Here we have a masterly, excellent, delicious example of the wisdom of human reason and the foolishness of Christ, that is, the righteousness of the Spirit.
1. a wise and blameless man is punished here, because he knows nothing about the things that belong to God, who would have provided himself with nothing less than that he should have been punished for it.
2 Nicodemus thinks that the righteousness of the law is something; but Christ teaches that the regeneration, that is, the mortification of the flesh, is the righteous, true righteousness.
3. human reason cannot understand the justice of God, considers it foolishness.
*) This sermon first appeared in print under the title "The Gospel on the First Sunday of the Trinity" in 1526. Cf. Erl. A. 15, 334. From this single print are the words in [ ]. D. Red.
**) Marginal gloss. Reason, nature, free will knows nothing of God's graces and works, yes, it shuns it, let alone that it should desire it, as this text clearly proves.
4 With this saying, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," all our things, together with us, how holy and great we are, are condemned and cast to the ground.
(5) Righteous spiritual men are hidden and are not recognized by the flesh. What then do we have to do with the splendor that the outward church still holds?
(6) No man goeth up to heaven, but he that descended from heaven: therefore shalt thou not ascend of thy own free will, or of thy own strength; but in him, and by him only, that ascendeth alone, that is, through Christ our Saviour.
But how this gospel rhymes with this feast, we will leave to those who have arranged it. But because it is a fine and comforting gospel, we will deal with it first, and then say a little about the invention of the cross.
This is a beautiful gospel, in which a beautiful spiritual play is presented to us, how the very best reason and most beautiful piety on earth starts with the right truth and spiritual nature. For this Nicodemus is greatly praised by the evangelist John, that he was great both outwardly before the world and also in a beautiful spiritual life. For he was a chief of the Jews, that is, a councilor, with in the regiment, which was a great rule; in addition, a Pharisee, that is, one of the most learned, for these were considered the most intelligent; in addition, one also among the most pious, for this sect was also considered the holiest: so that no fault or blame can be brought upon him and he cannot be made greater: according to the regiment he is the chief, according to the art the most intelligent, according to the life the holiest. Above all this, it is fortunate that he has a desire for the Lord Christ; this was high above all three. The other rulers and Pharisees, the wisest and holiest, persecuted him and gave him to the devil. For a commandment had gone out among the Jews that no one was to rebel against it, or he must be cast out of the council and put under ban. Nevertheless, he was so pious, loved Christ, and secretly went to him so that he could talk to him and show his love for him.
(2) Now there stands together, as it should be painted, power, the highest piety and wisdom, and also love to Christ; and behold, how he begins to run. He goes to him with these thoughts: He will be glad that I come to him, it will tickle him and do him good that I, such a great man, one of the highest and best, should humble myself and come to such a lowly person; so he goes alone to seek friendship with him, thinks that he should be welcome and well received, has no concern that he should be punished by him and let himself be mastered; but thinks to prove himself against him as against a good friend, wants him again to be friendly to him and to keep himself honest; how else would a bad Christian man be deceived in this way, if the spirit were not wiser. But Christ is too clever for him, beats back everything he deals with, does not take any
Friendship, does not let himself be tickled, throws away everything that Nicodemus is able to do; that he must have been a pious man without a doubt, that he is not angry because of that, and just of the right children of one who should be humiliated there. Should Christ now do it to such a great man, he should soon earn wrath and disfavor.
3 Let us learn from this how very poor we are and how nothing we are if Christ does not govern us. For Nicodemus comes along, knowing no special confidence, because he only wants to greet Christ and make friends with him, not learn from him: so Christ approaches, condemns him so miserably that he leaves nothing unblamed in him, and says:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
This was a hard text and an unkind answer to such a friendly greeting. But he has mercy on him, and shows him where he lacks, that he is still so far from the kingdom of God that he has never seen it, and says: You must be born differently. That is a fine piece! If he had said, "You must do differently," and had suggested to him a fine lesson about what he should do, he would have gone straight away: Oh, I have done all this, I am diligent to do many good works, and I am pious. Therefore he lifts him up and throws him away, both with works and person.
5 For what else is said in the words but this: You do many good works, and think that you are pious and blameless; but everything is lost and condemned: not only your works, but also the heart, the root; everything that you are and can do, it must all be taken down, the tree with the fruit must be uprooted, thrown down and even burned, and a new tree must be made.
(6) This is a sour answer to such a good opinion; he praises Christ as a man of good character, so Christ says: You are again a shameful man; for that which you speak is not
*) This is ever too much talk. That etc. (c d) D. Red.
**) But to dampen such fame, (c d) D. Red.
right and without spirit, want to come so high that you want to speak of God, as I came from God, [and are still so deeply drowned in your conceit and blindness *], have well heard ringing, but do not strike together. Just as now there are many who love the gospel, and say it is from God, but are still far from it. He who comes no further than to say: It is from God, must also hear this judgment; as Christ also says in Matthew Cap. 7, 21: "Not all who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven." Oh how many are ours, who hear it, teach it and preach it, let themselves think and think that they are best off, begin to exalt Christ even with words and praise Him above all the world. But there is still foam on the tongue, not in the heart; for they are not born otherwise.
(7) Therefore Christ says, "Yes, you say that I have come from God, and you praise me; but when will you do this, that the nature and work may follow? Therefore do not presume to see the kingdom of God; you are still in blindness and old skin: you must become completely different, not so that you speak other words and do other works, but become a newborn man who knows nothing, who is neither pious nor wise, but takes off the old skin. Woe betide anyone who does not know all his nature, piety, life and art, and considers it foolishness and sin, and puts it down and says, "I will humble myself and know nothing about myself, so that it is all swept away from the bottom of the heart and the man becomes a child.
(8) Therefore Nicodemus, the more Christ says, the less he understands, and says to the Lord:
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he also go into his mother's womb anew and be born?
9. whereby one can well see how reason fits into a Christian life. He
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**) Instead of "essence" have c d "wisdom". D. Red.
hears no more about it, because the old man should not count for anything, as it is true; but how it should happen that he is born anew, he knows nothing about it, thinks no further than after a father and mother and a child, thinks that one must become a [natural *] child again. That is not the opinion, but there it lies: you must come down, so that the heart and arrogance become small, and humble, and new. As the heart is, so everything is governed by it: if it is small, then everything is small; if it is great, then everything is great. So the Lord thinks that the bodily birth is good for nothing; as he explains himself further and says:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
10. as if he wanted to speak: You must be born again, I say, not of woman or flesh and blood, but of water and spirit. But this is even more strange to him, and the longer it goes on, the more mad and crazy it becomes. Before he thought even more of it, and thought that he understood better, so if one spoke of giving birth, a woman would have to come to it. Now Christ also reproves him and says that it should not be a woman, but water and the Spirit. Who has ever heard that something is to be born of water, especially a man? Surely it is not suitable at all: should he be pounded to powder and put into the water until he is born again? Now this he declares, how one must be born of water and spirit, says Cause and speaks:
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.
(11) Here Nicodemus does not know what his position is, and has even become a fool; he is not allowed to call Christ a fool (for he has praised him before), nor is he allowed to say that it is a lie and a sham; but he thinks like this: The Master comes from God, how does he now speak like a natural fool? So reason stands that it does not know whether it considers him a teacher or not.
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for a fool; but all that I have said is true, that God so sets His teaching and faith that we must become fools. Now reason does not want to be a fool, and the greater it is a fool, the less it wants to be a fool: so God is also stiff in his mind, and wants it to be a fool, and he wants to remain wise. That is why he hides his wisdom with such foolish words and pieces, as Paul explains in 1 Cor. 1, 25, that if reason hears it, it must be pure foolishness to it. Whoever wants to become blessed must also become a fool. This is also the other birth, that we should come down from the wisdom in which we have grown, and let ourselves go down, knowing nothing, nor being able to do anything, and attack everything that is not spirit.
12 The world cannot learn such things; that is why it is so in the world that everyone wants to be a Christian and teach and preach about the gospel, and yet knows nothing about it. But no one wants to be a fool, but all want to be high, reasonable, wise, holy people. That is why so many sects and cults come, as there have always been, and fight against the gospel, like Nicodemus here, but he is still better in this, can still be controlled; the cults do not do that. So the whole gospel teaches in the summary that we are to become fools and do not want to be wise, but the mobs want to be kept wise. Oh how they have broken themselves every way, the heretics, that they would be wise, and with reason point out and measure the articles of faith, as the Arians of the Trinity, who would measure it out with reason, draw and interpret the words as they thought fit. That means to remain in the skin and not to want to be a fool. So God must be a fool, for there is no remedy, we must be fools or he must be fools.
Therefore it is just as much that Christ says here, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," as that he says in Matthew 18:3, "Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." So "to be born again" means to become a child,
and become such a child, born of water and of the spirit that is in the water, that we may say before God, "All my ability is nothing, all my wisdom is blindness and the greatest foolishness, all my piety and life is condemned to hell; therefore I commend myself to your grace, govern me according to your spirit; only leave nothing in me to govern myself and be wise, make my mind and reason even a fool, and keep me in your bosom. We all speak such words, but when it comes to a meeting, it is easy to see [where it is serious *].
014 If thou canst suffer any thing to be rejected, and think thyself a fool, and be a fool, and let it go, saying, If it be of the Spirit, it shall stand; if it be not, let it go to the devil for ever: then is it well with thee. So also with thy works and piety; when thou hearest that it is nothing, and is attacked and promised, and holdest thy peace, and sayest Yea, it is right; but if thou canst not bear it, and wilt contend for it, it is nothing. We all say that Christians must be fools, but no one likes to suffer, everyone wants to defend it. The papists also say the words: One must be born again; but if one says to them: Your thing is nothing; they cannot hear that. We all speak of the new birth, but we can do no more than command the Holy Spirit.
(15) Christ therefore says to Nicodemo: If your mind should hold that one must be born again of woman, it would be nothing if you were born an hundred times of the womb; for I punish the very birth that comes of woman, because everything that comes of flesh and blood, however often it comes, it remains flesh and blood; as Paul says 1 Cor. 15:50: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Therefore I do not mean a regeneration from the woman; for it is briefly concluded, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There now stands our rhyme, which we all lead: the
*) (e ä) **) (e ä)
Word closes over all the world and over all the saints, shuns no man, and lets no man be spirit who is born of the flesh. Do you say: Is Christ also born of the flesh? But he hath an addition, that he was conceived of the Holy Ghost: therefore was he not all flesh.
(16) Now this is the conclusion of the final judgment of us, that we are all flesh, and it would be good for us to learn something from the gospel. If we were to consider the Word alone, we would see what we are, and we would be like the peacock who knocks down his feathers and has to give up his pride when he sees his feet. For what is it said when one says from the heart, I am flesh? Flesh is condemned, death, vain sin, since there is no spirit nor God, nor divine thing or life. Summa, it is the devil's and eternal hell fire, it must become different or it cannot go to heaven.
(17) Therefore this saying is such a strong thunderclap that it destroys everything that men conceive and establish; if it is flesh, it is already condemned. What is it then that one praises: The holy Concilia and fathers have decided and established this, ordered such a regiment, finely set up holy life? What is all this? If it is also of the flesh and man, it is condemned with everything. From this I may conclude that the whole order of Francisci, Benedicti and Carthusians etc. do not see God's kingdom, nor do they enter it. Why? Because it is flesh; for the spirit is another thing. This is proved by experience, that many knaves are found in caps and plates; but if it were spirit, there should be no knave among them. Since this is not the case, it is decided that it does not have the power to make pious, there must be something more to it, there must be something that makes the whole being and person different and new; which no order can ever do. Therefore, because he knows that it is flesh, it does not belong to the kingdom of heaven; if it does not go to heaven, it goes to the devil.
18. if they could believe that once.
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Who would be so foolish as to remain in the monastic life? They have given as much honor to their state as to the spirit and water; if they thought it was flesh, they would ever say, "Shall I not go to heaven and go to the devil, what am I doing in the monastery? they would ever have to resign themselves to escape from hell. If a state should make pious, then certainly those should do it, whom God has appointed, as, the Jews state: still it does not do it. Why? It is still all flesh. Item, the worldly authority is also appointed and ordered by God: it is still flesh, must also go to the devil. So also the marital estate, which, although God Himself has instituted and blessed it, still goes to the devil where there is no spirit.
19 Thus it is briefly decided: What is not spirit goes to the devil. With this we are humbled that we are nothing at all before God. Before the world we may well be something, like this Nicodemus, who was a Jew, was also in the worldly and spiritual state, in addition to being a married man, all of which was divine; above this also a Pharisee, which was human and hypocritical, [although considered the greatest, *] in addition to the fifth, that he also loved Christ, who still helps none; therefore he could not humble him higher than with the one word, that he says: You are flesh. With this he even cancels the old birth and makes him a child. **If one then follows him and believes, one is born anew, so that we say: I know that all my thoughts, works and intentions are flesh; for all of them serve me, against God; this makes me use all creatures carnally, for my pleasure and honor. As now the new pompous doctrine from the holy scripture, all is flesh; for they need them for their flesh, that they may be something and be praised, they have found something special, all is directed to their temporal being. Thus, with the Word, all the world is thoroughly determined before God, one as the other, all who have ever come or are yet to come on earth, that they are flesh and do not belong to heaven.
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20 Therefore let us take this judgment to heart. If we would do this, we would not disagree among ourselves, nor stand stiffly on our own minds, nor think much of ourselves; but yield to one another, considering that no one is better in the sight of God than the least child and the most unlearned layman, whether you are the best before the world. So all flesh, God grant, shall become king or beggar, wise man or fool. Therefore the prophet Isaiah Cap. 58, 7. finely said this, when he speaks of helping the poor: "When you see a naked man, cover him", and adds: "and do not despise your flesh"; as if he wanted to say: You are just of the cloth and wool that he is. Behold, this is a small judgment, which yet goes as far as the world is. Therefore one must not think of a fleshly rebirth, it is still too much that we are once born of the flesh; but that one must be born of the spirit, which does not ask for itself, but for God's kingdom and glory. For this reason Christ comforts Nicodemum, because he is so distraught and becomes a fool, and thus says to him:
Do not be surprised that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it will, and you hear its breath, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.
021 As if to say, Be not astonished, only depart; let me be wise, I will tell thee whereof it is; by reason thou understandest none of these things: thou art pious and wise, that no man can punish thee on earth; but I say, Thou art flesh. So he would like to say: It is a divine state which I lead, ordered by God, praised and commanded, should it then count for nothing before him? Answer: Yes, it pleases him well that he goes before the world and is valid; the state pleases him well, but not all who are in it. It is not so, he will say, as thou thinkest, that thou wouldest like to measure it with reason, and model a spiritual man, as he sees where he would be, what he would do, that thou wouldest give him a
You must not look around you like that, you won't find him. But I will tell you how it happens. It is like a wind, which is a bodily creature: you hear it blowing and blowing, but you cannot grasp it in general, where it starts or stops, where it goes. Although our high schools also want to measure it, and Aristotle said, they are hollow holes, from which the wind comes and goes in again etc. But David has it trotted out in the 135th Psalm v. 7, where he says: Qui producit ventos de thesauris suis: "He who makes the winds come from his secret place", so that no one sees it nor knows that he is no more than heard passing by; how far or wide he blows, no one knows.
(22) Now as it is with the bodily creature, the air and the wind, so it is with the spiritual man. Do not think what kind of nose and mouth he has; as soon as you see a nose and mouth, you do not see the spirit, but you hear something of it, that is, where you hear the gospel breathe and rush, then you can say: There is spirit; but as soon as you look at the person, that he looks like this, lives here or there, is dressed like this, is ordered like this, you cannot meet him. That is why God hides Christians in such a way that they cannot be felt except by the Gospel. He sometimes lets them do good works, which one feels as one feels the wind; but they can soon stumble again, so that one must say: There is no spirit. So that one cannot be sure and founded on the works, it may well be lacking; for things are strange with the Christians. But the doctrine is constant and pure in itself: where this is, God's spirit goes, that never fails.
(23) This is what Christ says, that he wants to show the new birth, to strip away the old thoughts and images of the old birth, which are attached to place, person and works, and to teach that such a spiritual man hangs on breathing alone. Nicodemus then becomes even more mad, does not understand the likeness at all, and thinks, what a new strange sermon this is, that it must all be done out of sight, and one must be
That is why he also says to the Lord, "How can this be? As if to say, "If you preach like this, Moses' teaching will be nothing; it is of persons, places, and wise men. If you teach like this, they will not like you. We can see where it begins or ends, for we have circumcision, the temple, sacrifices and all kinds of worship, which are all external things. These things deceive him, and cast him down before his head: for they are contrary to one another, reason and prudence from the law against Christ and the gospel. Therefore Christ answers and says:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our testimony.
(24) As if to say, 'I cannot go further than the word, I can only breathe. But you shall break your head and let go of conceit, and learn from me. What should the student learn who first wants to think whether the master taught right or not? This is done in all regiments, of course, but not here; they sit and think beforehand whether it is right to want to be masters before they are pupils. Whoever wants to learn must listen and hang on to his speech, then the Holy Spirit will come and teach. That is why he says, "We speak that which we know." I know it and speak it, I cannot go further; but the Holy Spirit brings it into the heart. You must let him speak and consider him wise and pious; but you listen, be silent and let him be master; as Mary sat down at the feet of Christ and listened to his speech, Luc. 10, 39. "But you," he says, "do not accept it." Ye will first find it out, and overcharge it; so the word will master you, that ye shall be fools. And says further: .
Do you not believe when I tell you about earthly things; how would you believe if I told you about heavenly things?
(25) I have given a gross similitude of birth, and after that of the wind; which is an earthly thing: yet thou believest not. I have put the teaching in picture and example
[and you do not understand *]; how would it be, if I only spoke of it without a picture and with dark words? [For with the image and likeness one is accustomed to present a thing in the grossest and clearest way **], in which Christ has commonly composed his doctrine, and has even let the Old Testament go before, composed with vain images and figures. This disputation goes so far that it is decided that everything that is in us and the whole world, where it is the most intelligent, the most pious and the highest, is condemned to eternal fire. Above all this, the greatest shame is that we do not see this, nor do we know this, nor do we allow ourselves to think that we are wise and pious. These are the two greatest misfortunes: we still think we are well off, and do not want to believe what he says about men; how should we believe when he speaks about God? [This is the first part of this gospel. †] Now follows the other part, how this spiritual birth takes place, that is, how one comes into the spirit when the flesh is killed, and remains in God, and thus speaks:
No one goes up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
(26) Then you see that he even draws it to himself, to the one person, what was spoken before about the new birth, and seeing the kingdom of God or coming into heaven, and concludes in short, that no one sees God's kingdom nor comes into heaven, but only he who has descended. This is to say that even if a man were so presumptuous as to have heard [and to know ††] that we are all flesh, and to seek to be born spiritually and to see the kingdom of God, it is in vain and lost; the door is shut too tightly on heaven, so that no one can enter it except the man Christ. No one sees nor knows God's kingdom, nor enters it, for he is and remains in it to this day. For to go to heaven cannot be understood in any other way than to go and come into God's kingdom. Where do we want to go, we who are flesh and cannot enter it? He will soon
Afterwards, when he has crossed out beforehand, say who is the first, the captain who breaks the course and makes the way; we will see that through.
27 This is the sum of it: No one knows the ways or the paths to the kingdom of heaven, no one has the power to enter it. So that herewith is even denied own fortune, that no one has it [nor attains it *], except to whom he wants to communicate it. That it be ill understood, as the words are, that no man hath power, nor knoweth the way, or the place, or the manner, to enter therein, and to abide therein, but he. But by this is rejected all men's trespasses, professions, and worship, that they may be made to pass through it, and to break through it. All things are lost, except there be one who is able; he is our only consolation, being also a man, having flesh and blood, of our cloth, and spun of the same wool, born of a woman, not having been born by and of the flesh: for to this came the Holy Ghost, that the maid conceived in the flesh, but not of the flesh; so that it had nothing to do with it, neither was any power implanted in the flesh by the word and ordinance of God, but supernaturally, and by the power of the flesh. For that a woman bears a child, she has from the blessing that God spoke over man in the first book of Moses, when God gave them such a desire and such good that they should grow and multiply, Gen. 1, 28. In power of the word it happens; if that were not, then there would be no power: so that the ability of everything comes from the word; otherwise, if all men did together, they would never bring forth a child, God's word alone makes children.
(28) This is what I call the power of the flesh, which God implanted in him by word, command and blessing. But no man came to the birth of Christ, so that this power could do nothing to it; but as the angel said to the virgins, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you," Luc. 1:35. This was a new power, not planted in the flesh, but high in the flesh.
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and marvelous, so that it did nothing more than work within itself, and it stood still. Therefore he is not of the power of the flesh, and yet he remains flesh and blood like us, without being purified by the Spirit, who shines in it with his brightness. So that we must bear the judgment that we are flesh, belong to the devil, deprived of the kingdom of God, so deeply condemned that we do not even recognize how we are deprived; but the man, Christ, has another power, breaks the way, can open heaven, which no one else could do, yes, no one knows either the way or the counsel for it, has also therefore descended and put on human nature. Therefore, as he has power to descend, he also has power to ascend. Thus the opinion is: No man has power to enter heaven, all must go to hell, belong to the devil, he alone is mighty of heaven and Lord.
But what is it that he says, "The Son of Man who is in heaven"? How? Did he not ascend in the clouds only after the resurrection, as it says in the stories of the apostles Cap. 1, 9? Why then does he say here: He descends, remains above, and ascends? after all, he walked on earth that time? You see that this must be a spiritual thing: it is not enough that the disciples saw him go up, but it was only a sign. Spiritually he is in the heavenly being forever; bodily he goes up to rule them. But how he sits cannot be seen.
30 St. Paul also said to the Colossians Cap. 3, 1. 2. 3: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting on the right hand of God. Be mindful of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." You have died, he says, namely, from human statutes, as he speaks soon before, that your hearts are free from all laws, that no Moses has any business in them, but with the heart you dwell and live in God, but hidden. Speak plainly that we live in God, but in such a way that it is not seen.
If we [but *] live in God, we do not live on earth, but must be there where He is.
31 Item, so he also says to the Ephesians Cap. 2, 4, 5, 6: "God, who is rich in mercy, through His great love, so that He loved us when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up together with Him, and seated us together with Him in the heavenly realm. But everything is hidden in the spirit. A believer lives by his faith, so he lives by God, God is his life and nourishment, not by food, drink, clothing, money, by which the body lives, but the soul is not satisfied by it; for what is external, it can help nothing. So Christ lived in God hidden and secretly, then he ascended visibly; so he will also return visibly on the last day, and we also with him, so that we will see how we live in him and he in God.
That is, he is in heaven, descends and ascends, remains above and descends, one spiritually, the other bodily: spiritually he remains eternally above and yet ascends bodily. Therefore his ascension and the ascension of all Christians is spiritual, not bodily, so that it is not bound to any place. If I believe, I live in God, I am above all creatures, devils and all authority: but no one is. If one looks at the Christians after the body, so fehlets and can not meet; because he has no nose: as with the wind I do not know where it comes from. So I, like Christ, am according to the body among all; but according to the soul, despite all devils, angels, and the world, to do me harm; nothing can harm my soul in heaven or earth. If the devil takes a Christian's body and goods, what has he taken from him? He has the shells and husks, I keep the core, yet I remain above the devil and trample him underfoot. So you see that a Christian is not bound to any place or outward thing, but floats above all creatures. Now I come wherever I want; if I am a Christian, no one can harm me,
If only all the powers in heaven and earth would work together for the soul and life that I have from God and in God; in spite of them breaking off a sherf, they only have to support me.
033 Askest thou now, How then shall we come up into heaven, because it is cut off, that no man can come thither but Christ? There is no other way, but that we must let ourselves be dragged up by Christ, and so be carried in; he has made the bridge up, notwithstanding that no man should follow him. We have to stay down with the devil, we will not follow him, but if he takes us on his back and carries us, we may come up with him. The word ascendere, to go up, means by one's own power. Now he alone has power and dominion over heaven, so we do not ascend, but are carried up. Therefore Christ now concludes and says:
And as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(34) That he goeth up and down, and is above, is his, but it is no help to us: he hath power, and no man can do it after him, neither can he boast that his work hath brought him into heaven, but into hell. But when he thus saith, I have all things for myself, and am in heaven above: but I will not go up alone, but I will draw and drag some up with me, that they also may be above, though they be not able to go up. This shall be so, that they shall cleave unto me. I will be crucified and resurrected: those who then believe in me, that I died for them, these, though they cannot by their own strength enter heaven, I will nevertheless drag them up with me. So he carries us and hangs us on his neck; wherever he goes, he must drag us with him. So it is not our power, but the power of others that we are saved, so that all our works are rejected.
35. here he now leads a fine lovely
*) (c d)
*) Instead of "Scherpf", b has "heller". D. Red.
It is a figure that portrays Christ to us in the most exquisite way, which is why it is easy to form it in the heart. Thus we read in the fourth book of Moses Cap. 21, 5. 6.When the Jews were wandering in the wilderness, and were afraid that the way was so long, and had neither bread nor water, they became very impatient, and God sent fiery serpents among them, which bit them; for there are deserts in the land, as great as a country in Germany, in which there is neither food nor drink; so that even the great kings, as Herod and the Romans, had to carry food with them; Now there are many evil worms against the suns; but this was a peculiar evil kind of serpent, when it bit a man, that it kindled great heat and fire in man, and such great unquenchable thirst that he died of it. That is why they are called "fiery serpents," as they are called dipsades in the Greek language; although some are said to be so hot in the land when they blow or give breath that it goes out as if it were fire.
36There was a miserable crying over the inhuman plague among the people, and they called to Moses, who also knew no counsel: but when he asked, God had mercy on them, and said to Moses, v. 8, "Make thee a serpent of brass like unto it, and set it up for a sign; whosoever is bitten, and looketh on it, he shall recover."
37 Now behold how Christ is portrayed in history. First of all, the main thing is that the Jews, bitten by the snakes, had no help nor counsel against it. What did it help that they struck themselves with it and used the poison to quench it? it only made things worse. But they were helped by this, because they touched the bronze serpent, which was a small thing. There you see no work that they have atoned, prayed or burned incense. Now the serpent had the appearance of a real serpent, but it was dead and without poison, and it was also healing, so that it could help; not that the brass could do this, but that it did, because there is a word attached to it: "Whoever is bitten and looks at it shall be healed. This word stuck to the serpent, and in the power of the
*) (c d)
The serpent helped the word. So Christ points to Himself and says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man also be lifted up.
This is the correct interpretation of the image or figure. We are also bitten by the serpent, that is, by sin, as Paul says. Sin is a hot, poisonous bite that puts all plagues on us; where it enters the conscience, there is never rest, it chases death, death chases man, so that there is nothing but a real hell. There is no help nor counsel but eternal death: do works as much as you will, but you are damned until the miracle and grace comes that another serpent is made. But why does he take nothing else than the serpent that bit her? he might have taken something else.
39 This is what Paul says to the Romans Cap. 8, 3: De peccato damnavit peccatum: "He has condemned sin with sin", death with death chased away, law with law overcome. How so? He became a sinner on the cross, with the title, in the midst of the boys, as an arch-villain, suffering the judgment and punishment that a sinner should suffer. He was innocent, had never done no sin; nor were the two above him, the name with the deed. That is, he became a sinner; he took on the sin that was not his, and with the sin that he took on, and was judged and condemned as an evildoer, he destroyed the sin. If one looks at him on the cross according to reason, he is an evildoer, because he is punished by God in such a way that the Jews said he was abandoned by God; there is vain sin and the form of serpents; still he is innocent, just as the bronze serpent was innocent, yes, salvific. Though he be wholesome and innocent, yet is he like unto a sinner, that the form alone is there; and with sin he helpeth us from our sin. So he condemned sin on the cross, that it is now dead. Sin wronged him by dying as an evil-doer, and had no right to him: therefore he will pay it, and pour out the bath, winning justice over all sin in the world, condemning it rightly and justly, because it is to him.
had done wrong. So that now to all who believe the sentence is given, Sin shall not hurt thee; for it is guilty and repentant to me: therefore it shall be no sin, or ever a damnable sin. This then is a fine sin to me, lying under me, that I should trample it under foot, as that which is condemned.
040 This then is that Christ concludes, saying, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This is the same word that was said of the serpent, "He that looketh on him shall recover." For to "look upon" Christ on the cross is to believe in him; from this sin is destroyed, so that it can do us no harm, or if it does harm, it shall do no harm. So it is only by looking, and not by any work, as those bodily, so we with the heart, that is, that we believe that Christ with his innocence has made sin void. Now this would not help us even if he had died a thousand times on the cross, any more than it would have helped them if they had set up a thousand serpents of their own, unless the word had been given, namely, that which is written here: "Everyone who believes in him shall not perish. So I come to cling to Christ, who is in heaven, leading down and up, and am carried by him, and also come up with him; God granting, whether I am driven or led, that I may be in it only.
(41) Behold, this is the figure in which Christ is so delicately portrayed, without all sin, yet like unto sinners, as full of sin, bearing sins, and yet not hurtful to him, but helping all sinners who believe that they have eternal life, that they are no longer in the flesh, but are born again and with Christ in heaven. These are all such words, which powerfully conclude that our being is nothing. To whom it is given, it is given and abides with him. So both things remain, that I never go to heaven and yet enter it. But he goes alone, but by his lifting and pulling I come in with him. This is the gospel. Now let us also say a little about the invention of the cross of Christ.*)
42 Now I should also preach about the feast of the Holy Trinity, on which the gospel was preached; but I think it is not necessary to exalt it, nor is it good to speak much about it. For the devil has a heartache in the world, that he only raises school quarrels and always brings up new groups, so that the gospel is shaken, and should there be misery among the people, so that one would be afraid to preach, and if he were in heaven, no one would be able to do a sermon, so dreadfully does the devil. He will not rest until he brings it to pass that it will be the same with this as with the sacrament, which, because we have taken it out of the pope's throat again and brought it back into proper use, the mobs go to it and even trample it underfoot. It will be the same with this article, that we will become Jews again.
(43) Therefore I do not speak much of it, unless one remains simple in the words and allows the words to be caught. We have enough faith when we say: I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now one should believe in no one but God alone. That is why he also wanted to become man, so that the heart would never hang on any angel or man but on him. If you understand and know this, then you have enough reason to believe that Christ must be God, otherwise one could not believe in him.
But how three persons in the Godhead are different and yet One God with essence is, you will not understand. If you could understand it, you should not believe it. How the poor people fool, if they want to grasp such a thing with reason; if they could not, then they deny the sacrament.
(45) If the devil brings someone to say in the article of our faith, "Is it right? is it fine?" God help him, he is already gone. If Eve had been wise and had not asked such a question, she would have stayed; but since the devil suggested to her: Is it also fine that God should forbid us the tree? and she then thought: Oh is it also true? it does not rhyme! it was already lost. This is what Paul says in 1 Tim. 1, 7. about those who deal with questions and thereby want to understand Scripture and
If you do not master the word of God, it becomes a quarrel that has no end. Therefore, let everyone beware and not engage in such quarreling and questioning; but if you have the word, keep it and do not be turned away from it, eyes and senses closed and nothing more asked. So the devil will also defile this article and raise questions as to whether it is right or wrong.
rhyme that the three are one God? and the like. But they will cry out against us, as they are doing now. Therefore I will have warned beforehand; it will certainly be stirred up, it is not yet time, lest one deceive oneself with questions and quarrels, as our red-blooded spirits deceive themselves and the rabble, God help us, amen].