First part.
Of the appearance of three men, as Abraham receives them, and that through them the mystery of the Holy Trinity is portrayed.
V. 1. And the Lord appeared unto him in the grove of Mamre, as he sat by the door of his tabernacle, when the day was hottest.
001 As I have said above, the ninety and ninth year of Abraham is to be noted above all others for many great things that took place therein. For in it was first commanded and done circumcision, and the two promises
After Abraham had gone to Palestine to fight against the four kings and redeemed his brother Lot, the Sodomites also perished and were destroyed in that year; and most importantly, God appeared to Abraham several times and spoke kindly to him.
The sum and content of this next chapter is that God now wants to confirm and conclude the promise of Isaac. For in the previous chapter Abraham was promised that he should have an heir from Sarah, and the name Isaac was attached to him by the Lord Himself, because Abraham had laughed at it. Now Sarah was not present, and it is evident that she told Abraham this when he told her,
not believed, therefore the promise is repeated here, so that Sarah may not hear it from Abraham's mouth as before, but from God Himself, of whom the text here says that Sarah stood behind Him, that is, that He turned His back on her, to indicate that Sarah did not believe sooner, because she was harshly spoken to and punished.
3 So Isaac is promised the second time, and this text of the children of the promise is gloriously and abundantly treated by St. Paul, who concludes that man is justified by faith and not by law or work: and with this reason he sets aside all the hopefulness and presumption of the Jews because of their fleshly birth. For if birth according to the flesh is to count for something, why is there a difference between Ishmael and Isaac? Just as Isaac was born according to the promise, but the promise requires faith, so Abraham's children are not counted as those whose natural father is Abraham, but those who believe according to the example of the faithful Abraham, that they are of the Gentiles or circumcised.
(4) And this text, because it is the most distinguished, is confirmed by two testimonies according to the custom of the Scriptures; as Joseph afterwards sees two dreams of the cows, which signify the same thing. Perhaps people who are unfamiliar with the divine Scriptures may consider this to be a bold and unnecessary repetition, but there is a great reason why one thing has been repeated twice. For thereby the greatest annoyance is removed, and the disputation is cut off from the neat honor and privilege of birth according to your flesh and the presumption of human powers, which otherwise would soon have come to an end.
(5) So that this repetition of the promise belongs to it, so that this knot is not only untied but also cut in two, so that the Jews who rely on their fleshly birth and the Gentiles who rely on their own ability and skill may see at the same time that Abraham's right seed is the seed according to the promise.
(6) For though Isaac was born of Abraham's flesh, yet he was born above the ability of the flesh, since both father and mother are almost dead by reason of their flesh, and by reason of their age are not able to beget children. For the promise, which they take hold of by faith, makes the dead flesh as it were alive again, so that you must consider it that Isaac was born not so much of the flesh as by virtue of the promise.
This is the most important part of this chapter, which proves the righteousness of faith against the presumption and righteousness of works. After this, a very beautiful example of outward discipline and conduct is given, namely, of hospitality. Thirdly, we should notice from this this special, powerful testimony to the article of the Holy Trinity, namely, that three men appeared to Abraham, and Moses always speaks of them as if they were one man or person. But we will save such testimony until later, and now speak of the hospitality.
V.2-5. And when he lifted up his eyes, and looked, behold, three men stood against him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, pass not over before thy servant. Let a little water be brought unto you, and wash your feet; and lean ye under the tree. And I will bring you a morsel of bread, that ye may refresh your hearts: after that ye shall depart. For therefore came ye to your servant. They said: Do as you have said.
8 The master of the epistle to the Hebrews looked at this text and took these words from it to praise hospitality and to exhort Christians to it, as he says in Cap. 13:2: "Do not forget to be hospitable, for through this some have housed angels without their knowledge. Now there is hospitality in all places where the church is. For the church always has, that I may say, a common bag and supply, since it has this command, Matt. 5:42: "Give to him who is free,
who asks you"; and we should all serve them and provide them not only with doctrine, but also with help and welfare, so that both the spirit and the flesh may find refreshment and comfort in them.
(9) But especially the stranger, who is in common need, is to be helped and helped. For what judgment Christ will pronounce on the last day against the hard and unhospitable, he has made it clear Matth. 25, 43: "I have been a guest, and you have not given me shelter," he will say; item v. 40: "Truly I say to you, whatever you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did to me. How could such virtue be praised more highly and gloriously, than that those who are hospitable do not receive a man, but God's Son Himself? And again, what is more ugly than to be inhospitable? For you do not expel a man from your house, but God's Son Himself, who suffered and died for you on the cross; to Him you will grant neither food nor room in your house for only one day, in which He may sleep. But what do you think will be the punishment for such cruel mercilessness and coarseness? Therefore, if anyone wants to be a righteous member of the church, let him remember to be hospitable; not only this example of the holy patriarch, but also many excellent testimonies of the Scriptures inspire and admonish us.
(10) This appearance of the three men is the appearance of the Lord, and since they receive Abraham, he receives the Lord himself. But it is as if they appeared in a simple and contemptible form, naked, hungry, tired and miserable from the journey, as if they had recently been released from a heavy prison. For that Abraham took them for such, his words indicate.
(11) Now Abraham had learned to be hospitable by two ways and causes: First, from the discipline and instruction of the patriarchs, and from the manner and custom of the church. For these have their
Children are taught hospitality as a virtue that the church needs most. For there can be no lack of it, because the word is taught in it, but Satan is an enemy of it and a murderer and liar from the beginning: there must be many dangers, hardships and misfortunes in it.
For where only God speaks, even if it happens in paradise, Satan does not cease to rage with seducing, deceiving and murdering, until he brings Adam out of paradise and makes him a stranger and a wretch. For he has done this to the church from the beginning of the whole world, even outside of paradise; he has sent hatred and enmity upon the pious throughout the whole world; and where God, out of his goodness, has not allowed him to exercise his will and rage upon their souls or bodies, he has attacked their property and driven them from theirs and brought them into misery and poverty, as he was only able. The holy patriarchs saw this, and for this reason they diligently commanded and inculcated in their children that they should gladly receive poor householders, who had been driven from their homes with their wives and children, like little birds from their nests, for lodging, and show them all goodness, will and friendship.
(13) And the church has always been a refuge for the wretched and the poor. For just as Christ says in Luc. 11, 21 that a strong man keeps his palace until a stronger one comes over him, so it has happened to the pious throughout history that when the word has been in circulation, persecution and misery have been most common. So, since in our time the word of God's abundant goodness has again come to light, the devil also rages, and through the pope, bishops and godless tyrannical princes, makes the world full of poor people who wander miserably in misery. They suffer thirst and hunger, and are oppressed and tormented in many ways. Therefore there must be some pious Lot and Abraham, and some pious prince's little country, in which such poor and persecuted Christians are accommodated. For where there is no house, no hospitality can be shown.
14 So Abraham thinks here that he sees such true strangers, wretched and poor people. (For I call right strangers those who are driven out and have to wander about for the sake of the word, not such country people, of whom we had a great many in the papacy, who went into wanton misery or poverty, either out of presumption and recklessness, or out of the hope of some righteousness without all need of persecution). For this is the way of the word, that wherever it goes and resounds, it arouses Satan to anger; and such anger of the strong-armed does not go off without harm and insult to the faithful. For they are driven from their homes and farms, deprived of their possessions, punished in their bodies, and are, in sum, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:13, a curse on the world and a sacrifice of sweepings.
(15) Therefore, the church cannot and should not be idle in such need and poverty of its brethren. For according to God's commandment and the teaching and instruction of the forefathers, she must practice the works of mercy: feed and water the hungry and thirsty, shelter the exiled and strangers, comfort the captives, visit the sick etc.
(16) The devil also has his beggars, but though they have little and nothing, they have enough and plenty, as we see in the monks and peasants. But right beggars are those who are beggars because of the promise of the word, for the world is hostile to them and does not help or serve them, but Abraham helps them. For this he learned from his ancestors, that such help and service are very necessary to poor God-fearing people; therefore he left his house open to everyone and received the strangers with joy, as we see.
(17) Therefore we should remember this example often, because we know that, as Peter says in 1 Epist 5:9, our brothers in the world suffer many things. Therefore, if we want to be Christians, let us open our homes to the poor and the stranger, and feed and refresh them.
18 Secondly, Abraham had learned to be hospitable also from his own experience. For it had already passed
four and twenty years since he came from Ur in Chaldea, lived in misery, traveled through the land of Canaan and could not stay in one place: from Ai he came to Bethel, then to Hebron, to Palestine, Bersaba and other places.
19 Thus he also had to travel twice to Egypt not without great danger; often he had to endure all kinds of thunderstorms in the open field, in addition to suffering hunger and thirst, often also enduring other dangers: which Moses could not tell everything, but indicates it with this single word, that he says Abraham was a stranger, so that he then indicates innumerable troubles and dangers, which Abraham had to experience in such misery.
(20) His own distress and affliction taught him and reminded him to be kind, helpful and gentle to the poor and the stranger. Therefore he took these three men, who appeared to him in a simple and poor form, for poor and exiled brothers, who might have come from the same country of Chaldea, or from Egypt, or first from Damascus; Therefore he runs to meet them, as if they were in great need of refreshment, asks them kindly to stay with him, brings them water to wash their feet, gives them food so that they may refresh themselves as weary wanderers, and does not even consider that it should be angels or God himself.
(21) Therefore it is a goodly example and image of a mild and charitable man toward the brethren who are persecuted for the word, for Abraham regarded these three men as such. Therefore he does not wait until they knock at the door and ask for lodging, but sits at the door, and seeing them from afar, he runs to meet them, as if he were worried that another host might catch such guests on the road. He has such a willing and inclined heart toward them.
22 For Moses indicates this by saying that he sat at the door. Thus he describes such a heart, which is willing, inclined and ready to serve poor brethren according to their need, and shows not only
He has not only an inclined and willing heart, but also a servant and gentle hand toward strangers, for which he waits and cares so carefully at the door: just as Paul praises Philemon, that through him the hearts of the saints are refreshed, Philem. V. 7. But such virtue, as I have said, is in the church alone.
23 For look at the papacy and see if you can find such virtue in it. Oh no, the papists are like the sodomites, as the next chapter will tell us. For in fact, as Ezekiel says in Cap. 16, 49: "They have good peace, and all things in abundance; but they help not the poor and needy": against the poor church they rage and rage, shed blood, touch the goods of Christians and drive them into misery. Such atrocious sins and more than barbaric mercilessness and cruelty, which they practice against the servants of the Word, against fathers of households, yes, even against women and children, they try to cover up with their hypocritical worship and by building magnificent and splendid hospitals, not only for the benefit and need of the poor, but for their own glory. Therefore, they will have to hear a terrible judgment in that day, when Christ will accuse them of having persecuted him, driven him out of his own and chased him into misery.
24. and now, praise God! under our most gracious Lord, the poor and the exiled have a refuge in his country, where they can safely stay; but I am worried that another will come who will not want to know Joseph, and this will happen because of the most unkindness, because of the lack of hospitality and because of the stinginess of the people; for neither the nobility, nor the burghers, nor the peasants are helpful to the churches with a penny, so that they might again prove serviceable and lenient toward the exiles; but what we have, we have from that which is under the pabstacy znu25. For now and then no one wants to give anything, but in the papacy there was no end to giving; since now and then one should give all the more abundantly and leniently, because of the pious Christians who are in the
The people are taught the Word of God, and the church servants commonly suffer hardship, because they are now married and no longer live in the unrighteous, disgraceful life of the priests. Therefore, poverty and misery do not affect individuals as in former times, but husband and wife, children and servants; and it is a grave sin not to counsel or help them.
And we should not doubt that the holy patriarch will often have to suffer what we suffer every day; for there is no lack of lazy and idle hypocrites who are used to begging, and who gamble away and conceal everything they get, and such are commonly found in churches that have a little supply to help the poor, and for a while they pretend to be very pious only so that they will bring and beg for more of it.
27 Thus Paul complains about the lecherous widows, who were fed from the common caste and were burdensome to the churches, 1 Tim. 5:16. If this happened at that time, what wonder is it that many also come to us under the name as if they were in Eleud and driven from their own for the sake of the word. Of such we have not hospitality, but robbery and unreasonable vexation, that the churches may be burdened; wherefore we must take heed and beware of such loiterers.
(28) There is no doubt that Abraham was often deceived, that idle people came to him and took advantage of his goodwill, knowing that their table would be prepared for them at his house and that everything would be served willingly. Such people are like the lazy bumblebees, who eat up the honey of the bees that work and are busy. But this is done without harm to those who are kind to them; for those who are so simple and mild and do good do not lose their reward, even though their good deeds are lost and misused.
29Therefore we should note this history well, that Abraham is described here as sitting at the door and running to meet the wandering people, who are to be called for it.
as if they were without fault and in need of charity and service from others. We should be as benevolent as this, open our doors and cheerfully accept our poor brothers. But if at times we are deceived about this, it does us no harm; for God nevertheless pleases our will, and the good that is lost in a wicked and ungrateful man is not lost in Christ, in whose name we do good. And as we ought not knowingly to strengthen the laziness of idle and slothful men, nor to give them any thing: so also, if we be deceived, we ought not therefore to forbear, nor to cease to serve others, and to do good. Christ cleansed ten lepers, knowing that only one would be grateful to him, Luc. 17:12 ff. It will be the same for us, and yet we should never set our minds on doing good to anyone.
(30) Yea, we ought not only to be kind and helpful to our brethren who are in misery for the faith's sake, but also to other common poor, if they be not manifestly wicked. As if a Turk or a Tartar were to come to us, and not for the sake of our doctrine, of which, as a stranger, he could know nothing, but were otherwise poor: such a one, though he suffer not for the word's sake, yet should we not despise him nor let him.
(31) However, this doctrine of hospitality applies primarily to those whom Christ calls His least, Matt. 25:40. For where the word is, there the enemy Satan is also, bringing spiritual and physical adversity. He could not rest in paradise until he chased Adam and Eve into misery; therefore we should be ready to comfort the brethren in all kinds of distress. Those who are afflicted because of spiritual persecution we are to comfort and lift up with the word, but those who are afflicted in the flesh we are to feed and refresh with bread and water, that is, with love and hospitality: to each according to his need. As Abraham does here: he sees these three strangers, but does not know who they are, but he knows and sees that they are poor people who are weary and have traveled, therefore he carries them so.
He soon prepares water, washes their feet, slaughters a calf, orders and serves bread and drink. Just as he, though ignorant, takes the Lord himself for an inn, so we, when we do something good for the least of these in the kingdom of God, receive Christ himself, who comes to us in his arms.
032 But why the place where Abraham dwelt is called the grove of Mamre, I have said above. For it is so called according to its owner. For Mamre, with his two brothers, not only gave this place to Abraham to dwell in, but also joined himself to him, and he, with his brothers and theirs, was undoubtedly a holy and pious family, who helped and assisted Abraham in the war against the four kings. Although some of the Latin interpreters call this place an oak forest, and some call it a broad or even a field, it seems to me that it was a small wood or grove in which he had a small hut in the middle. That is why he tells the guests to sit down under a tree in the shade.
(33) That he says of the time that the day was hottest or in the middle of the day is also not in vain. For those who travel and have been up early tend to feel hunger and thirst at that time, especially if they are poor. That is why Abraham took special care at such times, and was of the opinion that he would sit at the door, so that if he saw anyone wandering, he would take him in and feed him. Moses also said that he had lifted up his eyes, indicating that he had been sitting for a while in thought, perhaps thinking of the promise, or praying, or struggling against some challenge. When he suddenly lifted up his eyes, behold, there were three, as it seemed, pious and poor men, and he ran to meet them, invited them, and ministered to them.
(34) Therefore, we are to regard him not only as a father of faith or of believers because of his very powerful and great faith, but also as a father of good works, and as a very beautiful and glorious example of love, people, and the Lord.
The patriarchs were accustomed to be happy, kind, benevolent and of all virtues. And it seems from Moses' words that the patriarchs had such a habit of sitting at the doors, waiting for foreign guests at noon and in the evening and accepting them, especially at the time when Satan raged against the pious a little more cruelly; just as the persecutions are harder at one time and more bearable and lighter at another.
(35) If one were to set God and Satan against each other, this history would become much easier and clearer. Satan is equally hostile to the teachers and hearers of the Word; therefore one should be primarily hospitable to those who are of our faith. For this distinction, as the apostles taught, is to be held for and against, namely, that we first care for the brethren, that is, those who profess the same doctrine and faith with us, and suffer persecution for it. And such virtue has a special name among the Greeks and is called Philadelphia, that is, heartfelt love for the brethren. Now our brethren are not alone in poverty and misery, but others much more also, and Christ exhorts us, according to the example of his heavenly Father, to do good also to our enemies.
(36) So this virtue, that one is hospitable and kind to such strangers who wander about in misery for the sake of the word and faith, is especially praised and commanded here. For they shall not only be fed with bread and water, as Abraham did, but they shall also be treated with reverence. For thus Moses writes of Abraham that as soon as he sees the three men coming, he looks and runs to meet them joyfully, and then bows down to the ground before them as if to worship God himself, and calls them adonai, that is, Lord.
This is almost too great a reverence for him to receive these poor and miserable brothers, as they were to be seen, who appear to him in the form of three old or young men (for Moses does not indicate this). But see how he addresses them so kindly, graciously and humbly, and his words in front of them.
so sweetly and masterfully to them. He implores them, admonishes them kindly, and at last compels them to stay with him; and makes himself believe that he is in heaven, that such guests occur to him, and that he is considered worthy to accommodate them. "If I have found grace," saith he, "in thy sight, pass not over from me." What greater thing could he have said and offered if they had brought him a great lump of gold? But now they bring him nothing at all, but are to be regarded as those who are weary and need someone to refresh them; which Abraham does so heartily and eagerly that he also asks them, and considers it a great service and treasure that they stay.
(38) Therefore this history has no example at all like it, that so great a patriarch should so reverently and deeply humble himself before unknown guests, fall down before them, address them by the name of the divine majesty, and call them adonai, Lord. After that, see how smoothly and sensibly he boasts of his ability: "Let them bring you," he says, "a little water"; item: "I will bring you a morsel of bread." Such courtesy, that he does not boast greatly of his good deeds, is also very sweet. For as Jesus Sirach Cap. 31, 14, those who advance and begrudge benefits are called evil eyes, so it is not at all fitting that you should praise or extol your own; for such ostentation and hopefulness make the benefit unpleasant. So you will find nothing like this history: and whoever wants to teach others how one should show oneself willingly and serviceably toward the brethren, let him take an example from this, and he will find that in these few words there is much more rhetorical art and mastery than anyone can imitate.
39. and now this text teaches, according to the simple and historical understanding, that Abraham showed the works of love, service and goodwill toward the brothers who were with him of one doctrine and confession; as Christ also teaches us, when he says John 13:20: "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who received me.
has sent." This is truly a great and wonderful promise, if one wants to think about it rightly and diligently, which Abraham never had so clearly; and yet see how diligently he exhorts these strangers to stay with him and how kindly he cares for them.
40. He learned this, as I said above, not only from the instruction of his ancestors, who taught and accustomed their own to be hospitable, which virtue the church needs most when God's word is flowing and shining most brightly: But he was also taught by his own example and experience, after he had also wandered about in misery and had experienced much unhappiness, since the service and assistance of pious people had been quite dear and pleasant to him: that he had therefore learned this rule from experience, that whoever receives a brother who is miserable for the sake of the Word, receives God Himself in such a brother. And because this rule was given to us by Christ Himself, and because He promised that on the last day He would praise us for the good we had done for the poor, we are still much more indolent and cold-hearted than the holy patriarchs, who did not have such a promise.
41. Abraham thought that these three men had been expelled from his place for the sake of faith and the word, and saw that they were not respected in Sodom or in the other nearby and surrounding places, nor were they given shelter: Therefore he takes them to himself, and considers it as if he accepts God himself among them; as is evidenced by the fact that he soon calls them adonai, Lord, and also by the gesture that he bows down to the ground before them, as if to worship them; as he is not lacking in this, for he accepts God himself as his host.
42 Therefore he is set as an example to all the churches, that they may learn to receive the ministers of the Word as the Lord Himself in heaven; as Paul boasts of his Galatians, that they held him as an angel of God, Gal. 4:14. And though the custom of bowing down before strangers is not with us, yet we should bow down in our hearts before our own.
Brothers stoop down for the sake of the Lord Christ who dwells in them. For since he says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," Matt. 25:40, he addresses this saying to a brotherhood between us and them. But since there is no one among us who would not bow down before the Lord Christ and fall down before him when he sees him, why would we not bow down before our brothers at least in our hearts? As Augustine finely says: Honor God among yourselves; for the word of the Lord Christ does not lie: "You have done to me what you did to one of the least of these."
(43) Therefore, we are justified in lamenting over our unbelieving hearts, which have grown cold and frozen like ice and cannot be softened by such lovely promises. Abraham, as we see, believed, even though he did not have such a clear word, that he would receive God Himself if he received these three men: that they were men, he did not doubt; and yet his knowledge goes higher than he thinks, and looks to the Lord, whom he worships in these guests.
44 If they had been enemies, he would not have let them go, but would have fed and watered them first out of the love that does good to all, and would not have stooped to the ground out of love for his brothers and fellow believers. For he knows that God dwells in brothers who are of one faith and right in the temple of God, and not in enemies of the faith or in those who know nothing of the right religion.
(45) Although I do not resent the opinion of those who say that Abraham learned from his own and his ancestors' examples and often experienced that the angels appeared to the saints in human form and lodged with them, as we will hear later (chap. 19:2 ff.) from Lot in Sodom. This experience brought them to the point that they kept all guests and strangers honest and again hoped to deal with the angels.
(46) And though this is seldom done, yet, knowing that God should be honored in the brethren, they considered themselves, as it were, unworthy to receive into lodging weak, poor, and afflicted brethren, who suffered misery for the Word's sake; wherefore they did it with so great joy, and with a willing and inclined mind.
The world, however, does the opposite; for the king in Canaan does not receive Abraham, much less the Sodomites Lot: so Abraham, in Egypt, where a good king reigned, comes into great danger for Sarah's sake, and we will hear hereafter how kindly the Philistines dealt with him. Therefore, the saints are not received kindly and kept well anywhere except with Abraham and Lot, that is, with the Church, which considers itself a servant of the servants of God, and unworthy of such honor, that since God dwells in the saints, it should receive him as an inn among the brethren. At the present time, when there are so many land-grabbers and idle beggars, I do not know whether it would be necessary to show such bodily reverence and servitude. For the world is utterly wicked, 1 John 5:19, and there are many who abuse the goodwill and charity of devout Christians.
48 Washing feet also came from the ancient fathers, and is also part of the deference that should be paid to strangers.
49. And is this the historical and simple meaning of this text and a great glory and praise of hospitality, that we should be sure that we have God Himself in our house, and that He is fed, reclines and rests with us, as often as a poor brother, who is in misery for the sake of the gospel, comes to us and is taken in by us for lodging: And this is called brotherly or Christian love, which is so much greater than that common kindness which we show even to strangers and enemies when they need our help.
50 None of these happen to our adversaries, for they are enemies to us because of the word and our faith.
they chase us away and kill us. But those who are their enemies in an outward or worldly way, they are again hostile to them. Therefore, the hospitality and brotherly love is only with the true Christians and in the church.
For the fact that the books of the Gentiles boast much about the friendship of Theseus and Hercules, Pylades and Orestes, who allowed themselves to be killed for one another, is nothing at all compared to the brotherhood in the church, which holds together and binds together the company and fellowship with God, so that Christ, the Son of God, says that whatever happens to one of the least of these is done to him, Matt. 25:40. 25, 40. Therefore, Christians pour out their hearts without hypocrisy in their neighbor's need, and there is nothing so precious and difficult that a Christian does not let pass over him for the sake of the brethren.
(52) But, oh, we poor and blinded people, to whom all these things are preached without fruit, for very few believe that such things are true. But if anyone could seriously believe that he would receive God the Lord Himself when he receives a poor brother, there would be no need for such diligent, careful and heartfelt exhortations to the works of love; But then our bags, boxes, kitchens and cellars would be open to our brethren without all disfavor and burden, and we would run with dear Abraham from ourselves to meet the poor and needy, invite them to us, precede others, and run forward in such honor, saying: O Lord JEsu! come to me, and have need of my bread, wine, silver, and gold; for how well these things are applied, if I turn them to thee etc. But because we do not do this, it is certain that we do not believe such things. Therefore we are deaf to such examples of the patriarchs. But in fact such examples are prescribed for our shame, and in due time such obstinate unbelief will meet its punishment.
(53) But what will they answer in the last day who persecute the church? As the pope does, who boasts that he is a servant of all servants, lyingly and falsely.
and spends. Abraham and all believers in Christ have such a title much more cheaply. But if one wanted to call the pope by the right name, one should call him a tyrant, or what would be even worse and crueler than a tyrant; for he persecutes the church of God, drives Christian and faithful servants of God away from theirs, condemns them to the sword and fire, not to mention that he should receive them for brothers and friends. Therefore he is like the sodomites and not Abraham; neither is he worthy of the land of Canaan like Abraham, but of sulfur and fire from heaven and eternal hell.
(54) That he speaks so modestly of his service and good deeds is, as I said, very special: "Let a little water be brought to you," he says, "but lean under the tree" and rest. The Hebrew word is very emphatic, hischaanu, lean, lean on this tree as on a stick; for so do those who have wandered wearily. Psalm 23:4 says, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me," for this is the word upon which we lean, rest, and are strengthened when we are weary with trouble and temptation.
(55) To the diminution of his service also belongs that he does not say that he will prepare a table for them or make beds, but tells them to lie down under the tree and puts them off for bread. Therefore, this is an excellent example, and it is described in convenient and appropriate words, so that someone, if he is not even a stone, must always wish and desire to be like Abraham in this work of hospitality, whom we can call a father not only of faith but also of good works. Let this be enough of history.
(56) Now we must also say something about the mystery of the Trinity. For the godless Jews laugh at us that our fathers wanted to prove the Trinity from this text, that three men appeared to Abraham and yet he only spoke to one: and indeed, according to the historical understanding, nothing else is to be concluded from this text than that Abraham had very great reverence for the Trinity.
He did not yet know that it was the Lord, but he did show kindness, service and charity to these poor brethren and took good care of them.
(57) And because history brings such understanding with it, they condemn us for making three persons and one divine being: and therefore boast that nothing of this kind is found either in Moses or in the prophets, and whoever wants to prove this from this text, he, they say, must be able to turn the Scriptures as he wills, and prove from them what he wills.
58 And according to this rule, as from a certain evidence, they condemn our faith altogether. And that I say the truth, if the Jews read Cyprian and Hilarius, they may find many things that are not at all convenient and agreeable to them. But the holy fathers have written these things in Christian and good opinion, and have well understood and seen that opponents and enemies of the doctrine are not to be dealt with in this way, but with such hearers as do not deny the foundation of the faith and the noblest part. For when a preacher instructs and teaches his hearers, he does not instigate war or battle, but prepares training and armor for battle, in which one does not use sharp weapons, spears or swords, but rather children's weapons and spears and swords made of wood; but when it comes to a meeting, one must be well equipped with steel and iron, weapons and arms.
So, when we argue against the enemies of the church, we must bring forth good and certain reasons and strong evidence. For if this is not done, our enemies not only ridicule us, but are also strengthened in their error. Thus we have rebuked the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians not only with many and thorough proofs, so that we have protected our doctrine, but also by paying attention to what they wrongly attract and falsely base one thing on another.
Therefore, teaching is another thing, and exhortation is another. Rhetoric and the art of exhortation are often used in jest, and offer you a shillelagh that you regard as a sharp sword.
But dialectics and right mastery are in the field and do serious things; therefore they do not show wood or shillelaghs to the adversary, but sharp and pointed spears and swords. And because the fathers did not do this everywhere, but at times adduced and used inconvenient, and at other times weak, evidence to establish and prove the article of the Trinity among their disciples and hearers, the Jews hold this against us as a rule, that many sayings of Scripture are evil received and applied by our teachers, for which reason our whole doctrine of the Trinity is unjust and false. And we do not deny that the fathers cite some things from the Scriptures that are unjust and inconvenient; but nevertheless this is not true either, and is unfounded, that therefore our doctrine is unjust.
(61) For as far as this text is concerned, we admit that the historical understanding proves nothing against the Jews; but sometimes the inauthentic and figurative understanding is also admissible. For this is what Paul does in Gal. 4:22 ff: after he has masterfully proved the doctrine of faith and, as it were, conquered it with the sword, he then brings in the allegory of Sarah and Hagar, which, although it is too weak in the battle, for it deviates from the historical understanding, nevertheless makes the trade of faith its light and adorns it.
(62) For history does not teach that Abraham was God, Sarah the church, and Hagar the synagogue; but it teaches that Abraham was the father of the house, Sarah the mother of the house, and Hagar the handmaid. But what harm is there, if the foundation has been well laid beforehand, and if it has been proved from other certain and clear sayings of Scripture, that the allegory should also be brought, not only to adorn the matter with it, but also to make it clearer and more lucid. Thus the natural sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, signify the two peoples; Ishmael, the people according to the flesh; Isaac, the people according to the spirit or the promise.
For this reason, Augustine rightly says that the figure proves nothing, and that it should also have nothing to do with things when they are spoken of seriously, because there one must find the reason for them.
Certainly and firmly. If this is established, then it is permissible to explain and decorate the matter with allegory or figure. Thus Augustine himself does not prove the Trinity from the fact that he speaks of three different powers or effects in man, and yet it is a lovely thought that one looks for footprints and characteristics of the divine Trinity in man and all other creatures at the same time.
(64) As Peter Lombard does when he cites this common saying, that every thing is ordered and created by weight, size, and number: item, that in every thing that has a size, consider the length, breadth, and thickness: item, that in philosophy there is ens verum unum (a true, unified being), in the sun, its substance, light, and heat. With such sayings one cannot penetrate the adversaries of the word, but to us they are lovely similes and characteristics of the article of the Trinity, which we have otherwise founded and proved and which is known to us. In this way we also want to answer the Jews here, they may laugh at our and our teachers, who have used this testimony in the article of the Trinity, as they want; they have nevertheless never said that they blame us falsely, that these three men mean three persons of God.
(65) In like manner the papists also counterfeit our doctrine and sayings, that they may adorn their things. For since we say that man is not justified by his works, they say that we forbid and reject good works. Such poisonous liars are Cochläus, Witzelius and others, and are such devilish lies of poisonous and very evil people, who do not hear what I say, nor do they want to hear; and yet they interpret our words as they want, much differently than they are meant by us.
66) Nowhere in the fathers or teachers is it found that Abraham considered these three men to be three persons of the Godhead; therefore these are lies of poisonous tongues, which are like a sharp shearer's knife, Psalm 52:4, and speak nothing but rash and hasty words, thereby seducing, vexing, and bringing down pious hearts.
will be. The Jews have ears and hear naturally like other people, but as people possessed by the devil and his wickedness, they do not hear what we say; as Isaiah prophesied about them, Cap. 6, 10. For the fathers did not speak so foolishly about the Trinity that they would have pretended that these three men, if Abraham had seen them with bodily eyes, would have been taken by him for three persons of the Godhead.
In the baptism of Christ, Christ stands as a man, the voice of the Father comes from heaven, and the dove hovers over the head of the Lord Christ: these are three distinct things; but who would say that humanity is the Godhead, or that this voice is God the Father, or that the dove is the Holy Spirit?
68. But this is rightly said, that in the man Christ is God, in the dove the Holy Spirit, and in the voice the Father. And are we not so foolish as to say that an outward image or bodily thing, which is seen and comprehended with the eyes, is God; for we know that the Trinity is invisible.
69) Therefore, the Fathers did not say in other words and so roughly why God wanted to reveal Himself to Abraham in three persons and not in four or two, or why God chose three persons in which He appeared, namely, that Moses wanted to indicate darkly that One God was divided into three persons, since Abraham sees three of them and worships only One.
(70) And thus the holy fathers have spoken, not as the poisonous tongues of the Jews blaspheme; for God willed to appear to Abraham in the Trinity of angels. Since three are seen and one speaks, and Abraham sees three and worships only one, the holy fathers say that this means that there is a trinity in God, and not that the same three persons who are seen are the Trinity. But if we had no other proof of the Trinity without these three persons alone, I myself would not have believed it.
we have other reasons and strong and powerful proofs, of which we have said in other places and still want to say.
Therefore, let us defend our teachers against such poisonous tongues, who say that Abraham saw the Trinity in a secret and hidden mind, because God did not appear to him in fewer or more persons than in three. For if he saw the day of Christ (as is clearly attested in the New Testament, John 8:56), he undoubtedly also saw his divinity: if he saw his divinity, this could not have happened without knowledge of the Trinity.
(72) That therefore the fathers have rightly guided and used this text. For to prove a thing, and after it is proved and established, to adorn and emphasize it, are two different things. The rhetorical colors and arguments do not always prove, but adorn very much and persuade to what the dialectic has proved.
(73) It is very pleasant and sweet to me that after I know that we are justified by faith alone (for this is abundantly founded, proved and explained in the holy Scriptures), Augustine, Hilarius, Cyril and Ambrose also say this: although they do not do the same and often speak inconveniently and not at all actually. For I do not attribute this to them as an error, but am content with the fact that they say the same thing as us, whether they do not speak so comfortably at all times: and their testimony strengthens me, whether it is more rhetorical than dialectical.
For where the foundation is rightly built and laid, the rhetorical proofs, though they are not so strong and firm, are also useful, pleasant and fruitful. Therefore, this testimony of the holy fathers is to be held to be true, that they rightly said that Abraham recognized the Trinity from this appearance, in which God appeared to him in three persons. For such is a rhetorical argument and proof, convenient and useful to teach, where the foundation of the Holy Trinity is built and laid from other places in Scripture.
Second part.
Of the banquet prepared for Abraham and of the conversation at that banquet.
V. 5-8. They said: Do as you have said. And Abraham hasted into the tabernacle unto Sarah, and said, Make haste, and mix three measures of fine flour, and knead, and bake cakes. And he ran unto the oxen, and fetched a goodly calf, and gave it unto the lad, and he made haste, and prepared it. And he took butter and milk, and of the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them, and stood before them under the tree, and they did eat.
This is the description, not of a glorious, princely or royal, but of a divine meal and banquet. And whoever would be a good dialectician and orator, he would have rich matter in this text, in which he could well practice. For such words are not to be passed over so merely and coldly, since it is certain that they are not written in vain by the Holy Spirit, but for our sake.
When Abraham notices that these three guests want to stay with him, he happily hurries into the hut and prepares a meal, because he is sure that he receives God Himself in these three guests. Such faith makes him so joyful and willing.
Because we do not have such faith, we are not at all like Abraham and are very slow and sluggish in such service and works of love. But if we did not doubt in our conscience, but were sure that when we receive a brother, or one who has been driven out because of the word, or the poor in any other way, we would receive God Himself and have the Son of God Himself as a witness of such service on the last day, we would truly rejoice when foreign guests came to stay with us and would not think that they would weigh us down.
78) But our physical eyes prevent us from doing so, for they see an invisible guest, even if they have seen him before.
Because this is so ardent in Abraham, he hastens with such great joy, and does not walk slowly or in awe, but rejoices that he has received cause to prove his good will to his brothers. Therefore he does not let his servants serve him, but steps on his own feet and delivers a calf; he also tells his Sarah to hurry and bake a cake.
79 All these things are written by Moses so that he may emphasize the glorious faith of Abraham, so that he may not let his conscience doubt, but be certain that he has as his guest the God of heaven and earth: not that he already knew Him then, as he knew Him later, but that he is certain that God will come to him in these brothers. Such faith therefore makes him joyful, willing and eager for such good works. But because we are sluggish and lazy to do such good works of love, and are angry or grumbling when strange brothers come to us, these are signs of a sleepy and lazy, if not dead, faith in us.
For this reason, such examples should be held up to the congregations and diligently impressed upon them, lest we be punished for our ingratitude, as happened to us in the papacy, when we despised such sacred histories and were more concerned with the lies of the monks. But what are Antonius, Franciscus and Dominicus against this patriarch, whose heart burns with faith like a fiery furnace? That is why he is so inclined to all kinds of service and willingness.
81 Previously he had said that he would have a little bread brought to them: here he takes three measures not of common flour, which the servants used for food, but of choice breadcrumbs. And this is Moses' rhetoric, so that he praises Abraham's love and hospitality with mighty, splendid and very rich words, or rather his faith, because it shines out in such works. How great the measure was, I do not know, but it is certain that the Jews had small measures, for they were a very moderate people.
So he measured the flour according to the number of guests, and now increased his gift, which he had not praised before with many words, but had offered small and small, with action. As mild people are wont to do. But the boasters, who make so many words, do not do so; for commonly the words are greater than the deed: and with such pompous words they puff up their good deed, and make their service, which is pleasant in itself, unpleasant in this way. And there is no doubt that from this history of Abraham Solomon took many sayings and put them among his sayings.
The Latin word panis subcinericius, which we have translated cake, is actually beautiful and white bread, as with us are rolls or cakes, which we serve at banquets. In Hebrew it is called ugoth, and is found in the 35th Psalm v. 16. laage that is: "Those who pretend and mock the pious for the sake of the belly", and therefore are invited by the rich and fed according to pleasure. Paul calls such people servants of the belly (Phil. 3, 19); like the canons of our time, who neither teach nor pray nor work in the church, but only eat sweet bread and drink good wine.
84 Therefore the word og is called a baker, and in Moses it is the name of the king of Bashan, that is, of fatness, because he dwelt in a fat and fertile land, and had beautiful white and sweet bread. Therefore Abraham took good care of his guests and did them good by baking cakes for them. But he hastened to the cattle and delivered a tender and fat calf.
Where did Moses, who usually does not say much about big things, come up with such rich and extensive words here? Actually, he wanted to praise and impress upon us the example of the holy patriarch in this way, so that we would be so fervent in good works, and as Paul says in Romans 12:10, one would be diligent to precede the other in service and willingness toward poor and exiled brethren, in whom God Himself comes to us and seeks shelter with us.
86 Therefore he says that Abraham himself hastens to the cattle, does not command a servant to do so, and does not bring forth a mangy, snotty and sick sheep, but a very tender and well-fattened calf; that from this it can be seen that he was not a meager or exact landlord, but very mild and hospitable. For precise and frisky people are commonly frightened when a stranger comes to them, and present him with what they do not like and is the very least.
But Abraham did not do this, but prepared a rich and precious meal, because he considered that he had received God in these three guests for lodging. And this is written only once by Moses, but there is no doubt that it was Abraham's daily way to expect foreign guests at noon and to take them home. For how could one who believes for certain that in an exiled brother, who suffers persecution for the sake of the Word, God Himself is not demonstrating the greatest and highest goodwill to foreign guests?
Therefore, think of this innkeeper, who makes it his business to satisfy unknown guests. What must he do to acquaintances and friends! He speaks kindly to these strangers and asks them highly, as if they were doing him a great service, if they stay with him and offer lodging, promises them a morsel of bread, but takes the most beautiful flour and has a cake baked for them. Next to the bread he puts a fatted calf and butter and milk with it, and does not sit down at the table himself, as he should have done as the father of the house, but stands there as a servant and sees that the guests do not lack anything.
Where does this innkeeper get such diligence, attention, service and will against strange, unknown guests, whom he does not receive, as innkeepers do in inns, in order to gain something from them, but feeds them for free? Actually, this is because he thinks he is serving God when he serves his neighbor in his need.
(90) And Moses would have us diligently remember and observe the faith of Abraham, and learn to practice it, and not only in them.
If we owe this to parents, disciplinarians, and the authorities, etc. but also to all our fellow believers or brothers. But because few of us have such faith of Abraham. Few also believe that parents, schoolmasters, authorities are given to us and ordained by God, therefore obedience and service to them is all the weaker, indeed none at all.
Therefore Moses holds up Abraham's example to us as a mirror in which right service and all kinds of virtues shine, but especially this glorious faith, that he recognizes, honors and serves God in these guests. This faith is the most noble thing, but it is hindered in us in many ways by our own flesh, which lies before our eyes like a thick wall, and prevents us from recognizing God in our brothers, as Abraham did, and showing him such service and honor.
The place where this banquet is held is a tree, and Jerome writes that it was a terebinth and remained there until the time of Emperor Constantine. And if you want to compare it with the foolish splendor of the world, you will see nothing here of engraved and painted carpets, nor golden or silver drinking vessels as in princely wickedness: but what is all such splendor compared to the fact that God and the angels are here?
We could have such guests every day, if we were not hindered by our unbelief. Therefore, all these things are written for our shame and disgrace, so that we do not do them in the light of day, and take it for granted that it is not flesh and blood, but the Son of God Himself with His angels who lodges with us, as often as we take in exiled brothers who are in misery and need for the sake of faith.
And if such faith were in us as it was in Abraham, every tree and every little hut would become a heaven, surpassing all kings' courts and palaces; and all the splendor of gold and silver and all the royal glory would be nothing compared to the adornment of such a poor and little hut, in which God sits with His angels as guests.
95. but as I have often said, we are, the
because our hearts do not believe, are lazy and slow to such services and works of love, run around like swine without all reverence and willingness, forgetting the admonition of St. Paul Rom. 12, 10: "One should precede the other with reverence"; Phil. 2, 3.By humility one esteemeth another better than himself"; item of Augustine's saying: Dear brethren, honor God in yourselves; for if he who is baptized is a member of the Lord Christ, he who receives a baptized brother receives Christ himself. But as I have often said, our unbelieving flesh prevents us from seeing and enjoying such glory. However, such examples are held up to us, that we may learn to improve such coarseness and hardness of our nature, and awaken our hearts to hospitality and other Christian and ministerial works.
V. 9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife? And he answered, Within the tabernacle.
After Moses has described the banquet with its glory, the like of which has never been seen under the sun, since the guests are God Himself with His angels, he now reports what their conversation or sermon over the table was, so that there is no lack of this description, and the whole world will know and be aware that this banquet did not take place as among the monks, who had to remain silent over the tables.
97 For there is nothing more vexatious, nor more uncomfortable, nor more unpleasant, than when good friends come together in silence at a banquet. For words and conversation, if they are sweet and seasoned with salt, as Paul says in Col. 4:6, are the proper seasoning of food; if one word brings and sharpens another, and not only the body is nourished, but also the heart is instructed with doctrine. For Christian conversation comforts and refreshes the heart, awakens faith, inspires love, and instructs us in many ways. Therefore
let me go the peevish and silent monks who take their silence for holiness and worship.
98) Now Sarah, it seems, had some doubts about the promise that God made to her in chapter 17, vv. 16, 19. V. 16, 19, that she should be the mother of the promised seed; therefore, the Lord asks her here that he himself strengthen her in faith. For this work God does for and for, that he instructs, enlightens and strengthens the weak hearts with his spirit, not that he condemns or rejects them because of weakness.
Therefore he asks here as soon as, where Sarah is, and answers Abraham with short words: "She is inside in the hut". If such a short answer runs through a lazy and industrious heart, it lets it go, as if nothing special was attached to it. But the Holy Spirit, with such words, wanted to set an example for all women to follow: that just as Abraham is everywhere modeled for us as a rule of faith and good works, so we should also learn from Sarah what are the highest and most beautiful virtues of a holy and praiseworthy housemother.
(100) For we know that the weakness or inherent levity of all women is that they are apt to walk about, inquiring and searching providently after all things, standing at the door, and either seeing what passes by and happens in the street, or waiting for new rumors. This is why Solomon says of wicked women, Prov. 7:10, 11, that their footsteps are inoffensive, because they are shrewd to see and hear things that do not concern them. For this reason, women's manners and behavior are called evil because of their frivolity, gossip, and presumption.
101 Now these virtues are praised in Sarah, which are contrary to these vices; and this is done in one word, that Abraham says she is in the tabernacle. For if she had been forward like other women, she would have run out and stood at the door, seen what guests had come, listened to their speech, and fallen for their words, etc. but she does not do any of these things.
nes, but waits for their work and housekeeping and cares nothing about other things.
102 Thus Paul commands Titus 2:5 that a woman should be domestic, that is, stay at home and wait for her husband. This is how the pagans painted Venus, that she was standing on a snail. For just as the snail, wherever it crawls, carries its house with it, so a woman should be busy with the business of her house and not go far from it. This requires not only all kinds of housework and ordering, which is primarily due to women and is their own, but also the needs of the children and the servants, who need diligent attention.
Therefore this is a great praise of Sarah, that while strangers come here, she waits for her own, and does not sin with her forwardness, but remains like a snail in her little hut, and does not take so much time that she sees a little what guests she gets.
Such discipline, or shamefacedness, as it may be called, far surpasses all nuns' works and worship, and these words, "Sarah is inside the tabernacle," should rightly be made to work upon the veils of all women. For with this they would have to be reminded of what their office was, they would have to beware of being forward, treading the pavement and walking around and gossiping, and they would have to get used to diligent housekeeping. Thus Moses outlined and described in very short words all the virtues of a pious housemother, who likes to be at home in her house, who takes care of the housekeeping, and who handles and governs what the husband acquires and brings into the house.
(105) Our adversaries, the papists, boast much of great and wonderful works, and laugh at us when they hear that we praise such domestic and civil works, for they consider such works to be small and unsightly. But fasting on certain days, wearing special clothes, not eating meat, making long pilgrimages, etc., such works they praise with a full mouth and promise heaven and blessedness in return.
106. although they are not worthy that we should listen to their loose talk and foolishness.
work, it is for us to rightly understand and appreciate such civic and domestic works. To be hospitable is a domestic and outward or common work, but in truth it may be preferred to all the works of the Carthusians or hermits, yea, even to the fasting and austere life of John the Baptist, which after all he undertook according to divine providence and order.
107. Such a domestic work is also this discipline and sedateness of Sarah. But which virgin or widow could be compared to her in this case? However, those holy people are disgusted with the conjugal life and the presence of husband and wife, so that they not only consider it a dishonest life, but also pretend that it prevents holy works and practices. For this reason the pope imposed and commanded his own to live a conjugal life. Such a conjugal life is all too common in the world, therefore it has nothing apparent about it, and is especially despised by those who want to be the most holy.
For this they should have looked at the one who ordered the worldly and domestic regiment, and if the pope did this with his group, he would know how to keep and speak more honestly about the works of both regiments. "God created them," says the Scripture Genesis 1:27, "male and female"; item v. 28: "He blessed them." Do you then consider this a small thing?
But if you want to explain why God instituted the marriage state in the first place, namely, that through it God has prepared a church, and through it the terrible plague of the flesh is healed, and the way of sin is blocked so that it cannot deceive us, then you will truly have to confess that for this benefit the marriage state is to be highly praised.
(110) Therefore let us consider such civil and domestic works to be the most glorious and godly works, which the papists despise as vain and lowly. For that I speak of hospitality alone, what work is there among all the papist services that can be compared to it? So it seems a small
To be a work, when one gives a drink of water to a thirsty man: but hear thou Christ, how gloriously he extols such work, and what rewards he promises for it.
(111) We can also say this about other works in the household, when pious parents raise their children rightly and keep them in the fear of God; when they keep serious discipline over their servants and drive them to obedience. True, these are common works, without any appearance of holiness, but they must be judged from God's word and not from reason. Abraham could well have fasted on special days, as he undoubtedly did, but Moses writes nothing about this, for he described the righteous works and virtues, not such works as the gospelers can and are accustomed to do.
But the unholy papists are not worthy to be answered more broadly. Let us thank God that we, who have been instructed in the Word, can understand what good works are, namely, to be obedient to our parents and overlords and to honor them, to govern the servants in the house, to show friendship, service and goodwill according to each one's need etc. For we see that Moses, the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles held such works in such high esteem that they were not ashamed to teach and preach about them often.
For they have seen the error of reason itself, and have become so confused in it that it cannot come to the knowledge of right worship, since human works or statutes do nothing but lead people away from right Christian works and practices by their appearance.
For just look at a monk; he evades the obedience of all authorities, even of his parents, does not raise children, does not work, does no good to anyone; but toward his own he is full of hatred and envy, fills himself with the sweat of the poor, and yet is proud and puffed up under this very name that he has vowed to be poor.
115. but the pious and God-fearing
Abraham, the father of the house, is quite poor. For he follows God, who directs him into misery, has nowhere to stay, and even though God has blessed him, he must still be provided for every hour among the unbelieving heathen among whom he is, that they invade him and do violence to him and take everything he has. Thus his wife Sarah willingly follows him into misery, provides for her house and servants, keeps herself in service to the neighbors, is obedient to her husband etc.
These are the highest virtues, the like of which are not found in all the statutes of men. Therefore, let them be highly esteemed and preferred as God's ordinances to all the ordinances and commandments of men, no matter how seemly and respectable they may be. For they corrupt the faith and order of God and mix water with wine, as unfaithful and stingy landlords do.
117] Therefore let us remember this example, that Moses praises Sarah, how she waits with care in the house of her office. For if a housemother wants to serve and please God, she must not, as the women did under the papacy, run into the churches now and then, fast, pray rosaries, etc., but wait on her house and servants, raise and instruct her children, do her kitchen work, and whatever else needs to be done in the house; and if she does this in the faith of the Son of God, and hopes to please God for Christ's sake, she is holy and blessed.
118, "What God has joined together," says Christ Matth. 19, 6, "let not man put asunder. Therefore, divorce or illegitimate life, as it was in Pabst, is not from God. On the other hand, the works required by such divine union are quite holy and good works, however small and mean they may seem to be and are held to be.
For where there is a right obedience to God in faith, everything that the profession requires is a holy and pleasing service to God.
120 But if any man love widowhood or virginity more, and be able to abstain from matrimony without sin, let him do so.
but in such a way that he does not therefore despise or condemn worldly or domestic estates. For they are estates that God has ordered and appointed.
Therefore let monks and nuns boast of their works as long as they wish. But let this work be enough for a husband, if he presides rightly over his household: let it be enough for a wife, if she cares for and maintains her children, feeds them, washes and cleans them, puts them to rest, is obedient to her husband and keeps her house diligently. Such works are far above all nuns' works, of which they boast magnificently and proudly.
For in the statutes of men there is commonly this devilish and pernicious pestilence, that the hearts become secure thereby, and decay as if they were holy. But a pious and Christian housemother does not practice hopefulness, for she is afflicted and humiliated in many ways, because she has to experience innumerable displeasures: from the servants, from the husband, from the children, from the neighbors etc. Therefore, she has reason to practice her faith and pray everywhere. But that is enough of Sarah's example. Let us see what follows in the text.
V. 10 Then said he, I will come again unto thee, if I live; behold, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.
This is the main point of this sermon or most friendly and sweetest guest talk. Now, without a doubt, God will not have explained Himself in so few words. For Moses only recently shows the summa of it, does not tell the whole conversation and trade; as the evangelists also do. For what Christ says in the last supper Joh. 16, 5. 7.: "I go to the Father", and: "I will send you the Comforter", he will undoubtedly have interpreted and explained with rich and many words and a long sermon.
124 So Abraham's guests first thanked him for feeding them so well, and then promised that they would return and that Sarah would have a son. What has
here greater, happier and more pleasant things can happen to these spouses?
The words, kaeth chajah, after the time of life, which we have translated, "If I live," have misled almost all interpreters. The Hebrews understand them as if Abraham and Sarah were promised a certain life, and if this is the opinion: When I come again, you shall both still live. But if this is the opinion, then these words are nothing but an unnecessary repetition. For when God says to Adam and Eve, "Grow and multiply," he also indicates that they should live. Thus, since it is said here, "Sarah shall have a son," she is also promised life at the same time. - So Abraham cannot beget children when he is dead; because he is therefore promised to beget a son, it follows irrefutably that he is promised to live so long.
The others pretend that such words should not be applied to Abraham and Sarah, but to the promised Son, as if this were the opinion: I will come again after the time of life, that is, after such a time as a child must have if it is to live on earth. And is this mind better and more convenient, if one unwinds it and explains it. For the mind is this: I declare unto thee that a son shall be born of Sarah, that he shall be a natural son, and that he shall bear her as a fruit is born of a young woman; lest any man think that he shall be born of Sarah's flesh and blood alone, without the help of a man, in a natural way. She will conceive, he says, from the man and bear the fruit in the womb naturally and ordinarily, so that he will be a true son.
Adam was created from the earth, but therefore he cannot be called a son of the earth, because being created from the earth and being born from the earth are two different things. So also Eve was created from the rib of the man, and yet one may not call her a daughter of the rib. And if God made a man out of wood, therefore the wood could not be called the father of the same man.
So also if God had miraculously created a son from the old Sarah, he would not have been a son after the time of life. Therefore, that he says: I will come again after the time of life, is just as much as if he said, according to the natural way, by which a child in the womb is used to be born and live, Isaac will also be born and live.
The physicians say that the fruit begins to live and move in the fifth month after it has been conceived, but in the other five months it becomes perfect and is made to be born. The same will happen, says the Lord, with Isaac's birth. And thus he excludes the strange and miraculous birth that Sarah, already dead, might have thought of.
And so, that the common course of nature might remain, the Virgin Mary bore the Lord Christ until the tenth month. All this time he had his nourishment like other fruits received from the drop of blood of the Mother, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
131 Therefore these words about time can be understood in such a way that no one should look with his mind to a miraculous birth, but everyone should believe that Isaac is a true son of Sarah, and that he was also born from Abraham and Sarah in a natural and orderly way, as people are born. Therefore the epistle to the Hebrews, Cap. 11, 11, says that Sarah received the power to conceive by faith, that is, that she conceived from Abraham according to the common course of nature, not by a miracle like the Virgin Mary, who also conceived in the womb, but from her own seed, after the Holy Spirit had enveloped her, and not from a man's seed.
In our German translation, we have not applied these words to the life of the child or the parents, but to the person of the angel who speaks to Abraham. For since the angels are subject to such human works and actions and carry them out, they also take on the body of a human being, they also speak, walk, sit, eat and drink, just as the angels do.
So that these words, "after the time of life," are as much as, "if I live. For this is the way we use to speak of future things, that we attach this condition to it: If God will grant me my life, if it is God's will etc.
So this example is part of learning how to speak of God in all fear and honor. Now everyone is free to follow which opinion he wants. To me, the middle opinion of the natural way of giving birth seems to be the most comfortable. But to speak in such and such a way hinders us very much, that after the Hebrew language is no longer common, its way of speaking becomes unknown and strange to us. Therefore, if we do not meet everything in this, a fair and kind-hearted reader will not blame us.
Third part.
Of Sarah and her behavior during this conversation.
V. 10-12 Sarah heard this behind him, behind the door of the tabernacle. And both Abraham and Sarah were old and well advanced in years, so that Sarah was no longer in the way of women. Therefore she laughed within herself, and said, Now that I am old, I shall yet cherish lust, and my lord also is old.
It can be seen that the table was arranged in such a way that the guests had their backs turned toward the hut. It was not closed with doors like ours, but was open, so that Sarah, who was standing at the door waiting to hear if her husband wanted to give an order, could easily hear what was being said. But now the text says that she laughed at this promise and prophecy that she should bear a son. For that it should come to her still, she could not believe, therefore she was ashamed; and for this reason follows: "They were both old and well advanced in years," that is, they had now almost lived out their days, and it was, as we are wont to say, come to an end with them, they walked all their days on the
pit; therefore, she did not believe it, but laughed.
She was no longer doing things the way women do. The young fellows do not understand such things. But one should learn that God has given seed to men and women for fertility, one more, the other less; one stronger, the other weaker. For there is no other way to be fruitful and bear children, except by mixing the seed of the man and the woman. For a woman has her seed and a man also his. And experience shows that women who do not have their time are barren. Therefore, as long as Sarah was according to her time and the common ways of women, she was able to conceive.
136. But when these things had ceased from her, she said, "The Lord hath shut me up, that I should not be able to bear," and told Abraham to lie down with Hagar, that the promise might not be hindered: and by such thoughts her faith is hindered, that she cannot believe that she should yet be fruitful and bear. But such sin is not imputed to her, but forgiven for the sake of these noble and grateful guests. Since Zacharias did not want to believe the angel, he was punished to be mute for a while, but nothing like this happened to Sarah, because the Lord took her weakness into account and forgave her.
Although the very fact that Sarah laughs at herself is a sign of special discipline and chastity. Nowadays one often finds old and shapeless hags who are hornier and more forward than the young. Sarah was not such a woman, but as long as she had hope that she might bear fruit, she kept her husband and waited for the Lord's blessing; but when her old age took away such hope and spoiled it, she abstained from her husband and provided herself with an heir from the maidservant. Such chastity is no small virtue, but those who praise virginity and live illegitimately burn and are defiled day and night.
138. but the Sarah chastity has no
She is hidden under a small cover, because she is a wife; which is a hindrance to all those who live illegitimately, because they cannot see such a glorious chastity, nor believe that it is true, that she says: "Shall I still cultivate pleasure? Now these are also words of an exceedingly chaste and shameful heart.
(139) The Jews speak and speak gloriously of circumcision, but such examples should be praised and held up to all housemothers, since they are recorded and described by the Holy Spirit, not without special counsel.
(140) That Sarah also says of her husband so sensibly and with reverence that he is old, and calls him a gentleman, not a man or husband, is also not to be respected as if it were written in vain; for with such words she also praises her husband's chastity, and shows how valuable and honest she holds him.
141 And this text is especially praised by St. Peter in his 1st Epistle Cap. 3, 6, where he exhorts the housemothers to godliness, discipline and respectability. For Sarah is a particularly good mirror and example, not of one or two, but of all praiseworthy and Christian virtues; and here the Holy Spirit writes of her that she takes care of her house with diligence, does not run up one alley and down another, and learn new rumors from her neighbors, cares diligently for her servants, and lives chastely with her husband, whom she does not consider to be her husband alone, but honors him and waits for him as for a master.
Now if every housemother behaved in this way, what could a pious and reasonable man find fault with her? But, alas, few of them care for such things, nor do they strive to be like Sarah; but are commonly proud, splendid, quarrelsome, mordant, disobedient, rebellious, pompous, and pretend to be wise. Therefore they do not want to be taken for women, but for masters. But how far is this from Sarah's example, which Peter approvingly praises, and from this text?
and understands it better than all nabbins, who pass by such words with contempt, as if they were unnecessary and useless words.
But St. Peter wants them to be an example and mirror in which all holy and chosen women should be reflected, hoping in God and pleasing their husbands with obedience and submission, as Sarah did. And Peter does not speak of monstrous and ugly works, as the nuns do, who dress themselves in a special way and avoid the common unpleasantness, misery and miseries of this life etc., but says v. 5. 6: "You women, be subject and honor your husbands, as Sarah did, who called her husband Lord with the highest reverence." So a housemother could not be praised more highly if she has the praise of placing her hope in God and honoring her husband: and no one can sufficiently adorn nor praise such high virtues and gifts with words.
But why does St. Peter talk about the hope in the Lord among other virtues of women, which Moses does not mention here? In fact, this virtue had shone in Sarah throughout her life like a beautiful and bright star. For consider what Abraham's profession was. God called him to go from his fatherland to the land of Canaan, and he had no place to stay, but wandered about like a beggar, hiding here for a year and there for another year among the heathen and his own. What does the pious, chaste Sarah do in such arduous misery? She not only willingly follows her husband wherever he goes, but also honors him like a lord. Among ourselves, one might well find women who would soon tire of such unwillingness and danger, become unwilling and impatient, and force their husbands to seek a certain dwelling and permanent place, or would run away from them. But Sarah holds fast to the hope in God, follows His word, and although this is a hard stand that she must endure over such a long and long journey, she nevertheless endures, and with hope in God's help overcomes everything that is hard and burdensome to her about it.
That is why she is presented as an example to all housemothers. For here you see and hear from her nothing frivolous, nor unreasonable or impertinent, but everything is serious and important. Everything is fair and praiseworthy, everything is directed according to the rule of the Word of God.
But all these things should be diligently and carefully remembered for the sake of foolish and foolish teachers, who not only teach works and services of their own choosing, but also prefer them to the works that God has commanded. For you have never heard a papist praise such and such histories, or think them special and excellent. They have all said that nothing is written in this first book of Moses, except how among the Jews the men slept with their wives. But are these not coarse sow's eyes, which blindly pass by such great and glorious virtues, and stick only to what is said about sexual intercourse and fornication?
(147) What do such people indicate by this, other than what their hearts are like? They have too many good days, too much food and too much drink, so they must be mad with fornication, and yet they never stop praising the wicked and nasty life of the priests; but such virtue, which the Holy Spirit himself has prescribed for us, they despise or even blaspheme. Just as the married state has been infamous, scolded and desecrated in many ways under the papacy.
Therefore, such domestic virtues should be diligently preached to the young people. If anyone has this gift, that he may abstain and live chastely without the marriage state, he may well use such a gift and abstain from womanhood; but let him beware of it, as of the most harmful poison, lest, for the sake of such grace as he can abstain from, he prefer himself to those who are in the marriage state, or despise or condemn them. For the married state is ordered by God, and the lives of spouses, if they are and remain in the faith, are favored over those who work miracles and have a great reputation and clamor because of them.
The scripture always drives this through and through; because according to the faith you hear nothing more from Abraham than that he sits in his hut, waits for foreign guests and receives them; but after that he arranges his house business. Thus Sarah cooks, makes butter and cheese, feeds the cattle from etc. I must confess that these are servants and maidservants, but they are presented to us by the Holy Spirit as an example.
(150) If then the papists despise such works, and choose other costly, heavy, high, and peculiar exercises, let them remain mad and furious as they are, and consider such domestic works to be filth; but let us nevertheless consider that such childish domestic works, if faith be with them, are to be esteemed more precious than all gold, and far higher and more excellent than all dishonorable life without faith.
Truly, the Holy Spirit describes the holy woman, Sarah, with such colors that it is clear that, although she is capable of conjugal life, she surpasses virgins in chastity. Therefore it is a great sin that the papists are so hostile to the conjugal life of the holy patriarchs and blaspheme it, since it is a mirror and practice not only of chastity but of all other beautiful and glorious virtues. All this should be diligently noted, so that one may refute the opinion of the enthusiasts.
Then said the Lord unto Abraham, Why laughest thou at Sarah, saying, Thinkest thou that it is true that I shall yet be with child, when I am old? Should anything be impossible for the Lord? At this time I will come again to thee, and if I live, Sarah shall have a son.
The Holy Spirit introduces all these things so that the faith of this holy and chaste matron may be strengthened. For she does not yet believe, nor can she have the hope, hindered by carnal thoughts, that she should still conceive and bear a son from her old master, but thinks that she will be content with this, so that she may be a mother of the child from the
Handmaid; but in the hope that she should conceive and bear fruit, she died altogether.
Therefore, it is necessary that she hears the word, so that she is awakened to the hope that she will be fruitful and, as it were, made alive again. For the word is actually a voice that awakens from death. But this is Sarah's death, that she thinks of herself as a dead person. This thought is changed by the word, and the dead body, as one awakened from death, begins to live again. All this happens so that faith is awakened in Sarah.
Now I have often said above that in Sarah there is a very great example of special patience, that she was able to endure such a long misery and to follow her husband with the highest will; item, that she was barren and could suffer that her husband slept with the maid. Because she therefore consoles herself with hope in such heavy trials, she hears an incredible word here, by which a new light goes into her heart and is kindled, and her same weakness, that she does not believe immediately, is held too good for her heavy cross, which she had overcome in hope and patience.
She was now in her eighty-ninth year, and had waited so many years for the Lord's blessing; but seeing that all her hope was in vain, she surrendered all her things to God, and yet did not despair. Hence it comes that the Lord is patient with her weakness, and her laughter, which she does out of the thought of impossibility, is not moved to anger. For what could she hope for as a barren, outdated woman? Therefore, the Lord brings her back to faith through a very kind and sweet punishment.
I said above that not only Sarah, but also Abraham himself considered these guests of theirs to be strange wanderers, and did not think of angels or prophets. Since they therefore speak of a son, Sarah thinks: Who should have told them just that? they do not speak it of a son.
Heart", but" after favor, dienteil they mean that the women of "such" things gladly hear talk. Sarah undoubtedly had such thoughts in her laughter. But when she hears him speak who sees all things and has them before him, new thoughts arise in her heart, so that she no longer thinks of these three men as simple men, but as men who are full of the Holy Spirit, who sees and reveals the hidden things of the heart.
Therefore, this is a serious, yet joyful, kind and sweet punishment, from which Sarah has noticed and learned that her guests are men of God and prophets, because they see her laughter and thoughts and know that she is not with them. Also, after they preach to her so earnestly of God's power that with Him no thing is impossible, Luc. 1, 37, she can no longer despise the prophecy that she shall bear a son. For here her thoughts are taken captive and closed, since she hears that such a thing, which is marvelous and even impossible before the world, is very easy for God, even an ordinary, everyday work, if one looks at other such works of God, and not marvelous or impossible.
I am very fond of such powerful proofs, which, as it were, at one stroke destroy all that can be raised against them, and not of the boring rhetorical proofs, which include many words and colors, which, as we see, the unlearned papists make use of. When they speak of the sacrament of the altar, they say that the Church has the power to regulate such things, namely, that the laity should take only the one form. Such are dilapidated, weak and loose proofs; as Paul says in 1 Tim. 6:3, 4 of him who does not abide in the saving words of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the doctrine of godliness, that he is addicted to questions and wars of words.
But such reasons and proofs, so that one shuts the mouth of the opponent at once, and if he wants to raise something, immediately grabs him in the throat, hold the sting, teach and build. As if I say to a papist: What do you washer me much of the danger that stands on it, if
one gives the chalice to a layman? See the text on the Lord's Supper, and hear Christ who instituted it etc. This single cause and proof breaks down like a wall breaker all that the papists can argue and put forward about this matter.
Therefore it is not enough to be eloquent, but one must also be a dialectician, and know what well-founded, strong, certain, and true sayings and proofs are, and not only what seems to resemble truth. And if then there is the reason of a firm and certain proof, then one does well after that, that one also brings the rhetoric to it, what is easy or difficult, useful or unuseful, laudable or unlaudable etc.
The disputations of the papists all revolve around the questions of what is proper, useful and necessary; from this they build up not only dangerous but also blasphemous propositions about the power of the church, that it is above the Word etc. But if you hold this reason against it: Christ is the head of the church; then what the papists have built up with great effort and labor will soon fall in a heap.
162 In other external or worldly dealings, too, one should look for certain reasons and proofs. It writes Gellius lib. I, v. 6, that since Censorius wants to persuade the young journeymen to marry, he does not press for the common and known ways, so that one can be persuaded, but looks much further and says: "If we could live without wives, we would certainly be relieved of great toil and unpleasantness. There he confesses that the married state is full of unpleasantness, toil and work and various and innumerable dangers and hardships. But he puts all this out of sight and thought, and cuts it off for this reason, that he says one cannot do without women in this life.
Other causes are all weak and ineffectual, and this one alone is strong and certain, which the listener gladly and willingly accepts, that we cannot do without the marriage state. For how would the regiments, countries and people exist if there were no marriage state? For for the protection of women and children one needs
Human beings; they are not born of wood or stones, but of women etc.
164 But we should especially use such firm and certain reasons in theological matters. If your heart is challenged by unbelief, and you doubt whether you can be saved, for you know yourself to be a sinner, then a devout Christian brother who wants to comfort you properly must not give you pontifical and loose reasons that you should satisfy your conscience with this or that work; but he must hold up God's word to you and say: God is true, he promises to be merciful to you for the sake of his Son. But God's Son has absolved you from all sins by His word, has baptized you, has promised you eternal life, if you believe, that is, if you consider it certain and conclude that His death is your salvation. Therefore, either God will be true in His word, or you must be a liar who still doubts the forgiveness of your sin after it has been assured to you by the Son of God. With such a proof the doubting is helped and resisted.
We must be especially careful in this matter because of our adversary, Satan. For he is a cunning disputer and the best speaker. He can blow your sin out of proportion and make God's wrath serious and heavy beyond all measure: in addition, he brings countless examples of God's wrath, even of those who first believed rightly and finally fell. If you do not therefore meet him with this true reason, that God's Son died for sinners, and that those who believe in him will live eternally like himself, then all the other things that can be said or thought of are rhetorical, weak and feeble proofs. But this is the right reason: "God is true, but all men are liars", Rom. 3, 4.
Therefore, call upon God, take hold of His word, hold on to the only sacrifice, the Lord Christ, who was sufficient for your sin and took your death upon Himself and overcame it, and do not let this make you think that you are a sinner;
But behold the commandment of God, which wills that thou receive his Son, and calleth thee to believe. Then think and see, and do not ask how others have fared or will fare: look to yourself, that you will do enough for God's command. etc. Such comfort restores and strengthens a sorrowful and sad heart; but the pope's trifling and foolish work of almsgiving, of reading masses, and of invoking the saints, is vain sophistry and loose reasons, so that one who relies on them may be deceived.
At one time I heard a jurist by the name of Doctor Henning arguing and arguing with an eloquent and sharp opponent about a great deal. Since the adversary had brought a great heap of laws against him, and had guarded his cause in the best way he could, Doctor Henning answered him modestly and kindly: He might bring whole books full of laws; but if he could fly over all mountains and found all waters, he would still have to agree with him, if he wanted to right and fence with him about this deal: and besides, he recently showed him what was important in this whole deal. With these short words, he shut the mouth of the same eloquent man, his adversary, and with it, as it were, knocked him to the ground.
Now that I compare the great with the small and the spiritual with the worldly, Sarah is also hurried and caught here with such a powerful proof that she does not know where to go out or in. She thinks: "Behold, you are a barren old woman, and it is impossible for you to bear children at such an age." But such thoughts are not so deep and firm, they are wrested from her with these serious words: "What should be impossible for the Lord? Should not He, who created man from an earthen lump, be able to raise and create a fruit also from natural seed of your husband and wife? Therefore, these words all fall so that Sarah's faith may be started, and she may hear, see and know that such her guests are not mere human beings, but
men of God and prophets, in whom the Spirit of God dwells: which Sarah had not known until now.
Finally, the angel repeats the words about the time of life, which are explained above. This is not an unnecessary repetition of the words spoken before, as the inexperienced might think, but belongs to the confirmation of the promise and faith of the listeners: and is as much as if one hears two of them testifying about one thing.
V. 15. Then Sarah denied, saying: I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, It is not so; thou hast laughed.
Because Sarah recognizes the prophet of God by the fact that he knew and had noticed the hidden things in her heart, she no longer laughs but is frightened and commits a small sin by saying that she did not laugh when she had laughed. But such a sin is easily forgiven her, because she fears God, obeys the prophets and is subject to her husband. For out of fear of her Lord she is frightened and denies that she laughed, not out of contempt or hopefulness, and is now seriously sorry that she had accepted the prophet's speech with laughter. She is sorry and afraid, and in this fear she commits another sin and denies it. She is seriously contradicted, but with short words: "It is not so, you have laughed", as if he wanted to say: You commit two sins, before you laughed, now you lie about it.
I have often spoken of household and civic works. For the young people are to be diligently taught to respect such works as are commanded by God, and to distinguish and set them apart most wisely from works of their own choosing or from the statutes of men. For if this does not happen, and in the most diligent manner, the difference between good and evil will not only be abolished, but we will also be caught as the most holy, which is the most harmful and a true abomination in the sight of God.
172. Ahaz sacrifices his son to the idol and thinks that he wants to be like Abraham with
For since he does not look to God's word and commandment, which alone is the righteous and eternal test and rule of works, he takes death for life and a harmful and deadly poison for a beneficial medicine.
Therefore, put away appearances from your heart and eyes, and see what God has commanded you; do the same, and you will not err, even though your work appears to be a small and mean work. Antonius escapes and sits down in the desert, Jerome makes pilgrimages to holy lands, and strongly exhorts that chastity should be cultivated and kept. The world considers such things to be great and excellent. But Sarah's standing by the hearth, cooking and preparing food for the guests, and being careful, not only has no appearance or prestige of some good work, but is seen as a hindrance to other good works. But whoever looks at the word will find that Sarah has done many a holy work with it, as the works of all monks and hermits are.
174 And this life will be very much divided into these three states, namely, into the domestic regiment, the police or secular state, and the church office. If you are now in whatever state you wish, a husband, a magistrate, or a church teacher, look around you to see whether you have done enough for your profession and are not to be punished for diligence, sullenness, or impatience. If then thou hast waited for thy office, so that thou mayest not say, Lord, forgive us our trespasses, then hide thyself in the wilderness, and there labor and toil with seeming and grievous works.
For in this the whole papacy errs most of all, that it regards the common works of this life, which God commands us in the Ten Commandments, as such easy works, which one can fulfill and do completely. Therefore, they abandon the Ten Commandments, want to climb higher and think up advice about special works, praise the hermits and monks etc.; but Abraham, who sits at the door and waits for guests, they do not esteem worthy of being called by one word
or to follow his example.
The papists also consider it a small and bad thing that one is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and think that one should aim at something more perfect and closer to heaven. That is why they hide themselves in the monasteries, read Masses etc. But how does this agree with God's word? Was not Anthony the hermit sent to Alexandria to a tanner, that he might learn of that which he would have for a place in heaven? If such is a lie or a poem, I am also satisfied with it, only that the papists confess that it was invented, preached and believed in their church. But be that as it may, it is certain that this baptized Tanner's work, which he did in faith, was as pleasing to God as St. Anthony's strict life, fasting and praying.
I have deemed it necessary for the conclusion of this history that the young people learn to beware of works of their own choosing, and to apply themselves to them with the utmost diligence, which every person's profession entails and requires. For the same works God has commanded, and therefore they are true divine works: be a disciple and learn good arts, or a maid and sweep the house, or a servant and wait on the horses, or do something else that your profession requires. A monk may lead an austere life, and therefore go about in bad and ugly clothes; but that he serves God by it, he will never be able to say with truth for the rest of his life: as those may well boast of it who serve the household regiment, the police or the church.
Fourth Part.
How the men turned to Sodom; how the destruction of Sodom and its causes were made known to Abraham, and how Abraham prayed for Sodom.
V. 16 Then the men arose from thence, and turned against Sodom: and Abraham went with them to lead them.
So we have now heard a very sweet story of how angels were sent to Abraham, and it was actually and certainly promised to him anew that he should still have a son from his Sarah; and how kindly Abraham accepted her and cared for her well, and Sarah was also made to believe that she herself believed that she would still become a mother and have a son. And now that such unspeakable love and kindness of God towards Abraham has been described, there now follows a richer and greater example and sign of God's kindness; from which we are to learn how such a pleasing service and sacrifice is done to God when one hears His word, accepts it and holds it in honor. For to such people, as we see here in this text, God draws near, not as a judge and lord, but as a friend and dear guest. But how God shows Himself against those who despise His word is also shown by this sad and frightening history that now follows.
179 And Moses called these three men angels. For Sarah and Abraham thought that they were prophets of God who had been driven into misery because of the word. And that Abraham might show reverence to the word, he not only feeds and drinks such guests well, but having fed them well out of love for the word and fear of God, he gives them an escort and brings them on their way to Sodom.
180. But we are also commanded by way of example to honor the prophets of God or servants of the Word and to show them all kinds of service and willingness. But how this is done by the betting and what punishments follow such ingratitude, we have become well aware in these miserable times, and the end is not yet here.
Then the Lord said, "How can I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since he will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
181 This and the previous text must be held against each other. Shortly before Moses said that these three men arose
Here he says that the Lord (Jehovah) has spoken. He calls them three men according to Abraham's understanding, because he considered them to be men, but holy men and men of God; but that they should be angels, he did not think of. But of God he says that he has spoken in a common way, as the Scriptures speak of it. For the same angels sent by God did not bring their words to Abraham, but the word of God.
But that the Jews of ours laugh mockingly, that they want to prove the article of the Trinity from this text, of this I have said above. For we are not so foolish or unlearned that we say that these three men are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in their essence. Just as we do not say that the humanity of Christ is essentially God. Therefore we want to leave it at that, that in these three men the Godhead is meant, which Abraham recognized and believed. For here he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit and full of faith, and saw the day of Christ, John 8:56. Just as Abraham believed in the Trinity, it was outwardly presented and shown to him in the form of three men. These three men are not the three persons of the Godhead, but signs or appearances of the Godhead in the Trinity. Although Abraham is still in these thoughts, as if they were holy people who wander around in misery for the sake of confessing the right religion.
And even though he does not know that they are angels, he believes that he hears God in these three men, one of whom spoke according to the opinion of the other, who is in his essence like God, but threefold in persons. This is my opinion of this text. If anyone wants to argue about it in a more subtle and subtle way, let him do so, but see to it that he does not start and go astray. For of such things one should speak modestly.
First, I follow the common way of Scripture, which says that God speaks when angels or holy men speak from God's command or revelation. According to this, I do not despise, nor do I want anyone to despise
The testimony of the epistle to the Hebrews. It clearly says in Cap. 13, 2, that some have taken angels for lodging and did not know it. And nothing prevents Abraham from showing them divine honor, for he recognizes God in them, hears and accepts their words as if God himself spoke them. For he follows the common rule that one should not see who speaks, but what is spoken. If it is God's word, how could God not be present Himself? Just as he is present in baptism, in the sacrament, in the use of the keys, so his word is present. Therefore, even though we do not see or hear Him, but see and hear the minister, God Himself is certainly present, baptizing and absolving. And he is especially present in the sacrament, in that the Son of God himself gives us his body to eat with the bread and his blood to drink with the wine.
And in these first words, which the Lord lets precede as a preface: "How can I hide from Abraham what I am doing?" is a very sweet sign of a special goodwill and grace, which was also necessary for Abraham to be comforted and strengthened by it; otherwise the following message of the angels about the wrath of God against Sodom would have grieved him to death. Therefore also the repetition of the promise of the seed and the blessing over all nations on earth belongs. For if Abraham had not heard such a promise at first, he would have abandoned all hope of his own and his descendants' blessedness in such a horrible spectacle of divine wrath. Therefore this is a sign of a very special love and grace, that the Lord says he can do nothing to Abraham. And Moses, according to the way of speaking in the Scriptures, said that God had spoken such things, when the angel had spoken them. For this is also the way the prophets speak in their sermons: "This is what the Lord says." But here the text reports another reason.
V.19. For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him, that they shall be of the
Keep the way of the Lord, and do that which is right and good; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he promised him.
In view of this text, it is reasonable to wonder that God would not have let this terrible judgment on the five cities pass, if he had not first revealed the whole matter to Abraham. Although one can find examples in the pagan books of how some cities perished by fire, earthquake or other causes, we can still see what the worldly people judged. For the same. attribute almost all such cases to natural causes, as, the location of a place, carelessness of the people etc., and reason does not come higher. But that here the five cities should be consumed with fire, such is indicated to Abraham beforehand, so that one should understand that such a special damage and accident is a punishment from God's wrath over the sins of the people.
187 And such knowledge is so important that the Lord wants such an example to be known among Abraham's descendants, and they should speak of it forever, as a disgust and warning to others, so that they learn to fear God and beware of such sins, which are followed by such terrible sorrow and punishment. As God also willed that His examples of grace, such as the salvation and help at the Red Sea, should be praised and spoken of at all times. For such warnings and admonitions are necessary for us in this life.
Pious and God-fearing people, who are oppressed by their cross and have to experience various miseries and misery, need consolation and promise, by which they can be lifted up. But those who are stubborn, stiff-necked and secure should be frightened with examples of God's wrath, so that they may learn to fear God, as is said here.
Now our hearts are naturally inclined not to like to be chastised. We all accept the promises with joy and are not unwilling to accept them. But the preaching of the law frightens people and makes them as it were fierce and angry. For this is why the prophets are er-
They were not preaching the blessing promised to Abraham, but were punishing ungodly customs and idolatry, keeping and exhorting the people to discipline and the fear of God.
190. just as the world is not hostile to us because we teach the gospel and present the good deeds of the Lord Christ to the people in a pure and unadulterated way, for everyone gladly accepts and praises these things, unless he is obviously ungodly, but because of this all displeasure and misfortune arises from the fact that we hold the teachings of the adversaries against our own, and say that the pope is the antichrist, and at the same time punish the teachings and shameful lives of those who adhere to the pope. So also Christ says John 7:7: "The world hopes in me, for I bear witness of it that its works are evil." But teachers and preachers should not turn to such anger and displeasure of the world. For here we hear God's command that such terrible judgments of God are to be inculcated in people, and especially in those whose hearts are still weak and inclined to sin.
191. "Abraham," says God, "will command these things to his children," that is, such histories are to be praised and kept in the Church of the saints throughout the ages. St. Paul recounts in 1 Cor. 10 the punishments that God inflicted on the people before they entered the land of Canaan, and adds in v. 6 that such things happened to them as an example, but to us they are written as a warning, as if to say: God punished the sins of the same people in such a way; but the same example concerns us, and should be a warning to us to beware of such sins. And Rom. 15:4, "But the things which were written aforetime are written for our learning." Grace and forgiveness are to be preached, but only to those whose hearts are troubled and whose consciences are troubled. But to those who are secure and have completely abandoned the fear of God, God's punishment and wrath should be held up to them, so that they may let the examples of others be a warning to them and stop sinning. For this is what Paul means when he says that everything is prescribed for us to learn.
That is why they are harmful teachers,
who at this time, I do not know for what reasons, pretend and argue that the law should not be preached in the church. As if you did not want to teach the law there, where there is a right people of the law, namely, miserly, hopeful people, adulterers, usurers, idolaters etc. Do you still want to strengthen and increase the security of raw and secure people with the promises of the New Testament? God wants the place of election, where Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed with fire from heaven, and the pit of brimstone to stand as a memorial and sign of His wrath, and to be preached and spoken of at all times, so that only some will be converted and learn to fear God.
193 St. Paul gives us much better instruction when he teaches us in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we should rightly divide the word. For just as all kinds of food do not agree with each body at the same time, so we must have a different teaching to comfort and raise up weak, stupid, broken and sorrowful hearts, and a different one if we are to convert and restore stiff-necked, crude, secure and impenitent people. In the person of the Son of God, the prophet Isaiah Cap. 61, V. 1. says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to preach to the wretched, to bind up the brokenhearted" etc.
But such a heart has not the pope and the bishops, who persecute the word and seek how they may destroy and exterminate our church. Should we preach the gospel to them and say that they have a gracious God through Christ? Then they would become much more hardened and sin all the more surely. Therefore, they should be crushed with the hammer of the law and the thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai should be painted before their eyes.
195. to those who are in the throes of death or other trials and tribulations, say, "Be of good cheer and courage, and wait for the Lord," Ps. 27:14. "Though a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, yet it will not befall you; I am with him in trouble," Ps. 91:7. 15. come unto me, all ye that labor.
blessed and burdened, I will give you rest" etc. This is a remedy for grateful hearts, which are not as hard as stone, like the pope and his sure and obdurate bishops, to whom belongs the hammer and terror of the law. And says Ezekiel Cap. 34, 4. f. that the prophets sin, who frighten the heart of the righteous with lies; for they are the smoldering wick, Isa. 42, 3. which is to be blown out again, not even extinguished: as they also sin on the other part, that they strengthen the hands of the wicked, and do not rather accuse and condemn him.
At this time you will find many of them who are offended by the preaching of the law, even though it is necessary, and flee from it, because they say that their consciences are troubled when they hear such preaching of the law. But are not these his Christians? With sinning they do not stop, lying in hatred, anger and envy, in fornication, avarice, eating and drinking etc. When they hear that such sins are punished, they are angry and do not want their consciences to be troubled. Shall we then let every man do as he pleases, and still tell him that he is blessed? By no means; for here you hear that Sodom and Gomorrah's punishment is to be held against all descendants, and indeed against the Church of God itself, that people may learn to fear God.
197 In the Antinomian doctrine it was written: If one were an adulterer, he should only believe, then he would have a merciful God. But what kind of church would this be, in which such terrible words were spoken and preached? Therefore, a distinction should have been made and taught that adulterers or sinners are of two kinds: the first, who recognize their adultery or sin and are terrified of it with all their heart, and begin to feel anxious remorse and sorrow for it, and not only let themselves be sorry that they have sinned, but also desire and strive with all their heart that they may not commit such sin again. Such people, who are not secure in their sin but are terrified and terrified of God's wrath, if they then adhere to the gospel and trust and rely on the grace and mercy of God through Christ, will be blessed.
and have forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ.
The other adulterers or sinners, even though they cannot excuse their sins, do not feel pain and sadness about it, but rather rejoice that they have received what they desired, seek further causes and opportunities to sin, and are certainly attached to them: because they do not have the Holy Spirit, they cannot believe, and such a teacher who preaches faith to them deceives and deceives them. For this disease must have another remedy, namely, that you tell them with St. Paul Hebr. 13, 4: "God will judge the adulterers"; 1 Cor. 6, 9. 10: "They will not see God's kingdom"; Rom. 8, 8: "Without purity no one can please God"; therefore, these same unclean and defiled ones are under God's wrath etc.
It is necessary to have such a hammer, so that one can crush such hard stone hearts. And so Abraham does not hang on to his sins, but has been humbled in spirit long before; therefore the Lord comforts him. For he is pleased with the smoldering wick; therefore he handles it carefully and cherishes it, so that it may burn again.
But the Sodomites are hardened like stones and rocks, therefore to them belongs brimstone, thunder and lightning from heaven. Those foolish and lying prophets do not know this, who are allowed to pretend that no law should be taught in the church, and in short, that no one should be attacked so harshly, or that someone should weigh down his conscience.
201. But if this is so, why does God want the Sodomite example to be kept in His church and taught to Abraham? And since he adds, "that they fear God and do what is right and good," what do such teachers do in the church, who want to preach only comforting promises, other than to reject the doctrine of the fear of God altogether from the church? Therefore, one should beware of such mad spirits, who disgracefully confuse the whole Christian doctrine.
(202) And is not such teaching of the law only for the purpose of making the people
It also brings another benefit, of which the Lord says here that after people are thus frightened by God's judgment, they also learn to do what is right and good.
If you want to divide the whole Scripture, you will find these two parts, promises and threats, or benefits and punishments; and these are certainly hard hearts, as Bernard says, which can neither be softened by benefits, nor converted and corrected by punishment. So God's works are also twofold: First, they are works of mercy, as Paul tells Apost. 14, 17, that he gives rain and fruitfulness from heaven etc.; the others are works of his wrath, since he sends pestilence, war, and destruction etc., so that he may scare and humble the hard-hearted and godless.
204 In the Lord Christ, salvation and eternal life are promised to all who are baptized and believe; again, God's judgment and eternal death are threatened to all who do not believe in Christ. If this is so, how can or should the preaching of the law be expelled from the church? Is it not true that at the same time the fear of God and the many works of God are cast out? He does not do this so that they may remain hidden, but so that we may see them and thereby be provoked to fear God. If we had no pestilence, disease, fire or water to worry about, and if there were no sudden death and other accidents and misfortunes in the world, then I would keep silent about them and preach only about God's kindness and good deeds.
Those who claim that the law should not be preached in the church are people who do not know Christ and are blinded by their own hope and naughtiness. Above Moses told many examples of God's grace and mercy, such as (Cap. 12, 2. 3.) when he promised Abraham the blessed seed; when he gave him such a glorious victory (Cap. 14, 14. ff.); when he came to him as a guest and ate his bread. Moses tells these things and does nothing else.
to this: but here is the command of preaching. "He shall," saith he, "command his children," that is: I will that they shall preach of such punishment to Sodom, saying. But why this? Because the church is never entirely pure, but always evil in part; as the parable teaches of the seed, Luc. 8, 5. ff., yes, the true saints themselves, who are justified by faith in the Son of God, have a sinful flesh, which must be killed by daily chastening; as Paul says 1 Cor. 11, 31. f.: "If we judged ourselves, we would not be chastened by the Lord." Therefore mark this text well, for one can have enough from it alone if one wants to refute the antinomian mad doctrine.
V.20. 21. And the Lord said, There is a cry in Sodom and Gomorrah, which is great, and their sins are almost grievous. Therefore will I go down, and see whether they have done all according to the cry that is come before me; or whether it be not so, that I may know.
This is a terrible bargain. Fifteen years had not yet passed since the people of Sodom and their neighbors had been defeated by the four kings and led away in prison, and then, through Abraham's miraculous victory, they were set free again and reinstated in their land, possessions and goods: And God revealed Himself to them in two ways, namely, by this, that He led them away captive, and thereby showed that He was hostile to sin, and would certainly punish them; and then by the miraculous help and salvation, so that He showed that He would forgive sin and help where people repented and converted. But neither the punishment nor the help and good deeds helped them. For those who had seen it with their eyes had already forgotten it, and they had fallen back into terrible and deep sins and had completely cast off the fear of God.
This is actually a wonderful thing, and it clearly illustrates the hearts of all people who are so corrupted by nature through sin that they cannot bring themselves to correction with threats,
nor be softened or moved by benevolence. When the Sodomites were brought from captivity back to their own, they no doubt thanked the God of Abraham for having redeemed them; but such devotion did not last long with them, but they gradually fell into security, pursued their hearts' desire, until finally, since they had everything enough and superfluous, each one of them did what he desired, and they could not be converted at all. For here also applies what the philosophers say, when the course of a thing is not far from its end, it is strongest.
The Sodomites had not only forgotten their damage and miraculous salvation, and not only did they no longer respect any word, house rule or police, but they had also become worse than the unreasonable cattle and wild animals. And this is a terrible and horrible example, that this country, to which God had shown such miraculous help and salvation, had fallen into such terrible disgrace and desolation within fourteen years.
For Abraham's help and good deed was already forgotten by them, and they did not think that because of him they had been delivered from the hand of the enemy, but their luck had so arranged it; but the teaching of Abraham and Lot they blasphemed, because it was hostile and contrary to their lewd life. And over all these sins they were proud and presumptuous, as if they alone were wise.
All these things came before their fall; as Solomon says, Proverbs 16:18, that the beginning of the fall is to become proud and fall away from God. For where there is contempt of the word and ingratitude against God, there also lies down all discipline and honorableness. For such virtues and fruits grow only from the seed of the Word of God. Because the church had fallen among them, the worldly rule, discipline and all good order had also fallen.
211 Since the fear of God was gone, marital duty and fidelity were also lost, so that they were not content with their wives, but desired others, and offered their wives to other husbands and let them follow, until
they finally subdued themselves, which was against nature and more than animal. This is Satan's trial, when he has turned people away from God and brought them to ingratitude against Him.
With us, unfortunately, the beginning and prelude of such misery is all too much in the daytime. For behold the evangelicals in cities, behold how the authorities, the nobility, citizens and peasants hold themselves; should they not all together thank God day and night that they are delivered from the iron furnace of the pope and from such horrible blindness and darkness? But this does not happen, and the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is nowhere, but all men's thoughts and intentions are to gather together much money and goods, and to oppress others with deceit, elevation, advantage and violence, so that they alone may be rich. But will not the household finally fall into such a life and corrupt manners? But where this happens, a general decay must inevitably follow. But we want to start the interpretation of the present history a little higher and farther for the sake of the youth, to whom such teaching is still unknown. For even if every heart is horrified by such a gruesome spectacle of divine wrath, it is still necessary, since the world is full of Pharaonic and Pharisaic teachings, that such examples of God's wrath be impressed upon the people.
From the beginning of this first book of Moses we have seen that it has to do with two kinds of people, namely with the pious, who are the right church, and with the wicked, who are always the school of Satan, in which people are not only practiced and driven to sins against the other table, so that they commit death and adultery, but also blaspheme the word, persecute and strangle the pious. Now God has always interposed Himself as a judge and killed the wicked and unrighteous. This also happens here: Abraham's house is the right church. For although other patriarchs lived at the same time, the Church was bound to the house and descendants of Abraham by the word of God.
If you compare Abraham's house and the house of the Sodomites, you will find that in Abraham's house everything is most lovely and friendly, so that even the angels of God themselves seem to be joking with Sarah for a short time, since she laughs and then denies it. Therefore, God's word goes for and for in it, and Abraham's house is nothing else but a kingdom of forgiveness of sin and grace, yes, heaven itself, in which the angels of God dwell, whom Abraham receives with reverence and in whom he worships God; for he knows and believes that he is one God in three persons. In sum, with Abraham there is nothing but grace and life.
Again, in the wicked generation, among the sodomites, there is nothing but a vile threat. Angels do not come to them, but when they come, they are not only received with no honor, but they are kept in the most disgraceful and shameful way, so that the wicked do not give them lodging or even a morsel of bread, and they want to show them the greatest dishonor that can be done to a human being; so that it can be seen that they have sinned not only with fornication, but also with other malice and wickedness. As Nahash king of Ammon did, when he besieged Jabesh and the people of Jabesh offered to make a covenant with him, he would make no other covenant with them except to have each man's right eye gouged out for shame, 1 Sam. 11:2. In this he sought neither benefit nor pleasure that might come to him, but only to satisfy his malice against them. For since people are usually tempted to sin for the sake of gain or pleasure, there was none in this hideous spectacle that Nahash wanted to create, but only the highest will of courage and malice.
Just as the Jews killed Christ out of pure wickedness, and just as an ungodly warrior does many things out of his own will, so that he may increase displeasure, shame and heartache, not that he may become rich from it. For what profit can he derive from it, if he cuts off the legs of the cattle, runs open the doors, and kills the cattle?
and breaks villages on fire etc.? Therefore these are sins of the greatest wickedness. Now this is the wicked's wickedness, that they are hostile to the saints, and are not content with inflicting upon them various plagues, but their highest pleasure is this, that they bring shame and dishonor upon them, which then is an abominable wickedness, and well worthy of such judgment. Now it is very surprising that in such a short time this people could have become so bad and corrupt, so that not ten men, who fear God and lead discipline and honorability, have remained.
217 Before the Flood, Moses also wrote in Genesis 6:5 that God had seen the earth and found that the wickedness of men was great; but here he says that God heard a cry. From this it seems as if it was more horrible here than before the Flood. But in both places the safety of men is depicted with such words. For they lived as if God did not see it, nor did he hear it, yes, as if there were no God at all; as it is written in the 14th Psalm v. 1: "The foolish say in their hearts: It is pure God. And the pious also suffer such temptations at times, but in a different way, that they feel as if God were asleep, and as if He neither hears nor sees. And if this happened in the beginning of the world, it happens much more now that the world has grown old and has come to an end. How horrible and cruel blasphemy is practiced by the Turkish Empire and the Papacy! But God has been silent about this for eight hundred years, and at the same time lets the Turks and the pope float in all happiness, so that they both strengthen themselves in goods and power, and live as if there were no other life after this one and no God.
218 Therefore this was a blessed time when Christ lived on earth. For then He not only heard and saw, but was also truly present Himself, as John 1 Epist. 1:1 says: "That we have beheld, and have touched our hands"; but now we cry out from afar, and make ourselves believe that we are crying out to such a God, who does not hear, but sleeps soundly. But the devil and the pope
and drives away all wills of courage; gangs and sects go along with heaps.
219 Therefore this is said according to the human way, as the Scriptures are wont to speak. For what Moses says here about God was in people's minds and unbelief. For God does not sleep; from such needs a spirit is free. But men, when they lie in safety and sin, consider it as if God were asleep, yes, they even let themselves dream that God takes care of them and hears them; as the Turk puffs himself up for the sake of his happiness and considers himself God's people, he does not believe that God is angry, but thinks that hell is destroyed and all judgment is abolished; for this is seen in his behavior.
Therefore one finds in the Scriptures such sayings: "God, do not be silent before me", Ps. 28, 1. For while God is delaying in listening, the pious, in their struggle under the flesh, while they are close to despair, think that God is asleep, is mute, etc., and thus is to the sense of faith or spirit in the pious. But I have dealt with this more extensively in the sixth chapter above: here it is enough that so much is indicated about it, that the Scriptures direct their way of speaking according to human manner and habit, not that God is thus minded, but that such thoughts are found in the hearts of the pious. Therefore Abraham, Lot and the other patriarchs heard and felt this cry, and well knew that God was angry and hastened to punish such an unrepentant people, who had no further counsel.
However, we should not despise the outward and worldly doctrine for the authorities, nor those who hold court. In the eleventh chapter above, when the Tower of Babel is being built, the Lord says (v. 5, 7): "I will go down and see," so that the divine majesty teaches that in courts of law one should not rush to judgment or hear only the one part, but that one should fully understand the transaction. For if Scripture says this of God, who knows everything and from whom nothing is hidden, that he has descended, how much more is this necessary for us humans, who are often governed by our courage and anger, who let good friends persuade us to act in our own way, and who are not in a position to see what is going on?
after favor, let us be deceived with good words etc.
222 Here we also discuss the sins that cry out to heaven, and some of them are four, some five. And even if this is not so great a cause, I do not want to have punished the diligence of pious teachers who pretend to be so. But if one really wants to speak of it, the Scripture does not call the same four or five sins a cry, but in general all sins in which there is impenitence and wickedness; as Isa. 5:7 says, "He waits for righteousness, behold, it is a cry," that is, they sin without all shame and embarrassment, and there is no one to punish; the authorities neither counsel nor defend, and there is nothing left but that everyone cries out for shame. Wherever there is still the fear of God, the authorities do their duty and punish the wicked; from this it follows that the people do not cry out, but give thanks to God and their authorities that they can sit securely with their wives, children and goods, and that no ill will is shown toward them. Again, where the word is not, and the authorities are tardy in their office, and no discipline is kept in the homes, but parents are mistreated by their children, the servants are disobedient to the lord and wife, etc., such crying must follow.
How today there is no measure of avarice and usury, but the authorities see through their fingers and do not punish as they should. What happens because of this? Do not those cry out to heaven who suffer injustice and find neither counsel nor help from the authorities? Such are sinners, as Peter says in 2 Epist. 2, v. 14, who do not allow their sin to be stopped, but want to go unpunished, and when they are admonished, they continue in their sins all the more foolishly and heap one sin on top of another, as Pharaoh did, who became all the more foolish and senseless the more Aaron and Moses preached to him.
The holy fathers saw this and were deeply grieved in their hearts because of such wickedness of the world. For dying does not hurt like this,
than that one must see such exuberant wickedness of the world, if it does not want to be resisted. Therefore it was fulfilled in the same holy patriarchs that the text says: "The cry in Sodom is great"; and nevertheless Abraham, regardless of the fact that this cry was great and the sins were abominable, interposes himself as a mediator and representative for such evil and godless people, as we will hear. For this reason, just as Scripture has praised his faith until now, so now it praises his love for his enemies. For there is no greater love on earth than to pray to God for bloodthirsty enemies and to represent them.
V.22-26. And the men turned their faces, and went to Sodom: but Abraham stood still before the Lord, and stood before him, and said, Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? There may be fifty righteous in the city: wilt thou destroy them, and not forgive the place for fifty righteous that are therein? Far be it from thee, that thou shouldest do this, and slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from thee, who art judge of all the earth. You will not judge like this. And the Lord said, If I find fifty righteous men in the city of Sodom, then for their sakes I will forgive all the places.
Here is a new question of the appearance of God and the angels. My opinion is that these angels had human form and were not the Trinity in their essence. Some give as the names of these three angels that the first was Michael, who led the word and spoke when the others were silent; the second, Gabriel, that is, God's strength and power, which they needed to turn Sodom around; the third, Raphael, that is, God's counsel and medicine, who came to redeem and preserve Lot. Be that as it may, they are thoughts that can be had without sin and do no harm; however, I do not believe it to be so. And do the Jews say that Raphael and Gabriel went away, Michael
and that apart from these three, the Lord appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. But for this I keep my opinion, if it is more simple and agrees with the scripture.
The third angel remained standing, and Abraham took him for a man, as he did the other two, but for a man in whom God's spirit dwelt. For he saw that he had the word of God, and he believed that he spoke not the word of a man, but the word of God: therefore he worshipped him as God Himself. Now that the text says, "Abraham stood still before the Lord," is just as much as to say that Abraham heard and looked upon the same third angel as if he were God, because he knew that he had God's word.
227 Therefore all these things are written in honor of the ministry of preaching, which the holy fathers so diligently honored, though it was not yet so clear among them. We, who have such a great light, mock and revile it, yes, even still strangle the preachers and let them die of hunger. Now let us hear Abraham's prayer, which is a horrible prayer, but the way it was made is obvious.
228) Abraham makes this prayer very wisely, naming a small number of the righteous, and thinking that he would the more easily obtain what he asked for; but it is a terrible thing that in these five cities there are found near ten righteous. Of the children I will say nothing here; for they are obtained in ways of which we know nothing; as is proved by the text in Jonah, Cap. 4:11, of those who do not know the difference between right and left: but the old and adult people were all so corrupt that not ten righteous men were to be found. They had not only defiled themselves with these common sins, such as drunkenness, theft, adultery, avarice, etc., but the main sins were contempt of the word, authorities and parents, in addition to scorn and dishonor of the saints, and rejoicing when they had directed it most grievously.
Therefore, consider these three pieces: First, the very short time in which they are un-
Secondly, the great multitude of those who had sinned and were still sinning; and thirdly, that they were such heinous and grievous sins: you will have to say that God's judgment, although it was very heinous, was nevertheless just and fair. For it is impossible for Abraham to believe that all were corrupt in the same way; he thought that he would at least find some honest and pious men among the authorities and kings; for every city had its king and every king his council. That there should not be found among such high people ten pious men is incredible. Abraham asks for this with such great confidence, and even if his proposal fails once, he still does not give up; he even burns with love even for these very worst people.
(230) Now what kind of church there was at that time, when Sodom perished, is told us in the eleventh chapter. For at that time there lived six patriarchs, Shem, Arphachad, Salah, Eber and Serug, and because Abraham lived almost fifty years with Noah and saw nine patriarchs, he had excellent teachers. But Noah died almost forty years before the fall of Sodom; and because he had seen the former world before the flood, he was also known to the Sodomites, who then saw him and heard him preach and cry with his descendants of the flood, of the wrath of God, and yet despised him with his own. So I believe that at that time there was such a church, the like of which did not exist on earth until Christ.
Now it is terrible that in this golden time, when so many patriarchs lived and preached, and not far from Sodom, as in Jerusalem, the patriarch Shem led the preaching ministry, the Sodomites have become so godless, and have forgotten all fear and knowledge. Why do we complain about our times, when so many excellent patriarchs have done the same? Therefore, let us leave these fires of the world, and ingratitude and great contempt
We are not to be compared with the holy patriarchs, and yet they had to see such a terrible and horrible example of God's wrath, and their prayers, as earnest and diligent as they were, could not help.
232 And there is no doubt about it, the patriarchs will have tried all six to the highest, how they would endure such a crowd, which thus hurries to its destruction, and would bring it right again. For Lot dwelt in Sodom, Shem or Melchizedek not far from it in Jerusalem, Abraham in Mamre, and the others in other places near about. No doubt these sent preachers to Sodom to exhort the people to repentance and to punish their sins. But all this was of no avail. For where the word is despised, Shem and Abraham preach in vain, and nothing else is to be expected there but punishment, destruction and the Flood.
From this you can see how great God's wrath is against sin. For if these holy and godly people have not been able to avert the punishment with their advocacy and prayer, what hope do we have in these last times of the world? Therefore, notice that at the same time, when the church was doing very well and the most holy and faithful teachers were living, the world was at its worst. For this is the way Satan uses to bring disgrace and annoyance to the church, which people of no understanding attribute to the word and blame it. But if it were true, then Lot, Abraham and Melchizedek would also have to be blamed for the destruction of Sodom. For they were the most distinguished teachers at the same time. But now further from the prayer of Abraham.
This has six parts. For six times he asks with such earnestness and heartfelt longing that he speaks foolish words, as it were, out of great fear and desire that he may counsel the poor cities. The word thispeh is very emphatic and violent, that I speak thus, because it means to take away completely, so that nothing of it remains. Therefore, if one wants to reason about the words, it seems to be a foolish prayer, just as if one knew
God does not distinguish between the righteous and the unrighteous. "Will you then," he says, "take away the righteous with the wicked," and like a murderer slay all without distinction?
This seems to be a hard and dangerous prayer, but it is very precious when you see how his heart has been. For he sees that God cannot spare the righteous. Therefore he prays, as David did Ps. 26:9: "Do not take away my soul with sinners." For this is what tyrants do; they go about and set fire to houses, villages and cities, asking nothing whether the righteous or the unrighteous perish. Such tyranny and cruelty, says Abraham, is not due to God, so I hope he will spare the whole nation for the sake of fifty righteous people. Such is a deep concern and a strong emotion that drives him to foolish words. For it goes much deeper to the heart of the holy man than his heart itself can feel and understand, that he sees that the whole nation is to be held up and killed.
Therefore, he makes a mighty and tumultuous prayer to force God to forgive, as it were. It is well known that for the sake of a righteous man, God at times spares a whole family, city and country, and shows them good; as the land of Syria prospered as long as Naaman lived, and all Egypt was blessed for Joseph's sake, Laban for Jacob's; should God now forget him so completely that he could not spare something for the sake of fifty righteous men? Oh, Lord! Oh, dear Lord! Do not do it! These are words that indicate the greatness of the emotion, under which the tears will run down his cheeks and his heart will overflow with inexpressible sighs. His heart overflowed with inexpressible sighing. "This," he says, "is far from you"; as if he wanted to master God and teach him what he should do; as he says to this: "You who are the judge of all the world, you will not judge like this. To judge means to punish the wicked and to spare the innocent: this, he says, is most fitting and due to you, who are the judge of all the earth: but what kind of judgment is this, in which even the
innocent people? This is truly a strong and powerful prayer, so that he reminds God what his office is and how he should conduct himself, namely, that he should spare the righteous and not punish the wicked for their sake. Therefore the Lord answers him and promises: He will spare if there are fifty righteous people to be found. For this fervent and ardent prayer, full of faith and love, pleases him; but when Abraham hears that their fifty are not to be found, he is a little dismayed, and yet continues to pray.
V. 27, 28 Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have forbidden myself to speak unto the Lord, though I be earth and ashes. There may be five less than fifty righteous within: wilt thou then destroy the whole city for the sake of the five? And he said, If I find within it five and forty, I will not destroy it.
237 A prayer should be courageous, therefore Abraham continues with it and always prays: but for this he needs a special humility, which should be with every prayer: "I am", he says, "dust and ashes", and nevertheless, because I have begun to pray, I want to continue with it: will you spare, so that they lack five to the fifty? "Yes," says the Lord, "I will spare."
V.29-33. And he continued to speak unto him, saying, There may be found forty within. But he said: I will not hurt them for forty. And Abraham said, Be not angry, O Lord, that I speak any more. Perhaps thirty will be found inside. And he said, If I find thirty within, I will not hurt them. And he said, Behold, I have refrained from speaking with the Lord. Perhaps twenty will be found inside. He answered: I will not destroy them for the sake of the twenty. And he said, Oh be not angry, O Lord, that I speak but once more. Perhaps ten will be found inside. But he said: I will not destroy them for the sake of the ten. And the Lord departed after he had talked with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
Of the fifty, he comes to ten, and Abraham is sure that his request and proposal will succeed. How is it possible, he thinks, because Lot is such a godly, pious preacher in Sodom, that the word should have produced no fruit at all, that there should not be ten righteous people in it? Therefore it is a wistful and deep sighing of Abraham, that he promises to ask only once more and not to trouble the Lord any further. Look at this example as often as you pray, and learn that you must stop praying and not let up. Such prayer does not make God unwilling, but pleases Him.
Without a doubt, Abraham will have taken comfort in the story of the Flood, in which eight people were preserved: even though he thought that he could not save the entire people, he was certain, because of his cousin Lot, that God would take care of him and preserve him. Therefore, he returns home and brings everything home to the righteous judgment of God. For he sees that it is necessary - in the face of such great wickedness of the people - for God to show His wrath against sin, so that the pious will not be angered and also begin to waver.
240 And this is the reason that the Lord commands Abraham to hold such a story against his descendants; for God wants to be feared, but He detests and hates the secure. Isa. 66, 2. He promises to dwell with those who are of a broken heart and spirit. And Ps. 51 v. 19 says: "The victims that please God are a fearful spirit." But he does not want fear alone, but also wants one to hold on to the hope of his mercy in such anguish and distress of heart.
241) As he indicates this with flowery words Deut. 24, 6, that one should not take for a pledge the uppermost and the lowermost millstone. The uppermost millstone is the fear and judgment of God; the lowest millstone carries and holds the same, which means the hope and feeling of divine grace and mercy. Thus, the ministry of preaching should unite and drive together the following
Law and Gospel, repentance and forgiveness of sins.
The Pope's sermons have been nothing but sermons of terror: but our false prophets and antinomians of this present time pretend that nothing else should be taught in the church but the gospel and comforting promises, which error is almost more harmful. Grace and forgiveness of sins are to be preached, but to those who have sin, that is, who recognize and feel that they have sin, and heartily desire to be rid of it: but those who continue safely in sins are as though they were without all sin, therefore the law is to be preached to such, to frighten them with this story of Sodom's downfall, and thus to bring them to the fear of God.
243. And this is called, as I also said above, rightly dividing God's word; that just as it was necessary to keep a special way in the Old Testament to divide the sacrifices, so it is also necessary to keep a certain order in the teachings, so that in the end God is known to be gracious and merciful to the faithful, but angry with the secure, and so we all learn to fear God together, and to comfort ourselves and rely on His grace and mercy, which He has shown us in His Son; as the first commandment reads: "I am the Lord thy God, and do good to them that love me in a thousand parts: but them that hate me," that is, disobey my word, "I will punish to the third and fourth part," Ex. 20, 2. 5. 6.
The world cannot be persuaded of such wrath, so that it could believe that God was truly angry. See Micah 1 Kings 22, 24. and Jeremiah Cap. 20:2, when they preached about God's wrath and punishment, they were considered false prophets and were commanded to be silent. But what does the Holy Spirit say? My words are good to those who walk in my ways. Thus the Sodomites perished, because they sinned with such certainty, and God did not notice that there was such a great multitude of people, and among them many of his own and of good men; neither was he sorry for the innocent young children, but took
One thing with another, that his wrath against sin might be revealed.
Therefore I believe that Abraham went home quite sad and spent the same night without sleep with sighing and weeping, because of the fact that such a large number of people should perish. But because the holy and God-fearing Abraham had so
very concerned about those of Sodom, they live in revelry and pleasure, and deal with how they may mock and disgrace these guests, but do not think at all about their fall and ruin. This is a picture of the world and the church; as Christ also says John 16:20: "Ye shall weep and wail, but the world shall rejoice."