And the LORD said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy father's country, and from thy friendship, and from thy father's house, unto a land which I will shew thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and will bless thee, and make thee a great name, and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Here let us see a great, mighty, excellent example of faith. It is also säst
of the noblest chapters in this book; therefore, it must not be regarded badly, and beyond that, listen as if it were no longer valid. I have made this book so that there is no need to preach fables and fairy tales about the legends of the saints, of which the whole world is full, but so that one may see righteous examples of faith and love, so that one may not only deal with commandments and laws, but may have living words and ways before one's eyes, how it goes when one believes and loves.
(2) We have also heard above a great example of faith in the holy father Noah, and an example of unbelief in those who built the tower of Babel, so that it may be seen everywhere how faith is affected. Now as we have seen what is the manner and nature of unbelief in the unbelievers, namely, how they gave their minds to "having enough here, to gain good, honor, and pleasure," and did not set their hearts on the uncertain good to come, wherefore they also said, "We will make a name for ourselves; what was this but that they thought to gain temporal honor and prize, that they should not be lowly and despised men? They wanted to set themselves up as if they were to stay here forever. So let us see here again what faith can do and what power it has.
(3) Besides this, it is a great thing that here again a promise is made by Christ that he should come to Abram. For until now, the fathers had all made do with the promise that God had made to Adam; that had been their gospel, which they had kept until God made it clearer and brighter again, because it had now almost fallen into disrepair. They are short words, but have mighty great things behind them.
(4) Now this is a new gospel, which brings Abram out of idolatry; for he must be an unchristian before five and seventy years, and a valiant and strong sinner before he is sanctified, that the scripture alone may praise grace and mercy everywhere. There is no merit; [it] begins arduously, as God calls Abram; does not write that he ever did a good work, sacrificed, or built an altar, as afterward; but while he is still in sins, and never thought that he should receive such grace, it comes unawares.
(5) Therefore I have said: If anyone is to be converted, devout, or become a Christian, we do not start; neither prayer nor fasting serves this purpose; it must come from heaven and from grace alone, that God, through the promise of the Gospel, should strike the heart, that it should feel and say that it had never before considered or thought that such grace should befall it. As here: Before Abram should have dared to ask, yes, before he even thinks about converting, God comes first, takes
He brings him out of error and sets him in a different being. Therefore, let this example be as new to you as if it had happened yesterday, for it is the work of God that is still going on. This is the way it must go every day if one is to become devout; what one teaches otherwise counts for nothing. He who wants to become devout does not say, "I will start and do good works, so that I may obtain grace: I will wait and see if God will give me his grace and spirit through his word. It must do so, otherwise all is lost; as the prophet says in the 85th Psalm, v. 9: ^uckiam, Huiä lo^aatur in ins Oominus, I will hear what God the Lord speaks.
(6) Now in these words are written both the law and the gospel. To the law belongs that he says: "Go from your father's country, and from your friendship, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. That is to say: All your doings and being are not pleasing to me, I do not want you here, you must leave Heralls and everything. That hurt him, too, and was a hard blow. That's why they didn't go with him much, because his wife and Lot, his cousin. Then he had to say and confess before his father, mother, brother and everyone: "This creature is not fit; if there were anything good here, God would not call me out.
Now these people were not fools, but the best that one should find. It was just as if I had told a Carthusian: step out of your nature and order. As hard as it would be for such a one, so hard it became for Abram. No one judges such things but the spiritual preaching of the law, when it comes and says: What you do is nothing, you are blind, you do not see what is good, how then should you do good? So it puts us into sin and hell.
8) After this comes the other sermon, the gospel, in these words: "And I will make you a great nation and bless you" 2c., yes, he says, I will raise up such a man from your seed, who will bless all the world. That 1) is vain grace, spiritual and temporal, temporal and eternal. Now this is the
1) Erlanger: Da.
comforting word, which establishes and sustains him, otherwise he would have to despair through the word of the law. These are the words in which the two sermons are contained; one which makes him a sinner and kills him; the other by which he becomes serene and alive. Now let us hear how he goes into it and follows the word.
(9) First, behold, how the faith of the holy patriarch stood. Thus we have said that faith is a certain assurance of things not seen, see Heb. 11:II, but promised, by which it is waited for, which seemeth as if it should never come. Therefore it is a blind and yet a bright knowledge, a light in the midst of the darkness, so that he also has such good that he does not have, that is, that he does not see, and everyone must say that he has nothing. So that I explain it with a rough example: If a poor man is to marry, and faith is not there, his heart stands thus: What shall I do? shall I take a wife, and have nothing to support myself? Because he does not see where the good lies for his sustenance, he does not want to go there. But if there is faith, he says: I will be married in God's name; where the good is that I am to have, or where I am to take it from, I do not know; I do not look, but am content with the fact that Christ says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you"; this I grasp and take comfort in, just as if I had what I should have, 1) and yet have nothing.
(10) Behold, this is the manner of faith, that it dealeth with goods which it seeth not, nor feeleth, and dealeth with them as if it had them in its hands; having no other consolation, but that it knoweth that God doth not deny nor confide. He does the same in all other things; for when I am to die, and death comes before my eyes, I have to walk away, and do not know where to put my foot in the first step. Now if unbelief is there, fidgeting, trembling, and saying, Where will I go? Who knows where I will stay? He always wants to see and feel where he should stay, but nothing comes of it.
1) Erlanger: shall.
therefore he must despair. But faith thinks like this: I don't know where I'm going, I have to get out, I don't see or feel anything, but I want to entrust myself to him who said in the 55th Psalm, v. 23: "Cast your care and concern on the Lord, he will provide for you"; then I'll go there, because I know he won't lie. So he has life, and does not see it; indeed, he sees nothing but the contradiction. What does he know about? Only that God has promised that He will not let those who trust in Him fall out of His hand. Such examples should be diligently observed throughout the Scriptures.
11) It happened to the patriarch Noah (as heard [Cap. 6, 13]) that God said He would drown the world and destroy it. However, a hundred years passed, he saw nothing, indeed, it seemed as if nothing would come of it; therefore, people thought it was a lie; but he saw it a hundred years before it came, and acted on it as surely as if it should come tomorrow. Faith has such sharp eyes that it can see in the dark when there is nothing to see, see when there is nothing to see, feel when there is nothing to feel. So we also believe in the Lord Christ, that he sits above at the right hand of the Father Almighty, and so rules, that he has all creatures in his hands, and works everything in us. This we do not see, nor do we feel; nor does the heart see by faith as surely as if it saw with eyes. Now when a man is to die, the same faith is there, and knows for certain that it will go into his bosom.
The scripture praises this kind of faith in the holy father Abram. He was in the country, known to his friends, and was to inherit his father's estate; there was still no faith, for everything he wanted was available, and he felt no lack or need. Then God sends the word to him, snatches him out of all that he has before his eyes, and when he wants to be comforted, says: "Go out." From what? "From your father's country, and from your friendship, and from your father's house," that is, let go, and forgive yourself of all that you see and enjoy here. Where to? "To a land that I will show you." There nothing is mentioned; ses) is a high temptation and struggle of the
Believing that he should leave the country, and not knowing where, he goes wherever the wind takes him; item, not knowing whether he will come to friends or enemies, and having to consider that he will come to enemies first. Do you think that this was a small quarrel?
13 For the heart must feel this way: Here you tear me from all acquaintances, and lead me there, perhaps in the midst of the worst enemies, where they will not be able to suffer me at all; make me even a poor beggar, so that I have no place where I can stay safely. Yes, he has had to consider with his wife, and whoever has gone with him, that they must die, and give honor, goods, body and life into the journey; let go certainly goods, joy and security, and give himself into certain enemies, poverty and death. What does he do? He takes no more than the word that God says: "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you. Yes, if unbelief had added, you add a lot of blessing, and I only see the contradiction; here I have a barren wife [Gen. 11, 30.], then you throw me into a foreign country and people; does that mean blessed? Yes, rather set in all misfortune. He still follows the mere word, as if he should say: You have said that you will bless me; even if everyone curses me, it will not hurt me; therefore I will dare to do it freshly. So he goes into the darkness with such faith, not knowing where he is going, nor does he find the right land; as we shall hear.
14 The epistle to the Hebrews (Cap. 11:8) praises this: "By faith was he obedient," who is called "Abraham, to go forth into the land which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went, and knew not whither he went. Now this is written for our sake, that we also learn to hang on his word, if he promises us that he will sufficiently provide and preserve body, life, and also the soul, even though it is not before our eyes, nor yet present. Only lift yourself up and accept it as if you already had it. If you believe, you have it. Faith cannot fail thee nor deceive thee, though it may already seem as if all things were about to fall to the ground. If it does not come as soon as you see that God has raised up Abram, do not desist, for he has
he does to strengthen the faith. Now follow on:
V.4-6. Then Abram went out, as the LORD had said to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was five and seventy years old when he left Haran. So Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, with all their substance which they had gotten, and souls which they had begotten in Haran, and departed to go into the land of Canaan. And when they were come into that land, he passed through unto the place of Sichern, and unto the grove of More: for the Canaanites dwelt in the land at that time.
15 Then see how God has tried faith. For it is not a bad example, because the scripture diligently shows it, which gives this man alone the honor, that it calls him a father of faith [Rom. 4, 11. Gal. 3, 9.), and Christ Himself [Luc. 16, 22.) Abraham's faith the Schooß Abrahä calls; that also God himself holds much of it. He was five and seventy years old, the text says, when he went out; from those he counted until he was a hundred years old, when he first had a son. There we will see how he is tempted in faith so long that he might have despaired a hundred times. God promised him to multiply his seed, so he waited and hoped all the years. It lasted five, ten, fifteen, twenty years; [nothing] would come of it. Oh, how he had to struggle with unbelief during this time. When he was a hundred years old, he was almost in despair, for it was impossible by nature; yet he did not leave the word and promise of God, so that St. Paul [Rom. 4:18] says: "He believed" against hope "in hope."
(16) Learn, therefore, that it is not enough to begin to believe, but that one must also continue and persevere, and not be carried away. For God only tempts faith, as I have said, so that faith may become strong and firm, and the old Adam and unbelief may be strangled, who only clings to the present, which he sees and feels, so that he may tear us away from the present, that we may cling to the word alone, and then we will have enough in body and soul.
17 So he has learned and practiced the: Saying
In the most silent book of Moses [Cap. 8, 3]: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes through the mouth of God: If a man does not live by the word alone, but by every word that passes through the mouth of God," [Matthew 4:4] he lives by the word alone, so that he clings to it and abides in it; then he must be blessed with all goods. Let this be the example by which we learn how far we still are from faith.
18. but that God first indicates in the promise and says: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you", then he puts the holy cross on him. This is the other piece we have to learn -from the fathers legends. For these are the main pieces of the Christian life, faith, hope, love, and the cross. For where God's word, the holy gospel, is, there the holy cross should not remain outside. For Paul gives it the name [1 Cor. 1:18] that he calls it a word of the cross, that is, it costs the cross and must bear the cross. For the world and the flesh are so minded that they do not like to suffer the gospel, for they only want to cling to that which they see before their eyes, to have honor and good enough, and to be sure of the thing. If then the gospel preaches that it is not right, she cannot hear it, for it only preaches against her. Therefore God tells Abram beforehand that he will be cursed, so that he may consider this and know that it must be so, so that he will not be challenged; and at the same time he comforts him with the same words, as if to say, "Be of good cheer and hold fast; you shall see that I will curse him who curses you, and I will bless him who blesses you.
19 But this is also in faith. It is not all described how it happened, but afterwards, in another place, it is well indicated, and here also that he was cursed by many, condemned, mocked and scorned, he "was a stranger in the land among his enemies, and not sure of life, had to fear his wife also [verse 10-12]. So now the Holy Spirit comforts him; but is silent, and yet lets him 1) lust, pretending not to see it. Therefore this is a blessing and cursing of God in the spirit, as if he should say: Those who curse you are
1) Erlanger: them.
well blessed in the sight of the world, and again; but hold thy peace, and eat into thyself; look upon me, as I lead thee in the spirit, that they are accursed before me.
20 So he always points him to the word. So he had to live in the eyes of the enemy, risk life and limb, and let what he had be taken away; that God should stand by him, as if he did not hear and see how everyone blasphemes and defiles him. This is great; but it is even greater that he must go with his wife and large household; for if he had been alone, he could have gotten along much better. [It is well to think that they have been lords in the land, how often he has been wronged and violated and deprived of what is his.
(21) All this is presented to us as a high example, the like of which is not much found among the saints. For God Himself has arranged to describe His legend with all diligence, that the whole world should call Him a father of faith, from whom everyone should learn how faith must be skilful and what its nature is, namely, that it passes between life and death, honor and dishonor, good and poverty; so that he can say to God: You are mighty, you can keep me alive in death; because you have enough and live, I must also live and have enough. For even though he sees the contradiction, he is always guided by the promise.
22) But I have said, that in these words, "In thee shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed," Christ is actually promised. Although the Jews, to whom Christ is actually promised,Z) draw the saying, as they also pervert and sin other Scriptures, that so much is said: "In you all generations on earth shall be blessed," that is, by you all generations shall be praised; so that if the Gentiles turn to the faith of the Jews, or to their state, and are circumcised, they can boast that they also belong to Abraham. That is how far they interpreted it.
23 But we are to draw it further. Because
2 " "To whom Christ is actually promised" is missing in the Wittenberg.
It goes to the Seed of Jesus Christ, as it is also subsequently greatly deleted. And the blessing is to remain on the whole man, body and soul. For he that is a Christian is blessed through and through, all that he sees, and hears, and feels; so that the word is mightily extended.
24 This saying concludes that we are all cursed and damned in Adam, to whom the sentence is laid [Gen. 3:16, 17]: "Cursed be the field for your sake"; and to the woman: "I will cause you much grief when you are with child" 2c. The sayings and curses go over man and woman and all of us, for the sake of sin, so that sin would be punished and repelled. But all this ceases when Christ comes, who brings a blessing for the curse, not so much that he takes away the sweat and labor, and the pain of childbirth, but much more. For the blessing is entirely spiritual, so that it first takes away and strangles the sin for which the curse has passed over us; which is also the right curse, through which we are stuck in the maw of eternal death; as above s^Cap. 2, 17.] is heard, "Which hour thou shalt eat of the tree, thou shalt die the death."
025 But how he taketh away man's labor, and woman's anguish, is not seen. For he taketh away as death, so that sorrow and death remain; but giveth us such medicine, and maketh us so drunken, that all these things do not deceive us, and we suffer them with a cheerful conscience. For he that believeth goeth up cheerfully, 1) not with displeasure and bitterness as before; and though it grieve the flesh and blood, yet the conscience remaineth cheerful. The taking away is much more glorious than if he were to stop it altogether; for there he shows his power and strength, as he is so mighty that in the midst of death life comes and drowns death. In the same way, he does not take away the work or the sweat, but makes it not hurt, and the heart full of joy, so that it thinks it cannot hurt him. He also does this with the woman, that she suffers everything gladly, even if it were more; [it] hurts her well.
1) Erlanger: in.
but before, much more sore; yet now it becomes sweet and light to the conscience.
26. so he leads his blessing so strongly that he blesses all men in such a way that the curse must become harmless; will also finally take it away, but first the whole Adam must die. When we are through it, it is all gone. So the blessing must be understood as working in the heart, comforting and strengthening it, so that no misfortune will be too hard for it. Where this is not the case, the pain is too great and unmistakable, and there is only unhappiness and heartache, so that one always wants to be overburdened. Unbelief can suffer nothing willingly, flees because it can, so that it does not work, wants to have enough beforehand and be well provided for.
27 Thus it is seen everywhere that unbelief is a cursed thing, and makes all things bitter and bitter; but that faith is a blessed thing, and brings all good and joy. Now this is promised here, that such a blessing should come and go upon all generations, because the world stands, so that it is said and preached to the last day, Abram is dead, Christ is in heaven; yet the blessing is there. Wherever the gospel is preached, it proclaims that whoever believes in Christ, Abraham's flesh and blood, shall have his sins forgiven, death taken away, and eternal life. This is ever highly blessed, offered to everyone. If you want to be blessed, believe in Christ. Therefore it is nothing else than preaching the gospel, in which the blessing is spoken daily.
28 This then was the gospel which they had at that time, which saith the same thing, and is none other than our gospel, by which Christ is preached in all the world. Whoever accepts and believes it shall be saved from all calamity. The same gospel was also given to Adam, but not so clearly as here to Abram. From him it is always driven away and expressed more clearly, until Christ has come.
Thus we have seen the holy cross that the holy patriarch carried. He has now come to the land, but does not know that this is the one that God told him. Therefore he went up and down like a pilgrim, coming as far as Shechem, almost in the middle of the land of Canaan.
Now that he has obeyed his God and gone forth, He will not leave him without comfort at last. Therefore Moses says:
V.7-9. Then the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar unto the LORD, which appeared unto him. And he departed from thence unto a mountain that was toward the east of the city of Bethel, and pitched his tent, that he might have Bethel toward the west, and Ai toward the east. And there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram departed from Bethel, and went out toward the south.
030 This text may be thought to be a bad text, as indeed it is; but three journeys are signified therein. First, Abram passed through the land from time to time, and encamped once at Shechem. From there he departed and moved away, settling down between Bethel. And the third time he departed thence, and went forth toward the south, unto the land of Egypt, and built altars in two places, when God appeared unto him, and at Bethel.
(31) The prophet David has rightly considered this text, when he says: "I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, like all my fathers." Item, the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 11, 9.] also says "By faith he was a stranger in the land promised to him, as to a stranger." And Stephen [Apost. 7, 4. 5.] also says: "God brought our father Abraham over to this land, where you now dwell. He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot wide, and promised him that He would give it to him to possess, and to his seed after him, since he had no child." So he had to be freryd all his life, that he also had to buy his burial [Gen. 23, 16. 17.]. Therefore he did not put his hope in temporal goods.
32. it is a strange history and a strange faith that God leads the man from the temporal to the eternal, names and indicates to him temporal goods, namely this country, and
1) "says also" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) Irr the expenses: they.
But faith, which is attached to the word, even though it speaks of the temporal, gives him eternal happiness. Therefore, it depends on God's word. When God speaks, even from a straw, it is nevertheless an eternal word, so that whoever believes in it is justified and pious, that he has God and enough for eternity. Therefore, you must not look only at what he says, for it is all the same, one thing and another; but you must look at the very most of his word. If you are sure of this, close your eyes and do not ask what he is talking about. If the word is there, you have enough, because it is the eternal truth and God Himself [Psalm 119, 160. Joh. 17, 17.]. So faith is also an eternal treasure.
(33) I say this because there has been a hostile disagreement as to how the promises of the Old and New Testaments are to be separated, and they commonly separate them in such a way that in the Old Testament good is promised temporally, and in the New eternally. Such a distinction is not sufficient, and does not conclude. For Abram is not promised eternal possessions when he says, "This land I will give to your seed," for he is speaking of physical children and land; nor is the word eternal, and the faith that holds to it attains eternal life and blessedness. Therefore, the word of God is to be kept in the same regard, he speaks whatever he wants, and always clings to it. It is all God's power and supreme good. Otherwise, if one were to judge according to the difference, Abram would not have become a Christian through faith in this word, from the bodily good.
Now this is the comfort that God gives us in suffering. For he has a way of tempting faith, he tempers it, and makes it last, so that we take off the old skin and cling to the mere word and insist on it. But if it lasts too long, and comes too hard, he does not leave it without consolation. But the scripture is reasonable and does not say how he was taken along. Why did he not stay in Shechem? Of course, he did not do it because he wanted to. Moses also mentions it in the 5th book, Cap. 26, 5: "The Syrians wanted to kill my father, who went down to Egypt and was a stranger there. The people of the land did not like him.
35 For it is certain that Abram preached the word of God, and so lived as he believed. If he preached and lived like this, it is impossible that he pleased the people. For he had to punish them and say out of Christian love, "Your nature is not right and against God. If he had not done this, he would not have been a true pious, holy man, for Christian love cannot remain silent nor tolerate that the neighbor errs and sins, it must punish and punish where it can. That is what he has done; therefore, wherever he goes, he remains as long as he does not speak the truth. When he opens his mouth, he has to leave.
In those days there was still a fine world, many wise and understanding people, also pious and holy. But he found many of them, especially hypocritical and presumptuous people, who especially persecuted the true saints, as Moses touches on in the fifth book, as we will hear later. Therefore he did not do it out of recklessness that he broke out like this; nobody wanted to suffer him. And because he stands thus in the holy cross, having no one among the people to comfort him, God Himself comforts him, but puts such words that it is contrary to all appearance. 1) As if to say, "You are a stranger among men who are enemies to you, who think that they have possession of the land and that you must live at their mercy; but I will turn it around so that you will be lord and they will not. Abram was comforted by this. This is how God deals with all His believers. This is one piece.
(37) The other thing, that Abram buildeth an altar at Shechem, and afterward one when he cometh to Bethel, is no other thing than that the pious patriarch prepared a place for himself and his servants, that they might come together to hear the gospel, and to pray, and to sacrifice. For from the beginning this was the outward worship, that they slaughtered and sacrificed animals, as Noah, Cain, and Abel; as we have the mass or sacrament, where we preach and pray. They also preached and prayed as we do, but had other signs, namely the sacrifice. Sometimes it happened when they put it on the altar.
1) Erlanger: which is reflection.
that it lit and consumed the fire from heaven, when I said about Abel's sacrifice [Cap. 4, 22.]. But I will believe that ses^ did not happen here, or not at all times. Alan probably afterwards finds it clear that ses^s had happened; as, of Gideon and Manoah in the book of Judges [Cap. 6, 21. 13, 2O.]. But it is not to be thought that they established such a service, that they wanted to do God a good work with it; but, because one must have a place and place, where one comes together, and God's word teaches and acts, such the necessity forces to establish, thus that actually Abram did such for the sake of preaching.
(38) What then did he preach? Just what we preach in the Gospel, namely: Here is God's word, which promises me that he will give me a seed through which all the world will be blessed, and will give me this land. If we believe the word, we are pious. He] has thus set forth how one should serve God with faith, and how in the promise the whole gospel is understood, that no one can please God without faith [Heb. 11:6], but no one could believe without God's word, that is, the sermon.
39 Then he also asked that the promise be fulfilled for himself and his servants, and for his enemies who had harmed him. There he is landlord and priest, has both regiments in his hand. Therefore, this history is not to be rejected. He has been holier than any pope or bishop has ever been; he has also led the spiritual office better than any of the very best. Preaching is the highest and noblest office. Where this is not, nothing can make a priest before God.
40 So the sacrifice is not to be understood as if he had done it as a good work, but as a sign to confirm the sermon, just as we take the sacrament in addition to the word to strengthen faith. For if thou receive this, and hold fast the word, and believe that his body is given for thee, and his blood shed for thee, thou art blessed. He also said: "If we believe that what God has said will come to pass, we will become a sign of God.
make a sacrifice to strengthen the faith, so that we may be the more sure. Scripture has not set this in vain. For the less the service, the better it is to keep only the word and the sign.
041 And Abram, when he went forth, and came to Bethel, set up an altar again, and offered sacrifices. Bethel is called a house of God. For Beth is a house of God; so that when the man came, and met the place, he set up a house of God, and called upon the name of God, saith the text. This is all said of the public ministry; so that where it is found that the saints have built an altar or the like, that it may be learned that it is not said of secret prayer and worship. For he did the same thing that no man saw: but this is the public work which he did in the sight of the people when they were assembled together.
For "to call upon the name of God" in Scripture means "to call upon publicly. This is nothing other than the outward service of God, by which the gospel is made known with the mouth and preached before everyone. He will have done so, that his people were present and listened; to them he preached and put sayings in their mouths, how they praised God and gave thanks for the future Christ and all the goods that were promised to him [Rom. 10, 9. 10.].
These are the three journeys, that he must be a pilgrim, and flee from the holy cross. He would have gladly stayed, since he built the altar at the first, but he always had to leave, so that he would be well trained in righteous faith; he always thought that God would give him a place where he would stay, but he had to hover between heaven and earth.
44 If anyone should say, "It is forbidden in Moses that any man should not perform a service for him. Item, that the Scripture says, God will not suffer the works which we ourselves choose, that they should be well done before God [Matth. 15, 9. Marc. 7, 7.]. For, as I have often said, what we do must be done in such a way that we can say that it pleases God, and have certain sayings that say that God wills and gives. Where this is not, I shall do nothing before God. As,
That a Christian should believe and love is God's word. What I do now, so that I can always say: I do this because God has called it; then I am right before God. Otherwise, all works are nothing and condemned, no matter how great and beautiful they may be, as all priests and monks are.
(45) For no work shall be called and be good, except it have the word of God in it; not that it seemeth good to me or to thee, that it seemeth good in the sight of the world and in the sight of reason, that it be great, long, and heavy, or that there be great devotion and good opinion in it; but that it have goodness and nobility only in that it proceedeth in the commandment of God. Now, if all the clergy and ecclesiastics in the world could come up with a saying that God had ordered and commanded their thing, we would also carry it on our hands. It takes more than good opinion and what the world can do to make it good. God's word must do it.
(46) How then shall we save the holy father, that he should lead and build altars, when he hath no word of God concerning them? As long as he does not say so, he should not build an altar, no matter how holy he is and how good he means it. Answer: That he certainly had orders from God, whether it is not written that the Holy Spirit said that he should build, otherwise one could not defend it. But this helps that he had God's word, because the text says: "He built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him"; he concluded from the Spirit, because he wanted to give him the same land, that it would please him to build altars there. If he was to be in the land, he had to preach there; therefore he had to build an altar. Therefore he does not do it out of his own presumption, but in obedience. So we must dwell on this and groan, 2) that we always say that they did nothing that pleased God without God's word. For if one allowed that one might do something more, monks and priests would have already won justice.
V. 10-16: And there was a tempest in the land. Then Abram went down into Egypt,
1) Erlanger: heavier.
2) moan - support.
That he might abstain there as a stranger: for the theure was heavy in the land. And when he was come nigh unto Egypt, he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold, I know that thou art a fair woman in countenance: and when the Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say that this is his wife, and shall slay me, and keep thee. Dear, say that thou art my sister, that it may go well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live for thy sake. Now when he came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was almost beautiful. And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her before him. Then she was brought into Pharaoh's palace. And Abram prospered because of her; and he had flocks, and herds, and asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and asses, and camels.
This is the last and hardest journey that Abram makes; he has had comfort for a while, but now a greater temptation comes again than before. This is another great example of faith. The land is weighed down with dear time, the inhabitants can hardly feed themselves, where will the pilgrim stay? He must leave. So he is once again] chased away, knows nowhere to go, God is silent about it, and lets him be pushed out of the land that is promised to him, since he thinks that he is the most firmly established. So God does not let His own rest, so that no one will hang on to temporal good; thus He plays with us, gives and takes it away again; and again. Over this he must also put his wife on the road, yes, first of all surrender his life, knows no advice to save himself, but that he gives his wife away.
48 And is he right in putting his wife in the way, and in daring to honor her? Item, that he has such evil thoughts of people, when one should think the best of one's neighbor? Answer: He does as much as he can, so that he does not tempt God. Because he can do that, so that he can save himself with his wife, he needs her. After all, God commands it all. Think, then, if I did not have my wife with me, God could protect me and keep her in honor as well as with me; but because I have her and can use such means, I will not tempt God.
For faith is so made that it freely considers the mere word of God.
and home all things to him, and yet do not try. But what does trying mean? It is two things: The first is on the left side, not accepting God's promise that He will give it into our hands. As if Abram, about the promise, would have the land in his hands so soon, and would not believe until he had it in his hands, the word would have been struck away and God would have been tempted, as the Jews did in the wilderness, to whom God had promised that He would lead them and not let them lack; but now when they saw that [it] would lack, they began to grumble, not wanting to believe that they had it in their hands [Ex. 16:2, 3]. That is, God tempts in lack when there is not available what one should have.
50. the other is in abundance on the right side, when God has given food that can be used, and one leaves that and shuts his mouth to heaven, wanting to have a special sign. If we are hungry, he could well keep us without food; as he said [Deut. 8:3] that he would feed us by his word; but because he also gives bread, he does not want us to leave it lying around. So here God is said to be tempted when one has need and want, and can well help the matter, and does not use what God has given. Those who vow chastity are also of this kind. God has proposed and instituted the conjugal state so that we may escape fornication; whoever does not want to accept this, and does not have the nature to keep chastity, leaves behind God's word, which he has given, as if God were to perform a special, supernatural work and miracle with him.
(51) Therefore faith should walk and drive in this way: If there is lack, that he may freely trust in God's word; but if there is abundance and enough, he should need it and not seek something else. Thus he walks between the left and the right side, staying on the right middle road. This is what this example teaches us. If he is in want, he commands God, even though he must now live in the road; but if he has a wife, and sees that if he said she was his wife, they would kill him, he takes what God gives him for protection and uses it.
52. but it is a great thing, his wife
from himself, and [dare] to do so only on God. He must have had no doubt that God would keep her, must also be a pious woman who is so obedient that she gives herself to strangers. In sum, it is quite fraternal that she also puts her body and honor there, and does what pleases her husband. Two people came together in a crowd: Abram, the father, Sarai, the mother, have well deserved to be preferred as an] example and model of faith. But they suffered many and great trials, that the faith might be kept pure and sincere, both in want and sufficiency; and both were able to live in want, and to be rich, and to be high, and to be low, and to engage in all manner of good and evil.
(53) God is wont to deal with His own in this way, that He does not let them stay long in one place, but chases them hither and thither, not only for their sake, that their faith may be proved, but also for the benefit of other people. For Abram certainly could not keep silent, nor was it proper for him not to preach to the people about God's grace. Therefore God drove him through the famine in Egypt, so that he might also be of use there and enlighten some with the right knowledge of God. Which he undoubtedly did. For it is not fitting that a man should deal with people and not reveal to them what is good for their salvation. Because he says that he dwelt in Egypt, and that it was well with him for Sarai's sake, he did not fail to teach her. Thus God acts strangely on earth, sending apostles and preachers to the people before they know it or think of it; even those who are sent do not know how to get there.
V.17-20. But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of Sarai Abram's wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram to him and said to him, "Why have you done this to me? Why did you not tell me 1) that your wife was? Why saidst thou then that she was thy sister? because I took her to me to wife. And now, behold, thou hast thy wife; take her, and go. And he commanded his mighty men over him to go with him, and with his wife, and with all that he had.
1) In the issues: say.
54 You see how God always responds to faith and does not let it fall. So he goes and puts his wife and her honor on the road. That was very daring, especially in the king's court. He does not worry, does not set a goal for God, how he should bring her back, does not set a time, a way, or a person, but goes freely, thinking: "It is God's command, where I stay and come with the wife, I do not want to know how or when she will come back. He clings only to the blessing in which God promised him that he would not leave him; and when he is tempted, he goes and does not doubt that he will help her to come back to him or otherwise for the best. As now his heart stands, so he finds. For God cares for him so highly that he also attacks the king and all his household with great plagues.
(55) Moses does not say what the plagues were, but he presses the king so far that he gives Abram back his wife himself, and orders his officials and officers to escort him with all that he has. That is how exactly God respects this man, who in front of the world seems as if he does not know or see him, let him take his wife. Before he looks around, he attacks King Pharaoh for his own sake, which the prophet David praises in Psalm 105, v. 14. Therefore, it is a remarkable example that God cares so much for him and gives more to him than to the whole kingdom. What is in the king's kingdom is a hundred times less than poor, foreign Abram; that the prophets may have seen this, so that we may learn how God holds himself against those who trust in him, and believe that there is no power so great and terrible that is not subject to a Christian.
For God does not strike a bad man here; he was not warned before. Now he warns him so highly that he is glad to keep Abram as a friend; he causes so much trouble that the king must humble himself before him. How bad it would be now to suffer that a poor beggar would come into a king's country, that the country and the people would have to call him gracious lord 3) and be afraid of him, and be glad that they
2) In the editions (according to Latin idiom): itself.
3) In the old editions: "gnad Herr".
showed him all the services? Nor can God accomplish this so soon. Therefore it is not possible for him to leave anyone who trusts in him and clings to him; indeed, he helps more and better than we can ever desire.
57 For Abram would never have desired nor wished that the king should send for him, restore his wife, and make him well attended. Therefore let the faithful be undaunted in all troubles. For thus says Solomon in Proverbs f^Cap. 16:7], "If a man's ways please the LORD, he will also make his enemies content with him."
The saying flows from many histories. If God is pleased with us, let Him take care of the enemies. He can throw them around in a hui and make them friends. It is only the hopeless, damned unbelief that cannot be resisted; as he sees with eyes, so he judges and goes, not wanting to step into darkness.
(59) Great benefit and correction will come from him, so that kings and princes will be taught and converted through him. For such
The punishment is that the king became Abram's friend. And it is a sign that he has recognized God, so that Abram has carried out his ministry with great benefit. How God always deals with his own, that he gives them to work on earth. That is why he tosses them back and forth. That is enough of this chapter.
60 But what is to be said now between Abram and his Sarai, I command others. [It is also shown how a fine marriage it was, and how it should be done. For Abram laid out a commandment to his wife, saying that she was his sister, and so put himself in the way for her husband. There is no reluctance, but fine friendly obedience, ssie^ keeps to her Lord's word that right conjugal love has been there. Therefore she has also done a mighty great work of faith there, because she has also had to surrender herself and her honor to God's power. Therefore, both women and men have ample examples and stimulation of faith and Christian conjugal love.