And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This moon shall be the first moon with you, and from it ye shall take the moons of the year. Tell all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this moon take every man a sheep, where there is a father of a house, one sheep for each house. And if there be not enough of them in one house for one sheep, then he shall take it, and his neighbor that is next unto his house, until there be so many of them that they may eat up the sheep. But you shall take one such sheep, if there be no defect in it, a male, and a year old; of the lambs and goats you shall take it.
1. we have acted through the eleven chapters so far, how Moses aligns his ministry before
1) Eislebensche: yes.
the king Pharaoh, and have come with the interpretation up to the last plague. Now, in the 12th and 13th chapters, there will follow some laws that God gives before He executes the tenth plague. For for the tenth punishment God is threatening to put to death all the firstborn, from the king's son to the least maid's son. But before this is done, he gives a commandment how the children of Israel are to eat the paschal lamb, as they did the night before, before they go out in the morning. They were to borrow the silverware from their neighbors and wait in Egypt until the firstborn were killed, and then they were to go out and feast. Therefore they knew how they should go out that night, and gives them the commandment of the passover lamb. Because they ate the paschal lamb, God gave them the commandment of the paschal lamb.
All the firstborn were put to death. So God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt in the month of Abib, that is, in April. 1)
(2) So far we have heard of nine signs that Moses did against Pharaoh, and finally, how God would slay the firstborn. And here Moses teaches two things: first, how to keep the paschal feast; then, how to sacrifice the firstborn. They were to keep the paschal feast because they had gone out of the kingdom of Egypt at that time; but they were to sacrifice the firstborn because God had slain the firstborn of the Egyptians. We will hear more about this in his time.
(3) But lest it be thought as if Moses had given such a law to all men here, we must know that this history is not given to us as an example of discipleship; we must not slay the paschal lamb, nor sacrifice the firstborn. For Moses was not given to us, but only to the Jewish people as a teacher. It is very important that we know this, because if we were to keep Moses in all the commandments, we would also have to be circumcised, and would not be allowed to accept baptism, and would also have to eat the paschal lamb. But you have seen and heard that Moses was not given to the whole world as a teacher, as the Lord Christ was sent to be, but Moses was appointed as a prophet, leader and commander of the people, who were called Abraham's seed, or Abraham's flesh and blood.
For above [Gen. 12:7, 26, 3, 28, 13] ye have heard how God spake unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and promised them that he would give unto their seed the promised land. This story and these words did not go over the whole world, but remained and were only recorded in the cord and tribe of Abraham. Therefore Moses did not allow himself to be driven further, nor to be ordered, but only to this people, as the children of Israel, to whom he told how they should behave toward God and also live on earth toward man, and did all of this by God's command and decree, not by God's command and decree.
1) Here is in the Eislebenscken edition the remark: Allhie has v. Mart. Luther read through the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th chapters in the pulpit.
longer than until the time promised to Abraha [Gen. 22:18], that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, that is, until the coming of the Lord Christ.
005 This I say, because I would that ye had a sincere, sure, subtle, discerning understanding between Moses and the Lord Christ. Item, even for the sake of the Jews, who want Moses to rule over the whole world, and his laws to be kept by everyone, who do not look at the text correctly, nor consider that Moses was not given to us as a savior, but he has his church, and he is abbot and prior in his monastery.
(6) But the seed that was promised to Abraham (when it was said, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed") was another man than Moses. Of him it is said, And there shall be a seed, that not only thy seed, thy flesh and thy blood, but all that is upon the earth, shall be blessed. As if to say: Your flesh and blood, and this seed, I will rule and keep for my people. But when the right people come, the true seed, there shall go forth such a preaching, that all the Gentiles under thy heaven shall be blessed, that he may be a father to all the believing Gentiles under the sun.
7 Moses concerns us so much that we only look at his prophecies and examples, as how Abraham believed and how he received the promise of Christ, your blessed Seed. He cannot serve me more, nor Moses more, than to set before us examples of faith, and to describe the prophecies of Christ, and to instruct how man should live inwardly and outwardly, spiritually and worldly. Therefore it does not follow that one should pretend: Moses said to be circumcised; item, Abraham was circumcised; item, Noah made a box in which he went before the flood; therefore we should do the same. This is also God's word. Let us look to the promise made by Moses, that in Abraham's seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
God gave to every age its teacher, but at the same time that this preaching went forth, that all the Gentiles should be blessed by the preaching of the Blessed Seed, he would send and give a doctor, not Moses, but Christ the Lord himself, who was to be Abraham's son and his seed. Then Isaiah, Jeremiah, Moses and other prophets are cut off; they are no longer valid, and Christ alone is to preach; not just in one corner, but in the whole world; for he is to be the Lord of all, and is not to preach for himself alone, but also through his appointed servants.
(9) Therefore Moses alone was given in the tribe of Abraha; as far as Abraham's flesh and blood go, Mosiah must be obeyed and listened to until the promise made to the patriarch Abraham comes. For this reason he was born long after Abraham, because God promised Abraham the Messiah long before [Gal. 3, 16]. Abraham knew nothing of Moses, the promise was made long before, so that no one would boast that he was such, and Moses himself had to confess that he was not, as he says in the fifth book, chapter 18, v. 18: "God will raise up another prophet for you from among your brethren, and he will put his word in his mouth, and you shall hear him.
(10) After Moses died, there was no one like Moses [Deut. 34:10], because the one who would come from Abraham's seed would be much higher and greater than Moses. Therefore Mosi's seed is not promised to Abraha; this cannot be denied. For Moses' teaching has not gone over the whole world, but has remained and gone in its circle. Another seed of Abraha should come, which should go over the whole world, and bless all generations. That is not you, Moses. After that, his sermon should sound different from yours, dear Moses. This is what God prophesied and proclaimed many years before, that the Messiah would preach blessing and grace to all the earth, namely, that through Christ we would be saved; item, that through Christ all things would be accomplished,
and that God's mercy and grace be preached to us through Christ alone.
(11) The first book of Moses is a main saying of Christ, and one sermon from him is more valid than a hundred sermons or sayings in Moses. But God's word is not considered and respected as wonderful as it is. It is one short word, which is said of Christ: "In your seed all generations on earth shall be blessed"; that is, all that will preach of grace will come from the Lord Christ, and will testify to the seed of Abraha. Moses preached differently, and God spoke to Moses with many words; but there was another Lord than Moses, whom the Jews alone drew to themselves, but this teacher, promised to Abraha, we Gentiles should also draw to ourselves [John 10:16, 17]. For he preaches blessing, and not the law; for he was to take away the law, death, the devil, and all things. This is given to the Christians.
(12) We have many prophecies of Christ in Moses, which we should draw and take from them, so that we may know how to base our faith on them. The teacher, Moses, gives testimony of Christ, and he is therefore sent by God, and should also be read diligently for this reason. After that, Moses' books contain fine examples of how God led His people through the Word and in faith, and how He still wants to govern and lead us in the same way. Moses is therefore a useful and good teacher.
013 But if any man shall call upon Moses, and say, He giveth circumcision, therefore thou must be circumcised, then thou shalt answer, O thou, John Grobianus, Moses is not my master and teacher, he shall not teach me to be saved by the law; I have much better teacher, even the Lord Christ, which saith [Matt. 11:29], Take grace and mercy from me.
(14) Moses, as a preacher of the law, saith, Do this, do that. For this is the preaching of the law, which shall now come to an end; and if they would hang Moses and his law upon our necks, then we shall surely become enemies to Moses. Therefore let us take Moses as a lawgiver, or else let us keep the law.
to our dear Lord Christ Jesus. Moses is finished, he has done enough with his ministry.
(15) Then I can use Moses' ministry to write beautiful, glorious examples and legends of God's beloved saints, how they heard God's word, had and practiced faith and love and all virtue; all of which is finely found in Moses. But this is much more comforting and lovely, that he sets beautiful sayings of the Lord Christ, how he is our Savior.
(16) These are two reasons why one should read Moses diligently; first, that one finds therein glorious examples of the ancient fathers and patriarchs, who had God's word, and also let their faith and love shine and be seen. Item, one also sees how God punished the wicked and ungodly, as Sodoma and Gomorrah. Secondly, that he also prophesies and prophecies about Christ. In these two pieces Moses shall be my teacher and preacher.
(17) But how he rules the Jews, that they should eat this and drink that, item, what clothes they should wear, how they should dress, that is none of my business. I want to have two parts of Moses, as prophecies of Christ and examples of a godly life, and not laws or commandments. As for the prophecies and examples Moses describes, he still stands; but what he commands and commands to do according to the manner and custom of the law, it is over with Moses and no longer applies, just as it is over with the Jewish people, and also had an end with the priesthood at the time of the Lord Christ.
18 For all this should not last longer than until the other teacher would come, who would bring another teaching; as the other Psalm, v. 7, says: "he should preach of such a way: You are my son, today I have begotten you" etc. The same teacher is to cross out and lead in the mouth, which otherwise Moses had in the pen. Let us therefore accept Moses as a witness of Christ, and let us follow his examples, so that we may take from them an example and mirror of Christian faith and conduct, and Moses as a lawgiver is of no concern to us.
19 Let us now hear how to do this.
The first thing we hear is how the children of Israel were to eat the paschal lamb, and what examples we have of this. We hear how at this time God instituted the Paschal feast for the children of Israel and commanded them to eat the Paschal lamb in the flesh, and that night He led them out of Egypt into the wilderness and redeemed them from the house of Egypt.
(20) But I have said how Moses should be read and understood, that we should take from it in these things examples of the divine works, how he dealt with his people, and that we should not make a law of it, as if we had now to eat the paschal lamb. For here Mosi's office is seen, that he should govern this people of the children of Israel. But much further goes the word, so Abraha was promised, that in his seed all generations on earth should be blessed; in which word also we are understood. And what is said of Christ in Moses also concerns us; we must accept the blessing, that is, the preaching of the gospel. But we are not to accept the law of Moses any further than that it may set before us examples of life and strengthen our faith, so that just as God dealt with them, so may he also do to us.
V. 2. This moon shall be the first moon with you.
The Jews had this fine custom of counting the year by the moons; we do the opposite. They call the new moon when the light comes on, as the peasants and the common man speak of it in the calendar, when the moon comes on, is new, or when it is half, or even full. And the Jews have considered the first moon of the year to be Abib, which with us is April, when all things begin to be new; as, in Lent, when the grass and the trees put forth; and this they call in Hebrew the New Year's Moon. Although there is nothing in it where you start. But they were so connected in the law that they had to begin the year with the moon. So now their first moon and yearday was with March, or when our April begins, after which the new moon begins, at the time when it becomes green, at Lent.
V. 3. Tell all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month take every man a sheep, where there is a father of the house, every man a sheep in one house.
22. they shall count ten days from the new moon, that is, when the first quarter of the moon was gone; in the same month every householder was to take a sheep to a house etc. The Jews had a house fuller than ours; the men took many wives, and the wives used many maids, and the maids were also married, and the maids' children were with the women's children, so that a house was like a little kingdom of its own, or like a city, in which it teemed and swarmed with children and people; as they still do where they live.
(23) The sheep or lamb should have no change, not that it is only white, but that it is not wounded, not shabby and otherwise defective, nor has a leg broken, but is whole and healthy; which is well translated. So it should also be a little man. The Latin text has erred so much here that they have also made a responsory of it.
024 Neither was the whole congregation to offer one lamb, but every householder, as far as Israel dwelt, was to have his lamb; and when he could not kill it alone, beside his household, he was to take his neighbor to it, that this little paschal lamb might be eaten that night.
25 And should take it from the herd. Where else would they take it? They were hard-pressed to raise any sheep for the paschal lamb in the house, but they had to go to the herd and take the lamb out at the proper time. So on the tenth day they separated it and put it in the house and kept it there for four days. Thus says God: Every man shall kill and sacrifice his sheep, which is one thing. For all that they sacrificed they slaughtered. Therefore in the Hebrew language these words are always used one for the other. As Paul says to the Romans in the twelfth chapter, v. 1: "Sacrifice your bodies, that is, slaughter them.
kill. So Isaac was sacrificed, that is, his life was to be taken, his neck was to be held out, he was to be killed, slaughtered and sacrificed.
Thus God ordained the feast to begin on the evening of the fourteenth day, so that on the fifteenth day of the first moon it would be the right Easter Day. This is the law, therefore it happened without a doubt that the true, righteous, lovely and gracious little paschal lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, rode into Jerusalem on Palm Day, preached in the temple for four days, then ate the little paschal lamb with his dear disciples; was soon after caught in the Garden of Olives, mocked, scourged, scourged, crowned with thorns, condemned to death, crucified, and killed, and thus was truly sacrificed. This was not done by laying him on an altar and slaughtering him on it, but he was sacrificed on the cross and died on it.
027 So every man in his house was to slay a lamb, (as the neck of a lamb is usually cut off,) and to roast it, as ye shall hear.
28 This eating of the paschal lamb is now due to the Lord Christ, with whom it all coincides so amusingly that it is a miracle. Otherwise it does not concern us much, how the Jews have eaten the paschal lamb. They had to sprinkle the posts with the blood of the lamb, using a little mop, as the prophet David mentions in the 51st Psalm, v. 9, where he says: Sprinkle me, Lord, with mop; and every house had to be thus smeared on the fourteenth day of the same month. After that they had to eat wafers with the roasted lamb and have salts or bitter lactuces with the meat. Item, they had to stand girded, as those who were ready to leave, who wanted to troll and go away for the night, as those who were ready to go out of the country at any hour, or who wanted to be out and travel away.
29. He did not want to prepare such a meal, so that people would eat and drink to their fill, but so that they would be strong and fresh (Rom. 13:13). He did not want to prepare a delicious meal, but it should be a sign and meaning, so that God would practice and keep them in true worship,
so that they would not serve the pagan idols. For it is called the Passover, the paschal lamb, or the paschal day, as it is found in the Evangelist Luke [Cap. 22, 1. f.], the day on which the paschal lamb was sacrificed, that is, the lamb was eaten, which had to be eaten on Easter. The fourteenth day was called the first day of sweet bread.
(30) But why is the paschal lamb called a passage, or a transition, and the feast also called a passage? The name came from the fact that on that night God went through all of Egypt and slew all the firstborn. The murder was done by God in the same night.
(31) Now these are the ceremonies, manners, 1) customs, and practices that were kept about the paschal lamb, that they had to stay at home that night and shut the doors, and not let it be known that they were at home; they had to eat in one house, and not leave anything over, eat it all out or burn it. Item, do not break a leg on him. No stranger, or bought, nor housemate, nor hireling, was not to eat of it. That was the way of the Jews, so they had to eat the Easter lamb. If a guest lay in the inn, or a foreign countryman, who was not a native, he was not allowed to eat, but only the host, his wife, sons, daughters, servants and maids, because God had given it to his people. But whoever was a purchased servant had to be circumcised, and then he could also eat from the paschal lamb.
(32) Thus it was written and ordained, that they should eat the little paschal lamb at home, and that nothing should be left over, and that nothing should be broken. Only the Jews were burdened with this law of theirs, which is none of our business; nor was it to remain forever, but only until Christ came.
(33) This shall be an everlasting way. Eternal the Jews do not call everything that has no end, but eternal they call that lasts for and for.
34) On the fourteenth day at evening they began to eat sweet bread, and to eat until the one and twentieth day of the same moon. So we see that the Easter feast is eight days long.
1) "Weise" is missing in the Erlanger.
Days granted, and a whole week stood. But it did not always begin on the Sabbath, but sometimes on Monday, sometimes also on Wednesday, after the moon had risen and run; just as our Christmas Day often falls in this way. Also, when we keep Easter Day, we do not count it from the fourteenth day, because it is often kept over eight days later, as are the Pentecosts. But it is not commanded us, and therefore we are not heathens, though we do not keep it so. For Christians always have Easter Day, and their paschal lamb lasts forever.
(35) Nevertheless it has been kept in the Christian church, as the Jews have left it, even as other customs have been kept more than that women have six weeks after childbirth. However, it is kept so far away that we are not allowed to make a commandment out of it, or that it binds our conscience, or that we have to do it. For we do not keep time as the Jews do, counting by the moon; but when it comes, Easter Day, we celebrate it. However, we always keep it on a Sunday, be it on the moon, be it in the beginning, middle or end, because of which the Jews reproach us. But there is nothing in it. The Jews' feast always begins in the evening, as it is written in Genesis 1:5: "Then the evening and the morning became the first day," and so on. If the day had an end with them, then the following day began. As also with us the following night is the beginning of the following day. The night with the complete day was counted for one day, and the astronomers or (as they are commonly called) stargazers still call this diem naturalem. This has been the festival of the Jews and their custom.
(36) We should understand this history, so that we may see what God had in mind at that time. This law is commanded to them by God, just as the command about unleavened bread, which was also given by our Lord God. After that, Moses went and presented it to them.
37) Now after they began the feast and ate the paschal lamb, God came in the middle of the night, when the sleep was gone.
The most sweetest and best, and slew all the firstborn in Egypt.
(38) This has been a terrible battle, so miserable in appearance, that God has suddenly delivered in the middle of the night and killed the firstborn, so that there is a great cry and lamentation that one is found dead here and the other dead there. And in one house many firstborn sons will have been found dead, when many members of the household were sitting inside, and they will have thought that the land was full of devils. Well, God did so at that time, he used like a good angel or an evil devil. Just as when a fire rises in our country, everyone is frightened; but what kind of fright should there be when such a plague comes over a whole country, as all the firstborn are slain here?
039 But God hath so afflicted Pharaoh that he cometh out by night, and driveth the children of Israel out of the land. Three days ago he would not let them go out; now he would have given money and goods to be rid of them. Before he kept them, now he himself drives them out of the land; he will not let them stay with him; they must go by night.
40 This was the last plague by which God wanted to redeem the people of Israel, and it was also the cruelest plague; it still did not help that Pharaoh or his people recognized themselves. So now comes the fourteenth chapter, the last one with Pharaoh, and the end, that he remains stubborn, and persecutes the children of Israel, and is overthrown into the Red Sea.
(41) But how does the wicked humble himself? Beware of such, for it often happens that the wicked make themselves so spiritual, and boast as if they were more pious than no saints. Now Pharaoh asks that they be merciful to him and leave his kingdom, whom he could not see before, nor would he suffer. For the Egyptians say: We are all of death; death is in all the land. This plague is not darkness, nor blackness, nor pox, nor glands, but so fierce and severe that they say, "We must all die. This punishment is not good to think about, they do not know where they have been at home, so they have to die.
they say: The sooner the better, the better they get out of the country.
042 So the children of Israel were driven out with haste, and they carried away out of Egypt with them the dough of which they were going to bake bread, wrapped in cloths. They had only begun to eat unleavened bread, and had kneaded dough for half a night, but could not finish it; so the Egyptians drove them out, so that they had to take water and flour and knead a dough, and put the unleavened, raw dough into clothes, coats and skirts. And if the Egyptians are so upset by this that they do not demand the borrowed jewelry from the Jews again, they are brought in.
43. for, as I said, God gave the Jews this favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gladly borrowed and lent them drinking vessels of gold and silver and jewels, and thus stole their goods from their hosts. This was done justly, for they would have strangled the sons of Israel before, and burdened them with heavy glad tidings, and given no money for them; now God gives them the reward and the beautiful treasure.
44 So six times an hundred thousand men went out of Egypt, without any of the people; item, the women and children. Egypt was rich and large, so the Jews borrowed a lot of goods from them and went to the fields. Where did they have their kitchens? So we have the feast as it was instituted and kept.
This exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt is highly praised in the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, we should learn and know this history well, for the sake of the following texts. For God attributes this deed of mercy to the Jewish people for and for, that they did not recognize and honor Him in it. Therefore, we should also call upon, honor and serve God, who sent his Son to die for us on the cross and to be born, who also commanded us to pray. He also raised up the priesthood, so that he presented this benefit to the Jewish people and preached about it daily. He gave them this same outward work, so that he might be grasped, recognized and apprehended.
46. for God knew well that the spirits of the wicked would come, and that they would be able to resist.
There would be so much devotion that no one would look at another, and that one would want to have this God, who would like a gray cap; another would seek another God, in a black cap, yet God would not be sought by any devotion of his own, but he sets before us a work by which we should come to know him. Therefore, when you say, "I will serve God, to whom I have vowed to fast so many days," you hear that God does not want it, because it is a work that you choose and determine for yourself. But God says: I will appoint you a work, by the work you shall know me, namely, you shall honor the God who brought the people of Israel shat) out of Egypt.
(47) Although the false prophets used to set up altars under this title, knowing that these signs and works should be done, they deceived the people. Just as we also, who have Christ, preach that he was crucified and is our Savior. But the false teachers, priests and monks say afterwards: "Behold, here in the monastery, in the cap, plates and ropes, there is also Christ. So they take this title and work, and bring it upon themselves. But if they had been true prophets, they should have preached and practiced that the people should honor God, who is not at BethEl nor BethAven, but who led the children of Israel out of Egypt. So also at this time, if I wanted to say that I am doing the work of serving the God who looks upon my virginity, chastity, poverty and obedience, it is wrong and unjust.
(48) They were not in Egypt four hundred and thirty years at all, but from the time Abraham hears the voice of God, Gen 42:1, from the promise, when Abraham was five and seventy years old, until the time Moses is eighty years old. So, if you add these years together, it is true; otherwise they have been only half of these years or a little over in Egypt. Under Pharaoh's tyranny they have not been over a hundred years. So the scripture stands with honor everywhere. On this opinion also St. Stephen speaks in the stories of the
Apostle, when he speaks [Cap. 7, 6.] that they had been four hundred and thirty years in Egypt.
(49) And St. Paul also insinuates this in the epistle to the Galatians [Cap. 3, 11], when he teaches that Moses' law does not make anyone righteous. He proves it thus: "For Abraham promised much earlier than Moses came, that through his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, and all the nations and the world should receive blessing and all goods from him. Therefore the law cannot do it, the law has no help in itself to make one righteous etc., but from the gospel we get such.
50 Therefore we are to gather it together and compare it, that it is not spoken of the dwelling which they had in Egypt, but from the whole time that the promised seed was promised to Abraham, and after that it was spoken to him that he should go into another country. It is a synecdoche, just as Christ lay in the grave three days and three nights, when he had been in it only one day and two nights; but he took hold of and grasped three days. The first, on which he was crucified, that part and the following night are counted for one day; after that the Saturday (as we call it); starting 1) the following night, in the morning of the third day, he rose; then it is one whole day, and two nights with one part of the day. So here he also takes totum prototum pro parte, and partem pro toto, because they have taken such a time, and so many years.
Allegoria or spiritual interpretation of this twelfth chapter.
(51) In the twelfth chapter we heard how the children of Israel ate the paschal lamb, and how God instituted the same feast of Easter to preserve the memory of the miraculous redemption of the children of Israel from Egypt; but how it should also be eaten among Christians is also indicated. We are taught, however, that we believe in God.
1) Eisleben and Erlanger: Angangs.
and that our faith should be such that we know that God is near us in the highest and greatest needs.
Now we still have to deal with the spiritual interpretation and secret interpretation of this chapter and the story told. But I have said before, and still say, that he who seeks and searches for the secret understanding or secret interpretation hidden under a story, must lead it in such a way that it rhymes with faith; for the holy Scriptures are otherwise bright and clear, and no one may carry his dreams here. In the Old Testament, this meant something in the reign of the Lord Christ, as it is testified with clear, explicit words and deeds that it goes to Christ, because it is all about the man. But let us deal with it as much as we can.
First, every householder was to take a lamb for his house and gather as many people as were able to eat it all, or else they were to call their neighbors to do the same. This paschal lamb was clearly described and pictured by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 5:7, 8, and he beautifully emphasizes what it means when he says: "We also have a paschal lamb, which is Christ, sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep Easter, not in the old leaven" etc. As if St. Paul should say, It is not the Jews' paschal lamb, who have eaten an outward and bodily lamb, but a spiritual one, and it is not seen. For though he was seen of old by the apostles, which did eat and drink with Christ, and walked with him, yet is he not seen now; but is ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of his heavenly Father [John 20:1]. Therefore we now eat the Lord Christ, our true paschal lamb, in the new testament. As St. John the Baptist also says (Joh. 1, 29.): "Behold, this is the Lamb of God, which bareth the sin of the world."
This is a certain interpretation, that one makes a paschal lamb out of Christ, and leads the secret interpretation to him. Such a thing cannot be lacking, as little as Christ can be lacking, especially if this saying of John the Baptist is added to it;.
as there is also St. Paul's testimony here that he interprets the paschal lamb as referring to the Lord Christ and from him.
55 The first thing, then, is to take the sheep from the flock. But if there have been many paschal lambs, someone might say, "Do we have as many Christos as there are Christians, just as there must have been as many paschal lambs here as there were houses? Know that there is a physical, external being there, since they could not all dwell in one house; but the same great multitude at that time has now moved into one being, so that even though they are not all in one place now, we must all have at least one paschal lamb. This is the first thing, that Christ should not remain among the Jews alone, but should also be accepted among the Gentiles.
The other is that one should also draw and take the nearest neighbors to eat the paschal lamb etc. With this he wants (as St. Paul also teaches to the Romans) that Christ may be spread the more. For it is not enough that these or those know Christ, but we are to spread it out and proclaim it to everyone, so that many people may come to this one house, yes, the whole world may be brought to the kingdom of Christ. Perhaps in those days there were many houses in which as many people were found as there had to be at the paschal lamb, so that it could be completely eaten. But here, in the New Testament, it is always lacking, there are never enough Christians [Ps. 12:2] that we should stop inviting guests to this paschal lamb, but we should always go on and preach, and also find ourselves to those to whom Christ has not been preached before, and teach them, who have not known Christ, that they may also be brought to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Their paschal lamb intake was physical, but ours is spiritual. And God took the same paschal lamb, we did not choose it; this paschal lamb taking is spiritual.
57 Third, take such a sheep that has no defect in it, except that it is limping, one-eyed, skewed, or mangy. That is, Christ is to be recognized and eaten,
to have him alone and to hold him as the one who is without blemish and healthy. For the paschal lamb had to be brought up pure, that is, to have pure doctrine of Christ as it is before God. A little lamb that has no blemish in the sight of men is not inquired about by God, but for this reason it is necessary that we recognize Christ as completely pure, as the innocent, undefiled little lamb that has not committed any sin, as St. Peter speaks of it in his [first] epistle [Cap. 1, 19.] and also as the one to the Hebrews [Cap. 7, 26.], that we have such a bishop who is innocent and holy. For there is no other man on earth who can have this glory and title, that he has no sin [Proverbs 2O:6], except the Lord Christ, who has no blemish.
(58) This then is our Christian faith, that we know and confess that all men have faults, are defiled, guilty, and infirm, even Christians; they all have sin: but the Lord Christ is perfect, pure, holy, and righteous. Therefore this also is the cause that we must eat him always. For they that know not Christ, nor cleave unto him, are utterly dead, and are nothing. But those who know and accept him are true, living people [John 6:53, 54]. And these are something, but still they are not entirely pure; they are Christians, but not the Lord Christ Himself. They are something, but still they are not pure in this life. Therefore let no one ascribe or attribute this title to himself, that he may be without blemish, that he may have cause to eat Christ always, while he liveth.
59. fourthly, they shall take a male. This can be taken to mean that Christ was a man. But it is not enough, because it is not based on faith. For a woman is a man as well as a man. But in the holy scripture [Gen. 3, 17. 1 Cor. 11, 3.] it is written that the man is made the head of the woman, and that the woman enjoys all the goods and honor of the man. For husband and wife are one body, that one should take care of the other, and what happens to one should also happen to the other, for they are one thing. So Christ is not to be a person or a man by himself.
without spot or blemish, full of wisdom and righteousness, innocent and holy, which would not save me; for he, and not I, would have enough of it.
(60) Thus the sophists have painted him to be both man and God, counting his legs and arms, and mixing his two natures together in a strange way, which is only a sophistical knowledge of the Lord Christ. For Christ is not called Christ because he has two natures. What is that to me? But he bears this glorious and consoling name from the office and work which he has taken upon himself; the same gives him the name. That he is man and God by nature is his own; but that he has turned his ministry to this end and poured out his love and become my Savior and Redeemer, this is for my comfort and benefit; it is for my sake that he will make his people sinless. In the first chapter of Matthew, v. 21, the angel Gabriel tells us that he is to be called Jesus, not because he is God and man, but because he is to lead the ministry and enter into the work of helping people from sins and death. This makes him a man. We should also consider him to be the head and ruler of Christianity and all godliness. The Lord Christ is the husband of Christianity, and it is his wife; as St. Paul also masterfully emphasizes to the Ephesians in the fifth chapter, vv. 25-27, saying: "Christ loved his church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it with the bath of water in the word, that he might present to him a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and blameless.
61 Thus, if a man loves his wife, she is the most beautiful and dearest to him, if she alone is pious and honest. For love shares all honor with her, and gives her body, goods and everything, the name and title, so that she has what the man has. She sits with him in common goods and honor. And as a woman may speak to her husband, so also a Christian speaks to the Lord Christ. For the woman has all authority in the house, except that the man is the head and lord, or ruler; yet the woman takes all things for herself, and
grasps the good as if it were his own. So a Christian also sets himself against the Lord Christ, only that he, the Lord Christ, is the head, the man and Lord, from whom one has all good and honor, which alone is the difference. For Christ's innocence, life and righteousness are mine, so is the kingdom of heaven and the Holy Spirit also mine, even all things that he has, is able to do and has obtained, these are mine, mine. For the church is his flesh and blood, two shall be one body, they sit in common possession. Thus Christ is to be known, that he is the husband and head of Christendom, and that the church is his housewife and bride.
62. fifth, the lamb shall be one year old. So that it is not too young, it must not be less than one year old, but of a perfect age. So the Lord Christ is also a perfect man, he has perfect authority in heaven and on earth [Matth. 28, 18.], he can rule well, he lacks and is not lacking in anything that belongs to the government.
He is a man who accepts the impossible. Item, he is one year old, which is that he can and will do what he desires. He who eats Christ in this way is worthy of God's attention. He is old enough, that is, strong enough and able. He shall be young, that is, God has pleasure and love for him; he is pleasant and respected, strong and mighty, and he can and will help with pleasure and love. Thus God depicted the Lord Christ with the little paschal lamb.
64. sixthly, from the lambs and goats it shall be taken. The Lord Christ is to be taken from men, for he is also like them, and is to serve and shepherd us. Therefore God says: From the herd or from the flock you shall take the paschal lamb. You shall let it go in the herd, and not raise a special one in the corner. God orders it diligently, so that He may well mix and bake Christ in us, and not separate Him out, so that He may be of the flesh and blood of which we are. Which the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 2, 16] praises exceedingly: that God does not take the angelic nature, but our flesh.
and blood, Abraham's seed. That is, God did not become an angel, but a man, and such a man, who walked among other men [Apost. 10, 38], like another man, as St. Paul in the epistle to the Philippians in the other chapter, v. 6. 7.He said: "When he was like God, he did not think that he was robbery, but expressed himself as if he were not God, and stood down, humiliated as another man, and was found equal to us in all things. etc.
This is the right description of Christ. He suffered all the bodily hardships that we suffer; he spoke and laughed as we do; he presented himself as if he were not God, but expressed himself according to divine power and nature; that is, he was as much a man as we are [Heb. 2:14]. Now here we have strength and comfort in Christ, that we may know him to be such a man as we are, and not flee from him, or be afraid of him, for there is no creature more lovely than man. As he who is alone feels. For when he wanders at night, it is not so pleasant to hear a dog or a horse as to hear a man. For one thinks better of a man than of an angel, of whom one would be frightened and horrified, as the examples of Scripture often testify. And although men are sometimes evil and wicked among themselves, yet the right nature and character of man in Christ is that we should have recourse to him in temptations and all troubles, as to him who is able to help. And so Christ is also pictured here, that he is not otherwise compared to a wild animal, but is like a little lamb, which is lovely, has no defect, is so pleasing to God that he does not reject it, which is a male, and takes care of us. Item, which is a year old, which has power and strength.
The seventh was to keep the lamb until the fourteenth day of the month, that is, until the time of the coming of Christ. For thus it is written and ordained of Moses, that Christ should keep the paschal lamb.
was to become a little lamb for us. This has passed away, and the little lamb was kept until the fourteenth day, that is, until the time came for him to appear [Gal. 4:4]. Or the fourteen days may be taken to indicate the desire; the little hour when the soul is in anguish and distress [Isa. 54:8, Ps. 30:6], and desires comfort; that the law goes before, that it presses the conscience to the knowledge of sin; that it thirsts and hungers after the grace of God [Isa. 66:2]. For the Lord Christ tastes no one but a hungry and thirsty soul.
67 For this reason it is postponed for fourteen days, that is, for a short time, so that souls may be led to the knowledge of their sin, misery and infirmity, and lie in the hunger and thirst of grace, so that these fourteen days may be the time of the law, in which we must all be stuck and lie, that is, hunger and thirst. For with desire, lust and love the Lord wants this food to be accepted. This food does not belong to a full soul.
Here also, in and through Christ, all the good works that can be done to merit God's grace are excluded. The fortnight is the time of the law, the knowledge of sin, since the law makes us sinners. Therefore, we should not build on our good works or undertake anything that will stand before God, but we should have this little lamb alone. It reads as if one should take a sheep; but he speaks in the Hebrew way, that whoever does not eat this little paschal lamb is lost.
69. to the eighth: And every company in all Israel should slay [it] between evenings. That is, in every house one should eat such a little paschal lamb. Whoever does not do this and does not eat Christ, the true paschal lamb, is not helped. But how is Christ slain by us? This happens when we recognize that Christ died for us, and when, according to St. Paul, we confess and preach Christ, as he says: "I sanctify the gospel, that is, I sacrifice the gospel. There he interprets the ministry of preaching that it should be a ministry of slaughter. The sacrificing he draws all
time to the ministry of preaching. For I make a great sacrifice to God when I preach about Christ [Ps. 116, 17]. With the preaching of Christ I offer the highest and most beloved sacrifice to God, and fulfill all the sacrifices, what they mean, and kill the old man, and convert them, so that they become new men.
70) The ninth is to be slaughtered between evening and evening. One shall preach and confess when it is half night and evening; this time is called the evening or the last hour, as the Lord Christ indicates in the parables; and John in the fifth chapter, v. 28, is said: "The time is coming" etc. For the last day shall follow this sermon, and after this sermon no other shall arise from God. The devil may raise others, as he raises heresies for and against; but God first gave the Law; now, at the end of the world, Christ comes, bringing the preaching of the Gospel, which teaching the Holy Spirit has brought. For this is the last sermon in the world, and is called a sermon that comes at evening [Matt. 20:8], that is, at the end of the world. This little lamb is to be slain, that is, of this Christ alone is to be preached.
71. tenth, "And thou shalt take his blood, and put it upon the two posts of the door, and upon the topmost threshold of the houses, where they eat it within. This can be applied to the ministry of preaching. For the sprinkling or the coating is done with the mouth or with the tongue. Others draw it on human thoughts, on memory and understanding, or on reason; but God speaks of the things that belong in the church. For in all Christendom, in the assembly, they shall eat the paschal lamb, which hath not my thoughts, nor thine, but another. Therefore do according to the teaching of St. Peter, who also says: "We are sprinkled with the blood of Christ" [1 John 1:7, Acts 1:5]. 1, 5.j. For if we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, let us preach everywhere about the paschal lamb, so that the whole world may know how the little lamb died for us and shed his blood for us. So when I preach about Christ that he died for us
blood, then I sprinkle and sprinkle the uppermost threshold. When I preach that he has reconciled me to God, that wherever I turn, I see the blood everywhere in the doorway, 1) and especially at the door where one goes in and out; for this is why the door was made by the carpenter.
In the Holy Scriptures, the door is called a man's walk and life, which he leads. Therefore, in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, v. 3, it is said of St. Luca that the Lord Christ went out and came in among them, that is, had his walk and life among them. As is also said in the 121st Psalm, v. 8: God has his entrance and exit with us, just as it otherwise happens in this life. So then life should be fasted in such a way that through the preaching the blood is sprinkled over itself, and the swellings are covered with it, namely, when I speak of my nature and life as it is before God, that nothing else helps me but the blood of Christ.
73. This then is a right covering, and there then is the blood of Christ between God and me. What I do then pleases God, for the blood is between me and God. Therefore, my work is pleasing to God. For so shall all the works of a Christian be put and put into the blood of Christ, that they may be acceptable and pleasing to God.
For the blood of Christ protects me on the right hand against the temptation of goods, when one is well; item, on the left hand, when Satan tempts me with persecution of body, good and honor. On the right hand, when he attacks us with pretense and cunning, as happens with the spirits of the wicked. On the left hand, when he bursts in and strikes with persecution, fear, gloom, and other things, so that he attacks us on the left, as the one and ninetieth Psalm, v. 7, says: "Though ten thousand fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, it shall not fall upon thee.
75 Therefore let the preachers watch, defend, and preach. When you are challenged
1) In this sentence the "Constructiv" is broken. It should probably read: When I preach that he has reconciled me against God, then I see, where I turn, the blood everywhere in the exit etc.
that they admonish you to remember the blood of Christ and to take comfort in it, so that you may know that it pleases God. This must be preached diligently, whether any false prophets arise, that we always keep the blood of Christ, and go between, that our walk may be in the blood of Christ, whether a man live or die, or whether he be sweet or sour. This is what the preaching ministry should do [Is. 30, 8. 21. Ezek. 33, 2.ff.].
Now he comes to how one should eat the paschal lamb. So far, he has said of the blood of the paschal lamb how to take it and sprinkle and coat the top of the threshold with it, which is nothing other than how to preach, proclaim, mark, and make known who Christ is. Faith is the food that contains and strengthens us. Just as the belly, when it eats and drinks, takes food, swallows it up, and returns it to the place where it is turned into blood, so that the food of the body becomes nourishment: so also a man eats spiritually when he swallows and drinks Christ, brings Christ into himself, and Christ nourishes him.
77. Therefore this eating is nothing else but the true, right faith of the heart, if you accept Christ with right faith, and know 2) that he has shed his blood for you, and that this comforts and strengthens you in cross and hardship, because you believe it without any wavering of the heart, So you eat Christ and digest him 3) in you, and he comes into you, that you may become one thing spiritually, having one mind and one thought, and one will, and one wisdom, and one prudence, and one strength, and one gain, that you may become a new man, daily increasing, growing, becoming great, fat, and strong in the knowledge of the Lord Christ [Col. 3, 10.]. As the Lord Christ John also says of this in the 6th chapter, v. 35: "He that eateth me shall not hunger." There you also have the spiritual food of the heart. For what a Christian eats with his mouth does not help him in his Christianity [1 Cor. 8:8], but if the heart eats something by faith, it helps, and through it the heart eats.
2) Eislebensche: wissest.
3) In the original: "bauest".
one becomes a rich, complete Christian before God, so that everything he does pleases God.
(78) In the twelfth Moses says, "Ye shall therefore eat flesh that night. He calls "flesh" the Lord Christ, although he does not yet clearly express Christ's flesh; but he wants to say, "You are inclined to eat that which is good for the body and is pleasant: Well then, I will give you once a right flesh to eat, from which you will be glad to eat, and which is fleshly food.
79 Moses has presented the little paschal lamb to us until now, by which the Holy Spirit has signified and shown us our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in two ways; first, how I should preach about him, and also what I should think of him. That the little lamb should be a male and not a female. First, that the lamb should be a male and not a female. Also, that it be slaughtered and sacrificed in the evening, so that the two pillars at the door may be covered etc. In this, the preaching of the divine word is actually described to us, that we should preach about Christ, how he reconciles God and us with each other, and leads us in the world, both on the right and on the left.
80 Then the other part was how to eat the paschal lamb. Namely, one should take this little lamb, sacrifice it, slaughter it and roast it to eat it. This is now to lead the ministry and to present Christ or the oral word, and is "to eat" in and to take in, so that the man digests it and transforms it into himself, from which he becomes fat and healthy, increases and grows [Ps. 107, 9]. For therefore it is slaughtered, that it should be eaten. So it is also preached that we are saved, made fat and strong by Christ, which is nothing else but faith. Faith is the spiritual eating and digesting, by which all things are strengthened, and Christ is better known, which things we have in him, and which we ought to have in him. Therefore, in the sixth chapter of John, v. 54, 51, it is also said: "He who eats my flesh", item: "He who eats of your bread never dies. After this, eating also gives strength and power, which makes alive Christ in us, and again us in Christ.
receives. Moses interprets it in one another, that we are changed into Christ, and Christ into us; that is, eat, as he says, "This night then eat the flesh."
Otherwise eating flesh is an evil sign in the holy scriptures, as God also forbade to eat blood in Moses [Gen. 9:4, 3:7, 26, 5:12, 16]. And so elsewhere "eating flesh" means believing, and there one thinks something of flesh and blood. But when one preaches of the sensible life, as the hypocrites have done, there is flesh and blood as it was born of Adam. Then there are the real carnivores, who believe that they can still do something by their powers and abilities, so that they will be converted to God. This is forbidden, and such carnivores will not remain unpunished.
82 But there is much other meat prepared to be eaten, and it is commanded to be roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter salts. For it is a different food. As if to say, "Hitherto they have taught and preached how to be godly, but it is man's way, and only as reason thinks good. If ye will be well fed and taught, then will I also once give you meat to eat, but such meat as Christ dwelleth in. So Christ is our food, that he gives us his body and blood, as he naturally received it from his mother; this is our spiritual food and drink, not for the flesh alone, but that God dwells in it. He does not say, The flesh is the food, and the blood is the drink, but: My flesh and my blood; mine, for I am God.
If I believe that Christ hung on the cross for me, and truly became flesh and blood, and yet is God, and this person, being God, dares to give his flesh and blood for me (for God could not otherwise suffer or die; but therefore he took the flesh to himself, that he might suffer, and gave his flesh and blood for me, thus helping me) - if I now believe that this flesh was given and sacrificed for me on the cross, that is, to eat and drink, that is,
Believe Christ's blood and body was given for me.
This could not have been done by all the flesh of the saints; no one could have said: If you believe that this body was given for you, you will be saved. No, they cannot say that; only this Son of God, this divine person, applies this piece, his body and blood, to me. Therefore his flesh and blood is as valid as he is valid. For the person is God, therefore this flesh and blood has no end, but means something eternal, and also remains eternal. Otherwise all flesh is vain and nothing [Is. 40, 8. Ps. 62, 10.], except when this man comes and says: "My flesh is your food" etc. [Jn. 6, 55.], for I am God. This person is too high.
This eating is believing in Christ, and drinking his blood is believing with all your heart that he was given to death for us. This is what God wanted to indicate to the Jews through this outward Easter feast. They were bodily, and had to eat bodily of the little lamb, but we eat spiritually of it, that is, we believe that the flesh and blood of the Lord Christ was given for us. But the same eating is done by the Holy Spirit.
86) To the thirteenth he saith, In that night. When the evening came, they slaughtered the lamb, and until the paschal lamb was prepared, it was night, and they had to eat it in the dark. So we should also eat the paschal lamb at night. If I really believe in Christ, my heart and soul are nourished by the fact that he gave his body for me, and I do not doubt it, then it is night; I then have nothing more in the wide world [Phil. 1, 21. Gal. 2, 20.], my life is hidden in Christ, and we have died to the world, as St. Paul says to Colossians [Cap. 3, 3.].
Otherwise the world with its reason has a light [2 Cor. 4, 3], and shines beautifully, saying: This you shall eat on this day, and so you shall clothe yourself on that day, live so and so, do this and that. This order does this today, tomorrow that order does something else, it prays, fasts, and does this and that; thus bind and grasp the "certain" with laws, that it should all be valid before God.
and look after these things. But a Christian closes his eyes, and does not ask anything about it, lives in the day, and says: Before God I am no better, I eat meat or fish, or whatever is put before me [Rom. 14, 2. f.]. A Christian's conscience does not turn to it, but says: God has set before me a paschal lamb, of which I shall eat, and I will remain so. For one should cling to his word alone. If outward things come, let them go to him. Therefore the world to a Christian is a noisy night and darkness, which faith makes, which hangs only on the blood of Jesus Christ, and looks at nothing else, nor respects anything else.
88. On the fourteenth, Moses often instructed that the paschal lamb should be eaten with unleavened bread, or sweet bread should be used, since no leaven had come, and that such sweet bread should be eaten for eight days. What this means is explained by the Lord Christ Himself in the Gospel of Matthew the sixteenth, v. 11, where He says: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. For they held their human doctrines higher than God's commandment; they abrogated God's commandment, so that only their doctrines remained. This hypocritical teaching of theirs is called "leaven" by the Lord, so that the peelers, the Pharisees, deceived the people. So now with the sweet bread it is indicated that one should keep the faith pure, because it cannot suffer any addition. Do not mix in the doctrine of men, for faith does not suffer it.
89) The same thing is said by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 5:7: "Get rid of the old leaven"; for all leaven is that which does not live Christianly; and commands that one who had taken his stepmother in marriage should be cast out of the church and not suffer. So leaven is false doctrine and a wickedly vexatious life and example. For one mangy sheep is apt to infect a whole flock, and the spreading 1) pestilence makes other people sick also. Therefore, the word "leaven" is used here for teaching, although it is also often used for life. So then we are to take the faith that
1) "braiding" probably as much as lichen-like. (This meaning is missing in Dietz.)
We must take Christ, the little lamb, so that our conscience may be and remain pure, clean, and bad, clinging to Christ alone. But this is very difficult, and becomes sour for those who are held captive by laws. Therefore one must live by faith alone. Faith brings us to the suffering and death of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise our nature wants to perform ceremonies and all kinds of meritorious works for the conscience to control and rely on, but this is leaven. So Moses wants to encourage us to keep the faith pure and unadulterated, and to beware of all additions and little human feelings, because leaven is like an addition.
For the fifteenth, it should be eaten with bitter salsify. For it tastes good if there is a little vinegar with it; this is given by nature, that bitter salts and sour herbs taste good next to good roasting2). But it means that one should crucify the old Adam, to whom it should become sour. Faith restores the heart, makes it strong and confident in Christ, who died for us and was given into death. To this belongs and should follow that the old Adam must be armored according to the outward man [Gal. 5, 13. 16. 17.]; sour grapes must be there, the conscience must be attacked and struck. For the gospel is not a sermon for coarse, crude, desolate sinners who live without some devotion, but is a comfort for afflicted souls [Matt. 11:28]. For it is a tender food that a hungry soul wants to have. Therefore the dear Virgin Mary also sings in her Magnificat [Luc. 1, 53.], "He hath satisfied the hungry with good things."
Otherwise, the mad mob falls in, and all want to be evangelical and Christian brothers, and then they create mobs and all kinds of misfortune. The devil on their head they are. A Christian is not insolent, wild and crude, but his conscience is stupid, fainthearted and despondent, sin bites them, and they are afraid of God's wrath and of the devil and death. The Lord Christ is good to such a downcast and troubled heart. Item,
1) control--support.
2) Roasted or Gebratnis - roast.
Redemption from sin, death, the devil and hell is also good for those who are in death and feel such distress and would like to have rest; they get it when the heart has faith, but they also feel how frail the old Adam is.
92. sixteenth, the paschal lamb shall not be eaten raw, nor boiled with water, but only roasted by the fire. There are two kinds of faith: one is when one hears the gospel and the Holy Spirit enlightens, stirs and kindles the heart to accept and believe. This faith makes one free from sins and blessed, but the other faith grows out of our head. As when one hears the gospel of Christ preached, how he died for us, and wants to understand and grasp this with reason; as one finds all too many people who think they know it and have faith; this is a faith that comes from our powers, and is a dream, an image that occurs to one at night, but not true faith. It is the same as when a man finds money in his sleep or wins a city; in a dream it seems serious, but when he wakes up, there is nothing behind it. So it is with them also; they think they have it, and are good Christians, have faith and understand Christ very well. But this faith soon comes to an end; when persecution comes, that one should suffer danger to property, honor and body, then the eyes are opened, and the dream is gone. The Lord Christ is forgotten, for it was only a pretense and a delusion of faith. Just as one sees a man's image and face in water or in a mirror, it looks quite like it, and seems to him as if he saw the same man, but it is really nothing. So when it comes to the meeting, this faith also flees away and lets itself be seen that it is nothing. This is what is preached here, that the little lamb should be roasted with fire.
To cook with water is to kindle with reason, since the fire does not come to the lamb, nor may the cold of the water warm it; rather, the heat is driven in by the water. Water is called such a conceit and opinion, since one thinks that one knows Chri-
stum, and yet is wrong. But so it shall be: I hear the gospel well, and it seems to me that I understand it; but I do not trust in it, but I ask God to give me faith in his word [Luc. 17:5], which is true faith and not imaginary faith. I did not invent it in a dream, but the Holy Spirit made it righteous in my heart, without my strength, through the word that is preached. He himself kindles such a fire [Luc. 12, 49], and lights up my heart with a new light and fervor, so that in the midst of death I do not forget the Lord Christ.
The watery or false faith disappears. Just as an image disappears from a mirror, so this faith does not hold the puff and sting, but the fiery faith that the Holy Spirit kindles, that same faith endures, even though it is sometimes frightened and distressed. For there is still the old Adam wriggling, yet so he endures. The fire is the Holy Spirit, who roasts the paschal lamb in us, and establishes a right faith, so that we accept Christ and remain with him, and we also are roasted and not boiled, just as he was roasted by fire. Now to this faith belongs temptation and affliction, that it may burn quickly and not be quenched. And he that believeth aright hath a fire, that is, he regardeth not his reason. For faith is not a human but a divine power, as St. Paul says to the Romans [Cap. 1, 16].
95 This power does not rust, nor is it idle, but is overwhelmed with tribulation, so that man may see that he is not walking in his own power, but in divine power. And faith is never stronger and more glorious than when affliction and temptation are greatest; for this reason faith is called fiery. And I fear very much that our much faith also is watery, that we speak of it much only with the mouth; but when the blows come, that we are persecuted, then this fire comes, and the little lamb is roasted in our heart. So the former is false faith, but the latter is true faith; the former is watery faith, but the latter is fiery faith.
96. to the seventeenth, one shall celebrate the Easter
Eat the lamb, its head with its thighs and entrails. The head they have made the deity, but the thighs the humanity of Christ. I will take it in one heap. For this is what he means by saying that the paschal lamb is to be eaten whole and nothing is to be left of it. To eat it whole I mean to eat Christ whole, to cling to him alone, and to seek nothing else but him. This will serve against the faith of the Jews, who do not consider Christ to be the true Savior, and pretend that the Messiah has not yet come, and wait for another Messiah, for another faith, and for another teaching. But know that he who has Christ has everything in one heap.
So, if I believe in Christ, I have forgiveness of sin, dominion over death and the devil, and eternal life. Here nothing is lacking, not a claw nor a hair is missing. God always wants to keep us in pure faith, so there should be no addition that one wants to improve it, or doubt as if something is lacking in it; as St. Paul to Colossians [Cap. 1, 12] calls faith the whole inheritance. As if he should say: Faith has it all in itself, be it above, in the middle or at the end: take it where you will, and you will have it. So we are sure and certain that we have everything and eat everything.
98) To the eighteenth, 1) That nothing of it be left over until tomorrow. The Jews wait as if another little paschal lamb were to come, and want to have their little paschal lamb extended until another one comes, and another teaching is brought to them, or the day dawns; which teaching that little paschal lamb burned up and annulled still goes on, although the day has passed and the little paschal lamb has come. 2) That is, the Old Testament is finished, it is no longer valid; therefore he commanded that they should keep to the same, and if anything else existed and remained, it should be done with fire, that is, with the
1) The Erlanger has here and at the following section: "To the 19th".
2) The meaning of this sentence will be: although the right paschal lamb, Christ, has raised the doctrine of a future paschal lamb, this doctrine is still held by the Jews, although etc.
Holy Spirit be burned. As if to say: We have everything in Christ, and it is not necessary for us to keep all kinds of customs, manners and ceremonies, or to do the works of the Old Testament, but we have everything in Christ. So faith abides in Christ, and has its joy, pleasure and play in him. This is what the little paschal lamb of the Jews was to remind them of, until Christ, the right, true little lamb, came and took it away. As we see then that all things are done for his sake, and all things go to him, that we may be made perfect and rich in the preaching and knowledge of the Lord Christ [Col. 3:16].
(99) So we have heard how one should eat the paschal lamb, that is, preach about Christ. One should preach and teach that one should eat it whole, that is, one should preach nothing but the whole faith alone, which does everything for God. Now he will prepare in a wonderful way the people who are to eat the paschal lamb, since we should teach the people beforehand how they should wash their hands and put on new clothes before they eat the paschal lamb. But God reverses the order here. For the Holy Scriptures would gladly prevent our works, so that we might first believe and trust in Christ through the Word of God, humble ourselves, and place everything in God.
100 Passover means entrance or transition, and is therefore called that the angel by God's command went through all the land of Egypt in one night and killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. This means the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Christ, by which he left this world and came to his heavenly Father. In the same passage he defeated sin, death, the devil and hell, and redeemed all his Christians and believers from this Egyptian prison, and leads them to his heavenly Father. This is ours, the Christians, and the right, comforting, joyful Passover or Easter. So the evangelist John, in the 16th chapter, v. 28. says that Christ said to his disciples: "Again I leave the world and go to the Father." This is the right course.
101. to the nineteenth: "To your loins
you shall be girded." The Holy Scripture speaks moderately and chastely and not insolently. St. Peter makes it spiritual, and wants us not to have various sects in faith, but to remain in one faith. But here God wants to establish the outward discipline that one should keep chastity, and commands that one should gird up the loins. For the Holy Scriptures attribute chastity to the loins. So also in the first book of Moses it is said that from the loins Abraha shall be born zc. Therefore it means not only the discipline or chastity, but the whole body. Just as the whole man is born of one woman, so it also means here the whole discipline of the outward whole conduct, that one leads an honorable and chaste life, not wild, raw or evil [Rom. 12, 2.]. For if one believes in God, he eats the paschal lamb. But after that I gird up my loins, that is, I keep the body in discipline and restraint, so that I myself do not fall into sin, nor do I present others with an evil life [1 Cor. 9:27].
102. to the twentieth: "And have your shoes on your feet." God gives to each one his modest portion: to this woman the man, and again to the man also that woman, and that one so, the other otherwise lives, does and behaves among the people. Therefore they cannot and should not all walk in the same way. This is what putting on shoes means. For he that putteth on shoes prepareth himself to go, and is directed to walk.
One cannot imitate all the cases and examples of the patriarchs or their works. That is an evil allegory. One should not imitate the examples of the saints everywhere, but look at their faith and the fruits of faith, and learn to follow them. God leads each one his own way. But take care that you may believe as they believed. Therefore, this piece means the armor or readiness of the gospel, that our feet are booted and clothed with the gospel of peace. For therefore put on nian shoes, that one may be equipped and skillful to walk; that is, to be exercised to understand the gospel, to read it, to preach it, to do it, to sing it, to handle it always.
That here the whole way is prepared, and that we do everything with the gospel, in the gospel, and through the gospel that we have to do, as St. Paul [Eph. 6:15] also interprets it.
104. for the first and twentieth: "And you shall have staffs in your hands. The purpose of the staff is to help a man to walk and to lean on it when he is tired; item, that he may rely on it and take courage. Such a staff is now also the dear gospel [Ps. 23, 4]. When we live in this world and are troubled and weary, there should always be comfort, strength, admonition and stimulation from the gospel. The preaching of the gospel should always teach, admonish and comfort, stimulate, urge and entice, so that one continues and does not become lazy or idle. Therefore, it is necessary that one should be for and with the word, and wake up the old, rotten maggot sack, so that it does not become sleepy and lazy. This is called having the rod in one's hands and shoes on one's feet, that is, teaching and admonishing from God's Word.
105. second and twentieth, "And they shall eat it as they hasten away." They shall not so eat it hastily, and chew the cud nimbly, and cackle, as geese eat oats; but they shall eat it hastily, as they that would be glad of it; that this "eating hastily" is more of the heart than of the mouth, as they that are in fear. Therefore it is a frightened haste, and not a bad haste. The meal does not want to last long, any two, three or four hours. It should only be a backbite 1) or morning bread, that one stands and eats, since one does not give much food, and quickly goes on his way. For God says: You shall go out of Egypt with haste. For they were chased as if the Egyptians were after them with clubs. Because of this, they ate the paschal lamb with haste, trembling and trembling, so that they did not dine or sit down long, as if they had been invited to a wedding, but they wanted to get up and leave.
This is the hope of Christians. For they that believe in Christ know that
1) Backbite - a small snack.
this life must be over, and we have no lasting place here, as the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 13, 14] says. It is not a matter of settling here, but of standing for a short time [Eph. 6:14], that is, those who hear the gospel and know Christ have no reason to stay here, but they think on and want to go away to another country. There it is also true. As the children of Israel hastened out of Egypt unto the promised land, so shall the faithful go out of this life unto another and eternal life. Therefore this life is not pleasing to a Christian, he thinks more of this than of this; he also has more desire for this than for this worldly life [Col. 3, 1. ff]. But the old Adam resists hard, and this bitter salve does not want to taste to him; however, the faith must go. For in this life there is nothing else but sin, plague, misfortune; so the flesh and the devil still clings to our necks; so God also punishes sin in this world [Ps. 90, 5. ff.]. But how do I get out of this life? For he who bites at the pleasures of this world does not like to do without it, but he who believes in Christ and has the Holy Spirit despises this life etc.
107. "For it is the Lord's Passover," that is, passage, so he punished Egypt in his passage.
This is the interpretation of the paschal lamb, which God commanded Mosiah that the children of Israel should eat. Such lovely paschal lamb, which was ordered so long ago, is now set with us, who have the gospel and Christ, and eat, drink and are nourished by the true paschal lamb, which is Christ. In this faith the children of Israel also ate the paschal lamb, and in this faith they were saved, except that they had a covering over their eyes, and it was somewhat dark and hidden from them, and they saw only the outward, bodily lamb. But because they had God's word, they also recognized Christ, and remembered and were comforted by the paschal lamb, and stood in this faith of ours and were saved [Rom. 1:2, Eph. 4:5].
109 Now follow at the end still some pieces: as, to the third and twentieth, that no stranger nor hireling, or housemate, should eat from the paschal lamb. This is the difference between the figures and the fulfillment or interpretation. The figures commonly call it a work or deed put in measure of a law, that it signifies a work which men do; and this signification of the figure remains with God, that he should do it, or Christ by the Holy Spirit. The latter is done by men; but this is done without the work of men. For believing in Christ is not done by our works. A Christian is not made by being called so; a Christian is not made by laws, commandments or works, but it happens from above, as a divine and not human work [Joh. 3, 3. Jac. 1, 17.]. Thus the figures are fulfilled; that was done by men, this is fulfilled by God.
(110) Here it is commanded that a foreign man or woman, a stranger, and an uncircumcised man shall not eat of the passover, but only the children of Israel. This is a work and commandment not done by men; it is not a human but a divine work, and means that no one can eat the paschal lamb properly unless he is a member of Christ and a citizen of the Christian church [Eph. 2:19], because it is done by the Holy Spirit and not by good works. Therefore no foreigner or unbeliever can use this lamb without the Holy Spirit. Even though the Israelites often had two or more of them living together in one house, the master and the housemate, the stranger, housemate, hireling or servant could not eat of it; it did not help him that he was and lived with the master in one house, he was not allowed to use and enjoy the paschal lamb. It is the same when many in the Christianity gather to the church and are all called Christians, are among the Christians, have the appearance and work, receive the sacrament of the altar, are baptized, and yet are stuck in unbelief and godless, sinful nature, they are false Christians and hirelings [Matth.
1) In the original: none.
7, 21. ff], unless they come further; otherwise they remain our housemates and do not enjoy the paschal lamb. For they are Christians only in name, appearance, and outward behavior, but inwardly and fundamentally there is nothing behind them. Therefore, everyone must form Christ in himself and become Christian, renew himself completely, otherwise he will not be able to eat this paschal lamb in the new testament.
(111) A servant, that is, a purchased servant from among the foreign people, and not an Israelite servant, who after all would be circumcised, this one should be counted among the Jews. But it is this meaning, that unbelief and the old sackcloth or Adam should be cut off from the heart. For circumcision is through the gospel and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even though he is a Gentile, he comes among the Jews. This means the Gentiles, who are foreigners, but bought by the blood of Christ, and brought here to be with the Jews, that is, with the apostles and righteous members of Christ, have also believed, and have become one kitchen with them. Therefore they have been spiritually circumcised. This is not by our work, but by the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the old days, a bought servant was not efficient according to the jure civili, but now one has servants for hire; one no longer buys them, but hires them and gives them a wage. This law, that in former times men were bought as his] ox or sheep, God does not abolish here, but he confirms it. A poor man had to sell his daughters or sons, as in the Evangelist Matthew [Cap. 18, 25.] the Lord, who reckoned with his servant, said, sell and pay him, his wife and children etc. Such has been the way and custom of old, and does not hinder Christian life.
Therefore it is an inconsistent pretense that some do in our time, who say, If we are Christians, all things must be common to us, and make of faith a human thing. People do not make and order a Christian faith; neither will it be done by their association; but it comes down from above.
From the collection of the mobs, we do not become Christians. If it were true to inscribe the name, we would want to be the best Christians. And so the Turks could also gather. Do not mix the Christian essence, because it does not come from the earth, but from above.
Thus the murderer of souls, the pope, also did that he commanded that one should go on pilgrimage, call upon the saints, buy letters of indulgence, and wanted to make Christians with these laws. But not yet, dear journeyman, no one should be forced to believe or be called a Christian, but wait until God makes him a Christian. Close your mouth and your eyes. God has the gospel preached in multitudes, after which he gives one another courage and the Holy Spirit, and he lives a Christian life. Now they want to make all Christians in the world and force them to become Christians, saying: "Dear brother, if you do not want to be a Christian, we will burn down your house.
Serfdom is not contrary to the Christian nature, and he who says so is a liar, but Christian freedom redeems souls, and Christ is a founder of the same spiritual freedom that is not seen. What is external, God lets go, and does not ask so much about it.
For the fourth and twentieth, every house shall have only one little paschal lamb. This commandment applied to the physical paschal lamb, so that each house slaughtered only one paschal lamb. But God says: I will make it so with my spiritual Paschal lamb, that all the world shall have only one Paschal lamb. For before all the world did not eat one little paschal lamb alone, but every householder had for himself one paschal lamb. Therefore by the one paschal lamb in each house it is meant that in Christianity only the one Christ is to rule, otherwise everything else is to be eliminated [Apost. 4:12], that is, only the one mind and understanding of Christ is valid here, so that no divisions and sects are made among us, and divisions are caused, as happened with the Corinthians [1 Cor. 1:12], where some said, "I am Apollonian," others were Petrine, and others were Roman.
third Pauline, but Christians, who would all have One Mouth, Sense and Understanding.
This unity among Christians is not enforced by the law, but infused by the Holy Spirit. This means that in one house no more than one paschal lamb is eaten. Nothing helps our salvation, except the Lord Christ alone. External things may help to bring about order, but this sense and unity in Christianity is maintained only by the Lord Christ through the Holy Spirit, so that all walk in one mind, heart and faith, as we confess in our Spmbolo with these words: The Holy Spirit keeps in one mind even etc.
(118) Therefore these are foolish preachers, who by good works seek to make Christians, because they destroy the one mind and work which was made by Christ, and seek to change it into Moses; thus they destroy and corrupt the simple mind and faith; which the foolish prophets do now, and the foolish people follow after, who without this are very apt to do. Does this piece therefore signify the unity of mind, spirit and faith among Christians, that they may have one mind and understanding?
(119) The fifth and twentieth, that they should not eat the passover outside their house; that is, this passover should not be eaten among the unclean. And this goes against the heretics and false prophets who drag out Christ; there it is commanded, here it is offered. Eating within the house means this preaching ministry, which is done within the church of God. However, even though I preach, it does not go into the heart, except to those who are members of Christ, and who have a simple mind. Therefore, if I were to go forth and say, I will make this man a Christian by this and that work, as by iconoclasm or by making goods common, it is not possible.
120. sixth and twentieth, that the little lamb be not divided. To divide the lamb among those who are not Christians, or to divide it, is wrong. This was also commanded before; but now it is kept without commandment, by the Holy One.
The one spirit cannot be divided and cut into classes, orders, works and sects, but only remains in one faith. St. John the Evangelist [Cap. 19, 35. f.] drew this to Christ when he was hanging on the cross. He did this out of the rest of the wealth of his understanding, and wove together the spiritual lamb Christ and the bodily lamb. Before the bones were bodily, and the blood of the lamb was also bodily, just as the flesh and blood of the Lord Christ is also bodily, but now the use and custom must be spiritual. That branch was bodily, but this custom is spiritual, of which in the same evangelist [Cap. 6, 54-56.] the Lord Christ says: "He who eats my flesh" etc.
(121) Do not make a spiritual blood of Christ, for he did not give a spiritual body and blood for us, but a natural flesh, which he took from the Virgin Mary. Therefore this spiritual food is in the word "eat and drink". Although the Jews understood both as carnal, the Lord Christ says: "My words are spirit and life", indicating that such eating and drinking must be done spiritually. This is what is written and said here: Let the bodily legs remain.
But now we want to stay with the breaking, which is spiritual breaking. Bones signify the strength that sustains Christianity. For flesh and blood does not otherwise sustain Christianity, but the Holy Spirit gives it, that one may have strength, courage and fortitude, and not be oppressed. So death also devours the Lord Christ, but one must leave him the bones. He died by the power and strength of the flesh, but rose again by the strength of the Spirit. These are the bones, which are meant here in the spiritual sense, as that the Lord Christ could not be suppressed, even though he was very weak and died like another man, Isa. 63:5. Thus the bodily and spiritual legs are put together here; that is, the paschal lamb Christ, whom that paschal lamb meant, will die so that he nevertheless remains eternally. And here, the death and resurrection of the
Christ's Lord, because his bones have not been broken.
That was a work and a commandment that could be done to the executed or hanged men, but to break their bones on the gallows or on the cross; but this man, Christ, the Jews were not to break the bones, that is, in his highest weakness and in death he could still be kept whole. This must be a bodily sign that, just as the bones of the little lamb were not broken, so Christ also remained whole and rose again from death.
124 So now we have done the same with the paschal lamb of the Old Testament, and this means the preaching of the gospel, that one may know Christ and believe in him, in whom all things are fulfilled. Whoever knows this, then, sees how the Holy Spirit has pictured what the ministry of the gospel should be, what one should teach, what Christ is; namely, that one should preach how he shed his blood for us and gave his body for us, and that one cannot have or receive these things except through faith alone.
This is the first part of the spiritual interpretation of the paschal lamb. Now follows the other part, about the firstborn, what happened to them after they ate the paschal lamb and did everything that the Lord had commanded Most and Aaron.
V. 29. And at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in Egypt etc.
This is the last sign and a terrible, great miracle that God did in Egypt, when He killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians; but the firstborn of Israel remained alive. With which miraculous work God proves His omnipotence, that in one night He kills the firstborn of men and cattle, which should justly arouse us to the fear of God; in addition, it shows His earnestness against the impenitent sinners, that He is not far from them with the punishment. In this way, he wants to give everyone cause for correction, and then also to show his grace and mercy, so that in this cruel plague that is coming upon the Egyptians, he will still be able to protect the people.
Israel's firstborn is spared, 1) and in anger is still mindful of grace and mercy [Hab. 3:2]. Therefore we have to provide ourselves with everything good to God.
Finally this miraculous sign also confirms God's truth [Ps. 111, 7. ff]. For he had promised to kill the firstborn of Egypt and to lead the children of Israel out of the house of Egypt. This is happening now, that in the king's house, and in the house of the least shepherd, dead men and cattle are being recovered, and the Egyptians are forcibly driving the children of Israel out of their own land.
We have heard this history, now let us come to the allegory or secret interpretation. But if you want to follow the interpretations, and play the conscience of the redemption of the children of Israel, take first the Jews, then the Christians, in whom this redemption is finely and gloriously seen. Accordingly, it may also be applied to those who have it in common. When many Christians were made in the New Testament, the Jews wanted to be right, so the apostles also wanted to be right. The Jews wanted to keep the prize alone and by force, that they were God's people; but they had provided for it, and had deprived themselves of it and forfeited it. The Lord Christ also speaks of this and says: "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first" [Matth. 20, 16. 19, 30. Marc. 10, 31. Luc. 13, 30.]. There are two kinds of people here: The Jews, as the first, had God's word and the testimony of the prophets that no nation on earth should be preferred to them; they pride themselves on their firstborn, but are struck dead. But after them is a portion of the people who follow the apostles who preach Christ, and these are the ones who are baptized into Christ and are saved; these Christians and apostles are silent about their firstborn and are preserved. There is a battle and a fight over the firstborn.
129 Thus the pope also boasts against us of his firstborn, that he comes from the apostles, and has his doctrine from the ancient fathers and from so many conciliarities; but
1) Eislebensche: will.
We stand on it and say: Our teaching is right, yours is wrong, because it is man-made and cannot be proven from God's word. That is why the works saints always want to have a head start, they want to be the first and best in the world, the most distinguished, they go up. And when they want to be sure of this, the Holy Spirit seethes a new being, and this upsets them; just as is happening now. They want to be the first, and to be considered the highest saints; but it does not remain long after that (as now before our eyes) that they are found to be the greatest sinners and the worst hypocrites, and those whom they consider heretics are then considered saints. These are God's works, which are seen in the apostles and Jews, and also in ourselves, even to this day and present hour.
130 By Pharaoh and the Egyptians understand the Jews who lived at the time of the apostles, when the gospel began and came forth. And the names agree finely with it. For Pharaoh is called bareheaded, since one head is bare and not covered, that is, he who stands loose, since idleness is, he who has nothing to do. To which opinion the apostle looks to the Galatians at the 5th chapter, v. 2-4, without doubt with these words: If you want to be saved by works, you have fallen from grace, and Christ is of no use to you. As if he were to say, He goeth your way idle, and ye his way idle. For he is to be our head, and we his members, and he is to be suspended in us; it is not to be a body or a lump that has no head. Christianity shall not be a Pharaoh, that is, one who walks alone and bare, and is subject to no one.
This name rhymes well with the Jews. They wanted to be a free people and an oddity, led an apparent life by heart, and even withdrew from the obedience of the Gospel, thinking that they pleased God just as much when they sacrificed much by heart, and let faith stand by inwardly, thereby honoring God alone. Therefore, God is idle with them, and they with Him, and one has fallen away from the other. They are free from God,
and bare, in whom he reigneth not by faith, who yet were the firstborn, the beloved nobles, a holy nation, and should be the inheritance. This is what happened to the Jews in the time of the apostles.
Now Christ takes a walk, he goes from this life to the Father, of which walk he says much in John the Evangelist [Cap. 16], as indicated. By this passage he has put to death all the firstborn, that is, he has taken away this honor from them, so that they should not be first, but be damned, and know that they are not God's people; this firstborn should now be dead. So it was until Christ; but when that night comes, the Pharaohs are all dead; when Christ rises from the dead, with him all the glory and splendor of the Jews goes down. Now it is all dead and shall not stand. Mosi's work and all outward holiness lies down, he does not want them. Nothing can help but to believe in Christ alone.
This is the meaning of God's passage in Egypt, when He slew all the firstborn; that is, Christ rose from the dead, and by this passage He killed everything that is Jewish, so that it would not count for anything in the future. Everything that is Jewish, that is, everything that has an outward manner, and leads such customs, to which one is attached, must be spiritually put to death. This happens through the Holy Spirit, who gives the power that these outward things are not valid.
So we also say that the pope did not know otherwise, nor does he allow himself to be persuaded otherwise, than that he is the firstborn next to his own. He considers himself the firstborn, whereas other poor Christians and laymen, or the common man,
are 1) nothing at all, but they must come to heaven through the help of the clergy. Therefore the pope is a nobleman, just as Pharaoh was. Now the gospel comes like a thunderclap and strikes everything to the ground and kills it, saying that it is all nothing [Ps. 144:6], item that it is also dead, and whoever trusts in it is also slain and dead. This is the battle and the passage that Christ has wrought with his resurrection. And this battle he still does with his dear gospel. For, praise God and thanks be to God, there are now many everywhere who recognize the error of the Pope.
But there are also those who want to suppress everything. This is because the devil raises up some foolish people who want to slay everything, make Jews out of us, murder everything; so that one should only kill spiritually, as preaching with the mouth, so that the conscience is enlightened. When the word of God is preached, one has killed rightly. For the hearts do not know it otherwise; just as one does not know now why one wants to make monastics into Christians. The devil felt that the pope should be slain and die; he wanted to prevent this with this uproar, and thus makes an evil noise to the Gospel, so that one says: "Behold, are these the good evangelicals who are now storming the monasteries and burning the castles 2c? But we say that one should preach until God kills them, so that it may be a divine work that God enters the heart through the gospel and slays all holiness, piety and righteousness of such people.
1) Eislebensche: be.