For Christ's glory and for the benefit of the Church, this glorious interpretation of the venerable Father D. Martin Luther on the fifty-first Psalm has been published.
Last spring we 1) interpreted the second Psalm about the King Christ and his spiritual and heavenly kingdom, how he is received in this world, how he is afflicted and maltreated by kings and nations and yet triumphs and triumphs; but now I have resolved to interpret the Psalm Miserere, which deals with repentance. I cannot promise that I will be able to do justice to this lecture, for I confess that I do not have the spirit of repentance.
1) Here we have followed the reading of the Wittenberg and the Jena edition: proximo vere. The Erlangen edition offers proxiine. Compare the first note to No. 10 in this volume.
have not yet fully grasped who is speaking there, but [let us take the psalm before us,] only so that we may have opportunity and material to reflect and learn, so that I may become a disciple with you and await the Spirit. What he will bestow, let us accept with thanksgiving.
However, the knowledge of this psalm is necessary and useful in many respects. For it contains the teaching of the most important articles of our religion: of repentance, of sin, of grace and justification, as well as of the service we must render to God. These are divine and heavenly teachings. If the same are not with rei
*) As Veit Dietrich says in his dedication of this writing to Bernhard and Hieronymus Baumgärtner, patricians and councilors of Nuremberg, Luther interpreted this Psalm in 1532 in public lectures at the University of Wittenberg. From Luther's own statement at the beginning of the interpretation of this Psalm we learn that it first followed that of the second Psalm, and in the introduction to the 45th Psalm he remarks that he let the explanation of this Psalm follow that of the 51st Psalm because, as he had already said before, he had to select individual Psalms for interpretation, since he was not able to explain the whole Psalter in order or even a whole book because of his state of health and the amount of his business. This explanation of the 51st Psalm was also copied by the listeners and, at the request of many lovers of Luther's writings, published in 1538 by Veit Dietrich under the title: Enarratio Psalmorum LI. Miserere mei Deus, et CXXX. De profundis clamavi. Per D. Mart. Lutherum nunc recens in lucem aedita. (Cum praef. Viti Theodori, ad Bernhardum et Hieronymum Baumgartneros, Patricios and Senatores Reip. Norib.) Adjecta est etiam Savonarolae meditatio in Psalmum LI. M. D. XXXVIII. At the end: kiniit VuittenborAuo prirna octobris 1533. This last date undoubtedly refers to the time when Luther finished the 130th Psalm, one of the "Songs in the Higher Choir" (compare the note on the end of the 130th Psalm in our edition, Vol. IV, Col. 2067). About the latter Psalm Dietrich says in the note: "So that I would not give both brothers only one gift and, as the Germans say in the proverb, make two sons-in-law with one daughter, I have added the 130th Psalm, which fits very well because of the similarity of the content. This letter is dated: "From the parish house of St. Sebald on the day of the Holy Trinity sI6. A reprint of Dietrich's edition appeared in Strasbourg in 1539, without indication of the printer, under a similar title, but after the words: "in kkglrnnin 1, 1." there is still the indication: "Euro prnekutiono bntberi." A German translation by Georg Major was published in 1539 in Wittenberg by Hans Frischmut. The script is found in Latin in the Wittenberg (1549), torn. Ill, col. 501b; in the Jenaer (1570), torn. IV, loi. 370b (without the attribution of Veit Dietrich); and in the Erlanger, exo.]. opx"., torn. XIX, p. I. Major's German translation is found in the Wittenberger (1553), vol. Ill, p. 338b; in the Altenburger, vol. VI, p. 1266; and in the Leipziger, vol. VI, p. 170. Like Walch, we also leave out Dietrich's attribution, as well as the four-page long Latin poem by Thomas Venatorius "on the power of original sin and on the grace and mercy of God against sinners" found in the Erlangen edition. We have re-translated according to the Erlangen edition, which printed the original text, comparing the Wittenberg and Jena editions.
As we see that this doctrine has been treated by our adversaries with great difficulty in many and immensely large tomes, and yet there is not one among them all who rightly understands what repentance, what sin, what grace is, but these words are to them like a kind of dream, of which there are still some traces in the heart, but the whole thing has disappeared from their hearts and eyes. But this is the cause of such great blindness and ignorance, that the right knowledge of these articles does not depend on the knowledge and wisdom of human reason, nor, I say, is it born in our house, in our hearts, but is revealed and given from heaven. For what man could speak of repentance and forgiveness of sins as the Holy Spirit speaks in this psalm?
In general, this psalm has been called a penitential psalm, and among all of them it is most often used in churches and for daily prayers; and the one who first gave it this name certainly had an understanding. But the rest of the people, who either pray it daily or pray it to perform the works imposed by the bishops, have not understood it at all. For they have applied this psalm to repentance for works done, or to the sin of the deed, which they describe as consisting in speaking, doing or thinking against the law of God. But this description is much too narrow to show the greatness of sin and its power. For sin must be looked at more deeply, and the root of ungodliness or sin should have been more clearly indicated, not stopping at the acts produced by the soul, actibus elicitis, 1) as they are called. From this error, that sin is not rightly recognized, another error arises, as it is wont to happen, that it is also not understood what grace is. Hence it came that they
1) Cf. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. IV, Col. 868, § 11.
were quite incapable of raising fearful consciences and comforting minds against the death and judgment of God. For how can he comfort who does not understand what grace is? Therefore, they fell into the foolish things of advising people who were in the throes of conscience to put on caps, to follow monastic rules, and similar foolish things by which, they thought, God could be reconciled. But these are obvious testimonies that they understood neither sin nor grace correctly and taught a rational theology based on reason without the word of God.
In this way they also taught about repentance, that people should gather up the transgressions of the whole past year, and grieve over them, and atone for them with atonements. But I ask you, does a judge not hang a thief because he hears that he has confessed the theft and sees that he is sorry? and these people think that God has done enough in this way, namely, if they thus invent a pain, if they dress differently, walk differently, eat differently. Therefore, the lecture on this psalm will be mainly useful for us to learn to understand these main points of our doctrine correctly, and to refute our opponents, who bring up such false things (impure) about the most important matters, in an erudite and convincing way. For in my own example I have experienced, when at times my conscience was in anguish, how their loose speeches could bring no help at all. However, I have very often exhorted the church to thank God for this immensely great gift of the Word and the pure teaching that, after this darkness has been dispelled, He has allowed the bright light of the Word to shine.
But now let us come to the Psalm. Here the doctrine of right repentance is presented to us. But there are two parts to right repentance: the recognition of sin and the recognition of grace, or, to use more familiar terms, the fear of God and the confidence in His mercy. David holds these two pieces before us in this prayer, as it were in a Lord's Prayer.
I have the paintings, so that they may look at me. For in the beginning of the psalm I see how he is in distress because of the knowledge of sin and the burden of his conscience, but at the end he comforts himself with confidence in the goodness of God and promises that he will also instruct others so that they will convert. Thus it is clear that the prophet, out of special counsel, wanted to leave behind in this psalm the right wisdom of divine religion, which is presented in right words and in the right sense, so that we might learn what is sin, what is grace, what is complete repentance. And of this kind are other psalms, such as the [32nd] psalm, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven," likewise [Ps. 130], "Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O Lord." For in the recital of this doctrine David is a master, but in such a way that in the use of this doctrine he remains a disciple with us, because all men, however much they are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, nevertheless remain disciples of the Word. They remain under the word and subject to the word, and experience that they can hardly draw a droplet from the great sea of the Holy Spirit.
I have given the content and the order of the psalm in a few words, now I must also speak of the title. But the history is known from the second book Samuelis, Cap. 12. Therefore, it is not doubtful to me that this title gave the school theologians the reason to understand the Psalm only from the person of David and from his sins. For David seems to speak only of his own person and of his own sin of adultery and death. But it is to be wondered at that they did not also teach that this Psalm should be prayed only for the sake of this one sin, but allowed it to be taken as an example and prayed in all other sins, as Paul says [1 Tim. 1, 16.The Lord Jesus showed all patience in me as an example to those who would believe in him," since not all persecutors of the church believed, but Christ showed His long-suffering, kindness and infinite mercy to Paul, so that others would not despair in sins. In this way they also have this psalm
as an example of prayer in all sins, although they understood it only from David's sin, which the title names.
But we must go further and not stop at the outward sins, but look at the whole nature of sin, the source and origin. For the psalm speaks of the whole sin or the root of sin, not only of the outward work, which grows like a fruit from the tree of sin and the root. For the fact that he complains that he was conceived in sins [v. 7] does not only refer to adultery, but to the whole nature, which is stained with sin, and yet I do not dislike the fact that David's deed is presented as an example. For in this deed one sees more sins than the one committed with Bathsheba. For to his adultery he added an exceedingly evil counsel. He pronounces the verdict [2 Sam. 12, 5. 6.] that the man who took the sheep from his poor neighbor was a child of death, while he himself did not see his sin, which he committed by killing Uriah (a man who was undoubtedly good and of great loyalty to his king), likewise by snatching his spouse from him, but still wanted to be considered a holy man who loved justice and righteousness. But this is called committing a twofold sin. Then not only did he instigate the shameful death of Uriah, but other Israelites also perished because of it. The name of the Lord was blasphemed, and so he went beyond the fifth and sixth commandments, and also sinned against the first, second and third commandments, and would not have left the fourth commandment, of obedience to parents, untransgressed, if it had stood in his way, as he desired adultery. And indeed God reproaches him especially for the sin of blasphemy [2 Sam. 12, 14.]: "You have blasphemed the children of Ammon." For by the defeat of his people the hearts of the Gentiles became hopeful against the people and the God of Israel, so that they cried out that the God of Israel was nothing, but the God of the Ammonites was God and had the victory. Therefore
David is a very special example, who thus acts in turn almost against all the holy ten commandments, and yet would not have recognized these sins if Nathan had not come, but he still wanted to be considered a righteous and holy king.
Explained in this way, the sin of David is a tremendous example of grace and sin, and truly, if the holy Scriptures had not described this history, who could ever have believed that such a holy man could have fallen so low? He had arranged the service of the tabernacle with the greatest care through the Holy Spirit, he had honored this service with exceedingly holy songs, he had waged very important wars with great fortune, God had pronounced that he was a chosen man, and he had the most glorious promise of the future Seed or Christ, whom the prophets called David's son and King David. What need is there of many words? No cause can be brought forward why he cannot rightly be compared to Moses and Samuel, and yet such a great man does not fall into just one small sin, but into several great grievous sins at the same time, and what is most dangerous, he falls into impenitence and great security, so that if Nathan had not come, David might have sinned against the Holy Spirit.
That such a great man, who is full of the Holy Spirit, who has the highest good works and divine wisdom, and is famous before others for the glorious gift of prophecy, should fall so shamefully, is an example to us, so that we may have comfort when we, hurried by sins, fall, or when our consciences are struck by the feeling of God's wrath and judgment. For here shines forth in a glorious example the goodness and mercy of God, who is ready to forgive sins and make us righteous, if only we do not put this lid on it, that we say we have not sinned; as Saul's history shows. Even though he had sinned against the word of the Lord, he would have been forgiven if he had not added the defense of sin and said, 1 Sam.
15:13: "I have fulfilled the word of the Lord." When he was admonished a second time, he stubbornly denied it, saying [v. 20], "I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me." Therefore he must hear from Samuel the sad judgment [v. 23], "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee, that thou shouldest not be king." As if to say: The Lord is indeed willing to forgive sins, but to those who recognize their sins and yet do not despair, but believe there is open to them the return to the God who promised forgiveness of sins to those who repent etc.
Therefore, although this psalm speaks of the whole nature of sin and its source, we do not exclude the history that the title indicates, namely the adultery and the death stroke committed against Uriah. For in these sins of his David sees, as in a mirror, the impurity of the whole nature, so that he thinks: Behold, I who have so well administered the kingdom (rempublicam), who have established the church and the service, and ruled the people with all diligence, Ps. 78, 72. how have I fallen into so great abominations, into so many and such great sins! Through one sin he comes to the knowledge of the whole sin, as if he wanted to say: If I, such a great man, have fallen in such a way, as it were, from heaven to hell, is not this fall a great proof to me and to other people that there is nothing good in my flesh? It is therefore great wisdom that we know that we are nothing but sin, and do not think so little of sin as the teachers of the pope, who describe sin in such a way that sin consists in words, works or thoughts contrary to the law of God. Rather, according to this psalm, describe it in such a way that sin is everything that is born from father and mother before man is old enough to be able to speak, do or think anything; but from this root (to say so) nothing good can grow out in the sight of God. Hence comes the division of sin. For first, the whole nature is corrupted by sin and subjected to eternal death; second, there is another or a subspecies of sin, which the man who has the
Law has, can recognize, namely if theft, adultery, murder etc. is committed. The civil rights also speak of this latter type, although not quite precisely.
That the school theologians therefore say that the natural powers (naturalia) are intact is a great blasphemy, although it is even a greater blasphemy that they judge the same of the devils. For if the natural powers were uncorrupted, why would one need Christ? Furthermore, if man by nature has a good will, if he has a right mind, to which the will, as they say, can be conformed by natural powers: what is it, after all, that was lost in paradise through sin and had to be restored by the Son of God alone? And yet, in our time, some who are considered teachers of theology (magistri theologi) defend this opinion that the natural powers are intact, that is, that the will is good; and if, through malice, it sometimes wills or thinks something other than what is right and good, they attribute this to the malice of men, not simply to the will as it is in itself. Against these dangerous opinions the heart must be fortified, so that the knowledge of grace is not obscured, which cannot possibly remain healthy and unharmed if we think of the nature of man in this way. Now this cannot be tolerated in any way in the church, that the school theologians teach that man can keep the law (facere) according to the essence of the doing (quoad substantiam facti), but not according to the intention of the one who is doing (quoad intentionem praecipientis). For according to the intention of the doer, not only the work is required, but also the state (habitus) in the heart, which is called grace. This is just as much as if I said that he who has healthy hands and feet can do his work properly, but this is prevented by the fact that he is not at the same time clothed with a black or white coat. In this way they say that God demands much more than the holy ten commandments, and is not satisfied if someone fulfills the ten commandments, but also demands the [above-mentioned] condition (habitum). All these tremendous
The things that are so bad have arisen from the fact that they did not know what sin is. But I am telling you this for the sake of seeing what a great difference there is between our true doctrine and the whimsical and lying doctrine of the pope.
For we say in this way: the natural powers are corrupted to the utmost. For when Adam was created, he had a right will and understanding; he heard right (integre), he saw right, he did earthly things in a right way for God's glory and in faith in Him. But afterwards, through the fall, the will, the understanding and all natural powers are so corrupted that man is no longer incorrupt (integer), but is perverted by sin, since he has lost the right judgment before God, and in all things has a perverse desire against the will of God and His law, since he no longer recognizes or loves God, but flees and fears Him, and believes that He is not God, that is, that He is not merciful and good, but a judge and a tyrant. From this loss of the knowledge of God arise innumerable other sins, so that people, when they are well, surely sin, like our adversaries, who persecute the Word trusting in their power. Furthermore, they believe that God has such a will that they themselves, through their diligence and devotion, can earn Him and reconcile Him with themselves. Hence the monasteries, the rules, the caps, the ropes, the masses, the pilgrimages and similar foolish services, which nature, deprived of the knowledge of God, has invented against the Word and without it. Are these not certain signs that the natural powers (concerning God and God's service) are completely corrupted? In the Old Testament, the same is proven by the various idolatries, the contempt for the prophets and the Word of God, and similar sins that God punishes the ungrateful people through the prophets.
But not even in civil matters can we claim that the natural powers are intact. For we see how great is the contempt for the laws, which after all command what is right, and how great the decay of good discipline, for the sake of which the laws and the authorities are ordained by God. Thus
a physician often deceives himself in the mixture of medicines and sometimes kills a sick person through his ignorance. Yes, the light of the eyes, the ears, and other limbs have all been afflicted by sin, and are no longer as healthy and unharmed as they were in Adam before sin. This corruption of the senses is evident; how, then, do you think it is with spiritual things? We are therefore turned away from God through sin, so that we do not imagine anything of God, but simply think of Him as an idol. Cicero and other great men in the regiment, if you look at the things, managed their office well, but if you look at their hearts, you will see that they were moved to it by nothing else than by ambition, as this famous saying testifies: Mentem tu sola peruris gloria [Honor, you alone pass through the heart]. But is this not also an obvious sign that the knowledge of God is lost, whom we should serve through obedience, but not seek our own honor? But now it is quite different, that we do not seek God's glory, but our own glory in God and all creatures. Thus, even those people who excelled in abstinence and temperance had honor as their primary goal in mind, to which they aimed, but not the will of God.
So this is our sin, that we are conceived and born in sins. David learned this from his own experience, therefore he describes it in such a way that he indicates that sin is a corruption of all powers, the inner and the outer, to such an extent that now no member performs its service as it did in paradise before the sin; but we have departed from God, have an evil conscience, are subject to sickness and death, as the words of the punishment indicate [Gen. 2:17]: "Whichever day thou eatest of this tree, thou shalt surely die." But we learn this from the word alone. But the heathen, who have not the word, have not rightly known these things, though they were in the midst of these evils. For they judged that death was a natural necessity, not a punishment of sin. Thus they cannot judge the whole nature of man.
because they do not know the source from which this misfortune has come upon the human race. The Psalm teaches about this knowledge of sin and the whole nature, and does not only treat the example (for which we are nevertheless grateful to the schools that they have still left it for us), but comprehends in itself the whole doctrine of the spiritual worship of God, of the knowledge of God, likewise of the knowledge of our nature, of sin, of grace etc. Therefore, we are to believe that this Psalm is a general teaching for the whole people of God, from the beginning when it was made until this day, by which David, or rather the Holy Spirit in David, instructs us in the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But he teaches both gloriously, for he shows first of all sin in an excellent way, and then also the knowledge of grace, without which despair comes.
Furthermore, this recognition of sin is not a play with thoughts (speculatio) or a thought invented by the mind, but a real feeling, a real experience and a very heavy struggle of the heart, as he testifies when he says [v. 5]: "For I recognize my iniquity," that is, I feel it, I experience it. For this is what the Hebrew word actually means; it does not mean, as the pope taught, to reflect on what one has done, what one has omitted, but to feel and experience the burden of God's wrath, and the recognition of sin is precisely the feeling of sin, and a sinful man is the sinner who is oppressed by his conscience, and anxiously sways back and forth (haeret) and does not know which way to turn. For we are not dealing here with the philosophical knowledge of man, which describes man in such a way that he is a living being endowed with reason etc. For this belongs to natural science and not to theology. Thus a jurist speaks of man in so far as he is an owner and master of his goods; the physician speaks of the healthy and sick man, but the theologian deals with the man who is a sinner. In theology, this is the essence (substantia) of man, and the theologian deals with this, that man may become aware of his nature corrupted by sins. If
this happens, despair follows, which pushes him into hell. For what shall man do before the face of the righteous God, who knows that the whole nature is oppressed by sin, and that there is nothing left on which he can rely, but has simply come to the point that he has nothing of righteousness? If this is felt in the heart in this way, then the other part of knowledge must follow, which must also not be in thought (non speculativa), but entirely in practice and in feeling, so that man may learn and hear what grace is, what justification is, that this is God's counsel over man who has fallen to hell in this way, that he has decided to lead man out again through Christ etc. Here the bowed down heart is straightened again, and according to this doctrine of grace holds fast to it with joy: If I, as far as I am concerned, am a sinner, yet in Christ I am not a sinner made unto us for righteousness, but I am righteous and justified through the righteous and justifying Christ, who for this cause is and is called a justifier, because he belongeth to sinners, and is sent unto sinners etc.
This is the twofold theological knowledge that David teaches in this Psalm, so that the content of this Psalm is: Of the theological knowledge of man, and of the knowledge of God, which is also a theological knowledge, so that no one may think about the majesty [of God], what God has done, and how powerful He is; likewise, so that one may not think of man as the master of his goods, as a lawyer does, or of the sick man, as a physician does, but of the man who is a sinner. For the actual object (subjectum) with which theology has to do is man, who is guilty of sin and lost, and God, who justifies and is the Savior of sinful man. Everything that is sought or discussed in theology apart from this subject is error and poison. For the whole of Scripture is intended to extol to us God's goodness, which He accomplishes through His Son, bringing back to righteousness and life the nature that has fallen into sin and condemnation. Here
Nothing is said about this bodily life, what food to eat, what works to do, how to govern one's family, how to cultivate the land etc.; all this was created before man in Paradise, and given into the hand of man, when God said [Gen. 1, 28.]: "Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, but here it is spoken of the future and eternal life, of God who justifies, restores and makes alive, and of man who has fallen from righteousness and life into sin and eternal death. Whoever follows this point of view (scopum) when reading the holy scriptures, will read the holy things with benefit.
Therefore, this theological knowledge is necessary so that man may know himself, that is, so that he may know, feel and experience that he is guilty of sin and condemned to death, but also so that he may know and experience the opposite, that it is God who makes such a man righteous and is a savior to him who thus knows himself. Let us leave the care of other people who do not recognize their sins to the legal scholars, physicians and parents. For these speak of man in a different way than a theologian. Now I will move on to the Psalm.
V. 3. God, be merciful to me according to your goodness, and blot out my sins according to your great mercy.
Here you are to remember in the beginning that you may not think that David speaks like a Turk (Mahometistam) or some heathen of God, because he calls God and does not mention Christ. For David speaks to the God of his fathers, or to the God who made the promise. For the people of Israel did not have a God conceived in and of itself (Deum absolute speculatum), so that I say, as the coarse people of the monks go up to heaven with their mental games, and think of God without any relation (absolute). This absolute God must be fled by all who do not want to be lost, because human nature and the absolute God (for the sake of teaching, we use this be-
The two names (the "God" and the "God") are the most bitter enemies among themselves, and it cannot be otherwise than that the weak humanity is crushed by such a great majesty, as the Scripture reminds us several times. Therefore, no one understands it as if David were speaking to the absolute God, but he is speaking to God, who is clothed and clothed with His words and promises, so that Christ will not be excluded from the name of God, about which God made the promise to Adam and the other patriarchs. This God, who is not only, but clothed and revealed by his word, we must take hold of, will certainly suppress the despair of lins.
And it is necessary to make this distinction between the prophets, who speak with God, and the pagans. For the pagans speak to God without the Word and the promises, according to the thoughts of their hearts, but the prophets speak to God, who is dressed in His promises and His Word and has revealed Himself through them. This God, who is dressed in such a kindly appearance and, that I may say, in such a lovely mantle, namely with His promises, can be grasped and looked upon by us with joy and confidence, while the absolute God, on the other hand, is like a brazen wall against which we cannot run without falling into ruin. Therefore, the devil goes about day and night to bring us to the point where we run up against the mere God, to make us forget the promises and the good deeds that he has shown in Christ, and to make us think of God and the judgment of God. When this happens, we are immediately lost and fall into despair. In this way, David does not speak to the absolute God, but he speaks to the God of his fathers, that is, to the God whose promises he knows and whose mercy and grace he has felt. Therefore, when a Turk, a hypocrite, or a monk says, "God, have mercy on me," this is just as much as if he said nothing, because he does not take hold of God, whom he calls, disguised in such a shell or appearance that is adapted to us, but takes hold of God and attacks him in his absolute power, where necessarily
Despair follows and Lucifer's fall from heaven to hell. This is the reason why the prophets based their prayers so firmly on the promises of God, because the promises include Christ and do not make God a judge or our enemy, but a kind and favorable God who wants to restore the damned to life and make them blessed.
I wanted to remind this first because of other passages of the prophets. After that, however, this is also to be considered, how it is true that he says: "Have mercy on me. For if one wants to look at the persons here, God and the sinful David, who have to do with each other, then the greatest disparity and an insoluble contradiction comes to light. For is it not the opinion of all nature, is it not the judgment of all men, that God hates sin? As John 9:31, the blind man says: "We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him." Similarly, in the holy Ten Commandments it is said: "I am a zealous God"; indeed, in the whole of Moses there is almost nothing but threats against the wicked and disobedient, and with the law of Moses there is the opinion of nature, which we cannot in any way discard. For this is the judgment of all men: You are a sinner, but God is just, so he hates you, so he will impose punishments, so he will not hear you. It is impossible that the whole of nature could deny this conclusion. Therefore, the holy fathers who wrote about the Psalms generally interpreted the words "righteous God" to mean that he justly repays and punishes, but not that he justifies. Therefore, it happened to me, when I was a young man, that I hated this naming of God, and from that ingrained habit (xxxx) or way it comes that even today I am as it were horrified when I hear that God is called just. So great is the power of ungodly teaching when hearts are poisoned with it from youth. And yet almost all the old teachers interpret it in this way.
But if God is just in such a way,
488 iZ. xix, 2^-28. Interpretation of the 51st Psalm. Ps. 51, 3. w. v, im-io". 489
that he punishes righteously or repays according to merit, who then can stand before this righteous God? For we are all sinners and bring to God a just cause to inflict punishment upon us. Away, far away from here with such justice and such a righteous God, who will devour us all like a consuming fire! But because God sent Christ as Savior, He truly does not want to be just in this way, that He punishes according to merit, but He wants to be and be called so just that He justifies and has mercy on those who recognize their sins. Therefore, for David, who is a sinner, to say, "God, have mercy on me," is just as if he were speaking against the holy Ten Commandments, in which God commands that man not be a sinner, and threatens punishment to sinners. For how do "sinner" and "God" rhyme with each other, who is righteous, true and an adversary and enemy of sinners, who by His nature cannot suffer sins? And yet David, who afterwards says [v. 5.], "I know my iniquity," likewise, "My sin is ever before me,"-this David, I say, calls upon God, saying, "Be merciful to me." That is, in truth, to connect two incompatible things (incompatibilia), as they say, with each other. So David shows immediately in the beginning the art and wisdom which is higher than the wisdom of the holy ten commandments, and a truly heavenly wisdom which neither the law teaches, nor reason can conceive or understand without the Holy Spirit.
For nature in general thinks so and speaks so among itself: I dare not raise my eyes to heaven, but am terrified by the sight of God. For I know both that I am a sinner and that God hates sins; can I therefore pray? Here indeed begins a very difficult struggle. For either the heart, which is frightened because of the consciousness of sin, thinks that prayer must be postponed until (that I say) it finds some worthiness in itself, or it looks around for human advice and sophistical consolations, so that man thinks beforehand that he wants to do enough, so that with some confidence in his own worthiness he may be able to pray.
and say, "God, have mercy on me." This is constantly the opinion of our nature, but it is exceedingly harmful. For hearts base themselves on the confidence of their own righteousness, and hold that God can be propitiated by our works. This is a blasphemous presumption on one's own merits against the merit of Christ; then it follows, because we are born in sins, that we will never pray unless we want to pray until we feel that we are clean from all sins.
Therefore, one must shake off this blasphemous thought, and in the sins themselves, or to express it more significantly, in the midst of the sea of sins, make use of this means, which David uses here, so that prayer will not be postponed. For what is the use of the word "be merciful" if those who pray are pure and have no need of mercy? But, as I have said, this is a very hard struggle, that in the midst of feeling one's sins, one may encourage the heart to cry out to God, "Be merciful to me." Sometimes I, who teach this and command others, have learned from my own example that praying is almost the most difficult work of all. Therefore, I do not pretend to be a master in this work, but I confess that I have often, in the greatest dangers, only coldly uttered these words: "God, have mercy on me," because I took offense at my unworthiness. And yet, the Holy Spirit, who reproached me, finally prevailed: However you may be, you must surely pray. For God wants to be asked and heard, not for the sake of your worthiness, but for the sake of His mercy.
Therefore, in order for this to be properly understood, that God hates sinners and loves the righteous, a distinction must be made between a sinner who feels his sins and a sinner who does not feel his sins. God does not want the prayer of a sinner who does not feel his sins, because he does not understand nor want what he prays. Thus, a monk who lives in his superstition often chants and murmurs these words, "GOtt, have mercy on me," but because he has confidence in his
If he lives his own righteousness and does not feel the impurity of his heart, he only says the syllables; he does not understand or desire the matter itself. Moreover, he adds such things that are contrary to his prayer. He asks to be forgiven, he asks for mercy, and in the meantime he himself seeks atonement for sin and satisfaction for it, sometimes in this way, sometimes in that way. Doesn't this really mean publicly mocking God? It is just as if a beggar made a great clamor and asked for alms with impetuous words, and if someone offered him alms, he would boast of his wealth, that is, his beggary, and clearly show that he does not need alms.
Thus the enemies of the Gospel count the words, but not only do they not understand the matter, but in fact they do the opposite, in that they perform various religious services and seek the forgiveness of sins through their ungodly masses, pilgrimages, invocation of the saints etc. Such sinners, who are sinners and yet do not feel that they are sinners, but pass through with an insolent forehead, justify themselves, pursue the word of God etc., - Such, I say, are to be kept far from all mercy, and are to be presented with sayings of wrath in which God threatens not mercy but eternal punishment, as is the saying in the first commandment: "I am a zealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Examples of wrath must also be held up to them, such as the fall of Sodom, the coming of the flood upon all flesh, the scattering of the holy people, and other terrifying images of God's judgment and wrath that are found in Scripture, so that sinners who are unreasonable and impenitent may come to self-knowledge and earnestly begin to implore God for His mercy. For these are the ones of whom it is said: God hates sinners, God does not hear sinners etc.
The other sinners are those who feel their sins and the wrath of God and are afraid of God's face. These seize the threats held forth in the word of God and apply them to themselves, and through the terrifying examples of the divine
When they are struck in the heart with the hammer of God's wrath, they fear the same punishments for themselves because of their sins. When the heart in this terror is as it were crushed with the hammer of the law and of the judgment of God in such a way, then the right place, time and opportunity is to seize this divine wisdom, that the heart may align itself and certainly hold that God, when He is angry with sinners, is angry only with those who are hard and without understanding; but of those who feel the burden of their sins, let the word be said [Ps. 147, 11.]: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him." For then enough is directed by the law, and those thunderbolts of the angry God must cease, and the light of mercy shine, which is presented to us in the word of God, that the Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, that God does not despise a troubled and bruised heart [Ps. 51:19], that His ears should be open [Ps. 10:17], and His eyes should be upon the poor, that He should lift him up out of the mire [Ps. 113:7], that He should take care of the smoldering wick, and make whole the bruised reed etc. [Isa. 42:3.] For these are the exceedingly tender little worm (as Jerome's translation of 2 Sam. 23:8 [Vulg.] says of David, though it is not in the Hebrew) and the wavering little flower, which is moved and trembles at a slight breeze of the divine threat, while those others, the unintelligent sinners, in the greatest storms stand like iron mountains unmoved at every preaching of repentance. Therefore, in this terror of consciences, one must work toward this one thing alone, that the hearts thus frightened do not judge according to their nature and feeling, because then they would fall into despair, but just as there are different remedies for the diseases that are different according to their nature, so these frightened ones must be raised up with the words of grace, just as those hard people must be crushed with the iron scepter.
The pope with his teachers cannot advise anything salutary in such distresses of the conscience, as I have experienced in my own example. For all judge according to nature, which says: I am a sinner, but God is righteous, because-
Here, the same punishment awaits me as the other sinners. Here nature resists and cannot see the rays of divine mercy in the mists of divine wrath. But here our right theology comes and teaches that then, when the hearts are so frightened, the one part of the theology is directed, which makes use of the law and the threats of the law, in order that the sinner may at first recognize himself, and take off the security in which we all live by nature, before this wrath is revealed. But we must not stop there, but go on to know the other part of theology, in which the whole knowledge of theology is fulfilled, that God gives grace to the humble Peter 5:5]. [This true theology teaches that those threats and terrifying examples refer to the hardened and secure sinners; to them God is a zealous God and a consuming fire; but that those bruised and terrified are the people of grace, whose wounds the good shepherd wants to bind up and heal, who laid down his life for the sheep. Therefore, such people should not give room to the thoughts of their heart that advise them that one should not pray for the sake of sins, that there is no mercy to hope for, but one should cry out with David from a confident heart: "God, be merciful to me," because God is pleased with such people.
This theology of this psalm is unknown to the schools of the papists. For behold here David, who breaks into these words with his mouth wide open: "God, be merciful to me," and thus connects things that are by their nature quite unequal, God and the sinner, the righteous and the unrighteous. But the immense mountain of divine wrath that so separates God and David, he transcends in faith in mercy, and unites himself with God. Now this is what our theology adds to the law. For to call God by name and to say, "Be merciful," is not difficult; but to add the little word "me" is indeed what is diligently inculcated in the Gospel. And yet we experience how difficult it is for us to do this. For this "me" hinders almost all of our prayers, while there it is
against which should be some cause and the highest occasion for prayer.
Therefore we must first of all learn the example, that we look right at the pronoun "me", and think that it denotes a sinner, as he afterwards clearly interprets it, when he says [v. 7]: "I am conceived in sins." For there he confesses that this "me" is an exceedingly great sinner. Therefore we too should learn this, so that those thoughts which come in heaps and want to hinder us from prayer, may incite us more to cry out, as we read of the blind man in the Gospel [Marc. 10, 46.], who, being threatened to be silent, cried out much more. For we experience in ourselves, that I say so, that great heap of thoughts which reproaches us: Why do you want to pray? Do you not know who you are and who God is? This crowd of thoughts is very burdensome to the spirit, and hinders very many; but one must despise them, and pray for the very reason that seems to hold us back from praying, so that we may, as it were, force our way through that crowd to Christ and ask him for mercy. Those who do this pray rightly, but it really requires a great spiritual struggle. For I have learned from my own experience that these thoughts have very often caused me to lose my prayer. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I have come to the realization that I did not give way to the devil who confronted me with his arrows, but snatched them from him by the power of the Spirit, and turned my weapons against the enemy himself, saying: "You deter me from prayer for this reason, because I am a sinner. But I see that for this one cause I must pray first of all, because I am a very great sinner and in need of mercy.
The same must be done even in the heat of temptations, when hearts are challenged either with thoughts of unchastity or vengeance. Under such circumstances, when someone exhorts to prayer, the heart immediately turns away its impurity, as if there could be no place for prayer with these impure thoughts. On the other hand, you argue here that it is by no means necessary to wait for the end of the temptation until the spirits are satisfied.
You should not think that the thoughts of unchastity or some other vice have completely disappeared from your heart. But just when you feel that the temptation is most intense and you are least ready to pray, go to a place where you are alone and pray the Lord's Prayer or anything you can say against the devil and his temptation, and you will feel that the temptation will subside and Satan will flee.
Now if someone thinks that one must postpone prayer until the heart is cleansed of impure thoughts, he is doing nothing other than helping the devil, who is already all too powerful, with his wisdom and strength. But this is a pagan and sophistical way of worshipping God (religio), yes, a doctrine of the devil, against which the example and teaching of this Psalm must be held, in which we see that David, in the face of all his impurity and in his extraordinary sin of the flesh, does not flee from God, as Peter foolishly said in the ships [Luc. 5, 8.], "O Lord, go out from me, I am a sinful man," but, trusting in mercy, breaks forth into prayer, saying, "O Lord, though I be a sinner as I am, yet be merciful to me! For since our hearts feel sin in truth, we must therefore all the more come before God with prayer. Before we should have fled, before we should have feared God, when we were in danger of falling into sin; after the fall, we must hope for forgiveness and ask for it, but not remain with thoughts of anger and fear. Now the devil deals with reversing this order, so that when committing sins we are safe and without fear of God, and after committing them we remain in fear, without hope and trust in mercy.
But look at David. As I have said, he clearly takes refuge in mercy and says: "God, be merciful to me," as if he wanted to say: I know that I am evil and a sinner, but that you are just. That I now get up again and dare to pray, I do this entirely in confidence in your word and your promises, because I know.
that you are not a God of the Turks (Mahometistarum) or of the monks, but the God of our fathers, who promised that you would save sinners; not sinners as such, but sorrowful (sensitivos) sinners who recognize their sins and feel that they are sinners etc. Therefore, we too should dare to say: "God, have mercy on me", I am a sinner, challenged by my flesh and blood, by anger and hatred, but my confidence is in your mercy and goodness, which you have promised to those who thirst for righteousness etc.
This cannot be said in words, but we must take into account our own experience, which teaches us how much effort it takes to get over this mountain (that I say so) of our own unworthiness and sins, which is between God and us when we want to pray. Although it is here that the weakness of faith is most felt, we must also take this comfort that we are not alone when we say, "God, have mercy on me," but that the Holy Spirit speaks and prays the same thing with us in our hearts, with inexpressible groaning. Now, just as we neither see nor fully understand this groaning, so God sees it most clearly and understands it completely, since He is also a Spirit. Therefore, trusting in this representative [Rom. 8, 26.], we must resist the devil even in the midst of the waves of strife or temptations and say: If I am a sinner, what is the matter? God is merciful. If I am unskilled in praying because of my sins, well, I will not become more skilled. For, let it be lamented to God, I am more than skilled at praying, for I am an exceedingly great sinner.
This is the teaching of this passage, that sensitive sinners (sensitivi peccatores, that I call them so for the sake of teaching) should be confident and have a good confidence, and that the righteous God and the sinful man must be united with each other, so that we may not be so afraid of God in sins that we could not also sing with David: "Be merciful." But we should not let the pronoun "me" or the noun "God" hinder us from
In the middle of the psalm, the verb "be merciful" should be placed, through which God and sinful man are reconciled. If this does not happen, we will not only never be able to sing this psalm properly, but also never be able to pray the Lord's Prayer properly, because this will not happen in this life, that we are at the same time clean from all sins. For even if there are no actual sins (actualia, as they are called), which is very rare, there will still be original sin. But since we are always in sins, we must also always pray, as indeed the hearts of Christians pray at every moment, since they see their unworthiness every moment and desire that it be forgiven them. These constant sighs of a Christian heart are disturbed and covered by thoughts, sometimes also by business, so that we do not always see them. This, therefore, is in truth a theological virtue, that we cover sin in this way by prayer, and when we feel our weakness, take refuge in this chant: "God, have mercy on me."
But after we have said how the righteous God and the sinful man must be united with each other, it must also be remembered that we must consider the word "be merciful" correctly. For if we consider this carefully, it follows with necessity that we believe that our whole life is decided and situated in the bosom of God's mercy. For since we all belong to "Me," that is, since we are sinners, it follows obviously and with necessary consequence that everything we are and live comes from pure grace, not from our righteousness or merit. How then, you will say, must not the holy ten commandments be kept? But if they are kept, is not that righteousness? I answer: Let us fulfill and keep the ten commandments, but with a great (larga), that is, truly evangelical dispensation or discernment, because we have received only the firstfruits of the Spirit, and the groaning of the Spirit remains in the heart, likewise our flesh with its lusts and desires, that is, the whole tree with its fruits also remains. This is the reason why the
ten commandments can never be completely fulfilled; otherwise, if the ten commandments could be fulfilled without fail, what need would there be of the righteousness for which David asks by the word "be gracious," that is, what need would there be of imputation? Now, however, since even in the saints the remnants of sin still remain and have not yet been completely killed, both things happen, that through the spirit that exists in us we resist sin and obey the ten commandments, and yet, driven to sin by the flesh and the devil, hope for the forgiveness of sins.
Thus under the law it was an obedience to sacrifice, and yet the prophet says afterward [v. 18.], "Sacrifices and burnt offerings are not pleasing to thee." For they were sacrifices in such a way that nevertheless mercy would not be taken away. In the same way we do the law through the Holy Spirit, and yet the word remains, "Be merciful," that is, we remain sinners and need forgiveness of sins by grace through the merit of Christ. So our whole life until death is mercy, and yet Christians perform obedience to the law, but imperfectly, because of the sin that dwells within us. Therefore, we too must learn this, that we may well extend the word "be merciful", not only to the sins of the deed, but to all the benefits of God: namely, that we are righteous through the merit of others, that we have God as our Father, that God the Father loves sinners who feel their sins (sensitivos), in short, that our whole life is mercy, because our whole life is sin, and cannot be opposed to the judgment or wrath of God.
Therefore, David does not merely say, "God, be merciful to me," but adds, "According to your great mercy," and is silent about all merit and all righteousness of works. He does not say, as he did in the Gospel sLuc. 18, 12], "I fast twice a week"; he does not say, "Be merciful to me according to the merit which I have in law or in equity (condigni aut congrui). For what has this to do with mercy? For the monks, but not for David, it is fitting that
they boast of their merit and other things, as the brother of a certain king is said to have said to God in the hour of his death: Keep to me what you have promised me, for I have done against you what you have commanded. I do not want that to be my word in my last hour. For one must speak quite differently [Ps. 143, 2.], "O Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant." Likewise [Ps. 51:3], "Blot out my sin." For what merit can we boast of, that we should have acquired before God this, as it seems, very small boon, that He has preserved healthy eyes for us? David is silent about his righteousness and merit, and wants God to act according to His great mercy. In this way, he not only disassociates himself from his own righteousness, but also from the wrath of God, and keeps no other image before his eyes than the merciful, joyful and laughing God. For he firmly believes that God has a great mercy, for whose sake he neither wants nor thinks of anything else but forgiveness and benevolence.
This image of the gracious and merciful God is a vivifying image with which the prophet covers the pronoun "me" and throws the anger into the corner, saying: God is gracious. This is not the theology of reason, which persuades in sins to despair, but David feels his sin and the wrath of God, and yet says, "God, be gracious to me." Reason does not know this doctrine, but the holy Scriptures teach it, as you see in the first verse of this Psalm. For each and every word is set forth loud and blameless, but they are words of the Spirit that have life, from which spiritual people learn to make a distinction between sinner and sinner, between GOtt and GOtt, and also learn to reconcile the wrath of GOtt or the angry GOtt with sinful man. But, you will say, this is not so for the sake of it, that I, instructed by your word in such a way, learn to think these things with myself in this way. Answer: You must firmly believe that as you believe, so shall it be done unto you, for this faith is not taken from your imaginings, but is in the
God's word. Therefore, if you can grasp this and hold on to it, that God is pleased with those who fear Him, then in truth it will happen to you. If you do not grasp it, then you are not under the pleasure, but under the wrath of God, as Christ says [Matth. 8, 13.], "As you believe, so shall it be done to you." But the thought of the wrath of God is in itself false, because God promises mercy, and yet such a false thought becomes true for its own sake, because you believe it to be true. On the other hand, the other thought, that God is favorable to sinners who feel their sins, is and remains absolutely true. Therefore, it is nothing for you to think that it will not be so for the sake of believing so. Rather, hold that the thing that is certain and true in itself becomes even more certain and true when you believe this way, just as when you believe that God is angry, you certainly have Him as an angry God and as an enemy. But this happens through your devilish, idolatrous and perverse thoughts, because God is served in this way when one fears Him and takes hold of Christ, in whom He offers us His mercy.
This is the right theology of the true God and the true worship. The false theology is that God is angry with those who recognize their sins. For such a God is neither in heaven nor anywhere, but this is an idol of a wrong heart. For the true God says [Ezek. 33, 11.], "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his nature and live." This is also confirmed here by the example and prayer of David, and in the beginning we reminded that one should not merely look at the example of David here, but should make the Psalm a general doctrine, which refers par excellence to all men without all exception, as the epistle to the Romans [Cap. 3, 4.] cites the saying [Ps. 116, 11.] quite generally: "All men are liars," likewise [Rom. 11, 32.], "God hath concluded all under sin, that he might have mercy on all." In this way we have said of David that he was not alone in his sin,
but the death and life of the whole human race. Therefore, God is such a God to all people as He was to David, that is, who forgives sin and is merciful to all who ask for mercy and recognize their sins.
Here it belongs that he wanted to use this repetition or rather extension, that he adds: "And blot out my sins according to your great mercy." Previously he asked that God, according to His goodness, would turn away his eyes from his sins; in this offense he deals with the same matter, and with greater earnestness and spirit. For he grasps the God who made the promise, and turns to mercy in such a way that he looks at it with all his heart, which he would not have been able to do if he had not, by the help of the Spirit, grasped God as the one who made the promise, and knew that with God there was still a hope of forgiveness of sins left for sinners, as he says in another Psalm [Ps. 130:4]: "With thee is forgiveness, that one may fear thee." He does not look for pardons, he does not go into a corner to prepare himself for grace in it, but seeks straightly for the face of God and for His mercy, which is not known to him from his own heart, not by the inspiration of his right reason (for reason flees from God in sins, and the conscience cannot rise to the light that it believes there is still mercy, grace and favor with God for sinners), but mercy is known to him from the promises that he sees interspersed everywhere, also in the law and the holy ten commandments. For even though God threatens the sinners there, He still keeps the name of a merciful God [Ex. 34:6]. The same testifies the promises that happened to Adam, Abraham etc.
We must do the same in our temptations, so that as often as our conscience bites and torments us because of our sins, we simply turn our minds away from sin and go to the bosom of God, which is called grace and mercy, and not at all to the bosom of God.
doubt that he will show grace and mercy to wretched and afflicted sinners, as he will execute his wrath and judgment against hardened sinners. This is the true theology, which is also clearly indicated by this verse of the Psalm, since it says: "Blot out my sins according to thy great mercy."
The word 21. is used of a special and constant amount, as we also say in German: "groß Geld" for a lot of money and money in large numbers (numerosa). Then the word XXX is also known. Paul often translates it by Wohlthat or εύε^*- γεσία, as I Tim. 6, 2. where he speaks to the servants that they should hold their masters in honor. He adds the cause, "because they," he says, "are partakers of the benefit of the gospel." At times he translates it by love. The Greek interpreter has expressed it by mercy (misericordia), as in the passage in Hosea [Hos. 6, 6. Vulg.], "I delight in mercy, and not in sacrifice," that is, that you love one another, that you do good to others, and so he translates here: "God, be merciful to me according to your great mercy" (magnam misericordiam). The other word XXX means to put on a mild sense, not to want to look at the sin of another, but to forgive, to be lenient etc., as in this passage [Ex. 33, 19.]: "Weß ich mich erbarme, deß erbarme ich mich," that is, I will pardon, forgive the sin. Hence comes the noun XXXX, which our Latin interpreter translates by miseratio. This belongs to the Hebrew grammar, in which those who do not understand it well must be instructed.
But now see how beautifully David connects these two pieces, first, that God is merciful, that is, that He benefits us freely without our merit, and second, that He gives us the forgiveness of sins, which we accept in faith through the Holy Spirit, and gives the promises; for if God does not forgive us sin in vain, then no satisfaction, no remedy remains for us. Not by our fasting, not by other works, not by the angels, nor by any other creature can salvation come to us, but the only salvation is,
that we take refuge in the mercy of God, that we seek God's mercy and forgiveness, that He will not look at our sins and transgressions, but will close our eyes and deal with us according to His goodness and mercy. For if God does not do this, we are not worthy that He should let us live even one hour, give us only one morsel of bread etc.
But also here we learn that it is a very great art and extremely difficult to connect these two pieces with each other in such a way, and to fix the eyes only on the goodness and mercy. For these words do not grow in our house, but are brought down from heaven by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, these thorns grow in our hearts: I am a sinner, God is just and is angry with me who am a sinner. These thorns cannot be plucked out by the conscience, it cannot place the sinner before the gracious and forgiving God; this is the gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is not in our free will or in our powers. For when man is without the Holy Spirit, hearts either harden in their sins, or they despair; but both are contrary to the will of God. Therefore, David, through the Holy Spirit, navigates through the midst of this diabolical Scylla and Charybdis, and casts himself securely on the exceedingly great and infinite mercy of God, saying: "Much and great is your mercy, O Lord, but I am a sinner, since I have lived evil, live evil, and will live evil as long as I live. Therefore, if I want to come before you, it is necessary that I bring other thoughts than my heart gives me. Therefore I confess my sin before you, for it is much (as he says in the 32nd Psalm, v. 5). But I confess my sin in such a way that I also confess your goodness, and your mercy, which is immeasurably greater than my sin, and likewise your righteousness, by which you justify sinners, which is infinitely greater than that I should despair, as he says [Vulg.], "According to the multitude of your mercies." But because he says that it is a great multitude of mercies, he flatly denies that both he and other people have any
Holiness, and does not want to know anything about it. For how could the multitude of mercies and human holiness coexist? Therefore, if there is so much mercy, there is no holiness among us, and it is in truth a fictitious expression when one calls a man holy, just as it is a fictitious expression when one says that God fell into sin, because this cannot take place in reality.
Therefore, we must abandon the all-too-common 1) and by long use ingrained error of calling Jerome holy and Paul etc. holy after the manner of the monks, because they are sinners in themselves, and God alone is holy, as the church sings. But those whom we call holy are made holy by an alien holiness, through Christ; that is a holiness which comes from the mercy freely given by grace. In this holiness the whole congregation of believers stands, and there is no difference. For as Peter is holy, so am I holy. But as I am holy, so also the thief at the right hand of Christ is holy, and it does not prevent Peter and Paul from having accomplished greater things than I or you. For on both sides we are sinners by nature, and in need of kindness and mercy. Although the apostles had fewer outward sins, yet they often felt in their hearts presumption, often weariness, often thoughts of despair, often denial of God, and similar infirmities of human weakness, to such an extent that nothing holy, nothing good, can be seen in man, as the Psalm says [Ps. 53:3, 4]: "God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, and there is none that doeth good, not even one." If there are no good people among the children of men, where could they be elsewhere?
Therefore we will be silent about holiness and saints, but we know that those are made holy who turn sinners of no understanding into sinners of understanding, who are not presumptuous because of their righteousness, since it is nothing, but begin an enlightened life.
1) The Erlanger has retained minus in the text, although this is marked as a printing error in the 1539 edition, instead of: niinis.
We must have a sincere heart, so that they recognize themselves and God, that everything that is ours is evil in the sight of God, and that we are forgiven by grace in vain through the bestowal of mercy. It is necessary for us and all the saints to take refuge in this bosom, or we will inevitably be condemned. But for this reason God sent His Son to reveal this mercy to the world and to make known this doctrine, of which human hearts and reason know nothing; and David presents it to us here, confessing his sins, yet confessing that mercy is greater.
Therefore, all people should sing this verse with David and recognize that they are sinners, but that God is just, that is, merciful. This confession is a sacrifice pleasing and pleasant to God, to which David invites us. For he wants this to be a common teaching for the whole world, so that when the devil or our conscience accuses us of our sins, we may freely confess our sin, that we are in many and great sins, but do not despair because of it. For even though our sins are many and great, we are taught here that the mercy of God is also many and great. In this way all the saints have defended themselves against Satan, so that even though they were sinners, they were sanctified by this knowledge, as Isaiah says [Cap. 53, 11]: The knowledge of Christ will make many righteous.
Once we have heard this, we think it is easy and will soon be learned. But truly this takes effort, this is work, that we only hold on to this to some extent in the challenge. For this is not a quarrel about trivial things (de lana caprina), but it is about the danger of eternal death, and we fight because of our souls' blessedness. Furthermore, we learn that not only our conscience cries out against us, but also the devil gives us thoughts of death because of the sins of which we are aware. Therefore, to say that one is a sinner, and yet not despair, is entirely a divine virtue. But we do not attain to it in this way, if we, like our adversaries, belittle sin, but we must do this, that we, like the
sin by its nature is exceedingly great and grievous, so also believe that grace or mercy is immeasurable and inexhaustible, as David boasts in a loud voice (pleno ore): "Blot out my sin according to thy great mercy."
And the word "erase", which the prophet uses here, and Paul Col. 2, 14. also serves this purpose: "He has erased the handwriting that was against us." Likewise Peter Apost. 3:19: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." For the word "blot out" shows that the sins are written in our conscience with the pen of the law, and the prophet wishes, as the writing on a tablet is wiped out, so the memory of the sin would also be wiped out in his heart and in the eyes of God, but in such a way that the grace or gratitude is not lost, because the guilt is forgiven in such a way that we should not forget the grace, as Peter [2 Petr. 1:9] of those who forget the forgiveness of old sins and heap up new sins through unbelief and ingratitude, as we see today that the world is full of contempt for the Gospel and all kinds of licentiousness. In such people, sin is not blotted out but buried deeper. Therefore, David summarizes both here, that the sin is blotted out, and the Holy Spirit is given, through which he can resist the sin. But since he asks only for the blotting out, it is evident how we are justified, namely, only through the imputation of righteousness, since sins are blotted out by grace, and we are accepted by grace for Christ's sake. But compare with this the dreams of the sophists and school theologians, and you will see how inconsistently they taught about the forgiveness of sins and about righteousness.
V. 4. Wash me well from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
So far he has asked for mercy and forgiveness of sins or forbearance, that God would be favorable to him and to all of us, forgiving and eradicating sin according to His mercy. For this is the first part or the first stage after the knowledge of sin, that one may ask for mercy and forgiveness.
that one may have a favorable God who does us good, so that we may be in the bosom of God's mercy and firmly trust in the certain promises given to us by the grace of God. As we have these promises in baptism, so they [the Old Testament believers] had them in the promised Christ. But in this verse, where he asks that he may be washed from his sins, he holds out to us a different distinction of sin than we indicated above. For above we divided sin into sensible sin (sensibile, that I say so) and non-sensible, just as we made two kinds of sinners, sensible sinners and senseless sinners (sensatos et insensatos), or true sinners and saints or hypocrites, who obdurately and surely do not feel their sin. Here he shows that perceived sin is also twofold, or treated in twofold ways. For there is a sin that is forgiven by grace, and there is a sin that is still left in the flesh. The sin that is forgiven by grace is that God will not forsake us for Christ's sake, however great sinners we are, but that He will mercifully forbear with us who are lost and corrupted by sin.
We are not satisfied with the fact that we have been forgiven this sin by grace, because we fall into sins again out of weakness. Therefore, we would like not only to be forgiven of sin, but also to have it completely eradicated. For sin, as Augustine says, remains in fact (actu), but in reckoning (reatu) it is gone, that is, the thing itself, which in truth is sin and has been forgiven and tolerated by God, still remains in the flesh and is not yet completely dead. Admittedly, through Christ, as it says in the first book of Moses [Cap. 3, 15], the serpent's head has been crushed, but with its tongue it still flickers and with its tail it threatens to bite the heel. For since the grace and mercy of God reigns over us, sin cannot condemn us, it cannot make God angry against us, and yet the remnants of sin remain in the justified, as, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil.
Lust and other vices, which the prophet sees, as it were, as remaining yeasts or planting places (seminaria) in himself. And just as he asked above for forgiveness of sins in general, so he asks here for the cleansing of these remnants or their eradication.
This, therefore, is the second part of this petition, which, as I have said, indicates to us the second distinction of sin, that God wants to eradicate sins as far as the remission of guilt and the power of sin itself are concerned, not as far as the cause or nature (naturam) of sin is concerned. For the power of sin is that it accuses, condemns, bites, woes, leaves no peace to the heart, reproaches that God is angry, threatens hell etc. This power of sin is taken away in vain by the mercy of grace, and yet true remnants of this poison still remain. Therefore it is both true that no Christian has sin, and that every, Christian has sin. From this arises the distinction that among Christians there is a twofold sin, the forgiven sin and the remaining sin, which must be eradicated and washed away. The forgiven sin is the one that is trampled underfoot by trusting in mercy, so that it cannot condemn or accuse; and yet, because of our flesh, it still sprouts again and strives (militates) in our flesh to bring forth the same fruits as before, so that we may be secure, ungrateful, without knowledge of God, as we were before. These are efforts of the remnants of sin in us, which the saints also feel, but through the Holy Spirit they do not let them have their way.
Therefore, a Christian, after he is justified by faith or has received the forgiveness of sins, must not be so sure as if he were completely clean from all sins, but only then is he subject to the constant struggle with the remnants of sin, from which the prophet here desires to be washed. He is indeed righteous and holy through external or extrinsic holiness (to use this expression extrinseca sanctitas for the sake of teaching), that is, he is righteous through the mercy and grace of God. This mercy and grace is not something in the human being, it is not a ver-.
It is not a habitus or a quality in the heart, but it is a benefit of God given to us through our own knowledge of the gospel, that we know or believe that our sin is forgiven us through Christ's grace and merit, and that for Christ's sake we hope for mercy and many great mercies, as the prophet says here. But is not this righteousness an alien righteousness? for it consists wholly in the forbearance of another, and is a fair gift of God, who has mercy and is gracious for Christ's sake.
This is made clear by a simile. If someone at the court of a prince deserves the death penalty, and now the prince releases this person by grace, will you not say that his guilt is forgiven, not by his own merit, but free of charge by grace through the benevolence of the gracious prince? For he deserves nothing but the death penalty. But for such a man it is not enough that he be forgiven for the wrong he has done, but his bonds must also be loosed, he must be clothed, and he must be given something to live on. The same is the case with us in the transaction of justification. For after we are free from guilt through mercy, then we also need the gift of the Holy Spirit, who fills us with what is left of sin, or at least helps us, so that we do not succumb to sins and the lusts of the flesh, as Paul says [Rom. 8:13], killing business through the spirit of the flesh. But now it is so with us that most live in such security as if we were entirely spirit and nothing at all remained of the flesh. Therefore we must learn that flesh still remains, and that the office of the spirit is this, that it fights against the flesh, so that the flesh does not carry out what it desires.
Therefore, a Christian is not righteous in himself (formaliter), he is not righteous according to his essence or nature (secundum substantiam aut qualitatem, these expressions I use for the sake of teaching), but he is righteous according to the category of the relation to something,
which is beyond us (secundum praedicamentum ad aliquid), namely, only with regard to divine grace and the forgiveness of sins by grace freely, which is granted to those who recognize their sin and believe that God is gracious to them and forgives for the sake of Christ, who was given for our sins and believed by us. After we have attained this righteousness through faith, then this bath or washing is necessary, of which this Psalm says. For although sin no longer condemns us, it nevertheless remains, torments us, and hinders us so much that we are not so accepted by love toward God that we do not believe with all our heart as we would like to in spirit, or God demands that we not be so chaste, patient, kind, etc. but as it were all members suffer from their vices, contrary to the law of God. If we do not oppose and fight against this with great effort, then there is danger that these vices will become great and draw us back into the old godless nature, as is taught by very many examples of our people, who now, after they have heard the gospel, are far worse than before, as is also taught by the examples of the rotten ones. For they are as sure as if their reason could not deceive them, and as if they had no more flesh. The devilish thoughts, which they bring to the word of God, they admire and spread out as if they were revelations from heaven (oracula). When this happens, there is no help for it.
Against this certainty it is useful to consider this prayer of David, in which he, after asking for forgiveness of sins, as far as the guilt is concerned, and rejoices in the mercy of God, also asks for what is left, that he may be washed from his iniquity, that the Holy Spirit may be given to him, the power and the gift 1) that lives inwardly in the heart, and fills up what is left of sin, what has begun to be buried through baptism, but is not yet completely buried. And this is the Christian life, as it is gloriously described in the Epistle to the Colossians, Cap. 3, 2. f., is described,
1) Erlanger: äomini instead of äonuna. The former reading is found in the original.
that we should seek the things that are above, since we have died to the world and our life is hidden in Christ; and 2 Cor. 7:1, that we should purify ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. For he indicates that in him and in all Christians such defilements of the spirit remain, that is, evil opinions of God; and defilements of the flesh, that is, vicious desires, and this must be our effort and our task, that we sweep them out with the help of the Spirit. But those who think that they are completely holy and without infirmity, defile themselves in the spirit and lose faith, and form opinions that are very similar to faith, but inspired by the devil, through which they are led away from the Word into godlessness.
One can soon say, "I believe in Christ," but it takes a great deal of effort for this belief to be and remain firm and certain in the heart, because there is defilement of the spirit, and neither our reason nor the devil rests, which are intent with united forces that we should leave the word alone and rule ourselves by our own opinions. Hence arise the mobs and heresies that hate us with the most bitter hatred; and yet they think that this hatred of theirs is not sin, but spend it for zeal. Therefore they do not sweep out this sin, do not wash it away, but increase it daily. But we are to take care that we are washed daily, that we may be purified from day to day, that the new man may arise, and the old man may perish daily, not only unto death, but also unto sanctification. To this school of training (palaestra, that I say so) of Christians also belongs that God not only allows the Church to be afflicted with various physical misfortunes, but also allows heresies and pieties to arise, so that she may be trained to hold fast the Word and the faith and to sweep out the remnants of sin. For this reason the Holy Spirit is given to believers, so that he may fight with the vain thoughts (larvis) of our wisdom in our hearts, which rise up against the righteousness of God, and also so that he may stimulate us to pray, to teach us the truth, and to give us the strength we need.
of all kinds of kind service to everyone, but especially to the brethren, and that thus the soul and the body may be exercised, and we may become more holy day by day.
This is therefore a clear confession that Christians are sinners. For where washing is required, it is indicated that there is defilement and impurity. But because our sophists know only philosophical righteousness or a state of mind, they cannot reconcile these contending things. They suppose that righteousness is a quality in the heart; if it is there, they think, the whole man is holy in spirit and body. Therefore, when they hear that Paul is a chosen instrument, and yet a sinner, because of the remnants of sin that cling to nature, they think they are hearing about a fictitious miraculous thing (chimaeram) that is nowhere in all of nature. Therefore they condemn us as heretics and threaten us with death by fire.
But they may answer us to this so noble and universally known psalm: what then is the cause that David, after goodness and mercy have befallen him, that is, after he has been made righteous, also still asks to be cleansed? For though David has forgiveness of sins and stands in grace, though no sin accuses him nor condemns him, yet he is still unclean and still has unclean sin, which lacks nothing that it should not truly be sin, but that it cannot condemn him. So the righteous and justified David still has sin and is still partly unrighteous. Therefore he asks for the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to sweep out this filth, and this gift proves sufficiently that this washing is not a game or a joke. For we must also be careful not to diminish the remnants of sin. For if we diminish them, we also diminish the one who cleanses and the gift of cleansing, the Holy Spirit. And the prophet expressly calls this remnant sin and iniquity, though it is not the sin it was before, because its head is trodden down by the forgiveness of sins.
Therefore, the prophet does not simply say: Wash me, but: "Wash me well" (amplius) or much, today, tomorrow and so on and on throughout life, from the defilements of body and spirit, so that I may become stronger and more confident against the terrors of the law from day to day, until I become a master over the law and sin through the joyful confidence (plerophoria) in your mercy etc. This is the teaching of this psalm and a constant school for us, in which we can never become perfect masters, neither we, nor the apostles, nor the prophets. For we all remain disciples here, and we all ask to be washed even more as long as we live.
These are the two things that are necessary for us to be justified. The first is the grace revealed through Christ, that through Christ we have a reconciled God, that sin can no longer accuse us, but the conscience is brought to -good rest (securitatem) through trust in the mercy of God. The other is that we are given the Holy Spirit with his gifts, who enlightens against the defilements of the spirit and the flesh, so that we are protected from the opinions of the devil, with which he deceives the whole world, so that the right knowledge of God grows daily, as well as other gifts, chastity, obedience, patience, so that our body and lusts are broken, so that we do not obey them. Those who do not have this gift, or do not use it in this way, but fall either into uncleanness of the flesh or of the spirit, so that they approve all doctrines without distinction, are ruled by the flesh, and such people do not know what the bath of the Holy Spirit is, which David asks for here.
V. 5 For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
We have heard two verses of this Psalm in which David asked, first, for mercy and forgiveness of sins, then also for the gift that cleanses and sweeps out the lees or remnants of sin. For these two things are what make a man perfectly righteous and holy in the sight of God, without all preparation and sufficiency.
We do not need the pretended repentance that we have taught among the people until now, and that the papists still teach. For there is only One Cause of Justification, namely the merit of Christ or the mercy of grace in vain, which the hearts, inflamed by the Holy Spirit, take hold of by faith. Now, if anyone wishes, he may regard the acknowledgment of sin as the second cause, or, as scholars speak of it, as the causa sine qua non, 1) because it is a cause in such a way that nevertheless the whole thing depends on the mercy of God, or on the promise, namely, that God has promised to have mercy on those who acknowledge their sins and thirst for righteousness. Otherwise, if one wants to speak of the nature of sin, even of the sin that is felt (sensitivo, as we called it above), then according to all laws and according to nature nothing else is due to it than punishment and the greatest wrath. But that such people escape punishment and wrath is entirely due to God's mercy, who promised that He would restore those who feel their sins and the horrors of divine judgment by graciously forgiving sin, in vain.
Therefore, there is nothing that could in any way be cited as a merit, because even the acknowledgement of sin is nothing, but only as much as the divine promise accomplishes. For if sin is punished and revealed by the Holy Spirit, as David considered not only adultery but the whole of nature, which is completely corrupted by sin, in his heart: if then nothing could be expected but our satisfaction, David would have been brought low by fear of God's judgment and by despair, as our own experience has often taught us. In the monasteries, repentance was imposed on us and a very precise confession of sins, but this did not put the conscience to rest. One was advised to put on the cap,
1) Luther himself did not use this expression, but 6ÄU8N Secunda. It is an addition of Veit Dietrich, because of which he experienced many hostilities. Dalvider he complains in a letter to JustuS Menius of 30 October 1538 (Kolde, ^nalvet" I^utüsrrwa, p. 331 f).
but the same anguish of heart continued in the cap that we had suffered before, and it did not help that the cap was thrown off again. But this we learn through God's goodness, that the quickest and surest remedy is to know or believe that God wants to forgive those who are frightened by their sins, and that He commands such people to hope for the forgiveness of sins. David shows by his example that this article (locum) of the promise caused him to ask for mercy and for the gift by which he would be cleansed.
Therefore, the particle "for" that gives the reason (rationalis), which he uses here, is not set in the sense as if the recognition of sin were the first cause that deserved the forgiveness of sins. For sin is sin, and by its nature deserves punishment, whether it be acknowledged or not. But the acknowledgment of sin is a kind of co-requisite (correquisitum), because God wants to forgive those who acknowledge sins; He does not want to forgive those who do not acknowledge them. This promise is the only cause, and the first, middle, and final cause, that is, it is everything in the trade of justification. It is to this promise that David looks, as he says, "For I recognize my iniquity," as if to say: I do not count this a merit, that I know my sin; but because thou hast promised mercy to them that know their sins, therefore I confess before thee that I know my sin etc. The word "recognize" (nosse) has a much broader meaning in Hebrew than in other languages. For it denotes, to feel and experience something as it is by its nature. Thus the Scripture says of Adam [Gen. 4:1], "He knew his wife," that is, he experienced and felt her. Thus God does not recognize the worthy, that is, He does not care for them, He does not promote them etc. In this way it says here: "For I recognize my sin", as if he wanted to say: I have come to the point that now is the time to have mercy and to help, for I have become from a sinner without understanding such a sinner who feels (sentiens) his sin, since I now recognize the sin and judgment of GOtt, that is,
feel right. Furthermore, this feeling is natural death itself, unless thoughts of peace are inspired by the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of God's mercy that God does not want to destroy such sinners.
Here such sayings are necessary, as the holy fathers have undoubtedly considered very well, that the Lord says in the fifth book of Moses, although he speaks there of bodily good deeds [5 Mos. 9, "Not for thy righteousness and uprightness of heart shalt thou possess the land of the Gentiles" etc.; likewise [Isa. 43, 25.]: "I, the Lord, will blot out thy transgression"; likewise [Ezek. 33, 11.]: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" etc. Here we need the examples that God, when the Ninivites repented, that is, when they humbled themselves in recognition of their sin, revokes His judgment and says [Jonah 3:10], "I will not destroy them." Likewise, He forgives Ahab, whom He had threatened with the destruction of his entire house, and says to the prophet [1 Kings 21:29], "Did you not see Ahab bowing down before Me?" From these histories grows that theological knowledge of God, that God is a God of the lowly, the afflicted and the poor, who recognize themselves to be sinners and fear God in such a way that they nevertheless hope more for His mercy. Such sayings and examples were undoubtedly well known to the holy fathers under the Law and held in high esteem.
Our monks (devotarii) had taken a very good simile from Moses, where he commands [Deut. 24, 6.] that one should not take the lowest and the highest millstone for a pledge at the same time, so that the debtor does not get into danger for the sake of his food. This they have taken to mean that God wants nothing but that one should feel anger, but that He wants the feeling of anger to be mixed with the feeling of grace, according to the saying [Ps. 147:11]: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him and with those who hope in His goodness." In this way David also asks to be forgiven, "for," he says, "I recognize my iniquity." What is that to me, God might say. If you recognize your sin and grieve over it from the heart, you may also forgive the
Have fruit of your works. In this way, the law would answer and let man perish in this feeling of his sin. For a judge is accustomed to act in this way; he connects the punishment with the confession of guilt. But God does not want to be a judge, that is why He abolished the law by preaching the Gospel, in which He testifies that it is a sufficient punishment for Him if the heart is grieved and despairing, which before was secure in its sins. He does this, not because there is any merit in recognizing sin, but because he promised to forgive those who recognize it, and to be angry only with sinners who do not feel their sins, but are either presumptuous of their powers and want to be justified by their own merit, or surely sin according to the lust of their flesh, without fear of God. But these gross sinners are even better than those who cover their sin with a twofold blanket, namely, that they rely on their own powers and reject mercy.
David does it quite differently here. He asks for forgiveness, but for no other reason than because he is a sinner and sees his weakness, like a beggar who turns to a rich man, to whom he thinks that he is generous. If this rich man gives something to the beggar, he does not do it because of any merit (for what does he deserve who complains of his lack?) but he gives because he is generous, moved by his mercy.
"And my sin is always before me," that is, it lies on my neck, presses me, I cannot be completely freed from it. But here beware that you do not understand it as if he were speaking of the sin of the deed, but the prophet has his whole life before his eyes with all his own righteousness, even the most holy, and he feels that he cannot be helped by all this if mercy does not come to it. Thus it is said of Bernard, a man who lived in admirable holiness, that this was almost his last word: "I have lived shamefully. This means in truth: "My sin is before me," that one does not have to confess one or the other misdeed before the other.
but the whole nature and all sin together, with all powers, with all righteousness and wisdom of the flesh: that all this is nothing in the sight of God's judgment, and Bernhard must say with David, and David with all the saints [Ps. 143:2], "O Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant."
Sadoletus takes this from Thatsin, but in no other way could he have more clearly displayed his exceedingly great ignorance in true theology. For these things are not in dainty speech, but in custom and experience, which the glorious examples of David and other saints in the sacred Scriptures indicate, of which Sadoletus understands nothing. But I emphasize this all the more carefully because I have experienced how difficult it is to persuade those who are upset in scholastic theology, and we need this knowledge not only for ourselves, but also when others need to be comforted who feel their sins in the same way. For when sin is thus before our eyes, the heart does not dare to rise up, but sings to itself without ceasing this little song: You are a sinner, therefore God hates you. This conclusion is correct in nature, in civil law and in the judicial system, and in all human affairs. There, of course, this conclusion should remain right, that you say: You are a sinner in this and that sin, therefore the emperor hates you, the judge etc. But beware of this, as of the poison of the devil and the most pernicious pestilence, lest you transfer this conclusion from the judicial system to the judgment seat of Christ. For there it is not a consequence: You are a sinner, therefore God hates you, but it follows: You are a sinner, therefore have confidence, because God wants such sinners who feel their sins. Otherwise no man could be saved, not the apostles, not the prophets, because God has decided everything under sin, but for the sake of it, so that He might have mercy on all (Rom. 11, 32. Gal. 3, 22.]. Therefore, if you realize that you have sin, if you tremble, if you are tormented by the feeling of God's wrath, by the horror of God's judgment and of hell, then be confident, for you are the person with whom God is
to whom God wants to show his mercy and whom he wants to make blessed. For these are his promises, that he is a God of the poor, who does not take pleasure in the death of the sinner. For he is not a God of wrath, but of grace and peace, therefore he wants the sinner to repent and live. These consolations are not trivial words based on the decrees of the fathers or the rules of the order (ingressura religionis, as they are called), but they are based on the divine promises and the almighty word of God; therefore, hearts are also uplifted and feel firm and certain consolation.
Thus David states this reason why he desires mercy, and says: "For my sin is always before me," that is, my sin oppresses me, it leaves me no rest, no peace; not by wine, not by bread, not by sleep is this feeling of wrath and death dispelled. In such distress there is no other remedy for me than for the heart to fight against this feeling and say, "God, have mercy on me." For this is your time; it is the time that needs the divine effect and sleeve with which you assist the sinner and comfort him. For what kind of God would he be if he knew nothing but to kill and to terrify? This is what the devil is wont to do, as well as sin and my own conscience. But that he is God means that he is able and does something about these things, namely, that he comforts, directs and brings to life in such distresses, so that he shows that he knows and is able to do more than the devil, the law and I know and can do. Therefore, when the law has frightened and scourged a hard heart until it has made it feel sin, then Christ also shall come according to his promise, and shall again comfort and raise up him who is thus frightened. But we are to accept these consolations in faith and not become faithless against the divine revelation. Now follows:
V. 6. In you alone have I sinned and done evil in your sight, that you may be justified in your words and remain pure when you are judged.
This verse has been treated by many in various ways, and it has always been judged that this little piece in this Psalm is extremely difficult. But because Paul mentions it in his letter to the Romans [Cap. 3, 4], it has been counted among the most difficult passages of the whole Scripture. Although I gladly allow others to hold to their opinion, I have good hope that we will not be lacking in the right and proper sense. But I want to remind the reader first of all that he should keep what we said at the beginning of the psalm, namely that David speaks in the person of all the saints, not only in his person or in the person of the adulterer, although I do not want to deny that it could have happened that this case brought him to the knowledge of himself and of the whole human nature, that he thought so: Behold, I, such a holy king, who have been so zealous to keep the law and worship holy, am so overcome and defeated by the inherent wickedness and sin of the flesh, that I have caused an innocent man to be put to death, and by adultery have snatched away his spouse. Is this not a clear proof that nature is much more seriously infected and corrupted by sin than I could ever have suspected? I, who was chaste yesterday, am an adulterer today; while yesterday I had innocent hands, free from blood, I am now a man burdened with blood guilt. And in this way it is possible that he got this general sense of the whole sin through this case of adultery and the death stroke, and concluded from it that neither the tree nor the fruits of human nature were good, but everything was so disfigured and corrupted by sin that there was nothing healthy left in the whole nature. I wanted to remind the reader of this first, if he desires a healthy view of this passage otherwise.
Secondly, the grammar is also to be explained, which is somewhat dark. For what the Latin interpreter has rendered by a word in the past time should be in the present time: On you alone
I sin, that is, I recognize that I am nothing but a sinner before you; likewise: Before thee I do evil always, that is, my whole life is evil and corrupt because of sin. I can boast no merit or righteousness before thee, but am altogether evil; and before thee this is my name, that I do evil, that I have sinned, that I sin, that I shall sin without ceasing. In this way, the change of the past tense into the present tense takes us away from the actual sin, and we must understand the psalm of sin as a whole. Sadoletus, as an inexperienced theologian who is nevertheless a man of great eloquence, struggles in many ways and twists the meaning so that one cannot even guess what he means. The little word "alone" he interprets in such a way that no one has seen sin except God; but who does not see how inconsistent this conception is!
Therefore, we first want to restore the grammar here, that the preterites are to be translated by the present tense. Then the little word "alone" (soli) is to be taken as an adverb, so that the actual and correct and also quite simple sense is this: In you alone, or: only in you do I sin. Before you I am nothing but a sinner; before your judgment I boast of no merit, not of any righteousness, but recognize myself as a sinner, and implore your mercy. Thus, then, this sentence is made a universal saying (universal), which is also found in John in the first chapter [v. 9.], "Christ (qui) enlighteneth all men." For there he says that the whole human nature has become blind' through sin. This view of this passage is also confirmed by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans [Cap. 3, 4.], who seems to have deliberately adduced this saying in order to show how it must be understood. For in the same place he also puts this general saying [Ps. 116, 11.]: "All men are liars, that (ut) God alone may be true." In the same way the little word "so that" (ut) is to be interpreted here. For this is not his opinion that God's righteousness is increased by our sins, as godless people slandered Paul [Rom. 3, 8],
But he says most simply, "I sin only before you, I do evil only before you, so that it may be true that you alone are righteous and justify sinners, since you alone free them from sin, not imputing it to those who trust in your mercy.
Paul clearly indicates this meaning in what immediately precedes the citation of this passage. Therefore the word "that" (ut) does not indicate our work, that it indicates a cause, but it only indicates our confession that we confess these two things, that all men are liars or sinners, so that it may be established that God alone is righteous, and justifies the ungodly who have faith in Christ. For this is the unceasing struggle with the trustworthy works saints, that they do not want to be sinners, and cannot stand it when someone condemns their Pharisaic righteousness. But what is this but that they deny that God alone is righteous? David, however, instructed by his own experience, does not praise his righteousness, not any holiness he has, or his merit, but says the opposite: "I confess that I am a sinner, and my nature and my powers in themselves can do nothing but sin when I am deprived of your gift and your spirit. This I confess of myself and of all nature, or of all men, that thou alone mayest be righteous, and that no one may know, seek, or seek to obtain any righteousness but thine.
In this way, this is the certain and actual opinion of this verse, that David, looking at the whole of nature, takes away his own righteousness from himself and from all men, and in a general confession knows how to cite and claim nothing but sin for himself, so that God may be left with this title completely and untouched, that he alone is righteous. Therefore, it does not follow from this saying what the blasphemers conclude: If God is justified by our sin, let us only sin more; but this follows that the whole world is guilty of sin, and since God alone is just, the world cannot be freed from sin by any efforts of its own, not by its
The glory of righteousness is left to God alone, who is righteous and makes the ungodly righteous through faith in Christ. Therefore, all who feel and see this wretched state of nature must seek no other way or path to righteousness than through Him who alone is righteous.
Here, then, the two main articles of the entire Scripture are established: first, that the whole of nature is damned and lost through sin, and cannot work its way out of this misfortune and death by its own powers or actions; second, that God alone is just. Therefore, whoever wants to be freed from sin must take refuge in the righteous God by confessing his sin and, according to the example of David, ask him for his mercy. Therefore, it is clear that this psalm is an exceedingly beautiful reminder (monumentum) of the Holy Spirit, which he left in the church to teach us about the greatest and most important things, which the time before us (prior aetas) could neither understand nor teach correctly, because people had departed from the word and had gone to human dreams; but we must judge according to the word and teach others. This clearly shows that only God is righteous. Therefore, righteousness in worldly government or in housekeeping cannot save us, nor can ceremonies; but even if someone is a righteous prince or a righteous husband, that is, righteous as far as the external administration of his office is concerned, he must still say before God: "Against you alone have I sinned," etc., you alone are righteous. But we will soon discuss this more expansively.
To me, at least, this verse seems so important that, although I have already explained it briefly and perhaps a little too superficially (crassius), for the sake of those who are new to this doctrine and cannot grasp it immediately, I want to repeat in a little more detail what I said 1). We have first established this as our opinion, that the prophet is not from the
1) Instead of voto in the editions, either vetim will have to be read, or an anacoluth is to be assumed.
Theological ones they set aside, or they err in that they understand sin to be nothing but that which is the fruit of sin, namely, sins of the deed and civil sins, and for this reason they fall into the hypocritical delusion of their own righteousness.
Since this is also a part of sin, that sin remains hidden in nature and cannot be completely and totally recognized, it was necessary that this would be revealed by God. But this revelation of sin happens through the law and through the gospel or promise. For each of these two teachings punishes the sins of which we neither recognize nor believe nor feel that they are sins, unless we are reminded by the word of God. Therefore, the prophet explicitly adds this bit: "That you may be right in your words," as if to say: We are all sinners, but you are righteous according to your word. Therefore I ascribe righteousness to you, but to me and to all men I ascribe sin, so that there is no righteousness in me, but only in you. But this I do, because I am instructed by thy preaching and thy word. For if I were without the word, I could not have this knowledge, that I have such things of myself.
and to all men. For he who does not believe the word will not confess that God alone is righteous, nor that he is only a sinner. Therefore, I believe your word and believe that you know my nature and the nature of all men better than we do, and according to your word I say that we are sinners and, as far as our nature is concerned, we remain sinners, so that you may be just and right and may be glorified by this confession, which says that I am a sinner, but you are just and holy.
In the same way the Holy Spirit speaks in the 32nd Psalm, v. 5: "I said: I will confess my transgression unto the Lord; and thou forgavest me the iniquity of my sin." Therefore this confession or knowledge is necessary for the forgiveness of sins, that we believe and confess that we are sinners and that the whole world is under the wrath of God. Thus the first commandment indicates the sin by the promise itself. For God promises, "I am the Lord your God," that is, "I am the one through whom salvation will come to you against death and sin. This very fact indicates that our whole nature is subject to death and sin. For what else would it serve that he promises to be our God? Thus the word of God, that is, both the law and the gospel or promise, proves with clear and certain implication that we are sinners and are preserved by grace alone. For if God promises life, it follows that we are under death; if He promises the forgiveness of sins, it follows that we are under sins and are kept by them. Now the wages of sin is death. In this way, both the threats and the promises all show the same thing. For they are not made to animals that remain in death, but to us men the voice of God has gone forth and the promise of salvation, against death, sin and hell.
I have said this in many words, so that it may be clear that this saying is not a metaphysical but a theological one, and serves to convict by the word of sin, as Paul clearly says [Rom. 7:7]: "I did not recognize sin without being convicted by the word of sin.
Law", not that he had no sin or that the same had not been in the world, but that he did not recognize sin. Therefore, he is not dealing with the essence of sin or metaphysical sin, but with the recognized sin, which is recognized and felt, namely when the voice of God comes, and the sermons of God, which resound in our heart: You are a sinner, you are under the wrath of God and death. When this happens, only then does that battle begin in which David, as he confesses, is overcome and defeated. In this battle, human nature disputes with God whether this word is true, which says that all men are sinners, but that God alone is just. For nature objects to this judgment, and does not immediately agree with it that all its works are evil and sin before God's judgment, as the school theologians fiercely defend this proposition: man has a right light of reason, and his natural powers are unharmed. This means not only denying sin, which is revealed by God, but also denying that God Himself alone is just, who proclaims that we are sinners.
In this constant contradiction lives the whole pabstry and all schools of the sophists. They do not want to acknowledge that they are nothing but sinners, but maintain that reason has its light intact, and that if there is an infirmity in nature, then only the lower part is corrupted; this is drawn by unchastity and evil desire, but the higher part has an inextinguishable and pure light. If this were said of civil actions, it would be true to some extent, but not par excellence. For even in those things we feel how much is taken from nature by sin. But when it comes to the knowledge of God and sin or human nature, nothing is less true. Therefore, all that remains is that it is only in the divine revelation through the Word that we recognize that we are sinners and that God is righteous.
But when sins are thus revealed through the Word, two different kinds of people are revealed. One type agrees with God, and agrees with Him through humility.
The others reject God who punishes and accuse him of lying. And this is the greatest part of the world, who reject and persecute this word by which sins are punished, and I do not want this to be understood of the Turks and the Jews alone, who are inflamed with open hatred against the Christian doctrine, but the pope also does this with his church. For when they say that by the guidance of right reason they can choose and do good, what is this but denying that nature is corrupted by sin? Then the common saying of the schools is known: If a man does as much as is in him, God will infallibly give him grace. Does this not mean to accuse God of lying, who says in his words [Rom. 3, 8. ff.]: They have all sinned, there is not one who does good, not even one, they have all gone astray and have all become unfit etc.? For he does not only punish shameful unchastity, evil lust, avarice etc., but he punishes greater things, namely the deviation from God, that the whole nature does not ask for God and does not care about him, that it is without faith in misfortune, without fear in prosperity etc. This proves that human reason, together with the will, is blinded and turned away from good and truth. But because we teach and defend this, we are condemned as heretics and punished in life and limb, and this is what the Psalm says here, that the wicked do not let God be right in His words, but accuse and condemn Him.
Therefore, we are to learn that it is sinful to dispute with God in this way and to punish Him in His word. Therefore, we should rather act in such a way that, even though we do not fully understand this, we still believe the one who created us, the one who pronounces it over us. For he knoweth what manner of vessel or clay we are [Ps. 103:14], but we know it not. For just as a potter's vessel, which has been cracked by a blow or some other cause, does not know that it has a crack, but the potter knows and sees it, so also we do not fully realize our defects. That is why we should
I confess my weakness and say with reverence: O Lord, I am your clay, but you are my maker and my potter. Because you say that I am a sinner, I agree with your words and gladly recognize and confess this ungodly nature, which is hidden in my flesh and in my whole nature, so that you may be glorified and I may be put to shame, so that you may be righteous and the life, 1) but I with all other men may be sin and death, so that you may be the highest good, but I with all men the greatest evil. This I recognize and confess, because I have been taught this by your promises and your law, not by my reason, which would like to cover or even adorn this godless being. But I am more concerned that your honor increase. And he who confesses his sin in this way prays this verse with the right understanding: "Against you alone have I sinned, and done evil in your sight, that you may be justified in your words."
"And remain pure when you are judged." This piece he added for our consolation. For this divine judgment, by which we are all declared sinners, and God alone is declared righteous, suffers vehement opposition and indignation, that I may say, from the greater part of the whole world, as we have shown above in the case of the Turks, Jews, and also the Papists; yes, even in ourselves we fight against this judgment of God, that He accuses us of sin in His words, that is, both by His promises and by the law. For even in the saints there still remains the feeling of this blasphemy, that they often bear it with displeasure that all theirs is called unworthy. Then there is also this attitude in the saints that they make themselves believe that they would only pray more diligently, believe more completely and praise God, if they saw that they had pure hands and sensibilities and were without all sin. But this does not mean to be a man, but to be God or an angel. And so sin, which is also hidden in the saints, disputes God's judgment. For even though the spirit is governed by the word and assents to it, it is not the word that governs the spirit.
1) In the Erlanger: "vida, et" instead of: st vita.
Paul knows [Rom. 7:23] that there is another law in his flesh, which is contrary to the Spirit and the Word. The saints also perceive and see this constant contradiction in themselves: what is it to be wondered at, then, if those also contradict who hate the word and rely on their orders and masses?
Therefore, we who accept this confession have this comfort and, as it were, the privilege that, although we are attacked by the opponents, we will nevertheless not be defeated. For we are not attacked alone, we are not contradicted alone, but our Lord Jesus Christ is attacked and the word is contradicted, that is, the promises and the divine law. Therefore, the outcome will be a desired one, as these words say, "That thou mayest remain pure when thou art judged." Thus our Lord Christ Himself must be a heretic to the pope, our God Himself, who gives the promise that sins shall be forgiven freely for Christ's sake, is condemned by the righteous monks and the holy hypocrites as the most pernicious pestilence. The reason and wisdom of our flesh condemns the wisdom of the Word of God. But hope for the desired outcome, and for the sake of the multitude of opponents, do not lose heart: the Lord himself will overcome, through us and through his word, the blasphemers of those who do not want to acknowledge their impurity and undertake to bring their own righteousness to Christ.
This delusion of one's own righteousness is the most horrible blasphemy against God. Therefore, let no one think that Christ said without cause [Matth. 21, 31]: "The tax collectors and the prostitutes may enter the kingdom of heaven sooner than you". For because these live in gross sins, they humble themselves and acknowledge that they are sinners; but these start new battles with God every hour, by which they attack grace and defend themselves. If we were alone here, we might be forced to give way to the rage of the world and the hypocrites; but here we hear the comfort that God is rejected in His words, not in our words.
and works. Thus the pope has put me under ban and condemned me, not because I am weak and a sinner, for he could suffer my sins as he suffers his own fornication, adultery and abominable kinds of fornication, which may not be called; but this he condemns, for which he puts me and other brothers under ban, because we teach the words of God, in which the sins and blindness of the papacy are punished. But even we ourselves would not be able to do this if we were not so instructed by the words of God. Therefore, when we are accused and condemned as heretics, when our teaching is condemned as harmful because it condemns human wisdom and the actions we undertake to reconcile with God, likewise when evil struggles and unrest arise, we have the consolation that He will overcome, because it is not we alone but His words that are attacked and condemned. Therefore, he will defend and protect them against the adversaries. He gives the word to instruct and to save, but if they do not want to accept it, he does not let the word be trampled underfoot for their sake, but rather he tramples the enemies of the word, as experience shows.
This consolation, which the present text shows us in the contradiction that occurs through the ban and persecution of the false church and the tyrants, must also be transferred to our minds. For as I said shortly before, such contradiction or strife against God and His words also remains in our flesh. When we experience this, we do not have to be struck down in the mind; only the spirit must remain unharmed, and believe and confess that he is a sinner. Although such blasphemies are sometimes felt against the judgment of God, it will nevertheless happen that the spirit will triumph, as God, who gives the spirit, overcomes in such a judgment. But this victory must also be understood in the spirit. For in fact we feel the opposite, and God seems to be overcome with our spirit, but the flesh and the world seem to be victorious. For we see that almost the whole world has betrayed us.
But those who agree with the words of God are very few. After that, even in us and in the saints, the flesh rages in such a way that it quenches the spirit, as it were. But be strong against these dangers and believe that you are a sinner whom God wants to have as His child, if you confess that you are lost. For by this confession, by which you disgrace yourself and open your wounds to the physician, you praise God and provoke him to the truly divine work of healing your sick mind as the right physician.
On the other hand, those who do not do this, but take credit for having some kind of righteousness, fight against their Creator and blaspheme and deny Him, because they say He is a liar, and persecute His grace and favor with which He wants to accept us; yes, they persecute eternal life itself, and make a devil out of God. Such is the awfulness of human godlessness, if we are not content with the word. But even this is sometimes felt by the godly, when they have departed from the word and this confession. For how often it happens that, if it were in my power, I would create another God who should say to me: Behold, with so great faithfulness you have taught, with so great earnestness you have prayed, with so great diligence you have planted my vineyard etc., therefore, for the sake of this diligence of yours, you shall be the more acceptable to me. Such a God, who could be reconciled to our works, our nature would like to have, but him who forgives in vain by grace, it spurns. This is witnessed by the example of our adversaries, who can suffer nothing less than that we say that forgiveness of sins or mercy is received by faith alone. Thus the children of Israel sought a God who would reward their works, but the one who forgives by grace and accuses sins, that is the one they persecuted. According to his words, God wants to reward works gloriously, but he wants this to precede that we confess that we are sinners and trust in his mercy.
Thus there are two kinds of people, one of which confesses with David that God is righteous, true, and holy alone; the others are
ungodly and fight like giants against God, saying: Your word is not true; we are not blind, there is still some light in us concerning God; if I obey this, I will be in grace. That is to make of God a merchant, and to say to him, If thou givest unto me, I will give unto thee. And in this opinion all scholastic teachers agree. It is well known what Scotus says: If a man can love what is a lesser good, he can also love what is a greater good. But man loves the creature, so he can also love much more the Creator above all things. This is truly a theological conclusion, and worthy of a teacher of darkness in the church. He does not see that man, when he loves the creature most, loves it least as a creature. For who has ever been who loved a girl or gold as a girl and gold? For this love is tainted by pleasure and avarice, and can never be perfectly pure in this life of the body. Countless other sayings of this kind are found in the writings of the moderns, which show this dispute that human reason wages against the words of God. Now we say nothing here about justice in the household and in the worldly government. For even if this is perfect, this saying still remains: "Against you alone do I sin, and do evil in your sight.
Now, as far as the Hebrew grammar is concerned, the verbum which the Latin interpreter has rendered by ut vincas actually means: that you are pure or innocent, as if he wanted to say: If you make the declaration that men are sinners, it immediately follows that you will be judged and condemned. For reason cannot stand this judgment of yours, therefore it calls it heresy and doctrines of the devil. But what happens? They condemn and defile you with their sayings. You still remain pure, innocent and righteous, but they are found to be impure; and so the text reads
1) The giants were, as the poet Ovid writes, sons of the earth, monstrous giants with serpent's feet; they stormed Olympus to expel Jupiter from heaven, but were killed by him with lightning.
in Hebrew, but I do not dislike the opinion of the Latin interpreter. For it shows this contradiction and the outcome exceedingly clearly, is also very well appropriate to the sense. For since this statement is made: You are found innocent or pure, so the contrast follows nicely: So those who condemn the judgment of your words are impure and corrupt. But this is that God overcomes, not those who accuse God.
This is the actual and correct opinion of this verse, but we also want to indicate a somewhat violent interpretation (catachresin), which some people use here, in order to satisfy the listener in all respects. For although it is not the true opinion, it is not godless, and it is full of consolation. I have often made use of it with others and also in my own distresses. But it is this: When the devil afflicts the consciences by the law, as it is said in Revelation [Cap. 12, 10.] that he accuses the saints before God day and night, then it is useful to oppose Satan and say: What is it to thee? I have not sinned against thee, but against my God; I am not thy sinner, therefore what right hast thou against me? Therefore, if I have sinned, and in truth what you accuse is sin (for the devil sometimes scares the heart with petty sins), I have sinned against God, who is merciful and longsuffering; I have not sinned against you, not against the law, not against conscience, not against a man, not against an angel, but against God alone. But God is not a devil, he is not a devourer or an executioner, as you are, who terrify and seek to inflict death, but he is merciful to sinners, he is innocent and incorrupt, pious and just: in such a God have I sinned, I have not sinned in a tyrant or a murderer. Therefore you, who are a tyrant and a murderer, have no right against me. God has this right, who is kind and gracious, therefore He forgives the sin of those who confess it. He is only angry with those, only threatening those who do not want to recognize their impurity.
len, and deny that he is righteous in his words.
This is a godly view and a good comfort against the arrows of the devil that plague the conscience, but it is somewhat violent (catachresis), because we have shown the right sense above. But this is what the devil intends when he torments our minds with the reproach of our sins and our impurity and with the insistence on a constant purity, so that he makes us forget this saying that God alone is righteous and holy, and leads us unnoticed away from the feeling of sin and leads us to satisfaction and trust in our works. Therefore, this evil is properly met in the way I have said, that you, with confidence in God's mercy, confront your devil and say: "Leave me alone, I am not your creature. Therefore, if I have sinned, I have not sinned against you, but against my God, who is just and of great mercy. Whoever confesses in this way that he alone has sinned against God, has a God who justifies him. For since he glorifies God by confessing that he alone is righteous, God cannot fail to make him glorious again by making him righteous. Only the godly, who have begun to be born again, do this; the godless do not.
V. 7. Behold, I am begotten of sinful seed, and my mother conceived me in sins.
In very beautiful order the prophet proceeds in the doctrine of repentance; yea, he beseeches mercy, and adds the cause: For I am a sinner, and I know my sin, that thou mayest be justified, and we all be put to shame. He adds as the cause of this knowledge "the words of God", because through the word sin is revealed. But what now follows is so connected with the foregoing that it makes it clearer. For he shows the cause of the sin, and makes known, as it were, the reason for this whole business, why he confesses his sin and begs for mercy, for, he says, "in sins I was begotten. What could
can it be said more clearly and more significantly? He does not say, I have killed Urias, he does not say, I have committed adultery; but he sums up, as it were, the whole human nature in A bundle, and adds, "In sins I am conceived." For he does not speak of any works, but par excellence of matter, saying, "The human seed, this substance out of which I am formed, is altogether corrupted by infirmity or by sin; the matter itself is corrupt; the clay, that I say so, out of which this vessel began to be formed, is damnable. What more do you want? Such a man am I, such are all men: even the conception, even the growing of the fruit in the womb, before we are born and begin to be men, is sin.
Further, he does not speak of sin in marriage, or of the sin of the parents, that he should accuse the parents of sin, but says of himself, "I was conceived in sins." He does not say, My mother sinned when she conceived me; nor does he say, I sinned when I was conceived, but he speaks of the unformed seed, and pronounces that it is full of sin and is a corrupt matter (massam perditionis), so that the true and right sense is: I am a sinner, not because I have committed adultery, not because I have caused Urias to be killed, but for this reason I have committed adultery, for this reason I have committed murder, because I was born a sinner, indeed conceived and formed as such in the womb. So we are not sinners for the sake that we soon commit this or that sin, but these are committed by us because we are sinners beforehand, that is, a bad tree and bad seed also bring forth bad fruit, and from a bad root nothing can grow but a bad tree.
But someone would like to ask: why is marriage instituted? why did God bless marriage? why does He count even the offspring among the blessings? why should the matter from which the fruit is born be all corrupt and bad? I answer: Although God is not required to give us an account...
If it is not possible to give the body as a whole, then this reason can certainly be given, that God did not want His creature to perish for its own sake, because it was corrupted by sin. Is the whole body thrown away for that reason, because the flesh is leprous? Should he not give eyes to the man who is born, because the eyes are less sharp now than the eyes of Adam were in Paradise? For there is no doubt that the nature of all the members of the body was far more excellent before sin than it is now, having been corrupted and weakened by sin. Therefore, just as he did not take away the eyes of nature, just as he did not take away the other members, which are now weakened by infirmity, so he did not take away reproduction or procreation.
By the way, whatever may be the case with the married couple, it is not the place to speak of it here. For marriage is a good and lawful thing and instituted by God, but for this reason it cannot be denied that father and mother have corrupt flesh, and that the seed itself is not only full of shameful lust, but also full of contempt and hatred of God; nor can the sin that is in childbearing be denied. For how little better is our nature in this than that of the animals? since there is no knowledge of God, no faith in this work, but we only go to begetting children out of evil desire after having given in to reason that this is our wife. But God tolerates this sinful witnessing for the sake of His creation (conditionem), and does not want to take away the creature for the sake of this infirmity, but overlooks the natural infirmity, just as He overlooks the errors in government (vitia politica) in the worldly regime. For who does not see that there are many diseases and many infirmities in the laws and in the worldly regime? For where is there a community in which even those who order and carry out everything in the most just manner do not often approve and commit unjust things? This is not only the fault of men, but also the laws are not without fault, even when they are very much in accordance with equity. Therefore
they need a good operator who either softens them or stretches them harder, depending on the occasion.
Nevertheless, God tolerates these shortcomings, so that at least a form of the worldly regime exists, so that the children can be raised, the land is cultivated, trade and commerce exist. For if one wanted to remove all defects from the things and the laws, that would be nothing else than to abolish the worldly regime and the laws. So much the greater is the nonsense of some jurists, when they first enter the regiment or court life, who want to cut out completely everything that is ill (resecare ad vivum), and presume to establish an arithmetical equality in all things. Those who do this disturb the peace. But why do they not also take away this exceedingly beautiful order of childbearing, since it cannot be without infirmity? But a prudent authority must devote more effort to keeping the peace than to improving the laws. For those who do this, but neglect that, do not in truth care for the beam, but are very anxious for the mote. But we see something quite different in what God does. For although he sees that marriage is corrupted by pleasure, he does not annul marriage for that reason, nor does he take away childbearing for that reason. He would rather tolerate the infirmity than abolish what he has created (conditionem). Thus, even a prudent jurist in the secular regime must first of all have in mind how the peace and common tranquility of the people can be advised, so that the bearing of children and other works in the secular and domestic regime are respected. If infirmities occur, it is better not to worry about them than to raise them and disturb the peace of the community.
Therefore, neither marriage nor other good things are to be condemned for the sake of some infirmities, but one must look at the final purpose (causam finalem). This is in marriage the begetting of children, in the worldly regime it is the preservation of peace. Now, if in the secular regime the formative primordial
If the cause (causa formalis), namely the laws, is defective, if the causative cause (causa efficiens) is full of infirmity, namely tyranny (for that is what I now call it), then one should judge according to the more important cause, namely according to the final cause (causam finalem), setting the others aside. So in marriage. If the causative cause, the spouses themselves, is evil, if the matter is evil, these corrupt causes are to be tolerated, so that childbearing may be preserved, an exceedingly beautiful and admirable work of God. But this I have said in passing; now I return to the matter with which we are dealing.
This verse of the Psalm therefore instructs us about the cause of sin, why we are sinners. For the prophet publicly confesses that he was full of infirmity through his own fault, not that of the parents alone, while he was still borne as fruit (embryo) in the womb, and while he was still being formed, so that the mother nourished a sinner with her blood still in the womb before she had given birth to him. The same is true of all who are born and have been born and are yet to be born into this world, except Christ alone. For the fact that John and others were sanctified in the womb does not mean that they should not be born in sins, just as in adults who are sanctified by the Spirit and faith, the flesh is still full of infirmities.
And this article of original sin is one of the most noble doctrines of which reason knows nothing; but it is learned, like others, from the law and promises of God. But it is Paul alone among the apostles who dealt with this article with great seriousness (ex professo). However, he may have been passed over by the other apostles because this teaching was handed down to the descendants, as it were, from hand to hand. Moses also touches on this article in his prayer Ps. 90, 8: "Our iniquity you set before you." For there he indicates not indistinctly that we are under wrath before God, and suffer death for the sake of God's wrath. But this wrath is aroused by the fact that our sins
God are known. The cause of these sins and the wrath of God is that our flesh in Paradise is corrupted by the fall of Adam, so that man has a perverse fear and a perverse love against God and against himself. This teaching, as I have said, has been handed down from hand to hand to the descendants. But Moses and David also wrote it down, and after them the apostle Paul. However, they undoubtedly drew this wisdom from the first commandment and from the promise made to Abraham and Adam. For from these it is evident, because they promise blessing, that our nature is under the curse and under the kingdom of the devil, in which is darkness, hatred of God, distrust etc.
So this verse contains the reason why we must all confess that we are sinners and that all our actions are condemnable before God, but that God alone is just. And this doctrine is most necessary in the church; neither the pope nor the Turk believes it. For I can testify by my own example that I did not know this doctrine when I had already been a doctor of theology for many years. Mau argued about original sin, but it was said that it was taken away in baptism, and that apart from baptism there was a light left in nature; if one followed this, grace would infallibly be given. Yes, it was taught that even in the devils the natural powers were unharmed, and they had only lost grace. But who does not see that this is highly contrary to each other when one says that the natural powers are unharmed and that nature is corrupted by sin? For the will is indeed a natural thing, but they do not simply speak of the will, but of the will of the good, and they call this a natural power (naturale). Therein lies an error. The will remains in the devil, it remains in the heretics; I confess that this is a natural power. But this will is not good, nor does the understanding remain right or enlightened. Therefore, if we want to speak rightly of the natural powers according to this psalm and according to the way of the Holy Spirit, then we must call these very things natural powers, that we remain in sin.
and in death, that we will, understand and desire corruption and evil. For this agrees with this passage of ours in the Psalm and can be proved from it.
This may be enough of the confession of original sin, or the sin that is born with us, which is nevertheless hidden from the whole world, and is not revealed by our powers, reason, or thoughts, but is rather obscured, defended, and excused by them. Therefore, God's word from heaven is necessary, by which this impurity or infirmity of nature is revealed; indeed, we who believe the word want to confess that this is so, even though the whole of nature cries out against it, as it cannot do otherwise. This doctrine is the most difficult of this psalm, nay, of all Scripture or theology, without which it is impossible to understand Scripture rightly, as the dreams of the moderns prove. Now follows:
V. 8. behold, thou delightest in the truth that is in secret; thou makest me to know the secret wisdom. 1)
In many respects the Latin interpreter, whoever he may have been, is to be blamed in this passage, for besides bringing the members of the verse into confusion in an inconsistent manner, he also causes an ungodly sense. For what is this that he translates, "an uncertain wisdom"? For let this be far from Christians, far from their teacher the Holy Spirit, that he teaches uncertain and doubtful things. For here, if anywhere else, there must be a complete certainty of faith (πληροφορία), a very certain conviction or truth, and an infallible light by which God, through the Word and His Spirit, fortifies, confirms, and makes our consciences completely certain. Therefore, let us cast away this uncertain wisdom which the inexperienced interpreter offers, and let us both look at the words and seek the proper meaning of this passage.
So far, we have heard what the summa of Christian doctrine is, namely, that we he-
know that we are completely in sin, yes, that sin is also present when we are conceived and formed in the womb of the mother. Therefore, those who recognize their impurity in this way and rely on mercy obtain mercy because God is glorified by this confession and has promised that He will show mercy to those who trust in Him. Now that he has brought this doctrine to a conclusion, he adds a refutation for the sake of contrast, with which he refutes those who teach or do such things that are contrary to this doctrine.
But also here it is to be noted what I have reminded above, that the prophet does not speak of God in and for himself (de Deo absoluto), but of the God of the children of Israel, who had revealed himself by a certain word, by certain miracles, also in a certain place in Jerusalem, and whose promises, happened to the fathers, were present. This God is not a vague God, as is the God whom the Turks honor, but He is a revealed God and, I say, a sealed God, who has circumscribed Himself by a certain place, a certain word and certain signs, so that He can be recognized and grasped, so that the godly efforts would not wander to and fro, as it happened with the Jews, who left the temple and the word, and chose heights and groves, and yet wanted to be regarded as rendering service to God. David does not speak of such a God, and it is worth the effort to pay attention to it, but he speaks of the certain God or the one who has made the promise, who has revealed himself through the word and the promises and through outward signs. Such a God includes the future Christ in himself, because David does not speak of God as such or in and of himself, but understands by God such a God who, according to the promises made to the fathers, will save the world through the Son. There is therefore a great difference between David, when he speaks of God, and between a Turk, Jew or Papist. For these speak and act of an unfaithful God, because they undertake such religious services that
are without the Word of God, and are not attached to the outward signs by which God has revealed Himself in Christ; but this is called losing Christ altogether. But I often remind you of this, so that we do not lose Christ in the face of too much spirituality (religione), apart from whom no other God should be worshipped or sought.
Therefore, the prophet has started a general refutation here, as if he had someone in mind who would make these objections against the already presented doctrine: You condemn everyone in general, while it is known that there are many good and holy people, whose life and conduct are good (integri) and blameless; are you alone wise? as they object to us nowadays, when it is a matter of similar things: Are you alone the church? Do you alone have the Scriptures? For the whole dispute revolves around the name of the church. Because this name entails that one can judge about religion, about salvation and eternal life, therefore the opponents fight furiously about this name. They do not want to be seen as having erred or taught ungodly things, and even though they cannot deny obvious abuses that have gradually occurred, they do not want to give up the name of the church for that reason. Thus the Turk stubbornly claims this name, that he worships the true God. So also the synagogue; so also our adversaries defend it with force and weapons. They hold their worship against us, and boast, as Paul says of the Jews, that they are zealous for God, and that they take pains to attain to the promises made to the fathers with watchfulness, with alms, with sacrifices, with prayers, with ceremonies, with hard living, and other things. Is not this then, I say (they hold this against us), holy and good? Why then do you say that all men are sinners? Why then do you declare that all are subject to damnation?
Therefore, in this verse, faith and the Holy Spirit answer that this is the wisdom of the world, but not the wisdom of God. Therefore, this sentence nevertheless remains true, that all men are sinners. For
The world thinks that it is holiness when you wear dirty clothes, when you hurt your body with a hard life, and when you torture yourself, when you go to some corner far away from the traffic of people and restless business, and do something unusual there. These lies and this made-up holiness the flesh understands and admires. Hence it is that people are caught much more quickly by a hard life and unusual behavior (moribus) than by right doctrine and the Word. For nothing is sacred in the sight of the world but that which deviates exceedingly far from the ordinary way of life. Hence the celibate state, hence the monasteries, hence the strange ways of dress and food, hence the innumerable other follies, not only among us, but also among the Jews of old, and nowadays among the Turks, who devise and do the most wondrous things in order to gain the fame of a special holiness among their own. But it is not necessary to fetch examples from the Turks; just look at a monk in his cap and examine him properly, then, after you have been well instructed in right and Christian holiness, you will marvel at and laugh at what our adversaries adorn and praise with great titles, yes, for the sake of which they set aside marriage and civil offices as obstacles to their holiness. These are the ones who, when they hear this generally valid sentence that all men are sinners, hold out their lives and their observances to us with full cheeks and say: Do you want to condemn us all? Do you want to hand us all over to the devil?
Yes, says the prophet, I condemn you all with all your wisdom, with all your holiness and righteousness, "for you are a God who delights in the truth that is hidden" or: you demand the same. For this is how the words in Hebrew read: Thou lovest not falsehood, hypocrisy, and vain pretense (fucum). Therefore, the word "truth" cuts off and condemns everything that is done apart from this teaching, as well as everything that can be of works and righteousness among the Turks, Jews and Papists apart from the word of God. Therefore
he calls all these righteousnesses and all this holiness a lie, in which he not only has no pleasure, but which God also hates and curses to the highest degree. For the word "truth" must be applied not only to words, but in general to the whole of life, so that everything we say, think, live and are should be certain and true, so that not only the world is not deceived, but also we ourselves.
In the race there is also a civil (politica) truth, which shows itself in words and in life, but it is of such a kind that many infirmities attach to it. Thus Pomponius Atticus, Aristides, Socrates were truth-loving people and without falsehood; thus among the pagans there were many right (veri) husbands who kept the fidelity they had pledged to their wives in an excellent way; thus one also sometimes finds a merchant who sticks to the truth. This civil truth is demanded by God, and daily examples show that it does not go unpunished if someone does something against the civil truth. But even this truth is not pure, if one looks at the judgment of God, because many shameful defects are attached to it, and God demands a much greater truth. Therefore, he adds, "You delight in the truth that is hidden," as if to say: The civil truth, which is in the world, can be afforded, and is at least recognized by men. That is why Aristides and Pomponius had a great name among their fellow citizens. In contrast, we hear daily complaints about disloyalty, lies and deceit, which people use in their dealings with each other. But the truth, in which God delights, is not so before the eyes, but is hidden and is not seen. Therefore, even if Mahomet had been a truthful man in worldly matters, he was still a liar before God. Although I have been a monk in truth and without falsehood (for I often cite myself as an example, as Paul writes of himself [Phil. 3, 5.] that he had been a Pharisee in truth), I was nevertheless a liar before God because of the superstition and hypocrisy that I did not see. For it lay hidden, concealed under the appearance of holiness (just as the hidden
Truth is not seen) until it was punished by the Word, and this hidden truth was revealed. Such people the prophet has in mind when he says: "You have a desire for the truth that is hidden", as if he wanted to say: Those arid glittering saints who walk along blamelessly in zeal for the law, hoping that God loves them, who are ready to die for their righteousness, and think that they and their deeds are a delight to God, these are the ones whom you hate to the utmost, with a divine and unconquerable hatred. For you only delight in the truth that is hidden, but you do not love those hypocrites and hopeful saints who walk in a fictitious spirituality. In this way David combines teaching and comfort with refutation. For we, who by God's grace have the truth, and confess that we are sinners, but that God is righteous, cannot so completely believe that we are loved by God as those people who live in lies believe and boast with a full mouth that they are loved by God, rather, when we see that the great multitude of the wicked are so stiff-necked and so presumptuous of their righteousness and God's love, we often lose heart. But we should rather act in such a way that we despise this joy and these triumphs, and firmly believe that they are like dung in the eyes of God and an abomination, because God hates glitter, both in doctrine and in life. Therefore, the godliness of the hypocrites is the highest godlessness, their truth the greatest lie. On the other hand, those who feel their weakness and recognize their sin are in the truth.
Why then are they afraid? Why are they not confident, since they hear here that it is said: "You are a God who delights in the truth that is hidden"? Both, therefore, happen in a wrong way: the shining saints are presumptuous because of love, while they are under the hood, and again, those who are in the truth, who believe and confess according to what they hear from God's word, namely that they are sinners from the time of their conception, and that God alone is righteous, doubt concerning love and fear wrath. For the nature
cannot think otherwise when she sees her sin than that God hates sinners. This is our wisdom, but David teaches another wisdom that is heavenly, namely, that God does not want to reject but love right sinners, again, that those who dispute this confession and do not want to be sinners are liars, and that God hates them. For why should a sinner be afraid, or why should he fear wrath, since God sent His Son to make amends for sins? Therefore, He does not want to settle with us because of righteousness, but demands this, that we recognize that we are sinners. This recognition or confession is the truth, not a philosophical one, which reason hears and sees, but a theological and hidden one, which only the spirit hears and sees. Therefore, God delights in this truth, whereas everything that is not in this truth He hates, as He says elsewhere [Ps. 5, 5.]: "You are not a God to whom godless beings please." Therefore the Pharisee deceives himself, since he remembers his fasts and virtues, and thinks that he pleases GOtte for that sake, for GOtte delights in truth that is hidden. Therefore, although there is civil truth, there is nothing but hatred and wrath of God if this theological truth is not added.
Instead of: In obscuro, vel absconditam sapientiam doce me [In obscurity teach me, or "teach me the secret wisdom"]. But it is the same opinion with the foregoing. For wisdom and truth are the same, as Paul also uses both words in the same sense, Rom. 1, 18.: "Those who hold out the truth in unrighteousness," and 1 Cor. 2, 7.: "The secret, hidden wisdom of God," that is, which no one has known, to which reason cannot consent and be subject, as Christ says Matt. II, 25.: "Thou hast hid it from the wise, and revealed it to babes." He does not say that it is hidden from the foolish and simple, but from the highest in the world, the best and wisest, that they understand nothing of this wisdom. Therefore, the reason why he calls both truth and wisdom hidden is obvious,
because experience teaches this sufficiently. For why do the highest in the world, why the pope and the bishops persecute our gospel? For no other reason than because this teaching is hidden, which they cannot see and suffer, as the Jews could not bear the shining face of Moses. Then they cast their stupid eyes on the Scriptures and read from them a number of mutilated and not properly understood sayings [Luc. 6, 37.]: "Forgive, and you will be forgiven", "God created man as a righteous (rectum), and gave him the choice" [Sir. 15, 14. Vulg.]. They insist on such sayings in a foolish way and reveal their nonsense to the whole world.
Therefore, this is the truth, this is the wisdom, that I know God and myself, that God has promised to redeem all who feel that they are sinners and that there is no salvation, if we do not speak with the prophet: "Against you alone have I sinned and done evil in your sight; I was conceived in sins," etc., that is, if we do not believe that everything is condemned and evil that is reason and will in man. And this wisdom and truth lies hidden, or is secret, because even when it is taught it is not believed, nor is it grasped by the world. Yes, we ourselves often fight against this wisdom and cannot completely throw away the trust in our works, but think that even if we often err and fall, we are not mistaken in all things before God. The one thinks that he is blameless because he is a good husband, the other because in contracts (contractibus) he performs everything without deceit. Although the Turk must doubt his religion, he does not think that God is so cruel that he should corrupt all others, and only let us Christians be wise, especially since they lead a very strict life as far as outward conduct is concerned.
This is said and thought in a good zeal, but these are truths that are publicly before the eyes (in publico), but in secret they are lies. However, God suffers this civil truth and also adorns it with rewards for the sake of public peace.
because otherwise the coexistence of people (societas et vita) could not exist. And yet, this civil truth does not help us before God and before God's judgment, but there must be the hidden truth and wisdom that we confess that we celebrate sinners, and yet, when we feel death, an evil conscience, and the arrows of the devil, raise ourselves up again and say: Thou delightest in the truth that is in secret, that is, thou delightest in those who confess their sins and believe thy promises, that thou mayest be merciful to such people. And also in this piece is the hidden wisdom and truth, that hearts cannot be lifted up to believe that they are loved in their sins. In this way, both our conscience and the world prove that this wisdom is very hidden towards both cords. For if reason did not resist this wisdom even in believers, nothing would stand in the way of this life being a paradise for us, full of joy and gladness. But the flesh remains flesh even in the saints, and contends against the Spirit and the Word, and feels that God not only does not hear sinners, but even hates them. This is the wisdom of the flesh, as I have often said, which contends against this hidden wisdom of the Spirit.
So this verse is a kind of refutation: that there are other wisdoms and truths in the world, 1) which are evident and visible, and can be brought to the world by their glitter, but before God they are ungodly and lying and foolish, especially if any trust is based on them; But let this be the only and right truth, yet a hidden one, that one confess that God alone is righteous, and we sinners, and that He will not reject sinners who recognize their misery and trust in mercy, as they deserve, but will make them blessed by grace. Everything that is taught, believed, lived and done apart from this truth, as if it were meritorious or conducive to eternal blessedness (promoto-
1) It seems to us that the comma which precedes sint in the editions should be placed after it.
rium that I say so) is condemned, because God has pleasure only in the hidden and heavenly wisdom. For this, as I have said, is how the text is to be translated, that our wisdom is not uncertain, but quite certain, and yet secret, or hidden in mystery. Our reason does not understand this wisdom unless it is enlightened by the Holy Spirit. If you compare the wisdom of the world with this wisdom, you will see that it is as uncertain and unstable as the sea. For what is constant or firm in the world? But our wisdom is stable for this reason, because it is outside the world, based on God and His Word.
But here it is also to be remembered that the second part of this verse is, as it were, a little prayer. From this arises the question: Since he already has this hidden wisdom before, why does he ask for it? For he who can sing: In you alone I sin, but you alone are righteous, he truly already has this wisdom hidden from the world and knows it, not only concerning the knowledge of sin, but also concerning the knowledge of grace, otherwise he would despair. Why then does he ask? Why does he say, "You will make known to me the secret wisdom, since he already has and knows it? I answer: The godly feels more sin than grace, more wrath than favor, more judgment than salvation; whereas the godless feels almost nothing of wrath, but is as sure as if there were no wrath anywhere, no God anywhere who is a righteous avenger. But this happens most with those who pretend to some semblance of spirituality (religionis), as the Franciscans ungodly boast that their order (religionem) is quite like the life of Christ; therefore they do not pray, because they live in such security. A godly man, on the other hand, the more he feels his weakness, the more zealous he is in prayer and perseveres with it. For at the same time as this wisdom, stopping in prayer also sets in. For since the feeling of sin does not cease, neither does the groaning and praying, in which the completion of this wisdom is requested. This prayer is not empty talk, but a fervent desire directed against the struggle of the flesh,
which we feel, so that as the feeling of sin is great, so also the feeling of grace and the comfort of the Spirit abound. Therefore, in Zechariah [Cap. 12, 10.the spirit of grace and prayer are associated with each other. For the godly always speak as if they were sinners, as indeed they are; but because they are in the truth, they are loved by God, and are in grace. But because this feeling of grace is exceedingly weak for the sake of the flesh, even when they have the forgiveness of sins, they still pray for the forgiveness of sins and sigh for it. On the other hand, sure sinners say: I thank you that I am not like other people, like the Pharisee in Lucas [Cap. 18, 11.].
This is the reason why a godly person asks for grace who has already begun to be godly and has a taste for this teaching. This taste causes a greater thirst, because hearts are not yet satisfied with the firstfruits of the Spirit, but would like to have the fullness, as Paul says, Phil. 3:12: "Not that I have already apprehended it, or am already perfected; but I pursue after it, whether I may apprehend it after I am apprehended." In this way David also acts here as if he wanted to say: I know that thou lovest this truth, which thou hast begun in me: now cause me to grasp it more surely, and not to doubt. For he confesses the wickedness of our flesh, that though the world with its troubles and temptations were not, yet we ourselves are against ourselves, and fight against this wisdom; and our flesh will not believe it, nor agree with that which we teach and say.
V. 9. Defile me with hyssop, that I may be clean; wash me, that I may be white as snow.
So far, the prophet has generally rejected all righteousnesses, wisdoms and truths, and put forward this certain truth that is hidden, or the secret wisdom that confesses sins and hopes in the mercy of God who makes sinners righteous, as the same opinion is John 1:12 f.: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, who believe in him.
who have not been born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. There he rejects everything in general that reason and what only a man can do, that is, everything that all men can do according to their nature and their powers without the Holy Spirit, and leaves only the trust in the name of Jesus. To this general refutation he now adds a special refutation, namely that of the righteousnesses of the law or Moses, that the Mosaic sprinklings are nothing, even Moses does not properly sprinkle those whom he wants to sanctify, but another, much more powerful sprinkling is needed.
The law had various sprinklings, which were done with hyssop and wool, as is known from the second book of Moses [2 Mos. 24, 8. 29, 21.], where the priest and all holy utensils were consecrated by sprinkling. The reason for this consecration was not only that the things dedicated to holy use should not be put to unholy use, but that the people should know that everything in the tabernacle was holy and consecrated, and for this reason should regard all other places where holy things were performed as unholy and flee them. This was the principal cause of consecration, 1) which is quite out of place with our apes, that is, the pope, who, according to Mosiah's example, consecrates churches and vessels. There is only the occasion that this is instituted out of foolish imitation, but not according to a certain word of God. Another kind of sprinkling is 4 Mos. 19, 2. 9. with the ashes of the reddish cow, which they called a water of atonement. Hence our apes introduced holy water into the church, which they praised to men as if it were a second baptism, and attributed to it a significant power, that it washes away daily (venialia) sins and drives away the devil. A thousand superstitious things have sprouted from it, which foolish old women have invented. However, although it is not evil per se, a creature
1) Instead of oonsseratio in the editions will read 60086ci-Ätionis.
For if the consecration, which was commanded by God in the law, was not intended to consecrate sins, because everything is sanctified by the word of God, and everything is sanctified for the saints, then it is an exceedingly great impiety to attribute a justifying power (justificationem) to the creatures thus sanctified, as water, salt etc. For if the consecration commanded by God in the law was not intended to inspire confidence that sins would be forgiven thereby, or to provide consolation for the conscience, but was only a custom, instituted for outward sanctification, so that there would be a distinction between the vessels of holy and worldly custom: what then shall we ascribe to the consecration of the papists, which was invented without the Word, without any cause? All the worship of this people was bound by God's voice to the tabernacle in which the mercy seat was. There they had the certain testimony of the word that God would accept the sacrifices and hear their prayers. In order to praise this place even more to the people and to turn their hearts away from the idolatry committed by those who performed sacrifices in other places and used other utensils for the sacrifices, Moses was commanded by a divine commandment to consecrate both the temple and the vessels of the temple. In the New Testament it is quite different. For not only on this mountain, but in all places God is worshipped and adored in spirit; then all sacrifices are accomplished by the One Sacrifice of Christ. And in the Holy Communion we do not have one sacrifice, but keep the memory of the sacrifice that was made by Christ, and what Christ sacrificed at that time we do not offer again, but distribute it to the faithful according to His word. Therefore, churches as well as utensils are not to be consecrated, since we not only do not have a word of God by which it is commanded to us, but also the cause that was present in the law is not even there.
Therefore, this Psalm speaks in general of the Mosaic washings and purifications, and denies that they serve to make righteous, but calls for a different purification, which is not done with asop and sprinkling water, but through the mercy of God, who forgives sins.
This teaching no doubt annoyed very many. For the sermons of the prophets clearly show how much nonsense they were about sacrifice, because they wanted to atone for sins through sacrifices. Therefore, even at the time when, according to God's command, the sacrifices were still in effect, the prophets preached very sharply against the sacrifices, in which God obviously said that He did not want the sacrifices that He had instituted, as can be seen in Isa. 1:11 and Ps. 50:8 ff. For they were not instituted by God with the intention that sins should be taken away by them, for only the one perfect and completely directed sacrifice of Christ could accomplish that, but they served first of all to distinguish this people from all other peoples, so that one might be certain of the people from whom Christ was to be born; secondly, the fact that these practices were ordered in such a way served to prevent them from inventing their own divine services. For human nature is such that it cannot be without worship. Therefore, if it does not have the Word, it devises such things as the examples of both the pagans and the pope show.
When the people sacrificed in the temple, which was designated by God 1) for the sacrifices, they knew that they had rendered the outward service to God according to His word, but the outward service is not useful for salvation. Therefore the right and certain inward service remained, namely the faith in the future Christ or the blessed seed; this service was not only extremely pleasant for God, but also necessary for salvation. Now the greater part left this service and wanted to become blessed through the sacrifices. The prophets cried out against these people and condemned the outward service without the inward service, in order to teach that one must first believe in the blessed Seed, after which one should also perform the outward practices of the legal service. Therefore the prophet leaves these sprinklings of the law, even rejects them, and asks the Lord
1) In the original edition, in the Wittenberg and in the Jena: <ium intus; Erlanger: clivinitus. We have followed the latter reading.
UM another sprinkling and another mop. Here, no doubt, he had to hear from others: Lord King, what do you ask? Do you want to be washed and purified, why don't you use the ablutions prescribed by Moses? Do you despise them as useless? Why then are they commanded by God? Because it is not Moses' commandment, but the Lord's. But David publicly shows that those washings are useless and defiled, if someone wants to cleanse the heart by them. The garments may be cleansed so that the people may live in outward holiness, but for purity of heart and a good conscience, a different sprinkling is necessary.
Therefore this is an obvious refutation against the falsifiers of the law, who wanted to use the law to wash away sins, although the washing away of sins was promised, not in the works of the law, but in the blessed seed, which the believers expected. For the forgiveness of sins has been the same at all times, namely Christ yesterday and today ^Heb. 13:8]. Therefore those were saved by trusting in Christ who was to come, lvir by trusting in Christ who is given to us, who suffered and is glorified, and through Him receive forgiveness of sins. Therefore David has to do with the same subject, of which the epistle to the Hebrews deals, since it speaks thus [Hebr. 7, 11.]: Since the Levitical priesthood is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins, why then is another priesthood promised, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek? Thus in this passage: If the sprinkling of the water of atonement had had power to wash away sins, David would not ask for another sprinkling. But because he asks for another sprinkling and another mop, it follows that the whole service of the law is not only useless, but also harmful, if anyone attaches to it the opinion that righteousness is in it. He therefore leaves it that the Jews wash themselves according to the law, but in the right way and as far as the law allows it, namely, that the people may be holy to their God by outward holiness, but not before the law.
God in the spirit. For this holiness of the spirit, which is holiness before God, requires another sprinkling, which does not come from the blood of the cow or the sprinkling water, but from the blood of Christ and faith in Christ.
Therefore, everything depends on the fact that the Jews should use the sprinkling correctly, or expect that their salvation and the whole law would perish. For as far as the work is concerned, the Mosaic sprinkling could still be kept, if these two main points remained intact, first, that one believed in the already appeared Christ, not in the future Christ as under the law. For the godly sprinkled themselves in the law for this reason, that they might confess and testify that they believed in the true sprinkling of Christ. Secondly, if righteousness were not attributed to that sprinkling, but the sprinkled ones considered that they were not a hair's breadth better before God after that sprinkling than before. If these pieces remained unharmed, someone could sprinkle himself without danger. But our Jews sin in both respects, both in that they still expect Christ, as if he had not yet appeared, and in that they ascribe righteousness to their customs. But this is to deny that Christ has come into the flesh, and to blaspheme our heavenly righteousness, which comes from our faith in Christ. Before we allow this, let us rather suffer Moses to perish with all his customs and ceremonies.
Therefore, one must pay attention to this distinction of David. For if that righteousness, which was commanded by God in the Law, did not make one righteous before God, what shall we say of worldly (politica) righteousness? What shall we say of other works and services, which men undertake without God's commandment, as the whole pabstry stands in self-chosen services (Ιδ-ελο&^σχείαΐζ), as it is called Pau
lus [Col. 2, 18]. Therefore we should seek the sprinkling of the Spirit and the inward washing, which Peter calls 1 Petr. 1, 2. a sprinkling of the blood of Christ, with which we are all sprinkled, who have the
Hear and believe the gospel of Christ. For his mouth, which teaches the gospel, is the mop and the sprinkling rod with which the teaching of the gospel, dyed and sealed with the blood of Christ, is sprinkled on the church. Those who do not believe this word are indeed sprinkled, therefore the blood of Christ and the word of Christ will also judge them, but their unbelief makes that they are not washed away. The sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, serve for this sprinkling, because in both we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ. For in baptism we are baptized into the death of Christ, and in the Lord's Supper the blood and body of Christ are distributed to the Church. So we also hear this sprinkling in the service of the Word, that Christ has done enough for the sins of the wager. Nothing else remains but that we, as we hear this in the Word, and as it is offered and communicated to us in the outward signs (symbolis) of our faith, also firmly believe and establish our hearts by trusting in this sprinkling.
And between the present church of believers and the believers in the Old Testament there is no other difference than that they believed the sprinkling to be future, but we believe that it has appeared and has been accomplished. And this is the sum of this verse, that David first rejects the cleansings of the law as not profitable for righteousness, then desires to be sprinkled with the word of faith of the future Christ, who will sprinkle his church with his blood. This word prays that he may hear and believe, as the following will show more clearly. By this faith the saints in the Old Testament were preserved, just as we are preserved, although our situation is much better, because we see this in bright light, and not only hear it in words, but also receive it wrapped in outward signs, in baptism and the Lord's Supper. Therefore Christ says [Luc. 10, 24.], "Many prophets and kings desired to see what ye see." Yet the same faith is on both sides by which we and they are saved. Therefore, if anyone should ask how David could have asked for this sprinkling with
the blood of Christ, which had not yet been fulfilled, the answer is easy, namely, that the same sprinkling had always been in the world by which believers are washed from their sins, namely, the sprinkling by the blood of Christ; there is only a difference of time, namely, that for those the sprinkling was a future one, but for us it was a present and past one. If some do not receive it because of their unbelief, it is not the fault of the blood of Christ, but of their unbelief.
This teaching is easy, but it takes great effort to keep it, and to fortify the heart so that you firmly believe that no satisfaction, no work, no law, no righteousness is worth anything before God except this one sprinkling. For this faith is challenged by many thoughts. For even civil righteousness cannot be completely despised by the human heart, and because the Law of Moses is commanded by God, it leaves the delusion in the heart that the one who brings this righteousness of the Law to God cannot displease God. Then our flesh and our reason cling to us too much that we gladly agree with it. We see that in civil life those who do evil are punished, and that hardly anyone escapes the punishment he deserves, and now we are even supposed to believe that God, who follows these minor things on earth so closely with His judgment, will not proceed with the same severity against our sins, but will forgive them out of grace! In addition, there is the devil, a particular enemy of this doctrine, who is primarily intent on eradicating it.
Therefore, it is difficult to remain firm that the way of justification consists only in hearing the word of that sprinkling and agreeing to it in faith. For just as the flesh, when it feels its sin, bears sorrow because of a work it has done, so it is anxious to make amends for it by another work. This nature of ours has also been strengthened by custom and habit. For this doctrine has been most practiced in all the churches and in the monasteries, that men should remember how to atone for their sins.
would be enough. All the better are the young people at this time, who are not so corrupted by these wrong opinions as we who have lived under the pope. For they can grasp much more easily what David teaches here, namely, that the atonements belong to the worldly government and to the household, so that we do not put Moses in heaven, but leave him with his Jews on earth and in this bodily life. For there is One who ascended into heaven, who also descended, the Son of God and of man, Christ Jesus [John 3:13]. This is He concerning whom we have the commandment that we should hear Him [Matt. 17:5], this is He who bore the sins of the world [John 1:29]; this One satisfaction, this One washing away or sprinkling, is by which we are saved; and this is the ground of our salvation, that when we hear this, we should not be faithless against the divine revelation, but believe. For that a new life must follow does not belong to satisfaction, but to what we owe to do, and to obedience. And because the Holy Spirit works this in us, no merit can be derived from it that we would have in order to propitiate God and atone for our sins, which, as we are taught, have already been atoned for through Christ.
But, as I said, it is difficult to hold on to this teaching. As long as we are out of temptation, it seems easy, but when the time of peace is over and we think about the wrath of God, then we find out how much effort it takes to believe this firmly. Therefore, I want to warn everyone not to be presumptuous. This can easily be taught and heard and believed, but to persevere even in the midst of temptation is a special gift of the Holy Spirit. It is so easy to fall into thoughts contrary to this teaching, namely, that one must do enough, and such like deceptions of the devil. Therefore, when you hear about atonement, only testify firmly to the atonement that it is the true one, which is called and is an atonement of faith, namely, that Christ Jesus has borne your sins. If
If this gratification exists alone and completely pure, without any addition to your gratifications, then you may mortify and kill your flesh, then you may practice love with zeal, serve your profession and do everything that may be done according to God's word. This obedience is dear and pleasant to God, because it is done with the right intention, namely, that obedience may be shown to God, not in order to accomplish one's own gratification. But what does a monk do? what a Turk? what a Jew? They undertake various works and do many things in order to serve God, but with such a heart and such confidence that they want to erase their sins and reconcile with God. But what is this but denying Christ, who is set by God to do enough for us, and that for the sake of this satisfaction we should hear Him, praise Him, and serve Him in faith? Because those people do not do this who want to do enough themselves, but for this reason remain in the monasteries, for this reason keep their righteousnesses, fasts and prayers, because they hope that God will look upon them graciously, they will therefore hear the judgment of the Father, who will command that they be thrown into hell with their fasts and righteousnesses, with which they have done nothing but blaspheme the Son of God.
Therefore, when one comes to the article of righteousness before God, all law must be rejected as of no use for us to become righteous, and nothing else must be admitted than the law of the Spirit or the promise that Jesus Christ died for our sins. This is the word of grace and promise, by which nothing is required of us as in the law, but complete satisfaction is offered through the perfect sacrifice, Christ; this sacrifice put an end to Moses and the whole law. Therefore, David so freely throws away that imperfect sprinkling of the law and asks to be sprinkled, not by a Levitical priest, but by the Redeemer, God Himself, so that the conscience may be cleansed with such purity, which is purer than snow.
Also this is to be remembered that what our Latin translator expresses by:Adsperges me hyssopo [you will sprinkle me] in Hebrew reads: You will absolve me or absolve me from sins. But the sense remains the same, and the word "sprinkle" 1) can be tolerated, because the atonement was done by sprinkling with water to which the ashes of the reddish heifer were added. Because this sprinkling was done with hyssop, David calls it the mop, so that it is clear that he is speaking against the legal defilement.
But here a theological question arises: how we can become purer than snow, since the remnants of sin always cling to us. I answer: I have often said that man is divided into spirit and flesh. Therefore, as far as the whole man is concerned, the remnants of sin remain, or, as Paul calls it [2 Cor. 7:1], the defilement of the spirit and of the flesh. The defilements of the spirit are doubting grace, imperfect faith, grumbling against God, impatience, imperfect knowledge of God's will etc. The defilements of the flesh are adultery, evil desire, murder, strife etc. But the defilements of the spirit reach the highest degree by the heretics, the defilements of the flesh by the other aversions in the world, so that both the spirit and the body are defiled.
Although because of these aversions we are never as pure and holy as we ought to be, we have already obtained baptism, which is entirely pure, we have obtained the word, which is entirely pure, we have also obtained in the word and baptism by faith the blood of Christ, which is truly also entirely pure. Therefore, according to this purity which we have in spirit and faith from Christ and the sacraments which he instituted, it is rightly said that it is purer than snow, yes, purer than the sun and the stars, although those stains of the spirit and the flesh cling to us. For they are covered and showered with the purity and cleanness of Christ, which we have received through the
1) Instead of: aZspsiMnüo in the issues should probably read LÜsperAentli.
Hearing the Word and attaining faith. But it is well to note that this purity is an alien purity. For Christ adorns and clothes us with his righteousness. Now if you look at a Christian excluding Christ's righteousness and purity, as he is in himself, you will not only find no purity, even if he is exceedingly holy, but, I say, a devilish blackness. Furthermore, what does the pope do in his teaching other than to separate us from Christ, to take away baptism, the preaching of the gospel or the promise of God, and to leave us alone? But this means taking away all purity from man and leaving him with nothing but sin.
Therefore, if they say, "Sin always clings to man, how can he be so washed away as to be whiter than snow?" Answer, "Man must be regarded, not as he is in himself, but as he is in Christ. Then you will find that believers are washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ. But who is such an ungodly man that he should deny that the blood of Christ is wholly pure? What cause, then, is there why the believing man should doubt his purity? Is it because he feels that he still has the remnants of sin in him? But all this purity must be a foreign one, namely that of Christ and his blood; it need not be ours which we put on. In the household, is not the Son the heir of the Father, who, because of his weakness, is carried, cared for, and governed by a lowly handmaid? If you want to look at the carrying here, is not the son, who is the heir, the servant of the maid whom he has to obey? And yet, for this reason, he does not cease to be the heir, because he is the child of the father of the house and not of the maid. This is also how a Christian is to be judged, and the eyes are to be firmly fixed on what kind of person he came out of baptism as, not on how (qualis) he was born of the parents. For the rebirth is better than the first birth, for it is not through a man, but from God and His promise, which our faith takes hold of, as the prophet now shows more extensively.
V. 10. Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have crushed may rejoice.
It is not without reason that I repeat so often that in this psalm not only an example is given of how David was justified, but the right doctrine itself is presented, in which way and how justification happens with all people, so that this psalm is a general rule of how sinners are justified. One part of this rule is given in the last two verses, in which he refutes all the other ways by which men try to cleanse themselves of sins and reconcile themselves to God, either by the works of the law or by other works of their own choice. For he requires not only the truth that is hidden against hypocrisy, but also another sprinkling than the law had. So that this may be more clearly understood, he adds, "Let me hear joy," as if to say: Sprinkle me in such a way that you give me joy to hear, that is, that I may have peace of heart through the word of grace. Further, in the Latin there is an emphasis on the word auditui [give joy to my hearing], though in the Hebrew it is somewhat different, "Let me hear joy"; but the sense is the same in both cases. For he simply means that the forgiveness of sins, which alone brings joy, is given by the word alone, or by the hearing alone. For even if you torment yourself to the point of death, even if you shed your blood, even if you bear and suffer everything that is possible for a human being with the greatest willingness, still nothing is accomplished, but only hearing brings joy. This is the only way by which the heart is brought to rest before God; everything else that can be done leaves doubt in the hearts etc.
Therefore, all this must be understood to be significant and emphatic, for it belongs to the refutation begun above. For, by contrast, he rejects all other paths that men take with anxious consciences, because, though they have an excellent appearance, they are nevertheless
do not bring the joy that hearing brings. For the fearful consciences are just like the geese; when the vultures pursue them, they try to escape by flying, while they could achieve this better by running. On the other hand, when wolves threaten them, they try to escape by running, while they could do this safely by flying. Thus men, when they are in distress of conscience, run hither and thither, undertake this work and that; thus they only heap up dangers and useless labors, while this is the only true and certain way of healing the conscience, which David here calls sprinkling, by which the word is heard and accepted. For the whole way of justification, as far as we are concerned, is a suffering one (ratio passiva). But if we are most holy, then we want to be justified in an active way, that is, by our works. But here nothing must be done by us, nothing must be undertaken by us, except this one thing, that we incline our ear, as also the 45th Psalm, v. 11, reminds us, and believe what is said to us. This hearing alone is a hearing of delight, and this alone is what we do through the Holy Spirit in the matter of justification. So it was a hearing of delight for the gout-broken man when Christ said to him [Matt. 9:2], "Be of good cheer, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee." So it was a delight for David to hear from Nathan [2 Sam. 12, 13.], "Thou shalt not die. "etc.
Therefore this is the brief epitome of this teaching: When thou liest in sorrow or feelest the divine wrath, seek no other remedy and allow no other consolation than the word, whether it be preached to thee by a present brother, or that it come to thee by the remembrance of the Spirit through the word heard before, as there are such sayings [Ezek. 33:11]: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he turn and live." Likewise [Ps. 30:6], "He delighteth to live." Likewise [Matt. 22:32.], "God is a God of the living." Likewise [Joh. 3, 16.]:. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that all who believe in Him might live.
believe him, shall not perish, but have eternal life." These and similar sayings involve the hearing of delight, whether through a foreign mouth or inspired by the Holy Spirit. But this is also hidden truth and wisdom, which inexperienced people cannot comprehend. Therefore, the teachers of the pope bring far other ways by which they want to heal the troubled consciences.
Furthermore, this verse is a glorious testimony with which the ministry of the word or the oral word is adorned. For since it desires the hearing of delight, it clearly indicates that the word is necessary to comfort the heart, whether it is brought by a brother or whether the Spirit gives the word that was heard before. Therefore, this verse fights, first, against all those who apologize or neglect the outward word and are carried away by their idle and futile thoughts. Secondly, it also fights against those who, frightened by terrors of the heart, do not want to accept the word, but either disbelieve or flee from the word to works, just as they flee to their thoughts. On both sides one errs, both in thinking and in doing. But in this one you do not err when you hear.
And this is the doctrine for which we not only bear the name of heretics, but also suffer punishments, namely, because we ascribe everything to hearing, or to the word, or to faith in the word (for these are all the same), and not to our works; nay, in the custom of the sacraments and confession we teach that we must look chiefly to the word, that we may put away everything from our works and direct it to the word. For in baptism is the hearing of joy, as it is said, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" [Marc. 16:16]. In the Lord's Supper is the hearing of joy, as it is said, "This is my body given for you," "this is the cup in my blood poured out for you for the remission of sins." In confession, or to name it more correctly, in absolution and in the custom of the keys is the
Hearing the joy: Faith, your sins are forgiven through Christ's death. Therefore, although we exhort to the sacraments and to absolution, we do not teach anything about the worthiness of our work, that this work has power if it is only performed (ex opere operato), as the papists tend to teach about the Lord's Supper or about their sacrifice, but we point people to the word that the main part of the whole action is the word of God, and hearing.
On the other hand, the pope leaves the word pending and disputes the manner (forma) and the power of the sacraments, likewise the complete repentance (contritionibus) and the half-repentance (attritionibus). Through this teaching I have been so corrupted in the schools that, by God's grace, I have hardly been able to turn to hearing joy alone with great effort. For if one wants to wait so long until one has repented sufficiently, one will never reach the hearing of joy, which I experienced in the monastery very often with great pain. For I followed this doctrine of repentance, but the more I repented, the higher rose the pain and the evil conscience, and I could not receive the absolution and other consolations which those to whom I confessed gave me. For I thought like this: Who knows whether one may believe such consolations? Later it happened by chance, when I complained to my preceptor about these temptations of mine with many tears, of which I really suffered many and also because of my youth, that he said to me: "My son, what are you doing? Do you not know that the Lord himself has commanded us to hope? By this one word: "He has commanded," I was so strengthened that I knew that one should believe the absolution, which I had heard many times before; but, hindered by my foolish thoughts, I did not think that I had to believe the word, but rather heard it as if it did not concern me.
Therefore, warned by my example and danger, learn this doctrine of justification, which the present verse holds forth, that righteousness is given to him who believes the word, that you make a distinction between the word of the absolver and your own conduct or
your newness, as between heaven and earth. For even if repentance is the highest and most perfect, it is still something very small in terms of righteousness, even a mere nothing, through which we neither earn anything nor do enough. For what merit is there in recognizing sin and bearing sorrow for it? Therefore, turn your eyes far away from your repentance and listen with all your heart to the voice of the brother who absolves you, and have no doubt that the word of your brother in the sacrament or in absolution is spoken by God, by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so that you are completely attached to what you hear and not to what you do and think.
The pope does it quite differently. He first urges repentance, and from repentance he then wants to determine whether the word is powerful or not, as if the promise of God had no power in itself, but required the addition of our merits, our repentance or satisfaction. And they hold this doctrine so firmly that they condemn us, who have a more sound doctrine, as heretics and inflict on us every kind of torture. Therefore, in all the bulls this clause is added: To those who have rightly confessed and repented; as if the certainty of absolution depended on the certainty of repentance, whereas the heart can never determine when it has sufficiently repented. The avarice of the popes has also sold these letters of indulgence for a great deal of money, but, dear Lord Christ, take away this indulgence and rather allow the popes to be angry with us than that we leave the certainty of your word and base ourselves on our newness, as they teach. For all certainty for us is in your word, in which you reveal that the sins of the whole world have been atoned for and blotted out through your sacrifice, death and resurrection. When the heart hears this word, then the joy arises of which David speaks here. For how should the heart not rejoice when it hears that the greatness of God's mercy goes so far that He bestows grace with all pleasure, and does not look at the insufficient new, but simply looks at His mercy and our sorrow? This hearing is followed by the confidence that we speak:
I have been baptized, I have taken the body that was given to the cross for me, I have heard God's voice from the church minister or from a brother, through which the forgiveness of sins is announced to me. Through this confidence, however, death and all other evils are overcome.
This I gladly say in many words, so that you may know that the way (forma) of the forgiveness of sins is that it is not by works, but by hearing. The papists sing and pray this psalm daily in their churches, but there is no one who understands what this joy is with which the godly rejoice in the Lord, namely, a certain confidence in the mercy of God and a conscience that does not doubt the forgiveness of sins. If this confidence or knowledge, or this hearing, is not there, then one cannot have any firm comfort. For I have also learned this through my own experience; for after waking, studying, fasting, praying and other very hard exercises, with which I tortured myself almost to death as a monk, the doubt remained in my heart that I thought: Who knows if this is pleasing to God? Happy, therefore, you young people, if only you would also be grateful to God for such a great gift, that you now hear the healthy and right way in which one arrives at righteousness, that you can say in your hearts: If I have not prayed or done as much as I should, or that it would be enough, what is the matter? because I do not build on this sand. If I have not repented completely, what of that? But that is my real concern, and I rely on the fact that God speaks to me through a brother: "I absolve you in the name of Christ and through his merit. Of this word I believe to be true, and my faith does not deceive me. For it is built upon the rock of the words of the Son of God, who cannot lie, for he is the truth etc. In this way, hearts are filled with true joy and true delight of the Holy Spirit, which is entirely based on the certainty of the word or hearing.
But here also you must be made aware of the contrast. For he seems to look covertly at Moses, since he says [Vulg:]
"You will give joy to my hearing," as if to say: I have already heard long enough the law and Moses, who has a heavy tongue; take this hearing from me, for it is a hearing of the wrath of God and of eternal death. Therefore I ask for the hearing of bliss, which comes through the word of grace and the forgiveness of sins. Then it will happen that the frightened bones will become joyful, that is, the bones that are crushed and broken by the feeling of sin; this feeling causes the law of God in the hearts. But just as the disciples of Pabst do not understand the joy of which he spoke above, so they cannot know what this bruising of the bones is. For they have never heard the words of the law, nor have they heard the sermon of death and despair, but discourse of these things without experience, as a blind man of a painting. Therefore, this knowledge also belongs to that hidden wisdom of which he said above. For I have often asked many in the monastery to tell me what bruised bones were, but since they had no experience of such afflictions, it was impossible that they could have said anything right and certain about a thing unknown to them. For not all suffer the same temptations, but God gives this to each one according to how he can bear it. And yet all must experience this feeling of the law and of death, even if some experience it 1) more, others less; some feel it only in their last hour. But it also happens according to the letter that in this feeling the bones are shattered, that is, that the strength of the body and the powers are broken and suffer extraordinarily, as we experience it in sudden danger of death, also in other great distresses.
But this contritio of the bones is a very different contritio from that of the pope, who commands that we contemplate and enumerate the sins committed. (meditemur); after that he imposes exceedingly foolish penances, with pilgrimages,
1) It seems to us that instead of eara in the editions should be read euna, referred from 8ensu.ru.
Fasting, almsgiving etc. For if to the true being bruised is not added what Nathan said to David [2 Sam. 12, 13.], "The Lord has taken away your sin," it is impossible that the bones should not remain bruised. For this wound of the conscience can be healed by nothing but the word of the divine promise, namely, that we believe that our God is a Father of mercy and of all comfort, likewise that we believe that the Lord is pleased with those who fear him and hope in his goodness [Ps. 147:11], that we know that he wants us to hope, and that if one does not hope, the punishment of eternal damnation must be suffered. But why would he command that one should hope if he did not want to forgive? Why would he send his only begotten Son to such an ignominious death if he did not want us to be saved through faith in him?
These and other such sayings are the true sprinkling and the most effective medicine by which the bruised bones are healed and the conscience is raised. But those who doubt this will of God, and look upon their unworthiness, that they are not like Paul or Peter in holiness, can never have a quiet heart. Therefore, put everything that exists anywhere in righteousness or in sins, either in you or in the whole world, completely out of sight and out of heart, and say: Although I am unworthy to receive these great benefits, namely the forgiveness of sins and the grace of God, God is not unworthy that I believe Him to forgive sins, as He promised in His word. For this inference does not apply in theology: I am a shameful and wicked sinner, so God becomes a liar (dementitur) who promised that He would forgive sinners their sin. Rather, you are to make this inference that David made above: I would rather be a sinner than for God to become a liar. But that I hope for mercy, I do in confidence in his word, which is preached by Christ etc.
But here, the reader must refer to the property
It is necessary to draw attention to the uniqueness of the Hebrew text. For so it is said in the Hebrew: "And the bones which thou hast broken shall be glad. But here it is a great offense why the prophets observe with special diligence that they pronounce that the evils come from God Himself, while it is true that God does not inflict evils in Himself, but uses them as means and instruments. For thus the Lord says to Satan in the Book of Job [Cap. 2, 3]: "Thou hast moved me to destroy him without a cause," when history clearly shows that Satan set fire to the house, killed the children, and told him to despair and murmur against God. These, I say, are in truth works of the devil, and yet the Lord says, "I have destroyed him." In the same way David also says here: "Thou hast bruised my bones," while yet God has done nothing else than to withdraw his hand and his spirit, and to leave David, that he might be afflicted with the fiery darts of Satan, with which the latter filled the heart with such sadness and despair that he knew not where out nor in. For he is a father of lies and a murderer. Such a tool or means is also the law, by which sins are accused and condemned. God uses these means for his own sake, so that he may humble us and take away the presumption of our works, so that we may learn that we live only by the grace and goodness of God.
But we want to answer the objection: Why is this attributed to GOtte, since he actually does not do this, but uses his means? The devil kills, the law accuses, and yet the holy scripture attributes both 1) to GOtte. This is the reason: so that we are preserved in the article of our faith that only One God is, and do not make several gods with the Manichaeans. For these assumed two primordial beings (principia), one of which was good, the other evil. In good things they ran to the good God, in evil to the evil God. But God wants us to be like that.
He does not want us to be among those of whom Isaiah says [Cap. 9, 13]: "The people do not turn to the one who strikes them. For this is what our nature tends to do: in sudden terrors and dangers it turns away from God, because it believes that He is angry, as Job did [Cap. 30, 21.]: "Thou art turned unto me into a cruel one." But this means to invent another God, and not to remain in the simple faith that there is only One God. For God is not cruel, but He is a Father of comfort [2 Cor. 1:3]. But because he delays help, our hearts soon make an angry idol out of God, who always remains the same and constant. The prophets want to prevent this by saying as if from one mouth [Is. 45, 7. Amos 3, 6. Micah 1, 12.]: "I am the Lord, who create good and evil." This is done so that when the sun is veiled by clouds we may not think that the sun has been entirely taken away from the world, or that a luminous body has become a black and dark one; for the sun retains its light, but by the clouds we are prevented from seeing it. Thus, God is good, just and merciful, even when He strikes. Whoever does not believe this, steps away from the unity of faith that there is only One God, and invents for himself another God, who does not remain the same, who is sometimes good, sometimes evil. But it is a great gift of the Holy Spirit that one believes that God is gracious and merciful even when He sends evil.
V. 11. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Here again he makes it clear, as you see, that he is not speaking of the sin of adultery alone, for he says, "Blot out all my iniquity." But he also shows us here a special experience that the saints have in this spiritual battle. For when the heart is completely taken up with the feeling of sin, not even the righteous can have sufficient peace, but pain remains mixed with the hearing of joy, which does not suffer from hearing the
Take joy as much as is enough. For they have the firstfruits and, as it were, a droplet at the fingertip, by which the hearts are refreshed; they do not have the fullness of joy, but hang, as it were, on a thin thread, where a thick rope would be very much needed to bear the burden of the body. Thus the saints begin to feel this hearing, but have not yet drawn so much from it that they have become drunk. Therefore, David asks in this verse for the growth and completion of this hearing, that it may so fill the heart with this knowledge of mercy that nothing may remain to trouble it.
We also need this request throughout our lives, that this knowledge and this confidence in mercy may grow in us from day to day, as Paul and Peter exhort us to this growth in faith. For you see how great a danger it is if, immediately after reading a book or two, we persuade ourselves that we are teachers of theology. The examples of the sects are before our eyes, who, although they had hardly drawn a drop of sound doctrine, as teachers of the whole world have filled everything with their false opinions, of baptism, of the Lord's Supper, of obedience to the law of God, of obedience to the authorities etc. For since they have never been in these battles of the spirit, nor grasped this doctrine of trusting in God's mercy, it was easy for the devil to overthrow them by wrong opinions. Therefore, warned by these frightening examples, we should pray with David that this mercy may be increased for us, saying: O Lord, hide your face from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities, that our peace and joy may be complete.
But this very request proves that the article of justification is one that can never be learned. Therefore, those who think that they know it completely are certain that they have never begun to learn it. For because new battles arise daily, sometimes from the devil, sometimes from our flesh, sometimes from the world and our conscience, through which we
How can we be carried away to despair, anger, unchastity and other vices, and how is it possible, with our great weakness, that we do not often fall or at least waver? And then, in how many deeds does this life entangle us, by which we are gradually made to forget this joy. Therefore, the greatest need is that we pray that God will always flow or sprinkle us with this hearing of joy, so that we will not again be overwhelmed with the sadness that the feeling of sins brings with it.
Therefore, I understand this verse to be about the growth of this peace and righteousness, by which the feeling of God's wrath and sin is overcome. For although the righteous in truth have forgiveness of sins, because they have confidence in God's mercy, and are in grace for Christ's sake, yet the remorse of conscience does not cease, and the remnants of sin by which they are challenged. This, therefore, is an immensely great effect of the Holy Spirit, that one believes in the grace of God, and hopes that God will be gracious and favorable; and this confidence cannot be held fast without the fiercest struggles which both the daily occasions 1) of sorrow and sadness, and the weakness and distrust born with us, excite in the flesh. For even if today I am of a cheerful disposition because of this hearing of joy, tomorrow something will occur that will cause me to be troubled, since it will come to my mind that I have either done what I should have avoided or omitted what I should have done. These storms and floods never cease in the heart. For this purpose the devil also watches, when he notices that our hearts are not well fortified by the promises of God, so that he may arouse in us other delusions of anger and disquiet, by which the hearts melt away like salt thrown into the water. Therefore, this prayer is a necessary one, that he prays: "For-
1) Both the Wittenberg and the Jena Allsgabe have retained the misprint of the original edition: oratioN68 instead of: 0063, 8101168. In the 1539 edition it is indicated.
birg thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." "All," he says, "both the past, and the present, and the future, for daily I sin; blot out all, all, lest I fall into despair, or forget thy mercy. Here you see again that the forgiveness of sins is not based on what I do, but on God blotting them out by His mercy, as Paul also says of the handwriting that is against 2) us.
V. 12. Create in me, O God, a clean heart, and give me a new conscience.
We have now finished the most important part of this psalm, in which the most important articles of our religion have been treated, namely, what repentance is, what sin is, what grace is, what justification is, and what the causes of justification are. What now follows belongs, I believe, to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which follow the forgiveness of sins. For Paul teaches this distinction, that grace is something different from the gift. Grace is the favor by which God accepts us, forgiving sins and justifying us freely by grace through Christ. But it belongs to the category of relation (praedicamentum relationis), of which the dialectics have said that it has the least essence (minimae entitatis) but the greatest power. Do not think that it is 3) a quality, as the Sophists dreamed. For the forgiveness of sins depends par excellence on the promise which faith accepts; not on our works or merits, but on God calling us to Himself by grace through the breaking of the law, so that we recognize that He is the giver of grace. Gift or χαρίσματα is that which is given by God, who is reconciled through Christ, to believers after forgiveness. To these gifts, in my judgment, belong the next three verses. For I hold that they must be connected, because three times he has given the
2) The Wittenberg and the Jena have (like the original of 1538) intra instead of: contra, as it should read according to Col. 2, 14.
3) The Erlanger has a colon after esse; there should be no punctuation mark there.
Word "spirit" repeated: the certain (rectum) spirit, the Holy Spirit and the joyful (principalem) spirit.
But I pass over the useless disputations of the schools, whether he speak of the efficiente Spirit, or of the divine Person, or of the gift of the Spirit. For what edification is there in discussing this in detail? Since we have the clear word of Christ [John 14:23], "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." So the true (verus) Spirit dwells in believers not by gifts alone, but according to his nature (substantiam). For he does not give his gifts in such a way that he himself is elsewhere or asleep, but he is with his gifts and with his creature with sustaining, negating, giving strength etc. Therefore, the prophet asks that after he is made righteous and has received the forgiveness of sins, this feeling of God's mercy be deeply implanted in his heart by the Holy Spirit. Therefore he makes use of these words, "Create in me, God, a pure heart." For he does not speak of any effect lasting a moment, but of the continuance of the work begun, as if to say: You have begun Your work in me, that I might trust in Your mercy, now therefore complete what You have begun; fortify, O God, what You have wrought in me. For not he who has begun, but "he who perseveres to the end, the same will be saved" [Matth. 10, 22].
Our sophists are in the error of dreaming that it is enough to have begun once. For they teach that grace is a quality that is hidden in the heart. If someone has it locked up in his heart, as it were, as a precious stone, then he will be graciously regarded by God, if he cooperates otherwise with his free will; likewise, if someone has the first grace, even if it is barely a speck, then he will be blessed. But we teach and believe differently about grace, namely that grace is a continuous and constant effect or exercise by which we are seized and driven by the spirit of God, that we do not disbelieve in his promises, and think and do what is pleasing to God and pleasing to him.
well pleases. For the spirit is something living, not something dead. But as life is never idle, but always, as long as it is there, has something to create (for even in sleep life is not idle, but the bodies either maintain their growth, as happens with children, or one perceives other works of life in the breathing and beating of the heart), so also the Holy Spirit in the godly is never idle; he has something to create, which concerns the kingdom of God. Therefore, I remind you to get used to understanding these theological words correctly, so that when you hear the word "create", you do not think of a word that lasts only for a moment, but of the continuous guidance, preservation and growth of the spiritual effects in the believing heart.
But here one must pay attention to the contrast which the prophet indicates by asking for a pure heart. For he looks with bashful eyes at the glittering pretense (larvam) of the work saints, as if he wanted to say: I see many baptisms at the sacrifices and in the temple, likewise also at home; soon the garments, soon the walls, soon the whole bodies are washed away; but where is the cleansing of the heart? For the hearts are stained with all kinds of idolatry, with vain opinions of God, with evil desire and other vices that arise from not having a true knowledge of God. These fine bathers (balneatores) neglect all this and occupy themselves with the care that the bodies and the clothes are clean. But, O dear God, purify my heart, that I may know your will as it is, that is, as a good and gracious will, so that I may not be led away from God to ungodly opinions by rapturous thoughts. This is actually the pure heart, of which also Christ Matth. 5, 8. says: "Blessed are the pure in heart." For this purity of heart must be related to the spiritual effects. For although the heart is also defiled by unchastity, anger, envy, and other vices, yet this impurity is such that reason and the flesh recognize and reject it. So there are still glorious speeches that have been spoken among the Gentiles.
were held against the vices to which unholy men shamefully indulge.
But the prophet prays against the impurity that reason does not recognize, namely, that hearts should be undefiled and pure from useless and false opinions about God, and hold that God is kind, gracious and merciful, who does not delight in the death of the wicked, but that he should repent and live [Ezek. 33:11]. For when the heart feels that God is angry, idolatry immediately follows, by which we either persuade ourselves that God is other than He is by nature, and we seek other remedies (remedia) that are forbidden in the Word, or we despair altogether. Against these defilements of the heart prays the pure heart that thinks rightly of God, that loves God as the Savior of sins and the Giver of life. For he sees this danger that those who have this knowledge are nevertheless provoked by the devil in many ways to false opinions about God.
Therefore, this is the short epitome: The prophet recognizes the grace that he has forgiveness of sins and a gracious God. Therefore, he prays against the danger that the devil usually tries to arouse, that he may not be led to other opinions, but that this knowledge of the divine goodness may increase more and more every day, so that we may be of good cheer in all things that we do or suffer, and know that we are in grace for Christ's sake, and that God is pleased with all that we do, even that we eat and drink for the body's need, that we do our work, and that in this way the heart may remain pure in the constant and right knowledge of God and in confidence in God through Christ, and firmly hold that all our doings please God, not for any merit or worthiness that we have, for all things are defiled, but for the gift of faith that we believe in Christ. But it is not in our power to accept such a heart, but it is God's creation; that is why the Spirit wanted to use the word "create" here. For these are vain dreams, what the school theologians have fooled us about the purifications of the heart. But as it is not in our
forces, but such a pure heart must be created by God, so we also cannot preserve what God has created against the devil. Therefore, we see how often I am stained by sudden temptations and sadness etc. Therefore, this prayer must never cease because of the creation and also preservation of a pure heart.
What follows: "And give me a new certain spirit," is, as far as the sense is concerned, the same as "a pure heart." Also with the Germans the word "heart" is almost the same as what the Hebrew calls "spirit". For where in Latin the words anima, intellectus, voluntas, affectus are used, the Germans translate all these by the word "heart." But the epithet, which he gives here to the spirit, actually means immovable, steadfast, complete, firm, certain, undoubted; after many misgivings we have despaired of rendering this word accurately in German. Incidentally, it is constantly opposed to doubt and the diversity of opinions. Therefore, it is actually a certain or a right spirit that fortifies the heart against doubt and various doctrines, as well as against the promptings of the devil, who strives to lead us away from these beliefs: Faith [, and to persuade us] that God is not merciful and gracious. And it is seen that Christ calls the same "the Spirit of truth", who does not pretend anything hypocritically, which is not, but does and teaches certain things. Thus it is said in the books of the Kings of Solomon [1 Kings 2:12]: "And the kingdom of Solomon was made very stable" (stabilitum est), that is, it is confirmed (ratum factum), made certain. Thus it is said, "certain fruits," of those which, according to their appearance, prosper in a very certain manner. So also it is said, "a certain spirit," that is, a certain and undoubted faith, which does not wander about in opinions, as children are wont to do, but which increases and becomes quite confident, as Paul also says [Rom. 8:38], I am firmly convinced and am certain. For when it comes to grace and the forgiveness of sins, all doubt must be cast far away. This, however, is not in our power, but with God, who creates such things.
This piece also belongs to the refutation of the hypocritical (larvatam) righteousness of works, which leaves the heart impure and the mind uncertain. For a monk who has kept his rule with special zeal for many years and done everything he could, still lacks this certainty. Therefore, after this knowledge of mercy, the first thing one must ask is that this knowledge remain a certain one, that the heart not doubt the mercy of God, and not wander idly about in ever different thoughts, which either the hearts invent for themselves, or are produced by ungodly teachings. For this gift, the creation and giving of the new spirit 1) is necessary, which happens through constant practice in spiritual struggles or temptations. For the examples are before us, that many have begun with us, who all accepted this doctrine with unbelievable applause, but afterwards have either been led by sects to other opinions, or have fallen into open contempt and hatred against the gospel. This misery had no other cause than that they did not have this certain spirit, but since they thought that they were quite learned in this theology, they were plunged by the evil spirit into such hopefulness that they either sought something new, or out of envy thought to suppress us. Therefore, certainty of spirit is necessary, not only because of the devil, but also because of our flesh and the world. For these want to snatch this certainty of the teaching from us, as it were with united troops. But those who are outside 2) teach us this far better than we can say in words.
V. 13. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Behold the great humility, how anxiously he fears the dangers that threaten those who are made righteous, and the forgiveness of sin-.
1) According to the misprint index; of the 1539 edition, innovstto is to be read here instead of invoestto, which the Wittenberg and Jena editions retained from the first edition.
2) Erlanger: exteri; Wittenberger and Jenaer: caet "ri. We have assumed exteri in the meaning: hui toris suut.
have this. For without the Holy Spirit he could not pray this, and yet he who already has the Holy Spirit pleads and sighs that he may not be rejected, may not be abandoned, may not sin again and come to ruin, as if to say: I have the flesh in me, which contends against the Spirit; therefore stand thou with me, and keep me, lest I sin again, as I sinned before, when I was forsaken of thee. Do not reject me like this, and do not take away your Holy Spirit from me, that is, give me constancy, that my body may be sanctified in me. For as he asked above for a certain Spirit, that is, a great assurance (πληροφορίαν), as Paul
[1 Thess. 1, 5.] calls it, and for a full knowledge of the mercy of God, he asks here that the Holy Spirit will not be taken away from him and that he will not be rejected, which I refer to the sanctification of the flesh and its mortification, or to the new obedience that must follow in the justified: That a husband may live chastely with his wife, and kindly with his neighbors; that the authorities may be diligent in their office in the government of the commonwealth; that they may not look through the fingers at the sins of their subjects etc. For it is known what the new obedience entails in the justified, namely, that the heart grows daily in the spirit that sanctifies us; that after fighting against the remnants of the wrong opinions of God and against doubt, the spirit also progresses to govern the actions of the body, that unchastity is put away, that the heart becomes accustomed to patience and other moral virtues.
To a man who is steeped in the theology of the sophists, it seems incongruous that such a holy prophet should ask vehemently for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as if he had none. But we, who are instructed both by experience and by such examples, know that no one can ask for grace unless he is justified, and likewise that no one can ask for the gifts of the Spirit unless he is sanctified. For since such people have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, they desire and seek to receive tithes also.
and because they are born again to life, they wish to completely do away with death and its remnants, and hope and seek perfection, of which they experience daily how far they are still from it. That is why David prays that he will not be abandoned to his thoughts, but that he will be kept pure in heart and deed before the eyes of God. For here man easily falls into the trap, as the parable of the servant in Matthew 1) [Matth. 18, 26. ff.] shows, who was so humble and pious before the eyes of the Lord that he obtained the release of all his guilt through the mercy of the father of the house, but no sooner has he gone out from the Lord than he falls upon his fellow servant and becomes a merciless death thrower and tyrant.
But here again I recall the same as above. Because David asks this of the Lord, he clearly shows us that it is not our doing or in our power to preserve these gifts, but that we are in danger of being rejected. This being rejected happens when the Lord leaves us to ourselves and takes away His Spirit, as the Scripture says [Ps. 81:13]: "He has left them in the stupor of their hearts." When this happens, we immediately come to trap. For we either let our evil lusts shoot the reins, as David did in adultery, or fall into presumption or despair. Therefore he says, "Cast me not away," that is, do not leave me with your sanctifying Spirit, for if that happens, I am in truth rejected and lost, "and do not take away your Holy Spirit from me." For he confesses that he has the Holy Spirit, but not yet perfectly or wholly, for it is only the firstfruits of the Spirit; but after this life it shall come to pass that we shall obtain the fullness of the Spirit, and become as He is. These two parts must be joined together in such a way that we may be preserved by the Holy Spirit from all uncleanness, inward and outward, of the spirit and of the flesh, so that our hearts may become like a clean dwelling place, to which the return is not open to the unclean spirit, as Christ also teaches in the Gospel. Now follows of the third gift of the Spirit.
1) In the Latin editions: apu<1 I^ueam.
V. 14. Comfort me again with your help, and the joyful spirit contain me.
Now this is the third gift of the Spirit which he asks to be bestowed upon him, and it is truly a glorious order which the prophet keeps, as if to say: I am now justified by the grace of God, because I am assured of the forgiveness of sins; secondly, I am also sanctified, because I walk in obedience and the holy life of the commandments of the Lord, and daily this gift of the Spirit increases; now the third thing remains, that a great and strong courage may be added, which confesses this justifier and sanctifier also before the world, and does not allow itself to be dissuaded from this confession by any dangers. Therefore, we have translated this verse in German in such a way that it is obvious that he asks for a joyful heart that despises all dangers. For joy here actually means steadfastness, or an undaunted courage that fears not the world, not the devil, yea, not even death. Such courage we see in Paul, as he speaks with a joyful, exultant and full spirit [Rom. 8, 3.]: "Who will separate us from the love of God?" It seems to me that David is asking for the same here, that he may freely confess his God and despise all the dangers of the world.
And this order also indicates the matter, as the prophet says in another place [Ps. 116, 10.], "I believe, therefore I speak." For the knowledge of the truth is immediately followed by confession, by which we refute all other doctrines. But the next thing after confession is what follows: "But I am greatly afflicted." Therefore it is necessary that the joyful spirit fortify us, so that we do not become fainthearted in this humiliation, but with a great spirit despise all dangers. For it is impossible that the world could suffer with equanimity this general judgment that all men are liars, especially when you call lying what they praise as truth and the highest service of God; as is the doctrine and life of the whole papacy. They seek to destroy this judgment as blasphemy with fire and sword. Therefore, we suffer not only the bitterest hatred, but also the danger of death and the cruelest tortures because of this confession of ours. But what
is it because of that? This knowledge does not suffer us to be silent, and the world does not suffer us to speak, so it is necessary that we be strengthened by the Spirit so that we do not abandon the confession because of the dangers.
That he therefore says: "Comfort me again" indicates that he is almost broken by these dangers. Therefore, he asks that this joy be restored to him, which is a joy in the help of God, that is, he wants his heart to be strengthened in such a way that he does not doubt that God will stand by him and save him in the dangers that confession entails. This confidence so invigorates one's courage that one can safely despise all terrors and dangers, just as I, too, have experienced this glorious gift through God's grace, that I, against the will of the emperor, the pope, the princes, the kings and almost the whole world, have confessed Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, completely freely with teachings and letters, even under a thousand dangers to life that threatened me from my angry enemies and also from Satan himself. Thus said the Lord to Jeremiah [Cap. 1, 17-19.]: I will make your face brazen, that you shall not accept it, though anyone contends against it. And truly, the teaching ministry in the church requires such courage that despises all dangers, indeed, all godly people in general must be prepared not to shrink from becoming martyrs, that is, confessors or witnesses of God. For Christ does not want to be hidden in the world, but he wants him to be preached, not between the four walls, but on the roofs, so that the gospel may shine in the world like a torch on a high mountain or a tower. But if this happens, soon there are dangers of every kind, and in truth we are stuck, as they say in the German proverb, between door and hinge, and there is nothing else to comfort lins but that God has promised that He will not leave us.
This is the third gift that fills Christians with great pride, not against God, but against the hopes of the world and the devil, so that the more they oppose us, the more defiant we become against them.
go. If we do, they cry out that we are incorrigibly obstinate; and we do not deny it, for that is what our office and profession require. So, they say, you are damned. This does not follow, for here a distinction must be made: for before God I am so humbled that I am afraid even at the mention of His name, and pray daily without ceasing that the Spirit may be given to me, that faith may be increased etc. Here I recognize nothing but my extreme inability and lament it. But when I look at the world, I realize that I possess immeasurable treasures. Therefore, as I humble myself before God, so I rise again towards the world with a great pride that despises it by rejecting the teachings of the world as errors and its whole life as nothing but sins. Hence arise the struggles, the contradiction, the tortures, the condemnatory judgments, because of which David here asks to be strengthened by the joyful spirit, as if he wanted to say: If you do not strengthen me against these dangers, I will be oppressed by terror.
Now, as far as grammar is concerned, the word XXX means a prince. That is why our Latin interpreter made it: principali Spiritu [with a princely spirit strengthen me, instead of: with the joyful spirit. But XXXX 1) undoubtedly comes from the verb XXX and means a willing person, a volunteer who desires and wants of his own free will and undertakes something with great courage. But such a spirit is a gift of God, with which he fills the heart, so that we are not frightened by the devil and the world, a spirit that undertakes something not out of compulsion of any law, but for free, out of desire to do good; although it can also be passively said: a spirit of benevolence (munificus Spiritus), which is given out of pure grace. Thus, in these three verses, the prophet explains those gifts that are given to those justified by faith. The first is complete assurance or certain trust in the mercy of God. The second is sanctification, through which the old man, with his sufferings, is made free.
1) In the editions: Nedabuü.
The third is the free confession that without distinction everything that will not yield to right doctrine will be condemned, including emperors, princes, popes and the whole world. The third is the free confession that everything that does not want to give way to the right doctrine will be condemned without distinction, also emperors, princes, popes with the whole world. Now the prophet moves on to other things that follow from this joyful spirit.
V. 15 For I will teach the transgressors thy ways, that sinners may turn unto thee.
Only here does the prophet begin to speak of his works, after the person is first justified and born again by the Holy Spirit. For the tree must be there sooner than the fruit, as Christ also says, Matth. 12, 33: "Either plant a good tree, and the fruit will be good", as if he wanted to say: One strives in vain for the fruit, if there is not first a good tree. For the Pharisees had almost the same character and pretension that we see today in the adversaries, who boast of good works with a full mouth, and are altogether evil. But how is it possible that something good should grow out of an evil seed? Therefore, those who wear caps, fast, pray, watch, have nevertheless retained the old godlessness of heart. For as Horace says, those who travel across the sea change the sky, but not the heart; so they change their clothes, their way of life, their occupations, but their heart remains the same. In right theology, one first deals with the fact that man becomes good through the rebirth of the spirit. This spirit is a certain, holy and courageous one, after which it follows that, as from a good tree, good fruit also grows forth.
Therefore, David has so far kept silent about his works and only asked for what God should accomplish through His word and His spirit; but after he has obtained this, he also comes to his works, which are to follow in the rebirth. These works are not, as the godless papacy has claimed, that one takes upon oneself vows to perform pilgrimages, to go into a monastery (this work they have performed a second time to the highest dishonor of Christ).
(The first thing they did was to give thanks to God, who is so kind and merciful, and to praise his gifts, and thereby also to instruct other people in the same grace, as those do in the Gospel whom Christ has made well. For even though Christ resisted them, they could not refrain from preaching his benefits, praising him, and calling others to the same hope.
These are the noblest works, which testify that the tree is changed from a barren to a fruitful one, from a barren one to one that is full of sap and blossom. To this life Christ calls the disciple [Matt. 8:22], saying, "Let the dead bury their dead, but thou followest me." For he indicates that other works are works of the dead, but those who live in Christ must deal with it, that they may recognize and praise God's mercy, so that others may also learn to recognize it. This, therefore, is the summa that our life and salvation are entirely in the mercy of God, which God reveals through the Word in such a way that He commands sinners to hope in it for Christ's sake. This knowledge is righteousness, as Isaiah [Cap. 53, 11.] says: "And his knowledge shall make many righteous." Here no other work is on our side than that we do not reject the offered mercy, but receive it in faith. But this also is a gift of the Holy Spirit, because faith is not everyone's thing [2 Thess. 3:2]. After justification, when the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life is already believed and possessed by faith, the next and ongoing work is to thank God and preach these benefits. But because the world opposes this with all its might, and also the devil does not cease to dissuade us from this preaching by inflicting all kinds of adversities, David asks in the previous verse for the courageous spirit that despises all dangers and bears witness to Christ with great courage, as Lucas (Apost. 4, 8] says of the apostles.
Because this spirit is given to me, he says, therefore "I will teach the transgressors your ways". But how, dear David, if they teach you
do not want to hear? If then the devil and the world persecute you? Why do you promise such a high and difficult work, to teach the transgressors the ways of the Lord? Where are the saints? Do you want to teach them too? Indeed. For if you attach to those whom he here calls "transgressors" their glittering appearance and the prestige in which they walk before the world, you will say that they are not only thieves, not only adulterers and murderers, but even the wisest and holiest before the world, kings, princes, priests, monks, in all the wisdom and holiness which the human spirit can understand and accomplish without the Holy Spirit. For the whole emphasis is on the pronoun "your". For he confesses that those whom he calls "transgressors" have ways in which they walk, and are beautifully pleased in the same. But they are not, he says, the ways of the Lord, they are human ways in which they cannot be saved. Therefore I will teach them your ways. Here again he indicates the danger that awaits these teachers. For the world does not want their ways to be condemned as error, but defends them as righteous] Ways and righteousness. Therefore, whoever wants to be a monk of God, and not of the pope, and to take upon himself the hardest rule in life, and to make his sacrifice to God, let him do so by teaching the transgressors God's ways. Then it will happen that he will not only challenge the devil with hell and the world with the saints against him, but will also often raise objections against himself, and learn by experience what truly good works are, as also Christ says [Luc. 8, 15.]: "He will bring forth fruit in patience."
In this way, do not explain "the transgressors" from those who are evil in the sight of the world, but those who are the holy of holies in the sight of the world, as the Levites were in the time of David, the prophets and the priests. To accuse these of sin and call them transgressors, notwithstanding that they kept the law of Moses, is exceedingly dangerous. There is therefore an emphasis on each and every word that David was in a real purgatory, that is, oppressed by the pains of sin and the wrath of God. Nnn but.
Since he is justified by trust in mercy, he goes out into the public to teach everyone in general about the inexpressible mercy of God, and at the same time to punish all good works and all holiness that are in the world, so that they may hope in the mercy of God alone, and firmly hold that this trust alone is the right path to salvation, but that everything outside of this trust is the path to death and eternal damnation.
This doctrine never goes off without tremendous troubles, because neither the devil nor the world can suffer it. For the world cannot suffer its thing to be condemned, but the devil envies this bliss to men, that they may be blessed by the right doctrine. Therefore, hatred, persecution, slander, and abuse are brought up on all sides in order to suppress this teaching and these teachers, as I also had to learn this very finely through my own experience. In the beginning, even wicked people allowed minor abuses to be punished, which could not be denied in the church. For the trade in indulgences, which was so shameful, was carried on shamelessly, so that there were very few people who did not bear it with the greatest equanimity that indulgences were punished. But when afterwards the punishment extended to other things, which were not so shapeless, and yet ungodly, only then did the whole body of Satan begin to move in such a way that it seemed I could not remain safe anywhere. But this did not happen unexpectedly. For I myself had foreseen this movement, and among others the bishop of Brandenburg, a not evil man, who was well disposed towards us, had predicted that I would bring a lot of trouble upon myself if I also touched the pope. Thus, fear was stirred up inwardly and a fight was waged outwardly. To overcome these dangers, it was indeed necessary to have a joyful or courageous spirit, through which I was strengthened.
But, you may ask: Why does the prophet keep the name "transgressors" and does not rather call them saints, as they are respected before the world? I answer: There are
no saints and righteous people in the world, therefore even the people who have some semblance of holiness are nevertheless called by the Holy Spirit as they are before God, and this very thing serves to strengthen the godly. For these are condemned as heretics because they preach this doctrine of trust from God's mercy. For the enemies of this doctrine claim for themselves the judgment and the name of the Church. Therefore, the Holy Spirit strengthens the godly, so that they will not be frightened by this appearance and the high dignity of the opponents of the Word, but know that the Holy Spirit declares that all who do not have this doctrine, however holy and good they may appear to be, are nevertheless in truth transgressors and sinners.
But he adds, "That sinners may turn to thee." Here the other cause is indicated why this work is godly and delicious in the eyes of God. The first cause was that it was exceedingly dangerous, and could not be accomplished unless the hearts were first fortified by the steadfast and strong spirit. The other reason is that this work is also very great in its fruit. Therefore, even though the dangers might deter, the benefits must still drive. For it is impossible that the word of God should be preached without fear, but, though not all are converted, yet there are some who, out of the number of sinners, believe and are saved. For the success of the preaching ministry is not in man's will but in God's, as Solomon says [Prov. 20:12]: "An ear that hears and an eye that sees are both made by the Lord," that is, both happen through God's gift, namely, that there are people who teach rightly and those who follow those who teach rightly. Therefore David says: I will do what I can do, "I will teach the transgressors thy ways, that sinners may be converted," that is, I will teach how sinners must be converted, and I will bring success home to God, for it is certain that some will be converted. Others seem to teach the same thing, teaching good works, confession, penance, and their own atonements, but these are human ways that stem from the
Spirit of the devil, by which one goes further from your ways day by day. But I will teach as I know that I have come to you, that is, that having known my sin, that is, that my whole nature was corrupted by sin, I have thrown myself upon your mercy, and have not been faithless against the preaching of joy. This is the way and this is the way sinners turn to you; this way I will teach. He that cometh, let him come; he that cometh not, let him do it at his peril etc.
Therefore, he secretly indicates here that he wants to teach the same thing that he experienced above in his own person; that he does not want to teach sinners, like the pope, who gives advice to do enough with works, or like the Jews, who taught their sacrifices and statutes, but that he wants to teach the whole human race that all human activity is condemnable before God, if it is done with the opinion that one thereby obtains righteousness, according to the saying, Rom. 3:10, 12: "There is no one who is good, not even one; there is no one who does good." By this preaching reason is killed and all human presumption. For since no one can deny sin, what more frightening can be said than that man has no help in himself against sin? After the wrath of God is preached in this way, and man is slaughtered as a sacrifice to God, then follows the sermon of joy: "You will not die" [2 Sam. 12, 13]. For GOt will not be angry with sinners who are thus sacrificed, but will make them blessed, for He sent His Son to take away the sin of the world. This is the right doctrine and worship by which sinners are converted. Others, who advise a sinner who confesses his unchastity or fornication that he must hurt his body and go to a monastery where he will live chastely, do nothing but lead him who converts from one idol, Venus, to another idol, the abomination, and plunge him into double damnation. That is to say, to pass from Scylla to Charybdis, to run out of the rain into the sea, since after one sin has been cast out,
seven others come in, as Christ says about the cast out devil [Luc. 11, 26.].
This is the first sacrifice that David, after he has become righteous, wants to offer to God, that he teaches the people God's ways, that is, that he teaches that one must come to God in such a way that we first recognize and believe that everything that a person does without the Holy Spirit is sin, if it is done with the opinion of attaining righteousness because the person is found guilty, so that in this way the sinner is first destroyed and killed before God; on the other hand, that it is taught that God is so minded that He wants to forgive by grace for the sake of Christ. For such a God is nowhere, who wants to accept the sinner for the sake of the order of the barefooted, or for the sake of pilgrimages, masses, alms, etc., but they invent such a God without the Word. Those who are thus converted are converted to the idol of their heart, but they are not converted to God. For he is the one and true God, who loves the brokenhearted and is pleased with those who fear him and believe in him. Therefore, if you want to be converted, it is necessary that you be terrified or killed, that is, that you have a fearful and trembling conscience. If this has happened in such a way, then comfort must also be received, not from any work you have done, but from the work of God, who sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world for this reason, so that He preached the comfort of mercy to terrified sinners, by grace, for nothing. This is the way to be converted; other ways are wrong ways, and this, says the prophet, shall be my service by which I thank you.
But, you will say, isn't the new life also part of the rebirth? Certainly. But just as there can be no fruit unless the tree is first there, so there can be no good works unless the person is first righteous and good. Therefore eternal life or grace does not come by merit of works, but those who are already righteous and heirs of eternal life through Christ, whose merit they accept by faith, do good works,
not for the purpose of attaining eternal life, for they already have it by right through an alien merit, namely Christ, but so that they may be grateful and obedient to the divine voice, so that through the glory of God the doctrine and the holy life may likewise be promoted. The adversaries do not understand this order of final purposes (finium), but reverse it. Therefore, it is necessary that there be people like David who spread this teaching with great courage, not only among those who are outside of grace, but also among those who are in grace. For these receive this teaching with special eagerness, because they feel the terror and recognize their weakness. Although the others, who are outside of grace, follow this teaching for the most part, this preaching does not go off without all fruit. Therefore the Spirit urges, as a most necessary thing, that this doctrine be sown far and wide. But here, too, it must be remembered that just as those whom he calls transgressors and sinners are regarded by the world as the most holy, so this conversion is regarded by the world as a seduction and heresy, as we have learned from our own example. But we are comforted by the judgment of the Holy Spirit, who calls it not a heresy but a conversion.
V. 16. Save me from blood debts, O God, who art my God and Savior, that my tongue may praise your righteousness.
This verse is somewhat obscure, and it also seems to break the order we have adopted, but I hope we shall explain both properly. Now as far as grammar is concerned, sanguis denotes an imputation of blood, or the guilt of having shed blood. Some therefore, after the figure of the synecdoche, take the individual case for the general, so that he calls "blood" all sins by which we deserve blood or death, so that David confesses not only the murder of Urias and also his adultery, and asks forgiveness for them, but quite generally all sins. But here one interjects that he had previously asked forgiveness for these things in general and had also obtained pardon. How then can the order exist,
If he now asks anew for what he has already obtained? I answer: He has made an offer to teach the transgressors the way of the Lord. Now it is not only difficult, but also disgraceful, if one wants to teach others and yet has to accept the accusation that one has publicly committed a sin, as it says in the well-known little verse:
Turpe est doctori, cum culpa redarguit ipsum. [It is disgraceful for a teacher to be told: Hans, take yourself by the nose]. 1)
Therefore, just as David previously asked for absolution from all sins before God and obtained it, so he also asks here for absolution from all sins before the Church, so that the Church may know that he is absolved before God, so that the teaching he wants to spread will not be hindered. This is how the sacraments are with us, which we also use so that the whole Church may know that we recognize our sin and believe that it is forgiven for Christ's sake. Therefore, I leave others to their opinion; but I understand this verse of the outward absolution before the Church, that God may take away the blood (sanguines), that is, the imputation of it, in such a way that those whose ears and eyes have been angered by the sins of David may no longer be offended by it. For who does not see how disgraceful it is for a teacher to be guilty of adultery and murder?
Therefore he prays: O Lord, free me from the guilt which the priests can reproach me with. I have sinned against you, even against Moses or your law; now you have forgiven my sin and filled my mind and heart with confidence in your mercy through the preaching of joy: grant that I also may be delivered before the church, that the course of your word may not be hindered etc. It seems, however, as if he is speaking, as it were, of his own sin in particular (privato), that is, of the murder of Urias and of adultery, and it is certainly possible that he is speaking of his own sin in particular (privati) as an example of his own sin.
1) Cf. St. Louis edition, vol. VII, 590, § M.
think. But, as I said above, the individual case stands for the general, and the definite for the indefinite, so that he wants to take away all guilt and imputation by which a preacher could be disgraced before the church, so that the people, to whom the sins committed by the teachers are known, no longer resent them, but are even strengthened by them, as Paul mentions in 1 Tim. 1, 13 that he had been a blasphemer and persecutor of the church. The fact that he remembers this not only does not offend his listeners, but only confirms and comforts them even more. After they know that God has forgiven him for these sins, they themselves are also stimulated to the same hope of forgiveness of sins, as Paul says sl Tim. 1, 16] that God wanted to present this to the church as an example of divine mercy.
In this way it does not disgrace me before the Church, nor does it affect the credibility of my teaching, that I confess that I was also among the monsters (monstra) of the Pope, because I became a monk, and both by my masses and by my entire monastic life not only denied Christ, my Savior, but also crucified him anew. For I have lived so completely in confidence in my works and righteousness that I believe that if someone had taught then what I now teach and believe by God's grace, I would have torn him apart with my teeth. But that the Lord has delivered me from these blasphemies and made me a faithful preacher of the Word and of His righteousness is exceedingly sweet to hear in the sight of the Church. In this way David also asks to be saved from the blood debt, that is, to be absolved from the debt also before the church, so that as he is absolved from God, so he is also absolved from the law, and can freely lift up his face before the church, as I have already said of my example that I crucified Christ both in my religious life and before my religious life. This confession of sin does not have the effect that the word is despised, but it increases the confidence in mercy in the listeners.
and is also pleasing to Christ. Therefore, the prophet adds:
"That my tongue may praise thy righteousness." But it belongs to the preaching of the word, as if he wanted to say: If I shall thus be acquitted before the world, and be justified before thee and men, then shall I be able to boast with my tongue, that is, to proclaim and praise with joy thy righteousness, that is, the grace wherewith thou forgivest sins and hast mercy. This word "righteousness" has caused me a great deal of distress. For in general it has been explained that justice is the truth according to which God condemns or judges those who have deserved evil, as they have deserved it, and justice is opposed to mercy, by which believers are saved. This explanation is very dangerous, moreover, that it is void, because it arouses a secret hatred against God and His justice. For who can love him who wants to deal with sinners according to justice? Therefore, be mindful that the righteousness of God is that by which we are made righteous, or the gift of the forgiveness of sins. This righteousness in God is a pleasant one, for it makes God not a righteous judge, but a forgiving Father who wants to use His righteousness, not to judge sinners, but to make them righteous and absolve them. This righteousness of yours, he says, not the righteousness of men or of Moses, I will preach with joy and gladness, even if I should make enemies of all men because of it, if only you do this, that you absolve me also before the church, so that I can appear publicly without shame, without blushing because of my sins, which are also known to the church. But it is a glorious example for the comfort of those who are in the ministry of the word, and yet are not blameless with regard to their past deeds. For I have said that here, too, an individual case, instead of a general one, is set forth as a general doctrine.
V. 17. Open my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may declare your glory.
In the case of the horae canonicae, it is perhaps ordered with good intention that the congregation should use them
should begin with this verse. For, as far as the public confession and praise of God in the church is concerned, this is rightly used; but in private prayers this entry is all the less necessary, because there is no danger of tyrants, and the prophet here is not dealing with a private conversation of the sinner with God, but is dealing with the whole church, with the preaching ministry and the church servants and the whole people of God. For with those who have already been justified, there is nothing left to do but to say with David [Ps. 116:10], "I believe, therefore I speak," likewise [Ps. 66:5], "Come and see the works of God," likewise [Ps. 22:23], "I will preach your name to no brothers." The prophet indicates the same here, that after being made righteous in the sight of God through mercy, he has been made righteous by grace in vain, and has received it through faith; Likewise, after he has been absolved from guilt before the Church in such a way that his past sins are no longer an offense, but serve to comfort the Church, he now asks that the Lord open his lips so that he may freely praise the mercy of God in public without fear, not in a corner, as the swarming spirits are wont to do.
But because he asks the Lord to open his lips, he shows how difficult the sacrifice of thanksgiving is, which he demands from us in the 50th Psalm, v. 14. For it is a boldness above all boldness, a virtue above all virtue and a bravery above all bravery, if someone dares to speak publicly of the name of the Lord and to give thanks to him. For here the devil threatens with every kind of reenactment to hinder this thanksgiving. If it were possible for human eyes to see all of these persecutions, then the reason why the prophet asked before to be strengthened by the Spirit, and now wishes that the lips of the Lord Himself be opened to him, would easily be seen, not to pray for the horas canonicas, but to bring the name of the Lord before the devil, the world, the kings, the princes, and all flesh. For here are various motives that close the lips: sometimes the fear of danger, until-
often the advice of friends interferes, by which the devil tries to prevent this sacrifice of gratitude, as I have often experienced; and yet God has stood by me in great matters, where the honor of God was in danger, and opened my mouth against these obstacles.
So he teaches here about the public confession and praise of him who has already been made righteous, so that we may learn how great it is to dare to speak what we have experienced. For not only the devil, but also the tyranny of princes and kings, yes, even our sins and our flesh want to prevent this confession; on the other hand, the Spirit presses in, as Peter says, Apost. 4:20: "We cannot refrain from speaking what we have seen and heard." This spirit brings with many groans this prayer before God that he himself would open our lips to proclaim his glory. And here I remind you that as often as these words occur in the holy Scriptures: "To proclaim God's glory, God's righteousness," you may be mindful of the fact that this also indicates the extreme danger, because to proclaim God's glory is nothing other than to oppose the devil, the world, the flesh and all misfortune. For how can one praise God if one does not first declare the whole world with all its righteousness guilty and condemn it? But anyone who does this not only incurs hatred, but also puts himself in obvious danger, just as those who teach monastic life (ordines), invocation of the saints, merits, brotherhoods and the like do not praise God, but themselves; therefore they are easily tolerated and approved by the world. Therefore the prophet says: "Lord, open my lips and grant that I may confidently proclaim aloud, teach and instruct others in what I have learned, that you alone are to be praised and glorified for all eternity, since by grace you justify the ungodly for nothing. etc.
1) Instead of votuit in the editions, votunt should be read. After that we have translated.
And here you hear who he is that is made righteous, and what works he chiefly performs: not fasting, not abstaining from certain foods, not the hard clothing of John, not the life in the wilderness etc.; this is also something, but if you compare it with this highest work, with the praising of the name of the Lord, it is a game and a joke, not only with the larvae of the pope, but also with the truly holy people. For John was not so great for this reason, because he clothed himself with skins etc., did not drink wine nor strong drink, but because he was full of the Holy Spirit, and dared to call the Pharisees "brood of vipers" [Matth. 3, 7.], because he dared to say to the tyrant [Matth. 14, 4.It is not right for you to have your brother's wife", because he dared to testify about Christ in front of all the people among his despisers [Joh. 1, 30. 27.]: "After me comes a man who was before me, that I am not worthy to untie his laces." This is what praises John and makes him the greatest among all those born of women [Matth. 11, 11.]. The life in the wilderness, the hard clothing, the food, the drink can also be imitated by any wicked man, and that without danger, but the office of teaching no one will administer without danger, and it is truly in the day what reward John received for it, since he is so shamefully killed according to the will of the harlot [Matth. 14, 8. ff.]. Whoever, therefore, wants to adorn a great work that is good for a Christian man with due praise, let him not praise the foolishness of the pope, not the special exercises and the hard life of the saints, but let him praise that when the name of the Lord is proclaimed before the world. For this is a virtue above all virtues and the highest and most difficult work.
In the secular regime one sees how few are the people who can go to the government with great courage and despise their own danger, and mostly what happens is what Cicero says, that those who enter the government with the hope of the richest reward cannot be without fear of the most severe tortures; and in the
That the examples of Themistocles, Cicero, Demosthenes and other men who occupied high positions in the state sufficiently testify that this position is also full of dangers. For it is womanly to sit in the corner and reprove the actions of others; but to move about in the council and in the meetings of princes and to speak one's mind freely is something that very few dare to do, even though it would be highly necessary and useful. How much greater and more sublime do you think it is to speak of holy things and teach them in the presence of God and the angels, against the will not only of princes and kings, but also of the devil and the whole world? Here one exposes oneself to greater danger than in the worldly regime, even though great courage is needed there as well. But here one also needs the spirit of God and the finger of God, through which the lips must be opened and the tongue (os) loosened for the praise of God. Therefore, after the attainment of righteousness and grace, there is no greater work than speaking the truth about Christ. For not only can men perform bodily exercises, but also animals can be afflicted with fasting and other things, and it is said that the Turks lead a very strict life in bodily exercises (afflictionibus). But of course also among the Christel: the exercises should be made, which serve to keep the flesh in check or to kill. But that one should dare to put oneself in danger of life and goods for the sake of the name of Christ, for this the joyful spirit is required and this prayer: "Lord, open my lips." Now he adds the reason why, having been made righteous, he can do nothing, nor knows how to do anything, but give thanks through the praise of God's name, and says:
V.18. For you have no desire for sacrifice, otherwise I would give it to you, and burnt offerings are not pleasing to you.
This is the reason why he wants to proclaim the glory of God, "because", he says, "you do not desire to opser". But is this
1) Erlanger: anAustiuL instead of: anAustius.
Is it not a heretical word that he says, at the time when the law still existed and the whole service of God: "You have no desire for sacrifice, and burnt offerings are not pleasing to you"? I, at least, have often wondered at this boldness of the prophets, that they spoke so contemptuously about sacrifices, against the law of Moses and the custom of their people. If now the pope could prove his holy things and ceremonies in such a way by the word of God, as the Jews prove their sacrifices, then I would certainly not have dared to let something be said against it. But now that he has instituted and commanded these things without the Word, indeed against the Word, we condemn him with full right. But how much less is our victory, which we have won over the Pabst's church and the ceremonies, than that which the prophets gained by putting down the sacrifices of the law in this way. For here the priests did not lack Scripture, as did the pope. For the pope has nothing except the empty title of the church with which he could protect himself and his statutes, but these knew that the sacrifices in the law were commanded by God.
Therefore, David seems to be speaking against the scripture and Moses, who has the obvious testimony that he should provide the people with ceremonies according to the will of God. For it is known with how much diligence everything in the second, third and fourth books of Moses is commanded that belonged to the tabernacle and the divine services; the examples of the patriarchs are known, of Abraham, Isaac etc., all of whom testified to their gratitude to God through sacrifices. That he therefore speaks against the explicit commandment of God and against the examples of all saints par excellence: "You have no desire for sacrifice", has the appearance of an outright heresy. But first, before this is further explained, this is to be remembered: If the Holy Spirit in David rejects the sacrifices that God Himself commanded: how then can the monks with brazen foreheads presume to boast of their caps and orders, their vows and plates as holiness? How dare the popes, with impudent mouth, attach any righteousness to their statutes, since all these things are instituted without the word of God? Therefore you shall surely
that this verse from the Holy Spirit is not only spoken against the law, but also against the entire papacy with all its statutes, sanctities and services, namely that they are not pleasing in the sight of God.
That David now addresses a very special individual case, and rejects the highest worship, which God Himself instituted, thereby makes an obvious distinction between all religions in the world, even the one instituted by Moses and commanded by God [and the Christian one], and separates from all these religions this one, which is through faith in Christ, through which sins are forgiven and righteousness is bestowed with eternal life, without works and without merit, only for the sake of it, because God is merciful and forgives through Christ. This religion teaches that works and services should not be performed in such a way that God is propitiated by them; sin cannot be atoned for by sacrifice, fasting, obedience, either in worldly government or in the home, nor by any other human work. In themselves, they are holy and good works, which are also pleasing to God, but if they are done for a purpose other than that commanded by God, then God is not only not reconciled, but even offended. For if the burnt offerings are not pleasing to Him, how great a folly it is for us to rely on the things that we ourselves have chosen without the word of God! That is why he says in the 50th Psalm, v. 9. f. 12: "I will not take from your house bullocks, for all the beasts of the forest are mine, and the ground and all that is therein," as if he wanted to say: In vain do you think that I am reconciled by your works, for even your soul, your senses and your whole life you have by my gift. Therefore, if I needed what you have or can do, I would not give it to you. For from where does a monk get that, that he fasts, that he prays, that he does other things that he wants? Certainly from the fact that I have given him the will and the ability to do other things.
1) Original edition and Wittenberger: eas instead of: ea.
2) to do this. Now, if I give this, why do you give it back to me as if I needed it and demanded it? Therefore, there is nothing left for us to do to God but to thank him. For all that we are, live and have is God's gift, as it is also said in the Letter to the Romans [Cap. 11, 35.], "Who gave him anything before?" Therefore, when we do all that we can, we do nothing other than return what we have received; but what special thing do we do with it?
Here the work saints answer: We want to earn something and testify the free will. This means, however, to give back to God what is his, as if it were not his, but actually what is ours. But reason also punishes this ungodliness and foolishness, that he does nothing special who is not generous with his own good, but with others'. This is what we should have done, that we should give God his honor by recognizing that we possess everything we have or are able to possess through his good deeds, that it is he who strengthens us with his spirit, who opens our mouths and fills them with his praise etc.
Therefore, this passage not only serves to comfort and instruct us, but also to refute the adversaries. For if we use this saying of Paul to prove that righteousness comes from faith, that "a man is justified without works of the law" [Rom. 3:28.If we use this saying of Paul's to prove that righteousness comes from faith, "man is justified without works of the law" [Rom. 3:28], they subtly twist it in such a way that ceremonial works are to be understood and not moral works (moralia), as Sadoletus also does in the Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, in which he twists Paul's meaning back and forth in such a way that he not only nowhere attains Paul's opinion, but also does not remain the same himself everywhere. In this way, the opponents of our doctrine show that they are completely ignorant of the Scriptures and do not even understand the children's matters, what ceremonial laws are or what ceremonial works are. For they interpret Paul thus: "We are justified without works of the law," that is, without ceremonies, because the ceremonies have been done away with, that is, without ceremonies.
2) Erlanger: 6at instead of: äo.
Nothing else can follow from this than that also at the time of Moses those ceremonies had been done and that it had been free to be circumcised or not, to sacrifice or not, because they did not make righteous also at the time of Moses, as this passage testifies. But who 1) is so patient that he could suffer this to be said by a theologian? For if these ceremonial things are not necessary for righteousness now, because they are done, what will we say when we return to David's time, when they were not yet done, but were counted among the highest and holiest works and were necessary? Did they make you righteous in those days? Not at all, for this is certain: "You have no desire for sacrifice."
Furthermore, ceremonial things are not rightly diminished. For although the commandment of the Sabbath is one that concerns a ceremony, it is nevertheless in the first table, before and above all moral works. Therefore, it is a cavillatio, which is repugnant to a theologian, indeed, to any learned man, to say that when Paul speaks of the works of the law, he speaks only of ceremonial things, as of works which are on a lower level than the moral ones. Look at those Old Testament times, and you will find that ceremonies were not only necessary, but also held the highest dignity. For though ceremonial things are now either free or abjured, yet under the law they were not free, but necessary; and yet it was true then also, "Man is justified without works of the law." Therefore Paul speaks of the whole law, that is, of ceremonial as well as moral works, that righteousness is not given by them, but that righteousness is only the taking of mercy. This mercy does not impute sins, but forgives the sins of those who believe in Christ. Paul defends this opinion in the letter to the Romans; those who do not believe in the same
1) In the Wittenberg: Hui ram patien" est;
Huis bara pattens est; we have followed the latter reading.
If they pay more attention than to the main part of this whole business, they cannot even see a shadow of Paul's right understanding.
At this point, David indicates that this is also his opinion, since before the time of the New Testament, at the time when the sacrifices and the Temple were at their peak, he says in explicit words that the sacrifices are nothing, because God does not make anything of them. For this means to abolish the entire legal service of God, even though it was commanded and instituted by God and had to be performed. For the dignity of the ceremonies need not be diminished, since we see that they are not only approved by God's command and word, but also ordained and commanded; and yet David says, "You have no breath for it." Likewise Isa. 1:11: "I am full of the burnt offering of rams, and of the fat of the fatlings." Likewise in the preceding Psalm [Ps. 50:8], "Because of thy sacrifice I punish thee not. "etc. Such sermons were no doubt condemned by the priests as heretical, and the prophets killed for their sake.
But the reason why the prophets condemned the sacrifices, which were the highest services of God in the law, in this way must also be indicated. For there seems to be a peculiar difficulty in the prophets' condemning that which was commanded by the voice of God. But such sermons of the prophets must not be understood as if the sacrifices and ceremonies were rejected par excellence, for the prophets have in mind mainly the opinion with which the ceremonies were performed by the wicked. For the purpose of the sacrifices or the legal services was not that by them they should be justified and please God. That purpose, since the sin of Adam, has been reserved for the one sacrifice of Christ, whose shadow, as it were, were the sacrifices of the law. For besides the fact that God willed that by this service of sacrifices His people should be distinguished from all other peoples, and that the people should testify to His obedience, the sacrifices were also emblems of Christ's future sacrifice, through
which the people were to be reminded of their future redemption.
Now the greater part of the Jews, since the priests had thus perverted them, performed the sacrifices with the opinion that they thereby obtained the forgiveness of sins. But this was as much as if they made the blood of oxen equal to the blood of Christ, and an animal sacrifice equal to the sacrifice of the Son of God. It was because of this impiety, which was confirmed by the impious opinions of the legal sacrifices, that the prophets preached so earnestly against the sacrifices, not as to the matter itself (formalem causam), but as to the final purpose (finalem causam). For the sacrifices were mostly done in the place that God had appointed for them and according to God's commandment, so that nothing could be blamed as far as the thing itself (formam) was concerned, but the final purpose was diabolical. Thus we reject the masses of our adversaries not because it should be evil per se to use the Lord's Supper, for we too use it with all reverence, but because they attach to it the ungodly delusion that it is enough if only the work is done (de opere operato), that it is applied to the living and the dead etc. Thus, in baptism we do not ascribe anything to the mere performance of the work (operi operato), but say that faith is necessary, through which grace must be received, which is offered in baptism. But just as David had his adversaries who opposed him because of this doctrine, so also we must suffer slander, hatred, banishment, and other things for the sake of this doctrine.
In this doctrine, then, our theology must remain firm and constant, according to which we teach that in the article of justification, when it is a matter of the reformation of consciences and the redemption of sin, neither ceremonial nor moral things apply, because they are not ordered for the purpose of obtaining righteousness through them, as Paul says generally [Gal. 3:21]: "The law was not given to make alive, so righteousness cannot come from the law." Here, however, only the mercy applies, which God has shown in
The mercy shown to the sacrifice of Christ, and the faith by which this mercy or sacrifice of Christ is grasped. Now both our ceremonies and formerly those of the law are holy and very good, but only in their circle; moral works are also very valid, but only in their circle: but for this purpose, to make righteous, they are not only useless, but also nothing at all. For this end belongs only to the sacrifice of Christ, in comparison with whose dignity all the ceremonies of the law, all moral works, are nothing.
Thus, worldly righteousness in its circle is something exceedingly lovely and very good, so that peace and the social intercourse of men with one another may endure; but if, because you are a good citizen, a chaste husband, an honest merchant, you also want to be righteous before God, then you make an abomination out of the exceedingly lovely thing, which God cannot stand. Therefore, we should firmly believe that we are righteous by mercy alone, and that we remain heirs of eternal life; then we should testify to our obedience by living a holy and blameless life, which is not for our righteousness, but for the thanksgiving and obedience that we owe to our God, like children in the house of the Father. Then it will happen that, just as the sacrifices under the law of God were a sweet savor, because of the trust in his mercy, by which the person was first justified, so also our obedience and our holy works will be pleasing because of faith in Christ, since they remain in their own circle, because they are not done to obtain righteousness, but for a testimony that we are pleasing and justified by grace. For a tree must first be good before anything good can grow out of it, as he says afterwards with great emphasis [v. 21.], "Then the sacrifices of righteousness will be pleasing to you," namely, when the walls of Jerusalem have been built in this way beforehand. Samuel also says to Saul [1 Sam. 10:6, 7], "The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be another man: then do that which is in thy hand.
comes." Here he does not impose any single work on him, but sends the one who has been changed by the spirit, as it were, into a forest of works; for because he has now become a different man, other works also follow.
Our opponents do not understand this theology, but turn the matter around, wanting and teaching that one should do works until one is changed and becomes a different person. But the man or person must first be changed in the way prescribed by the order of this psalm, and then it will happen that everything will be done right, whether you are circumcised, or sacrifice, or perform ablutions according to the law, or be without the law in the works of your profession, whether you eat, or drink, or become married etc. For all things are well-pleasing, because the person is already well-pleasing, not for his own sake, but for the sake of Christ's sacrifice and the mercy that comes to him in faith. Therefore one must be careful about the reason why David rejects the sacrifices, namely, for the sake of the article of justification, or for the sake of the final purpose (causam finalem). For this not only corrupts the ceremonial, but also the moral works, if it is not the right one. Hence the subtle distortions of those who are unlearned in spiritual things, that they interpret the works of the law in Paul as being ceremonies. For the ceremonies were just as holy and necessary under the law as the moral works are holy and necessary in the New Testament, as the third commandment about the Sabbath clearly proves, since, although it concerns a ceremony, it is placed before all moral ones. For as we are obliged today to keep the imperial laws and those concerning domestic affairs, likewise also the law of brotherly love, so were 1) those obliged to keep the ceremonies. For it is nothing to say that ceremonial things are now dead and done. For at that time they were not dead, and yet they did not make us righteous, as moral things do not make us righteous.
1) Instead of odliAanlur, odliZabantur should probably be read.
I had to remind them of these things for the sake of the slander with which even learned people try to suppress us. I had to remember these things for the sake of the slanders with which even learned people try to suppress us. Now I return to the consolation.
It is therefore extremely comforting that God does not take pleasure in sacrifices, but rejects and repudiates this supreme service of God, if it is done for the purpose of averting the wrath of God and making us righteous. Therefore, the mercy of God is praised to us here, who forgives our sins for nothing and makes us righteous. For those who seek their righteousness by their own works do nothing but strive to become their own makers or creators, contrary to the Scripture [Ps. 100:3], "He made us, and not we ourselves." For the first creation, that we are born into the world, is not ours, but God's, and now should even our second creation be ours, by which we are born into eternal life? Therefore, it is not only a false opinion, but also an ungodly one, if one thinks that God can be reconciled through our works in such a way that He gives us eternal life or righteousness. For if He does not even want the works He has commanded to be done for this purpose, but rejects them, how much less will He accept self-chosen works that a foolish superstition undertakes without God's command?
Therefore, we must remember this saying, by which he says against Moses, against the law, against all works and worship, "You have no desire for sacrifice," so that the righteousness that is through faith in Christ may be established. But this saying does not seem to contradict both the law and our hearts. For by nature we are all such that we wish we could offer something to God by which he might be propitiated, and we cannot with quite sure heart trust ourselves wholly to mercy. Therefore, when we have done evil, despair is felt, and when we have done good, presumption always secretly stirs. But why are we presumptuous about the things we have done elsewhere?
608 D nx-143-145. Interpretation of the 51st Psalm. Ps. 51, 18. 19. w. v, sm-sn. 609
and which are not really ours? For even confession and thanksgiving are gifts that we have received from elsewhere; how much more are the gifts for which we give thanks! It is in vain, therefore, to attempt reconciliation by works. For what else should the Lord receive with favor, since he himself does not delight in sacrifices?
V. 19. The sacrifice that pleases God is a troubled spirit; a troubled and bruised heart you, God, will not despise.
This passage is worth writing with golden letters. For here you see what kind of sacrifice he sets up against the sacrifices of the law and the whole world. Since the sacrifice is not made without a priest, he also rejects the priesthood of the law and establishes a new priesthood with new sacrifices. To begin with, let us make the distinction that there are two priesthoods, one which he rejects and the other which he approves. The priesthood which he rejects is that which has burnt offerings and other sacrifices ordained in the law; but the priesthood which he approves is that in which not animals, but troubled and bruised hearts are sacrificed. Let us first take heed of this division, and believe that it was not made by David, but by the Holy Spirit Himself. For it will be revealed later that no other comfort can be given that is greater than this, that you know that God Himself says this, that He has no need of the blood of oxen, nor of other works that are ours, as it is said [Matt. 15:9], "In vain do they serve Me with the commandments of men"; but that the divine sacrifices that please God are a troubled spirit and a broken heart.
Secondly, not only is this distinction between the priesthood and the sacrifices, which is unbearable to the Jews, taught here, but we are also presented with such a lovely and friendly description of God that one can hardly find a lovelier one anywhere. According to human thoughts (speculative), God is described by several parables, that God is the center, which is everywhere, and the circle (sphaera), which is nowhere. But
These are mathematical and physical things, which we leave to other teachers. For we seek a theological description; this is not a description of the divine essence (essentiae), which is incomprehensible, but of his will and his disposition, what is pleasing to him and what is not. For not he knows a prince who knows his power and his wealth, but he who knows the mind and all the counsels of the prince. Thus the creation of the world and the power of God are before your eyes. But this is the main thing, to know for what purpose and with what intention God has made these things. This knowledge is presented to us in the present Psalm with special sweetness, namely that God is such a God who in his final purpose (finaliter) deals with nothing else than that he looks upon and loves the brokenhearted, the afflicted, the anguished, and that he is a God of the humble and the anguished. Whoever could grasp this description with his heart would be a theologian. For God cannot be grasped in His majesty and power. Therefore, this description makes known to us the will of God, that God is not a God of death, but of life, not of destruction, but of blessedness, not an enemy of the lowly and lost, but their lover and helper, and in short, that He is a God of life, of blessedness, of rest, of peace and of all comfort and joy.
Therefore, the prophet comforts all the brokenhearted that no other sacrifice can be offered to God that is more pleasing to Him than that we be terrified and afraid, and in this fear firmly hold that God is favorable to us and reconciled etc. This is a wisdom above all wisdom, that is, a divine wisdom, because human feeling or reason enters this: I feel that I have sinned, and therefore I am grieved in heart, therefore God is angry with me, therefore all grace is denied me. Such things enter reason, and everything that is not Christ. Then comes Satan, who drives the heart, which is already inclined to despair by itself, only deeper into it, either by holding up examples of anger to it, or by holding up such sayings, with which
610 L. xix, I4S-I47. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. v, W2-svs. 611
Christ and the Holy Spirit want to humble the secure hearts. Through this, the evil becomes greater, and the despair, as it were, receives new strength. But what does the wisdom of the Holy Spirit teach us? It tells us that God is not the kind of God who wants to frighten the frightened even more and break the brokenhearted even more, but that He is a lover of the brokenhearted, the afflicted and the miserable, who pays attention and listens to the groaning and the voice of those who are burdened with misfortune. But if the Holy Spirit does not pour this wisdom into hearts, even if it is heard, it is still heard without fruit. For hearts cannot grasp this spiritual wisdom, but when oppressed by bitterness and sadness, they dare not even pray. For though I have no great experience of this trouble, yet I have learned once or twice how hard it is to speak in this struggle: Lord, help me; because the hearts, when they feel God's wrath, neither see nor know anything with which they can comfort or uplift themselves, so completely are they taken over by despair.
Therefore, I exhort and remind you, who will one day be teachers of the church, that when hearts are in extreme despair, you teach them in such a way that they may rise up and dare to hope, because it is written here that the hearts that are thus crushed and humbled are the most pleasing sacrifice to God, which he prefers to all services of God. He expects this service from all, and in order that this service be rendered to him, he sends pestilence, famine, the sword and all dangers, so that we, when we are thus beaten, may hope for God's help. For he smites that he may repent; but we receive the smiting in such a way that we turn away from him and flee from him. He smites so that we should say, "A sacrifice pleasing to God is a fearful spirit"; but we either run, as under the pope, to monasteries, or seek other ways in which to heal ourselves. This is what Isaias says [Cap. 9, 13.], "The people return not unto him that smote them." This is what reason, which does not have the Word and the Spirit, is wont to do in all cases.
flee, as Peter did in the ship [Luc. 5:8], who called Christ to go out, because he himself could not go out; but if he had been close to the shore, he would undoubtedly have jumped into the sea. But as the Spirit teaches here that a bruised heart is a [pleasing] sacrifice to God, so Christ teaches there that Peter should not be afraid [v. 10].
It is therefore an exceedingly clear saying, which shows that our theology does not belong to the hardened and secure. These are completely without understanding, and see and understand nothing of such spiritual things. Such people are those who pursue this doctrine so persistently, both teachers and authorities and princes; but this theology serves only to comfort the afflicted, the miserable and the despairing. These languish and lie low, for they have broken and bruised hearts. That is why they admit the physician, Christ, who teaches that this is not a sickness unto death, but that God is the most acceptable sacrifice. This is the medicine that removes those unspeakable pains, and there is no other remedy. But because the world and our adversaries do not understand this, they ridicule it as foolishness. But for the Holy Spirit it is not foolishness, but the highest wisdom, that in the time of despair we should hope most for mercy, and in the time of presumption and security we should fear most. The prophet prefers this service to sacrifices, and also invites us by his teaching that if we want to offer the most pleasing sacrifice to God, we should not slaughter hundreds of oxen (hecatombae), not offer burnt offerings, but sing this little song: "The sacrifices that please God are a fearful spirit," that is, that we believe that God is pleased with our plagues and tribulations, and that we should trust in His mercy.
"A troubled and bruised heart you, God, will not despise." He says, "A troubled and bruised heart," a heart which is not made small in a fictitious way, but in truth, which is as it were dying of despair. Such a heart, he says, you do not hate, as we dream, but take it
with pleasure. We see, therefore, that our theology is a word of life and righteousness, because it fights and aligns against sin and death, nor can it be seen in efficacy except in sin and weakness. It is also a word of joy whose power cannot be seen except in tribulation and visitation. But we are such people that, while we desire to have the word of life and joy, we also desire that the temptations of death and sorrow should not be there; truly, fine and lovely theologians! Therefore, we must learn that the Christian must live in the midst of death, under the biting and trembling of conscience, in the midst of the teeth of the devil and hell, and yet hold fast the word of grace, so that in such trembling we may speak: You, O Lord, will me well, for it is written that God has no other sacrifice more pleasing to Him than a troubled heart, nor a dearer priesthood than that by which the brokenhearted are offered to Him. If the priest sacrifices with a splendor that is befitting for kings, he is impious in the eyes of God and an abomination compared to a sinner who says, "God, be merciful to me," like the tax collector Luc. 18:13; this one is a right priest and a right priest and pleasing to God. For he offers the most pleasing sacrifice to God, a heart that is troubled and yet hopes for His mercy.
Therefore, this description of God is exceedingly comforting, or the declaration (definitio) that God, according to His very essence (forma), is such a God who loves the afflicted, who has mercy on the brokenhearted, who forgives the fallen and refreshes the mats. Can a more lovely image of God be created? Since God is in truth like this, we have as much of Him as we believe. Then this verse rejects all other worship and all works, and calls us to trust in the mercy and goodness of God alone, to believe that God is favorable to us, even when it seems to us that we are forsaken and in misfortune. In this way, as Nathan reproached David
When David heard [2 Sam. 12:7], "You are the man, the child of death," he humbled himself and made the sacrifice. Then when he heard [v. 13], "You will not die," he completed the sacrifice. For in the midst of anger he grasped the hope of mercy, and in the midst of feeling death the hope of life. From this experience came this verse, by which we are taught about the sacrifice pleasing to God, which consists in hoping for life and mercy in death and under the wrath of God. This theology must be learned by experience; without experience it cannot be understood that the spiritually poor should know that they are then in grace when they feel the wrath of God the most, that both in despair the hope of mercy and in safety the fear of God should be kept, as it is said in another passage [Ps. 147, 11.]: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His goodness." For according to this verse, God is pronounced (definite) nothing but grace and favor, but only against the brokenhearted and afflicted etc.
But this saying must also be treated in a negative way. Because it is a pleasing sacrifice to God when we hope for mercy, distressed and crushed, he forbids despair as the greatest ungodliness. For he wants one to endure affliction in faith, but he does not want one to add despair. For it is a sin as great as another to be presumptuous because of one's own righteousness, and to despair because of one's own unworthiness. One must keep the middle road, otherwise the highest abomination is made of the most pleasant sacrifice. The sacrifice should remain a sacrifice and not become a ruin; but it is a ruin when one despairs. Therefore, we should each bear our crosses and tribulations in such a way that we are not oppressed by sadness and fall into despair. For this is to rob GOtte of the divinity which he most displays in his mercy, as the description of this verse also proves. This is said daily and
but when it is to be exercised, very few do so, but like cowardly men of war, we generally abandon the flags at the first sense of challenge. But we should have stood firm, trusting in mercy, even when it seems to us that we are overwhelmed by tribulations, and should have made the sacrifice which the Holy Spirit praises us so much. For there is a place here even for the weak, only they do not have to leave their post altogether. For no one is a master in this art, but we all remain pupils, as Paul also says [Phil. 3, 12.]: "Not that I have already grasped it, or am already perfect, but I am pursuing it" etc.
V. 20. Do good to Zion according to your grace; build the walls of Jerusalem.
So far we have heard how throughout the Psalm the article of justification and repentance, with the fruits that follow, has been treated quite abundantly, and in the most powerful sayings, both in affirmative form (affirmativis) and negative. The affirmative form is: "Create in me, God, a pure heart"; because he demands a new creation, he clearly leaves nothing for free will. The negating form is, "For you have no desire for sacrifice," for he indicates that by no works that are ours can we attain to propitiate the wrath of God and obtain mercy, but must stand by par excellence that God is merciful etc. Now the prophet stops the teaching, and adds a prayer, as if to say: I have hitherto shown how to become righteous, which is the right way of repentance and forgiveness of sins; now nothing remains but that we pray that this knowledge be spread among the whole people and come into practice. For there will be no lack of false teachers who preach the law and their sacrifices in such a way that this part of the doctrine of the mercy of God, by grace in vain, is completely neglected. Therefore, prayer is necessary so that the right doctrine may prevail among the people against such people. For it is not necessary to think that he is concerned about the temporary
Please, for Jerusalem was then in prosperity, and well provided both with laws and very good rulers, and yet David desires that the walls of Jerusalem be built, not by such builders as handle earthly things (materiam), as wood, stones and lime, but by the Lord. The walls were standing, and yet he prays that they may be built. Thus, although he points to Jerusalem, which is already standing, he still speaks of the spiritual Jerusalem, or he uses a synecdoche, and while he names the city, he understands the people or the congregation in the city and in the whole kingdom, so that, just as the city is sufficiently fortified with walls against the attack of the enemy, so it will also be fortified in the spirit against the power of the devil and spiritual persecutions. For there will be no lack of spiritual destroyers who urge people to do good according to the Ten Commandments, but teach them nothing about trusting in mercy. Thus they are led to trust in their own righteousness. Against these, he says, build thou up, that they may know and understand thee aright, that is, that they may know that we are righteous by thy grace and mercy alone etc.
That is, to build the walls so that they are solid, when in this way people learn to trust in mercy and accept grace. For those who have once begun increase daily more and more. For it is not enough to begin in this knowledge, but because the devil, after grace is accepted, rages against the godly with all his servants whom he has among angels and men, therefore it is necessary, Therefore, it is necessary to stand in the battle line, and it is also necessary that the hearts be strengthened and fortified more and more, so that, just as Satan does not cease to attack, so also he who protects Israel does not cease to defend and fortify. So this verse contains a request for the bestowal and preservation of grace. But here, too, he attributes everything to the goodness of God, not to his merits or efforts, namely that God, according to His good will, will preserve this knowledge of grace,
that he also builds the walls, that is, that the hearts are strong and well fortified in this knowledge, so that they can stand against the devil in the time of battle. But when the people are thus instructed, made righteous, preserved and defended against all errors and persecutions of the devil,
V. 21. Then the sacrifices of righteousness, the burnt offerings and whole sacrifices, will be pleasing to you; then they will offer bullocks on your altar.
That is, then we will praise the sacrifices that we condemned before, and they will be pleasing to you. For one can rightly understand in general the sacrifices, both those that happened according to the law and spiritual sacrifices; both are "sacrifices of righteousness", because the whole emphasis is that it is God's goodness and God's benevolence. For when men thus trust in his mercy, it pleases God when an ox is sacrificed, and it is a sacrifice of righteousness; but when there is a lack of an ox, "the farrows of the lips" please him, as Hosea [Cap. 14, 3.] calls it. Hence I understand the sacrifices in general. But they are called "sacrifices of righteousness," not because they make righteous, since the person is already righteous beforehand by faith or mercy, but because they are done by the justified or the righteous, or by righteousness itself. For if the people are righteous, and recognize that they please God by grace alone, not by any worthiness or merit of their own, then everything they do according to the word of God is rightly called either a sacrifice or a work of righteousness, even those bodily things. As when such a person drinks wine, he drinks wine of righteousness; when he puts on a skirt, he puts on a skirt of righteousness; when he governs his servants, he governs a servant of righteousness; when he wages war, when he exercises the temporal regiment; when he lives, when he dies, he does all these things of righteousness, because the person is righteous. In this way, understand the altar, whether it be the one that was in the temple in Jerusalem at that time, or the spiritual temple that extends over the whole world today.
So the prophet holds a twofold sacrifice before us. The first is what he called a broken heart, namely, when a troubled spirit is felt and a humbled heart wrestling with thoughts of God's wrath and judgment. Now see to it that you do not add despair, but trust and believe in hope, since there is nothing to hope for. For Christ is a physician of the brokenhearted, who will raise up the fallen, and will not quench the smoldering wick, but will preserve it. Therefore, if you are a wick, do not extinguish yourself, that is, do not add despair to it. If you are a crushed reed, do not crush yourself even more, or give yourself to the devil to be crushed, but give yourself to Christ, who loves people and loves those who are crushed and distressed. This is the first and noblest sacrifice. Afterwards, when you thus recognize that it is God who justifies sinners, and sing to God even one song of thanksgiving (Deo gratias), then you also bring the other sacrifice, namely the sacrifice of repayment or thanksgiving for the gift received. This sacrifice is not a merit, but a confession and testimony of the grace that your God has given you out of pure mercy. Therefore, the burnt offerings under the law, which the holy and righteous people offered, were not offered for the purpose of making them righteous, but that they might bear witness that they had received mercy and consolation. Thus a sacrificed ox is a witness of mercy, or, that I may say so, a voice speaking by works (operaria vox) of gratitude, or a gratitude given with the hands (manualis), by which the hand exercises gratitude as it were by words consisting of works (realibus).
This is the second kind of sacrifice. For the first sacrifice is a sacrifice of death, so that we may neither rise in prosperity nor despair in adversity, but by the fear of God keep security in check, and in feeling the wrath and judgment of God hold fast the hope of mercy, lest we either strike our heads against heaven or our feet against the earth. The other kind of sacrifice
is thanksgiving. This consists not only in words that we confess our faith and praise the name of the Lord, but in all actions that occur in life. But it is called a sacrifice of righteousness, because it is a pleasing sacrifice, because the person is righteous, and because it is preceded by that sacrifice of humiliation and being crushed, which keeps the middle between presumption and despair. But it is not a mathematical means (medium), but a physical one. For it is impossible to live in this weakness of ours in such a way that we do not bump anywhere, either to the right or to the left; but the effort is required that when we feel either certainty or despair, we do not yield to it, but resist it. For just as a target is set before the archers, so a place is given to those who do not miss the mark altogether, even though they do not hit the center or the mathematical point: so GOtte is that enough for us to
struggle with the certainty and hope of the spirit, and likewise with despair. If there is a lack of joy in tribulation, or of fear in prosperity, it is not imputed to the saints. For they have the mediator Christ, through whom it happens that they are considered truly saints, even if they hardly have the firstfruits of holiness. For through Christ they become tithes, which in themselves are no more than firstfruits.
So the sum of this whole teaching is that the afflicted should be lifted up by the merit of Christ or by the mercy of God, and that those who are without affliction should walk in the fear of God and cast out security. For this teaching, the prayer that concludes this psalm is necessary, that the Lord will build His church; then pleasant sacrifices pleasing to God will follow. May God and our Savior Jesus Christ graciously grant this to us all. Amen.