On the first Sunday of Advent.*)
Rom. 13:11-14.
And because we know this, that the time is at hand, that the hour is come to rise from sleep; because our salvation is now nearer than when we thought it; the night is past, and the day is at hand; let us therefore lay aside the works of darkness, and let us put on the weapons of light. Let us walk uprightly, as in the day, not in eating and drinking, not in chambering and fornication, not in strife and envying; but draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ, and wait for the body, yet so that it be not made lustful.
Dear friends, although I am an old doctor, I experience daily that I still have to speak the Ten Commandments, the faith and the Lord's Prayer with the children, and from this I still have great benefit and piety. Therefore, let no one think that he has learned it all at once, nor despise the word because it is preached and practiced every day.
(2) This is an epistle that provokes and exhorts. For the apostle now speaks to those who know what is right and what is wrong, so he urges and urges them to continue in this teaching and bring it to life, so that we do not think that we now know everything and that it is enough for us to know it, and that we will not follow it with our lives. But if a man knows what he ought to do and what he ought not to do, he needs the other part of the sermon, namely, exhortation, so that he does not become slothful and lazy. For our sermon is not only to be thought and spoken, but to be lived and practiced by works; and for this an exhortation is necessary, or else it becomes a sleep. Now, St. Paul had many such disciples, as today's epistle indicates; and 1 Cor. 4:19 he says: "I want to know their power"; as if he wanted to say: "There are puffed-up Christians among you who can speak finely about it; but when I come, I will not ask about them what they have said, but what they have done".
have. Thus saith Christ, Matt. 7:21: "All that say unto me, Lord, Lord, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; but they that do the will of my Father which is in heaven. Whether thou knowest what is right or what is wrong, it shall not lead thee to heaven; but if thou do that which thou knowest, otherwise nothing shall come of it. That is why St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:20: "The kingdom of God does not stand in words," it is not idle talk, but have an emphasis and follow it with your life; otherwise, the more you know, the greater will be your condemnation.
3 So now St. Paul says, "I speak to you who know that through Christ you have been redeemed and made blessed, that you may abide in this kingdom and live no differently than you believe, so that your life may rhyme with faith. These two things I have told you; therefore it is not necessary for me to preach more of them to you, only to exhort you to follow with life. For the devil knows doctrine as well as we do, but he lacks life. Therefore he speaks:
Because we know such things, namely the time, that the hour is here to rise from sleep etc.
4 This is spoken in adorned, flowery and colorful words. He speaks of the matter as a householder speaks of his things, who thus speaks to his servants: The day dawns, rise up, and do every man his duty,
what he is commanded to do. He draws this equation here to the whole Christianity. I am a householder, he says, up, up! it is not a matter of sleeping. It is not enough for you to say, "You are my servant or my maidservant;" but if you know that I am your master, you also know that you should not sleep during the day, but work; therefore, up, up! It is necessary for master and wife to get up and gather the servants; otherwise servant and maidservant will lie down, even though they know it is daytime. Therefore it is always necessary to exhort, to drive, and to call.
(5) So we Christians are behind another householder, that is, under Christ, in whom we believe, and have begun a nature and state similar to faith. Here the preachers are like the lords, who exhort and urge, that every man should do that which is in his office. Therefore St. Paul says, "There is another nature with us; we are no longer in the night, nor do we sleep. Before, when we did not yet have the gospel, we were in the night, sleeping as drunkards, and doing the works of darkness, that is, we did not know the word and light by which one lives. These were the works of darkness among us, that one said, Would I go to St. James, or to the monastery etc. That was the false teaching, the thick works of darkness. No one thought that he had to adhere to Christ and then do what was his duty in his outward walk. That was our night, blindness, ignorance, and snored confidently and lived according to the world. And chiefly among the rude Gentiles; who did the shameful works, of which the Scripture saith, that they walked in unbelief, were full of sin, envy, hatred, covetousness, fornication, murder etc. Therefore we must understand these words, not of the night, of which the father of the house speaks; but it is a spiritual night and a spiritual light; that is, the gospel and the right doctrine, which has come to pass, that a man may know what he ought to do toward God and toward his neighbor. Everyone knows this now, but before they did not know it. A woman knows that she does right when she believes in Christ,
loves her husband and takes care of her house. So, a man knows that he is doing right when he obeys the authorities etc. and rules his house. But we did not know this before. Formerly, when a woman did this, it was another doctrine and another light; so that we no longer snore and sleep in darkness, as we did before. He continues:
Because our salvation is closer now than when we believed it.
(6) He interprets his own word, as if to say, I do not speak of the day of which the father of the house speaks; but the "night" was blindness, when the truth was not revealed, and the light was darkened; but now it dawns, and the gospel shines in all the world. This is a peculiar piece against the Jews, as if to say, "When you believed, the light was far off; but now it is nearer than when we believed. How? do we not believe now? Certainly we do. Although it is also based on the shameful faith we once had. The Jews had the promise that the gospel would be revealed; as long as it was not yet revealed to them, they were in darkness.
(7) So the Old Testament is night and darkness compared to the New, and if the Old Testament was kept in the best way, then only the consciences were frightened by it, so that people did not know where to go from one to the other. For a conscience terrified by the law is in darkness; there is no day of comfort, and the word of promise is too high. Where the comforting doctrine of the gospel does not shine from faith and Christian estate, there is darkness. A sorrowful heart is darkness; a merry heart is light: as it is seen in a man's face, that a man's face is bright when he is merry. Surely, saith he, they believed, that the gospel should come; but now it is present. It is also said of the false faith which we have had, which faith also the Gentiles have,' and yet they have sinned as they did, and every man hath-
thought a new delusion, how one should act with God: he has endowed an altar, the other has put on a hair shirt etc., that was his delusion. So now we have believed; let it be believed for better or worse, so it is faith.
But now our salvation is nearer etc.
8. as if he wanted to say: Remember, dear sirs, that you henceforth hold dear doctrine in honor, that you live in such a way as the doctrine requires, so that you do not disgrace it. He also speaks of this in Titus 2:10 about servants, that they should adorn the teachings of God our Savior in all things; item v. 6: "Tell the men to be chaste" etc. Paul wants to prevent the trouble and admonishes them to live in a way that is in accordance with the faith, that is, to live outwardly in the way that faith teaches them inwardly. For to live otherwise is to profane the gospel, to blaspheme the word, and to dishonor the name of God. For we have now, praise to God, God's word and the gospel, therefore we should not live in such a way that it can be said of us, "Behold, these teach others how they should believe and live, and do the contrary; for then the name of God is blasphemed by our life.
(9) Therefore it is not good that the gospel should be preached, and we should give it no more thanks than that it should bring us dishonor, since it brings us honor to be said of us, Thou art Christ's brother, and a member of Christendom; and thou art partaker of the word, and of the sacraments, and of all things in Christ, even of the kingdom of heaven. And you boast of this. What are you doing? You profane the names of all: you are a child of God, Christ's brother, and God's heir, and you live like a child of the devil. And this sin is not respected anywhere; so it must be that God's name is blasphemed; as it is now, as if it were a thing to be held or not. For while Master Hans says, I will not behead thee for not believing, or for secretly committing adultery, they think: Well then, I may do it or leave it. But thou shalt believe, thou that desecratest the name of God, and despisest his kingdom.
If you are not punished here, you will certainly be punished there in the hellish fire. God Himself adorns us with His word and name, and we should only blaspheme it with our shameful life? Therefore, whoever wants to share in these names, that he may be called a child of God, a brother and co-heir with Christ, let him remember that he shall not be so given.
(10) And this is the reason why great plagues always come upon the gospel, such as famine, war, pestilence, etc., as St. Paul says of those who abused the sacrament, 1 Cor. 11; then God came among them with pestilence, so that they blasphemed the name of God with their shameful lives. So we do the same, as if it were not a sin against our baptism and against the gospel. Even if we remain silent and despise it, God will not despise it in this way, but will come upon us with war, pestilence and evil time, or will send all three upon us at the same time. But the more and longer it is preached, the worse it becomes. Now that the ban has been lifted, each one does as he pleases; and now that his name is blasphemed, he will blaspheme and desecrate your name again. Therefore let us not so despise his name and word. One can see his sorrow in it. If I did not preach for the love of our Lord God, I would not preach a word; for those who want to be most evangelical despise him, and do with his word as they will. Go in the name of all devils, if you do not want to go in the name of God. Enough has been said for those who need to be told. Therefore give thanks to God that you have the light and know what you should and should not do, and do not be so lukewarm and indolent, but admonish yourselves and strive to adorn this teaching in all things.
The night has passed, but the day is coming.
11. though I was a doctor of the scriptures, I would gladly have run all the way to Rome, that I might hear but one psalm, or one of the ten commandments, or a piece of faith, of baptism re^ Now we have all this so abundantly and abundantly.
fluently. For we have not one psalm, but the whole scripture clear and plain; nor do we despise it. That our Lord God should give us this, there is nothing lacking. Come, let him strike; if he does, we have well deserved it. "The day has come," that is, the blessed gospel is now shining.
12 St. Paul goes on to say what the night is and the works of darkness. Some do things at night that they would not do in the daytime; the night makes many a mischievous man, for he who is evil shuns the light. And even if he does it by day, he does it secretly and hidden and as it were in the night, not freely in the marketplace etc., or he does it so that he can escape. Therefore St. Paul calls the works that are done against the Christian faith, works of darkness. For in the night one does more evil than in the light, of which one is ashamed; and these are the works that are contrary to faith and love; as he will say later.
If ye have light and knowledge, put away the works of darkness, and do them no more: but put on the armor that shall walk in the light. St. Paul uses a double metaphor, in the words "arms" and "light". He does not speak, as before, the works of light; but reverses the tongue, and says, "Arms of light." With this he wants us to imagine that he is speaking with a clear word when he says "weapons". You must not resist long, since you break marriage, commit fornication, and indulge; nature draws you to it of itself. Item, it finds itself that you hate and envy another; for the works of darkness are easily done, flesh and blood is inclined to them. But the weapons of light are sore to a man, that thou put away evil, and abide in good, if thou shalt remain chaste etc. It is a sore thing for thee to enter into marriage; afterward, when thou art in, it is toil and trouble that thou shouldest abide therein; not for the woman's infirmity, but for the complaint that is found in marriage. Item, by nature a man comes into fornication;
Flesh and blood would rather be at ease, thinks that freedom would be better for him if he ran after the whores and went to another woman. But that you stay with one, nourish and wait for her with children and servants, and let all the toil and work come to you, there is toil and work involved. You will not learn this bit by yourself, as fornication learns itself; but here a force belongs to it: when you are caught, the devil wants to make you tired and weary. That is why this requires a suit of armor; it is called fighting. So, if you want to live in peace with your neighbors and not be envious, here and there you will find opportunities for quarreling and fighting; one wants to scratch him in the back, the other in the front. Nature teaches me to hit him on the mouth. But that I am kind and patient toward him, to this belongs a harness and a seriousness. So a lazy maid must not learn to sleep, nor a lazy servant to miss the horses; but if he wants to be pious, he must attack himself as a warrior. So a maid soon learns that she leaves everything in the house unscrubbed, the cows etc. not waiting. But if she wants to do well, she must speak to herself: You lazy sack, get out and do what your wife commands; even if she has to fight with herself: therefore she must use the weapons of light. So, a servant must say to himself: Hans fool, do you want to be lazy? come out! etc. That is to say, he has warred with himself, and so he has his adversary with himself, whom he cherishes and cares for; with him he must war. If a Christian does not want to do this, that is, to attack himself, his flesh and blood will not do it, it does not care. So, if a servant will wait until his flesh awakens him, so will a maid; but she must think, Thou art a maid, thou must go. So a Christian must be his own enemy. It must be fought, and will not come of itself; but here resist all that can resist, the devil and our flesh etc. This is what St. Paul means; as if he wanted to say: I know how my old companion does to me; that is why he calls it "weapons of light". Furthermore he speaks:
Let us walk honorably as in the day etc.
14 He remains in the likeness, exhorting us to live honorably, as those who walk before men, even as you walk in the gates. Today you are not sows, but coarser than sows; you desperate coarse sows, you are sows and remain sows! Where pious respectable citizens, women and virgins walk, one must be ashamed who wants to be a man, so that he does not live as if he were alone at home; but we must make it so that it rhymes with the light we have.
Not in eating and drinking.
15 St. Paul indicates only some things that we are to put away, such as eating and drinking etc., the others he leaves in place. But he calls it "eating"; for eating and drinking is not forbidden: that one should feed the body and give it its food, for God has so ordained and given his creatures for this purpose; but indulging in eating and drinking is forbidden, if one does it as if he had been created and born for this purpose. Those who do this cannot be Christians if you live shamefully and blaspheme God's name. Now this is a gross work, and easy to think that it cannot be right; for besides eating and drinking, one neglects the masters and
Women's ministry; and there are people who scratch and scrape so that they can only eat and drink, and pinch off their parish priests; this is not bad eating and drinking, but it is double sin.
Not in chambers and fornication.
(16) For in chambers is fornication, as in the priesthood, in the monasteries; which cannot be so under the cross, and in the works of husbands and wives: wherefore the scripture calleth fornication "chambers. For I said the other day that a wife is another woman than a harlot; for she has a golden veil and a golden hat, that is, they live in a state which God has ordained and which is pleasing to Him. For a man or wife goes about in greater adornment, because he is your husband or wife, while a stranger is black and ugly. Now, with the married couple it goes his way, there God has his word; but he means the shameful life, since one does not want to enter the married life. Therefore he says, "You shall walk honorably," that a husband may stay with his wife and the wife with the husband, and that one may serve the needs of the other. In sum, that each one may walk as faith requires. May God help, amen.