1 Cor. 9, 24. to 10, 5.
Do you not know that those who run in the ranks all run, but one gets the treasure? Run therefore, that ye may seize it. But every one that fighteth abstaineth from all things: so they received a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. But I run thus, not as into the unknown; I fence thus, not as he who sweeps into the air. But I stupefy my body, and tame it, lest I preach to others, and become reprobate myself. But I will not restrain you, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and passed all through the sea, and were all baptized under Moses with the cloud and with the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and drank the same spiritual drink; but drank of the spiritual rock which followed, which was Christ. But in their many God was not pleased; for they are cast down in the wilderness.
1. this epistle is a piece of the long teaching, so St. Paul drives through four chapters to the Corinthians, in which he teaches how the weak are to be kept in faith, and
warns the presumptuous and insolent Christians to watch and not fall too, whether they are standing now. And gives a likeness, terrible enough, of those who are in bounds.
run or fight for a treasure, since many run and yet miss, that they do not win the treasure. Therefore it is not enough that one run; but he must not have run in vain. So it is not enough that one believes and runs in the way of Christ, but that one takes hold of eternal life; as also Christ says Matth. 24, 13: "He who perseveres to the end will be saved"; and St. Paul 1 Cor. 10, 12: "He who stands, let him see that he does not fall."
Now this running is prevented in two ways. One is through laziness, that one does not practice faith chivalrously and is lax in good works, by which the running is hindered [that the jewel is not seized *]. St. Paul does not speak of this hindrance here, in my opinion; for he does not speak of those who run and are slothful, but of those who run in vain and make a false start, as those who run very much to a goal, and have a spectre before their eyes that they miss the goal and run astray, that they break their necks or otherwise run horribly. Therefore he says that they should run, because they are running, so that they take hold of it and do not miss it. Now this running is prevented if one sets a wrong goal or moves the right goal, as he says to the Colossians Cap. 2, 18: "See to it that no one moves your aim." Even though the lazy life finally comes to the point where it demands that such a goal be lost, for when people sleep, the enemy soon sows weeds among them, Matth. 13, 25.
3) To shift the goal is to falsify the word of God and to preach conceit under the appearance of the divine word: which is done very quickly and easily, where people do not stand in front of each other and remain in unity of spirit, since everyone follows his own head and mind, no one gives way to the other, and everyone likes his conceit best. How it must be, where love is not, that the learned and strong want to be seen as something special, and despise the weak in faith; there the devil has good room to sow weeds. Therefore also St. Paul Eph. 4, 3. love calls the unity of the
*) [b c]
Spirit, and exhorts us to be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And in 2 Thess. 2, 10. he proclaims that the end of Christ should come because one has not accepted the love of truth, that is, the right true love.
But every one who fights there.
(4) If a man should run and fight in the ranks, and also do other things or create benefits, he would not win much, but would soon be defeated, and lose both the battle and all things. Now if he is to fight, he must truly not be aware of any other thing, but forget everything and leave it, waiting only for the battle: it may nevertheless be grace and luck that he wins; since even those who utter all things and run, nevertheless do not all win the treasure. So here, rather, in the Christian struggle, it will be necessary to express all things and wait for the struggle alone. Whoever then also wants to seek his honor and benefit, and to gain glory in God's word and spirit, and wants to be seen before others, as the mobs and sects do, what do they want to gain? They are completely wrapped up in temporal honor and benefit, hands and feet bound and completely trapped: such running will be a running of which one dreams how he is running, and yet lies on the bed, lazy and trapped.
But I run thus, not as into the unknown; I fence thus, not as he who strikes the air.
5 Here St. Paul gives himself as an example. Paul himself is an example and shows how it happens that one lacks the goal, namely: If one leaves love, and seeks self-will, temporal honor and benefit in the word of God, so that the exercise of faith in right love remains; then there are certainly false and lazy Christians in right course, and yet fresh and running in the appearance of divine word and being, because they turn and turn everything to their glory and benefit; but do not see that such are vain uncertain courses and blunders. For they never attack it rightly and never hit it the same way. They should kill and curb their ambition and selfishness, and
They do none of these things, but do all kinds of other things, so that ambition and self-interest only grow stronger; after that, they swear a thousand oaths, seeking God's honor, not their own honor, the neighbor's benefit, not their own benefit. St. Peter 2 Ep. 1, 9. 10. also says of such that they are like the blind, groping with their hands and forgetting the forgiveness of their former sins, because they do not make their profession certain through good works. Therefore, as St. Paul says here, they run as if into the unknown, fencing in the air; for their heart is unsteady and uncertain before God, and they are fickle and unsteady in all their ways, Jac. 1:8. For as they are uncertain and unsteady in heart, so they also become unsteady outwardly in works and doctrines, now taking this, now that, and cannot have rest, nor remain unsaved. Hence it follows that they lack the goal, or they shift the goal for themselves, and must depart from the right common path.
But I tame my body and anesthetize it.
6 This is as he says above, v. 25: "He that fighteth abstaineth from all things." For by taming the body, he means not only the subduing of fleshly lust, but all temporal things in which we have fleshly lust, honor, favor, good etc. He who lets go of these and does not tame them will preach in such a way that he himself will be condemned, even though he preaches rightly. But now they do not let preach rightly, especially temporal honor. Therefore St. Paul gives with these words a pretty sting to the ambitious and self-serving preachers and Christians, that they not only run in vain and fail, but are also rejected themselves, as those who only lead the appearance and color of a Christian being.
For I will not fail you, brethren, that our fathers were all warm under the dollen.
(7) Here St. Paul gives an abominable example from the Scriptures, that he may prove how all that run do not lay hold on the jewels. For the children of Israel, whose six hundred and
There were thousands of them, and they all walked in the way of God, in his word and in his faith, so mightily that they were all under the divine cloud, and they all passed through the sea wonderfully: but yet of so many that walked at that time, not more than two took hold of the jewel, even Joshua and Caleb, who alone of the great multitude came into the Promised Land. This is what St. Paul interprets after this epistle itself, and says 1 Cor. 10, 9. 12. that it happened to us as an example and was written for our admonition, so that whoever lets himself think that he is standing may well see that he does not fall. All this is so that pride, conceit and obstinacy may be put away, and that no one may despise another, nor seek honor or profit from the word of God in the sight of others; but that each one may make himself equal with the other, and one may support the other, the strong the weak, etc. as these four chapters teach and do.
(8) How many fine, great, and excellent men were there among the six hundred thousand, whom we cannot equal! Among them were the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, especially Prince Nahasson, who is in the holy line of Christ (Matt. 1:4); item, the seventy men among whom the spirit of Moses was divided, especially Eldad and Medad (Deut. 11:27), and all the other great men, not including Korah and his band. Behold, they all ran, did much, suffered much, saw many of God's wonders, helped to build a beautiful tabernacle and worship, and were full of good works; and yet they all fell short and died in the wilderness. What courage is so great and proud that such an example of divine miraculous judgment should not break and humble? Therefore it is said, He that standeth, let him see that he fall not.
Now, the example is easy to understand, God grant that we turn to it. We must also see the text of the apostle, and the words where he speaks of baptism and spiritual food as of Christians, and makes the fathers equal to us, just as if they had also had baptism and sacrament. Here it is to be known in the first place how often it is said that God from the beginning has always led his saints, redeemed them and made them blessed through
by his bodily word and outward signs; as, Adam by the word Gen. 3, 15: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent", that is, Christ shall come and overcome death, sin, devil for us. To this word he gave the sign that the sacrifices were lit by fire from heaven, as happened to Abel Gen. 4, 4. and is written in more places. The word was Adam's gospel until Noah and Abraham; all the saints believed in it and were saved from sins until Abraham, just as we are saved by the word of the gospel if we believe; and the fire from heaven was a sign to them, just as baptism is a sign to us of the word of God.
(10) Such words and signs he gave other and other at various times, except the last which Christ gave in his own person, which is the gospel and baptism among all the Gentiles. So he gave Noah a word to keep him alive before the flood, and a sign, the ship or ark, which he built, and Noah was justified and preserved with his own through his faith in the same word and sign. Item, after that another word, and for a sign the rainbow. Then he gave Abraham a word and circumcision as a sign, so that circumcision was his baptism; to Noah the flood and the ark was his baptism: again, baptism is now our circumcision and our ark and flood, as St. Peter also interprets 1 Ep. 3, 21. For it is God's word and sign everywhere, in which one must believe, and thus be saved from sin and death through faith.
(11) So the children of Israel had the word of God that they should come into the Promised Land; to which word they had many signs, especially which St. Paul here indicates, the sea and the cloud, the bread of heaven and the waffle of stones: which were their baptism, saith he, even as baptism should now be our sea and our cloud. For there is one faith and spirit everywhere, though there are different signs and words. The signs and words are given differently from time to time, but they remain the same.
Faith in the same one God, who by various signs and words at various times gives one kind of faith and spirit, and by the same also works one kind of forgiveness of sin, redemption from death and blessedness in all saints, whether at the beginning, middle or end of the world.
12 This is what St. Paul means here, that the fathers ate the same food and drank the same drink with us, but he adds the word "spiritual" to it. For outwardly and bodily they had other signs and words than we have, but the same spirit and faith of Christ that we have. But eating and drinking spiritually is nothing else than believing in God's word and sign; as Christ also says John 6:54, 55: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him"; item: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" etc., that is, "He that believeth on me, the same shall live."
But they were drunk with the spiritual rock that came after, which rock was Christ.
(13) That is, they believed in the same Christ as we believe in, though he had not yet come into the flesh, but was to come afterward; and such a sign of their faith was the rock in the flesh, when they drank water out of it bodily, just as we eat the bodily bread and wine on the altar, and drink the true Christ spiritually, that is, in eating and drinking outwardly we exercise faith inwardly. For if they had not had God's word and faith when they drank water from the rock, it would have been of no use to their souls. So it would not help us to take bread and wine from the altar without faith; indeed, if God's word had not been there before with the rock, the rock would never have given water nor cause to believe. And if the word of God were not here with the bread and wine, it would not be spiritual food, nor would it exercise faith.
14Therefore there is everywhere one kind of food and drink spiritually, wherein God sets his word and sign, whether it be outward or bodily; and if he would have me pick up a straw, immediately there would have been a change in that straw.
spiritual food and drink; not for the sake of the straw, but for the sake of the word and sign of divine truth and presence. Again, if God's word and sign is not there, or is not recognized, it does not help if God Himself were there; just as Christ says of Himself Jn 6:63: "The flesh is of no use," because they do not pay attention to the words, as He speaks of His flesh; which words make His body the right food, since He says in v. 51 that He is the living bread from heaven. So one must not pay so much attention to the works, signs and wonders of God (as blind reason does), as to the words of God in them, as faith does.
(15) He takes the rock alone before him, and says, "They drank of the spiritual rock that came after, which was Christ. With this he points and draws all such figures and signs, which happened to the people of Israel through God's word, to Christ; for where God's word is, there is Christ, and all God's words and promises are drawn to Christ; as he himself draws and points the serpent of Moses to himself; so that one might also say there that they looked at the same serpent that we see. For they saw the spiritual serpent that came after, which serpent was Christ on the cross, that is, their seeing was believing in God's word by the serpent; just as their spiritual drinking was believing in God's word by the rock. For if the word of God had not been there, the serpent would not have helped them, if there had been vain serpents and they had seen them forever; and the rock would not have helped either, if they had beaten or sucked all the rocks to powder, if the word of God had not been there.
16 So St. Paul gives us here the common rule with the example of the rock, that we may also say of the bread of heaven, They ate the bread of heaven, which we eat; but they ate of the spiritual bread of heaven, which came after, which was Christ; that is, their eating was believing in the word of God in the bread of heaven, which they ate bodily. For if the same word had not been in it,
If it had been only bodily food, it would have been of no use to souls, and would not have been able to exercise faith; as Christ says John 6:32: "Moses did not give you the bread of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven, not as your fathers ate in the wilderness and stumbled. Moses himself also Deut. 8:3: "He gave you bread from heaven to eat, that he might show you how a man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"; as if to say, "You must not look at the bread of heaven in the flesh only for the work by which you fill your belly, but rather for the word by which he promises and gives you the bread of heaven; for by that same word you live forever in faith.
(17) So also of the sea and the cloud it may be said, They went under the cloud, as we go down; but they went under the spiritual cloud, which came after, which was Christ; that is, their going was to believe in the word of God, which they had in their hearts, from the bodily outward cloud, to follow the same; without which word they could neither have believed, nor followed the cloud, yea, without that same word the cloud would never have been. Therefore also the same cloud was called the glory of the Lord, which was promised to be there etc. So we see how in all things we are to pay attention to the word of God, on which faith is to hang, without which the signs and works of God either are not there, or, if they are there at once and are looked at with the eyes alone without a word, they only open the mouth and cause a temporary amazement, like all other new things; but they are of no use to the soul and do not demand faith.
18 Some here also interpret the little word "came after" to mean that the spiritual Rock walked with the children of Israel, was with them and remained their companion, that it should be called comitante petra, not consequente, as if Christ had been there spiritually, in word and faith; and this is what the Greek text should give. I, however, have Germanized it, consequente petra, which came afterwards. But it is not worth having, let each one do as he pleases; both are right: I meanwhile remain on that which I have said, that all the
Stories and words of God are directed before times to the future Christ, who came afterwards, in whom they all must believe; as also Gen. 22, 13: "Abraham saw behind him the ram in the hedge, and took and sacrificed it", that is, he believed in the Christ, who should come afterwards and be sacrificed.
19 There are also some who apply this saying, "But the rock was Christ," to the bodily rock, and interpret it thus: The rock signifies Christ; for Christ is not a bodily rock: and here the word "is" is to be understood as meaning (signify). They then carry this on to other words of Christ, when he speaks of the sacrament: "Take and eat, this is my body", as if he should say: The bread means my body, but it is not; thus they want to deny that Christ's body is not the bread. Item, so also they lead the saying of John in the 15th Cap. V. 1: "I am the true vine," that is, I am signified by the vine. Beware, these are scribes out of their own iniquity. For St. Paul here with bright words separates bodily and spiritual rock, and says, "They drunk of the spiritual rock, which came after, which was Christ." He does not say that Christ was the physical rock, but the spiritual rock; for the physical rock was not spiritual, so he did not come after or go with them.
20 Therefore their interpretation and bending is not allowed here; but as the words read, so it is true that it is to be understood from the essence, not from the interpretation. So also John 15:1 does not speak of the physical vine but of the spiritual vine. How would that read: I am signified by a spiritual vine? It must be spoken of the essence, and thus read: I am, and is here essentially a true spiritual vine. Just as John Cap. 6, 55: "My flesh is a right food." This does not mean, my flesh means, or is meant by a right food; but of the spiritual food it is said, thus: My flesh is truly and essentially a food, not for the belly, bodily, but for the soul, spiritual. So you must not let the words be taken away from you or changed: The bread is mine
Body; not that his body is signified by the bread, as they pretend, but strictly as the words read: The bread is essentially and presently there my body etc. For it is not thus to force the Scripture out of one's own head; but one would have to prove with public text that the word "essence" is so much as "signifying". And if this were proved in some place, it would still not be enough, but would also have to prove clearly that it should and must be taken in this place. This they will never do. But where one cannot do it, one should give oneself captive under God's word, and keep them as they read.
21. But Christ, as he is signified by all kinds of signs and stories in the Old Testament, so he is also signified here by the rock. First, as this physical rock was in the wilderness, far from men, and without all the labor of men, all lonely and desolate: so Christ is before the world a thing altogether unsightly, whom no man respects, nor takes upon himself, neither is he prepared by human labor.
Item 22: That water flows out of the rock is contrary to all nature and a miracle. But the water is the living Spirit of God, which is to come from Christ crucified, dead, and condemned: it is like drawing life from death, and yet it is by God's power; for his death is our life, and if we would live, we must die with him.
(23) Moses striking it with the rod by God's command and showing him the rock is the ministry of preaching by God's commandment of Christ, and thus striking out the spirit with the word of the mouth. For God does not want to give anyone the Spirit without the word and the preaching ministry, which he has appointed and commanded there to preach of Christ alone. For if Moses had not by God's command struck the rock with the rod, no water would ever have flowed out. This is the rod or staff of the mouth, as Isaiah Cap. 11, 4. says: "He will kill the wicked with the rod of his mouth"; and Ps, 45, 7.: "The rod of your kingdom is a straight rod" etc.