerful, then the right knowledge of sins is there. Which a human heart cannot bear, where God does not particularly comfort. That Moses therefore says that after they have eaten the apple they see that they are naked, is not in vain; but if one thinks about it diligently, one finds that in it the original righteousness is beautifully and wonderfully described.
77 The scholastics argue that the righteousness in which Adam was created was not in Adam's nature, but was like an ornament or gift, so that man was first adorned; as when one puts a wreath on a beautiful virgin, which wreath is not a part of the virgin's nature, but is something special and separate from nature, which comes from the outside and can be taken away again without violating nature. Therefore
They speak of man and devils, saying that although they have lost the righteousness in which they were created, they have kept their natural powers pure, just as they were created in the first place. But from such teaching, because it belittles original sin, one should beware as from a poison.
78. and rather we are to take it for granted that righteousness was not a gift that came from outside and was something distinct from the nature of man, but was truly natural; that is, that Adam by nature loved God, believed God, knew God etc. For these things were as natural in Adam as it is natural for the eyes to see the light. But if the eye is wounded and corrupted, you can rightly say that the nature is wounded and corrupted: so after man has fallen from his natural righteousness into sin, you can rightly and truly say that the natural powers are not intact, but are corrupted by sin. For as it is the nature of the eye to see, so it was also natural in Adam's reason and will that he knew God, trusted God, and feared Him.
Who would be so foolish and nonsensical as to say that the natural powers are still intact, because we know and feel that everything is lost? And yet, in schools, nothing has been more common than this opinion. But how much more awkward and uncomfortable it is to say this about the devils, of whom Christ says in John 8:44 that they do not exist in truth, and of whom we ourselves know that they are the greatest enemies of Christ and His Church! Now these intact natural gifts of God, knowledge, faith, love, fear, were in man, which the devil has so corrupted through sin that just as leprosy infects the whole body, so the will and reason are so injured and weakened through sin that he not only no longer loves God, but also flees Him and is an enemy of Him, and would rather be and live without God.
80. that is why here is finely described the
Corruption that came instead of the initial righteousness and honor. For that they did not see that they were naked was an honor. But how can nature be more profaned and corrupted than that being naked and bare, which before was an honor, now becomes the highest disgrace? For the sake of healthy and pure eyes no one is ashamed, but unshaped, dull and evil eyes are not considered an honor, but one is ashamed of them. Thus, in the state of innocence, going naked was the greatest honor: but now, after the fall, Adam and Eve, seeing that they are naked, are ashamed and seek aprons to cover the shame. But how much greater is this shame, that the will is mad, the understanding corrupted, and the whole reason defiled, counterfeited, and even transformed? Is this what intact natural powers mean?
But see what follows from this, if one concludes that the initial righteousness was not in the nature, but was a superfluous gift, added to the nature of man. Does it not follow that, just as you say that righteousness was not of the nature and character of man, so sin, which followed, is not an essential and natural thing in man? Will it not also follow that Christ was sent to be the Savior in vain, because original righteousness is taken from our nature as an alien added thing, and the natural powers still feast intact? What more shameful thing can a theologian say (against himself and his own office and profession) than when he teaches like this?
82. Therefore, we are to flee and shun such idolatry as the true pestilence and corruption of the holy Scriptures, and rather follow the public experience that teaches us that we are conceived and born of impure seed, and from inherent impurity have ignorance of God, certainty, unbelief, hatred and enmity against God, disobedience, impatience and other abominable and grievous sins and infirmities, which are so sunk and planted in our flesh, and this poison so far veins through the flesh, body and soul,
Blood, marrow and bone, through the will, understanding and reason is so pervaded that not only can it not be taken out completely, but it is also not recognized for sin.
A pagan poet said that it is not a great shame for a young man to whore and live in fornication; but such words must be held in favor of pagan people. But it is the most shameful thing that Christians, and those who want to be experienced in the holy scriptures, incline to this opinion that mere fornication is not a sin. And monasteries and cathedrals unanimously prove it with their life and conduct. If this happens in an outward sin, what do we judge from impurity of the heart and inward inclinations, which godless people do not consider a sin?
(84) Thus, man does not understand that the honor of the naked form is lost through sin. For the fact that Adam and Eve walked naked was their highest adornment and honor before God and all creatures. But now, when we are naked, we not only flee from people's faces, but we are also ashamed of ourselves, as Moses says here of Adam and Eve. Now this shame indicates that the faith and trust in God in the heart, which they had before sin, was lost. That is why Adam would have shied away, even if he had been blind, from letting God and man see him naked, so that through disobedience the trust in God was lost.
Nevertheless, all this proves that the hereditary righteousness of man was natural. But now that it has been lost through sin, it is clear and obvious that the natural powers have not remained intact nor perfect, as the scholastics rave. For just as it was natural for man to go naked in full trust and security towards God, and thus to please God and man, so now, after sin, man feels that such nakedness of innocent nature is displeasing to God, to himself, and to all creatures; therefore he makes himself aprons and covers his body. But is this not a change of nature? Nature remains there, but
corrupted in many ways! For trust in God is lost and the heart is full of unbelief, fear and shame. So, too, in nature the members remain as God created them: but having previously let themselves be seen naked with honor, they are now covered as shameful and dishonest members because of the inward infirmity and lack that nature has lost trust in God through sin; for if we believed, we would not be ashamed.
From this corruption, which followed for sin's sake, another harm followed, namely, that Adam and Eve were not only ashamed of being naked, which before had been a special honor and adornment, but also made themselves aprons to cover those members of the body as the most shameful, which by their nature were the most honest and glorious. For what is more noble in all nature than the work of procreation? which work is not assigned by God to the eyes, nor to the mouth, which we consider to be honest members, but to this part of the body, which for sin's sake we must call shame, diligently veiling and covering it so that it may be seen by no one. Just as in innocent nature the whole work of procreation was completely holy and pure, so after sin the leprosy of fornication has attacked this part of the body. That is why those who live outside of the conjugal state feel the most wicked lust and ardor. Again, when those who are married do not control their affections and attractions and maintain love and unity among themselves with all diligence and care, they also have many temptations.
(87) Do we not yet want to grasp and feel what an ugly and disgusting thing sin is, since fornication cannot be controlled by any counsel or remedy, not even by the state of marriage, which is ordained by God for the remedy of the weak nature? For the majority of those who are married live in adultery and sing this common song about their wives: "I cannot be with you, nor can I be without you. And does this disgusting disgrace arise from the very-
the most honest and glorious member of our body, which I call the most glorious member for the sake of the work of childbearing, which is the most glorious work because it sustains the human race. Thus sin turns the most honorable and useful members into the most shameful members.
For this would not have been in Adam and Eve, but because they were full of faith against God, they would have, as often as they wanted to beget children, come together with all the heat and stimulation that is now in the sinful and leprous flesh, and would have done it with wonder at God's order, with obedience and the highest discipline and modesty, as we now come together to hear God's word and serve God. We have lost all this through sin, so that we can only understand it negatively and not positively. For from the damage that we have upon us, we must deduce what good we have lost. We still owe God thanks for the rest that remains from this work of procreation, however frail and corrupt it may be, and which we need for the church and the police.
89. but it is to be wondered at, that in all the languages of the scribes there is not a single point that shows that the naked or naked form, which was previously most honest, has become disgraceful and shameful through sin. And does Moses alone teach us this, who shows in the shortest terms that man, having fallen from faith, has become disgraced, and that the honor of the natural members has become the highest shame and disgrace, so that they had to cover Adam and Eve with aprons.
(90) The word chagorah is in the plural here, and actually means a girdle: so that you understand that the fig leaves have covered the loins and hips everywhere, and the limbs, which were the most honest before the sin, have been covered and hidden as shameful limbs, and are not worthy to be seen. O what a terrible fall from grace! For thus their eyes are opened, that they regard that which was in itself the most honest, as the most shameful.
This is still the case today. When the law comes, we first see what we have done, and there seems to be such a shame in the manifest sin that hearts are frightened by it and cannot bear the sight of it. That is why they try to cover it up. So no one wants to be considered a thief, an adulterer, a murderer, if he is the same. And so the heretics do not recognize their error, but defend it most stubbornly and want to be regarded as members and teachers of the right church. And in order to obtain this, they make the apron of fig leaves wide enough, that is, they try everything that wants to serve them to color and disguise their error. This kind of sin can also be seen in children, who, although they are often taken in by the deed, nevertheless seek it out and use all kinds of means to persuade another's parents and excuse themselves. This is what people are wont to do: even if they have been found guilty of wrongdoing and have been seized, they still try to find an excuse and do not want to be disgraced, but to be considered pious and righteous. And this poison is also put into nature by sin and is permeated, as this text testifies.
Third part.
Of the judgment that God holds over our first parents after the fall, and of the account that He demands of them.
V. 8. And they heard the voice of God the Lord walking in the garden, when the day was cool. And Adam hid himself and his wife from the presence of God the Lord under the trees of the garden.
This is now the third harm of the original sin, which proves that the hereditary righteousness is lost. And here Lyra again confuses himself with the interpretations of the rabbis, some of whom interpret the coolness of the day from the place between noon and evening. Some understand it from the time that this happened around the evening, when the heat decreases and the wind begins to blow. My
Opinion is this, that one understands the coolness simply for the wind: that after the conscience had been convinced by the law, Adam and Eve were frightened if they heard a rustling leaf. As is seen in fearful people, when they hear a beam creak, they are afraid the whole house will collapse; when they hear a mouse, they are afraid the devil is present and wants to strangle it. For by nature we are all so frightened that we are afraid even where it is safe and without all danger.
Thus Adam and Eve, after their consciences have been convinced by the Law and they have lost trust in God and now feel shame before God and before themselves, are full of fear and terror, so that when they hear a breeze or the wind, they soon think that God is there to punish sin and hide. I also think that Moses called the voice of the Lord walking in the garden the wind or the whispering of the wind, which went before the Lord appeared to them; as Christ says of the wind in the Gospel John 3:8, "You hear its whispering." For when they have heard the rustling of the leaves, buffeted by the wind, they have thought, Behold, the Lord is here, and will exact punishment from us.
94 For this reason, when Moses says soon after: "when the day was cool," I think that he wants to explain himself with this. As if he wanted to say: There was a voice like the air of the day, so that the emphasis lies in the word: "of the day"; for he does not say about the wind in the night, no doubt because it makes the terror, which followed the sin, great. As if to say, "They were so fearful that even in broad daylight they were afraid of the rustling of a leaf: what would have happened if God had come in darkness and at night? for there the terror is much greater. For as the day is fearful, so the night is fearful and terrible. Therefore, the fear and terror that Adam and Eve felt in broad daylight is also a clear and certain sign that they had completely fallen away from the faith.
95 And this. I hold, be the right understanding of this text; for it agrees with the threat in Moses, since he says 3 Mos. 26, 36. of the punishments, which are to follow the sins, that the sinners should be afraid of a rustling leaf and flee from it, as from a sword. For when a man's conscience is struck and terrified, he is so oppressed that not only can he do nothing, but he cannot even think; as it is said in a battle, where the soldiers cannot move a hand for fear and terror, but let the enemy choke them. Such a horrible punishment follows sin that the conscience is horrified by the rustling of a leaf, even that it cannot stand the most beautiful creature, the light of day, by which we are naturally refreshed.
Therefore, you see here once again the greatness of original sin, which is born with us and implanted in us through the sin of our first parents. This also makes it all the more difficult for us to understand what the first righteousness was. For in the first place there was in man an excellent faith and trust in God, so that he would not have been afraid even if he had seen heaven fall.
How joyfully and confidently does Eve talk to the serpent? We do not talk like that to a little dog or a little chicken that we have brought up and accustomed. That is why they did not seek holes to hide in before the sin, but stood upright and praised God with upright faces; but now a rustling leaf frightens them. O how is this such a heavy. Falling from the highest security, trust and desire against God, they fall into such a terrible fear that man flees from God's face more than from the devil, if he saw him present! For Adam and Eve do not flee from the devil, but from God, their Creator, they flee: they considered him more serious and more to be feared than the devil, whom they consider better; for they do not flee from him. Therefore, this fear is actually a fleeing, hatred and enmity before God.
98. here you shall also see how the sin
and becomes greater and greater until it becomes exuberant and exceedingly sinful, as St. Paul uses to call it Rom. 7, 13. For first man falls from faith into unbelief and disobedience, but unbelief is followed by fear, hatred and fleeing from God, which finally bring despair and impenitence. For where would a heart take refuge when it is so afraid and frightened of God's presence? Should it flee to the devil? This is neither useful nor advisable, and yet it happens. For this history shows that God created man and made him master of everything, and yet he flees from God and is nothing to which he is more hostile and can tolerate more evil. For otherwise he would not turn away from Him, would not flee from Him, nor be terrified by His voice when He comes, not at night, nor with thunder and lightning as on Mount Sinai, but in broad and bright daylight, when the air is fine and the leaves of the trees stir and move a little. Therefore, there is nothing weaker and more miserable than a conscience that is shocked by the law of God and begins to see and feel its sin. This is what makes Adam and Eve flee from their God and Creator and take refuge in a very bad protection, namely to cover themselves and hide among the trees.
(99) Therefore it is to be seen here once again how right the will and the reason are after the fall into sin. For that the will is wrong and unjust is proved by this deed, that they let themselves be tempted by that which is forbidden by God, and so let themselves be tempted, as those who disobey God, but obey the devil. So now we cannot doubt that reason is corrupt and counterfeit, because we see the plot by which Adam and Eve think to be safe. For is this not the highest folly: first, to subject themselves to impossible things, as they do because they flee, from which they cannot flee nor be hidden; second, to make their escape in such a foolish way that they think they are safe under the trees, since they have no iron wall?
no great mountains nor crevasses were able to protect?
When faith and confidence in God are gone, then follows terrible fear in the will; and when the most beautiful gifts, as wisdom and understanding, are gone, then follows the most extreme foolishness, that one submits to the most foolish ways of impossible things. Original sin is such a deep pity, and yet this is hardly a prelude; for the matter has not yet come to a conclusion and judgment, which is much more horrible and terrible.
V. 9. And God the Lord called Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
This is the description of the judgment. For after Adam is frightened by the consciousness of his sin, he flees from God, and feels that not only paradise, but the whole world is becoming too narrow for him, so that he does not dare to remain safe anywhere. Therefore, in such fear he shows his foolishness that he thinks of fleeing from sin, since he had already fled too far from God. For sin is in itself a true renunciation of God; therefore it would not have been necessary for him to make another escape. But this is the way and nature of sin, that the farther a man has gone from God, the farther he desires to go from Him. And he who has once become a fugitive and an apostate remains a fugitive forever. That is why it is said of the punishment of hell that this will be the greatest fear and torment, that the wicked will always want to flee, and yet feel that they cannot escape; just as here Adam also always wants to flee, since he is already seized and caught.
(102) When Moses says that God called Adam, it is to be understood that He called him to court and demanded it. But here the question is about the person through whom God called Adam. And it is not foolishly taught to say that God arranged all this through the ministry of angels and that an angel represented God and spoke to Adam in the person of God, as the authorities do when they speak or do something, not in their person,
but speaks or does in God's stead; therefore the Scriptures also call the judgments that are done and held by men God's judgment. For this reason, I am not displeased that Adam was called by an angel and told that it was impossible for him to escape.
103. But it is to be noted in particular that Moses says that Adam was called when on the sixth day alone we received the word of God not to eat of the forbidden tree. Just as he alone had listened to God's commandment, so he alone was summoned to court. Eve, however, because she also sinned and fell away from God, must also listen to it and be subject to the punishment.
These words: "Where are you?" are words of the law, directed and spoken by God into the conscience. For although everything is discovered and known before God, Hebr. 4, 13, He still speaks according to our mind, because He sees that we want to avoid (and flee from) His sight. Therefore, that he says, "Where art thou?" is as much as if he said, "Thinkest thou that I see thee not? For he wants Adam to see and feel that he who is hidden is not hidden from God, and he who flees from God has not fled from him.
For it is the nature of every sin that we foolishly try to flee from the wrath of God, which we cannot escape. And this is the highest foolishness, that we rather think of fleeing from God than of returning to Him, and yet the sinful nature cannot come back to God. How do you think Adam must have felt when he heard this voice? For behold, there he stands before the judgment seat of God and is called to punishment, having foolishly hoped that he could hide and conceal himself.
V. 10. And he said: I heard thy voice in the husbandman, and was afraid, because I am naked; therefore I hid myself.
106. as Adam had foolishly made his escape, so he also gives foolishly here.
Answer. After the sin he lacks all wisdom and advice. For he wants to teach God that he is naked, who created him naked. Thus he disgraces himself, betrays and condemns himself with his own mouth. He also says that he heard the voice of the Lord and was afraid, since he had heard the voice of the Lord before when he was forbidden to eat from the tree. Why then was he not afraid and hid himself? Why did he stand there joyful and erect, seeing and hearing God before his eyes? But here he is terrified of a rustling leaf. Thus it follows that he is no longer the Adam he was, but has been completely confused and has become another man, that he wants to protect and answer for himself with a false cause. For how can it be true that the voice is the cause of fear, when he was not afraid of God before, but had heard him with pleasure?
Therefore, let us learn that such perverse foolishness always follows sin, namely, that sinners accuse themselves in order to excuse themselves and betray themselves in order to protect themselves, especially from God. As here Adam wants to hide his sin and adorn himself by saying that he does not flee because he has sinned, but because he has heard the voice of the Lord; he is frightened of this, and is ashamed because he is naked. But the poor man does not consider that he did not have this fear before, nor was he ashamed that he was naked. For since God had created him thus, why should he be ashamed of the nakedness that God had created? Before, he had walked naked in Paradise before God and all creatures, knew that God loved him, and had his pleasure in God; but now he is ashamed that he is naked, flees from God, and hides himself. All of these are certain arguments and proofs for Adam to "condemn himself and" reveal his sin.
(108) Thus the wicked will also condemn themselves at the last judgment, for the darkness and the hiddenness of men's hearts will be revealed, and all men's sin and iniquity will be revealed.
can be read, as it were, in open books. God knows that Adam has sinned and is guilty of death, but asks him to prove by his own testimony that he has sinned, because he flees from God, which is sin, as it is virtue and obedience to flee to God. Adam gives such a testimony about himself, although he hopes to conceal the sin with a lie, because he says that the cause of his fleeing is the voice of the Lord and that he is naked.
Therefore, let us learn that this is the nature of sin. Where God does not help soon and calls the sinner again, he flees from God without end and cessation; and because he wants to excuse sin with lies, he piles one on top of the other until he comes to blasphemy and despair. Thus one sin always drags on another and makes an eternal fall, until the sinner at last blames and accuses God rather than recognizes his sin. Adam should have said: Lord, I have sinned. But he does not do that, but accuses God of sin, and says nothing else but: Lord, you have sinned; for I would have remained holy in paradise after the bite of the apple, if you had been satisfied. For these words indicate that Adam's heart and thoughts had finally stood thus: I would not have fled if your voice had not frightened me.
Thus, even though man is accused of sin by God, he does not acknowledge his sin, but rather accuses God and throws the blame away from himself onto his Creator; so that sin accumulates and increases in countless ways, where God does not come to the rescue with grace and mercy. And yet Adam considers this ungodly and highest foolishness to be the greatest wisdom. For he is so terrified and hasty that he does not know what he is saying or doing, and in wanting to excuse himself, he accuses himself most vehemently and increases sin infinitely.
We should not think that this happened to Adam alone, but we all do this, and our nature does not allow us to do anything else when sin is committed.
is. For we all rather accuse God, because we recognize ourselves as sinners before God, as Adam does here, and says that the cause that he fled was the voice of the Lord, thus considers God to be the author of his flight. This sin is now followed by another. For he who does not spare God, his Creator, how should he spare the creature? Therefore he reproaches God for his nakedness, as if he had created a shameful thing. For through sin he is so deceived that he makes the honor of the naked form a dishonor and blasphemy of God, his Creator.
V. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou not eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat thereof?
Here Adam's conscience is touched and struck by a real sting of the Law. As if God wanted to say: You know that you are naked, and that is why you have hidden yourself: I have created you naked, why do you consider it a disgrace? Therefore the fact that you are naked has not disgraced you, nor has my voice frightened you; but your own conscience accuses you of eating from the forbidden tree.
Here Adam was in the midst of death and hell because of God's insistence on him, for he had to confess that being naked was not evil nor a disgrace because it was created by God. But again he recognized that this was evil, that he had an evil conscience from going naked, which he had previously boasted of as a special adornment, and that he was afraid of the voice of the Lord, which he had previously heard with the greatest pleasure. To this sense of sin that God sees in Adam belong these words: If you have a conscience and fear, you must have eaten from the forbidden tree. For no commandment was given thee, that thou shouldest not kill, nor commit adultery, but that thou shouldest not eat of the fruit of this tree: because then thou art afraid, thou thyself showest that thou hast sinned against the commandment.
114. so adam has just received that from the
216 L. i, ""-"s. Interpretation of Genesis 3, II. 12. W. i, s-rs-32". 217
He heard the word of the Lord, which he thought. For so he must have thought: I have eaten the apple, but will not confess that I am fleeing because of it, but will conceal the sin, and say that I shrink from his voice, and that I am naked. But because he says these things, he must accuse himself, and hears a conscience within him that reproves him and accuses his sin; in addition to this, God Himself accuses his sin publicly and with dry and clear words, and yet Adam cannot yet be brought to a simple acknowledgment of sin. For thus he says:
V. 12: The woman whom you sent to me gave me of the tree, and I ate.
Behold, how finely the wickedness and nature of sin is depicted here, that Adam can by no means be brought to confess his sin, but denies it and excuses himself as long as he can see a hope and appearance of excuse. Now this is not a miracle, that he first hopes to conceal the sin and rather accuses God, because he recognizes that he has sinned; but this is a miracle, that he persists in the excuse, even after his conscience has convinced him and he has heard from God Himself that he has sinned. For he does not say: Lord, I have sinned, forgive me my sin, be merciful (for the nature of sin is that it does not allow the heart to flee to God, but rather drives it to flee from God), but blames the woman.
(116) As in the schools of the rhetors it is taught that one should either deny the evil of which he is accused, or defend that it has been done justly; so here Adam does both. First, he denies the sin and says that the voice of the Lord terrifies him and not his sin. But since he is thus convicted that he cannot deny the deed, he wants to justly defend it and says: "If you had not given me the woman, I would not have eaten from the tree. Thus he once again attributes to God that he has sinned, and accuses him of his sin.
117: There is no sin in the act of sinning.
once one has departed from the word. First he sinned with disobedience and unbelief; now he sins more with shame and blasphemy, saying, "I did not hear the serpent, I did not lust after the tree when I looked at it, I never stretched out my hand to break the forbidden fruit of it, but the woman you gave me did all these things. In sum, Adam does not want to recognize that he has sinned, but wants to be pure and innocent.
(118) Therefore this piece also belongs to the description of sin and what is the nature of sin. For if the promise of forgiveness of sins or faith is not there, a sinner cannot do otherwise. If God had said, "Adam, you have sinned, but I will forgive your sin," Adam would have cursed sin to the highest degree and would have recognized it humbly and without falsehood. But because the hope of forgiveness of sins is not yet there, he feels and sees nothing but death, because he has transgressed the commandment. But because nature flees from this and shuns it, Adam cannot be brought to the knowledge of sin, but tries in every way how he can roll away the guilt from himself. Thus every sinner is hostile to his punishment. But because he is an enemy of punishment, he also hates both God's justice and God Himself, and subordinates himself with all his might to persuade God and all men that he suffers innocently.
So Adam reduces his sin here, that he did not obey the serpent, nor did he break off the apple. "The woman," he says, "whom you gave me, gave me of this tree." In the same way, people who fall into despair almost feel sin, which, when they come to the realization of their sins, they either confess to themselves or blaspheme God. As one knows from Job that he Cap. 3, 3. 11. says: "Cursed be the day in which I was born. Why did I not die from the womb?" etc. For they blame God that they have sinned, become impatient and grumble against God that He created them to death and damnation. For a man
cannot do otherwise if the hope of forgiveness and the promise of grace are not there. For because death is offensive to nature, it causes despair and blasphemy.
120 Therefore these words, "The woman whom you gave me," etc., are full of displeasure and anger against God, as if to say, "You have laid this burden on me; if you had given the woman a garden of her own, and had not burdened me to dwell with her, I would have remained without sin; but that I have now sinned is your fault, who gave me the woman.
Thus Adam is presented here as an example to all who sin and despair in sins. For they can do nothing but accuse God and excuse themselves, since they see that God is almighty and could have prevented such sins. This is a terrible thing about sin, when hearts are not lifted up and comforted in due time with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. And this is what the law does when it is alone, without the gospel and the knowledge of grace, namely, that it finally leads to despair and impenitence.
V. 13. Then God the Lord said to the woman: Why have you done this? The woman said, "The serpent deceived me so that I ate.
Now follows the example of Eve, who, having been corrupted by sin, is no better than Adam, who wanted to be considered innocent and blamed God for having given him the woman. Here Eve also wants to excuse herself, and blames the serpent, which was also God's creature, and confesses that she ate the apple, but the serpent, she says, which you created and let walk around in paradise, has deceived me. Doesn't that mean to accuse its creator and to reject the guilt from itself?
. Thus we see that sin is and does one thing everywhere, namely, that it does not want to be sin nor to be punished for sin, but it wants to be righteousness. If it cannot obtain this, it blames God, who punishes sin,
and wants to make him a liar, and thus a human sin becomes completely a devilish sin and unbelief is turned into blasphemy, disobedience into dishonor of the Creator. Therefore, I again call it a devilish and not human sin that the devil is God's eternal enemy, accusing and condemning God eternally, justifying himself above; it is also impossible for him to say from his heart: Lord, I have sinned, forgive me. Otherwise he would still have to hope, as one reads in the history of Saint Martin, that he would come to the forgiveness of sins. But this is impossible, because he does not recognize his sin and blasphemes God, that he acts unjustly and cruelly with the creatures without cause.
Thus we see that Adam and Eve fell and sank into sin in such a way that they could not go any deeper. For from unbelief follows the disobedience of all members and powers in man; after disobedience follows the excuse and defense of sins; after defense follows that man accuses and condemns God. And this is the last degree of sins, namely blaspheming God and attributing to Him that the sin comes from Him. Sin, when it thus rises, cannot get any higher unless hearts are directed and raised by trusting in God's mercy.
That is why it was a terrible state of the church under the papacy. For nothing was seen or heard that could have comforted and sustained a heart in its anguish and distress, without the history of the life of Christ being taught once a year, from which one could see a little where one should seek forgiveness of sins. The rest all pointed from the promise of forgiveness of sins to one's own righteousness. That is why we have seen that in many monasteries people went through their whole life in melancholy and despair and finally died of sorrow and fear in the struggle of conscience. The other brothers (because the doctrine was unknown) did nothing but stand by and idolatrously call upon the saints for help. Thus the poor people had to live without any hope, help and
Rath, in the highest fear of conscience, die there. But wasn't that a terrible thing?
(126) Therefore, if the whole papacy and all the monasteries could be overthrown with one finger, it should be done for the sake of this one cause, that the consciences are so miserably afflicted and tortured. For there is nothing more dreadful than to be in sins and yet not have, nor know, forgiveness of sins, or comfort and promise of grace. Now the pope has been a cause that the forgiveness of sins has completely gone out of sight. For in the church neither the doctrine nor the service was kept pure or righteous. But if some have been saved, they have been saved by the mere text of the Passion, to which they have adhered with faith, contrary to the will of the priest. For when people were in agony and in their last moments, they were referred to the intercession of Mary and the saints, and they were commonly taught that the mother Mary showed her breasts to the son, but the son showed his wounds to the father, and thus man would be saved through the intercession not of the son, but of the mother Mary.
For this reason I have most diligently exhorted you to give great respect to the doctrine of the gospel. For what happened to Adam and Eve, when sin was present but the knowledge of the promise and grace was not, we see here. And this is also shown by Satan's damnation, for since he does not have the promise of grace, he cannot refrain from sins, enmity and blasphemy. And in this case Adam is somewhat better off, for he is required before the court to come to the knowledge of his sin, and after he has been frightened by his sin, to be raised up again and comforted by the promise of forgiveness of sins. A beautiful text now follows, in which the sermon of the Lord Christ is also included.
(128) As the end and discharge of this transaction indicates God's greatest goodness and mercy toward man, for He turns him back to the forgiveness of sins.
and eternal life through the future seed: so also the beginning of this trade, if we look at it rightly, is much easier and more friendly than Adam deserved. For here is not the cruel figure and gesture that was there on Mount Sinai, where the sound of the trumpets was mixed with thunder and lightning: but here God comes by a very quiet desire to indicate that the punishment will be fatherly. He does not strike and push Adam away from Himself for the sake of sin, but calls him and draws him back from sin. Still Adam, before his sin and great terror, does not understand and see such fatherly concern, nor does he consider that God acts much differently with the serpent. For he does not call the serpent, nor does he ask him about the sin he has committed, so that he might come to repentance, but condemns him immediately.
This shows that Christ, our Savior, also at that time interposed himself as a mediator between God and man. For it is a sign of the highest grace that God, after Adam has sinned, does not remain silent, but speaks, and that with many words, so that he may sufficiently show and expose his fatherly heart. But with the serpent everything is much different. Therefore, although the promise of Christ is not yet here, it can still be seen and felt from such counsel and thoughts of God.
(130) And so Moses has thus far recounted the judgment that God held after the fall of our first parents, when he summoned them before his judgment seat, asked them questions, and heard their answer. The poor people wanted to escape this judgment, but could not, but because they want to excuse themselves, they accuse and betray themselves twice. The woman admits and confesses what has happened, but Adam dares to conceal it, even though, as is the nature of sin, he does not consider it a sin. For if grace does not come to this, it is impossible for a man to do otherwise than to excuse sin and to consider it righteousness. Therefore, God must quarrel with us for and for, so that He may bring us to confess that we are sinners and let Him be righteous, as the 51st Psalm v. 6. says about the confession of sins.
calls. But if the law alone has power and bites, then the frightened conscience cannot make such a confession of itself; as the example of Adam and Eve proves here.
131: And from this text the holy fathers, who read this book much more diligently and faithfully than we do, have drawn many sayings, such as Proverbs 28:1: "The wicked fleeeth, and no man chaseth him"; Isaiah 57:20: "The wicked are like an impetuous sea"; and Cap. 48:22: "The wicked, saith the Lord, have no peace"; item Cap. 49:23: "He that believeth shall not be put to shame"; and again, Prov. 28:1: "The righteous is as a young lion"; item Habak. 2, 4: "The righteous will live by his faith." Christ also took a wonderful saying from this, John 3:20: "He who does evil hates the light." For this is the way of sin, that it would gladly remain in secret and darkness, and not come into the light; as Adam covered himself with aprons, and fled under the trees. .
132 But here we must also say something of St. Paul's saying 1 Tim. 2, 13. 14: "Adam was made first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived; but the woman was deceived, and brought in transgression." Almost all of them understand this saying to mean that Adam was not deceived, but sinned knowingly, and did not let the devil persuade him, as Eve did, but did not want to grieve his lust and joy, that is, his wife, and thus loved the woman more than God. They want to confirm this opinion as credible by pretending that the serpent was more afraid of the man than of the Lord and therefore came to the woman, who, even if she was holy, as a weaker creature, was more comfortable to accept the persuasion, and therefore Eve alone was seduced by the serpent, but Adam was not. For the same was entangled both by himself and by the woman. Through the woman, that she gave him the apple; through himself, that after he saw that the woman did not die as soon as she ate the apple, he thought that this punishment, which the Lord had threatened, would not follow.
steals if he has once or twice been able to steal without danger, but if he always saw the executioner and the gallows before him, he would not steal.
(133) I do not punish this opinion, for it shows that both are true, namely, that Adam is deceived and also not deceived. For he was not deceived by the serpent, as Eve was; but he was deceived and beguiled by the woman, and also by himself, that he thought the punishment would not follow, which the Lord had said should follow.
Fourth Part.
From the punishment indicated to the serpent and the devil, acting at the same time from the first promise.
V. 14 Then God the Lord said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed before all cattle and before all the animals of the field. You shall walk on your belly and eat earth all your life.
(134) After the judgment has been held and the matter has been diligently determined, the execution of the judgment follows, as it is usually called, in which each one is rewarded according to his work, and yet not one like the other, as we shall hear. But this text is to be considered carefully, first of all because in the whole of Moses such a long speech in the person of God is not found; then also for this reason that here no law is said about what either the serpent or the man should do, but are absolutely vain promises and threats, what good and evil should befall both parts.
135 And it should be especially noted that no law was laid down for Adam after his sin, even though the perfect nature had a law. But it was for this reason that God saw that the nature, now corrupt, could not only not be advised by any law, but would also be so torn apart and devastated that it would
not even one syllable of a law could suffer. Therefore, he no longer weighs down nature, which was already burdened with sin, with the law, but heals sin as a wound with a healing plaster, that is, with the promise of Christ.
But for this he needs a sharp and hot branding iron, which the devil had attached and caused. For just as healthy plasters bite into the flesh when they heal, so the healing promise is given to Adam in such a way that a threat is also made to heal the lust of the flesh with it. But I call lust not only the filthy tickling of the flesh, but the filthiness and defilement of the spirit; as Paul calls it, that we are by nature inclined to idolatry, unbelief, security, and other abominable sins against the first and other tables. In order that such folly and filthiness of nature might be warded off, a sharp rod and branding iron were needed.
However, I wish that I could deal with this text according to its dignity, because it contains and summarizes everything that is glorious and special in the entire holy scripture. And in the first part of this text it is a figure. For God speaks with the serpent, although it is certain that he does not understand such words. For they are not such words as he used in creation and such as we had above, when he said to the animals Gen. 1, 22: "Grow and multiply"; item, v. 11, when he said to the earth that it should let grow herbs and grass and trees; but they are words so that God threatens and promises and does not speak to an unreasonable but understanding nature.
For this reason he calls the serpent, but deals especially with Satan, who had power over the serpent and deceived man through it. Just as the animals and trees perished in the flood because of the sin of man, who is lord over the creatures, and the common people are often also punished because of the sin of the rulers, so it also happened to the serpent that he was punished because of the sin of the devil, who had such great power over him.
The one who abused the serpent has been punished, and yet this punishment of the serpent means and is understood to mean Satan's punishment.
This obscurity has perhaps been the cause that this text, which should be most familiar to everyone, has not been diligently and properly interpreted by anyone that I know of. And I often wonder at myself what the fathers and bishops have done that they have not pondered and explained such a text with more diligence, when the regiment of the church was on their necks and they always had to fight against the heretics. I say nothing of our bishops, for they have nothing more to them than the name, and would more cheaply be called devastators of the church than guards and overseers. But of the old ones I speak, who have distinguished themselves by a holy life and doctrine; among them there is none who would have interpreted this text as it is well worth, and perhaps the business and affairs that are commonly incumbent upon regiments may have prevented them from doing so.
The new teachers are known to have falsified this text and made the word "the same" into a feminine, "the same", and with obvious wickedness and sin have interpreted this text as referring to the Virgin Mary. To Lyra I think it too good; for he has been, as it seems, a pious man, but has thought too much of the fathers. Therefore he lets Augustine lead him out of a very foolish allegory, which Gregorius also follows in his Moralibus, namely, that by the woman one should understand the lowest reason, but by her seed its good effect, but by the seed of the devil his evil input. That now God speaks: "I will put enmity between you and her seed," this is to be understood of the battle, so that the devil, by means of evil input, attacks the lower reason, which is signified by the woman, so that if she consents to lust, the devil may also overthrow the man through her, which is the upper reason; and this is for the serpent to bite the heel; for Satan does not attack in any other way than from below, in that he pretends to the senses what arouses lust.
Now, dear reader, in such a bright light, what need is there of such dark and clumsy allegories? Let reason be divided into two parts, the upper and the lower; but would it not be more convenient to call the lower reason the one that is capable of governing the household and the police, and not such a beastly lust; and the upper reason the one by which we contemplate the things that are outside the police and the household government and belong to the religion that is indicated in the word of God, in which we neither create nor work anything, but only contemplate and learn? But if one were to speak of it in this way, what would it do to this text? Is it not true that such talk obscures and suppresses the right understanding of the text, and gives in its place a false one that is not only useless but also harmful? For what can reason do or see in matters of religion?
According to this, it is also clumsy and inconvenient to make Eve the lower part of reason, when it is known that Eve was neither less nor inferior in any part, that is, neither in body nor soul, than her husband, Adam. From such a clumsy interpretation came afterwards the pagan and godless disputations about free will; item, that reason is inclined to the best, until the whole theology has become a philosophy and sophistical gibberish.
Therefore, let us abandon such harmful and clumsy foolishness and go a new way, regardless of the fact that the footsteps of the previous teachers lead us to a different path. For we have a predecessor, the Holy Spirit, who through Moses does not pretend to be clumsy allegories, but teaches us about the most important things that have happened between God, your man who is a sinner, and the devil, the author of sin.
First, let us consider that this serpent was a true natural serpent, but the devil attacked and possessed it and spoke through it. Secondly, we also want to believe that the serpent, as an unreasonable animal, did not understand the words that God spoke to it.
but the devil understood it, whom God meant most here. So we simply stick to history and the literal understanding, which agrees with the text; and thus, according to this opinion, the serpent remains a serpent, but possessed by the devil; the woman remains a woman; Adam remains Adam; as this proves, which follows. For the lower and upper reason beget not Cain and Abel, but Adam and Eve, that is, the first men, who through sin fell into death and were put under Satan's kingdom.
The fact that God says to the serpent, "Cursed be thou before all cattle, and before all beasts of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go," is not according to the opinion, which Augustine and others after him follow, that by the belly is understood tutelage; but because Satan has misused the serpent for sin, the serpent must also bear a part of the punishment, and is thus cursed, that one is most hostile to it among all beasts. But it was not like that from the beginning, but through the curse something happens to its nature, namely that it is now more horrible and more hated than all other animals, since it was the most lovely little animal before the curse. For we experience this in ourselves, that we are naturally afraid of snakes and that snakes also flee us by their nature, so that the snake must also take a part of the curse and punishment upon itself.
But this is not said about the serpent alone, but God has to do with Satan, who is hidden in the serpent. The last judgment is pronounced upon him here, and he must stand before God's judgment here. For God speaks much differently to the serpent than to Adam and Eve, to whom he calls kindly: "Where are you? Who told you that you are naked?" These words indicate the love of God towards the whole human race, that even after sin man is sought and called, and God speaks to him and hears him, which is a certain sign of grace. For though these are the words and judgments of the law that God speaks to Adam, they do not bring him into the world.
But they carry with them a clear hope that they will not be eternally damned.
But God deals much less kindly with the serpent and Satan. He does not call him, nor does he say: Why have you done this? but rather pronounces a serious and harsh judgment: "Because you have done this" etc. As if to say: You Satan had already sinned before and were condemned when you fell from heaven; now you have sinned more, abused the serpent and thereby also put man into sin. Therefore, the serpent must first bear this punishment, because having previously shared in the blessings that the other animals have, he must now be under the curse alone.
From this it clearly follows that the serpent before the sin was the most beautiful little animal and was dear and pleasant to man; as now are deer, sheep, little dogs etc., item, that it went straight and erect. But that she now crawls on the earth does not come from her nature, but from the curse; as from this curse it is also customary that a woman conceives with special pleasure and shame, gives birth with pain, and must bring up the child with toil and labor. For if childbearing and child rearing were without the curse, it would be the most honest work, childbearing would be easy, and child rearing would be the greatest pleasure. Therefore, sin has not only disguised the whole nature in the most disgraceful way, but has also corrupted and maddened it. Nevertheless, our sophists may say that the natural powers remained intact and unchanged after sin, even in the devils.
If the serpent, which the devil had misused for sin, has to bear this punishment for the sake of sin, that it had been the most beautiful before, and now it suddenly has to drag an adder's tail before Adam's eyes, crawl on the earth and become horrible: what do we doubt about the punishment of man, who himself has sinned and even drunk the poison of sin, which was poured into him by the devil? As the Egyptians saw, 2 Mos. 7, 10, not without great astonishment, that after Moses threw his rod there
In the same way, in paradise, after the word of the curse was spoken, the serpent was transformed from the most beautiful and lovely form into the most horrible and shameful.
150 To this curse also belongs that he says: "You shall eat dust", which the allegorists interpret in such a way that Satan would take in the people, who love earthly things, and seduce them. But I have said that God speaks here with the serpent and curses it. There are other animals that eat dust and earth: but the serpent eats dust, so that since it had previously had the advantage over other animals with cunning, beautiful form and loveliness, also with the food that it had in common with man, it must now bear this punishment, that its food and nourishment is also changed.
It is an honor that sheep, cows and other animals eat herbs and fruits of the trees, and after that produce that which also serves man for his food, as butter, milk, meat etc. This honor the snake had in common with the other animals at first; but now it is cast out from this society and from the common table and life for the sake of sin, that it may not eat even the smallest herb, must not eat apples, pears, nuts, which the mice eat, but raw earth and dust. These are not my words, but Moses', and teach that the serpent's nature has been completely transformed and changed.
Although I have said, and it is true, that God speaks to the serpent in this way, and that these words primarily concern Satan, as will follow more clearly, I do not like it that one wants to draw what is appropriate to the serpent's nature to Satan through allegories, as Augustine does, whom Lyra follows. For the serpent and Satan sin with each other at the same time; although Satan primarily plays the game, the serpent serves as a tool for it. For this reason, God also unites them, since he punishes them; although the serpent only receives a bodily punishment, Satan receives a bodily punishment.
But another judgment has been appointed for the one who started the game, of which Christ says John 16:11: "The prince of this world has been judged. This judgment will follow.
It is true that they say that the devil no longer walks erect, as does the serpent, but has lost his former form and gesture, but it actually belongs to the meaning of this text. But that I have said that the serpent, before it was cursed, walked straight, is not to be understood as if it walked erect, like a man, but like a deer or peacock. This is now the judgment of the serpent. What follows actually belongs to Satan, and these words depict his judgment and sentence much better than the foolish and uncomfortable allegories. They also give and confirm this certain comfort that the devil has been brought to the point where he cannot rage and do harm as freely as he would like; he would do so even if this seed of the woman were not on his neck.
V. 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
These are the words that actually concern Satan's judgment and punishment, and in which the Christians are given a strong consolation. The previous words, as I said, belong to history and concern the serpent, which, because Satan abused it for sin, bears the punishment of being excluded from the community and society of other animals and no longer has food in common with them, but must feed itself in another way.
And even though this could be interpreted secretly, it does not really belong here, nor does it hold the sting when it has come to a fight. For as far as this matter is concerned, the devil has been cast out of heaven and condemned for sin's sake, and no longer walks straight like an ox or a deer, but creeps or slithers, that is, he may not touch the ground.
He does not continue to attack Christians with public force, but uses deceit and secretly pursues them; which the Christians understand when they look at the word, and see how abominable he is, and have an abhorrence of him. And this gesture, that he thus crawls and does not walk upright, shows that his tyranny is broken and that he cannot harm the church as much as he would like. This can be said according to the secret interpretation: but it does not explain Moses' opinion, therefore it does not really belong here.
156) Therefore, if we want to speak of Satan, we should follow other testimonies of the Scriptures, which are real, certain and firm, such as John 8:44: "The devil is a murderer and the father of lies"; item: "He is not established in the truth"; item 1 Peter 5:8: "He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"; item John 16:11: "The prince of this world is judged.
157 And in the end, who would not see that this testimony actually concerns Satan, because the Son of God is set against him, so that he cannot subject himself to anything by public authority, as if he had a core that fights against him. Therefore, the church is half safe and at peace with this protection, and not only can Satan not touch the church with public force, but his tyranny and eager will to do harm is also broken in others, otherwise he would not let a tree grow up, he would prevent, even strangle and dampen everything that grows on earth, and would not only prevent in a moment that no man, but also that no cattle nor animal would be born and remain healthy. Such a will and intention to harm shows sufficiently that he cannot rage and take hold of himself with public authority, but what he does, he does with cunning and deceit.
158] It should also be noted that this is not said by God for the sake of the devil, for God does not consider him worthy of condemnation, but it is enough that his own conscience condemns him: but for the sake of Adam and Eve it is done.
232 L 1, 240-^2. interpretation of I Moses 3, 15. w. i. Zis-ni. 233
says that those who hear Satan's judgment should be comforted because they see that God is hostile and contrary to his nature, because he has caused man such harm and sorrow. For here, in the midst of the wrath that sin and disobedience have aroused, God's grace and mercy begin to shine forth, and in the midst of the most severe threat, the Father's heart breaks forth, who is not so angry as to reject the Son for sin's sake, but he shows help, yes, he promises victory against the enemy who has deceived and overcome human nature.
For Satan and man are not judged in the same way, even though man fell into sin through Satan. God also does not combine them in punishment, as he could have done by right, but separates them from each other as far as possible. For although He is angry with man for having obeyed God's enemy against His will, His wrath against Satan is much greater. For he simply condemns him and punishes him, so that Adam and Eve see and hear it, and are also refreshed by the condemnation of their enemy, and realize that their condition is better. Therefore, the first piece of comfort is that the serpent, and with him Satan, is accused and cursed for the sake of Adam and Eve.
In this the consolation, which before was darkened with dark clouds, becomes a bright sun, which rises above the clouds and shines with a lovely radiance into the frightened hearts, that Adam and Eve not only do not hear such a curse upon them, like the serpent, but that they are immediately put in the lead and in a battle against the damned enemy, and that with the hope of help, which God would do in the seed of the woman. Therefore, Adam and Eve are shown here the forgiveness of sins and that they are fully accepted to grace, as they are now absolved from guilt and redeemed from death, from hell and this terror and fear, since God's face had strangled them to death before. And if this comfort comes
God does not curse Adam and Eve like the serpent, but it happens that they are left together with the serpent in camps, so that they are not idle. Therefore, this is also for the good of man.
This is the main part of this consolation, that although this enemy fights with cunning and deceit, yet a seed shall be born that shall bruise the serpent's head; for here the final destruction of Satan's tyranny is indicated, although it cannot come off without a fierce battle, which man must fight and struggle. But behold, how unequally it happens in this battle: Man's heel is in danger, but the head remains unharmed and unconquered. Again, by the seed of the woman, not the tail nor the belly, but the head of the serpent shall be trodden down and crushed. And such victory is also given to us; as Christ Luc. 11, 22. clearly says that after the strong one has overcome, the spoil will be distributed. For a Christian by faith overcomes sin, the law and death, so that even the gates of hell cannot overwhelm him.
This first consolation, the source and origin of all mercy and all promises, the fathers and their descendants learned with all diligence. For they have seen that if they were without this promise, the human race would indeed multiply and beget like other animals, but it would be a multiplication and birth to death. Therefore, the same gift of fertility and procreation, which is given to nature by God, is increased here, even sanctified with the promise of such a procreation, by which Satan's head is to be crushed, so that not only his tyranny is to be destroyed and lifted up, but also this nature, which was ordained to death for the sake of sin, is to receive eternal life.
For Moses no longer speaks of the natural serpent, but of the devil, who is the head of death and sin; as Christ says John 8:44 that he is a murderer and the father of lies. Because
now that his power has been trampled underfoot, that is, sin and death have been abolished by Christ, what is left but that we, as the children of God, should be saved? In this way Adam and Eve understood this text, and comforted themselves against sin and despair with the hope of this atonement, which was to take place through Christ; and in the hope of this promise they will rise to eternal life on the last day.
The same shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Who would not be surprised, who would not curse the poisonous and evil counsel of Satan, that he has drawn this text, in which there is so much comfort from the Son of God, to Mary, the virgin, through clumsy interpreters? For in all Latin Bibles the pronoun is in the feminine gender: "and the same shall be trodden down." And Lyra, who was not inexperienced in the Hebrew language, is carried away by this error, as by a water that runs strong and with all its force, to an ungodly mind, that he understands this saying, regardless of the fact that the text is against it, about Mary, through whom the power of the devil was broken and destroyed, but that the Son was the means. And draws on this a saying in the Song of Songs Cap 6, 3: "Thou art terrible, as the heads of armies." Although he refers to this saying as if he had heard it from others, he commits a great sin by not refuting it. The next and new teachers all followed this and misused this very comforting and holy saying for idolatry, and yet no one opposed it or resisted it.
This happened either because of the ignorance or carelessness of the church rulers. Because they did not stand up against idolatry, the pure, righteous doctrine was lost over time and died out altogether. But now, because by God's help and grace it has been brought forth again, these shameful gluttonous bellies publicly let it be known that they do not ask much about religion, but about their sinecures and interest. And because they have the ab
If people are pious and serve godliness, they can ill suffer people to be taught rightly. But blind men do not see that the gospel is such a doctrine that whoever accepts it loses nothing but his sin and eternal death, but gains by being delivered from all idolatry and the devil's kingdom.
166 Therefore, let us thank God that we have also restored this saying completely and again; not that Mary is thereby deprived of her due honor, but that we are rid of idolatry. For when they say that Mary trampled on all the power of the devil by giving birth to Christ, cannot the same honor be due to all other women who were in one line and line before Mary, if they say the former with truth? Yes, such praise and honor will also belong in part to men and to all the ancestors of the Virgin Mary. For where she was not, she would not have been. For she was born in wedlock according to the common course of nature: if then she has trampled Satan by giving birth to Christ, this honor must be ascribed not only to her, but to all her ancestors.
The Scripture teaches us differently, and says Rom. 4, 25, that "Christ was given up for our sins and raised for our righteousness"; item Joh. 1, 29: "Behold, this is the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world. Therefore, let the Virgin Mary have this honor, that among all women God has graced and adorned her with this privilege, that she should be and remain a virgin and bear God's Son. This, however, should not be taken to mean that the honor of our salvation and blessedness should be taken away from the Son.
168. to which we are to preserve and keep with all diligence and care the right and proper understanding of the holy Scriptures and this marvelous light, which opens and shows us the causeless goodness of God, as we are taught of the enmity between the serpent and the woman, about which there is such a figure that the seed of the woman shall crush the serpent with all her might. And has
The devil understood such a threat well, therefore he still rages and rages with such hatred and enmity against human nature. But Adam and Eve were so encouraged and awakened by this promise that they wholeheartedly accepted the hope that everything they had lost through sin would be restored to them, and they saw with full and strong faith that God would take care of their salvation, because He clearly and in few words promised that the seed of the woman, which would be in the likeness of a man, would defeat and chase away this enemy. For these words are excellent, important and very powerfully set one after the other.
I will put enmity," says God, "between your seed and her seed. As if to say: "You Satan have taken hold of the woman and seduced the man, so that you may be her head and master for the sake of sin: I will pursue you again in the same way by this very means and instrument that you have used. I will take the woman and raise up from her a seed that shall bruise thy head. You have corrupted human nature and subjected it to death because of sin; but I will bring forth such a man from the same flesh, who shall trample on you again, and all your power and strength, and put you down.
So this promise and threat is very bright and light, but it is also very dark: for it leaves the devil in this suspicion, that he suspects all women who give birth, that they would give birth to this seed, when only one woman should be the mother of this given seed. But because he thus threatens in general, since he says: "her seed", or "the seed of the woman", he thereby mocks Satan, that he must fear all women.
In this way, all men are assured of their faith, that from that hour, when the promise was made, they waited for this seed and took comfort against the devil. That is why Eve, when she gave birth to her first son, hoped that she would now have the serpent. And whether this
Although she lacked hope, she knew that this seed would have to be born from her lineage one day, even if it happened when she wanted it to. Therefore, this promise, as far as the people are concerned, was at the same time very clear and also dark.
Isaiah, Cap. 7, v. 14, explained this saying and made it a little clearer when he said that a virgin should conceive. For at that time it was certain that this seed should not be born of the mixture of a man and a woman. But he adds something more, in which he implicates this prophecy, so to speak: that this clear promise remained dark and implicated until Mary gave birth, and witnesses to this birth were the angels, and after them the shepherds and wise men, until this birth was preached and proclaimed through the apostles into the whole world.
Therefore this darkness caused Satan much concern, because it is said here, "I will put enmity between you and the woman," he became hostile to all women in childbirth from that time on, until Christ was revealed, and kept them under suspicion. Again, this darkness in man increased and strengthened faith; so that although every woman easily saw that she was not the one who should bear this seed, yet they hoped and certainly concluded that it must be born of another.
The fact that God speaks of a woman in an individual way, that I call it that, is primarily so that Satan may be mocked, but the pious may be comforted and awakened to faith. Women gave birth to children until the Flood and later until Mary, but their seed could not really be called the seed of a woman, but rather the seed of a man. But that which is born of Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit and is truly Mary's seed, as evidenced by other promises God made to Abraham and David, according to which Christ was called the Son of Abraham and the Son of David.
175 This understanding was first indicated by Isaiah Cap. 7, 14, who says that a virgin shall conceive. According to this
In the New Testament this is clearly interpreted by the angel. Therefore I do not doubt that this mystery is not understood by many saints, who waited for Christ to be born of a woman into this world and redeem the human race, but did not know the ways and means of this birth, but were satisfied with this common knowledge and became blessed, even though they did not know how he was to be conceived and born. For this had to be reserved for the New Testament as a brighter light, and the first world had to be shown something dark for the sake of Satan, whom God wanted to mock and practice so that he would have all the less rest and would have to fear everything.
176. But when this promise, which had been made in general, had been a little retracted and limited, and was bound by Abraham first to a certain people, then by the patriarch Jacob to the tribe of Judah, then the devil of other peoples and families was secure and satisfied, and with great deceit and cruelty set himself against this certain line and tribe, until about the time Christ was to come he was completely impoverished, and lay there like a withered stump, from which no one could hope for either leaves or fruit; as also the scripture Isa. 11, v. 1. therefore calls it the root of Jesse, as a rotten and dead trunk.
177. God looks at such anger and resentment of the devil here, when he says about the enmity between the serpent and the woman etc. For the devil first sought out the seed of the woman with venomous and swift hatred among all the peoples of the whole world; and when the promise then came to the lineage of Abraham, we see how many ways he sought and subjected himself to hinder it; How cruelly he also meant the tribe of Judah, to which God had ultimately turned the promise, and inflicted all kinds of misery and suffering on it, until it was finally seen as if it had been turned back and cut off. For at the time when Christ was to be born, poor Mary dwelt far from Jerusalem in
a small and despised town in Nazareth, but in Jerusalem the wicked ruled and were mighty. Therefore, this tribe is likened to a withered vine. But because God cannot lie, the same withered root sprouts again and grows green.
From such cruelty, hatred and enmity against this seed of the woman the devil does not rest and does not leave yet. For as Christ lies in the cradle, he seeks him through Herod, so that he must live in Egypt among the Gentiles. After that he tries and subdues everything against him, until he, finally delivered to the Jews in the garden, has him seized and brought to the cross. Yes, now that he is already dead, his exuberant hatred and resentment cannot be sated, but still fears him as he lies in the grave, and has him guarded. Such a fierce enmity he leads against the Son of God. But because he now sees that he sits at the right hand of God and has escaped far from all his shots and blows, he lies down with all fury and tyranny against his limbs and the poor church. Such danger and all kinds of trouble from the devil are foreshadowed and prophesied in this saying, but we should be firm and strong in the faith and trust of the Son of God, who tramples Satan.
Now I come back to the text. This promise is, as we have heard, very clear and dark at the same time. For God says in general "the seed of the woman", so that he makes all women suspicious to the devil and plagues him with eternal worry and sorrow. Therefore it is a strange synecdoche. "The seed of the woman," he says. This reads as if it were said of every woman in general: and yet God speaks of only one, namely of the seed of Mary, who is a mother without the union with a man. As the first part, "I will put enmity between you and the woman," reads as if it were said in general of all women; for God wanted to make all women suspicious to Satan: again, he wanted to leave the pious a certain hope and to show that they would be assured of their salvation and redemption from all women who give birth, until
to give birth to the one who was to be. So this piece, "between her seed", speaks very individualiter (that I speak thus) of the seed, which alone was born of Mary, who was of the tribe of Judah and trusted to Joseph.
180) So this is the text that made Adam and Eve alive and brought them back to life from death, which they had lost through sin; but so that they have it more in hope than in possession. As Paul also often saith, "I die," saith he 1 Cor. 15:31:, "daily." For even if we do not want to call this life, which we have here temporally, a death, it is truly nothing else than a constant walk to death. For just as one whom pestilence has poisoned begins to die as soon as he is poisoned, so this life, after it has been poisoned by sin, cannot really be called a life for the sake of sin and punishment for sin, which is death. For immediately from the womb we begin to die.
But through baptism we are brought back to the life of hope, or rather to the hope of life, for that is the very first true life by which we live before God. And before we come to the same, we are in the midst of death, dying and rotting in the earth like other bodies, as if there were no life left anywhere. But we who believe in Christ have this hope that we will be awakened to eternal life on the last day. So Adam was also awakened by this sermon of the Lord, but not completely; for he has not yet regained the life he lost, but he has received the hope of it, since he heard that Satan's tyranny was to be trampled underfoot and destroyed.
For this reason, this saying includes redemption from the law, sin and death, and shows a clear and certain hope of resurrection and renewal in the other life after this one. For if the head of the serpent is to be trampled underfoot, then death must also be lifted up and eradicated. If then death is to be eradicated, then that by which death is earned must also be abolished, that is, sin. Now if sin is also to be
the law must also cease to exist. And not only does this happen, but at the same time the obedience that has been lost is also restored.
Since all these things are promised in and through this seed, it is clear and evident that human nature, after the fall, was not able by its own power and strength to take away sin, nor the punishment for sin, nor to escape death, nor to return to lost obedience; for this requires greater power and greater strength than men have. Therefore, the Son of God had to become a sacrifice, so that He could perform and obtain such things for us, so that He could take away sin, take away death, and bring back the lost obedience.
184 We are mighty and possess such treasures in Christ, but in hope. And so by hope Adam, Eve and all believers live and overcome until the last day. Death is terrible and an insurmountable tyrant, but God's power and authority make nothing out of what is everything, just as it makes everything out of what is nothing. For behold Adam and Eve, full of sin and death; yet, hearing the promise of the seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head, they hope the very things which we hope, that death shall be abolished, sin destroyed, and righteousness, life, peace etc. Will be restored. In this hope the first parents live and die and are truly holy and righteous also for the sake of this hope.
So we also live in this hope, and when we die, we keep this hope of life for Christ's sake, to which the word points us, because it tells us to trust and believe in the merit and good deed of the Lord Christ. For we wait in vain in this life for such perfection, that we may be wholly righteous, loving God fully and our neighbor as ourselves. We may come a little closer, but sin, which stirs in all our limbs and clings to us everywhere, either corrupts or hinders this obedience. How therefore this life of ours, because it has death before it, may well be
death: so also is righteousness covered and laden with sins.
(186) Therefore in hope we keep both life and righteousness, which are things hidden from our eyes and reason, but which shall be revealed in their time. However, our life is a life in the midst of death, and yet remains the hope of life even in the midst of death, because the Word teaches us this, means this, and promises us this; as in Psalm 68, v. 21, there is a glorious consolation: "We have a God who helps, and the Lord God who saves from death. Let us give this title to God, that he does not help in this temporal life alone; just as the devil also helps and assists those who serve him at times, as the examples of the Gentiles show: but that he is a Lord who helps from death, that is, who redeems those who are overcome by death, and brings them into eternal life. He does this, as Moses shows, by crushing the head of the serpent.
187 So now we have how Adam and Eve were brought back, not to the life they had lost, but to the hope of the same life; by which hope they escaped not the firstfruits, but the tithes of death. That is, although the flesh must die temporally, yet for the sake of the Son of God, who was promised to them to bruise the serpent's head, after the temporal death of the flesh they hope for a resurrection and eternal life; as do we. Now follows the other part of this sermon, in which God also threatens with bodily punishment, first to the woman and then also to the man.
Fifth part.
From the punishment, so is implied to the first parents.
V.16. And to the woman he said, I will cause thee much pain when thou art with child; thou shalt bring forth children with pain; and thy will shall be subject unto thy husband, and he shall be thy lord.
This is the punishment that God has inflicted upon the woman, but it is truly a merciful and happy punishment, and it is in accordance with the sentence that has been pronounced against Satan. For if it remains that the serpent's head is to be crushed, then there is certain hope of resurrection from death, and because this hope remains firm and certain, everything that is imposed on man is bearable.
This is also the reason why the holy scripture is so careful not to say anything about the punishment of the woman that is contrary to the serpent's previous judgment. It imposes a punishment on the woman, but nevertheless leaves the hope of resurrection and eternal life. But the death that she deserved by sin she puts on the other and ignoble part of man, namely on the flesh, so that the spirit may live in righteousness for the sake of faith.
(190) So woman is subject to death as far as the flesh is concerned, but as far as hope is concerned, she is free from death. For the judgment that God threatens the devil with, that his head should be crushed, remains certain. Therefore the natural life here has its cross and its death; as Paul also says in 1 Cor. 15:44 that the natural body will die, but a spiritual body will rise again. So in this natural life marriage remains, and the woman must experience the punishment that God has laid on her for sin, namely, that from the time she conceives, afterwards in childbirth, and in the whole of her life, because she bears and brings forth children, she must stand in various dangers. But all this only applies to the natural life or the flesh, and nevertheless the hope of a spiritual and eternal life remains after this.
Therefore, this is certainly a happy and kind punishment, if we want to consider it rightly. For although the punishment and burden laid upon the flesh is burdensome, yet in the same burden or . The hope of a better life is affirmed in this punishment, because Eve hears that she will not be rejected by God. In addition, she also hears that in this punishment she will not be deprived of a better life.
She sees that she retains her gender and remains a woman; she also sees that she is not divorced or separated from Adam and lives alone without her husband. She sees that she retains her gender and remains a woman; she also sees that she is not divorced or separated from Adam to live alone and without her husband; she sees that her motherly honor remains with her. Such gifts all come to the hope of eternal life and will no doubt have been very comforting to Eve. Yes, it also remains to her the greatest and righteous honor that she not only retains the blessing of fertility and remains trusting her husband, but also has a certain promise that from her shall come the seed that will crush the serpent's head.
Therefore, no doubt, even in this sad affair, which seems to be due to the punishment, Eve's heart was full of joy, and she may have comforted her Adam, saying: "It is true, I have sinned; but behold, how gracious God we have, how much he gives us sinners both temporal and spiritual gifts! Therefore we women will gladly bear this anguish, toil and labor, to bear and bear children, and to be subject to you men; for this is a fatherly wrath, because it remains that our enemy's head shall be crushed, and that after the death of our flesh we shall be raised again by our Savior and Redeemer to a new and eternal life: such great and infinite benefits far surpass all the curses and punishments laid upon us by our Father. Adam and Eve will undoubtedly have had such conversations with each other many times and will have soothed and comforted themselves with all temporal accidents and misfortunes.
Just as we should often contemplate the unspeakable treasures of the life to come, and with such thoughts make all temporal hardships and burdens of the flesh gentle and easy; as we see Paul doing 2 Cor. 4:17, 18.: "Our affliction," saith he, "is temporal and light: for it worketh for us an everlasting glory, which is above all things: who look not to the things which are seen, but to the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Now tell me if they should not bear all temporal misfortunes gently and patiently, and say that this is the wrath of a father and not of a severe judge or tyrant, who thus take hold of the hope of eternal life and believe God's promise; then also look at the temporal blessing that God has granted us this whole world, that we should use it, has given us wife, children, house and farm, also maintains and increases all this with abundant blessings. But in the serpent, on the other hand, the wrath of a severe judge can be seen, for not only will he not promise help or salvation, but he is also threatened that his head will be crushed. The devil has felt this wrath and still feels it; therefore he rages and rages before the last day with such fury and violence against the church and the Son of God.
This is indeed a threat that God will punish Eve, but in the midst of the punishment, an unspeakable mercy shines forth, which so upholds and comforts Eve that even in her misfortune she is of good cheer and joy. Now we ourselves also feel how necessary the punishment is for us to tame the flesh. For how could we be humbled if this nature were not pressed and chastened with such a burden of punishment? Therefore Eve and every woman in her profession and office must certainly bear their own cross and experience much sorrow, fear and hardship and conceive and give birth with pain.
Here is the word rab, which means greatness and multiplicity, so that one understands not only great, but also many and various sorrows and pains, which Eve would never have experienced if she had not fallen into sin. And God especially threatens conception and birth. But conception is called the same whole time in which the conceived fruit is carried in the womb and various severe impulses and diseases strike. For as soon as there is great pain, dizziness and a strange disgust for food and drink, constant and difficult vomiting, toothache, and discomfort in the stomach, from which the desire comes,
which nmn calls Kitta or Pica, if one desires such things, before which one has a shyness, if one is healthy. But if the fruit is formed in the womb and the birth is present, then follows the most miserable misery that the mother must give birth to the child with the greatest danger and almost with mortal fear and hardship.
When the pagans see this, who neither understand nor know anything about God and His works, they are so angered that they conclude that a wise man should not take a wife for the sake of such misery and suffering. For the female sex is greatly humiliated and afflicted and must bear much heavier and harsher punishment than men. For what does a man suffer in his body like a woman? But because through the marriage state the man participates to some extent in such punishments of the woman (for a pious man cannot see such misery in his wife without pain and compassion), it has come about that godless people often prefer to live in fornication rather than become married men.
But against this opinion of the wicked, pious Christians should know how to comfort themselves, and (which is the right wisdom) also hold against this accident and misfortune the benefit, which is certain and much greater in marriage. For as Pindar chastises foolish people against Hiero, that because God distributes the good in such a way that he always leaves some evil with it, they do not know how to alleviate the evil with the good that they also have; whereas the pious and wise adorn their good and cover with it the evil with which they are occupied, placing the good, as it were, in such a place that it can be seen by everyone: so it should be done here also. Let it be true that the punishment to which women are subjected for sin is great; but is it not much greater, and far surpasses all punishment and plague, that in the midst of their distress and misery they have some hope of an immortal and eternal life?
199 Secondly, the cross, sorrow and hardship is not without fruit: for it serves to humble nature.
and humiliated, which otherwise could not be tamed without the cross.
Thirdly, even in the temporal and bodily accident there remains the excellent honor of the mother and the blessing of the womb, about which even the pagans, who were a little more understanding and wiser, were astonished and greatly praised. So there remain other gifts as well, that we are all conceived, carried and nourished in our mother's womb, suckle our mother's breasts and are sustained by our mother's maintenance, care and diligence. This means to turn the good against the evil and not only to look at the evil, but also to draw pleasure from God's gifts and blessings, and to throw and cover with them the punishment, the bad, the pain and the fear. But only pious Christians know and do this; they give honor to women as the weak vessel, because they see that they also have a share in eternal life and are joint heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Then they also see that they are adorned and graced with God's blessing and motherly honor, and that we are all conceived, born, nourished and educated by them.
I myself often take great pleasure and wonder in seeing how the whole body of a woman is made and prepared to nurture and raise children. How fine it is also for little maidens when they carry children? How do mothers play and joke with fine, comfortable gestures when they nurse a crying child or put it in the cradle? Let a man do such things, and you will have to say that he stands to it like a camel to the dance; it is so bad for him, even if he has to touch the child with one finger. Not to mention the other services and maintenance that cannot be provided to children other than by their mothers. Whoever wants to look at and consider all this properly will have to recognize it as a special footprint and indication of the blessing of the Lord, by which God shows that he takes care of the female sex and lets it be loved, even if it is severely punished because of sin. And this is enough of the first part of the curse.
The other part is in witnessing. For if Eve had not sinned, she would not alone have had children without all pain and suffering.
The marriage union would have been as honest as it is now for a man to sit at table with his wife, eat with her or talk with her. In this way, the rearing of children would have been quite easy and full of pleasure and joy. These goods have now been lost through sin, and in their place have come the well-known misfortunes and evils, namely. Pain and toil and labor in childbearing, childbearing and childrearing. For just as a beautiful maiden wears a beautiful wreath of flowers on her head without difficulty, even with great pleasure and hope, so Eve, if she had not sinned, would have borne fruit in her womb without any difficulty and with all pleasure.
Now, in addition to the pain of bearing and giving birth to children, Eve is under the authority of the man, who was previously completely free and in no way inferior to the man, but was a partaker of all God's gifts. And this punishment also grew out of original sin, which a woman bears as unwillingly as the other pains and burdens laid upon the flesh. Therefore, the regiment and the rule remains with the man, to whom the woman must be obedient and subject out of God's commandment: he rules over Han and police, wars, defends his own, plows, sows, builds, plants etc. On the other hand, a woman must sit at home and be bound to the house; as Paul Tit. 2, 5. therefore calls it "domestic". And the pagans painted Venus as standing on a snail, so that just as she carries her house with her, so the woman must always be at home and wait for the domestic business, as she, deprived of the common offices and government of things that are outside and public, must remain only with the domestic offices.
But if Eve had existed in truth and innocence, not only would she not have been allowed to be under man's power and rule, but she would also have been a helpmate to the rule that is now only of men. But women are generally unhappy with this burden and impatient about it, and strive by nature for that which they have lost through sin. And if they cannot do more
they show their impatience with grumbling, since they are not able to appoint male offices, to teach and to govern: but they can bear children, nourish and raise them and are masters in this. Thus Eve is punished, but, as said above, it is a cheerful punishment, if one wants to see the hope of eternal life and motherly honor that God has left her.
V. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed be the field for thy sake, and thou shalt eat of it with sorrow all the days of thy life.
The man has sinned last, therefore also the punishment is laid on him last. But from childbearing or from pain in childbearing nothing threatens him: God. Therefore also in the man the rutting air, by the poison of the devil to the body, is without pain. But his office is burdened with special punishment, because after it is his duty to feed his wife, children and servants, to govern them, to teach and instruct them, he cannot do it without special difficulty and great effort and work. The wife is commanded to be obedient to the husband, but how hard is it to get it? I do not even know how to govern others who do not belong to the house.
For this reason the philosophers wondered where this disorder in nature came from, that it was much easier to govern an unreasonable animal than a man; as Xenophon says: "It is easier to command all other animals than men. It is indeed a glorious work to be a man, to build the earth or do other works, to feed wife and child, to rule the house, land and cities, to teach and instruct one's household and others in godliness and good manners: but still these glorious works all have their punishment in themselves, that they cannot be done without unwillingness, toil and labor, as the examples before us show.
207. and first of all, for Adam's sake
curses the earth. For that the Latin text has: In opere tuo, is in Hebrew baaburecha, that is for your sake, and has perhaps misled the interpreter the other word, so yours is almost the same and is written baabudecha; because abad means to build the land. Here we see what sorrow followed sin, because the earth, which is innocent and has not sinned, nevertheless bears the curse over itself and, as Paul says in Romans 8:20, 21, "must be subject to vanity," from which it will be saved and set free at the last day, for which it is waiting. Pliny calls her a kind, gracious and mild mother; item, an eternal servant for the benefit of men. But, as Paul indicates, she feels her curse, first in that she does not now bear the goods that she would have borne if man had not fallen; then also in that she must bear many harmful things that she would not otherwise have borne, such as all kinds of weeds, wild oats, thistles, nettles, thorns, thistles, poisonous plants and harmful animals and the like, all of which are introduced by sin.
And I do not doubt that before the fall the air will have been much purer and healthier, the water much richer, and even the light of the sun much more beautiful and brighter. So that the whole creature reminds us everywhere of the curse that has passed over us because of sin. But something has remained of the previous blessing, that nevertheless the earth, forced by constant labor, bears what is necessary for our need, although this is mixed and disguised with thorns and thistles, that is, with useless and also harmful trees, bushes and herbs, which God's wrath makes grow. And this curse was subsequently increased by the Flood, by which all good trees were laid waste and corrupted, sand and barren earth increased, and harmful herbs and animals became abundant: so that since Adam before the Fall walked among fruitful trees, in pleasant meadows, in flowers and roses, now nettles, thorns and other harmful and corrupting plants grow in such abundance that they almost cover and overgrow the good things that are underneath.
For behold a plowed field, now prepared to be sown. As soon as it is sown, from hour to hour more weeds and vines come out than good and useful fruit; and if they are not eradicated by the farmer's constant and diligent work, they daily invade the field more and more, so that at last the good seed is choked. The earth is innocent and would much rather bear the best; but it is prevented by the curse that has passed over man for sin's sake.
(210) Just as the woman must bear the punishment of sin in her body, which is very merciful, so that she must bear children with sorrow, pain and fear, so the man also bears his punishment in the household, because he must rule his house with hard toil and labor, and feed his children and his servants. For for his sake the field was cursed, since before the sin no place on the whole earth was barren or unfit, but everything was quite fresh and fertile. Now, however, not only is the earth barren in many places, but since the land is also fertile and cultivated, it is covered with weeds, thorns and thistles. This is a great sorrow, which should drive Adam and us to impatience and despair, but it is alleviated by the promise of the seed, by which the punishment of eternal death, which is far greater, is cancelled and taken away.
211 It is easy to understand that it says, "With sorrow you shall feed on it all your life. For who does not know how poor and laborious it is for a husbandman? It is not enough that the field is plowed and prepared for seed, on which much and various work must be done; but when the seed has sprouted and become seed, new toil and work are found almost every day. Not to mention the trouble caused by lust and thunderstorms, of which there are innumerable; item, harmful animals and the like, all of which increase this grief and sorrow. But before sin, not only was there none of these mischiefs, but the earth would have borne them all, unplowed and unseeded, before we knew it, if Adam had not sinned.
Nevertheless, this harm and misery, which sin has introduced, has been much less severe and more bearable than that which followed the Flood. For here only the thorns, thistles and work are thought of; but we learn and now find that other innumerable things have come in addition. For how many things are there that harm the seed, the grain, the trees, and all the plants? How much accident does the herb fall from harmful worms? After it also the frosts, thunderstorms, harmful dew, winds, waters, splitting of the earth, earthquakes do damage etc. These things Moses does not think of here. Therefore I consider it completely that the punishments and such misery became more and to the former Vermaledeiung of the earth came, after the sins increased.
But since it seems to one that Moses understood all this when he said that the earth was cursed, I will not greatly dispute it. But no one will deny that such afflictions have increased since the sins have multiplied; just as we are now experiencing that the plants are suffering more often and more damage than they did years ago. For the world decreases and becomes worse from day to day.
It is therefore evident that such misfortune was cast upon Adam for the teaching and warning of the first world, so that the people would be all the more obedient and disciplined. But such discipline soon weakened around the time of Noah, and people began to live more freely and safely, until at last the whole world became full of injustice and tyranny, since God also had to inflict harsher and more frequent punishments, just as in the physical world severe infirmities demand a sharp remedy.
Since the whole world was devastated by the Flood, and everything that lived on earth, except for a few people, was destroyed, the people who first came after Noah undoubtedly lived in the fear of God, but in time they also became evil and were corrupted by the devil. Therefore the world had to have a serious example of punishment, as the destruction of Sodom and the cities around it.
1 Mos. 19, 24, and the scripture says Cap. 15, 16, that the iniquity of the Amorites must be full and complete. Finally the whole synagogue, after it had fallen into pagan and public idolatry, was destroyed and devastated. Thus, because Rome was kept in check, the city increased greatly; but since the vices increased and took over, God had to come closer with the punishment.
When the gospel first went out among us, the time was still bearable enough; but because now there is almost no more fear of God, and shame and vice increase daily, so that false teachers are also added, there is nothing more certain to be provided for, than that it will come about that after our sins have ripened, either the world will go over completely, or Germany will be punished in another way. That it is true that when sins increase, punishments also increase.
217 As I have said about the damage of the plants, so I also consider it entirely true that the people were healthier than they are now; as also proves the incredibly long life of the people before the Flood. For here God does not threaten Adam with the blow, with leprosy, with the holy disease and other gruesome and dangerous ills. For when I was a boy, Germany did not yet know of the French disease, which only began to be known around my fifteenth year; now even children in the cradle are afflicted with this plague. That is why at that time people were very afraid of this disease; now, however, it is so little respected that even one friend curses another in jest.
The English sweat has been a country plague, as the doctors call it, until this my age. For just as every country has its own special blessings, so it must also be burdened and plagued with special plagues if the blessings are abused against God. Now, however, it has become common in many countries, so that it has also come to the midday places of German land, which are located far from the sea. Yes, that is also terrible to hear, finds
There are people who have snakes in their bodies and worms in their brains, of which diseases the old physicians, as I respect it, did not know anything, who count four hundred kinds of diseases. Now if such diseases had all been in the first world, how could Adam and his descendants have lived so long until Noah? Therefore Moses speaks only of the barrenness of the earth and of the hard toil and labor to feed on it.
But if someone were to speak expansively and rhetorically, if he were to count here one by one all the misfortunes and miseries of the whole human race, he would find such a terrible heap of misery and adversity that he would ask God for fear of this one thing, not to let him live one hour in such danger. For what do we say of the diseases alone? Are all creatures against us and almost directed and prepared for our downfall. How many perish by fire and water? How dangerous are wild and poisonous animals, which not only harm our bodies but also those that are grown for our nourishment? Not to mention that we ourselves fall on each other and strangle, as if there were no other plague and misfortune creeping up on us. And what is the whole life but a daily quarrel, deceit, robbery and murder, if one looks at the people's nobility and trade among themselves, above all the plagues that are directed at us from outside. All of which I consider not to have been before the Flood, or indeed not to have been as much or as severe as they are now. But, as I said, because the sins are many, the plagues are also many.
For this reason, the sorrow inflicted on Adam was small compared to ours. For as the world draws near to its end, it is burdened and afflicted with many punishments and plagues. And this makes all misery greater and heavier, so that the more the world is beaten and plagued, the more stiff-necked and obstinate it becomes to its own misfortune; as in the Proverbs of Solomon Cap. 23, 35. it says: "They beat
me, but it does not hurt me; they knock me, but I do not feel it." This blindness is above all other misfortunes and plagues.
For is it not a strange and miserable thing that we first see in our bodies the footprints of divine wrath, which our sins have earned? Nevertheless, it is also seen in the earth and in all creatures, and yet all these things are despised by us with a calm and sure heart. For what are thorns, thistles, water, fire, caterpillars, flies, fleas, lice, bugs, etc. but messengers preaching to us about sin and the wrath of God? For before sin, they either did not exist at all, or were not so harmful and disastrous. Therefore we live knowingly and with seeing eyes in a more than Egyptian darkness. And even though we are reminded of the wrath of God everywhere and by all creatures, and it is almost put into our eyes, we do not pay attention to it, but love this temporal life and cling to it as if it were the only pleasure.
222. As sin increases, and security grows, and men are hardened in their own calamities: so also shall there be much mourning and calamity, not only in this life, but also in that. I am talking about the wicked. For if one only felt the torment and anguish in hell, but did not understand that it was a just punishment, the torment would be more bearable; just as we do not want to recognize our punishment and misfortune, and do not let it hurt us anymore. But what a stubbornness, which prevents us from seeing our misery, will take hold of us there, and all our senses will be opened, so that we will not only feel the punishment in our bodies, but also God's wrath in our hearts and consciences, and will have to confess that we have earned it with our wickedness and sins. This will sharpen the torment and torture of the wicked and make it infinitely greater.
V. 18. He shall bear thee domes and thistles.
Here we are told once again that the earth of things is not one of itself.
but because of Adam's sin; as he clearly said above: "for your sake. Therefore, as often as we see thistles and thorns, weeds and the like in the field and in gardens, we are to remember, as from certain signs, the sins and God's wrath. And so it is not only in the church that we hear from God's Word that we are sinners; but the whole country, indeed the whole creation, is full of such preachers, who reproach us with our sins and with the wrath of God aroused by our sins. Therefore, we should diligently pray that God would take such a great hardening out of our eyes, minds and hearts, that after so many reminders of our sins, we would once lay aside our security and live in the fear of God. For that is why we are pressed and burdened with malediction in so many ways. As Moses will explain further.
You shall eat the herb in the field.
This is a new plague. For above God gave man the most beautiful and lovely gifts, that he should eat of all the trees in Paradise, but not of two. He also gave him dominion over fish, and over all that the whole earth had of animals and fruits: now all these things are taken away from him for the sake of an apple, which he had eaten, leaving nothing but the herbs. And from this, I think, one could prove strongly enough that Adam ate neither butter, nor milk, nor cheese, nor eggs, nor flesh, nor apples, nor pears, but seeds and seeds; as there are peas, beans, fennel, millet, rice, grain etc. How well would the guests have lived if he had given out a daughter, or had been at the weddings of his children, because nothing but herbs was allowed to him to eat?
This is certainly the moderation of the first world, namely, the very least and simplest food with water. Now the world lives in terrible abundance and gluttony, and is not content to have all kinds of meat to its liking, but mixes fish and flesh together, does not eat water, and does not eat water.
spice it, and change and pervert it, which is contrary to nature, in various ways; so that what is sweet by nature becomes hot by spicing, and what is hot becomes sweet. How many different drinks are there after that? And who would not consider it a mockery if he saw that an innkeeper put out water for drink? For we are not content with our beer and the wine that grows here, but our desire also extends across the sea, so that foreign drinks are brought from far away. Do you not think, however, that if our father Adam were to return, he would be astonished at such senseless pleasure in eating and drinking in his children, and would shun and beware of such things as we eat and drink with pleasure, as of poison, and prefer either turnips or pearl barley and cold water to all our glory?
For this reason, temperance in eating and drinking is praised and reproached to us here, because we hear from our first parents that they were deprived of all other food and fare and were allowed to eat nothing but food from herbs. For such simple food makes the body healthy, and preserves it from diseases, which arise either from wanton eating and drinking, or gluttony and excess.
This should not only inspire us to moderation, but also to patience, when we see that others are showered with all kinds of pleasure, but we hardly have bread, salt and water. For we should remember that this punishment was inflicted on Adam, that after God had willed in paradise and given him such freedom that he might eat of all kinds of fruit and be lord of the whole earth, he must now, for the sake of his disobedience, be content with a small herb along with all his descendants.
V. 19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.
How in many ways God makes man's work hard and sour, that he must be burdened with all care and toil to nourish, protect and govern his own! All this is still for our
For the sake of the wickedness of the people, these times are much more difficult and laborious than they were at first. For we see and experience, if one can already have certain hope and be assured for the sake of food, what effort and work it takes before one can keep the servants and make them able to do what they are supposed to do. Adam was not free from this evil either. For even though he was well and holy to his house and his servants, he had to see that Cain slew his brother. That I am silent about other misery and misery, which he had to see and experience in his children and descendants through his long life.
Therefore this care is laid on the man, that he must have work on his neck, in which he has neither special pleasure nor happiness. Nor should there be any man who does not want to feel this sweat. And the more dangerous is the life of the papists, who abuse for their pleasure and idleness all that is acquired and collected from others.
But here a question arises: whether we should all be tillers of the soil, or whether we should at least work with our hands? as in the beginning of the Gospel some foolishly pretended, who misused this and other texts, in which manual labor is commanded, so that the youth abandoned their studies and learned handicrafts. How Carlstadt, their head, left his profession, bought a field and dug and built it himself. But surely, if I were to leave my office with a clear conscience, walking around in the garden, hoeing and digging would be much easier and more fun than having such trouble on my neck as I have now. For peasant work is not at all comparable with this sweat of ours.
Therefore, do not listen to those who fight and pretend that manual labor alone can be called work. For Christ clearly commands that those who teach should enjoy what others have worked for. "Wherever you enter a house," he says in Luc. 10:5, 6, 7, "first say, 'Peace be in this house. And there eat and drink what they have. For a laborer is
worthy of his reward." Here Christ takes bread from the table for those who hear the word of God and gives it to those who teach; as Paul also says in 1 Cor. 9:14: "Thus the Lord commanded that they which preach the gospel should feed on the gospel." And on this opinion he draws the law, v. 9. "Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the ox that threshes." Why was it commanded even to him that tilleth and worketh the field, that he should give tithes, when the ministers of the word should feed on the work of their hands?
232 Such and such sayings clearly indicate that the sweat of the face is of many kinds. The first, of the peasants or household fathers; the second, of the authorities; the third, of the church teachers. But among these, the peasantry is the best, as the poet also says:
Felices nimium, sua si bona norint Agricolae.
(The country people are all too happy when they know their beautiful lot).
For although they have to do hard work, there is a special pleasure in the fact that they see new and marvelous creatures before their eyes every day; on the other hand, because of the daily danger, both in the temporal and spiritual government, there are also innumerable burdens and discomforts, if one only wants to wait faithfully for his office. For I am not speaking here of idle people who do not recognize such punishment of sins, but seek only how they may satiate and fill their pleasure. Such epicureans may see how it suits them. But of those I speak who do with earnestness that which they ought to do, who work and sweat one day more than a peasant man in four weeks, if you will consider the greatness of the work and many a danger.
This is also the reason why lords and princes are given wards, pensions, interest and similar fees by their subjects. But who does not see how little thanks and reward they receive for such toil and labor when they perform their duties faithfully and diligently? But if some of them are negligent, they should not leave the lawful order.
234 I have heard of the Emperor Maximilian that he is said to have been so burdened with business that he could not have leisure to eat; therefore, at times he had to withdraw from work and business and hide in the wood, where he hunted. At times he also disguised himself and joined common people, with whom he held conversations for pleasure. And although hunting has been reproached and misinterpreted, many who knew about his toil and way of life have noticed and understood that he did it more out of necessity than out of pleasure.
Tell me, then, what plowing, digging, and peasant labor compare with this toil that belongs to such a regiment to administer? Such regents are called kings and princes, but in truth they are the most miserable of all servants. And it is the monks and the whole swarm of the pope alone who live princely lives; for they leave to others the toil and labor, the business, the haggling and the danger, but they are idle and have good days.
236 I also say this about the care of a pastor, which should be considered so much greater, as his office, over which he presides, is greater and heavier. For who would think that Augustine lived in peace and cultivated his ministry as he pleased among so many enemies and adversaries with whom he had to fight daily, so that they would not suppress the Christian doctrine; as there were the Pelagians, Donatists, Manichaeans, and others of the like, who distressed the church and made it restless? By God's grace, we have so much to do with ours that I hope there will be no one who will begrudge us such leisure, which is full of work. That is why it is the greatest folly that the enthusiasts insist so much on manual labor, which is useful and beneficial to the health of the body; whereas regimental and church work, which is the greatest, weaken the body and consume strength and power, marrow and legs.
Therefore, let us distinguish the sweat according to the right measure. The sweat and labor in the home regiment is great, in the
In the church office, however, it is the greatest of all. For just look at Paul, and you will soon understand how he sweated in his office. And how can we say that there is no toil, no sweat in the church, which is at all times contested by devils and plagued by heresies, aversions, sins, injustice and violence of tyrants, and other all kinds of accidents? Shall we then say that those who preside over the church are not worthy of their bread?
238 We can say it of the pope, cardinals and the whole godless bunch, who do not work and only take care of their belly, strive for good days and consume great goods. For it is they of whom it should be said, "He that worketh not, neither shall he eat," as Paul says 2 Thess. 3:10. For in the church, work means teaching and preaching, administering the sacraments, fighting against heretics and falsehoods, lifting up ailments, improving and edifying the pious etc. Of those who do these things, Christ says in Luc. 10:7 that "a laborer is worthy of his wages.
If we are to consider Adam's work, from which sin came, much worse was it for him than for us. For since among us each one must work and sweat in his own position, Adam had to sweat the sweat of the household, the government and the church at the same time. For he alone, as long as he lived, had to take over all these offices in his descendants; he had to nourish his household, govern them and bring them to the fear of God; he was therefore a father, king and priest at the same time. But what kind of flourishing, work and danger is in each of these offices, experience shows.
(240) Therefore we must comfort ourselves against this and accustom our hearts to patience, because we see that such misfortune is also laid upon the elect, who nevertheless have hope of the resurrection and of eternal life. Since all poor and troublesome people have hope in this, we should be confident and overcome all misfortune with this hope. For we shall
262 K i, rrr-rv." Interpretation of Genesis 3, id. W. i, s "4-ssv. 263
will not stay here forever. Just as one who wanders and at times comes to an evil inn consoles himself that it is for an evil night that he suffers hunger or lies hard, so we should also think in the midst of this misery of ours. For what are two or three years, which we spend almost sleeping, compared to eternity?
Therefore, let misfortune and adversity come, as God has provided for everyone, be it in the home regiment, police or church office; we do not want to be moved to impatience because of it or throw away the care for the home, police or church from us because of it. For such a soft and fine heart is not praised in any man of war that he would soon throw down his arms in the first storm and take flight. Thus we are not ordained and created for pleasure or good lazy days, but for work and business. The poet says that we should not give way to misfortune, but meet it all the more boldly and undauntedly. But we will be able to do this when we hold out the hope of resurrection and eternal life against this temporal misery and misfortune.
But as no one would like to lose it, so let each one consider that it is not his place to leave the profession and position in which he has been placed by God. Whoever is called to teach in the church, let him do it boldly and confidently, and do not ask for any danger or laziness on the part of the popes and bishops who preach the gospel, govern the church, hear spiritual matters, and hear disputes. But they do not do so, but blame such high works on unskilled monks: but they go for it to collect money and to cause all kinds of pleasure. And because they avoid the sweat and flee, they will also lack comfort and refreshment; and because they do not want to suffer with them, they will also not rule with them. Again, we who must bear the sweat, each in his own state, should remember that though we may have to bite into many a sour bite and have to suffer hardship, yet let all the jam
The end of toil and labor, as Moses appends this consolation, though he speaks of great distress.
Until you return to the earth from which you were taken. For thou art earth, and shalt become earth.
We see that godless people often endure innumerable and great misfortunes for the hope of a short pleasure, which they think they will get through it. For how much danger does a merchant on land and sea endure for the hope of gain? And for how little money does a man of war bargain for his life and limb? A whore must bear much more hardship and misfortune in the whorehouse than a pious wife in the home. That is why the Germans call such people of the devil martyrs in their proverb, who voluntarily put themselves into misery and unhappiness, which they could well be spared if they wanted to live piously and in the fear of God. For how much pain and bodily harm do many a drunkard inflict on himself through intemperate drinking, which he could well be spared if he drank more moderately.
244 For this reason, one might reasonably doubt how people who are so hardened by Satan can be advised, so that they do not feel their own harm and misfortune, but still wantonly listen to it and grasp at it. For do you not think that if they felt it, they would guard against it? But now the hearts of men are so hardened that they take pleasure in their misfortune, as can be seen in them. Because the majority of people are in such a wrong mind that they put themselves into certain misfortunes for the sake of foolish and small pleasures, it is to be wondered at that this is not considered by the pious in the good cause, that they think that even if one has to live here in various hardships and misfortunes, it will nevertheless have an end and all hardships, miseries and misfortunes will be repaid with a better life.
245 This text points to this consolation: for it certainly promises that this sorrow shall all come to an end, after the serpent's head is crushed and contrite, saying, "Until thou be restored," elha-.
adamah, "to the earth." For this word generally means earth or field; as it says in the fourth chapter: "Cain became a tiller. But the word aphar actually means an earth or earthen clod, freshly thrown up. Our translation has pulverem, so that it indicates that a loose earth is meant here. For Adam was made a living man from a lump of earth. Now when the same work shall come apart again and be dissolved, then shall it come to pass, saith the Lord, that Adam shall again become the earth or dust.
246 And here we are shown once again how the punishment has always increased, since sin has increased and become greater. For the burial of the dead corpses in the ground and their cutting into ashes or dust was a gentle and not gruesome decomposition; but after that this custom arose almost everywhere in the countries, that the dead were burned. How often it happens that people are eaten alive by wild animals and have the animals to their graves. As the prophets also put wild animals, snakes and other poisonous worms among the four land punishments. For the more we are hardened and hardened against punishment, the more severe and severe punishment God inflicts, so that our hearts are broken and softened; as Deut. 26:18, 19 is written: "If you still do not obey me over this, I will punish you seven times more for your sin, and I will break your pride and stubbornness" etc.
Thus Adam's fall was from life to death, from health of the body to sickness, and yet the same time was a golden time compared to ours: for all things have gradually turned and become worse; as is also indicated by the image in Daniel, chap. 2, vv. 32, 33. 2. v. 32. 33. For the nearer the world comes to its end, the angrier the people become; therefore it also follows that God takes us into more severe punishment. How stiff-necked and obdurate the papists are now, fighting against the bright and clear truth, and how cruelly and mercilessly they deal with those who confess the truth! that I have become a victim of their devilish avarice, fornication, infidelity, violence and injustice.
without any measure, let alone. How far can the punishment be from them?
248 And Moses has told so far what punishment God inflicted on Adam and his descendants because of sin; which, although they are great punishments, at first they were more merciful and gentle than now. For what was then already bad has now become the very worst. But before we proceed to what follows, we must say something more about the text we touched on above, where it is said to the woman: "I will cause you much pain when you" have conceived, or "are with child. For there it is written heronech, which is almost meant to refer to all the burden and anguish that women have to bear from the time they conceive until the time they give birth.
Therefore one asks: Because a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth only once a year, is it also a punishment to become pregnant only once? Item: Why does God say here that He wants to increase her conception? As far as this last is concerned, I think it should be understood correctly: I want to increase your conception, that is, I want to increase the pains and troubles that follow the conception. That it is therefore a punishment that a woman receives only one fruit in the year and yet must suffer so much sorrow and pain with it. For if man had remained in innocence, the women would have been much more fertile; as at times one sees many signs of this, when twins, often three and at times four children are born at once.
There are also examples of such fertility in other animals. For birds and fish multiply in large clusters; dogs, cats and pigs also give birth in clusters. Although some large animals bear and give birth to only one fruit at a time, I have no doubt that the women would have borne much more fruit if the sin had not occurred. For those who are most fertile generally bear only a single fruit every year, and yet they do so with vile and shameful lust. All this shows us the greatness of sin.
251) But here we come across the little sin of the Jews, who say: If the seed of the woman should be understood as natural seed, which is born from her womb, as we have it interpreted, then it would follow that also the seed of the serpent must be that which is born from the serpent's womb; for otherwise there would be no contrast here, which Moses indicates when he says: "I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. Many inconsistent things would follow from this little sentence: first, that God alone spoke with the natural serpent and punished it; second, that Christ was nothing; nothing could be proven about Christ from this text either. This little finding may have some appearance, but in truth it is nothing.
252 And this is first my answer, Revelation 22:11: "If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant: if any man be unclean, let him be unclean. For he that believeth not the open bright gospel is worthy that he should not understand such hidden and dark sayings, neither believe them. So we do not intend to base or explain the gospel on this text, but we consider the gospel to be a bright light from which what is dark and obscure in it can be illuminated. Therefore it is no wonder that he who does not believe the bright light of the gospel does not believe such dark sayings of the prophets, but draws in new and clumsy thoughts and delusions. First of all, the promise of the gospel was revealed by God from heaven, and then it was preserved under so many tyrants and cruel plagues and tortures. But because the Jews are still so stiff-necked and obstinate against it and do not want to believe, they should be let go. But we want to deal here with those who believe and obediently surrender to the gospel.
253 Jn 8:44 Christ says that Satan is a father of lies and a murderer and does not exist in the truth. This is the light of the gospel, making bright and clear what is dark in the Old Testament. For if Satan is a murderer from the beginning, tell me, whom or which one did he
murders? Is it not true that he put Adam and Eve to death through sin? Now where did he strangle them? Is it not true, in paradise? But when? Is it not true that he did it at that time when he reduced the power of divine commandment and promised them that they would be like God if they ate from the forbidden tree? So both are true, that in paradise there was a natural serpent and the old serpent, the devil, deceived and murdered man through this serpent. Now the most noble understanding of this text is that you understand that the devil has done this damage; just as one, when one has committed a death blow, may well say of the same death-slayer's sword or knife: this knife has strangled him. But it was not the knife alone and for itself that did it, but the man who wielded and used it; as this figure is common, that by the instrument and tool one understands the master himself. For this reason, one should reject this Jewish little bundle altogether.
Secondly, it is also true that it is not always necessary for two or more things that are contrary to each other to also be contrary to each other. For there are various opposites, as the dialecticians teach. Some things are, as they say, relative to one another, some private, some contrary. Natural fathers, from whom we are begotten, and the father of lies are opposites. Therefore, if we now admit the Jews' understanding, namely, that Moses speaks of the natural serpent, the text nevertheless brings with it a synecdoche, by which we must understand one from the other, if we want to hold it against the words of Christ. For the text says: "God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done these things, you are cursed'" etc. Now what did she do? She deceived Eve and thus strangled her.
Now hold against these words the bright text in the Gospel John 8:44: "The devil is a murderer from the beginning"; now is it not clear, since God thus speaks to the natural serpent, that he understands the devil, who is in the natural serpent and leads man into sin, death and the wrath of God?
has brought? Therefore, the seed of the serpent must not be understood as the natural seed of a natural serpent, but as the seed of the devil; as Christ also calls it in the Gospel Matt. 13:25: "The enemy came and sowed tares," or evil seed. This seed is contrary to the spiritual seed, as flesh and spirit are contrary to each other.
(256) Nor is it necessary that the opposites should correspond to each other in all respects, even as what is similar to each other does not correspond to each other in all respects. Adam is a figure of Christ, for in him he compares himself to Christ, so that just as through Adam sin came upon all, so also the righteousness of the Lord Christ comes upon all who believe in him. This rhymes together: but all the rest does not rhyme. Therefore let the Jews have their error; but we who believe know that this serpent is the devil, because Christ interprets it thus.
Sixth part.
About the name that Adam gave to his wife and how God reminds man of the various ways of the fall. To this comes an appendix of interpretation of the first three chapters. Item, of the heavenly hierarchies, cherubim and seraphim.
V.20. And Adam called his wife Heva, because she is a mother of all the living.
257 We have heard above that this punishment was also imposed on the woman, that she should be under her husband's power. Such power is indicated here. For God does not give a name to the woman, but to Adam, as her lord. As he also gave names to the animals above, as to the creatures that are subordinate. For no animal has thought up a name for itself, but they have all received their names and the same honor and glory from their lord, Adam. So even today the woman, when she frees, loses the name of her sex and friendship, and is called after the
It would be an unheard-of thing for a man to be called after his wife. Therefore, this is a confirmation of the punishment or servitude that the woman has earned by sinning. And so the woman must follow the man as her master when he moves from one place to another. Thus we have many signs and footprints in nature, all of which remind us of sin and our sorrow.
But the name which Adam gives to his wife is a very happy and sweet name. For what is more delicious, better, or more lovely than life? As it is said in a common verse, that to save and preserve life one spares neither fire nor iron (ut vitam redimas, ferrum patieris et ignes). For with life there is neither money nor precious stone, neither goods nor honor to compare with the whole world; as Christ also says Matth. 16, 26. The Jews commonly give their children names of roses, flowers or precious stones, but Eve's name is not taken from precious things, but from life itself, which surpasses all other things.
And Moses adds the cause: "For she is," he says, "a mother of all living. It seems from this text that Adam received the Holy Spirit and was wonderfully enlightened, believed and understood the promise of the seed of the woman, which was to crush the serpent's head; he also wanted to seal and adorn this faith with the name of his wife, which he therefore did not give to any other creature, so that he thereby received the hope of the future seed, strengthened and assured his faith, and comforted himself that there was life to hope for and believe in, even though the whole nature was already subject to death.
For if he had not felt and believed in a future life, his heart could not have been comforted, nor would he have put such a joyful name on his wife. But because he has put this name on her, he sufficiently indicates that his heart has been comforted by the Holy Spirit through faith in the forgiveness of sins through the seed of the woman, which he has presented to him.
He called her Eve so that he would have a memorial sign of the promise by which he himself had come back to life and that this hope of eternal life would also be passed on to his descendants. This hope and faith he painted with this name as with a paint on the forehead of his wife, like those who are saved from enemies. Set up banners and other signs of joyful victory.
But someone might say here: Why is she called "mother", because she is still a virgin and has not yet given birth? Answer: He does this also as a testimony to his faith in the promise, because he believes that God does not want to reject or destroy the human race, but to preserve it. Therefore, this name at the same time contains a prophecy of the future grace and shows a necessary comfort in the constant sorrow of this life against Satan's temptation. It is also possible that this joyful name (which is a beautiful testimony to the faith and refreshed joyful spirit in Adam) gave cause that afterwards the holy fathers kept the day on which a child was circumcised and received the name more solemnly and joyfully than the day in which it was born; that therefore the laying on of this first name was solemnly celebrated. Now follows another commemoration of the sadness that is contrary to the first.
V. 21. And God the Lord made Adam and his wife skirts of skins, and put them on them.
This is not so happy and sweet as that Adam gave the name to his wife. For although the Lord said in Genesis 2:17: "The day you eat from this tree, you will die", Adam consoled himself with the name of his wife, that through the promised seed life would be restored, which would crush the serpent's head and strangle the strangler again.
But here Adam and Eve are clothed by the Lord Himself, so that they have a memorial sign and remember them.
Whenever they look at these clothes, they should remember their miserable fall from the highest bliss into the deepest misery and wretchedness. So that they will fear sins forever, repent constantly, and sigh and long for the forgiveness of sins through the promised Seed. And therefore it belongs that he does not clothe them with green branches, or leaves, or wool that grows on trees, but puts on them skins of slaughtered animals as a sign that they are mortal and live in certain death. Just as the name Eve is a happy sign of life, so the skins are a memorial sign not only of past and future sins, but also of the present misery and misfortune that sins deserve. -
But such reminders and reminders of nature are necessary. For we very easily forget both good and evil when they have passed away; as Peter 2 Epist. 1:9 also says, "He that hath not these things is blind, and gropeth with his hand, and forgetteth the purifying of his former sins." "But I will not therefore," saith he v. 12, "leave you always to remember these things, though ye know them, and be strengthened in the present truth." This is truly a terrible word of the apostle, that some forget the forgiveness of sins, and even though they have finely believed, they depart from the faith again and do not adorn themselves with this most beautiful chain of Christian virtue, but hang on to their avarice, pride, envy, fornication etc. And such an admonition is of great need to us now, who have tried and experienced such burdens of hardships under the papacy, that we should not be so ungrateful to a gracious God, as, alas, most of the world is.
Therefore, in order to prevent this forgetfulness, Adam and Eve had a skin put on them like a memorial sign, a jewel, or a court color, so that they and all their descendants would remember this miserable fall. But after that the world became foolish and foolish also in this sign of misery and wretchedness. For who could
How much effort and expense do people put into their clothing? Therefore, it should no longer be called a desire or a want, but rather a nonsense, that they, like asses born to lead gold, take more care how they load themselves with clothes and ornaments than how they adorn themselves. That is why proper, honest clothing is praised, especially in high persons, and the disorderly manner of clothing and adornment that is currently in vogue must greatly annoy pious people. Therefore, if Adam were to come again and see such nonsense in all classes, I truly believe that he would stand there like a stone and freeze in horror. For his daily dress and clothing has been his coat, which he should have remembered, what a blessedness he would have lost. But we clothe ourselves splendidly, and are excessively splendid, so that we ourselves bear witness to everyone that we have forgotten not only the evil from which we have been delivered, but also the good which we have received. And what God reminded Adam of with the sign of his garments, He also reminds him of with the word, as follows.
V. 22. And God the Lord said, Behold, Adam is become as one of us, and knows what is good and what is evil. But now lest he put forth his hand, and break also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever etc.
This is a mockery and very hard bitter mockery. For this reason it is asked here: Why does God deal so harshly and violently with poor Adam, who, having been deprived of all honor and fallen into sin and death, has to hear such a great reproach from his Creator and be punished? And is not enough of visible signs, so that he reminds him of present sorrow and lost honor, but also adds a word that rings in his ears. Answer: Adam had the promise of grace and mercy, and he had to be satisfied with it. But that he may be the more fearful of future sin, and be more diligent in foreseeing it, this strong token is given him.
also given. For God sees how his descendants will turn out, so he puts this word in his mouth, so that he may proclaim it to his descendants and report that he has become like the devil, since he wanted to become like God contrary to God's word; so that they may also take care and not increase and heap up the sin of their parents with their sins, and thus cede more and more to God.
267. As he reminded him before with a skin of his past and future misfortune, so he does it here with a word; not that he takes pleasure in such a sad case, for then he would not remind Adam, but would remain silent; But that he wants man to have a desire for the image of God, which he had lost, again, and to become even more hostile to sin, as the cause of such a great misfortune; item, that Adam should warn and inform his descendants of what followed the sin, namely, that after he, having been deceived by the devil, had meant to be like God, he had become like the devil himself.
268. Here it is also further asked: Why God, who is alone and one God, speak in many persons' names? Whether there are more gods than one? And Nicolaus de Lyra and others are of the opinion that this is spoken in the person of an angel or to angels. "He has become as our one", that is, he has become an angel. But this gloss is all too stale. For God does not call Himself an angel, nor does the power lie in the word "one," but in the word "our." Therefore let us leave such a stale gloss. For if this is said in the person of an angel, it is certain that God did not say it. But now the text says: "God the Lord spoke."
For this reason, we must once again look to the light of the gospel, as I also said above. For the same makes light and bright what is dark and gloomy in the Old Testament. Now if you understand this about angels, it is not consistent with what is written above. For thus said Satan, "Ye shall be as God, knowing what is good and what is evil." Therefore, Adam and Eve certainly tempted themselves, so that they would like to be like God.
and this text should not be understood in any other way than from the equality of God.
270 Therefore, here we must disregard the Jewish error that Lyra assumes, and conclude according to the letter that in God there is a plural; as he also said above Gen. 1, 26: "Let us make man, an image that is like us. Such sayings all point to the unity in the divine essence; for it is always preceded by: "God spoke." In addition, they also indicate a plurality of persons or, as it is called, the Trinity, and such mysteries are more certainly and clearly presented in the New Testament; as Christ commands Matth. 28, 19 to "baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". Thus, three persons in the divine essence were indicated at the beginning of the world and understood by the prophets, but finally fully revealed through the gospel.
Therefore, the opinion remains that Adam and Eve tempted themselves to become God's image. But God's invisible image is the Son, through whom everything exists. That is why Adam, through his sin, took offense at the person of Christ, who is the true image of God. But this is shown here recently and darkly. Adam, however, will no doubt have preached about it an infinite number of times, just as one can see in the prophets that they point to these mysteries in various ways and cover them up in a strange way, which the gospel then clearly reveals.
272 And in this opinion of ours, the name of God Jehovah is appropriate here, which cannot mean a creature, but is assigned to the Creator alone. But what does the Creator say? He says: "Adam was created as our one. Truly our religion and faith will not suffer us to understand this as if it were spoken to angels. For who would say that God is one of the angels, or that an angel is one of God? Yes, God is above the angels and above all creatures, so how could He compare Himself to the angels?
Therefore, we should understand and consider this text as a sure testimony of our work.
This is darkly indicated in Adam's sin, that he did not want to become like the angels, but like God. For if he had sinned against the angels alone, he would not have been condemned to death; but since he had directed his sin against the divine Majesty, who created all things, wanting to be like her and do what she, the divine Majesty, does, such a horrible punishment followed such a sin.
274. Just as one is accustomed to reproach a scoundrel who is released from the gallows with the danger he has been in, and admonishes him to beware of it from now on: Thus, after Adam has been put off again by the promise of the hope of life, God warns him with this bitter scorn and mockery that he should not forget such a terrible fall, and that he should not again demand the divine majesty in which he once tempted himself to his great detriment; but that he should humble himself before it, and henceforth beware and guard against such sin with his descendants.
For not only is this said to Adam, but it also concerns us, that after we have been baptized and renewed by the grace of God, we should take the utmost care that we do not fall back into the previous ungodly nature. Thus there is also a sarcasm and very bitter mockery in what he says about the tree of life; as if God had not been able to prevent Adam from touching it with a wave of his hand. Now follows how the garden is guarded with terrifying signs.
V. 23. 24. Then God the Lord sent him out of the husband of Eden to build the field from which he was taken. And he drove out Adam, and encamped before the husband of Eden the cherub with a naked slashing sword, to keep the way to the tree of life.
276 This also belongs to our discipline and warning; as St. Paul says Romans 15:4, that everything that is written is written for our sake. For there is great danger in forgetting our former sins and falling into them again.
John 5:14 warns: "Behold, thou art healed; sin no more, lest evil befall thee"; and Peter 2 Epist. 2, 22. says of the sow that rolls in the dung after the flood, and of the dog that eats again what it has eaten; item Cap. 1, 9. of those who forget their former sins. These and similar sayings of Scripture are warnings to beware of sin after it is gone, so that just as the disease is more dangerous and difficult to heal if it is found again after it is healed, so Adam and all his descendants are admonished in many ways that after they have received the hope of life through the promise of the Seed, they should be careful not to lose it again through sin; just as Christ Matth. 12, 45. teaches this in the parable of the house that was turned upside down, out of which the devil was driven, but afterward he returns to it, taking with him seven spirits more wicked than he.
God uses this sharpness and bitterness especially for this, and wants to say: I had forbidden Adam and Eve before, that they should not touch the tree, which threatened them with death: nor has such presumption been in them, that they have not abstained from their harm. Therefore I must take care that they do not touch the tree of life, for perhaps they will not abstain from it; therefore I will take care and at the same time forbid them all the trees of paradise. Therefore go out and eat the herb of the field and whatever else grows from the earth. For henceforth ye shall not eat of the tree of life only, neither of all the other trees of paradise. etc.
And this text shows that the trees in paradise were not at all like the other trees on earth. Therefore, the food and nourishment that Adam and Eve had to eat reminded them of their sin and miserable condition, into which they had fallen because of sin. And our misery and wretchedness is depicted in so many ways that we are not only reminded of the lack and misery of the earth.
Loss of spiritual gifts, but also the clothing and food and drink of the same must remember.
Here it is asked: If God had allowed Adam to eat from the tree of life, would he have overcome death through this food? as he was then subjected to death, since he had eaten from the tree of death; for it seems as if it were One Thing. The tree of death strangled Adam by the word that God had said in Genesis 2:17: "Whichever day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die"; therefore, by the power of the word, the tree of life preserves from death and makes alive. To this question Lyra and others answer that this tree of life would have had the power to prolong life, but not eternally; therefore it would not have restored the life that Adam had lost through sin. For Adam was not created to remain eternally in this bodily life; but was to pass from bodily life and temporal eating and drinking into a spiritual life. As when a common private person is elected mayor, death does not intervene, but simply the common man is raised to more honors and dignities: so Adam would have changed without the means of death, and for the mortal life put on the immortal. Now this tree of life, says Lyra, served only the temporal life; therefore interpret this text that he does not live forever, so that he does not live long. This is Lyra's answer.
But I am of another opinion, and believe that if Adam had been admitted to the tree of life, he would have returned to that life which he had lost, and would not have died afterwards, but would simply have been transferred from the bodily life to the spiritual: For the text, saith both things very plainly: namely, that therefore the tree of life was forbidden unto him, and that if he did eat thereof, he might live leolam that is for ever. But I reject Lyra's opinion because he attributes the power to make alive to the nature of the tree, when it is certain that the tree does not get this power from its nature, but from power and force.
278 L. n 288-M. Interpretation of Genesis 3:23, 24. w. i. ns-tsi. 279
of the word. Just as the tree of knowledge did not kill gates and evil because the fruit on it was poisonous and deadly, but because the word was attached to it like a note, in which it was written: "The day you eat from this tree, you will die. Gen. 2:17.
Therefore, spiritual death, namely disobedience, is attached to the tree of death. Since Adam and Eve broke this commandment through the sin that was then strong in them, they thought, "Behold, God has forbidden us not to eat of this tree, but what is it to us? This contempt of divine commandment has been the poisoned rod that killed Adam and Eve as soon as it was pulled through their throats. Because the threat was attached to the commandment, eating from the forbidden tree caused death because of disobedience. And the tree was not poisoned, but as sufficiently said above, it was a tree of God's service, that man by this obedience should testify and prove that he recognized, honored and feared his God: "For God looked at all that he had made, and it was very good", Gen. 1, 31. 1, 31. Such an opinion, I think, was also held of the tree of life, namely, that it was not a life-giving tree because of its nature, but because of the power of the Word. And because the word was still attached to the same tree, Adam would have come back to his former life if he had eaten from it.
Thus the serpent which Moses set up in the wilderness did not give life by its very nature, for it was cast of brass, as one might do and make a serpent of brass: but the word which hung on the same serpent of brass could give life, namely, that God had set it up hot, and had hanged thereon a word, "Whosoever shall look upon it shall be healed. Such a word would not have been used if one wanted to cast a serpent out of bronze. Neither did it make the image healthy, but it did so because God wanted it to be healthy.
The rabbis had commanded to look at the serpent, and had added a promise of health. Because the rabbis do not heed such a word, they shamefully err and pretend that the nature of these trees was such that they could make either dead or alive, not understanding that it is all because God either promises or threatens.
Just as the sophists, when they discuss how baptism makes righteousness, talk about it. For St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure understand it in this way, that the water is given by God a special power to work, so that when a child is baptized in it, it can create righteousness out of its power. On the other hand, we say that the water in baptism is water, in substance nothing better than what the cow drinks. But we say that a word of divine promise is attached to this bad water; thus: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," Marc. 16, 16; item, Joh. 3, 5: "Man must be born again of water and the Spirit." Now if anyone would call this word or promise a power given to the water of baptism, I would be satisfied. But the opinion of the sophists is different. For they do not give this power to the word, but argue about the element, namely, that it has a special power in itself. And I like Scotus better here, who says that baptism is a divine covenant established with and by the element.
Therefore, one should look at the word everywhere and honor it. For by it, as it were, God takes hold of and clothes the creatures, and a distinction is to be made between the word and the creature. For in the sacrament of the altar there is bread and wine, in baptism there is water; these are creatures, but they are clothed by the Word; and as long as the creature is clothed by the Word, so long it creates and works what is promised in the Word. But this is not to be understood as if we want to fall in with the sacramentarians, because we combine baptism and the sacrament of the altar. Baptism has this promise that it is reborn with the Holy Spirit. But in the sacrament of the altar
The promise of the forgiveness of sins also means that the body and blood of Christ are truly given with the bread and wine. For so Christ says Luc. 22, 19. 20.: "This is my body, which is given for you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood" etc.
Thus it could also be said that human nature in Christ does not redeem us. But because human nature is bodily taken by the Godhead and Christ is God and man in one person, redemption is powerful and Christ is called the Son of Man and is also a Savior.
The pope has devised holy water, the last rites, and many other such things, to which he attributes the forgiveness of sins. But in this, always consider whether God has also given his commandment and promise. If the promise and the commandment of God are not there, then soon conclude that it is idolatry and misuse of the name of God. Yes, they say, Christian and devout prayers are said for it, so one also has examples of holy people, whom one follows in this. Ask neither about the prayers, nor about the examples, nor about what is good, but ask only whether God's commandment and promise are also present. For it is these that endow creatures with a new power above that which they have by nature.
Just as the tree of knowledge of good and evil was good by nature, but for the sake of the word that was added, it had to be a poison to man's spirit and not only to his body. Again, if the tree of life had the power to sustain life for the sake of the word, it would also have sustained Adam's life: but because God is angry, He will not allow him to come to the tree after the fall. Not only because Adam should remember the sin he had committed, but also because Adam already had a better promise, namely, that the seed of the woman should crush the serpent's head; so that, even though he had to be subject to natural death, he might still have and keep the hope of the
Immortality through the Son of God; as an angry father nevertheless punishes his son, pushes him out of the house etc. whether he already does not take away his right of inheritance.
God wants man to be satisfied with the promise of life, which is better than that in which Adam was created. For even though Adam would have eaten from the tree of life and returned to his former life, he would not have been safe from Satan, who could have tempted him again and deprived him of the same life once more. Therefore, God has provided man with such a state in which we can be sure that, because we have this given seed, we can never die of eternal death; although this temporal life must be under the cross and various plagues and temptations. And are therefore all these words: "Behold, Adam has become" etc. God's words, which he speaks in a laughing and angry spirit to Adam, who had already become righteous again, that he should be more careful in the future and not leave the past out of his memory.
And Moses turned back the words finely, so that he reminded the man of what he had said before. For before he said Genesis 2:15: "God the Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to build it and to keep it." Here he says: "Then God the Lord let man out of the Garden of Eden to build the field." For He wants man to know that he was made of earth and placed in the very best place; but because of sin it happened that he was placed again out of the best place into the earth, out of which he was created. And so Moses, by turning the words here especially backwards, wants to remind Adam and all his descendants not only to beware of future sins, but also to remember the previous ones. Therefore, Adam, who previously had his special food and nourishment provided and ordered in Paradise, a place set apart from other animals, must now use food and nourishment together with the animals in a common place.
And not only is he cast out of Paradise, but God also puts a guard in front of it, so that he cannot come to it at all: as one puts a guard in front of castles and in front of armies or armies. By the broad description Moses uses, he wants to indicate that this expulsion was most necessary for the sake of our salvation, namely, that we should beware of sins, live in the fear of God and diligently guard against the devil, who had done such great damage to nature through sin.
I have said above about the word mikkedem, namely, that it means toward the morning or the exit of the sun. And Moses indicates that the paradise had a way or gate after the exit, through which one could come to the garden. And is described in the prophet Ezekiel Cap. 44, 1. where he describes the building of the temple, thought of the gate of the sanctuary, which was also after the exit, perhaps for the reason that we should understand that the temple was a figure of paradise, and that if nature had remained innocent, paradise would have been a common temple of the whole world. So now on the same road after the morning, which leads to paradise alone, the cherubim or the angels are stored, so that this road should be preserved, so that neither Adam, nor anyone from his descendants, could come into paradise. So God did it here in a human way to frighten Adam and his descendants and to have a noticeable memorial sign of such a great and horrible fall.
292 Now the cherubim, who were on the way, did not carry swords or iron to ward off those who wanted to come to the garden, but a shining sword that is a gleam or flame of fire, as one stands in the lightning, which shines around and blinds the eyes. But this flame or flashing was seen like a sword, which always floats and is swung; as in the stories of the apostles Cap. 2, 3, that in the apostles were seen cloven tongues, like fire; and they have almost such a form in the apostles.
The flying dragons. So that the angels have always given fire from themselves, which has divided itself into all places, so that no one could come by.
293 I will abandon Origen's talk, and I do not like Lyra's uncomfortable and foolish allegory, which says that the fiery sword means that the sinner, as soon as he sins mortally, excludes himself from the church through his own fault, whether he remains in the number and is not publicly expelled from it. But a cutting and shining sword, or one that turns from time to time, it is said that where righteous repentance follows, man is restored to it by his own merit. For as I have proved before that Paradise was a true and visible garden in a special place of the earth, so here also I keep the history and understand it thus, that this sword was a visible flame of fire in the form of a sword, by which the cherubim or angels frightened and chased Adam and his descendants, so that they should not have come near this garden.
294 And the guard or custody of the angels was kept until the flood, so that a certain memorial of such a miserable and wretched fall might remain with the descendants throughout the ages; as the pool of Sodom, item, the pillar of salt, remained throughout the ages. For we must have such memorials because of our laziness and carelessness. After the Flood, however, paradise disappeared with the angels and this sword. For then the new world had to have new examples, which would be closer to it and would move the saints more; even though little is accomplished with the wicked.
Thus in these three chapters we have the history of the creation of the whole creature, how heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein were created. How God built Paradise to be the palace of man, whom He had made Lord of the Earth. Just as God
erected a temple for man in paradise and ordained it for worship, namely, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on which Adam was to practice and prove his obedience to God. Thus we have also heard the story of man in Paradise, how miserably he fell and sinned against God, losing all honor of his innocence and immortality.
All these things we have done simply, according to the gift that was given us, and have interpreted them in the historical sense, which is righteous and certain. For this is what one should do in the holy Scriptures, so that one may have a certain and simple understanding of them, especially since the teachers and interpreters in Latin, Greek and Hebrew have been so many, and in many cases not of one mind. For almost all of them together not only disregard history, but also make it incorrect, dark and sinister with uncomfortable and unnecessary allegories.
For how clumsy a thing Origen and Jerome have given in these three chapters is known. For everywhere they depart from history and call it the deadly letter and the flesh; but on the other hand they praise and extol the spiritual understanding, which they themselves neither know nor have. And in this case Jerome has followed Origen as his master, as it has also happened in our time. For because those who either had a good mind or were eloquent were most concerned that they could persuade the audience that history was a dead thing that served nothing for the edification and improvement of the church, it has come about that we have resorted to allegories with the usual effort and have fallen for them.
And this went particularly well with me, since I was young. For although I may have thought up clumsy glosses and interpretations, it was because such excellent teachers of the church as Jerome and Origen had at times conceded and yielded much to their thoughts: therefore he who could best write and spin allegories was a more learned theologian. And did this
This delusion moved Augustine, so that he often, especially in the Psalms, abandons the histories and turns to the allegories. For everyone thought that the allegories, especially in the histories of the Old Testament, were the spiritual mind, but the histories or literal sense were the carnal mind.
But tell me, dear reader, if this is not defiling the Holy Scriptures? Origen makes heaven out of paradise, he makes angels out of the trees. If this is so, where will the article of creation remain? Therefore it is necessary that especially young theologians of the old teachers read books with consideration and with the advice that they boldly reject that which is not according to truth and right understanding, lest they be deceived by the great name and reputation of the fathers and church teachers, as I and all schools of theologians have been deceived and seduced.
For my part, from the time that I began to pursue the historical understanding, I have always had an abhorrence of allegories, and have not needed any, unless the text itself had brought them with it or the interpretation could have been drawn from the New Testament. Although it was quite difficult for me to let go of the allegories, which I had long been accustomed to, I saw that they were futile speculations and, as it were, a froth of the Holy Scriptures.
For it is the historical mind alone that can teach something thorough and true. When this has been properly conceived and acted upon, allegories may then be used as ornaments and flowers to explain the histories and decorate them as if with a painting. For mere allegories that do not rhyme with any part of history, nor paint and decorate it, should be rejected as useless dreams. But such allegories are those used by Origen and those who followed him. For where can one prove from the Scriptures that by the paradise the heaven and by the trees the angels are signified? Are not these very foolish and useless thoughts?
If anyone wants to use allegories for this reason, he must get the reason for them from history itself. For history is like a dialectic that gives a thorough and truthful account of things. Again, allegories, like rhetoric, should only decorate and paint the histories; for they serve and are of no use as proofs. But this allegory is valid when we say that heaven means the church, and earth means worldly life, government and order. For Christ himself calls the church the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, but the earth is called the land of the living, where kings and princes reign.
The same allegory is used by Paul, namely, that Adam and Eve, or the marriage state, is a model of Christ and the church; which allegory is excellent and very comforting. For what can be said more sweetly than that the church is the bride and Christ her bridegroom? For by this is signified the joyful company and fellowship of all the gifts which the bridegroom has, and beside this are covered the sins and all miseries, so that the poor bride is weighed down. Therefore it is a lovely word that Paul uses 2 Cor. 11:2: "I have entrusted you to one man, that I might bring a pure virgin to Christ. He also says in Rom. 5, 14 that Adam was an image of the one to come. How so? "For if many died in one sin, God's grace and gift abounded to many through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. But does this allegory not agree finely with the history on which it is based? Thus he makes both testaments out of Sarah and Hagar. And in this way, those who introduce allegories should also seek the same reason from history.
304 We have just heard about the seed of the woman and the serpent. On this history Christ directs Matth. 13, 25. the simile of the enemy who sowed evil seed, which is ungodly teaching and evil thoughts. Who would not want to see that these are more convenient, clearer, more useful and better allegories than those that Augustine, Lyra and others pretend about the upper and lower part of reason?
So what does the closed paradise, and the cherubim with the swords, which are placed in front of it as a guard, mean, but that man, as long as he is outside the faith in Christ, can neither suffer the law nor the gospel? as Paul says of the Jews 2 Cor. 3:7, "who could not look at the face of Moses for clarity," and Moses had to hang the ceiling in front of his face. The tree of death is the law, but the tree of life is the gospel or Christ. Those who do not believe in Christ cannot come to these trees, for they are forbidden by the angel with the sword, who cannot stand hypocrisy and false righteousness. But whoever recognizes his sin and believes in Christ, paradise remains open to him, for he does not bring his own righteousness, but Christ's, which the gospel therefore proclaims and offers to all, so that we may all rely on it and be saved.
306 But there is no need to deal with these allegories at length; but it is enough to indicate that whoever wants to introduce allegories should use those which the apostles have indicated and which have a certain foundation in the letter or history; otherwise it will happen that we build on the foundation chaff and stubble, but not gold.
But I must say about the cherubim, because they are often mentioned in the Scriptures. But the Latin teachers write nothing about them without saying that the word cherubim means perfect knowledge. Among the Greeks is Dionysius, of whom they boast that he was a disciple of St. Paul: but this is not true, for he is full of useless and foolish talk, since he disputes about the heavenly and ecclesiastical hierarchy, in which he makes nine choirs like spheres, and in the uppermost choir he places the seraphim, after which the cherubim, thrones, dominions, powers, authorities; then in the lower hierarchy he places powers, archangels and angels. But who would not see here that these are nothing but idle and useless thoughts of men? After that, in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, he puts
be bishops, deacons, subdeacons, lecturers, exorcists etc.
With such talk and fables a disciple of the chief of the apostles and teacher of the Gentiles, as they say, has to do; and yet his authority is so praised that the proud pompous hypocrites take almost everything he says for divine sayings, when he says not a word anywhere of faith, nor of useful teaching of the holy Scriptures. And who told him that there were nine choirs? Why did the Franciscan monks subsequently add the tenth as a palace where the Holy Mother Mary dwells? In sum, these are petty things, worthy to be learned and magnified by the papists, because they so stubbornly dispute the pure and righteous doctrine.
309 Therefore I will now give my opinion of the cherubim, as much as I have been able to read and understand about them. And I think that cherub means a blooming, full and beautiful face, as one sees in young maidens and boys at the first age, as one also paints the angels, that they look like young children. So that cherubim is understood to mean angels who do not appear with a frowning or sad face, but with a joyful countenance and full face, whether human or otherwise; and cherub is a generic word that can be said of many. Therefore it cannot be a single or special thing among the choirs or orders of angels, as Dionysius dreams, but belongs to the appearance that the angels show themselves and let themselves be seen by men in such a blooming and young face. This opinion is also held by the Hebrews, who say that kerub is a Chaldean word and k is a prefix; rub means a beautiful young fellow, who is of a full and blooming countenance; and therefore the angels are called kerubim, as they let themselves be seen in a young, cheerful and lovely form, as they are also almost painted.
310 Thus seraphim is also a generic word and means the angels of fire or radiance, therefore their form is like this; as the text 4 Mos. 21, 6. indicates: "The Lord
sent among the people" hannechaschim, has-seraphim, that is, "burning or fiery serpents". So that by this are to be understood the angels, who are not only beautiful and of a full countenance, like the cherubim, but also shining; as they are painted in the Gospel Matth. 28, 3. that they sat by the grave of the Lord. "His form," says the text, "was like lightning." Here belongs what is said in the 104th Psalm v. 4: "Thou makest thine angels winds, and thy servants flames of fire," that is, gleaming and shining fire; as also Luc. 2, 9. says that the angel came to the shepherds and shone around them the clarity of the Lord. So also was Matth. 17, 2. the face of Christ on Mount Thabor. And so shall our faces be, when we are raised up at the last day unto the glory which Christ hath purchased for us.
311) In the books of Kings (1 Kings 6:29) it is written about the walls with cherubic figures, by which the full and fresh faces of the angels are also understood together with the wings. Not that the angels have wings, but that they cannot be painted in any other form; as Isa. 6, 6. the angel is called seraphim, when he flies with a joyful and beautiful face, as they are painted on the carpets. If there is also a radiance, as the face of St. Stephen was, fresh and cheerful, from whose eyes shone joy, then they are called seraphim, as we say in German: blooming and glowing faces. So shall we be, and our faces shall shine as the sun at noon, not having such wrinkles, not a shrunken brow, not dripping eyes, as now, but as it is written in Revelation John 21:4, "God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Let us have such hope and live in the fear of God until we, delivered from this miserable life, come into an angelic and eternal life, amen, amen.