V. 1-3. So the heavens and the earth were finished with all their host. And so on the seventh day God finished all his works which he had made. And rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had done. He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day he rested from all his works that God created and made.
1. First of all, since our Latin text has: Perfecti sunt coeli et terra, et omnis ornatus eorum, "so the heavens and the earth were perfected, with all their ornaments", according to the Hebrew it means thus: Et omnis militia eorum, that is, "with all their host," and is better thus translated, for the sake of the prophets, who introduce, and therefore establish, this word of Moses, from which one would not otherwise know where it came, which is also sung daily in the Mass: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Ze- baoth, that is, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, a God of hosts, Isa. 6, 3. Moses uses the same word here, and calls sun, moon and stars an army of heaven; and again, men, animals, birds, fish, and what grows from the earth, he calls the army of the earth. Just as a prince with his army, so he fights with all his might, and has all his power and strength with one another.
(2) Now why God needs this very word, we must leave it to Him; for it is not without cause. For it is true that all creatures that God has created are an army, so that they may use their power and their strength.
The words in the Scriptures are directed to the conscience of man, and are daily in conflict, so that they serve the good to the pious and the evil to the worst. Where there is a good conscience, it supports everything like an army; again, where the conscience is evil, everything opposes it; so that the words in the Scriptures apply to a man's conscience, that they serve it or oppose it. And thus from the saying come many sayings of the Scriptures, which otherwise one does not know where to draw them.
3 Another thing to note here is that he says, "God rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had done, and not only that, but also blessed and sanctified the same day. This is also a great thing, of which many have spoken and written, but few have understood. Sabbath, the Hebrew word, means rest or celebration, so that one keeps still and stands still from all words and works, and only hangs on God's works. But how this happened, that God rested from all his works, is of course a high question, although Moses describes it badly and simple. As is his way, that he often enters in such a way, and speaks in such a way, that everyone understands it, and again, puts the words, that the whole world does not understand it.
4 We see daily that all things are still being created, everything that is planted on earth, all fruit and all animals, and yet it is a work that actually belongs to God; as Christ Himself says John 5:17: "My Father works until here, and I work.
also." How then are we to put the two together, that the Scriptures testify and we see before our eyes that God creates and works without ceasing until the last day, and here Moses, on the other hand, says that he rested on the seventh day from all works? I am concerned that it is higher than one could give it for the common man; but we must speak a little about it.
When one looks at the creature, one against the other, it has a much different look than when one looks at it before God. Above [Cap. 1, § 2] it is said that before God the beginning of the world and the end are the same as at one moment, and the first moment and the last at the end of the world are the same. But if we look at it among ourselves, one thing always comes after another: the Son after the Father, one year, one day after another; but all this, as it goes after another, is before God as a moment. Which reason cannot well comprehend, for it is a comparison of temporal and eternal things. Because God is eternal, all things must be the same before and after Him. For what is eternal, all creatures are present to it, none first nor last, and nothing can ever be before it or after it. Now if you look at the world from the beginning to the end, before people one thing goes after another, but before God everything goes together. So grasp these two sights.
(6) Now that Moses described six days, this is actually what happened; but this is also true: what makes six days before our eyes is all one day, even one moment, before God. So it will rhyme that, since the seventh day has begun, it will always last until the end of the world, yes, after that it will really begin. But it is written for our sake, that it may be understood by our understanding that it has thus begun.
(7) But it is written for our sakes only, and not for the sakes of angels or other creatures. For the sun does not celebrate a day, but shines as brightly one day as another, and goes on its course forever; but something is indicated to us here, namely, in the most simple way, that God has wanted to govern man, whom he created in his image to be like him.
Because God creates and works such days, and celebrates them on the seventh day, he has written that we should do as he does. For this is God's image, which is even so minded, has such understanding and light, and does such works as God does, and always takes after Him. 1) That is why he commanded that we also work six days and celebrate the seventh. And therefore it was done, that the world might be ruled cleanly. For it is ever a fine, sweet, kindly government, that men weaken not themselves, but keep themselves fine, and yet walk not idly. Therefore, when they have worked the six days of the week, on the seventh day they shall rest from labor, for themselves and for the cattle; and especially that there may be time to hear the word of God.
But how? since this is written before man fell into sin, since this is already ordained, and the Scripture records the Sabbath much earlier than when Adam fell into sin. Is the same time also already decreed that he should work six days and celebrate on the seventh? There is no doubt, as we will hear, that he was to work in paradise, and to preside over fish, birds and animals on earth. Therefore God did not want him to go idle, and yet he would have remained to work and rule, without being displeased, and would not have been sore with sweat and fear; nor would the earth have borne thistles, but would have come forth with the most delicious growth, as he would have wanted; nor would any animal have done anything disobediently, and everything would have gone as he would have wanted.
9 So the work and the regiment would have remained, but without trouble and misfortune; just as the women would have carried children, but not with fear, sorrow and distress. But on the seventh day all would have stood still and rested. Let this be said of the Sabbath or seventh day; but what it signifies I will leave undecided. For we must remain here with the simple text. Now it is a different Sabbath, for it is the seventh day.
1) In the old editions: "sich nach jm omet", i.e., to be directed and formed after him, to imitate him.
where Adam had remained; and is now pointed to Christ, who kept the right Sabbath and celebrated it in the grave; as we have also said elsewhere. Moses now continues:
V. 4-6. This is the birth of the heavens and the earth when they were created, at the time when God made the earth and the heavens, before any shrub was on the earth or any herb grew in the field. For God the Lord had not yet caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to build the land. But a mist came up from the earth and wetted all the land.
This is a strange speech. For there is nothing lacking in the chapter, except that one is ignorant of the language; he who does not know it, will singe 1) and break, that he does not know where to go in or out; as also happened to Augustino. This is Mosi's way, that he often repeats a thing, and says it again, that it is also sheer vexation. Therefore, what follows is only a repetition and explanation of what he said before. For in the first chapter, v. 27, he spoke it all in short words: "God created a man in his own image. Item: "He created them male and female"; this does not yet express how all this came about. That is why he brings it up again in this chapter and uses many words to explain how it happened one after the other.
(11) That Moses speaks here is therefore easier to understand if one makes the words in the Latin text all in praeterito plusquamperfecto; but that he calls the birth of heaven and earth is spoken so much: Since heaven and earth were created. But why Moses speaks just thus, that go his way, he has his own mysteria. Now all this is said: God created and established the heavens and the earth, as has been said; but in such a way that no creature did anything to it, nor could have done anything to it, but only a mist or dark cloud arose, like a dew, and made the earth wet. All this happened
1) "Sülen" here will probably be as much as "to work off". So it may also be taken in our edition Vol. VII, 1847.
without man and other creatures. That is Summa Summarum of it: It was created, before ever a man was there, yes, before it rained once or a little bush would have stood. And says further:
V. 7. And God the Lord made man of the dust of the ground.
I have said above that God created man male and female; now I will tell you how it happened. De limo terrae, we have in the Latin text, that is, from the mud, is called Aphar in Hebrew, and is the very word that he subsequently interprets pulvis, since he says: Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris. But it actually means such earth that is dug up, and a little thrown up, like a land that is plowed, or from a grave; but not yet dust that flies into the air. From such loose earth he took a roll, and made man of it. What more?
And blew into his face a living breath.
We must get used to these words, because they are not spoken in German. But it cannot be understood better than by looking at a man. The breath that God has given him is found only in the face, and in no other place, and especially in the nose. Therefore the word Aph, which is written here, means both the face and the nose. But that we have spiritum vitae in our text does not mean a spirit, but that God has given it such life, not as fish have, but as animals have, as a cow, horse, deer, and all such things that have breath. And by this is signified that our breath also is not in our power, neither that we can snort of ourselves, nor fetch breath; and by this breath we live. For when it is stopped up, we are dead. Therefore he calls it a living breath, that it keeps a man alive, and is a sign that a man lives.
And so man became a living soul.
14 Paul refers to this saying in the first epistle to the Corinthians, Cap. 15, 45: "Thus
it is written (he says): "The first man, Adam, was made into the natural life. We must also learn to understand the word "soul" correctly. In our language we call it a soul, which, as soon as man dies, departs from the body. But Moses and the Scriptures call it soul, everything that lives in the five senses; as, it is also called soul, that a fish lives in water, as he called it above in the first chapter, v. 20: Producant aquae animam viventem, and I have rendered it "living animals. Item, as the birds live in the air, and the animals on earth, that it is actually called a life of the body or a living body. So that the saying actually goes to the mind, that man is created in the bodily life, which we call the natural life.
(15) So understand the saying of Paul: "The first man is made into the natural life. For there he contrasts the bodily and the spiritual life. The bodily life is that one hears and sees, smells, grasps, tastes, builds, takes to himself and casts out, begets children, and what the body has for natural being and work; this is called the "soul" in the Hebrew language. So we read in the other book of Moses [Cap. 1, 5]: "Of all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob, there were seventy," that is, seventy children born of Jacob. Now this is almost common in Scripture through and through.
16 Item, so also understand that Christ says Matth. 10, 39. 16, 25: "Whoever finds his soul will lose it", that is, his natural life. For he does not only mean the parting of the soul, but wants to say that for the eternal life of the body and the life of the body 2) one has to put himself together with the bodily and natural life. Therefore, the word soul cannot be better used than the bodily life, or a man who lives in the bodily life. So Adam was made into the natural life; but Christ, who is the last Adam, Paul says [1 Cor. 15, 45. 1, into the spiritual life; that is, he has a spiritual body, so that he no longer eats, nor drinks, nor sees, nor hears, as we do, pure.
1) Erlanger: "him" instead of Jacob.
2) "in Fahr Leibes und Lebens" is missing in the Erlanger. In the Jenaer these words are in brackets.
The Lord is not a bodily thing or work, but is a different being, and yet a true man, as we shall be in that life.
V. 8-14. And God the Lord planted a garden in Eden toward the east, and put therein the man whom He had made. And God the LORD caused to grow up every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there went forth from Eden a river to water the garden, and there it divided itself into four principal waters. The first is called Pison, which flows around the whole land of Hevila, and there is found gold, and the gold of the land is precious; and there is found Bedellion, and the precious stone Onyx. The other water is called Gihon, which gushes out over all the land of the Moors. The third water is called Hiddekel, which flows before Assyria. The fourth water is Phrath.
The Latin text has made here right: Plantaverat, he had planted. So it should also say before, formaverat and inspiraverat, so that one would know that it was a repetitio, as I said. But there we have a strange text: The Lord, he says, had caused to grow all kinds of beautiful trees in the garden that he had created, but especially the tree that is called a tree of knowing what is good and what is evil. So in the Latin text we have: Plantaverat Paradisum voluptatis a principio. But I do not think that it is right. For if he had wanted to say a principio, in the beginning, he would have used a different word. Therefore it sounds in Hebrew thus, as we have made it: "A garden Eden, against the morning", or before.
18 The word Eden means pleasure. That is why they made Paradisum voluptatis, that is, as we say, a beautiful garden of pleasure, in which were all kinds of trees, pleasant to see and pleasant to eat.
3) Wittenberg and Erlangen: an.
4) As an aside, Pison is the great water in Jndia called Ganges, for Hevila is Jndia land. Gihon is the water in Egypt, which is called Nilus. Hiddekel is the water in Assyria, which is called Tigris. Phrath is the nearest water in Shria, which is called Euphrates.
The trees in the middle of the garden toward the morning: a tree of life, and a tree by which one learned what was good and what was evil.
(19) Now here is the question: where is paradise in the world? That it is on earth, one must admit. For there is the text: "God has planted a garden in Eden, towards the morning," so it must be natural trees, like ours. Therefore it is nothing that our sophists said, how it lies high above the earth, hard under the moon. It must be here on earth, and must also be the trees that God created in the first chapter, v. 11. On the other hand, Adam was created on earth and ordained to be on it, and is therefore placed in paradise to build and preserve it. Thirdly, four waters are mentioned here, which are still known to flow out of the garden. All this proves sufficiently that it must be on earth 1).
20 Now this will become a strange thing. Origen and others have tossed about it; but Augustine has acted wisely and said: Whoever cannot understand this and other things, let him give glory to God and command him. But this is the remedy on that side, that Moses does not say that the four waters were in the garden, but only one stream of water, from which those waters are derived.
Twenty-one: What then shall we make of it? So I have said more, and I still say it: It is possible that it was so at that time, that God made a garden, or limited a land; but according to my liking, I would like it to be understood that it was the whole earth. But it is in my way that the text sounds that it is something else, namely a special place and space, just as even funny gardens do not comprehend a whole country. That is why I do not know how it was. I have to give myself up, because the four waters, as [§19] said, are still well known, which come out of it.
22Therefore I would say that the pleasure garden is some place toward the morning, which is now hidden or perhaps torn apart.
1) Erlanger: of the earths.
that God knows well. But it must have been almost a wide space, because the waters lie mighty far from each other, even almost against each other. Therefore, I will give my reason captive, and stay with it, that it was a right, natural garden, as still would be a pleasure garden.
(23) For since Adam was a man in the flesh, and led a bodily being, the garden also must have been so, that it was felt, tasted, and smelled. For afterwards it is clearly stated that he broke and ate from the tree that taught what was good and what was evil. So that it must have been a natural bodily fruit, or Adam must have been a spiritual man. Let the garden be what and where it will, we give it home to God; although the Scriptures afterwards make a spiritual mind out of it, as they also do more of the same, as Christ [Luc. 23, 43.] says to the thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise."
024 And what tree is this in the midst of the garden, that he calleth it a tree to learn good and evil? Of course, he called it that for the sake of many things to come, and especially for the sake of the case that Adam would learn from it; just as the Scriptures in other places use to give some things the name for the sake of future events, per anticipationem. When, 1 Sam. 4, 1. the text says: "Israel 3) camped at Helfenstein", it calls the place Helfenstein, which at the same time did not have the name, and only in the seventh chapter, v. 12, it is said how it gets the name from the event that happened after it.
V. 15-17. And God the Lord took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to build it, and to keep it. And God the LORD commanded the man, saying, Thou shalt eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil shalt thou not eat: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
25 Here see why God gives the commandment to Adam before He creates Evam. He has
2) The story - the thing that happened, event.
3) "Israel" set by us instead of: "The Philistines" in the editions.
Sermon on Genesis 2:15-17.
without doubt written from the Holy Spirit, and St. Paul [1 Tim. 2, 13.] also touches it. The woman did not have to hear God's word without means, but had to learn from Adam, so that even before the fall the rule and authority was with the male person.
(26) Now this is the very first commandment, but it was not given to Adam to make him righteous, for this commandment must be set far apart from all the commandments that follow, for Adam was still without all sin. But God gave him this commandment only as a sign, because he had to keep it against man, so that he would know and think that he had a sovereign.
(27) So he could not become godly by it if he had kept it the same way, but he could become a sinner. This is already a great proof that no law can make one pious, but rather worse; but it is given to him to practice and prove that he is pious and walking in God's obedience. So the law does not give piety, but those who are pious do the law. This is the cause of the commandment of man half. But why God gave it for his person, since Adam was created in such a way that he did not need a commandment, we cannot and will not explain.
(28) The other thing is that God showed us what fools they are who are and have been subject to help people with many laws and teachings. Therefore, look at this example, even though it is simple. What do we poor people want to do with laws, vows and humanity, when we see that it did not help that God gave a commandment to the innocent man? And we, who are now corrupt, that there is nothing good in us, shall keep so many laws? If Adam, who was full of righteousness, lacked to keep it in such abundance and supply that all the trees were full of fruit, and he could have whatever his heart desired, yet let his wife deceive and persuade him that he did not keep the one commandment: what then shall we keep, when so many innumerable commandments, always one above another, are laid upon us? Therefore, let this be a great, mighty puff against the fools who would-
We must refrain from coming before God with laws. For he has never had it in mind that he would make anyone righteous, but actually that he would teach us to renounce our pretensions. As if to say, "If the first man, who was pious, did not keep the laws, what should you keep, since there is nothing good in nature?
29 Do you say: Why then did he afterwards, through Moses, lavish the people with laws and commandments 1)? Not, of course, because he wanted to make us righteous, for he knows our hearts better than we do ourselves, but because we think we can make ourselves righteous with commandments, so that in the end we have to give them up and realize that they are of no use. He has given us so much for this very reason that we should confess our wickedness and the infirmities of human nature, 2) that it neither wants nor intends to do anything good, and is evil from the top of its head to the bottom of its feet [Rom. 7, 18. 19. 2 Cor. 3, 5. Is. 1, 6].
Therefore, let all prelates and bishops who want to govern consciences understand and consider this text. It is the duty of the secular authorities to defend with the sword, so that no one steals, 3) murders, or commits adultery 2c. But that they want to make the world pious with laws, and rule the consciences thereby, we do not want to have their law, since they do nothing, and no one keeps the laws.
The third part is that God shows His mercy here by letting Adam fall, but soon restoring him. For it is certain that he was created righteous and just, as said. It was all good that God was pleased with him and had no shortage of it. On the other hand, it must also stand that when he ate from the forbidden tree, he fell from the state that pleased God the most, to the very worst state, which did not please Him; for He has no pleasure in death [Ezek 18:32]. But this is also clear, that he takes him again to grace, has mercy on him, and gave him a gracious absolution, and brought him again into the state of grace, though not so perfect as before; yet it was
1) "Laws and commandments" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) "Affliction" is missing in the Erlanger.
3) "yet" is missing in the Jena.
The same, as we will hear in the following chapter, v. 15, where God says to the serpent: "The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head. The saying is the absolution, so that he has absolved him and all of us. For if the seed is so strong that it crushes the serpent's head, it also crushes all his power; then the devil is overcome, and all the harm that Adam had is gone, and he comes to the state where he was before. He gave him comfort and grace to raise him up again, and to help him from where he had fallen.
(32) Now this is the first example of God's mercy, that God does not want us to despair, nor to despair if someone has fallen, because we see that Adam falls from the highest position, and yet does not remain so. Thus it is decided that God lets fall, and also helps up again. This is what has recently been said about the play.
(33) But here is a question: How it came to pass, because God says, In the day that thou shalt eat of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, thou shalt surely die, that he died not; for after the same sin he lived nine hundred and thirty years. How then is God's word true? Answer: We must leave it at that, that Adam in this commandment, as we shall hear, sinned against us all at once [Rom. 5, 12. 1 Cor. 15, 21.], for we are all planted in him, and his blood and flesh, that it must go with us as it went with him. For God has ordained that from this one man all men must come, and we are all his children. Therefore, as he has done, and what is laid to his charge, the same thing befalls us all, so that we must be counted with him for one cake and dough; lately, all that are men. Therefore also the Scripture gives one name to the first man and to all of us, that whatsoever is man is called Adam, from this first Adam, that is, from the first man, from whom we are all made. Therefore no ass may call the other (as one speaks) a sack bearer. That is why all arrogance is laid down here with all its force, that one man wants to raise himself above the other. We are Adam and remain Adam.
34 Why then did God say, "The hour you eat of the tree, you will die"? Some have interpreted it to mean, "You will be mortal" or, more sharply, "You will be guilty of death: You will be guilty of death. This I also consider to be the right understanding. For since we are all in sin, we are also in the curse and punishment, until such time as the seed comes to take them both away. It is true that Adam and Eve did not die so soon, nor did they feel death so soon, yet they felt so soon that they were naked, and made them aprons; but after that, when he heard the voice, he felt death [Gen. 3:8]. For this is also true, when God spoke to Adam, he was in agony. That is why we want to understand it in such a way, "you will die of death", that it is so much, you must die, and you will feel death; although the time is not actually determined. Now Moses goes on to say how the woman is made.
V. 18-20. And God the Lord said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper for him. For when God the LORD had made of the earth all manner of beasts of the field, and all manner of fowl of the air, he brought them unto man to see what he should call them: for as man shall call all manner of living creatures, so shall they be called. And the man gave his name to every beast, and to every fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field: but the man found no helper for him.
35 Then Moses repeats, and this is the summary: When all living things were created, God brought them to Adam to name them, but among all of them he found no helper around him. And this much is said: God saw Adam that he alone was a man's image. Now he had created all the animals, both she and he, then he brought all the animals, she and he, to Adam, but his she or companion 1) he did not find.
Our text reads: Adjutorium simile ei; but it should read: coram eo, id est, adjutorium ad generationem. There was no animal that would have joined him; they went and were counted, as they still do, but
1) Wittenberger: "gegaten".
None of them adhered to him as his companion. He called each one as he wished; as well as, as one calls the animals, so they must be called. This is a sign that man is the master of all animals.
V. 21-23. Then God the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he fell asleep. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh. And God the LORD made a woman of the rib which he took from man, and brought her unto him. And the man said, She shall be bone of my legs, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called a woman because she was taken from a man.
(37) These words are not the words of men, therefore I would not want them to be considered small and mocking. God speaks and does it Himself. Therefore it is a serious matter, and blaspheme God, who have made a jig out of it. So he wants to say: God let Adam fall asleep; that is, when he works where there is no sin, he works so neatly that the creature does not feel it. But he does not deal with sinners in this way; they must feel it, that [it] hurts them. If Adam had been awake, he would also have felt pain; but when he was asleep, he did not feel it, and when he awoke, he sees them standing before him, never having seen the image before among the others. Now the spirit was in him, as Christ interprets it [Matth. 19, 5.], that these are God's words, which Adam speaks here. Therefore one can conclude that Adam was full of God at that time, or that God spoke through Adam's mouth; therefore one should not let it be a mockery. And notice this: when God made the woman from the man's rib, the text uses the word "build": "He built a woman", just as if it should become a house. We will hear about this later.
38 This is now the opinion, as Paul interprets it [Eph. 5, 28. ff], that there is no greater union than man and woman, and would have remained so everywhere if Adam had remained in innocence. Now it is corrupt that there is also seldom unity among the married. Therefore, says Moses, Adam knew that his image was like him, because before there was no animal that was like him.
as if it wanted to help him to give birth, according to the word of God [Gen. 1, 28]: "Be fruitful and multiply. This is what God planted, that man must be male and female, and neither can bear fruit without the other.
(39) And it is concluded that the woman was created to be the help of man, not for pleasure nor for evil, but that the saying might continue. Just as Adam could not refuse to be a man, so also God took a rib from his side and made a woman out of it; and just as it is not in her power that she should come from the rib, and not from anywhere else, so also that she should not become fertile from the man.
(40) But it was of no avail; they preached to the whole world that one should vow virginity. It is good and right whoever can keep it, whom God especially tempts to stay that way. After all, he has the power to do as he pleases, he could also make a woman out of a man, and again. If we had not fallen, it would have been so that all would have borne fruit; for the blessing was spoken that it should be without woe and evil desire. But this is now broken; so God has caused some to be consumed, that they should not be fruitful. In this let the Holy Spirit do his work. But those who have not gone forth in this way, let it be done as it should be done. For as we all should have borne fruit, if nature had been unchanged, how much more must we do it, now that it is corrupt, and much more leavened? He who is healthy can eat if he wants to; a sick person must be forced to do so. That is why it cannot be resisted; but if it is resisted, it is made worse. Women are not created for any other purpose than to serve their husbands and to be their helpmates. To beget fruit.
41 Now see how Adam gives her a name, and calls her a woman, "because," he says, "she was taken from a man. In Hebrew, the little word Isch actually means a man among men. Because Sachar is called it also under other animals. So he calls her from his name Isha, that she has the name from and after him, as it is still called.
So far it remains that the woman is called after the man's name. Now the word Jshah is as much as we may say a woman, because she comes from man and is made. Just as that which is made of wood is called wood, 1) so she must have the name from him, that he may give it to her and keep the rule.
V. 34. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and shall be two in one flesh.
These words are not to be understood as referring only to flesh and blood, but to everything that belongs to the outward, bodily life. Thus the Scripture calls "flesh" everything that belongs to the flesh, which one must have, household, children, money, fields, meadows, property, honor, or poverty, shame, sickness and health. Honor, or poverty, shame, sickness and health, and so on, what may fall to the flesh, so that flesh means an outward life in the flesh. This is how it should be now, that it is all of them at the same time, and they take on everything at the same time, and one brings the other body, good, honor, shame, poverty, sickness, and what it is more. This is such a life, which is in the flesh, that is, in the fleshly being, and what belongs to it, all shall be common; without the man having the rule, and she having the name from him. If he had said it should be one spirit, it would have been better; now it is indeed one flesh and blood, but various soul and spirit.
V. 25. And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.
1) In the old editions: hültzen.
(43) We see this in all animals, that they are not in a state to sin; so it was also with man. But now it is finished, as we shall hear, that we must be ashamed and embarrassed. We must suffer shame until the last day, after which it will again be so that none will be ashamed before the other. So much joy will be in heaven. So again, in hell the torment will be so great that one will forget what is man or woman. The misfortune will probably drive away the tickle. So it will be again in that life, as in the first, that one will not say: Behold, this is a she, this is a he; but now nature is so corrupted that one cannot look at the other without shame.
44 Now I should also introduce the spiritual interpretation here: how Adam Christ fell asleep on the cross, and there from his side Christianity, his bride, was taken; which is a great comfort, defiance and glory for us. But it would be too much; therefore we will leave it to the scholars and idle spirits to act further.
So far, in the two chapters, we have heard the works that God created in the six days, and especially how in the last day man was created, both male and female, and how God gave them together, and before he created the woman, commanded Adam that he should eat of all kinds of trees in the garden, but only of the fruit of the tree, by which was learned what is good and what is evil. Now follows the third chapter, in which is described the sorrow and heartache that soon after came upon human nature and still continues.