(10) This verse follows very appropriately the sense according to which we have said that by the exalted glory is understood the Christ who went to heaven, although it does not rhyme badly with the other opinion. Therefore, we want to give it to both views, in this way: Thy name, O Lord, is made glorious, but in a far different manner from that in which men are wont to do it; for the custom of men, if it may be called a custom, is this, that they do not wish to be praised by low and despised men, but, having to do with high things, they wish (as they say) to please men who are thin-sown (raris), and desire to be highly esteemed by great, wise, powerful men. Again, those praisers also praise them, because they are all lying (vanissimi), not otherwise than for their own sake, that they may also be praised, or profit. In this way, one donkey tends to another, and neither the praisers are truthful nor the praised righteous. This, I say, is the nature of men who are moved by the appearance of things present.
(11) But you [O Lord], because your things are hidden and are understood only by faith, you do not find among the excellent (praeclaros) people those who praise you; rather, it is they who most stubbornly resist your glory and honor out of nonsensical seeking of their own honor 2). That is why you provide despised and lowly
2) tiUi, which is here in all issues, should probably be erased.
People who are to praise you and glorify your name, who hate your name on earth, satisfied that you are their praise in heaven; and to make this known, you sent the Holy Spirit from heaven after you had taken your glory to yourself, instructing the apostles and people like the apostles, unlearned and simple-minded people, out of whose mouths you have given your praise.
12. Christ's interpretation (auctoritas) gives us cause for a great question at this point, since he cites Matth. 21, 16. and applies this verse to the children who praised him in the temple, saying to the chief priests and scribes, who were refusing the children that they should not cry out, "Have you never read: Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou praised?" For if this Psalm is understood by these children only according to the letter, as some would have it, then the preceding would no longer rhyme with the following, since before it was spoken of the name of the Lord, who is glorified in all the earth, which happened after the suffering. Then, if we take the letters according to the whole sharpness, these children [Matth. 21, 15.] were neither young children (infantes) nor infants, since they blessed Him in well-set words and sang sMatth. 21, 9.]: "Hosanna in the highest!"
(13) Again, one must not interpret in any way other than Christ, who has drawn this verse to them, and his reputation must be placed higher than even that of this psalm. So it is only left that the saying of this verse is a general one of all those who are simple and sincere in heart, who do not seek high things, nor do they have understanding in the affairs of the world, namely the children of light. Since their race is not confined to the narrow limits of any age, but is found in all ages of the world, in every age of life, it also fits the children quite well, not only because they are simple and pure in this way, but also because by their simplicity and innocence they bodily model this simplicity of faith in Christ for us, as it is said in 1 Pet. 2:2: "Be eager for the sensible milk, as the milk that now comes from the Lord.
born little children. For not by might, nor wisdom, nor greatness, but by inability, foolishness, littleness do they move, delight, overcome us. Thus the praisers of Christ, not with the strength of the world, not with words of human wisdom [1 Cor. 2:4], not by the greatness of giants, but by the foolish word and the sorrow of the cross, overcame the world and made the name of the Lord glorious in all lands.
(14) Therefore this verse sings of the wonders of the divine power, which was able to glorify its name in all lands in such an astonishing and inconceivable way; first, in the midst of those who praised their own names in the most senseless way, and for the sake of these [names] most stubbornly resisted the name of the Lord. For it was a great thing to blot out even the name of kings, and wise men, and saints in the world, and to make them nothing, and to set up his name alone. Secondly, because he whose name was glorified never appeared, and was signified by the word alone, while those were both present themselves, and could show their present things, by which they were able to establish their names. Thirdly, and most importantly, this invisible Christ was not glorified by great heroes (gygantes), not by famous men, scholars, rich men, nobles, but by fishermen, unlearned men, minors and infants, without any semblance of power or wisdom, while they were followed by whole crowds who knew how to use their mouths, 1) the wisest, most eloquent, most powerful men.
(15) Therefore the Hebrew says, "Out of the mouth of the young children and sucklings thou hast prepared a power," so that there is a stronger expression for the miracle [than in the Latin]. But "a power" others [also the Vulgate] have rendered by laudem [a praise], perhaps resenting the inconsistency that it does not fit so well that out of the mouth "a power" be done, as a praise, adapting to the viable imagination of the reader-
1) maxirnarum tnicearuin, which is drawn to the following in the editions, seems to us to belong to the preceding.
convenient. And although "power" here could be understood in such a way that, according to a synecdoche and the Hebrew idiosyncrasy (idiotismum), it is the same as "price of power" (virtutes praedicatas), in my opinion it is better understood by that which is strong, mighty, powerful, so that the meaning is: "Out of the mouth of the young children thou hast prepared a power," that is, the word of God is very powerful, so that all the repugnant cannot resist nor contradict it, as it is also said in another Psalm [Ps. 141, 6. Vulg.]: "They will hear my words, for they are mighty" (potuerunt) (that is, for they have become strong and firm), so that we understand at the same time that Christ has established everything in the world only through the word of the preachers of the gospel, that through his weakness he has overthrown all men's power, through his foolishness all men's wisdom, through his anger all men's spirituality (religiones), because [1 Cor. 1, 25.] "the divine weakness is stronger than men are, and the divine foolishness is wiser than men are." In this way Lucas frequently mentions in the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 6, 7. 12, 24. 19, 20.] that God's Word had grown very much and become strong, as it were showing the thing of which this verse speaks.
16 And here the rulers of the churches of Christ must be called upon, that they may know that by these words they are instructed concerning their office. For the power of Christ and of the church is not brought here from the world, it does not call upon the help of the temporal arm, it does not deal with fire or death, it does not trust in the weapons of kings and princes, but it is prepared from the mouths of young children, The prophet teaches without doubt that he who endeavors to make the name of the Lord glorious on earth in any other way than by the mouth of the young children, rather blasphemes and is convicted of making his name glorious rather than the name of the Lord. Such people are those who nonsensically insist that the Turks and unbelievers or heretics today should not be punished with the word of God, which they do not know, but with war and worldly turmoil or
with the terror of the church punishments (censurarum strepitu): namely, these people presume to overcome by these things themselves what has been overcome by the mouth of the young children, and turn the kind mouth of the young children into the fearful proud mouth of the giants (that is, the sweet word of God into the tyranny of their statutes). If then there is someone who recognizes this evil and turns away from it, let him also learn what and how he should act in order to govern the people rightly.
17 First, he says, "Out of the mouth." This is a great, but also a faithful reminder for those who act the word in the church. For then it is rightly done to distinguish the mouth from the word, that the word be not of him that preacheth, neither rather preacheth, but let Christ speak by his mouth, as Paul saith, 2 Cor. 13:3, "Seek ye that ye may know him that speaketh in me, even Christ?" For the prophet could have said here: The young children have brought praise, but we presumptuous fable preachers had to be punished, who, without greeting the Holy Spirit, poured out before the people everything that came into our minds, yes, into our mouths.
(18) Yea, others diligently search and seek that they may not preach that which is well founded, that is, that Christ may not teach his word, but that they may teach their word. Therefore it follows that they not only do not destroy the enemy and the avenger, but rather strengthen him and give him cause for ridicule. To these also belong those who are conscious of their great learning and let themselves dream that an exceedingly great danger would arise from it if they did not teach others, pretending that they would bury the pound given them in the earth and have to expect the hard judgment of the Lord with the lazy servant. This is how much the devil mocks the rapturous thoughts of these people with ridiculous antics.
19. they should know, instructed by this verse, that it is not we who teach, neither should we teach our word, but that our mouth alone will give his word
He [the Lord] says that we can serve if he [the Lord] wills it and he has called. "You (he says) have prepared a power", not they, not we. So also in the Gospel the Lord gave the pounds to the servants [Luc. 19, 13. ff.], but only to those who were called. Wait, therefore, thou also, until thou be called; but in the meantime seek not the office of preaching, neither thrust thyself in, for by thy art thy belly shall not burst. I did not send the prophets (Jer. 23:21), nor did they run; I did not speak to them, nor did they prophesy." Many are miserably tormented by this temptation, so that their occupation is continually annoying and saddening them. This is what the devil does, so that he may make those restless who have well begun, and finally consume them through weariness. Therefore let him who is called give his mouth and receive the word; let him be the instrument and not the author. He that is not called, let him pray unto the Lord of the harvest, that he may send forth laborers, and work a power out of the mouth of the young children.
20. second [he says) "of the young children and sucklings". Here a minister of the Word is taught to be a young child with the young children, and (as Paul says) to become all things to all men [1 Cor. 9:22], that he may win them all, and be absolutely careful that he despise and disdain no one, as the children in their simplicity know no respect of persons at all, but are equal and the same toward everyone.
(21) For what is more corruptible in a minister of the word of God than to be different from the great and the rich from the lowly and the poor, since he is sent to serve all, to flatter none, to disdain none? You can hardly find anything else in the Scriptures against which the spirit fights as much as against the undue prestige of persons, because it is difficult to despise persons and appearances, and to love and seek people in the invisible God.
22. then they are also taught to be kind, not to use profanity, and, as Titus 1:7 says, not to be stubborn, not to be angry etc. For young children and infants are not of this kind.
23) But also the boastful nature of those who walk in great things that are too high for them [Ps. 131:1] is punished by this word, by teaching high and heavy things that do not belong to the matter, which the people cannot grasp, even if they grasped them, they would not receive any benefit from it; and in general, all teaching is punished here that has come forth from human will (humanitus) and is presented by some counterfeit of the carnal mind, which is not according to the teaching given by God.
Thirdly, he says "you have taught". For it is not enough to teach the word of God, unless it is taught correctly, as Paul instructed Timothy, that he should divide the word of God correctly [2 Tim. 2, 15]. For there are many arduous (anxii) and vain preachers who glow and storm, who do not know that planting and watering are other things than prospering, and want everything to be done immediately as they have said it, wanting it to be heard, not both because they speak the word of God, but because they are the ones who speak the word, and desire that the instrument [which gives the sound] be praised more than the sound.
(25) Among these are those who presume, by their well-considered and well-planned words, to sting and bite this one and that one, and to convert them immediately. Then it happens by God's miraculous counsel that they accomplish nothing less than what they intended. For the soul of a man feels by nature that the word is cunningly prepared for him and (as it is in Ezekiel [Cap. 4, 12]) covered with human dung, that is, stained by human passion; therefore man is disgusted by it and is rather irritated than converted.
26 But he is much more moved when he does not hear the intention of the speaker, but the free word. For it wants to be presented freely and sincerely in public, and to affect those of whom the preacher knows nothing, as we read many examples.
Therefore, let our task be to lend our mouth to the word, but let God's work be to give the accomplishment and prosperity. Thus said Christ, Matth. 21,
2. f-, to the disciples whom he sent beforehand, that they would find an ass and a colt, which they had neither seen nor known about, and yet they went to bring these animals, which they did not know.
(28) Therefore, we should give up the foolish confidence that we are able to help the word in the listener, but rather we should persevere in prayer that he alone will work in the listener without us what he speaks through the teacher, for it is he who speaks and he who hears, and works all things in all. We are his instruments and tools, who can neither receive nor give anything if he himself does not give and receive it. Hence the 68th Psalm, with a carefully chosen word [v. 19.], says, "Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast received gifts for men," while the apostle Eph. 4:8. says, "He hath given gifts unto men."
Fourth. If the ministers of the word are such people, the word will undoubtedly be effective and powerful, and will not be preached in vain, as it is said in Isa. 55:11. The word that goes out of my mouth will not come back to me empty, but will do what pleases me (note: "what pleases me," not what pleases the preacher), and it will succeed in what (prosperabitur in his, ad quae) 1) I send it" (not at all with those on whom [in iis, ad quos] the preacher turns or judges it out of his own iniquity).
30 Therefore, it is frightening and dangerous on both sides, whether one teaches man's word under the title of God's word, or whether one twists even the pure word of God according to one's own inclination. Both abominations have taken hold of the church today with extremely strong tyranny.
(31) Therefore, let every one who presides over the people of Christ with the Word be fearful and humble, and strive more by a pure prayer than by the power of his endeavor to teach the free Word, and this alone, in a simple way, using both his tongue and his mind.
1) In the Vulgate, in the Wittenberg, the Jena, the Erlangen, and the Weimar editions, on the other hand, the Basel: ack qnos. This alteration l m the Basel) is caused by the immediately following aü ynos; but it is unnecessary.
also commands the souls of his listeners. For it is decreed that in the church of God there shall be no other master than the one who speaks [Matth. 23, 8.]: "One is your master, Christ"; and Ps. 60, 8. it says: "God speaks in his sanctuary" (that is, "in his sanctuary", which is the church). But where a man speaks or the devil speaks, there is without doubt the devil's whorehouse and synagogue. For as the word is, so is the people, so is God, so is worship, so is faith, so is conscience, so are works, and all things. Thus all things are wrought in man by the word alone.
. Therefore I fear that the innumerable books of both law and theology, which nowadays prevail in the church outside the Gospel, are those golden bowls full of the wrath of God [Revelation 15:7], which, as it is written in Revelation chapter 16, poured out upon the earth, into the sea, into the rivers of water, into the sun, into the air, etc., bring much misfortune upon men. For how could there be a greater wrath and a more severe plague of God than that among Christians Christ is not taught, nor His faith acknowledged, and meanwhile decrees, decretals, sextals, clementines, 2) extravagants, moralia, summists 3) take over and oppress the wretched souls.
33. further, that we have said that no one should teach in the church unless he is called by God, in reference to this note, so that no one is in doubt as to what this calling of God is [that then this Berns is there],
2) The papal canon law, the so-called Corpus furis ouuouioi, consists of these four writings. The first part of it is the Ooorotuur drntiuui (Conoordiu diseorduutiuru euuouurn, UNst. Ill), which the Camalduenfer Gratianus compiled in Bologna around 1143. In 1234, Pope Gregory IX had the Dominican Raymundus de Pennaforti add the Decretals (Oeorotaliuru CreMrii k. IX, üdd. V), to which, by Bonifacius VIII's order, a sixth book was added in 1298. Order in 1298 was added a sixth book of the Decretals (soxtus doerotuliuiu lidor m five books). The Llementineu (V libri Clolueutinuruui), another collection of Decretals, was added by Pope Clement V in 1313; with these the Corpus suris ouuouiei was completed. The papal constitutions that still appeared after Clement were only preserved individually as appendices of undetermined origin and added under the name Lxtravn^aiitos. "Guericke, Kirchengeschichte s7. Aufl.ft Bd. II, p. 224 and 336.)
3) Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 97.
when someone is appointed to the office of the word without his will, even against his will, by force of his superiors (majorum), whether they be spiritual or secular. "For there is no authority without from God," Rom. 13:1. Therefore, there is no doubt that God commands all that each of these two authorities commands. Therefore, we do not read in the Old Testament that any story went blissfully, if God was not first asked for counsel, and one received an answer either through an angel or a man. For how unhappily the children of Israel fought without God's command, we read in Numbers 14:40 ff. We see the same thing in the Maccabees. Thou shalt not doubt, if the Lord wills, he will seek thee, and rather send an angel from heaven to fetch thee.
And I would like to believe that it comes from this cause that nowadays neither bishops, nor priests, nor monks teach the word of God in the church, because there is almost no one left who awaits God's calling, but all are pressing for dignities, sinecures, idle lives and full bellies, so that now despair and a certain sluggishness of spirit make not only (as they say) monks, but also bishops and priests.
Therefore, you will not understand this calling of God better than by paying attention to the histories of the Scriptures and of all the holy men in the Church. For those who have taught from God's calling have always done great things, such as St. Augustine, Ambrose, and before them the apostle Paul. And in order not to make anyone again conscience-stricken, I speak of those who come to teach the Word of God. These, I say, must be most careful that they come when God sends them, as it says in Rom. 10:15: "How shall they preach if they are not sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace," and Mal. 2:7: "The lips of the priest shall keep the doctrine, that the law may be sought out of his mouth: for he is an angel of the Lord of hosts." Of the rest, however, which either belong to a bishopric or to the place of
of a canon or to any other such spiritual dignity in which the office of the Word is not, I believe that a vocation is not necessary, since nowadays in these ranks hardly anything else is sought than a special way of serving God, in which, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 7:7, each has his own gift from God, one in this way and the other in that way.
(36) But let not those be condemned who, animated by godly zeal, despise goods, good report, and life, and seek to teach the word (though this is a rare bird); rather let them be praised, as the apostle 1 Tim. 3:1 says: "It is ever certainly true, if any man desire the episcopate, he desireth a goodly work." For why he says, "This is certainly true," and calls the office of bishop "a good work," follows [v. 2], "But a bishop should be blameless. A woman's husband, sober, temperate, sedentary, doctrinal," and whatever else is said there. Because this belongs to a bishop (he says), he who desires a bishop's office certainly desires a delicious work. For this office requires a man who despises honor, life, and all goods, for it is a service of the truth which preached and said [Matt. 10:22.], "And ye must be hated of all men for my name's sake." Since those who are dragged into it by force, against their will, will hardly bear it, it is hoped in vain that he will bear it who voluntarily presses himself into it, or is not moved inwardly by special grace to apply for it.
Now follows in the verse: "For the sake of your enemies", that is, for the sake of your adversaries or (as we have often translated this word) for the sake of those who fear you. Although this is said quite puffingly of the incarnate God, since God Himself cannot be afflicted, nor suffer adversaries, yet we understand it, so that we may continue in the sense begun, that all this is said of Christ with reference to the Person of the Father. We are comforted by this word, namely by hearing the Holy Spirit declare that our adversaries are not our adversaries, but God's adversaries, for they are not our adversaries.
are the adversaries of Him whose word and work they persecute. And as it is not we who speak and work, but God in us, so it is not we who suffer and are despised, but God in us. Therefore the apostle may say Eph. 4, 30. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, that you may be sealed to the day of redemption," and Zech. 2, 8. "He who touches you charges the apple of my eye." But the spiritual right has twisted this beautifully to the priests alone, as if the laity were not instruments of the Holy Spirit. 1 Sam. 2:30 says, "He that despiseth me shall be despised again." Why are we afraid or uneasy when ungodly people are opposed to our words or works? We want to let them rage, yes, pray for them with real concern, so that their eyes may be opened and they may see that they have not directed their attack against us, but against God Himself.
(38) What is it, then, that for the sake of the enemies a power is prepared out of the mouths of the young children? This is what he says, because he persists in comforting us in our weakness and praising the miracle of divine power, as if to say: Against the weak little children a strong Pharaoh shall be raised up, and the children of men shall lift up their tongues; neither shall there be lack of magicians, Jannes and Jambres, which shall do signs; 1) and in general the adversaries shall be very strong, both by force and by guile, which shall resist the truth; 2) for these things, I say, that they may not prosper, but, as the apostle 2 Tim. 3:9, that their foolishness may be made manifest to all, thou wilt give them [the children] mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries [Luc. 23:15] shall not gainsay nor resist. For there are always sneezers and those who fall upon others (cadentes [XXXXX], as it is called in Hebrew), on earth, famous people in the world [1 Blos. 6, 4.], who, trusting in their power, break in and
1) Erlanger and Weimarsche: knoinnt instead of: t^Iout in the other editions.
2) Erlanger and Weimarsche: resisMnt. instead of: resiktsut.
The preachers of truth oppress the peaceful and simple-minded young children. But this is permitted in order that the power of the word may be demonstrated, which he brings to pass out of their mouths, in that through the weak he brings to shame that which is strong, 3) through the foolish he brings to shame the wise, and through those who are nothing he destroys those who are everything. Hence it follows:
39. "That thou destroy the enemy and the revenger." Jerome has it thus: that the enemy and the avenger may rest, that is, that he may cease, desist, and have the Sabbath from his evil works. For it is the Hebrew word from which Sabbath comes, that is, rest, to indicate that the enemy and the avenger will cease, either that they will be no more, as in the 104th Psalm, v. 35: "Let there be an end of sinners on earth, and let the wicked be no more," or because they will be changed into friends and sufferers, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, Cap. 2, 4: "Then they will turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks"; according to spiritual interpretation, they will turn their harmful tongues into wholesome ones.
40 He has a synecdoche: "The enemy and the revengeful," that is, all those who are enemies and revengeful. They are "enemies" because they hold and do the antagonism; "avengers" because they, in order to establish their own, rage against the children of God, and say (as Ps. 2, 3]: "Let us break their bands, and cast away their cords from us." But there follows how they shall be destroyed [v. 6.], "He will speak to them once in his wrath, and with his fury he will terrify them." But I believe that in this Psalm it is more the wholesome destruction in the Spirit that is described, by which (as I have said) the ungodly is destroyed, that he may become a godly man. For this is the real task of Christ in the church, this is also the work of the Holy Spirit, which is directed more by the peaceful word of the gospel than by stormy
3) Jenaer and Erlanger: potentiam; Baseler, Wittenberger and Weimarsche: potbMin. We have adopted the latter reading according to I Cor. t, 27. [Vulg. tortin^.
rage. This is a sign that he says all this is done by no other art than that he creates a power out of the mouth of the young children for the sake of the enemies, and shows the works of his fingers, as will be said.
41. but it actually expresses the nature and customs of the opponents of the word of God, first of all that they are flesh and blood, and as it says in the 116th Psalm, v. 11: "All men are liars"; they do not want to suffer the truth, especially that which kills. "For to be carnally minded is an enmity against God, since it is not subject to the law of God, nor is it able to be," Rom. 8:7. Then, when the truth of God is told by the young children, those, as if their mind was hurt, in which they are pleased, now not only become enemies, but pretend to the beautiful name of truth and also eagerly prepare to take revenge for their opinion, and do not rest until they kill or suppress the apostles of truth for God's glory and out of zeal for the truth, and (as they thunder nowadays with a new title) for the glory of the holy church. So ready and obvious, indeed so necessary, is it that an enemy of God's truth should at the same time become an avenger of His lie. Although we see this evil very often in all things, even worldly ones, it triumphs quite surely and easily in matters of God and faith, where an exceedingly divine appearance can be given.
(42) Therefore, let every one who is called, or who is subject to teach the word, be prepared and certain that he will have adversaries who will not only not hear his teaching, but also, if he touches their authority (as he must do), will most bitterly take vengeance on him and persecute him. These words of the spirit will not lie, which put the young children into battle with the enemies and the vengeful. This is a very strange battle, but God has arranged it in such a way that it will end happily if the preacher believes that the matter is not being conducted by his own counsel, but by God's, and that he alone will see to it that he lends his mouth to the one who speaks and is only an instrument of the Word. He will certainly
The result will be a power that will surely destroy the enemy.
43. Whoever therefore teaches in such a way that he finds no enemy to resist him and no avenger to persecute him, because he does not teach according to the rule of this verse, does not presume to be a complete and righteous preacher of the word of God. But when the enemies and the revengeful break in and say [Ps. 2, 3.], "Let us break his bands, and cast from us his cords," or reproach him with the accusation of the prophets [Jer. 23, 33.], "What is the burden of the word of the Lord?" and this word of Zedekiah, who smote Micah, 1 Kings 22, 24. "How? hath the Spirit of the Lord departed from me to speak with thee?" Are you alone of all the wisest? - Then let him have good hope, and know that according to this verse he is a little child and an infant, but they are men like Nimrod and the giants. For we see that such things happened to the prophets, to Christ, to the apostles, and to all the ministers of the word, whose example, as it were an exceedingly dense cloud, makes us hearty, since we see that it agrees with this passage of Scripture to the least letter and tittle.
44. From this it follows that the rights of men and especially that dumb and sleepy theology of the wretched writers of sentences has never been a power of the mouths of young children and infants, nor has it had anything in common with what this verse says, because none of them has yet been found to have suffered any special evil, if not a feminine scolding when arguing, for because of their opinions they are not brought to the fire or to death; until they burst forth and, having been placed in the holy scriptures, begin to act the word of God. Rather, they are adorned with honors, they are given high positions and names, they are greeted in the marketplace, they are called rabbis, and they are excellent magistri nostri.
This doctrine has no enemies and vengeful ones, except like Pilate and Herod among themselves, or the Pharisees and Sadducees. For it would not cost much effort to also condemn the Thomists, the Scotists, the Modernists, then the priests, the bishops and the monks.
The prophet is not without reason surprised in Psalm 2 that the kings of the land, even though they were extremely hostile to one another, nevertheless rebelled, and that the chief priests, who were far separated from one another by factions, nevertheless counseled against the Lord and his anointed.
This I have said for those who intend to teach the word of God purely, so that they may know that according to the law of this verse, the more corrupt this last time is, and the more glittering the beautiful appearance of titles, names, dignities, offices, and customs under the name of Christ has become, the more they will have enemies and avengers. The judgment stands firm, that out of the mouths of the young children only a power is being prepared, which has adversaries, and destroys the enemy and the avenger. For it is not preached to those who are already friends, but to the enemies. It is a word of the cross and of offense; if it does not kill or hurt, it has already ceased to be a word of the cross.
(46) How much the good Spirit of God takes care to inflate us, to make us proud, courageous and, to allude to the word [spiritus], full of living breath (spirituales), that is, valiant, courageous and confident 1) against the enemies and the vengeful, but not otherwise than by trusting in Him. He had said that they are young children and infants, who have the least and weakest form, since they need help in all things, as much as is in them, are exposed to all suffering. But the same he now calls the heavens of God, namely the highest and most powerful form among all things, since it is able to do everything and to execute everything in all things that are subject to it, by light, movement, lightning, thunder, rain and other forces.
1) ventosos, tnrnentes, plenos. These expressions, taken from the meaning "wind" which Spiritus has, cannot be accurately rendered here in German.
For it does not rhyme well that we understand by "heaven" the visible heaven. For what would be the very joyful glory of this exceedingly great prophet, that he should see the heaven which even the beasts of the field and the fowls, or, to say much, even the most godless men see? And perhaps he did not add the pronoun "your" (tuos [coelos]) without cause, to indicate that he was not speaking of any heaven, but of the one that is not heaven for men, but for God alone, since he alone dwells in it, knows it alone, serves it alone. For this visible heaven is also our heaven, since it also serves us in bodily things and is known to us. If this does not move you, then let yourself be moved by what the apostle Hebr. 2, 5. says when he wants to interpret this psalm and mentions the world to come: "For he has not put the angels in charge of the world to come, which we are talking about.
47 But I would not mind if someone insisted that this verse must be understood as referring to the new heavens and the new earth that will be created at the last day, as Peter preached in 2 Peter 3:13.So that at the end of the world, after all enemies and avengers have been destroyed, heaven and earth will be transformed into a new form, and everything will be changed, and the elect will see it and rejoice, as it says in Isaiah 65:17 ff: "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall no more be remembered nor taken to heart. But they shall rejoice and be glad for ever in that which I create." And to this sense also points the verbum in the time to come, "For I will see." For why should he say that he shall see, if he did not mean to indicate a future and different heaven? But also the apostle seems to understand Heb. 1, 10. ff. 2) this psalm of the future heaven, since he introduces the 102nd psalm [v. 27.], of the heaven which shall be changed, as a garment etc. Whoever follows this Auf-
L) In the editions: Hebr. 2.
He will say that the preceding verse describes what the whole church will have to deal with until the end of the world, which is nothing other than the destruction of a power from the mouth of the young children, and the destruction of the enemy and the avenger of revenge, and even sin itself, and the avenger of sin, death, as 1 Cor. 15, 26. It says: "The last enemy to be abolished is death", so that when this is destroyed, the new heaven will be seen.
(48) Although this opinion is beautiful and true, we do not want to abandon the first one either, because we think that these two quite opposite figures are painted on the servants of the word. One of these is that in which they appear to men. This is designated by the names of young children and infants, namely weakness, foolishness and nothingness, which the apostle 1 Cor. 4, 9-13. expounds more extensively by saying: "But I consider that God has represented us apostles as the very least, as given over to death. For we have become a spectacle to the race, and to the angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are glorious, but we are despised. Until this hour we suffer hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are beaten, and have no certain place, and work and labour with our own hands. We are scolded, so we bless; we are persecuted, so we endure; we are blasphemed, so we plead. We are always as a curse of the world, and a fegopfer of all people." Behold the weak character of the apostles; for such a man is, and must be in the eyes of men, an apostle and a follower of the apostles.
49. but again about the other figure, how it was in the eyes of God, with what fullness he spreads about it, saying among other things 2 Cor. 12, 11. f. [Vulg.] "Though I am nothing, yet the signs of my apostleship have been done among you, with all patience, with signs and with wonders, and with deeds." And 1 Cor. 1, 23. f.: "But we preach Christ crucified, an offense to the Jews and a foolishness to the Greeks.
But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ, divine power and divine wisdom." And 2 Cor. 13:3: "Christ is not weak among you, but is mighty among you." With all these sayings Paul shows how glorious a form the ministry of the Word has in God's eyes, since it trickles down like heaven the salutary teaching, thunders with threats, shines with miracles and signs, enlightens with promises etc.
50 So this is the meaning of this verse: Out of the mouth of the young children thou shalt bring forth power, and shalt destroy the enemies and the revengeful, which shall be marvelous in the sight of all men; and not to think that the pride and power of the betters should give way to so great weakness. Nevertheless it shall come to pass; for we shall see thy heavens, and they that preach in the weakness of the flesh shall do signs in the power of the Spirit, and shall prevail; and they that are despised in the sight of men shall be above all authority and honor in thy sight, and in the sight of them that have thine eyes.
51 See also the order. First is the form of the young children, then that of the heavens, that he may show that an apostle or minister of the Word is not able to do anything in the glorious form unless he has first become strong in the ignominious form.
(52) But since people now powerfully abhor the former form and excel only in wealth, opulence, courtliness, and ostentation, what wonder is it that even in the latter form these people accomplish nothing, and are unable to do anything either by word or by sign? Therefore, when a pope showed his treasures to an emperor and added: "Mr. Emperor, can we say [Apost. 3:6]: "Gold and silver I have not"? the emperor answered him quite strikingly and wittily: "But, my dear father, even what follows, you cannot say: "Arise and walk!" For only to distribute priestly offices and to judge worldly quarrels, which is nowadays the business of the apostolic see, - which Turk or Scythe could not do the same? That would truly be an unhappy future of God in the
Flesh, if he had come for the sake of it, to give the popes this power, which he rejected from himself with such great effort [Joh. 6, 15. Luc. 12, 14.]. But let it go; our time deserves to be governed in this way.
(53) This might move the simple-minded reader that the prophet says he will see the heavens, since he has not seen the time of the New Testament. But he speaks in the person of the people of God, who were to see then [in the future], saw afterward, and see now, and will see until the end of the world. For he does not so much care to express how he himself sees as how that is to be made manifest of which he says he will see, as if to say: Thy heavens shall be revealed, and shall be sent into all the world, and shall be set forth before all eyes, that I might see them, if I lived; but now I hear them, and see them by faith alone.
With the same manner of speaking and in the same person Jacob speaks Gen. 49, 18 [Vulg.]: "Lord, I will wait for your salvation", that means, I know that it will obviously come. And Ps. 98:3: "The end of all the world shall see the salvation of our God," which means (as Isaiah speaks [Cap. 40:5Z) as, "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed." And Simeon says [Luc. 2, 32.], "A light to enlighten the Gentiles," that is, to be revealed to the Gentiles. Therefore, by his seeing, he indicates nothing else than that the apostles and their successors will be publicly present and known before all eyes. And this is what the prophet rejoices in, namely, by delighting in the revelation of the Word and the mysteries of grace through the apostles and their successors.
54 "The work of your fingers" (he says). This is an image (metaphora) taken from human artists who make their works with their fingers, especially the more delicious and delicate ones. For what they do with their hands or feet is crude and has little to do with art, and is quite similar to the works of animals. This teaches that the preachers of the New Testament are far louder than the priests of the Old Testament, because they have received the spirit from the book.
The apostle says: "For the law could not make anything perfect" [Hebr. 7, 19]. But it is sufficiently known from the Gospel that "the finger of God" is called the Holy Spirit; whether this is called "the fingers" in the plural because of the diversity of the gifts (of which 1 Cor. 12:1 ff. is said), or the gifts themselves, is of no consequence. For the heavens are formed by the Holy Spirit, they are also formed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
55 And also what we have said in the first Psalm remains, that the verbum XXX denotes a lasting effect or a privates, as there is a house or a garment. This is clearly seen here, since he calls the apostles and teachers of the Word made by his fingers "works" (Hebrew XXXXX). Here also the other dignity of the apostolic figure is praised, which, although they are a sacrifice of sweepings before men [1 Cor. 4, 13.], are nevertheless God's most tender, most exquisite, most pleasing works. By men they are deprived of their form (deformantur), but by God they recover their form (formantur); to those they are sufferers, yea, a suffering; but to this they are a work. In this again a very strong consolation is given to the servants of the Word, that they should be strong in spirit, knowing that they are the works of the fingers of God, chosen by God according to all His will. For those need strong consolation who are sent out to fight individually and alone against the whole race. Therefore Christ also commands the apostles, Apost. 1:4, that they should not depart from Jerusalem until they had received power from on high, and that they should wait for the promise of the Father, as if to say: You shall not depart until you have become the works of my fingers.
At the same time he indicates with this expression, how good progress the word will have, if the servants of it are the works of his fingers. For 2 Mos. 8, 18. f. the magicians became ashamed at the third sign and said: "This is God's finger." So also
Apost. 6, 1) 10.: "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit out of which he spoke." Therefore the devil, the world and the flesh resist all other things, but the fingers of God, who is spirit and power, no one resists; the south wind blows through the garden of the bride, so that its spices flow, Hohel. 4, 16. In the 147th Psalm, v. 18, it says: "He lets his wind blow, so it thaws", that is, the nations will convert and become soft. This is how Christ casts out the devils through the finger of God, and not in any other way.
Therefore, as weak, unfortunate, foolish as the apostolic figure is, which is described among the young children and infants, as powerful, happy and wise is the one who is praised by the heavens and the works of the fingers of God, so that it accomplishes what no one would think possible. So even all that goes on under the opposite figure, which is God's. For even Moses and Aaron in the first two signs were considered as little children and powerless people, but in the third and the following ones they kept the upper hand, as it were, as the heavens and the works of the fingers of God.
56. the moon and the stars, which you have prepared. Here the question arises, why he did not think of the sun, which is the glory of heaven. Perhaps because he sings the whole psalm of Christ, who is the sun of these heavens, as Ps. 19, 5. says: "He has made a tabernacle for the sun in them," because above [Ps. 8, 1. Vulg.] had said of him, "His glory goeth as far as the heavens are" [Cf. § 4 of this Psalm], and afterwards [v. 5.] will sing of him more widely with his right (proprio) praise, saying, "What is man that thou rememberest him? "etc. For he had to have a worthier and richer prize than the moon and the stars, therefore he had to be sung especially, although he is also sufficiently indicated in that the prophet said that the stars and the moon are prepared, since the foundation of the church and of the righteous is undoubtedly no other than the one that is laid there, which is
2) Erlanger: solus instead of: sotis.
is Jesus Christ [1 Cor. 3, 11.], the Sun of righteousness; as also Peter, 1 Ep. 2, 6. whom Isaias, Cap. 28, 16., cites: "Behold, I lay in Zion a choice and precious cornerstone; and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame."
(57) So he could have said: The moon and the stars, which thou hast made bright, or made to shine by the sun, since it is said that by the sun, the source of all light, the moon and the stars are illuminated. But he preferred to say [Vulg.], "Which thou hast founded"; not without cause, that he might show that Christ is at the same time the sun of the heavens, and the foundation and rock on which the church is built and founded, and also prevails against the gates of hell, Matt. 7:24 and 16:18. And that he spoke in this way was more fitting than if he had spoken of its shining, because Christ indeed enlightens all men who come into this world, and the gospel is preached to all creatures, just as our sun enlightens everything; but just as the blind do not see the light that enlightens everything, so not all obey the gospel, but only those who in strong faith are founded on Christ, the enlightening sun.
This again is said for our comfort and admonition, for however much the enemy rages against the church and the saints of Christ, they will not prevail. For the foundation, Christ, the church stands, because God has founded it on Christ; it will not waver, for he who believes in him shall not be put to shame. Now since he wanted to speak of the faith of the church and of the righteous, on which alone they are founded, the word "you have founded" (fundasti) prevented him from adding the sun, since he himself is not founded, but is the foundation.
But this is something quite insignificant that he preferred to say: Quae fundasti than:
Quas fundasti, since both luna and stellae are feminine gender. For the Hebrew language has no neuter gender. It is enough that the moon and the stars, according to spiritual interpretation, are the church and the believers in Christ, who, founded on him by faith, are visible and recognizable to the whole world.
have become visible. Thus Daniel, Cap. 12, 3. says: "But the teachers shall shine as the brightness of heaven, and they that teach many righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." He is not speaking here of the doctrine and righteousness of men, as generally this passage is corrupted by very many, but of the doctrine and righteousness of God, which is in the Spirit. And this indicates just the spiritual interpretation, that he calls them the heavens, the moon, the stars, since they seem to be nothing less before men; yet they are seen, that is, they are shown to the world with signs and powers, but they are not believed by all.
Take heed of the distinction: the heavens he calls the works of the fingers of God, the moon and the stars: "which God has prepared." Does not God also prepare the heavens? Are not the moon and the stars also the works of his fingers? Why then does He make such a distinction? He alone surely makes both, and works both in both. His fingers make the heavens as well as the moon and the stars, and he prepares the moon and the stars as well as the heavens. But he used this distinction for this reason, lest someone (as the Corinthians did) should say [1 Cor. 1:12]. "I am Pauline; the other: I am Cephish; the third: I am Apollian." For the apostles did not prepare the church and believers, but God, who gives the prosperity; yet they are ministers (he says [1 Cor. 3, 4.]) through whom you became believers, that is, through whom you were prepared. But they themselves were not prepared by any others who were apostles before them, but they are the first (prima) works of the fingers of God, as it is said in Ps. 33, 6. "The heavens (coeli) were made by the word of the Lord, and all his host by the spirit of his mouth."
What need is there to admonish the rulers of the church to realize that it is not enough for them to be established in Christ with the others, if they are not the work of God's fingers, namely called and made by God? But what are they now but works of the hands of men, idols of the Gentiles,
Gold and silver? For they have ears and do not hear the word of God, they have eyes and do not see themselves, they have hands and do not use them to do good to others, nor is there a voice in their throat, for they do not teach. And so it has also become the custom nowadays to call them the creature of a man, and rightly so. For if they were works of the fingers of God, they would not be the creature of a man. And our time is worth listening to these pompous and insolent flatteries.
Yes, in the prefaces to their letters they do not distinguish between the grace of a man and the grace of God. They say: "By the grace of God and the apostolic chair, as if it were too little of God's grace, or not blasphemous (profanum), to equate in the same title God's grace and a man's grace. This abomination, which stands there in the holy place, pleases even those who should resist it with all their strength. But let this ungodliness pass away; our customs will be given their time, so that they will reign at the same time by the grace of the apostolic see and by the disgrace of the judgment seat of Christ. The apostolic see should have regarded it as a grace that had befallen it, if it had been worthy (mereretur) to receive co-workers, and to drive those to it who were unwilling, by wanting to impose, as it were, a burden, and not a grace.
First of all, because this passage has given trouble to various exegetes, it is necessary to know that in the Hebrew there is not a separating conjunction, on which, although it is something trivial, Augustine, Cassiodorus and others base their opinion, saying: "or the child of man" refers to Christ, because of the separating conjunction, and: "What is man?" refers to all others. But the Hebrew text has consistently: "and the Son of man", saying: XXXXXX, and to this we want
follow, on the reputation of Paul, Heb.
1) In the Vulgate and the other editions: sut; in the Erlanger and the Weimarsche: "t.
2:6, and want to understand both of Christ, since he says, "But one testifieth in one place, saying, What is man, that thou rememberest him; or 1) the Son of man, that thou visitest him?" But though the separative conjunction is retained, it does not compel that by "the man" should be understood another than "the Son of man," because it is permitted by usage that those who do a question in supreme wonder (as here) make use of both a separative (disjunctiva) and a conjunctive (copulativa) conjunction in the repetitive speech (tautologia), as in the passage [Micah 6:3. Vulg.]: "What have I done to you, my people, or wherewith have I offended you?" or wherewith have I grieved you?
After this it is to be noted: the Hebrew language calls the man with two names, as far as it concerns his nature, namely XXX and XXX. A third word, which is called and often translated by man, should be translated more correctly only by man, since from this the word XXX, wife or woman, is derived, as if he wanted to say: "Männin" (virago) or coming from the man (viracea), because it says 1 Mos. 2, 23.: From XXX that means, from her husband she is taken. Therefore also XXX is in the Scriptures generally the name of a husband or of a person in authority, and it is used in general more from the office than from nature, of which we have said in the first Psalm [§ 3].
XXX and XXX are distinguished according to Eusebius, 11. praepar. evang. 4. and St. Jerome in the "Hebrew Questions" in such a way that 2) XXXX actually means man according to the soul, XXX according to the body. And this is correct; for XXXX in Hebrew signifies the earth, from which he is formed according to the body, so that he is called XXX according to the word which signifies his origin and matter, as it were an earthly or of earth. It is clear that the apostle 1 Cor. 15, 47. f. had this in mind when he says: "The first man is from the earth and earthy; the other man is the Lord from the earth.
1) Here both our text and the Vulgate again have ant.
2) Instead of "Huocl," the Wittenberg edition has: ". 97."
Heaven. What the earthly is, such are also the earthly" etc. And the [Latin] translator has also been anxious Ps. 49, 3. to render the difference in a foreign language, and has said: Quique terrigenae et filii hominum solle from the earth born and the children of men], where [in Hebrew] both children XXX, and children XXX are said, by calling. He calls the children XXX children of the earth or born of the earth, and speaks darkly because of the untimely derivation (etymologiam), but nevertheless sufficiently indicates that XXX comes from "earth", as if in Latin homo [man] was derived from humus [earth] and called humigenam [a son of the earth] or humanum [of the earth].
But XXX means, as Eusebius says, according to his descent a forgetter, and he divides the verse as it is also written in Hebrew: What is XXX, that you remember him? and the child XXX, that you take care of him? Johann Reuchlin says that XXXX comes from tribulation, pain, sorrow, which pleases me together with the opinion of Eusebius, because man has forgotten his God after his soul through sin, of course not with the forgetting, which is generally there. For who is so godless that he does not talk and think a lot about God? Yes, no one remembers God more often than the wicked, the cursers, the blasphemers and the hopeful, who (as Isaiah says [Cap. 48:1]) remember the name of the Lord, but not in truth nor righteousness, that is, they use the name of the Lord without ceasing, but uselessly. It would be good for them to forget the name of the Lord, as it is good for him to abstain from worship who does not perform it with a pure heart.
But XXXX means such a forgetter, who has forgotten God and Him in spirit and in truth, to whom God is already no longer a father nor friendly, but a judge, an enemy, frightening; as Adam was like when he fled from the face of God in paradise. Was he not too mindful of God here? Yes, he felt his presence too much, and would have preferred that he had been absent, which is what all devils and the damned would have preferred, too, who
tremble before His face continually. So anyone who is abandoned by God, who is not instructed in His mercy, is XXXX miserable, sad, fearful, despairing and almost impossible to comfort. For who could comfort him whom his conscience grieves? But only that is a happy conscience, which trusts in the most gracious mercy, and dares to call Him Father with all confidence, fearing neither judgment nor death nor any misfortune because of this trust; as, on the other hand, only he is sad who does not have this trust, and feels this, Deut. 28:65 ff: "The Lord will give thee a trembling heart and a withered soul. In the morning you will say, 'Oh that I might live to see the evening! In the evening thou shalt say, Alas, that I might live to see the morning!" This forgetfulness, then, makes one and man; the statutes, counsels and consolations of men drive us most into it; but faith alone frees us from it and makes us again mindful of God, holding up and praising to us nothing but His mercy and love in Christ.
See, then, how carefully the contrast is chosen. "What is XXXX that you remember him?" God's remembrance and our forgetting he puts together very nicely, and I do not know whether in truth the prophet said for the sake of it, God remembers, so that he may refer to the derivation (etymologiam) of XXXX, or whether Eusebius from the word "thou rememberest" brought in (etymologisavit) XXXX, the forgetting, by derivation. For the other: "And the child of man, that thou shouldest take care of him", is spoken with a more hidden or even no antithesis, if one does not want to consider that the God of heaven and the child of earth are two completely opposite things, so that it is something exceedingly wonderful that the one takes care of the other, as it is said in the 113th Psalm, v. 5. f.: "Who is, like the Lord, our God? Who has set himself so high, and looks upon the lowly?"
Therefore, it is a great wonder that God remembers the man who is forsaken and despairing before himself and before all eyes, and has forgotten God, and feels nothing less than that God remembers him; and the heart of the
Man must and can grasp this and believe that God is friendly, benevolent, kind to him, while he feels nothing but that He is angry, terrifying and unbearable to him. Who should not be surprised at this? Who should not say, "What is man that you should remember him?" These works of God are incomprehensible, and can only be grasped by faith, and one does not feel his feet in this, Ps. 77:20. So also, who can believe that God will take care of the Son of Man, since he is only despised by all, and there is nothing in him except that he is born of a woman and is of the same nature with her? For if he were the son of a king, a prince, a priest, a rich man, an honored man, it would not seem difficult for God to take care of him. Now nothing more contemptuous can be said of a man than that he is a "man's child" (unless he wants to say that he is not a man), for this name is common to all, the lowest and least of all titles.
And in these words: "The child of man", there is an enormous diminishing speech, as in the words of Pilate, when he said of Christ [Joh. 19, 5.]: "Behold, what a man!" For he wants to call him by the very least name, of which no man takes much notice in another, and yet God takes such care of him that he calls him home [Heb. 2:6], and comes to him whom all men do not even look at [Isa. 53:3]. Therefore in the prophet Isaiah, Cap. 58, 7. the Lord punishes the haughty eyes of men, which are attached to the appearance of persons, saying, "If thou seest any naked, clothe him, and shalt not shun thy flesh." Behold, "thy flesh" he calls the naked, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, and in general any that is exceedingly lowly. Of course, in such a way no one among us considers the figure which is the most common in all of us. Because of this fault, those wise men are worthy of dreaming up the general concepts (universalia) of Porphyrius or Aristotle, and seek the common essence with quite vain effort and lost labor, since they do not consider this common to all.
(universalia) of the Creator in itself neglect.
See now on the reprint. He does not only know the XXXX, but he remembers him, he never forgets him, he always thinks well of him, he never leaves him. Therefore an example of this matter is described Is. 49, 14. ff.: "But Zion saith, The Lord hath forsaken me, the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman also forget her child, that she have not compassion on the son of her womb? Though she forget him, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, in the hands I have marked thee; thy walls are ever before me." So he does not see alone, or send to the child of man from afar, but the Lord is near, and seeks him home, as one friend to another. Who, I say, believes this? But if it is not believed, it does not happen. Therefore, all outward appearances must be discarded, and nothing must be left behind but the man and the man's child, if anyone wants to be worthy of God's remembrance and care. For he knows the high things from afar, but looks upon the low and afflicted [Ps. 113, 5. 6.]. On the other hand, man pays more attention to everything else than to man and man's child, even though he is his neighbor and his flesh.
(59) But how does this rhyme with Christ, of whom, as we have said, the prophet actually speaks, as the apostle testifies in his letter to the Hebrews? But also in the letter to the Philippians, Cap. 2, 6. f., he briefly indicates this by saying: "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider it a robbery to be like God, but put himself forth, and took the form of a servant, and was made like another man, and was found to be a man in deeds." For he was not invented as a king, prince, or any other such person, but as a human child, like the least of men.
60. then he also became extremely like sinners, becoming sad, sorrowful, and like the least of us, bearing in himself the Father's wrath for us, and becoming the most despised son of the earth in the eyes of men, so that it seemed not only to him, but also to every other man, that God would not accept his
I do not think of him, I do not take care of him. Yes, he said of himself [Ps. 142, 5.]: "I cannot escape, no one takes care of my soul." And again Ps. 31:13: "I am become as a broken vessel." [P. 23.:] "I am cast out of thy sight."
But especially the prophet has in mind the time of Christ's suffering, when He began to mourn and to tremble [Matth. 26, 37.] in the garden. For at that time he was humbled, he became a XXXX before God and before himself; he became a child XXXX before men, and nothing else was left but nature itself, and the words as nature speaks them (naturae vocabula). For as I have said, XXXX refers to the soul, XXX to the body, and so it follows of itself that
XXXX be said of man as he is before God, wretched and afflicted; a child XXX [of man] as he is before men, lowly and despised.
(62) Behold, then, this is the Sun of Righteousness, our King, at whom the prophet marvels with tremendous wonder. Will he then illuminate the moon and the stars and create, yes, found the heavens? He shines like this, worse than this, with these rays he illuminates the world that receives him. For this reason it is necessary that the moon and the stars be founded, lest they fall away offended by this light of their sun.
63 And this is the cause, since he had praised the heavens, the moon, and the stars in such a glorious spiritual interpretation, when it was expected that he would also speak of the sun, that he suddenly seems to speak of strange things, indicating, entranced in wonder, the ineffable glory of this sun, and pointing to it more by an admiring silence than with magnificent words, as if he wanted to say: Of the moon and the stars you have heard. Further, what shall I say of the sun. Astonishment overwhelms me; he is the sun, but who can grasp it, since he and a son is XXX? God, you are truly wonderful and highly praiseworthy that you remember this man and take care of him. How much more wonderful is it that you have set this sun to illuminate all? This is wonderful,
this is more than wonderful and quite incredible to man.
(64) Now let each one see for himself, first of all, how much he suffers, or how full he is of the rays of this sun of righteousness. For since sin must be eradicated, which cannot be done without pain and disgrace, it is necessary that each one also become a XXXX and a human child, so that he may have pain inwardly and disgrace outwardly, and so that he may suffice and correspond to both names of his nature, and become like Christ, who first became like him.
(65) For we, of course, do not flee from anything so much as not to be XXXX and XXX, always delighting in adorning ourselves with other people's feathers and vestments, and attaching to ourselves what belongs to the righteous and the saints, that is, with joy and glory. But the sun of righteousness does not shine in such a way, 1) nor does it enlighten people of such a nature, nor does it base it on itself.
After that, if he has become such a man [as described in § 64], let him trust in the comfort of this verse and rejoice in it, singing and knowing that the Lord remembers him and takes care of the human child, as he has shown in Christ, his sun. Further, how Christ became in this way and a forgetter of God, and a man child, equal to us in all things, will perhaps be stated more expansively in the 22nd Psalm.
Our [Latin interpreters] add to this verse: "And you have set him over the works of your hands", which in Hebrew is the first part of the following verse. The Hebrew text has thus: "And thou hast made him a little lacking in XXXXX which Jerome has translated: "in God". And it is sufficiently known that XXXX in the Scripture
1) In the original, Weimar and Basel editions: sicnt instead of: sie in the other editions.
2) Vulgate: Ninuisti snin paulorninus ab anMlis, ßlorin M Uouoro eoronasti eum.
not only by God, but sometimes also by princes and judges, because they are God's representatives, as in Ex 21:6: "Let his lord bring him before the gods and hold him at the door", and Ex 6:2."The children of God looked at the daughters of men", by which we mean the sons of the patriarchs, and also the giants; although if someone wanted to deny obstinately, and say that XXXXX is nowhere attached to men, I do not know in what way I should convince him, since in these two passages and others God could also be understood. But meanwhile we want to follow the reputation of others, which is too generally recognized 3) (receptiorem) to be contradicted. Our [Latin] translator, of course, as can be seen, translated it rather from the angels than from God, because it seemed to him perhaps very inconsistent to say to God: You have made him lack in God, since the speech seemed to require a different person for the one who lacks than for the one of whom he lacks (a quo minutus est). But this little offence is easily removed by the quite common mode of speech of Scripture, according to which it is wont to speak to the second person in the third, as 2 Sam. 14, 11. [Vulg.] "She said unto David, The king remembereth the Lord his GOtt." So also here it could be understood that the prophet spoke thus, "Thou hast made him a little lacking in God," that is, in thee; because it indicates a greater reverence when one speaks to superiors in the third person than in the second.
However, the individual expressions in the middle of this verse have been treated by many. Difficulty has been caused by "the angels" and the circumstantial word "a little" and the verb "you may lack" and the pronoun "him". 4) There was also no lack of people who took it upon themselves to understand it from the human nature in comparison to the angels. But we are only required to connect the following with the preceding, and that in a unified and simple way.
3) Jenaische and Weimarsche: reoeptiorEm; Wittenberger: rkoeptorsiu; Erlanger: rseextioruln.
4) In the editions (apparently wrong) "Meurn" instead of: euru. Compare the following paragraph.
Therefore, we want to accept only what we like and what suits us, and leave the rest with its originators.
This verse undoubtedly explains the previous one, in which it is said that Christ is the one whom the Lord remembers, and that the one who was despised by men is visited by God. Therefore the meaning is: You left him for a little while, but with great honor you received him, showing how you did not forget him, nor despise him, as it says Ps. 22:25: "For he did not despise nor spurn the affliction of the poor." Therefore, the pronoun "him" must be referred to, not to the Son of God according to his divinity, which is what those do who understand it to mean that he became less than the angels through his incarnation, but according to his humanity, in which he became sad and painful, since he bore our weakness, and seemed to be forgotten and abandoned before God, as he indeed was, as far as his own feelings and the judgment of men were concerned. For this psalm certainly speaks of the suffering of Christ and the glory that was obtained through suffering, as the apostle clearly says Hebr. 2, 9: "But the one who lacked a little time of angels, we see that it is Jesus, crowned with glory and honor through suffering of death" etc. And paulominus does not refer to dignity, but to time. For we have had in the 2nd Psalm, v. 12. sun Hebrew) the same adverbium, "For his wrath shall soon [XXX] burn on" (that is, swiftly and after a little time shall his wrath burn on). And, in general, here nothing is dealt with the essence, the difference, the dignity of the natures, but with the duration of the suffering.
68 Now the verbum minuisti (you have diminished) reads with us, because the Hebrew has not rendered it, as if someone makes him who is great small, as the power, the dignity, the wealth of a man is diminished by taking away. Johann Reuchlin explains it: It has been lacking, it has been missing, it has been diminished, as it says 1 Kings 17:14: "And nothing shall be taken from the jar of oil.
and afterwards [v. 16]: "And the jar of oil lacked nothing". From this it is evident that in this passage it is indicated that Christ was abandoned by God, since He ceased to protect Him and He lacked, as He exclaimed on the cross [Matth. 27, 46.]: "Eli, Eli, lama asabthani?" For this is what the prophet understands by the "little time," namely, the hour of which Christ said [Luc. 22, 53.], "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness." Therefore, since until that hour he was "mighty in deeds and words" [Luc. 24, 19.], he is suddenly and for a little while, namely for three days, humbled and abandoned by God in that power, subject to weakness and also to death and hell. For what it means to be forsaken by God, we will say in the appropriate place.
69 Therefore, in this verse he speaks of Christ almost in the same way as Isaiah Cap. 54, 7. f. speaks of the whole people of God, saying: "I have left you for a little while, but with great mercy I will gather you. I have hid my face from thee a little in the moment of wrath, but with everlasting mercy will I have mercy upon thee."
(70) Namely, all this is to serve us as an exceedingly strong consolation, so that we may learn to make a profit for eternal life out of the little tribulation of this time, lest, when we are troubled, we think that we are eternally forsaken by Him of whom we hear that He remembers the XXXX and takes care of the child of man.
However much He will humble us for a little while, He will surely take care of us and crown those who have suffered for a little while (modicum) with honor and adornment, as it says in 1 Peter 1:6: "You who are now sorrowing for a little while (modicum) in all kinds of temptations. And in the same epistle, Cap. 5, 10.: "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory in Christ JEsu, the same shall make you full, strengthen, fortify, establish, ye that suffer a little while." And Paul, 2 Cor. 4, 17. f.: "For our tribulation, which is temporal (that is, lasting but a moment) and light, creates an eternal glory, which is above all measure.
us who do not look at the visible, but at the invisible."
(72) But here faith is needed, for it is marvelous before our eyes when it takes place; just as here also the prophet is astonished, and says, "What is man? (Quid est homo?) This can be spoken in Hebrew like this: What man is this (quam homo), that thou rememberest him! For the expression XX is in Hebrew sometimes as much as the interrogative quid, sometimes quam, as in the 119th Psalm, v. 97. "How have I so loved thy law! [quomodo dilexi] instead of: quam dilexi. And afterwards, v. 103 [Vulg.]: "How (quam) sweet is thy speech to my mouth!" And Ps. 84, 2: "How (quam) lovely are thy dwellings!" Yea, also in this Psalm, v. 2. "How (quam) glorious is thy name!" For this deceived the [Latin] interpreter, that he did not render clearly the Hebrew text, Isa. 38:1) 22. "And Hezekiah said, What shall be the sign that I shall go forth unto the house of the Lord?" 2) For he [Hezekiah] does not ask there, but he marvels at the sign which was given him, saying, "What sign that I should go out!" as if to say: Is not this a great and wonderful sign? So it would not be inappropriate to say here: What a man is this (quam homo), that thou rememberest him! This could be rendered thus: Is this not a wonderful man? Is not this human child wonderful? You remember him, while you forget him, you take care of him, while you rely on him! But this you do to leave him for a little while, but to exalt him for eternity.
If one holds on to this sense, it becomes clear that the Hebrew is more appropriately translated "by God" than "by the angels," because the prophet sings that God remembered Christ and left him, visited him and left him alone, humbled him and exalted him. However, one must not reject the common translation for this reason, even though the
1) In the issues: Iss. 37.
2) In the Latin editions, a period is erroneously placed here instead of a question mark. In contrast, in our Bible editions Isa. 38, 32. a question mark is put where, as Luther states here, an exclamation mark should be.
It is clear that the apostle or someone else wrote the epistle to the Hebrews in Hebrew or in Greek, since it is certain that the apostle rarely quotes the sayings according to the original Hebrew way of speaking, but very often according to the Septuagint, also in other epistles, as he does with sayings from the 14th Psalm [v. 3] and the 5th Psalm [v. 10] in Romans 3, 10 and 3, 13. And this proves most strongly that the author of this epistle [to the Hebrews our passage] understood (legisse) and wrote of the angels, but not of God, that shortly before he introduces the testimony of this Psalm, he says Hebr. 2, 5: "For he has not subjected to angels the world to come, of which we speak." Then he immediately cites this psalm to prove that [the world to come] is subject to Christ, for one would not think that the apostle meant to say: For he hath not GOtte subject the world to come. Therefore, following the sense which the Hebrew gives (hebraeum sensum), we cannot understand it in such a way that Christ became less (minorationem) in comparison with the angels, since (as Erasmus also well remarks) he not only became less than the angels, but also the very least among men, and (as I have said) had nothing left but that he was XXXX and "the child of man". From the letter of the apostle to the Hebrews it is not clear what this means (quid velit).
Therefore, since Christ was forsaken by God, and now in the three days of His suffering He was no longer with Him in His power, what wonder is it if according to God's will He should also be forsaken by the angels? as He says Matth. 26, 53: "Do you think that I could not ask my Father to send me more than twelve legions of angels?" But lest one think that it is a small thing that one lacks angels or is abandoned by them, it is to be noted that God accomplishes all our salvation through the ministry of angels, as Ps. 91, 11. f. is written: "For he hath commanded his angels concerning thee, that they should keep thee in all thy ways, that they should bear thee up in their hands, and that thou shouldest not strike thy foot against a stone," and Ps. 34, 8: "The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that look upon him.
fear, and help them out." Thus an angel led the children of Israel out of Egypt [Ex. 14, 19. f.], and stood between their army and the army of the Egyptians. And (he says), My angel shall go before thee [Gen. 24, 7. Matth. 11, 10.]. Thus the angels saved Lot from Sodom [Gen. 19, 15.], and the angel preserved the three men in the fiery furnace [Dan. 3, 28.]. And, beloved, how often is the service of angels to men remembered in the book of Judges, as also in Zechariah and Daniel, so that Paul rightly said Heb. 1, 14. that they were ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who should inherit blessedness. Therefore it is not surprising that the prophet considers it a new miracle and an astonishing thing that all the fathers of old have obtained help and salvation through the angels, and that they only stop at this one Christ, and that he must lack their consolation.
From a similar movement of the heart speaks the 22nd Psalm, v. 5-7: "Our fathers hoped in you and were saved; they hoped in you and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, a mockery of men, and contempt of the people," as if to say: Those have obtained help in their adversities through their faith, and have never been forsaken unto death; but I am forsaken unto death, and my hope shall not come until after death. For such suffering is fitting for the New Testament. Therefore Christ, the Head, goes first, and is first forsaken by all, and must lack God and the angels. He is followed by all who believe in him and call upon his name. Therefore, just as St. Augustine in the book "To the Honoratus", where he treats the 22nd 1) Psalm, teaches correctly that the difference of the New and the Old Testament consists in this, that in the latter the fathers were indeed sometimes abandoned to the danger of life, but never to death, but in the latter all are esteemed like sheep for slaughter, and are abandoned in such a way that they fall into the most abominable death: so also in this Psalm the prophet praises the-
1) In the editions: ps. 20. That the reading given by us is correct, proves 8 49 of the interpretation of the 22nd Psalm.
The same new suffering, and admires it before the old. Yes, not only the angels did not stand by him and serve him as they used to do, but also everything that can only be called by name, princes, kings, priests, elders, and those who adhered to him before.
"With honor and ornament you will crown him." Beautifully he makes here the contrasts; the honor he gives to XXXX, the ornament to the child of XXX, the crown to him who is abandoned by the angels. To understand this, let us first explain the words. "Honor" (gloria) is actually set in this place for what the Greeks say δόξα. Of this it is said Ps. 3:4, "He that setteth me in honor," and Ps. 7:6, "And layeth my honor in the dust." This is not only the splendor of the name, or, as they say, the rumor that is spread with praise, wanting honor (gloriam) to be distinguished from praise or [good] rumor by celebrity (celebritate), as if gloria were as much as claria and came from claritas, but it is also the high majesty of the most beautiful and greatest things that we possess, and of which this rumor is spread, and of which we ourselves also boast and are proud. Therefore the Lord says Matt. 6:29: "I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory (gloria) was not clothed as one of these." What else does he call "glory" (gloriam) than the splendor and majesty and abundance of goods by which Solomon was famous among all nations? Hence also in Hebrew "glory" (gloria) comes from a verb meaning "to be heavy," as we see in the 4th Psalm
[§ 11] have seen.
But it is to be marveled at how variously and inconstantly the word "adornment" (honor), which is in Hebrew, has been translated everywhere; sometimes with adornment, sometimes with honor, sometimes with beauty, sometimes with glory (magnificentia), sometimes with splendor, sometimes with dignity. Ps. 104, 1. it says: "You are beautiful and magnificently adorned" (confessionem et decorem induisti). Ps. 96, 6: "It stands glorious and splendid before Him" (confessio et pulchritudo). These two words are rendered Ps. 45, 5 [Vulg.] thus: Specie tua et pul-.
chritudine tua [In our Bible: and adorn yourself beautifully.... in your adornment. Ps. 145, 5: Magnificentiam gloriae sanctitatis tuae [of your glorious beautiful splendor]. Ps. 110, 3: In splendoribus sanctorum [in holy adornment]. Proverbs 14:28: In multitudine populi dignitas regis [where a king has many people, that is his glory]. All these passages have the same word or which of the same verbum Herkommen, which, as Reuchlin says, means: He has adorned, he has honored, he has glorified.
From this it follows that "ornament" (honorem) in this place is quite appropriately rendered for the Hebrew word, and means the other splendor of the great ones, which consists in the multitude of those who show them reverence, look up to them, adore them, are subject to them, serve them, follow them, assist them. For these are the adornment, the splendor, the splendor, the beauty, the dignity of the king, so that "honor" and "adornment" are, as it were, opposite splendor: the honor that proceeds from the king and spreads to others; the adornment that, moved by this honor, many come and acknowledge him. Accordingly it is said in 3 Mos. 19, 32: "You shall honor the ancients." And these two honors multiply each other. For honor attracts many to pay tribute. But those who are attracted to honor soon increase the honor. Therefore we sing to God glory (gloriam) and honor (honorem) forever, that it may be and remain eternally multiplied; just as those two evils also multiply one another, which are
XXXX and "man's child"; for he who has forgotten God and has become miserable and afflicted, he is also immediately abandoned as a child XXX; for he of whom nothing is said, no one honors him either. As he is nothing in himself, so he is abandoned by all.
"You will crown" is figuratively speaking, from the crown that is perfect on all sides and surrounds the whole, for: "You will surround him." 1 Sam. 23:26: "They compassed (in modum coronae cingebant) David and his men," and Ps. 5:13 [Vulg.]: "With the shield of thy grace thou hast compassed us" (coronasti). Therefore Christ, who became XXXX for us, despairing and afflicted by
in all sides and in all things, now the dominion over all things, which is celebrated with much praise and glory, and he is well pleased and secure in all things; he, who became a child XXX, despised and despised, is now honored, adored, sought after by all. And he, who was forsaken by all, is now surrounded by all creatures everywhere, so that there is no creature that does not know or honor him, for the gospel is preached to all creatures for his glory.
Again, at his name bow all the knees of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. For this crown of honor and adornment, that is, of the whole creature, has never been conceded to another, nor will it be. For those are honored and adorned only in part, and no one has everything, but only he who has been abandoned by all for a little while, having no honor and adornment in any part, yes, from all sides tribulation and ignominious treatment, so that he might be crowned with honor and adornment for this merit.
But this crown of glory and adornment is not yet completed, as Paul says 1 Cor. 15, 25. But now we do not yet see that all things are subject to Him [Heb. 2, 8.], because "He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet". Namely, this will be carried out until the last judgment. In the meantime, there remain people who do not honor him nor adorn him, and resist the full glory (plenitudini) of this crown.
75) Thus ends 1) this verse in Hebrews, in which the honor and adornment of Christ is explained. The "honor" is that he is Lord over all things, and so you see that the honor is the majesty of things possessed, as we said. The "adornment" is that all things are subject to him, all things acknowledge him, turn to him (convertit), hang on his beck and call. And even beautiful and obvious is
1) In the Vulgate, the last part: "All you have" etc. is drawn to the following verse.
Both adornments, that of honor and that of adornment, are put together in this verse, in that at the same time the Lord and the subjects are described by the words: "You will make him Lord" and "you have put under the feet"; by the one the Lord and the honor are indicated, by the other the subjects and the adornment. The same two pieces are also contained in the 45th Psalm; the one in the words [v. 4. 5.]: "Adorn thyself beautifully. May you succeed in your adornment. Draw near to the truth, and keep the wretched in the right, and thy right hand shall do wonders"; the other in this word [v. 6]: "Sharp are thy arrows, that the nations fall down before thee in the midst of the king's enemies."
So here is the prince of the kings of the earth, and the lord of the rulers. Compare them with this king. Over what things are they ordered? Certainly over the work of the hands of God, but to none are all things put under his feet. The words "the works of the hands of God" have a very small sound compared to the high titles of the kingdoms, countries and peoples that strike the senses, and the show of coats of arms, images and monuments that the kings and princes of the world boast of. Under a low title and without a badge of honor, Christ's kingdom, which is infinite and eternal, is preached; he says, "The work of your hands," for by the name of earth 2) or heaven they could not be comprehended. For everything that God has created is subject to Christ, as it is said in 1 Cor. 15, 27. "But when He says all things, it is evident that nothing is excepted except He who has all things subject to Him."
But did he say in vain, "Thou hast put all things under his feet," and yet did not say, "Thou hast made him Lord over all things"? For he omitted "the works of God" from "put under his feet," and "all things" from "make him Lord," while he wanted both to be understood together. 3) Or does he speak like this
1) A comma is missing after insiAvium in the editions. 2) Jenaer and Erlanger: t "rra instead of: terras.
3) In the editions (except the Weimar one) there is a question mark here, but it does not seem to us to be an interrogative sentence. If it were an interrogative sentence, it should not be: ouaisit enirn but: oinisitne.
out of disgust against pride and ambition? so that even he, who in truth has everything put under his feet by God, may boast of the title, that he has been made a lord over everything, and so that the possession is greater than the title, while on the other hand men not infrequently have only the mere titles of things, but are lords over very small things.
This is certainly to be understood in an apostolic way, that he describes Christ in such a way that he did not seek this dominion, but was appointed by God, so that we might learn that we should not take honor for ourselves, but were called, like Aaron, Heb. 5, 4. 5, 4. And, what one might wonder at, by these words such a tremendously great dominion is ascribed to Christo, and yet almost in every single syllable, ambition is punished by the way; here is no pompous word, as the decrees of men are wont to speak: All things in all the world hath he commanded us etc., and the rights, both of heavenly and earthly dominion, to Peter, his key-bearer. Thus the bulls foam along, and from the defiant throat roll out lofty words (inflatoque rotant turgentia gutture verba.).
But here he says: "You have made" (constituisti) and "him" and "over your hands work". See, with how concise, reverent, tender, and yet mighty (solidis) words he treats the ineffable kingdom of Christ, although instead of constituisti in Hebrew it says: "You have made him Lord", as Peter Apost. 2, 1) 36. says: "This one he has made Lord and Christ," etc. as it is said of the sun, Gen. 1, 16. that it should rule the day, or as Ps. 136, 8. says: "The sun to preside over the day."
And he beautifully says: "The work of your hands", praising the possession of Christ without any outward appearance. For it is the way of men to rule over and preside over only that which is worthy, great, and much, and in general, from which they may derive profit, honor, and pleasure. But over that which is small, unworthy, or in need of their help and labor, they easily allow it to be the subject of others. But Christ, the Lord of all
4) Jn the issues: ^ot. 4.
things, owns everything that is always counted among the works of God, may it be weak and despised, or mighty, rich and honored. He is not a king who rules, moved by the prestige of the persons, but everything that is God's creation, he recognizes as his, without any difference.
Therefore Christ's kingdom is such that not only can it be given to no one else, but even if it could be given to someone else, no one can be found to accept it. For even among those who are most ambitious, there is no one who would wish to rule over the weak, the meager, the disgraced, and over such people from whom nothing could flow to him. For all are vexed at these words, "the work of thy hands" and "all things," and have no pleasure in knowing what these words mean.
(79) Among these people were also the popes in the past, who presumed all things to themselves. But they did not seek to rule "the works of God's hands" and "everything", but everything that pleased them and some works of God that they themselves had chosen. The others, by which they might also have benefited, they did not respect, however much they belonged to the works of God and "all things". It must therefore be an exceedingly pure eye, and quite far from the prestige of the person and the attachment to deceitful appearances, which shall rightly discern the works of the hands of God. For in this respect there is no difference between the pope and a layman, an emperor and a beggar, an enemy and a friend, a wise man and an unlearned man, a saint and a sinner, a healthy man and a sick man, a living man and a dead man. He is the Lord over all, and all things equally belong to Him.
80. Therefore rejoice, O Christian, and everyone, whoever you are, who recognizes yourself as a work of God. This is said to you, and to a great comfort, if you believe it, that Christ is in truth made Lord over all. For even if your enemies counsel evil against you from afar. Dear, against whom then do they counsel? Against thee, or against Christ? For they belong to him as well as to you. Fear not; he is there
present and here; he sees what they are doing against you and watches over you with greater concern than you watch over yourself.
Do you think that a thing that is possessed has greater concern for itself than the one who possesses it? What can the gold in the box or in the bag think for itself? Has not the father of the house also procured the box for the same, and is on the watch for it at every hour, anxiously worried about the reenactments of robbers and thieves? Or is the gold stolen from itself or from its owner? And a thief, does he injure the gold more severely, or its owner? Can we then think that a stingy man will be inflamed if his goods are stolen from him, and that Christ should not be inflamed at any injury to his goods? And how will he be obedient to his Father, who has put all things under his feet? If then they kill thee, burn thee, hurt thee, accuse thee, cast thee out (when thou art but subject to him). Dear one, whom do they harm? Whose good do they spoil? Yours or Christ's?
Woe to our unbelief, which, because of its godlessness, cannot understand these consolations and this great assurance. For we do not lack a protector and one whose own we are (possessor), but we lack the faith that believes that we are his property. For you certainly hear a word of exceeding great faith when it is said, "All things you have put under his feet, and have set him over the work of your hands."
83. But if thou sayest, I fear that my Lord himself will destroy me, because I am a great sinner, and have not deserved that he should possess me in this blessedness (felicitate), I answer: He will not destroy you, if you confess that you are his, and that he is your HER, for his are both saints and sinners, and all the works of the hands of God. "Let every tongue (Phil. 2, 11.) confess that Jesus is the Lord," and that "to the glory of the Father." And Rom. 10:9: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Through
This confession and this faith (I say), if you are a sinner, you will not only be justified but also saved, says the apostle. Rather, he will condemn those who, though they are his, will not receive him as their Lord, as he says in Luc. 19:27: "But those, my enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring them, and slay them before me." For these will not, and yet are compelled to be subject to him. For we do not have a king who is a driver (exactor), but who is a savior, especially of those who are oppressed by plagues (poenis) or by sins. For with these, apart from the name that they are God's work, there is hardly anything left; but the works of God are His [Christ's] very own possession.
Therefore, if you sin and fall, do not despair of Christ, for you cannot fall from His dominion unless you have ceased to be God's work. If you now acknowledge his dominion, and say with him in the Book of Wisdom, Cap. 15, 2: "Though we sin, yet are we yours, and know your power" etc. He cannot abandon you, and you cannot be abandoned by him, unless you have no confidence in his mercy. He will acknowledge you as his own if you recognize him for your Lord. For this is what God reproaches the wicked in the first chapter of Isaiah [v. 3.]: "An ox knoweth his master, and an ass his master's crib: but Israel knoweth it not, and my people hear it not."
(85) Christ therefore is set over all things for us as Lord, that he might help us in all things, and that we might take refuge in him, whether in sins or in death, whether in life or in righteousness. "If we live (Rom. 14, 8. 7.), we live to the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord. For ours none liveth unto himself, and none dieth unto himself." He who lives lives to the Lord, he who dies dies to the Lord.
These two verses seem to have given our [Latin] interpreter and others the cause that they understood this Psalm by a mere man and translated it by angels. Some great fathers are also of this opinion, because in the first chapter of the first book of Moses [v. 28] it is read that God subjected these three kinds of animals to man after he was created. And of course they have not a little pretense for this opinion, because it seems as if the prophet explains everything that is put under the feet by these verses in such a way that it is nothing else but the animals of the earth, of the sky and of the sea, and it seems that not much is attributed to Christ if the dominion over these animals is attributed to him, since also human kings rule even over men.
But against this opinion Paul testifies very strongly, not only in the Epistle to the Hebrews (if perhaps someone should say that the same is not from Paul), but also 1 Cor. 15:27: "He put all things (he says) under his feet." But since the Scriptures and the Word of God must have One, simple and constant mind, so that we do not (as they say) make a waxen nose of the Holy Scriptures, it is fair that we prefer the interpretation of Paul to that of all the other Fathers, be it Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius or Jerome,
(88) This I say, lest any one, after the manner of the scholastic teachers, should immediately follow all that he has read in any of the famous fathers, as if it were spoken from heaven, as some are wont to do, who have thus cut up the Scriptures into mere lobes of different understanding, so that we have almost as many opinions as syllables. And I do not know whether I should approve or disapprove of the study of Magister Sententiarum and Gratianus, by which they have brought it about that we have become accustomed to devour everything that only someone has brought forward (omnia omnium), like unclean animals that neither split their claws nor chew the cud with their tongues. For this study is (according to my judgment) the source of so many questions, opinions, disputes, wars, which are now already
more than three hundred years prevail in the schools.
Therefore, one may allow the holy fathers to follow their own opinion from time to time and, according to their inclination, to exercise their will in the holy scriptures outside of the right order. But a theologian, who investigates the pure, right understanding, must necessarily consult the holy Scriptures themselves about everything and judge according to them, as Augustine teaches in many places, and Paul commands [1 Thess. 5, 21.]: "Test everything, and keep what is good."
Therefore, these two verses seem to attribute too little not only to Christ, but also to any mere man, since in the first chapter of the first book of Moses, dominion over the earth is also attributed to him, and over all trees, herbs, wood, which here is not even attributed to Christ, as we read. And I confess that this passage has significant difficulty. Augustine with his own here takes recourse to secret interpretation, but he cannot escape [the difficulty]. For since he has prefixed "all things" and "the works of the hands of God," there is no apparent reason why, since he declares this, he enumerates only the sheep and oxen and fish and birds (may righteous or sinners be understood among these according to spiritual interpretation). For these are not all that were put under Christ's feet, but are included in all these. Why then are these listed before others? Why was it not enough to say: "All" and: "The works of the hands of God"? Because here sheep, oxen, birds, fish, cattle must be understood according to the letter. I confess my ignorance and have nothing to say, but I want to give others a reason to think, since I cannot do anything else.
90) How if the prophet had intended to set forth primarily that which is put under the feet of a mere man, because of the contentious, stiff-necked people, especially the Jews, who most of all resist the kingdom of Christ? Lest someone might object: God cannot contradict Himself, who already before (Gen. 1) told the mere man this, so that he could do it through time.
The first is that he has subjected himself to the rule of the kingdom; and so, under the pretext of the Scriptures, either deny that by the fact that all things were put under Christ's feet those things are also understood, or falsely deny the whole dominion of Christ, but prevent this mischievousness [by saying] that all things were put under Christ's feet in such a way that even of what God once subjected to men he not only did not want it to be exempt, but that it was subjected to him together with men. And this so completely that if men did not want to be subject to Christ (as they are in truth), they should nevertheless know that what is subject to them is subject to him, and that he has power over everything that is theirs, without all resistance, however much they resist him.
91. Then there is no offense that is more contrary to the faith in the Lordship of Christ than the abundance of the ungodly, especially kings and great men, in these things that were once given to man, so that it was necessary to declare explicitly that these things were put under Christ's feet, lest anyone should be offended and think, when he sees the ungodly people, especially the great ones, that they are not subject to him. For it is easy to believe that everything else is subject to Christ, except what the wicked have. For this seems to be given entirely into their power, of which also the 144th Psalm [v. 14. 13. Vulg.] says: "Their oxen are fat"; "their chambers are full." As if the prophet meant to say: Do not be offended, dear brother, that I have said that all things are put under Christ's feet, since you alone see the opposite in the ungodly, his enemies; for you see that nothing else resists. Know that even in their case everything they have is subject to Christ.
And this opinion is also reinforced when you emphasize the word "universas" as if he wanted to say: "There is absolutely nothing, not even among the rebellious wicked, not only among those who are voluntarily subject to him, that is not put under his feet. And this laments
also the apostle, Hebr. 2, 8, 1) by saying: We do not yet see that everything is subject to him, as if he wanted to say: All things have been put under his feet, but it is not yet fulfilled and we do not yet see it, namely because the ungodly resist him. Therefore the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea are added to strengthen the speech (per auxesin), as if he wanted to say: All that man has is subject to Christ, whether the things which he possesses or the things which are subject to him Genesis 1; he is the Lord of all things.
(92) This would not be far off the mark if someone were to think that another [false] trust of the Jews was put down by this word, which was that they believed that they were doing God a service by the sacrifices and burnt offerings of animals as with their own goods, just as St. Stephen rebuked them, Acts 7:49 ff. 7, 49. f., from Isaiah Cap. 66, 1. that they presumed to build a house for him, while everything would already be, out of which a house could be built for him. So here, too, one might assume, since the prophet teaches that the new king alone is to be honored with honor and adornment, that there is no reason for them to presume to serve him with slain animals. For to him to whom all things are subject, even sheep and oxen and all things that have ever been given to man are subject.
So what could they give to him who owns everything they have? For the same [false] trust that they have, he also rejects Ps. 50:8 with the same reason and the same saying: "Because of your sacrifice I do not punish you," that is, I have no cause against you because of your sacrifices. Why? "For otherwise your burnt offerings are always before me" (that is, there is nothing you can offer me, for it is already before me). [V. 9-13. "I will not take bullocks from your house, nor goats from your stalls. For all the beasts of the forest are mine, and the cattle of the mountains, where they are by a thousand.
I ) In all editions: 1 Cor. 15. Only the Weimar one has correctly Hebr. 2, 8. in the margin.
walk. I know all the birds of the mountains, and all the beasts of the field are before me. Where I hungered, I would not tell thee, for the ground is mine, and all that is therein. Thinkest thou that I would eat oxen's flesh, or drink goat's blood?" Then follows the right worship [v. 14. f.], "Offer thanksgiving to God, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon me in the still, and I will save thee, and thou shalt praise me." And at the end [v. 23.], "He that offereth thanks praiseth me; and this is the way that I show him the salvation of God."
See now if Assaph did not draw almost this entire psalm from this eighth psalm. For it deals (just like this psalm) with the praise of God in tribulations and despises the sacrifice of livestock, which, as he says, is rather God's than man's, to whom it was given in Genesis 1, so that they should certainly also know here that everything is Christ's, and that he can no longer be served with the things that they think belong to them.
95 We will also add something about superstition and Christian freedom. For since this is a general saying, that all things are subject to Christ, and this is declared according to (post) the law, it is necessary that he should order all things, and moderate all the precepts of the preceding law. Therefore, not only in order to quench the vexation caused by the abundance of the ungodly, nor only in order to remove the [false] confidence instilled by the gift under the law 2) and the sacrifices consisting of these gifts, but also in order to save the freedom of the spirit, which the ceremonies of the law likewise suppressed with foolish confidence or an even more wicked evil conscience, the reign of Christ had to be proclaimed and believed to be in force. For the ceremonies of the law consisted mainly in the distinction of animals, food, clothing, places, waters, celestial regions, and in general in the things that are subject to man, Genesis 1.
2) donatio is the offering of gifts in accordance with the law. Cf. § 92.
96 In this way the apostle also speaks of it I Cor. 10, 25. f. After he had spoken for Christian liberty against ceremonies: "All things that are sold in the meat market, eat them, and inquire not, that ye may spare your consciences," he adds as a reason the very general saying from the 24th Psalm [v. 1], and says: "For the earth is the Lord's, and the things that are therein." So also here the prophet seems to have directed a general saying about the Lordship of Christ against the stubborn adherence of the Jews to ceremonies, so that he taught that under Christ, to whom everything is subject, everything is free and permitted, whether they preferred to eat fish, sheep, cattle, birds, or abstain from them. "The Son of man (says Christ Himself Marc. 2, 28.) is a Lord also of the Sabbath." Why a Lord? Not other than that all things are in his will. Why a Lord of the creatures and animals of the earth, the sea and the sky? Not other than that all things are in his will. Thus under Christ, who possesses all things, all things are free and lawful, which are in heaven, on earth, and in the sea. Nevertheless, today there is a greater captivity by the decrees of men than was ever the case under the law.
I want to have mentioned and said all this in such a way that everyone can form his own opinion about it. From this (if it is true), these two verses are also clear, and the reason is obvious why he has especially mentioned these things of all, because it is fitting for the most free kingdom of Christ to claim that everything is free and safe to do, and to instruct us rightly in it.
It is still left that where we have [in Latin] pecora campi [the cattle of the field], the Hebrew text has more appropriately XXX XXXXX, that is, the wild beasts of the land. For pecora in Latin means domestic animals, which he had sufficiently expressed by sheep and cattle. And where we have [in the Vulgate], "Which walk in the paths of the sea," the Hebrew text seems to speak not of fishes, but of everything else that has its being in the sea. For it seems to me that these two verses
The first, the sheep and oxen in general, and also everything that has its being on the land; the latter, the birds under the sky and the fish in the sea, and everything that walks in the sea. Here you must consider that according to what is written in the first book of Moses, all birds and all aquatic animals were brought forth from the water [Gen. 1, 20. f.]. Therefore he connects in the latter group the birds under the sky with the fishes in the sea.
But someone might ask why he ascribes paths to the fish and to what walks in the sea, since in the sea nothing is to be seen less than paths, and just as little in the air. Perhaps because the whole sea is pathless, in which every animal makes its way, and yet a common and straight (regia) path never remains, nor is the same path trodden there more often. But this is something minor.
97) So, in this Psalm, it has been well described to us how Christ suffered, was crowned, preached and believed, because the title has indicated it to us from the beginning [§ 1] by its winepress [Githith].
Therefore, to inculcate anew his right worship, which is nothing but faith, praise, glory, thanksgiving, he repeats the first verse and says:
For it is great and difficult to believe that this and the child XXX have such great glory and dignity. Therefore the prophet admonishes that this must be often repeated and constantly inculcated. For the saying stands firm that God faithfully remembers man and takes care of him (esse memorem visitatorem) and crowns him, but [takes care of] only those who have become utterly nothing through being forgotten, disgraced and abandoned. For in such a way as it is written in this Psalm that God has exalted Christ [from the deepest humiliation], he wanted it to be recognized that, according to this example, he will always exalt such people who are of the same nature. Therein
he has sufficiently indicated against which people his eyes are open and on whom they are firmly directed. For "the eyes of the Lord look upon the righteous" [Ps. 34:16] (that is, upon those who are nothing in this life, as
He is merciful to himself as well as to men, because "he looks down on the lowly things in heaven and on earth" [Ps. 113, 6]. And it is this mercy of his that makes his name great in all the earth.