V. 1. ff. Now when all this comes upon you 2c.
In this chapter, Moses attaches the hope of repentance and the promise of forgiveness of sins if they repent, so that those who would recover through the instruction of the tribulation would have something to take refuge in, namely these promises, as King Manasseh turns to them. For just as the hard and sure wicked need a hard and severe rebuke, curse and threat, as we saw in the previous chapter, so the crushed and humbled and terrified need a sweet and wholesome promise and comfort. And Moses, in this chapter, truly holds out to them glorious promises of grace, so that he says [v. 5] that all good things will be shown to them, that they will be much more than before, [v. 9:] that the Lord will rejoice over them, so that the text is easy for the reader.
necessary for a distressed and despairing conscience.
V. 11. ff. For the commandment which I command thee this day is not hid from thee 2c.
This passage the sophists draw on that they say, it is possible for us to fulfill the commandments of God, yes, it is easy for us. For these blind readers fall in such a way that they understand what Moses says: "It is not hidden from you" (Non est supra te = it is not too high for you) in such a way: It is not beyond your strength, nor is it impossible for you, and do not consider that if this were true, one would seek God's grace in vain. For what is it necessary that the grace of God should help me in what is possible for me and not beyond my strength? If they had had the Hebrew text, they would have taken much more out of it and would have been puffed up. For the Hebrew says thus: "This commandment, which I command thee this day, is not marvelous unto thee
nor heavy." Because XXXXXX means sometimes the miraculous and heavy, which exceeds our forces, and to which we are not able to reach. But we want to come to Moses now.
In this passage, Moses wants to show the way in which God's commandment is fulfilled, and first says: "It is not hidden from you, nor is it too far away," that is, you think that the commandment can be fulfilled immediately when you hear it; therefore, if it were not heard, you might say: I would do it if it were there. Now that what I am to do is not there, who will bring it to me from heaven or from beyond the sea, that I may hear it and do it? But it will not be fulfilled by hearing and by a work, but rather when the word will be in your mouth and in your heart. In the mouth, I say, and in the heart it must be, if you want to fulfill it, not in the ear or in the hand. Wherefore in the text these two passages are to be observed, the one [v. 12. 1: "That we may hear it and do it," the other [v. 14.], "In thy mouth and in thy heart." In these two passages, I say, lies the meaning (vis) and understanding of this text.
For there are two kinds of doers of the commandment; the first of whom he says, "That we may hear and do." These, presuming on their powers, immediately say and boast that they do it when they have heard. These do not assert (causantur) their powers, but hearing, and say, If we but hear, we shall do it straightway. This Moses rejects, and says of the others, "The word is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, it claims the heart, not the hand. But it is not in the heart unless it is written in it by the Spirit of God. For in the heart is what I want, what I love, what I like, what pleases me. That therefore the law should be in the heart, that is, that it should be loved, which is impossible for our powers. This the 37th Psalm has followed, saying [v. 31.], "The law of his God is in his heart," and the first Psalm, v. 2: "He delighteth in the law of the LORD." But if the law is loved in the heart, it is fulfilled in truth, for the law requires a heart (affectum) which loves it and has pleasure in it; so
is done to him enough and so it is fulfilled, if one loves it. So Moses is clear: "The word is in your mouth and in your heart that you do it", as if he wanted to say: You will not do it unless it is in your mouth and in your heart.
But why does he first say, "In your mouth," before he says, "In your heart," since it is in the heart rather than in the mouth, because it is loved rather than taught? He does this to indicate the way in which the commandment of God is fulfilled, that this is done through the word of the gospel, which is first preached with the mouth, then believed through the sermon (auditu). So Moses directs the people by this text to another future word, which, received with the heart, produces love against his commandment, as if he wanted to say: You will not fulfill my commandment if you hear it, but if you love it with your heart. You will not do this if the word is not preached with the mouth and believed with the heart. So my commandment will not be difficult or distant.
It remains that we now look at Paul Rom. 10, 6-8. who cites this passage differently than Moses has, saying, "Righteousness by faith thus saith, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (This is not different from bringing Christ down]. Or, Who will go down into the deep? (This is not different from bringing Christ from the dead]. But what does the Scripture say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. This is the word of faith which we preach" 2c. Here we say first of all that Paul intentionally did not want to quote Moses literally, at least in the first part, but in a rich (abundant) spirit took the opportunity from Moses to write a new and own text, as it were, against the works saints. That is why he also omitted the part that is set twice in Moses [v. 12 and 13]: "And get us to hear and do it." Further, he does not say that it is written thus, but he says that righteousness by faith speaks thus. But afterwards, where he quotes Moses literally, he says, "But what saith the scripture?"
to indicate that it is the words of his Spirit and not of Moses that he ascribes to righteousness by faith, even though there is a similarity (analogia) between them.
In the simple sense, Moses and Paul agree in the last part, because Paul wants that through the words: "The word is near you" 2c. it is taught that one believes with the heart for righteousness through the word of faith. Moses wants the same thing when he pronounces the sentence (sentit) that his commandment is fulfilled when the word is in the heart, that is, when it is loved, which happens through faith. But what Paul plays on the occasion of the words of Moses: "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? This is not different,
For to bring Christ down," 2c., he thunders against the works saints. For since these fulfill the commandment with their works and out of their strength, they deny that Christ ascended into heaven and descended into hell, that is, they deny that he died for us and rose again, so that we might be justified by the word of faith and fulfill the law. For he looks upon their heart, saying, "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven?" as if to say: The ungodly does not believe that Christ has gone up to heaven, but draws him down from heaven, because he does not believe that through his resurrection faith is given, which fulfills the law.