V. 1. After these stories, God tempted Abraham and said to him, "Abraham, Abraham! ^And he answered, Here am I.
1. there we have once again a piece of the legend of the holy old archfather. It is quite a fine piece, who could get it with words. Now we have heard how the good Abraham has stood in many a challenge and temptation of God, and has never had a certain place. It is badly described, but so abundantly indicated that admittedly not many legends are written thus.
When God praises a saint, he praises him in such a way that it is worthy of praise. This is what he has done to this man. [He is quite an example of faith. His life is full of trials; everything must be done in faith; he must still have a wife, a child, a large household, and money and property, but always
so that God will accept it. [He] hath often put his wife Sarah to the sword, and God hath given him his maid Hagar with her son; the land also goeth forth, that he hath not a foot's breadth. So God plays with him as with an apple; and he keeps so quiet, letting him do with it and go wherever it goes. If he has it, he can use it right; again, he can spare it when it goes away.
But here he attacks him in the highest way, takes from him the highest good, because he has nothing dearer on earth, for which he also had cause. For he was an only child, and had from him God's word and promise that from him should come the seed by which all nations should be blessed. Then God leaves the natural desire, because he has not taken the father's heart from him, breaks the nature of the child.
not, lets them remain as he created them, does not lift them up, even in the holy of holies; as you see that Abraham is such a great saint, nor does he let the natural affect and motion deep within him.
4 It is not, as some think, that we should so despise all things that we should have or feel no pain or sorrow. I should warmly accept my neighbor's harm and let him suffer as I do my own; yet be so skillful that I do not ask for it when everything is taken from me except a penny. True love takes care of the whole man and all his goods. But so it does: It keeps the greatest for the greatest; so it also helps for the temporal life. So a Christian respects nothing for his own sake, but what God puts into his hands he accepts, deals with it; if he takes it away again, he lets it go.
5 Thus God takes from the pious father the highest treasure of all; not wood nor stones, neither silver nor gold, but the only Son, whom He especially loves above the common love of the father, that he was born of the holy woman, so that God managed it so wonderfully in the days of old, and also the promise of the glorious seed is upon him, that he has great and much cause to love him. God Himself also loved him, and when He saw that He loved him so much and did right, He thought, "Wait, I must play with him," and said:
V. 2-8 Take Isaac, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, 1) and offer him there for a burnt offering on a mountain that I will tell you. Then Abraham arose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took with him the two lads, and Isaac his son, and cut wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off, and said unto his sons, "I will burn the burnt offering.
1) Marginal gloss: Moriah is called a presentation, and is the mountain where Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem afterwards, and is called the mountain of presentation, that Abraham was presented there with the ram, and after that the right ram, Christ, was to be presented and revealed by God the Lord.
Boys: Stay ye here with the ass; I and the lad will go thither, and when we have worshipped, we will come again to you. And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and they went both of them together.
He just attacks him with right words, from which the laughter must have gone out of him. Then nature had to recoil and hurt him, and, what is much harder, that he should do it himself, and not another, but draw the sword himself, and slay for a burnt offering; so that everything should burn to powder, so that not a hair would remain.
Now, these are great, mighty temptations, that God so urges the father to strangle his only, dear son, and to take him again, whom he had given him before, that he would have rather died twice himself, and given all his goods, wife, and what he had. For he had to think: Now the son is already gone; he did not think that he should remain alive. Therefore, it must have hurt him beyond measure in his heart.
But what does the Lord do? He tells him to go to a mountain, which he will show him. That was three whole days' journey. It would be even easier if he were to get away soon, but he tortures him even further, taking time so that he is well roasted and has to eat his way through. That of course a piece or ten have made his heart throb, that he might have said: How does God act so foolishly? what have I done to deserve that he tortures me so? No doubt he had countless such thoughts. Above that, when they come to the mountain, Isaac has to carry his own cross. There the son also gives him a push. It also hurt him that he alone knew about it; he must not tell his son about it, neither his mother, nor anyone else. Thus Isaac speaks to his father:
V. 9-14. My father. And Abraham answered, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, here is fire and wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, GOD
will show me, my son, the sheep for the burnt offering. And they went both of them together. And when they came to the place which God had told him, Abraham built there an altar, and laid the wood thereon, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him upon the wood, and put forth his hand, and took hold of the knife, to slay his son. Then the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham. And he answered, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither hurt him. For now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not kept thy only son from me. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw a ram behind him caught in the hedge with his horns, and went and took the ram, and offered him for a burnt offering in his son's stead. And Abraham called the name of the place, The LORD seeth. 1) Wherefore it is said to this day, In the mount where the LORD looketh.
The word must have been a burning spit in his heart, as if he were to say, "Oh, dear son, be silent, I want my heart to break. He must eat that too, and his heart must boil. Then he continues, and writes how it went, simple, but gives each one to consider how the father's heart stood. Isaac is obedient to his father, gives himself to him, and is as much as if he were already dead. It is wonderfully great that he was able to overcome the heart in this way.
But the greatest thing is that God speaks against Himself here. This is a riddle that no one can guess except the Holy Spirit. For God has commanded that one shall not kill [Ex 20:13]. Now he says it here himself, although Isaac was not guilty of anything. Item, ser) promised him before to give the seed of Isaac. Abraham had to believe this word, so that his heart was like this: "The son must become a father of many children and be spread out into all the world. Now he is turning against the weather, and speaks the contradiction, and the son must now die; what will become of this? What can reason say? It is completely
1) Marginal gloss: Behold, that is, GOrt takes care of everything and watches.
beaten that she does not know where out, and must say it is now over.
Now both of these things had to be true: Abraham believed and knew nothing else, because the son would have to die; again also that he should become a father of many nations [Rom. 4, 17]. How do the two rhyme together? So, as St. Paul interprets it in Heb. 11, 17J, he had to think: God is almighty and true, the Son is already dead, I must let him go; but God still has so much, if I and all the world were dead, he can raise him up again, even over a hundred years, and make him a father. So God leaves him no more than the one consolation that he holds on to in the highest temptation, that God would make him alive again if it pleased Him, because God cannot lie. Now this is the very highest dispute, when God thus presents Himself as if He were lying, that His word is against one another.
(12) Let us learn these things well, whether we are also tempted in this way, especially when we are about to die. Because God gives us the gospel and comforts us, it is all sweet. But what if he says at death, "I do not want you? If you have almost thought that you stand firm and believe in Christ, that he is yours, then a spear comes into your heart, so that God says: I do not want to give you Christ, therefore give him to me, and you remain alone. What else can the heart say but: It is lost? And when it says, "You have given him to me," then it says again, "I am God, may I not do it as I please? Why do you ask, since you are mine? What shall I do now, when it is so contrary to one another? You shall have the saying in the 81st Psalm, v. 9. 10: Israel, sl auäisris nie, uon erit in te Deus alienus, "Hear, my people, I will testify to you, Israel, you shall hear me, that there is no foreign God among you, and you worship no unknown God" 2c. Therefore, if you obey him, you must not think that you have a GOd who changes. Lemel loguiturDons 6t6, "if GOd speaks once (says Job [Cap. 33, 14. 1), he does not repeat it." Jtem,Malachias [Cap. 3, 6.] speaks: HZo Dons et of mutor.
13Therefore God has the way that He will have over the first word that He has spoken.
What then is contrary to this, he wants us not to assume, but to be sure that it is God's temptation. This is already commanded in the fifth book of Moses [Cap. 13:1-3): "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams stand up among you and give you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder comes, of which he has told you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods whom you do not know and serve them,' you shall not obey the words of such a prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God is tempting you, that he may know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul." These are excellent words: When a prophet comes and gives you a sign, God must ever do it: nor must you believe it; and give cause, for God is trying you, if he will repeat the word. Therefore, hold fast to the first word, and let the rest go, but do not let that go. God is so strict about this that he will not heed even all the signs that are contrary to it (even if they come from him).
14) St. Paul also admonished the Thessalonians: "I beseech you that ye be not soon moved of mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters, as sent by us, that the day of Christ should be at hand. 2) And soon after, v. 9, of the Antichrist: "Which is to come according to the working of the devil, with all manner of lying powers, and signs, and wonders"; as also Christ warns [Matth. 24, 24.] and says: "False Christs and prophets shall arise, and shall do great signs and wonders, that even the elect, if it were possible, should be deceived" 2c. Now everyone has gone there, and if anyone preaches against it, they say: There is the sign before your eyes. Thus the devil has hitherto wrought his will, and I believe that many righteous signs have also come to pass. Why should one not follow them? Here you hear it, he will not suffer you to make him a liar, but tempts you. Therefore you must not be driven by the first word, even if he sends an angel from heaven and turns you away.
1) "dawider" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) Erlanger: is.
You shall not believe nor follow it badly, but the first laid word shall come to pass against all miraculous signs and doctrines, full of God or the devil, whence they come.
(15) There is also an example in the first book of Kings [Cap. 13:9 ff] of a godly prophet sent by God to Bethel, who was commanded by God not to eat or drink in that place, Bethel, with the king, which he did. But when he returned home, another prophet came to him and told him to go home with him and eat. But when he refused, the other said to him [v. 18], "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel has spoken to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Lead him home again, that he may eat bread and drink water'"; so he goes with him, leaving aside the first commandment, thinking that because he said God had spoken it, he must do it. "But as they were eating, the word of the LORD (saith the text, vv. 20-24.) came to the prophet that had brought him again, and cried unto the other, saying, Because thou hast been disobedient to the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD commanded thee, thy body shall not enter into thy fathers' grave. And as he departed, a lion found him in the way, and slew him."
16 Behold, what was this prophet about to say? Can he not speak: Have you deceived me yourself? But what will God say? He will say: You should have taken me for the man who does not lie, and should have stayed on what I commanded you, if I had told you differently. Therefore the prophet Ezekiel says [Cap. 14:9): "I have deceived the prophet who comes in my name and preaches lies," that is, I have made him come and tempt the people.
(17) We should do likewise. If I have rightly received Christ in the sacrament, and have his word and sign, then faith and conscience stand in good courage. If death should come, and God should hear or feel that he would be ungracious and not have me, yet I should not waver or back away; even if Moses or an angel or Christ should come, I should hold fast to it, for the word of God cannot lie. But if thine heart say, Yea, is this also
God's word? You answer: He will probably do it and interpret it as he means it. So we must overcome him with his own word. This is almost the highest fight and dispute that the holy fathers have practiced.
18 Thus it went here with Abraham. The first word had to remain; but how the other should also be true, and agree with the other, he had to command God. Therefore, whoever wants to be instructed in temptation, let him take hold of the sayings, so that God does not deny or change what he once said; but what is contrary to this is to be interpreted as him trying the faith. Let him interpret it, but it is a difficult piece.
Nineteenth Thus we ought to have done, when Pabbacy and monasticism arose; and every one saw how greatly it increased, and said, Well, this is right and delicious. There was no one so wise as to say, "Although the papacy continues so blissfully, the first word must not fall, but still remain, that faith alone makes blessed, and all doctrine and being based on works are damnable. But this has been abandoned; so the devil broke in with false signs and won that everyone was afraid of it, and no one could resist until it took over with full force and completely wiped out the doctrine of faith.
This is the great story of the strong faith of Abraham, in which you see how God so abundantly restores his son to him and showers him with blessings. For while he holds fast to the first word, he turns the word back again, and shows him that he has only tempted him. There follow the contradictions that God does. Now, according to this example, we have much history in the histories, as also among the Jews many burned their own sons [Deut. 12, 31.]; that was their spiritual order, considered it the most delicious work, had an idol for it before the city Jerusalem, with name Moloch [2 Kings 23, lO.], and many horrible things came out of it. 1)
21 For because this work that Abraham does is a good work, they imitated him, until
1) Cf. Tischreden Cap. 5, 8 5 and Cap. 24, z 2. Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XXII, 243 f. and 704 f.
to the Babylonian prison. Some fine people thought that they also wanted to do God a great service; prophets were also there and strengthened them with this example; then the crowd plummeted afterwards [Jer. 32, 35]. Then the right prophets also came and said: You murderers and bloodhounds, you 2) strangle your children to the devil. Then they said again, "How can you speak against what God has so highly praised? Many a noble blood has been shed over the abomination, just because they insisted on this example.
22 Now, what is lacking? Why doesn't God also like it and like it here from Abraham? That is what I said, if God had not called Abraham, he would not have thanked him. It is a great work, but God does not respect it. It is to be done only for the sake that Abraham does it out of his word and command; if this were not so, he would have committed an abominable sin. Thus says the prophet Micheas [Cap. 6, 7]: What shall one do to God that is pleasing to Him, shall one sacrifice a son to Him? No, he says, God does not want it. Why not, did Abraham do it? He still does not want it. Why not? If he had commanded it to be done, it would have been done; if not, let it be done. For the fools have followed the example, and have not seen that here is God's word and faith; but with them is nothing but presumption and their own conceit, that they may do a work of their own, and a service that is pleasing to him, to blot out sin thereby, and to merit heaven; it is a righteous devotion of their own devising, which is an abomination in the sight of God; but what is done according to his word, that he is pleased with.
(23) Thus have we done hitherto, that we have taken the examples of the saints, and gone thither with multitudes, which God would not have. King Solomon built a temple for God and was praised for it [1 Kings 6:1 ff], so we also fell for it and thought that whoever founded a church would have great merit with God. Not so; but, if thou then be Solomon.
2) "their" is missing in the Erlanger.
build one too. He had God's word for it, so you have nothing, and you want to master God, what he should please him. He also did it in vain and in faith, not that he thereby made God gracious to him; but you come and want to buy God with the work and make it your own. Therefore, it is wrong for you to seize the saints with examples.
(24) Therefore it is dangerous to preach the legends of the saints, except those found in Scripture, which are all directed to faith. In other legends, it is not so much the faith that is shown, but the works that are brought up, how much and long they fasted, watched and led a strict life. Therefore they are considered holy, and everyone wants to imitate them in this way; thus faith goes to the ground.
25 Now therefore let these things pass away. See what these examples teach. They do not say whether the fathers fasted much or not, but that they heard God's word, walked in it, and kept it. Where this did not happen, Abraham did not go either. So also the epistle to the Hebrews teaches f^Cap. 13, 7], we are to follow the faith of the saints, he says, not their works. Each one must have his work, but we must all have one faith.
(26) Let this be said, that one may know how to judge it, and that no one may do any worship that God has not commanded, or else one will go in blindness, and cover it up for good works. For if one does gross sin in other ways, everyone sees that it is not right; here one wants to boast about it. Therefore, God is not so hostile to any "thing as to one's own devotion; [it is also the most shameful plague on earth. Therefore, behold, if the example of the Holy Father has turned out so badly, yet it is described so purely, what will become of our works? What will our mad fools do, who are not half as wise or pious as those? They can still boast that God will not let them err.
27. so far 1) we have now had the noble and fine example of faith, how the pious father Abraham so firmly believed in the word
1) Erlanger: Up to here.
that he also fought against God Himself and won. Now he says here further in the history that God promises him again with an oath that he will bless his seed 2c., and reads thus:
V.15-17. And the angel of the Lord called Abraham again from heaven, saying: I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, because thou hast done these things, and hast not restrained thine only son, that I will bless thy seed, and multiply it as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gates of his enemies.
028 Here he saith, among other things, that his seed shall possess, that is, take the gates, that is, the cities, the land, and the people of his enemies, repeating the words and the promise which he had made unto him before Isaac was born. And thus saith he:
V. 18, 19: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast hearkened unto my voice. So Abraham returned to the boys, and they arose, and went together to Babylon, and dwelt there.
(29) Let this saying stand according to history, as it sounds and reads. Bad, low words they are, as you see; but God has another way of speaking than men. When he opens his mouth and lets a word go, it is valid. One does not have to divide his sermon into pieces, like the teachings of men, here a piece, and there a piece; there be chaste, there obedient, there fast, there pray, that it may be divided. But when he speaks, he speaks even as he grasps it and has it; as he has it all in one heap in his hand, so he also gives it out in heaps.
(30) Thus, in these short words he has summarized the whole gospel and kingdom of Christ, so that no one can sufficiently delete it. Abraham understood it well, the prophets also, but few Jews, as they do not understand it even today. If we had no more, we would still have Scripture enough on it. I also think that the holy fathers had all the books on this saying. What the scripture wants to grasp, it grasps all in one heap,
that one must not make many extractions, but more extractions. 1)
31 What then is it said, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed upon the earth? For blessing is not to be understood as the Jews interpret it, that it means that he will praise the Jewish people among the Gentiles; so that they only look at the tongue, as if it were well spoken, wishing something good; but God's works are righteous, go to the ground, are all serious and perfect things. Therefore the word sweepeth all his works together: which he will send forth, not only upon the Jews, but upon all the earth; and it shall be by the seed of Isaac.
How is this to be done? So: We all fell into curse and sin through and in Adam, and also condemned to eternal death through sin (Gal. 3:10). The curse is on our neck, in it we are born. Everything that comes from a woman is a child of curse and wrath [Eph. 2:3], of death and eternal damnation, subject to the devil. This is a curse on the whole human nature. For as Adam is, so he begets children, all damned and cursed. He testifies to this here first of all with the word "bless". For, if they are to be blessed, they must not have been blessed before. If the blessing were before, what should we of this seed? but because he promises such blessing to Abraham, it is so much concluded: You are all cursed.
(33) So the word blessing alone overthrows all that man and nature is and is able to do. Now let a heathen man, or one of us who call ourselves Christians, and yet do not have Christ and faith, with all his wisdom, good works, virtues and free will, and all his life, come to nothing and be accursed before God. Cause, it does not come from the blessing; if it does not go from this, it is not right, yes, it is all of the devil. He does not say: The Gentiles will bless themselves, or obtain the blessing for them; the blessing must grow out of them. Because it does not grow out of them, they must be forgiven.
1) That is, one should not restrict it but stretch it wide. Compare A 34.
Luther's works, "d. HI.
be cursed. For what is not blessing must be cursed, there is no third.
(34) Therefore I say, when God speaks, he opens wide his mouth, and is not straitened, but strikes the whole world, and puts it entirely under a curse; as Paul says Rom. 11:32, and Gal. 3:22: "The scripture hath decreed it all under sin, that he should have mercy on all, and that the promise should come through faith in Jesus Christ. He does not curse, but shows us what we are, namely, that we are even in the curse: but he wants to bless, not two or three nations, but the whole world. From this we should have enough evidence that all men with all their works and worship are of the devil. Abraham was able to judge all things and doctrine from this, as it came to him, and thus said: If the blessing is there, it is good; but if it is without the blessing, it is lost, let it be what it will.
35 The blessing is now upon all the Gentiles, but that it may be done in Abraham's name. This is the gospel. But the saying does not mean that all the Gentiles will receive the blessing. St. Paul is a master in interpreting such sayings. It is promised herein (he says [Rom. 10, 18Z) that God would let the gospel go forth. sHe] does not say, all will accept it. How so? So: The gospel is such a word, which offers us God's grace and mercy, merited by Jesus Christ and purchased with His blood, who is the Lamb of God that bears sin [John 1:29], and lets it be proclaimed to all the world: Believe and hold on to me, forsake works, and you will be blessed and free from death and all misfortune. The blessing has gone as far as the world, come both over Gentiles and Jews, and still continues.
(36) This is the meaning of this saying: I will send a blessing upon all nations under the sun. For one must allow the word: all Gentiles, Hebrew sosn Col Gojim, to be understood also by the Jews; as Moses says to them in the 5th book [Cap. 4, 7.]: "Where is such a Goi, to whom God is so near", but to you? Therefore, the addition "over all the Gentiles" should mean whatever people are under the sun, God grant, they are Jews or Gentiles.
(37) Behold, the saying is so far stretched that God would make the gospel known to all the earth. That is what he means by "blessed". The blessing is there, offered to everyone, but not everyone accepts it, and it is a serious blessing that goes over the whole person. If you believe in the seed, your sins are forgiven with one another, and death is abolished, hell is conquered, and heaven is yours. He wishes and brings all this to you at once, but there are few of them who accept the blessing. God greets all the world, but few thank him. It is still true that they are all blessed, that is, it is offered and presented to all of them; but the fact that not all of them become Christians makes them reject such a salutary blessing, yes, persecute it for the most part. It is not said that God wanted to convert everyone. St. Paul [Eph. 1, 13] points to the gospel alone, that it is a shout that he lets go out over everyone, that it should be a blessing; whoever is struck by it is struck by it, whoever sows it has it.
38 Furthermore, a goal is also set for the Jews here, so that they cannot boast, says Paul [Gal. 3:18], as if they had deserved it in any way. For at the time when God promised the blessing to Abraham, we were not there, neither were the Jews; there was neither people nor good works, neither Moses nor prophets nor anyone, so that no one could boast as if he had earned it. That the gospel is given to us is only God's goodness, which He poured out to us before anyone asked for it or thought of it. For he had it in mind to give before we were born. If he had let us be pious before, and had given laws to the Jews before he made the promise to Abraham, they would say, "We deserve this. If the law had not been given, and if we had not done good works, Christ would not have come. The glory he will lay up comes first; before the Gentiles are there, who are to be blessed, the promise and grace is there.
Therefore, whoever hears and recognizes God's word must say: I never deserved it, nor asked for it, nor took it into consideration. Therefore, the words are so profound that they are not to be falsified. Where blessing
is said, there is the gospel; where the gospel is, there is God with Christ and all goods. Thus, God can comprehend all things in one word. Thus all the Jews are exalted in glory and holiness, and the Gentiles in wisdom; all must say: Praise and thanks be to God, who has given us the gracious promise.
40 And this text shall be the gloss and light of all the laws that are written hereafter. When the Jews say, "We have received from God the Ten Commandments, which if we keep, we are righteous, and may not keep Christ's," this saying is there, and it concludes that God promises and promises out of pure grace. But where are the ten commandments? Answer: This is the first word before the ten commandments were given and written; it is not to be said that God lied. The seed and blessing over all the world is there; whoever does not have it is lost.
41 Why then are the commandments given? Not that by your works you might become righteous or fulfill the law, but that you might tame the body, live honorably, and enter the promised land; and especially that by it we might be known who we are, and where we lack, that we might thirst the more for this promise. It is for this very reason that this seed is promoted and the blessing is driven.
. Thus the prophets have done and written: O Lord God, who can keep it? The more you command, the less one does. We should trust God and keep His commandment; we do not, we find nothing more in the law, that is, that there is nothing good in us. That is why Moses gave it to reveal the curse, and when we see and feel it, we lift it up and say, "Now come, Lord, give us the blessing, deliver us from this curse. Therefore, the law does not help the conscience; the blessing alone must do it.
(43) So all the Scriptures are arranged to do this saying always. [It] is also in the whole of Moses the main saying, and everything goes on it, what stands before and after, so that all the world must say: It becomes nothing good out of it, here is vain death and GOtteL wrath: now this is your word, therefore hold what
You said that you would bless us and send the seed to give us these things, and to save us from death by life, and from sin by righteousness.
44 Behold, this is the gospel, whereby all the world is brought low and condemned under sin and death and the devil, with all their glory and godliness and good works. For it is found that it is not the blessing. Again, before and without all works, pure grace is established through Christ, that no one should boast, but that everyone should give thanks to God for raising up the seed through which rich and eternal blessing comes. This is the whole theology in one heap, of which neither scholars nor high schools have understood a word.
45 Now we must also deal with the little word "seed. Here the Jews would still have an excuse, that they might say: Why should such things be drawn to Christ? Are Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets and saints Abraham's seed? Answer: We can do no more than defy not only the Jews, but all the world, angels, death, devils, to give us a seed confirmed with such miracles as our Christ. The work is there, of which the words are, and it is known that he is Abraham's seed; so all the world, without its thanksgiving, must confess that he is preached as far as the world reaches. This has never happened to anyone, nor will it ever happen to anyone; and also that the Gentiles have accepted him, as it was proclaimed before, and everyone believes him to be true, and the gospel to be true. All the world has dealings with him, and yet they are Gentiles, who should rightly be hostile to him; confessing that he is not only Abraham's seed, but also hearing and preaching that he has brought blessing, conquered death along with sin and hell. He also proved this with great miracles from heaven through the gospel and the apostles. There was a miracle for God to confirm the preaching. Now give us another who has done all these things, and is still going through the world, so that all power is against it, the Jews also; it has not yet helped, it has had to break through; if even such mighty kings on a house of God are still in power, it is not yet possible for them to break through.
If they did that together, they would not be able to go that far.
46 Further, in these words is also understood all that we believe about Christ, that he had to be born of a virgin, suffer and die, rise from death, ascend to heaven, and sit and reign at the right hand of God. For that his mother should be a virgin, it follows therefore: All Gentiles are cursed; that which is born of the flesh is already a child of wrath and death j^Eph. 2, 3.], so he must ever not come of flesh and blood, or be born of male and female, if he is not to be cursed, nor to be blessed, but to bring blessing, that all who are blessed may be blessed through him. Again, he must still be a natural man, having flesh and blood like Abraham. For the Scriptures commonly call the children seed. Now if he is to be a natural child and son, he must come from a woman, for no one is called a child unless he brings his being from his mother; but if he is not to be cursed, he must be conceived in a non-natural way. Therefore, it is necessary that the mother not be pregnant by a man, but still be pregnant, so that she is called a true natural mother, and the child is her blood and flesh. Therefore, there is no other means, except that he be conceived of the Holy Spirit without all corruption. Thus it entails that she be a virgin, and the child's mother, in right natural being.
47 The prophets have also led out of this saying, as Isaiah chap. 7, 14: "Behold, a maid or virgin shall conceive and bear a son. So the Scripture calls him Lruetuui veutris alone, a fruit of the womb, not a fruit of the loins; that is, a child by a female image alone, not by a male. Behold, the sayings all flowed from this, that they saw such things; so that the saying does not go to Christ, as in the 51st Pfalm, v. 7, it is written, "Behold, I am made in iniquity, and my mother conceived me in sins." Because he is without the curse, he is also without sin and death. So it is found that he is not conceived of man's seed.
(48) Further, all that are born of woman must be natural men, and die as the children of other women; so must this seed also die, as all other men. Again, if he should be the one who blessed all the world, he] cannot remain bodily on earth to be king in Jerusalem and rule the whole world; the kingdom is too great. If he himself is to reign presently, he must be in such a being that he is with everyone and in all places; therefore he must be born a bodily man, like others, through the Holy Spirit, that he may walk in mortal life, but through and out of the same being enter into another, immortal, spiritual being, that he may reign with everyone in the heart; otherwise he could not accomplish it, that he may be in everyone's heart and speak with him, and create over a thousand miles of way. Therefore, he had to rise from death, go to heaven, and sit in the place where he can see all creatures, fulfill them, and have them in his hand, having power over all things, angels and devils.
49. He must also be God. For if he is to promise such great good and give the blessing, he must also have the power; otherwise it would be ridiculous if he promised something and could not help. Since he now promises to deliver us from death and the kingdom of the prince of the world, and to give us eternal life, he must have power and be omnipotent, and also wisdom, so that he can and knows how to preserve us in life, against death and sin. Otherwise, if he only wished the same, and yet was not with me, he could not help me. Therefore, because he can save us when we are in the midst of death and hell, he must have the highest, divine power, and everything must be under his feet [Ps. 110:1], which power no one has but God alone. Because it is given to the seed, he must irrefutably be a true God, and yet remain the seed, that is, be both true God and man. Thus we have all things with one another in Christ, birth, death, resurrection and his eternal reign. Who would want to summarize all this in such short words if the Holy Spirit himself did not speak?
(50) That is enough talk about the text, which would be worthy to be drawn with letters of gold. But it lies alone
so that the blessing may be properly recognized. It should be a blessing that God gives; but what God blesses is blessed in deed and work. For He does not bless as people do, with words alone, since 1) nothing follows, but is such a living blessing that brings all good. It is not a greeting alone, but a work and busy thing that soon takes place. The fruit that follows such a blessing is that no one can prevent or hinder it. When God blesses, speaking and doing are one thing, as it is written in the 33rd Psalm, v. 9: Oixit, ot kaetum est, "he says, so it stands." Therefore, the blessing must say what it says and be active. If it comes from God, it must affect sin, death, the devil, hell; that is how deep his word goes.
(51) Therefore you will find so many sayings in the prophets, drawn from this. It is a great, rich mine, from which they have dug and taken everything they have written about the future Christ and his kingdom. Now the Jews do not see this, they are blinded, they cling to Moses and stand on their works, they do not understand that he promises such great things before he has given the law.
This is the history in which we learn how powerfully God speaks. And even if the words do not give all this, the history should give it through the spiritual interpretation. Thus we shall also see in Isaac how Christ is portrayed in it. [It is such a broad word that it goes beyond all works, and even includes Christ and his kingdom. Let us now proceed with the interpretation.
(53) I have often said that he who wants to study the Bible well, especially the spiritual interpretation of the histories, should draw it all to the Lord Christ. For it is all to do with the interpretation of the preaching ministry, or gospel and faith, in which Christ's kingdom stands, as we shall also see here. Now our faith holds that we firmly believe that the seed of Abraham is truly God and man; and although it was impossible that the person, as God, should be born, suffer, die, rise again, and do other things which he did on earth, therefore that
1) Erlanger: that.
the Godhead is even insufferable and immortal: nevertheless, it is true that it is said that the Son of God suffered and died.
(54) As it is said of a man, whose soul no one can wound with iron, for it is a spirit: nevertheless, when one is cut in the head, it is said, "The man is sore. Item, so one says also: The man is dead, if nevertheless the soul cannot die. Thus all works are attributed to the whole person, whether it be the body alone that does or suffers, because both are put together and become one. So also here; although the man Christ did and suffered everything, yet because he is one person with the Godhead, God is also said to have suffered, to have died, and to have risen. This is our faith, let us now see it here.
55. Isaac is laid on the altar and bound, the father takes him by the head and wants to cut him down and slaughter him, so that he is sacrificed in truth, if one looks at the father's heart. For there goes free, both will and hand, but death is completely in his father's and his eyes, so that no one knows or sees otherwise: he still remains alive, and the goat is sacrificed for him. Alfo he dies in appearance and prestige, and yet remains alive in death. This is the Lord Christ, who appears and poses in all ways as if the Son of God were dying; yet he does not die, but the man truly dies: this is the goat in the thorn hedge. So now the Scripture says that God truly gave His Son; yet He did not die, but man died. Thus Isaac is a figure of the Godhead, the goat of the humanity of Christ.
56. secondly, here is meant the resurrection from the dead. Because Isaac was promised to Abraham that he would become a father of many nations, and yet he is answered to death that the sayings must both be true, that he would become a father of many nations, and yet die under the hands of his father. There the kingdom of Christ is even pictured. So the saying is true that he should be a king and savior of all the world [Tach. 9, 9. Joh. 4, 42. 1 Tim. 4, 10]. But how does he stand up to this? s^He] lets himself be nailed to the cross and dies; just like Isaac, when he was supposed to become a father. Now this has the weak
The apostles are going to the king and redeem the people. The apostles go to, think that will become the king and redeem the people [Luc. 24, 21.], so he will be martyred and crucified in the most shameful way. Now where is the kingdom? They were too weak to think that Christ would be king and savior, and that even if he died now, the Father was powerful to make him alive again. So it had to happen. Christ falls and dies, but rises again, becomes a king, as it is written; is king on earth, but no longer sits as before, yet he reigns in our hearts, has only to do in them, preaches and enlightens them; and in sum, what happens in all of Christendom, that he does.
57 Therefore it is true that Christ is a king, and reigns as far as the world is [Ps. 72:8], that all things must be subject to him; lives truly also in the flesh, but in immortal and spiritual life. Now what reason could conceive such a thing, it could see no further than that he should visibly reign with great splendor on earth. If this were so, there would be no faith in the world. So now the scripture insists: Isaac remains alive, fes] is only a form and appearance of death there. So also with Christ. He dies freely in his own eyes and in the eyes of all the world, but through death he comes to life, becomes a king and reigns forever. So here the whole kingdom is conceived. For where the resurrection stands, all things stand together.
58. Further, the goat in the hedge with the horns, as said, is Christ after mankind. Now we see how the gospel goes, and all the Scripture before says, that it causes tumult, does not hang among roses and lilies, purple nor wool; there is nothing soft, but vain thorns; therein the goat is confused, cannot come out. This all means the preaching office. Horn is called in the Scripture: Mysterium verbi ovanZolii, which is the power of God. For as the goat prods with his horns, so also the preaching of the gospel prods before the head, which is great; [it] cannot suffer any to be wise and pious, and to rely upon it. When the beast gets under the thorn hedge, it gets confused in it.
59. thorns are the ungodly, especially those who persecute the gospel, prickly and un-
Powerful kind. For the pious Christians like to be pushed. But the other is a quarrelsome, heretic people, as Paul says Rom. 2:8: 8is, M suut ox eontontiono, as they are preached to, so it is not right; ssie^ are vain hedges, which at last belong to the fire. Thus thou seest in the figure that it is so and must go. Therefore let no one be surprised if strife arises against the gospel, that Christians are driven out and persecuted; only say: It must be so, and not otherwise, the ram must hang in the hedges. What the devil esteems great on earth, all Christ must pursue; so it clashes with him, but does him no harm; he has hard horns in his head, but he gets tangled up in them, is seized and sacrificed.
But what does it mean that Abraham leaves the donkeys and boys far down from the mountain, and he goes up alone with the son? Our legalists 1) and preachers of works have interpreted it thus: When one goes to church, prays vespers, matins 2c. and sings, one should leave the carnal thoughts behind, and prepare oneself with good thoughts, so that it is a good work; and it remains so. But we have said that the outward service serves to teach and practice the Scriptures always, and to build up the faith with them, and that no one should pray and read in such a way as to do a good work, but to build up the conscience and strengthen the faith. Therefore the jugglery is of no use at all.
61 The donkey is the lazy rascal, the old Adam, blood and flesh, who must also be there if one is to serve God; for Christ's kingdom must reign on earth in our hearts. Therefore, the two parties must be separated from each other. The two go up to the mountain; the donkey with the servants stays far away. With the Gospel, one does not lead the mouth or feet to God, but the heart; it cannot be grasped in the ears, mouth, or tongue, but must live in the heart. The world does not see this, the servant and the donkey do not see it, no one sees it except Abraham. The donkey, however, must nevertheless have a regiment; the
1) That is: law teachers.
The body is subjected to the law in the external regime, as the donkey is kept by the servants. 2) That all who govern the people outwardly and keep the flesh under restraint are meant by this. The lazy old man cannot come before God, yet Isaac is there, that is, the soul is in the body, which comes before God.
This is how it should be divided. Through faith in the gospel we come to God, offer ourselves to God, as Isaac did here, and are given to him as his own. Thus the heart is sacrificed with faith, but the donkey remains behind the mountain, cannot come here, because it is still full of sin. The heart becomes pure through faith, is a new man and holy sacrifice, but the old Adam is still full of evil desire, he must be tamed, forced and compelled, so that he is swept from day to day, 3) and always has masters who chastise him.
- For this reason, the law must not be applied to the conscience, but nothing must be preached to it but faith, without all law, so that it may go freely to Christ. 4) The conscience must be kept in a state of restraint. According to this, one should also preach to the lazy ass, so that he is held in bondage and subdued. The law alone should serve this purpose. Soul and conscience shall have no servant to lead them, but shall remain free. Now here are two servants, that are Moses and the6) prophets, who taught the law and drove it into the people. This is the interpretation, this is the preaching ministry altogether, law and gospel, meets both, inward and outward people, and the whole world.
64 The last is from mount Moriah. Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines, near Gaza; from thence he went up three days' journey; and on the third day he saw the mountain afar off; about a crossbow-shot or two, he left the others behind him, and went up alone with Isaac. The mountain is called Moriah, and is the very mountain on which King Solomon built the temple [2 Chron. 3:1], not, as some say, where Christ was crucified. And therefore it is called Moria, because it says: The Lord looks upon it, because Moria is called in German so much, as, the
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: vom Knechte.
3) Erlanger: will.
4) "demselbigen" is missing in the Erlanger.
5) "the" is missing in the Erlanger.
The Lord's face, so that the Lord sees into it. And the name of the mountain remained so because God looked so closely at Abraham, prevented him from strangling his son, and showed him the ram, so that it might also be called the Lord shows. This is interpreted to mean that Christ should come to the mountain where the temple was built, and preach the gospel, and then send it out into all the world; as in the stories of the apostles [Cap. I, 2) and in Isaiah [Cap. 2, 2].
But we remain on the spiritual mona, because we make everything else spiritual, therefore we leave it to be the Christian church, which is the kingdom of Christ, or faith. Now in the Old Testament it was commanded that no sacrifice should be made in any place except that which God chose, but He pointed nowhere except to Jerusalem. This means that it does not matter what works we do, unless they are done in faith; the judgment has already been made, as Paul says: "Everything that is not of faith is sin"; even if you torture yourself to death, God does not inquire about anything, nor does He look at all your suffering, as Paul also says, where it is not in faith. Thus the Jews also did great works and sacrifices, but God did not inquire about them, because they were not done in the place that God chose for them. So the word is to strike down everything that is not of God's word and of faith, as now are the foundations, monasteries, and all kinds of spiritual beings.
This mountain Abraham still saw from afar. (It) was not yet quite Moria, belonged still far away, yes many hundred years, before "Christ should come, and his kingdom by the gospel should start, still he has seen it; as Christ says in John [Cap. 8, 56.): "Abraham, your father, was glad that
1) Jenaer: not.
he should see my day, and he saw it, and rejoiced." So now the sacrifice is all in faith, from which it becomes a holy, pure and pleasant sacrifice.
That is enough of the spiritual interpretation of this story, which preaches both faith and the cross, that the old man was killed. Summa, it is all about Christ. Scripture wants to know nothing but about Christ; nor has the devil deceived us, as if it were not enough, and in the meantime we have had to learn and preach vain dreams of man. Lastly there is a piece in the chapter, how Abraham was told that his brother also had children by his Milcah, namely eight sons, and by the Kebsweibe four; as follows.
(V.20-24) And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah also bare children unto Nahor thy brother, Uz the firstborn, and Bus his brother, and Kemuel, from whom the Syrians come, and Chesed, 3) and Hazo, and Pildah, and Jedlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel zmgete Rebekah 2c.
68] Therefore it is written, according to the history which we shall hereafter hear, in the fourth and twentieth chapter, how Abraham took a wife for his son, of the same generation, Rebekah his brother's son Bethuel's daughter, that it might be known whence his wife came. [But it is also indicated here for the sake of spiritual interpretation that this means how Christ, when he rose again from the dead, then took to himself a wife, that is, the Gentiles; he did not take her from his own country, but sent for her from a foreign country; he rejected the Jews and sent for the Gentiles through the apostles, as we shall hear later.
2) Jenaer: would have to.
3) Jenaer: Caded; Wittenberger and Erlanger: Ceded.