In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes, in your seed all nations on earth shall be blessed.
Held at Wittenberg in the parish church, on Mondays during the Easter holidays at Beiher, April 2, 1528.*)
i Mos. 22, 18. In your seed all generations on earth will be blessed.
Dear friends, today before noon you heard from Moses the first gospel, which God Himself preached to Adam and Even in Paradise, by which they were comforted, justified, preserved and saved; otherwise they would have had to die and perish in God's wrath and their sins. But now let us take before us the other promise, or the other gospel of God, made to Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, after the beginning of the world 2080 years ago, when God promised Abraham with an oath, saying: "In your seed shall Col Goym", that is, "all the nations of the earth be blessed", as written in the first book of Moses, chapter 22, v. 18.
(2) Now we will not dispute much here whether this text is said by our Lord Jesus Christ or not, for we have our Doctor and Teacher of the Gentiles, who has received his doctorate from God Himself and from our Lord Jesus Christ, and has been made a Doctor of Theology, and the testimony of his doctorate is given in the Acts of the Apostles, Cap. 9, 3. ff, is abundantly and gloriously described by Saint Paul, who clearly tells the Galatians in the third, v. 8, that these words of Moses alone were spoken by Christ, and that he alone is the seed, and no one else.
3 About this our Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks to the Jews, Joh. 8, 56: "Abraham, your father, was glad that he should see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced. Yes, where did he see it? In this saying, when he heard how his seed shall be God and man, who shall bless all nations, that is, redeem them from sin, death and the devil, make them eternally righteous, alive, holy and blessed.
4 Therefore let us now turn to the text, and hear first of all what a "curse" is, of which this Christ, Abraham's seed, should redeem all the Gentiles, and what "blessing" is. Second, how the seed of Abraham must be a right man and die. Thirdly, as the seed of Abraham must rise again from death, so he must bless all the Gentiles. Fourth, as he also must be a true God, but a different person, because God the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is what we intend to do this time, as much as God will grant and give His grace.
(5) Now we hear clearly in the text that God says to Abraham: "In your seed shall all the Gentiles of the earth be blessed. If all the Gentiles, that is, all men, are to be blessed in this Christ, then all the Gentiles must have been under the curse before; otherwise the seed could not bless them.
Now what is this curse? This is what our doctor, Saint Paul, says to the Romans in the fifth chapter, v. 12: "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death came to all men, because they all sinned. This is a true master, who can fairly illustrate Adam's fall in paradise, what he accomplished with the bite of the apple, namely, that he brought and inherited such a terrible curse upon all men, no one excepted, without our Lord Jesus Christ, that they are conceived and born in sins, and thereby are eternally damned and lost to death, the devil.
7. this curse is called peccatum originale, original sin, or natural sin, which we received by nature from our parents in
*) Because of the time determination 2c. compare the first note to the previous sermon.
Mother's womb; as the one and fiftieth Psalm, v. 7, says, "Behold, I am begotten of sinful seed, and my mother conceived me in sins." And to Ephesians on the other, v. 3. "We were by nature children of wrath"; that is, by nature, as we are conceived and born, we bring sin with us into the world, and through sin comes God's wrath and death, that we are all lost and condemned. And this original sin is the real wellspring from which other real sins of men spring and originate.
8. no Jew or Turk knows about this piece, not even the pope; but Adam, Abraham preached it orally to their children, likewise the prophets, until it was clearly described by King David. But we Christians now know from the New Testament about this curse, how terrible and great it is, that it also tears away all people and takes them to death; no matter how holy they are, it is of no help; no one can pull the neck out of the noose [Ps. 89, 49], so heavy is the sin, God's wrath, death, hell and damnation, which we have inherited from our parents, Adam and Eve. This is what has been said about the curse that has come upon all the Gentiles; now let us hear about the blessing that this seed, Jesus Christ, is to bring.
(9) Now this blessing is not a bad man's blessing, as one man greets another, offering or wishing a good morning or day, as men cannot otherwise bless one another; but this blessing is God's blessing, which he alone can and will give, through the gospel he promised and promised. Such a blessing is not a bad, empty word that wishes us much good, and nothing comes of it, but gives and brings all that the word promises and pledges. Therefore, this divine blessing, promised and pledged in Abraham's seed, is a mighty, powerful and living blessing that brings and accomplishes what it promises or blesses.
(10) For he is promised and given of God against the curse, wherein the devilish old serpent hath brought us through Adam's disobedience and sin. And hereby God has denied the promise of the woman's seed.
He is now called Abraham's seed, and after that, David's seed [2 Sam. 7:12, 13], and finally became the son of the pure virgin Mary.
(11) Therefore, "to bless in Abraham's seed," as you heard this day before noon, means "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," that is, it shall take away sin and hell, and restore righteousness, innocence, life and blessedness. For sin and eternal death is the curse, as it is said, under which we would have to be eternally damned (unless we were blessed again through this seed, that is, made free from sins and righteous, made alive from death, holy and blessed, and this was preached and presented in all the world through the gospel to all peoples and Gentiles).
12. the dear patriarch or archfather Abraham understood this well; therefore he also rejoiced, as Christ says. And I think that will also have been a piece of this joy, when God promises him Isaac, he falls down on his face and laughs with joy in his heart, Gen. 17, 17.
(13) This also shall be our joy, which we shall have, that we shall be blessed in this seed of Abraham, David, and Mary the virgin; yea, we Goym all Gentiles, will embrace it, and boast of the faith, as Abraham did. And with the blessing will defy sin, God's wrath, death, devil and hell, singing and saying: Through Christ, the seed of Abraham, we have righteousness, that is, forgiveness, the washing away of sins, redemption from death, the devil and all evil, and praise and glory be to God the Father, that he has given us his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and that he has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Paul [1 Cor. 1:31] says, "He that will boast, let him boast of the Lord" [Jer. 9:23] and of no other. Now this is said of Abraham's blessing, which is to be our comfort, joy, life and blessedness forever. Let us now hear what kind of person Abraham's seed must be to bless all the nations.
14 Now it is clear and bright, Christ is to be Abraham's seed, that is, a true
naturally child and pure man, who has Abraham's flesh and blood in him.
(15) Now if he is to be a true man, he must die; for whatsoever is a man must die [Heb. 9:27]. The judgment was passed on Adam and Even, who ate of the tree, and on all their descendants who are born of them, that they, as men, must die. But because Christ is to be Abraham's seed, that is, a true man, he must also die, for he has taken upon himself all the attributes of human nature, except sin. Now this is the other part, that this Christ, as a right, true, pure man, must die.
(16) Thirdly, if this Christ is to bless, that is, to justify, to bring forgiveness of sins, redemption from death, the devil and hell, life and blessedness, he must not remain in death; otherwise he could not bless, or, as Jeremiah says, Cap. 33, 15. 16., but must rise again from death, and in his name preach and proclaim such blessings, righteousness, repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the Gentiles and nations; as the Lord Christ himself says to his disciples on the day of Easter, and Luke is written at the last, v. 47. As we Christians also sing with believing hearts, "If he had not risen, the world would have passed away; but that he is risen, we praise the Father JEsu Christ, Kyrieleis." That is rightly sung. Abraham saw this in the word that the man, his Son Christ, must die and rise again from death, bringing righteousness, forgiveness of sin, life and blessedness to all the Gentiles.
(17) Fourthly, if this seed of Abraham is to give such a powerful and mighty blessing and bring it about among the Gentiles, he must not only be Abraham's seed, that is, a mere, pure man, who can do no more than say good day or good evening to us, which all men can do well, but must be the right, natural, true, almighty, one God, who has such a powerful, mighty blessing in his hand.
(18) For the abolition and overcoming of sin, death, hell and the devil, and the restoration of righteousness, life and salvation, are not the work of men or angels, but of some alone.
eternal, divine majesty, creator of heaven and earth, Is. 63, 3. ff. Therefore this Abraham's seed must be real, true, eternal, almighty God, like the Father from eternity, but another person.
(19) And we Christians must be careful, as we said before noon today, and will say even more now, not to separate the person of Christ, nor to mix the two natures, as the divine and human natures, into one nature or essence, but to distinguish the natures or essence here, and to keep the person united.
(20) For here the devil, through his companions, has made himself strangely twisted and curled, so that they either want to make the Godhead and humanity one nature and being, or else two persons, as some heretics have done.
21 Nestor, a patriarch or bishop in the imperial city of Constantinople, at the time of the emperor Theodosii the Disciple (against whom the Concilium at Ephesus, the very year Augustine died, after Christ's birth in 4311 ) year, was held), publicly taught that God, or Jesus Christ, Son of God, was not born of Mary the Virgin, died, and rose again. For God is a spirit [John 4:24], who cannot be born, suffer or die, but only man, the Son of Mary.
22) That is, Christ is made two persons, and here the one person of Christ is separated, that there is another person who was born, died, and rose again, another person who was not born, died, and rose again. And so every nature becomes one person by itself, and two distinct sons, or Christ's, one God's, the other Mary's son; which is just as much as that God did not become man, die and rise again.
23 And is openly contrary to the Scripture, which saith John in the first, v. 14: "The Word is made flesh." The angel Gabriel speaks Lucä on the first, v. 35.: "The holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God." St. Paul Galatians on the fourth.
1) Eisleben edition 435 - Augustine died August 28, 430.
V. 4: "God sent His Son, born of a woman's image." Jtem, 1 Cor. 2, 8.: "The princes of this world have crucified the LORD of majesty." And Apost. 20, 28, St. Paul says: "God purchased the Church with His blood," when, according to reason, God does not have blood. Just as we also speak in infant faith: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born, died and rose again; do not say that the Son of God is other than the one born of Mary, died and rose again. Therefore it is one Son, and not two sons. Let this be said of Nestorio the heretic.
The other heretic, Eutyches (who was an abbot of Constantinople, against whom the fourth main council was held at Chalcedon in Ponto or Asm, in the fourth year of the emperor Marciani, after the birth of Christ in 451), 1) also publicly taught that the man, Jesus Christ, born of Mary, is not the creator of heaven and earth, whom one should worship. This heretic once again separates the person of Christ, and makes two persons out of one person.
(25) Nestorius the heretic separates the person by tearing mankind from the Godhead, and makes of every nature a special person, that man alone was born Christ, died and rose again. But Eutyches, the heretic, separates and tears the Godhead from humanity by making a special person out of every nature: one who created heaven and earth, and who is to be worshipped as the divine nature alone; separates and sets apart the divine nature from the human nature, as that Mary's Son is not the Creator of heaven and earth, whom one is to worship.
(26) But this is also contrary to the Scriptures and to our Christian faith. For when we say: Christ, the man, is Creator of heaven and earth, in whom one should believe and trust, or whom one should worship, we do not speak of the mere and separate man, of, apart from and without God, but speak of the man, or of the person, who is at the same time God and man in
1) Eisleben edition: 455.
One person, unspoken and undivided, namely de Deo incarnato, of whom I must say not in abstracto or absolute, as the ancients called it, but in concreto thus: Christ, the Son of God and of Mary, is the Creator of heaven and earth, to be honored and worshipped; who overcame death, destroyed sin, broke hell, and by his suffering, death, and resurrection restored righteousness, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and blessedness; who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God, and with his Godhead and humanity is one and indivisible person. This is what we must learn. I have told it to you at greater length, so that you may the better comprehend, understand and retain it. For I see and note that the devil, through the new sect of the Sacramentarians, wants to bring forth this old heresy again, and to separate and divide this person of Christ.
Therefore I warn you and ask you to learn this article well, and do not let the enthusiasts mislead and seduce you. For in this article, Jews, Turks, even the pope, and our new sect, the Sacramentarians, are at odds with each other. But let this be our Christian glory and joy, that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the true one God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who became man for our sake.
Therefore we say rightly: God suffered, God died and rose again, but according to the flesh, as St. Peter says 1 Petr. 3, 18. For God and man are One Person. For what the man Christ does, speaks and suffers, that God does, speaks and suffers; and what God does, speaks and suffers, the man Christ does. For he is both the Son of God and the Son of Mary, and yet has two different natures, divine and human. The dear Abraham recognized all this in this promise of God, and certainly believed and saw it in his heart.
29 But one thing we must also report and indicate. For since our Lord Jesus Christ is not the person who said to Abraham, "In your seed shall all the Gentiles be blessed," he must be another, different person; for the God who says to Abraham, "In your seed,
who is not Abraham's seed, but speaks as of another, who is to become Abraham's seed. From this follows the difference of the two persons; and still remains the one, eternal, undivided God in his one divine being. Now where these two persons are, there is also the third, as, the Holy Spirit, who now said these things verbally through the angel to Abraham, but had them written through Moses, as St. Peter [2 Ep. 1, 21.] speaks: "The holy men of God have spoken, driven by the Holy Spirit."
(30) There we have our article of faith that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and yet is only One, Eternal, Almighty God.
31) As Moses, Gen. 18, 1. ff., writes that God appeared to Abraham in the grove of Mamre, when he was sitting in his door, and "when he opened his eyes, three men stood against him, and he ran to meet them, and fell down before them, and said, Lord, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by before your servant. You shall be given a little water". Here Abraham speaks to God in singulari, as to one, saying, "Lord, have I found grace in thy sight." Then in plurali, as with many, as he says, "You shall be given a little water." And the text clearly says that this vision or appearance was God Himself who appeared to him at his door.
32 Although the Jews say against it that this text is to be understood of the angels of God that appeared to Abraham, and they want to prove it from the 19th chapter afterwards, with the two angels that go against Sodom. But it is quite different with these three, who talk and eat with Abraham, as one God, as the whole chapter testifies. For there the text is clear and bright: it is the Lord who appeared to him in three persons, and he also worshipped them all three as one. That is why Abraham rightly recognized and believed in the Holy Trinity.
And we Christians must also learn to recognize and believe this, for all our blessedness lies in it. This article sets us apart
of Jews, Turks, and Gentiles, that in the eternal, unified, divine being there are three distinct persons, and we must be careful not to mix the persons nor separate the being, as many heretics have done.
(34) Therefore we must judge by the Scriptures alone, for our reason is of no value here, and remain with the word creed.
The difference of the three persons in the divine being is this. First, the Father, as the first person, who is the fountain or source of the Godhead, that the eternal, omnipotent God is of Himself, and from eternity gave birth in His fatherly heart to the Son, and through the eternal birth gave Him His Godhead.
But the other person, as the Son, is eternally born of the Father, who has his divinity not from himself, but from the Father alone.
The third person, as the Holy Spirit, is not born like the Son, but proceeds at the same time from the Father and the Son, from whom he also has his divinity from eternity.
So, in short, the Father who gives birth, the Son who is born, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds from both the Father and the Son. With this faith we can resist the devil, Jews and all heretics.
Therefore let us not mix the three persons into one person, but remain simple that there are three different persons in the one, eternal, divine being, who is nevertheless all three one God, creator, sustainer and agent of all things, towards us and all creatures.
(40) Abraham, as Moses wrote, and as you have now heard, knew and saw this by the three men who appeared to him. And therefore Abraham and Moses were two good Christians. For Moses proclaims to us with his writing that GOD promised Abraham such a rich blessing, which agrees with the whole New Testament, that GOD should send his son (who is the same GOD with him) to take Abraham's flesh and blood. Yes, if he were here now, his own present Jews (where they are otherwise of his blood, as I do not believe) would call him an arch-heretic, as is sometimes almost in the
Desert [Ex 17:4, Deut 14:10], kill and stone them.
41. This we want to have said for this time; for I have made it almost long, how our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, true Abraham's seed and became man; and by his suffering and death saved us from the curse, and as an eternal, almighty God rose from death; but another person, as God the Father and the Holy Spirit; and again, blessed all Gentiles abundantly, that is, restored righteousness, forgiveness of sin, life and blessedness, redemption from eternal death, devil and hell.
(42) Abraham believed all these things, and by faith he was justified and saved with all believers, as St. Paul says (Rom. 4:3). Therefore is called
Also the blessed word Abraham's bosom, as Luc. 16, 22. is written. Now it is called Christ's bosom, for he has come and fulfilled all that was promised and promised to Abraham.
(43) And now we lack nothing, except that we believe (as Abraham did) with our hearts, and confess with our mouths, and we shall be justified and saved, as St. Paul said to the Romans in the 10th verse, 10. May God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, as three Persons, and yet only one, eternal, almighty God, in One Divine Being, help us to this right, true and living faith, so that we may also persevere and remain in it until our end, both in life and death, in good and evil; to Him be glory, praise and thanksgiving for these benefits forever, amen.