Held on New Year's Day 1517.*)
And when eight days were accomplished, that the child might be circumcised. Luc. 2, 21.
Here the question arises: Why did Christ want to be circumcised, since he owed nothing to the law? yes, according to the apostle he had died to the law and lived to God. But if he died to the law and yet kept the law, why does the apostle forbid the Galatians to observe the law, who had died to the law even less than Christ? So the solution given by St. Jerome, that the law had to be kept before the suffering, but after the suffering it did not have to be kept, is not sufficient here: for neither before nor after was it necessary for Christ. Answer: "No law is given to the righteous", 1 Tim. 1, 9.; and Gal. 5, 23. it says: "Against such the law is not." So he is not obliged to do any work, which is to be understood as I have often said, that no one is justified by works; and the works are not done so that someone may be justified, since this is impossible; for grace alone is the only thing that justifies.
makes righteous, not works, although grace is and should be sought through works.
(2) But one must not think that as soon as the works are done, righteousness is already there, for just as this circumcision brought nothing of righteousness to Christ, but rather served God and us through it: likewise, no action confers anything of righteousness on the righteous, but only serves God and men through it. This proves to be the case because if he were not righteous and pure beforehand, all his works would be nothing. For this is why we are taught that one must first be sanctified and prepared and purified through repentance and penance before we can do good works, so that we may be righteous before we work. But this cleansing is a work of God and an infusion of grace, a justification without us. We can prepare ourselves for grace by works, †) but we can attain it by works.
†) This expression is still a remnant from the leaven of scholastic theology.
Note from Löscher.
they do not thereby. Thus Abel was regarded by God before he offered sacrifices; he himself pleased before his offerings; but Cain he hated before his sacrifice, and would have no pleasure in his sacrifice. So also Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, and likewise all the holy patriarchs and prophets, before they offered sacrifices, were justified and sanctified before. Throughout the entire law, the people, and especially the priests, are strongly urged to sanctify themselves before they come and associate with the Lord.
(3) Therefore it is evident that righteousness and holiness without works are required and possessed beforehand by grace. To be sure, even the preachers now always have faith and good morals in their mouths; but faith is righteousness, and good morals are works. Just as, therefore, good morals do not give faith, but presuppose it, so works do not give righteousness; for good works are nothing without faith, but faith in the heart also arises apart from good morals. But this is the lamentable misery, that all sermons in the church deal almost exclusively with good morals and works, but little or nothing is taught about faith and that inner righteousness from which alone worthy, true, good morals arise; indeed, they only exalt good works and morals, in order thereby to eliminate faith altogether.
(4) Or is it not driving out faith when a man, for the sake of the works he has done and the good morals he has kept, becomes as secure and cheerful as if he had complied with the law in all respects and was no longer aware of any sin? which is the most monstrous arrogance, for he does not notice his secret and inner evil; so he is more blinded than enlightened by these doctrines of men. But the doctrine of faith teaches that man must inwardly groan constantly for grace, since he knows that his heart is not pure because his works are pure, nor his will good because his morals are good. Therefore, dissatisfaction with himself, hatred and disgust with his life must not be allowed. The hatred and disgust for his life must never cease, which is, after all, in
If they have ever begun, they are immediately extinguished by reliance on works; for, being blind, they do not know that this inward impurity stains and defiles even the outwardly most glorious morals and all righteousness.
(5) This hidden sin of theirs, which grace has begun to heal, the saints have constantly before their eyes; therefore they cannot become defiant of their outward works, but say with the Psalmist (51:5), "I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me." Such teaching of faith and inward righteousness, I say, is quite neglected nowadays, for all hasten to become righteous by works before they learn that they are inward sinners, considering only outward sins. Accordingly, they do not understand what they always say, namely what merits, virtues, good works and good morals are; since neither works nor morals nor virtues nor merits are good, but they come from him who sighs and is grieved over his inward impurity, that is, from those who have a troubled and broken spirit, which is a sacrifice pleasing to God (Ps. 51:19). For this groaning makes him realize that his merits are rather sins; but God forgives this his sorrow for what is sin; therefore, without brokenness and humility no good happens, that is, without righteousness above all works.
(6) But how those will be crushed who constantly think, teach and exhort that works should be completely pure and holy, while they rather seek their elevation through works, contrary to humility. What blindness to believe in their heart, which they do not want to let be impure, but presume that it is completely pure in a moment through the infused grace, while David prays: "Create in me, God, a pure heart," which he would certainly not pray if he were pure inwardly.
7 But, they say, if Abraham was righteous before circumcision, and Abel before the sacrifice, and all the holy fathers, why did they need to do good works? And we, why do we do good works? Let us be idle and sleep,
For we are in grace. This is the judgment of those who want to be justified by circumcision and works; for they do not believe that there is righteousness without works, because then works are no longer necessary if one already has righteousness. For why else do they say immediately after they have heard of righteousness, Let us therefore do no good, but because they have set good works as the cause of righteousness, as if, having the effect, namely, righteousness, we no longer need the cause? This, then, is the whole falsity, since even according to Aristotle, although he admits that righteousness arises from works, that is, from successively accumulating actions, he also teaches that only after we are righteous can we do righteous works in the first place. For who learns to sing, after he is able, never to sing, but rather to sing frequently? So the righteousness of faith is given without all works, but nevertheless it is given for good works and for the sake of works, since it is something active and living, and cannot be idle.
8) The circumcision of Abraham was a work of faith or righteousness and not a cause of righteousness, for he received it as a sign of the righteousness of faith, Rom. 4:11. And so all the ancient saints had some outward sign in their work, by which they outwardly testified to the inward righteousness of faith. So Abel had the sacrifice as a sign of his faith, and so did all the subsequent holy fathers. Therefore, before any work, the person himself must be in grace with God through the grace that makes him righteous by faith. Then it happens miraculously that, just as Christ was not obligated to be circumcised and yet in this he did a work pleasing to God the Father, so also every righteous person is not obligated to do any work of the law and yet does it and owes it to God. For it is only required that he does them not out of compulsion of the law, but out of free will of the heart.
For compulsion makes a servant, free will a freeman; the former has sin, the latter merit.
9 Secondly, leaving these sharp things for now, St. Bernard gives a moral cause for the circumcision of Christ. St. Bernard gives a moral reason for the circumcision of Christ, namely, that Christ wanted to be considered a sinner in our place, which he was not, and to be circumcised, which he did not need; so that we might refrain from wanting to be considered what we are not, and wanting that of which we are not in need; but that we might want to be considered what we are, and wanting only that of which we are in need. For this extremely serious and stubborn disease Christ alone heals. The arrogant man, since he is a sinner, wants to be considered righteous and not a sinner, and he lays his nest in the heavens and builds his dwelling in the rocks (Obad. 3. 4.), that is, he wants to be counted among the righteous, since he is to be counted among sinners. Behold then, thou wilt shine among the saints, and not be circumcised, nor lean upon any strange righteousness; and Christ hath emptied himself of his own, and wilt stink among sinners. For what better cause could induce one to confess his iniquities voluntarily, and to appear a sinner, than this, considering that his Lord wished to be counted a sinner on his account, which he was not, in order to call him back by his example? For what else is the cause why men will not confess their sins, but that they fear to be found sinners?
(10) But this is the very worst pestilence, and a veritable leviathan, or appendage to sin. For no sin is so great that it cannot be forgiven immediately without its appendix. But this appendix is pride, in which it does not want to be disgraced and revealed. For every sin has two things in it: harm and shame, or guilt and punishment; but men fear punishment more than harm and guilt. Therefore they are easier to sin, but very difficult to confess. They want to be shameful and yet not be considered shameful. But one must deal with the very
confess with as much eagerness as the sin was, so that whoever was not ashamed to fall should not be ashamed to stand up again and confess his fall. But those who overcome the shame and are only grieved for the damage and confess it, have immediate forgiveness of their sin, as is evident from David, who, as soon as he said, "I have sinned against the Lord," also heard from the prophet Nathan the words, "So also the Lord has taken away your sin" (2 Sam. 12, 13.). Therefore he himself says (Ps. 32:5), "I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord; and thou wilt forgive me the iniquity of my sin."
11 Third, we must now speak of the circumcision itself. It is obvious from Jos. 5, 3 that the circumcision had to be done with stone knives. And in Exodus 4:25 it says: "Zipora took a sharp stone and circumcised her son"; and the circumcision took place on the eighth day with the name. Let us now consider these three pieces in order.
The stone of which the knife must be made is Christ, that is, his example, or a part of his example, must be received into our hearts; for no one has the whole Christ in this life, but we all have a part in him. Then, too, nothing is more effective and sharper to curtail all evil desire in us than the word and example of Christ. For example, if shame should keep you from confessing your sin, take this part of life in Christ, since he himself wanted to be circumcised and considered a sinner, and present it to your thoughts of shame with right intimacy, saying: If the Lord, the King of righteousness, and the Son of the Virgin and of God, wanted to become a sinner and was not ashamed, how should I, who am only dung and dust, be ashamed to confess what I am? Behold, by this cheap incentive, that shameful thought and evil foreskin of the heart is cut off with this very sharpest example and stony knife. Now, if anger, certainly an evil foreskin, continues to stir you up against your neighbor, immediately seize the knife of stone and think: Behold, the Lord has cut off my
Instead of freezing in the manger, even toiling throughout life, and at last pleading for those whom he should justly have been angry with: and I, dust, should not leave off my anger against my brother, and not rather pray for him, and repay good for evil? So also, if the form of a woman provokes you, and the lust of the flesh awakens, this is again a foreskin innate in the heart. Go to the stone and say: My Lord endured the most terrible pain on the cross, and I should take pleasure in the flesh? Thus Urias the Gittite abstained from his wife and slept on the earth, for the ark of God and the people were in the field and war, that is, Christ and His saints were in their sufferings. In the same way one must do with all other evil desires. This is circumcision in the spirit by grace; for Christ is full of grace, and it cannot be devised what grace and goodness his memory can impart to the heart that remembers him. For his wounds are open, and nothing in all the world prevents his blood from dripping into the heart that remembers him; for even the woman with the issue of blood, who touched only the hem of his garment, was healed.
13. then, that the circumcision happened only on the foreskin of the male member means that the inherited evil, which comes from this member into all men, must be circumcised in the spirit. The hereditary evil, however, is the entire corruption of nature itself in so many evil outbursts of anger, pride, lust, avarice etc. Therefore, the fact that circumcision took place in this place and not in the hand or foot or tongue means that not only the works or the words, but our whole origin and substance is in corruption and therefore to be cleansed, which is done no other way than by grace.
14) Secondly, circumcision took place on the eighth day or before, which is against the proud, who, having once confessed or done a good work or received grace, now consider themselves pure, since such circumcision is only perfect in the resurrection to come,
which, however, is only to be completed on the eighth day; while throughout the whole week circumcision must be done all the time until the same comes. Finally, it is not called a circumcision, nor a cutting away, nor a cutting off, but a circumcision, which is done all around and is a complete removal, so that nothing of foreskin and flesh remains, but the whole body becomes spiritual. For without evil desire the heart is pure and the body holy. The hypocrites, however, only cut something in or something off, that is, they only guard against evil works, but do not care whether the heart becomes pure and the body holy.
You can also read about this in:
I. Part, 1. B. Mos., 15. Cap., § 68-104, of the faith and the justification of Abraham.
- Gen. 21, Cap. 210-221.
- Gen. 22, Cap. 288-327.
IX. Part, Shorter Explanation of the Epistle to the Galatians, Cap. 3 and 4, of nine and six proofs.
15) Thirdly, with circumcision is connected the giving of a name, that is, the old name is taken away, yes, before circumcision we have no name at all before God; for those who have a name also have a memory, but the ungodly he does not remember, as he says Ps. 16, 4: "I will not remember their names on my lips. This is the name of which it is said in the Revelation of John (Cap. 3, 12.): "To him who overcomes I will give a new name," namely the name of a righteous and holy man. But with this we will only be called in the life to come, even though he is already called by the angel before we were.
The righteousness of faith against the righteousness of works.
XI. Theil, Pr. am 4. S. n. Ostern, v. d. Gerechtigk.
XII. Theil, XXXIII. Some short sermons; sermon on the day Trin, of justification.
XXII, Table Talks; Chapter 13, that faith alone makes one righteous before God.