Luc. 2, 21.
And when eight days were expired for circumcising the child, his name was called Jesus, which was called of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
1. this gospel requires us to preach and hear about circumcision; for the word is almost drawn in the Old and New Testaments, and driven by the prophets and apostles, that we may know what it is and whither it goes.
*This sermon appeared in two separate printings in 1523. Red.
(2) In the first place, one must put out the eyes of reason here, so that we do not make a mockery of it, since God is very serious about it. True, if one looks at the work and forgets about God beside it, it is ridiculous; but we Christians, because we confess that God created all things, must also confess that He created all things, even the least and most shameful of them.
most hasty. But that we may have a reason to speak of circumcision, let us consider the law which God gave to Abraham for circumcision; for thus the words are, as Moses wrote in the first book of Cap. 17:10-14: "Keep therefore my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee. Now this is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, among their seed: Every male among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your flesh. This shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. When every child is eight days old, you shall circumcise it among your descendants. All that are born of your own seed, or bought, or otherwise alien, and not of your seed, shall be like them. So shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And if a child be not circumcised in the foreskin of his flesh, his soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he hath not kept my covenant.
(3) There you have that the text goes only to the children. When reason looks at the commandment here, it makes a laughing and foolish thing of it, and worries why God did not command the child to be circumcised on another limb, but on the very place and limb of which all the world is ashamed? Now, reason must close its eyes and say, "This was His will," and do God the honor and keep quiet about it, thinking God wiser and wiser than it can understand, and thinking that it is the work of our Lord God, so that He wills nothing else than to put the world and reason to shame and to make a fool of them, 1 Cor. 1, 27. For his way is to make wise what is foolish, and to bring to honor what is shameful, and as a creator should and must do, to make something great out of nothing; with such works he delights to deal. So you also see how he deals with the whole of Scripture, and attacks his works so strangely that human reason cannot judge them. He does all this, as I said, to make the wise foolish and to overthrow the great,
raise the lowly and the poor, and what is nothing, make something.
(4) So he also presented a work to the Jews, in which natural reason would object and say: "Shall God, who is the highest wisdom, do such a foolish thing? But it is for this very reason that God, with such works and commandments, kills the old man and makes the new man alive. Therefore, when you see that he is doing such a shameful thing, you must put aside the wisdom of your reason and think that it is a wonderful thing, and thus say: "Even though it seems foolish and shameful to me, I still want to give my Lord the honor and praise that he is wiser than I am, that he knows what he should do, but he does not need my advice for his works. So he must strangle my little head, and defile my reason, and make her a fool. Then her good sense falls away and comes into another sense and thought, so that she says, "This seems good and right to me, because it seems good to God, even though I can never understand it.
(5) God does the same with all other works: when he sends poverty or sickness or any other misfortune to a person, he does so only so that reason may close its eyes and not look at it as it appears; although it hurts that it sees the misfortune before its eyes, it should not judge itself by it, but should only pay attention to what does not appear, trust God, and believe that there is great wealth and health there, and say: Because he has laid this up for me, I will gladly have it, and because it pleases him, it pleases me also; yet I know well that there is something else behind it than I see before my eyes. The Jews had to do the same here. Well, blessed is the man who understands! This is the cause of all the works of God in general, and especially of this, that God had commanded that all Jews be circumcised.
6) Secondly, this commandment is also given in the flesh, because God set apart and separated this people, the Jews, from all others, as the one from whom He wanted to become man, and He highly praised and honored them.
as St. Paul also says to the Romans Cap. 3:2, and therefore they also had to be separated from all the people by a special sign; just as we Christians also have such a sign, baptism. Just as we see in worldly things that every prince has his coat of arms and shield, so that he and his people are known, and in war every lord or captain of the field has his banner and slogan, so that they are known: so also the Jews had their sign, so that they were known to be God's people. Although they had the sign especially for this reason, as the text also says, so that they would be sure that they belonged to God's people. Above this, they also had to bear a figure and image of the future Christian people. Because of the sign, the Gentiles reviled them, ridiculed them, mocked and despised them; as the world can do nothing else, it must despise God's work and commandment.
007 But what did our Lord God do, when his people were mocked for this work? He lifted them up no less, yes, he set them in the midst of all the Gentiles in defiance of the Gentiles, and also protected them and shielded them from all the Gentiles, so that even though they despised the Gentiles and were enemies to them, they still had to go away disgraced and beaten in the mouth, so that the Jews were on top and mocked the Gentiles again. So our Lord God still does in all his works, when they are held in contempt and despised. For all his works are such that reason is offended by them, and he does them for this very reason, that it may be offended by them, so that at the end of the day it may stand up again and begin to recognize God's work and know how to praise him in it.
(8) Just as the Jews were despised by the Gentiles because of their work, so all Christians must be mocked, ridiculed and despised for the sake of the gospel, which is a foolish and ridiculous preaching to the world. For this is laid upon us Christians by God, that we must bear shame; and cannot fail, if one preaches the gospel aright, to be
should not despise, revile and laugh at us. This is the holy cross, which is almost shameful in the eyes of the world. It was a great foolishness that the Christians believed in him who died on the cross and considered him to be a god and savior. But this is our sign and slogan, we must bear it, nothing else will come of it; as also St. Paul 2 Tim. 3, 12. says: "All who want to live godly in Christ JEsu must suffer persecution." But the more we are despised, mocked and persecuted, the higher he lifts us up; he cannot help it, he must honor and protect us noticeably. Therefore he also sets us in defiance in the midst of the devils, saying, "Defiance! Do something to them, I will build my church on a rock, so that they will not overcome all the gates of hell, Matth. 16, 18. They can oppose it as they want, neither the devil, nor death, nor the world can attack this people. As it happened there with the Jews, that they were persecuted and driven out; so it is now with us Christians.
(9) These are the physical reasons why God wanted to give such a shameful sign to the Jews, and why they had to bear the shame of circumcision. It would not be shameful in man if there were no sins; for since Adam and Eve were still in innocence, even though they were naked, they were not ashamed, as Moses says in 1 Cap. 2, 25. 2, 25. Now let us also see what God intended to show with this work. It is true that God's work and commandments are foolish to nature and reason; he also attacks them foolishly enough: but if we keep still and wait, we will soon see how they are done most wisely, and could never have been conceived better than God conceives them; that is what we will see here.
010 First, God Almighty hath put circumcision upon Abraham and his seed only in the place where it is shameful and disgraceful. Why did he not add another part or member of the body, other than the hand, feet or tongue, with which we see that one also sins abominably, but added the member of birth? With it is long time before-
2094 A-15, 19S-201. on the day of the circumcision of the infant JEsu. W. XI, 2793-2796. 2095
shows that no one can come to God and be saved by works, but only by faith. This is what the Scriptures drive through and through in all examples and teachings. Our sin in us is not a work of barren deeds, but is the nature and whole being; therefore God takes the member that belongs to the birth and through it the human nature is planted; as if he wanted to speak: Your birth, and your nature, and your whole being is sin and unclean; this I testify by this work of circumcision. It is not a work that hands and feet do. It was a work when Adam and Eve ate the apple, but after the fall it was no longer a work, for then they saw that they were naked and were ashamed, as the text in Genesis Cap. 3, 10; and there the poison*) was lifted up, and went through the whole man, through body and soul. It is not by works, but nature is thoroughly corrupted, so that there is no longer any good pleasure, neither in body nor soul. This is what I mean, that circumcision had to take place at birth and in the place where the evil air is cultivated, so that you do not think to do anything good with works. For even if you do not use your hands, you are still not free from evil desire. As when a wicked man sits in prison with his hands and feet bound, he is forced not to do the work, but he does not become more pious because of it. So also we. We do not become godly because we do not do an evil work with our hands; we must even put on a different skin if we want to become godly.
11 Secondly: Why did he lay this commandment on the man, since the woman is also poisoned and is as much in evil lust as the man? Answer: The future promise that Christ would be born is also involved. For by this he means that if the woman could conceive of herself, she would be without sin; therefore the Holy Spirit has drawn it out, that a child may be born without sin,
*) Instead of "poison" a has "reason". D. Red.
if only the woman conceives, not from the man. And if it could still happen that a woman would give birth without male seed, then this birth would also be pure. Therefore this is stated, that Christ should be conceived and born without sin from a woman, without male seed. He clearly expressed this in Gen. 17:10 with the words, "All that is male shall be circumcised." So he just wrapped the Savior in the circumcision, who was supposed to help the sinful nature. Even though everything in our nature is poisoned and full of sin, the Holy Spirit wanted to indicate in these words that there should still be a child born of the mother alone, without sin, who would not need circumcision, even though there could not be a father and the child be begotten by the father without sin. You see, although this sign is shameful in the eyes of the world, there is hidden in it such great divine wisdom, which no reason has ever been able to sense: that God thus wanted to help the poisoned evil nature, and that one day a child should be born without sin, and that the mother should conceive it without sin, which should save human nature from such poisoning.
(12) Thirdly, may one also ask here why the child should be circumcised on the eighth day? Although it might be interpreted as a physical reason, that the child should be made a little hard so that it does not die of weakness, it nevertheless also has a spiritual meaning. For the eighth day signifies the resurrection. Now there are always seven days, one after the other, until the end of the world. The eighth day will come, and no one will speak today or tomorrow; the day will stand forever, and all that is in heaven and earth will be revealed, in the hearts and consciences of all people, and there will be no more night. So this is secretly meant here, that there should be a resurrection and another time, and then the circumcision will be full. The child must*) have a new skin, that means that the
*) does not have to have a round foreskin (c d). D. Red.
Circumcision must take place completely, and what is evil in us must be cut off completely. But this will not happen until the last day, when there will be a new body, in which there will be no evil desire nor opinion, but only the desire for righteousness, and it will become clear as the sun, as Christ himself says in Matthew 13:43, that on the last day the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom.
(13) Now herein is hid a portion of the divine wisdom, that it may signify spiritual circumcision. Now this is spiritual circumcision, that a man may be circumcised from all that is flesh and blood; and this spiritual circumcision shall not cease while we live, but shall continue until the last day. The bodily circumcision with the child had to happen soon; but the final circumcision does not happen soon. Of which Paul Rom. 2, 29. Col. 2, 11. and the prophet Jeremiah Cap. 4, 4, and Moses himself says in the fifth book, Cap. 10, 16: "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart"; thus leading us from the physical to the spiritual circumcision, as if Moses should say: "You do not understand and do not need circumcision; you do not know why you are doing it. But this is what God wants, that everything should be cut off that is innate to you and that comes from birth: you are unbelievers and are full of evil desire and filth; from this you shall be cleansed.
14 Moses also says in another place, Deut. 30:6, "The Lord thy God shall circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." So Stephen also spoke to the Jews Apost. 7:51: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart and ears," when they were circumcised in the flesh; as if to say, "Your ears and heart are not yet circumcised, ye have the old skin in your heart, ye are faithless, and will not be told. So Paul interprets to the Colossians Cap. 2, 13: "You Gentiles were dead in the foreskin.
*) Instead of "opinion" have c d "inclination". D. Red.
God has made you alive," that is, the carnal life that you have from Adam, your evil desire and unbelief, that is, the evil skin that you brought from Adam, which God has made alive and clean through faith in Christ. For the same faith, as Peter says, purifies the heart, Acts 15:9. 15, 9. So in other places it is found more that the apostles carry circumcision far, as also St. Paul says to the Romans Cap. 2, 28, 29: "Circumcision on the outside of the body does not do it, it must be done on the inside in the spirit.
(15) Now spiritual circumcision is nothing else than faith, which the Holy Spirit works in the heart; it takes away the evil way of Adam, unbelief comes away, and such a heart follows, which gladly hears the word of God. Then our Lord God makes a desire for all the commandments and cuts off all evil desire; for this is what he wants when he commands in the prophets that one should circumcise the heart. And circumcision must continue, I said, while we live. Therefore, though we have begun, it is not yet finished, the flesh is not yet entirely clean; nor has there ever been a saint who has not lamented his uncleanness. St. Paul testifies to this publicly with very beautiful words, when he says to the Romans Cap. 7, 14-25: "We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, for I do not know what I am doing. For I do not do that which I would, but that which I would, that I do. But if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. So then I do not do the same, but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I may want to, but I cannot accomplish the good. For the good that I will, I do not do; but the evil that I will not, that I do. But if I do what I do not want, I do not do it, but the sin that dwells in me. So then I find a law in me, which I will do that which is good, and that which is evil is abiding in me. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man: but I see another law in my members, which is contrary to it.
2098 D- is, 204-206. On the day of the circumcision of the infant JEsu. W. n, 2798-2801. 2099
the law in my mind, and takes me captive in the law of sins, which is in my members. I wretched man, who will deliver me from the body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So now with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sins." As if St. Paul wanted to say: "Evil desire remains, but I do not confess its will, but tame it, so that it does not do as it wills, and atones for its desire. Therefore lust must be restrained and fenced with; he who practices this most is the best Christian. So now circumcision is entirely spiritual, as it is with the Jews. This is what the eight days want. For what evil and sin should the child have done that is not eight days old? Why then does God impose circumcision on him? Because nature is evil, and the child brings with it the original sin, which is naturally innate to us. Therefore it is not a matter of work, for the child has never been able to do any evil work, but of the evil, poisoned nature, for the child is thus born with wickedness and sin.
(16) Now here is a question: Why then did circumcision cease, and why did God not let it remain, even now among Christians? Answer: This is in the will of our Lord God, and this will shall be enough for us, so that we may not worry about it any longer. But let us look at it further. This is the way of our Lord God, that he always gives outward signs to the word, which are all directed to Christ. And he does this for our sake, because we are so deep in the flesh and blood that we cannot believe the evil words of God; therefore he gives signs, so that we may be sure that it is true, as he promises and assures us by his word. He has shown such grace and kindness to the human race from the beginning of the world. What signs did Adam and the archfathers have in his time? They did not have baptism like us, nor circumcision like Abraham; but this they had as a sign: when they sacrificed, fire came from heaven and burned the sacrifice, so that they knew that God would be merciful to them. Besides
In this sign they had a promise, namely, that God said to the serpent, who led them into original sin, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bite his heels," Genesis 3:15. This was their gospel, and was as much as if he had said to Eve, "I will give you a child and a natural seed, who shall be a savior, and shall bruise the devil's head. This gospel and consolation they heard and believed with joy, and were saved thereby; of which they were sure from the sign whereof I spake. Wherever the sacrifice was seen to be burning, there were Christians; therefore Moses often introduced the saying 2 Mos. 29, 18. 3 Mos. 26, 31. that God smelled the sweet odor of their sacrifice, indicating that God was pleased with their sacrifice.
17 This has now lasted from Adam to Abraham; then God let that sign cease, and made a clearer one, which could make them even better certain and assured, gave him a sign on the body, namely, circumcision. To such a sign they had the word and promise, when God said to Abraham: "Through your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed", Gen. 22, 18. 26, 4. 28, 14. This was Christ Jesus, as St. Paul interprets it, who was to take away all man's malediction through His blessing, Gal. 3, 8. 13. Now when Christ came, the sign also ceased, and gave us a clearer sign, namely, baptism. Now this is the last, that we are dipped into the water, as if one were to be drowned; it is a sign that the old man, the evil sinful nature, must be drowned and perish completely, if it is to go to heaven otherwise. But that you are pulled out again means that you must come to life again and be born a new man; and this lasts until the last day. So it is in God's will that that sign has ceased, which alone is given to the Jews. He is Lord of all men and of the whole world; therefore a new sign must now be given to all men. This is the opinion of the Scriptures about circumcision, why it was put on.
be what it has meant and why it has ceased, lest we make a mockery of it; for it is God's work.
018 Now the last thing in the gospel is, that the child was not only circumcised the eighth day, but also received a name. For the Jews had the custom of naming the child in circumcision. Luc. 1, 59. This is the interpretation: when we are justified by faith, we first receive a name. Before we had neither faith nor a name; God did not know us before, did not know anything about us: but immediately, when we are spiritually circumcised and have faith, the name comes on, so that we get from the name we had from Adam, that we are called Adam's children, into a new name, that we are called God's children, as we come out of that birth, that we never have the first birth from Adam. This is the origin of the saying: Invocatum est nomen tuum super nos, that is: "We are called by your name", Jer. 14, 9. And this is the glory of Christians, that we are called gods and Christians, and holy, righteous, pure, true, and the like, as he is called. Thus we have all the names that he has and that may be given to him, and what good may be said of him. This way of speaking is also used by Isaiah when he speaks Cap. 4:1: "In that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will feed ourselves, but we will be called after thee:" as ye know that the woman is called after the man.
19 As the woman sitteth in common goods with the man, so that whatsoever is the man's is the woman's; and again, whatsoever is the woman's is the man's: so also are all the faithful partakers of the common goods.
We are the owners of all the goods of God, and have all that he has: therefore we must be called after him. The name is given to us by the new being when we are born again. Before we were all deprived of goods, we also have our name from our father Adam, which is called: Omnis homo mendax: All men are liars, Psalm 116, 11. God does not know the name. Therefore, as this is another bride, so must we also have another name. Therefore, God did not want to give the child a name until the circumcision; just as we do not give our children names until the baptism, when they are united to Christ as their bridegroom.
20 Now here is another thing: Why Christ is circumcised, since he was innocent and did not need circumcision? This we have often preached before; in it is also a doctrine of faith and love. First, that Christ took circumcision upon Himself to save us from it, that our faith in it might be strong. He was not guilty of it, but for my sake he gave himself down, and did it for me: as he took death upon himself, though he was not guilty of death, yet for our sakes he did it, that he might deliver us from death. Therefore we are not guilty of being circumcised. Then in this is an example of love, that he gives himself to the work of which he had no need and no profit; that he may give us an example, that we also should do so, and serve our neighbor, though we may not. This I command you to consider carefully. Let this be said lately in this gospel, let us call upon the Lord for mercy.