The prophets generally deal with two things. First, they teach the people of their time about faith and good works. They comfort the afflicted and frighten the unbelievers. Second, they also prepare for the Christ to come. After Isaiah has finished the first part, he starts a new book and prophesies about the future kingdom of Christ until the end. Sometimes he also casually punishes the unbelieving and stubborn hypocrites.
2) Furthermore, because the kingdom of Christ was to be a kingdom of faith, in which the world would punish many things as foolish and unrighteous, the prophets speak magnificently of it, so that the godly would not be offended by its lowly form. But the Jews, seduced by these glorious promises, are waiting for a physical kingdom. Since this has not yet happened, they think that not everything has been fulfilled and really accomplished through Christ.
3 Therefore, these promises must be understood spiritually, and do not refer to a fleshly kingdom. For this transitory world cannot bear the fullness of such great promises. Therefore let us open our hearts and grasp the word in faith, by which alone it can be grasped. For before the world the opposite is before our eyes.
V. 1. Listen to me, you islands, and you peoples far away, pay attention.
The prophet speaks in the person of Christ. But notice to whom he speaks. He does not speak as before: Hear, you of the house of Jacob, you of the house of Israel; but he breaks forth against the whole world, and calls all Gentiles. Therefore this sermon does not belong to the One people of the Jews, but to all men, as Christ commands, "Go ye into all the world. "2c. [Marc. 16, 15.]
The Lord has called me from my mother's womb.
5. he boasts of his profession to strengthen the hearts of the Gentiles, so that they will not be drawn to
The Lord said that he would not let the foolish and weak figure of Christ, who is preached as a crucified one, come into his way. Do not despise me because of this, he says, I come in divine power (autoritate). Despise not my word, for it is not my word, but his who sent me. Thus Paul also boasts of his profession, not for vain honor, but to strengthen the disciples so that they would not doubt that the word he preaches is the word of God, and so that he would clear away the scandal of the poor gospel, which is covered by the cross and the most despicable figure.
He has remembered my name.
6 I do not come to you by chance, but I was ordained and determined from my mother's womb that I should be your Savior and Redeemer. This name, this office, was given to me by the Father.
V. 2. and has made my mouth like a sharp sword.
This is a wonderful kingdom. He has boasted that the Lord has called him, and that God has remembered his name; he has encouraged us to wait for him, as a great and mighty king, who will come in precious gold [Ps. 45:10]. And behold, he adds, "He has made my mouth like a sword," that is, my kingdom will not consist in weapons, not in power, not in wisdom, not in worldly wealth, but in the mouth; that is, my office is to preach the gracious forgiveness of sins.
(8) For this reason he compares his mouth to a sharp sword, so that he may show that the word of Christ is powerful and penetrates the heart. Thus we see in our time how it penetrates the papacy and devastates it. For it punishes the world, and shows the righteousness of Christ; but all other righteousnesses, all other religions, works,
He rejects and abhors the things that are done without the Word. But that he adds:
With the shadow of his hand he has covered me,
9 Thus he indicates the happiness and the progress of the word. For it is resisted in the world, as our times also testify; and yet it cannot be suppressed, but breaks through against the will of Satan and the gates of hell.
He has made me a pure arrow.
10) "Arrow" means the same as the sword in the foregoing; for it signifies the powerful action and the happy progress. The prophets liked to use this image of the arrow. Thus in the Psalms [Ps. 78, 57. Hos. 7, 16.]: Ephraim is a loose bow, that is, it is good for nothing, like a bow that does not hit and that is drawn in vain. And in the 127th Psalm, v. 4: "As arrows in the hand of a strong man, so do young boys go"; that is, a world regiment thus blessed by God is like an arrow that surely hits 2c.
V. 3. You are my servant, Israel.
(11) These words, as I have said, serve to comfort and strengthen us, that we may know that the word of Christ, which we have received from Christ, and that we may teach others, or that we ourselves may learn, is the true word of God, though the whole world denies it, being offended at the feebleness of its form.
(12) This passage also praises the joyful certainty of the heart, that is, the certainty of our profession, that he says he is called by God and is God's servant, so that in everything we teach or do, we may be certain of the divine will, that it pleases God. Otherwise, no one will be able to endure misfortune or temptation if he is not certain that he is called by God to do so. Just as Muenzer, having stirred up the peasants' revolt without a profession, and having been caught and put in bonds, finally said that he had been seduced to it by presumption, whereas before he had prided himself on nothing but the spirit and the profession.
That is why the strongest consolation in times of challenge is to know that one is called.
But he calls Christ "Israel", and in this name he includes the whole kingdom of Christ or the whole church, which was first gathered from the rest of the Jews and then from the Gentiles.
By which I will be praised.
14. instead of: Qui in te gloriabor translate: Glorificabor in te myself will be praised in you], that is, you alone will teach my glory.
15 Furthermore, the glory or praise of God is that he alone is righteous, kind, wise, and powerful. From this it follows that all men are liars, fools, evil-doers and sinners 2c. But if we teach this, we stir up the whole world against us, and are condemned as heretics, that we forbid good works, condemn the church 2c.
V. 4. But I thought I was working in vain.
(16) He takes comfort in the fact that few follow the word, and almost all the people reject Christ. Although, he says, few follow my teaching and most condemn it, I am comforted by the fact that the matter (judicium), that is, my ministry, is not mine but the Lord's. The word is nevertheless powerful in those who follow it, however few they are. This is a mighty consolation in temptation, which has often refreshed us in such great distresses of our doctrine, that we know that it is not ours, but God's, that he governs his work, to which he has drawn us against our will.
Although my cause is the Lord's.
The prophet turns his eyes away from the trouble and straightens up with his office and profession. My work, he says, is God's work, although it seems to be going badly. For judicium means here the office or the thing, as in the 9. 1) Psalm [v. 5].
18 This is a necessary consolation with which I have very often risen up against the
1) In the Latin editions: ksalnio 7.
Satan's thoughts, that he interprets the present troubles to the gospel. If God had not closed my eyes and I had seen that these troubles would come, I would never have begun to teach the gospel. Now I am comforted by the fact that I know that my ministry is God's ministry. This certainty sustains me against all evils.
V. 5. And now the Lord speaks 2c.
19 Again, he recites his calling. The greatest part, he says, is carried away into error, therefore the Lord has sent me to the remnant of the people, who are to be preserved by the gospel, lest all Israel perish. What the Latin translation has given: Et Israel non congregabitur, which must be translated thus: "That Israel be not taken away" or perish.
V. 6 And saith, It is a small thing that thou art my servant.
20 The Gentiles also are to be saved through the gospel. This is a very clear passage, that we Gentiles are to be incorporated into the body and kingdom of Christ, so that we may have a share in the testament, the promises, and the grace of God. For Christ is to be the light of the Gentiles, a master and teacher of the Gentiles, so that the Gentiles may be saved through him. Therefore, all of us who are of the Gentiles and except Christ are the true seed of Abraham.
21. to be converted to God is that the hearts are enlightened to the knowledge of God through the word of grace, so that they know they are to be saved by grace alone, not by our works.
22) This passage contains the most powerful resolution of all the reasons on which the Jews base their arguments against us Gentiles.
V. 7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel.
23) Having made a new man out of a twofold man, that is. A church of Jews and Gentiles by the word of the gospel, he adds a general consolation for those who stand in this faith in Christ.
For faith is immediately followed by the cross; as the 116th Psalm [v. I0] says: "I believe, therefore I speak; but I am greatly afflicted." But the world, and the devil, the father of the world, can tolerate all other religions, all idolatries; only against this faith in Christ they rage, this they cannot suffer. That is why he comforts the believers. Do not despair, he says, do not fall away when you are thus afflicted for my sake. Your word, which you follow and which the world seeks to destroy, will remain forever, and those who follow it now will be converted and accept my word.
He calls himself "the redeemer of Jacob. 1) Therefore, by the very word by which he extols himself, he expresses the character of the church, that it is of such a nature that it needs a redeemer, a saint, a justifier. For before the world there is nothing more wretched, nothing more godless and nothing more unholy than the church. Therefore he calls it "a despised soul," "a people abhorred," "a servant among tyrants"; these are the glorious titles of Christians; if anyone is ashamed of them, let him think that he seeks Christ in vain. And so the glorious promises are fulfilled, that he saith, Thy seed shall be a holy seed 2c. That is why I said at the beginning that they must be taken in the spirit and in faith in the Word. For in the world we experience the opposite.
Kings shall see, and rise, and princes shall worship.
(25) Those who persecute you now will worship you and be converted.
For the sake of the Lord, who is faithful.
The world thinks the opposite, that God is a liar and we are condemned. But the prophet calls Christ "the Holy One in Israel" because He sanctifies His own.
V. 8. I have heard you at a gracious time.
He continues to comfort. Paul uses these words for exhortation 2 Cor.
1) Instead of laool), Israel should probably be read.
6:2, just as Christ exhorts: "Believe in the light, because you have the light, that you may be children of light" [John 12:36], and Paul Romans 13:11 ff. For it is a very grievous challenge when we grow weary of the Word. For since Satan assaults this doctrine first by force through the princes of the world, then by cunning through the heretics, he also tempts each one in particular through the vice which the Greeks call, of which the Scripture says: "Our soul is disgusted with this loose food" [Deut. 21:5]. Because this vice spreads very widely, it does much harm. For the tyrants and heretics benefit the church, and bring the faith and doctrine of the church into disarray. The acedia, [indifference] however, makes people snore, secure, weary, and exposed to all the arrows of Satan. Therefore, this encouragement is necessary, that we be vigilant. Before this time I would have preferred one psalm, if I had understood it rightly, to all the riches of the world; but then the heavens were iron and the earth was closed. But now that the windows of heaven have opened, we begin to be disgusted with it. Whoever has read through the New Testament only once, admires himself, and thinks that there is nothing left that he does not know well. Therefore, it will happen that the word will be taken from the ungrateful and given to another people, whom we may not know.
I have heard you at the gracious time.
28 Thus he calls the time of the revealed gospel, which, though contested in many ways by the world, is nevertheless preserved against Satan, against tyrants and heresies, because it is "the gracious time".
And have set thee for a covenant among the people.
29 These words are said to the church. For as Christ is the covenant between God and men, so the church of believers is the covenant between nations, through the ministry of the Word, that we may safely believe Him. As Christ says: "Who
He that heareth you heareth me" [Luc. 10:16], likewise: "Whose soever sins ye remit on earth, they are remitted unto them in heaven" [Matth. 18:18]. Accordingly this is a golden text, which serves to confirm the ministry of preaching in the church, which is transferred from Christ to the church, that the latter also may be truly justified by the word, or by absolution, but in such a way that this may precede, as he says, "I have kept you." For this saying, "He who hears you hears me," does not apply in those things which the bishops command against the word of God. And this is only the Church, which has the pure Word and the pure Sacraments.
That you take the distraught inheritance.
(30) This is the Gentiles, who have been devastated by idolatries and false righteousnesses, by the devil and ungodly teachers. For as often as the gospel comes, it finds the earth devastated by ungodliness and idolatry.
V. 9 To say to the prisoners: Go out.
The gospel teaches that all should know that they will not be saved by their actions or works, but by the mercy of God through grace, freely offered in word. t) It is not only a word of command, but rather a promise that the church should be a servant in this; that those who are imprisoned in superstition and in their righteousness, and are unable to do good, will be set free. For the law is a prison, inasmuch as it is regarded as a teacher of works, and imprisons the conscience. From this prison we are delivered only by the ministry of the gospel, which teaches that we are not delivered by our works, but by mercy through grace, in vain, for Christ's sake, who was given up for us on the cross. This doctrine frees the conscience from sins, from the law, from the ordinances of men, and from all burdens.
t) Instead of what follows in this paragraph, the 1532 edition offers: The gospel therefore first frees us from sins and death, then teaches us the way of peace, and makes us secure above all ranks.
That they may feed by the way, and on all the hills have their pasture.
This can best be understood by the contrast. Before the Gospel was known, we thought that there was no pasture to be found unless we bound ourselves to certain rules, both in walk and in works. The Franciscans did not believe that they could be blessed apart from their corner and without their cap, and so did others. But now that the gospel is revealed, the sects cease, and the forgiveness of sins and eternal life are found in all places, in all persons, in all ages, and in all conditions. For the gospel is a free doctrine, which is not bound to any order, to any place, to any person, to any certain class. Both the master and the servant, both the king and the subject have the gospel. For we are all equally called to grace. The situation is quite different in the secular government and in the household, for not all households can be governed in one and the same way. So every state has its own and special laws 2c.
V. 10. They will neither hunger nor thirst.
The gospel will overflow with righteousness like a river. To water and to feed means to encourage and to teach in general. The drink is the encouragement, which is necessary and makes the food alive, which is the teaching. Where the word is, these fruits must follow. But those who are weary and have lost the word do the opposite, as we see in our heretics; they oppress the land and disturb the inheritors.
It will not sting heat nor sun.
(34) I understand it not of persecution, but of the heat of conscience. They will be well armed, and have comfort through the word that conscience cannot terrify them.
For their Beneficent God will guide them.
35. you are in the kingdom of mercy, not under a tyrant, but
under a "Beneficent", who did not command them the word in such a way that he himself is not present, but he is present as he says: "I am with you to the end of the world" [Matth. 28, 20.]. Likewise: "And the Lord worked with them, confirming the word by signs that followed" [Marc. 16, 20].
He calls the consolations of Scripture "springs of water. But here he indicates the opposite figure in the church. For if they were not thirsty, he does not forbid fountains of water. For the church feels the sting of the law, it feels the sins, it feels all that is contrary to these promises: that it is ruled, not by a merciful man, but by the enraged Satan. For the conscience is troubled in the saints by its plagues, by Satan and by sins, and every Christian is troubled by conscience outwardly and inwardly. That is why they need the word, so that they may always be raised up with it, enlightened by it as blind men, and delivered as prisoners. For Christians are those who have forgiveness of sins and joy of heart in faith alone, and thereby feel the contradiction. For if we look at the thing itself, in the church there is in all things the contradiction; therefore the word is necessary by which it is established, and believe that it is as it is described here, even at the time when it feels the contradiction.
V. 11. I will make all my mountains paths.
(37) Thus we see with us that all estates walk in their ways. The authorities, father, mother, son and servant know that their status is pleasing to God. Before this knowledge, only the monks were considered to be in a state pleasing to God. Furthermore, it also indicates that in faith there is no respect for persons. According to faith, servants are equal to great kings, and vice versa.
V. 12. Behold, these will come from afar.
38. by the four regions of the heavens he shows the nature of all the states, that not
the Jews alone would be God's people, that not only the celibate and the monks, but that in all classes, in every age, in all places there would be Christians. "From the sea" means among the Hebrews as much as from the evening.
What the Latin translator has given: a terra australi [from the land of the noon], with it he has correctly rendered the sense, only that here a proper name is put, "from the land of Sinim", of which 2 Mos. 17, 1. is spoken. But he uses the plural to indicate that he is speaking in general, that the word makes no distinction of persons, orders 2c.
V. 13 For the LORD has comforted his people.
40. This is because he has given the word of grace and forgiveness of sins. Because he redeemed from the righteousness of the flesh, from the terror of hell and death, from the tyranny of Satan 2c. Therefore Paul calls it an unspeakable gift of the gospel [2 Cor. 9:15]. Those who are sincerely moved by it thirst for it all the more and rejoice, for they alone understand this grace and this treasure. The rest are weary of it.
V. 14. But Zion says, "The Lord has forsaken me.
(41) We have heard the glorious consolations and promises of the church, but if one consults sensation, the opposite is true, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:9 ff. and 2 Cor. 6:4 ff. Therefore, the Holy Spirit here precedes our thoughts, as if to say: You hear my consolations and my promise of salvation and enlightenment, but I know what you want to object to. For you feel that you are darkened, bound, oppressed by Satan, by sins, by the wrath of God and by the fear of death. You feel that you are abandoned. But hear the word, and let your thoughts go, and follow not your feelings, but take hold in faith of these promises of mine. For I will not deceive thee, but thou shalt know, as much as outward appearances may be, that thou art forsaken.
the opposite, that everything I promise will certainly come to pass 2c. But here you see the groaning, of which Paul also says that it is inexpressible.
4I. "But Zion speaks," that is, those who are the true church, and have the gospel and so great a wealth of promises, cry out that they are forsaken of God. This must be especially noted. For this passage can give great consolation to the troubled and distressed souls, that the terrors they feel are not evil signs, and that not only they suffer them, but that they are signs of the true church and the true members of Christ.
V. 15 Can a woman forget her child and not have mercy on the son of her womb? Even if she forgets him, I will not forget you.
This is an excellent consolation, but it is not understood without faith. He refutes the cries of the afflicted by a very well-known example. For the female sex is merciful by nature, because it is born by nature to mercy and to love. Therefore, the Hebrews also give a woman the name of the mother or the mother's womb, because the woman is made to love, just as the man is made to protect. Therefore, there is no living being that has more mercy than a woman, especially in regard to her child. That is why we say "a mother's heart" for a very loving and kind heart. Therefore he comforts us with a likeness of the Holy Spirit, and tells us to look at a mother who has a son. Just as natural love does not allow her to forget or abandon her son, so I cannot forget yours.
44 Here reason recognizes the likeness, but it does not believe that it is such a child in the womb, and does not believe that it is carried, but thrown away, and cruelly tossed to and fro. Here is no other advice than to rely on the word alone, excluding all senses, and with simple faith,
against feeling and expectation, believe that it is as the word says. For all that is apart from the word is nothing but fear and trouble. So we are plagued in many ways today. First, by tyrants who persecute us with sword, water and fire; then by the spirits of the wicked. In addition, our name is greatly hated and desecrated by all, and Satan in particular attacks everyone with the terror of conscience and divine wrath. Therefore, according to the judgment of the flesh, we are absolutely lost.
45 Therefore, if we do not overcome these outward feelings and cling only to the word, so that we believe that God has not abandoned us, but is a very kind mother who lovingly cares for us and carries us, then it is all over for us. For it was not for this reason that he gave us his word, not for this reason that he called us to the church through his word, that he wanted to abandon us, but through the temptations and through our tribulations he wants to show us the power and the strength of his word. What appears to be abandonment is rather a test, so that we may learn by our own example the power of the word 2c. And such promises are only to be believed, not grasped with the hands. But our thoughts, and our reason, and the judgment of our flesh, are deceitful; therefore we ought to believe the word of the promise rather than the sensation and affliction of the flesh and conscience.
V. 16. Behold, in the hands I have drawn you.
In the inner side of my hands (palmis) I have drawn you. The "hands" signify the divine power and the divine effects. Therefore he says: I cannot forget thee, for thou art marked in my hands; that is, I am mindful of thee in all that I do, whether I raise up tyrants or sects against thee. In short, all that I do, I do for your good, just as Paul says: "To those who love God, all things must be for the best" [Rom. 8, 28.]. Thus, the Emperor Augustus opened the world through peace, so that the Evan
The king of Babylon led the Jews to Babylon so that the word and the law of God could be spread among the Gentiles. Thus the king of Babylon led the Jews to Babylon, so that the word and law of God might be spread among the Gentiles. Thus Joseph was admitted to the court of King Pharaoh, so that he might plant the religion there and promote its growth. Thus he says: "Everything I do, whether good or bad, is done for you and for your benefit. You are always before my eyes, because you are marked in my hands. These are words of faith that must be believed. For if one consults reason, the contradiction is before his eyes.
Your walls are always before me.
There is an emphasis in the word "before me"; before my eyes, not before yours. For we feel that we are exposed to men, to devils, to sins, to death and to hell. That is why the walls are invisible, and you can only believe them. The red spirits see their walls; the tyrants see their walls. Here the sense must be reversed that the walls of those are nothing because they are seen by human eyes, but our walls are before the eyes of God.
V. 17. Your builders will hasten.
This is a promise of procreation. You will not be exhausted, but reproduced.
But your breakers and destroyers will get away.
49. He admits that there are breakers and destroyers in the church, both tyrants and heretics. But he says: Be patient only a little, "they will get away," but you will be delivered. For all the suffering of the godly is little, and lasts but a moment, because it is ordained by God that it should not last long. But according to our feeling it is eternal, because of the despair, because one does not see any way of redemption.
V. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold.
(50) Where there are tyrants and heretics now, hereafter you will see everything that delights you.
Where there are idolatrous pagans now, there will be your brothers afterward, who follow the same word, the same religion. Thus we read that the pagans who killed the apostles worshipped them afterwards, since they were converted to the faith.
As I live, says the Lord, you shall 2c.
(51) Those who are now a burden to you and oppress you shall, after they are converted, be a praise, glory and honor to you. Thus today Wittenberg has been blasphemed as a source of all heresies; but it will happen after some years that it will be praised by the descendants as a garden of God, from which the gospel has been planted in Germany and in all parts of the world.
V. 19. For your desolate, disturbed and broken land 2c.
52. you are like a desolate and forsaken land; there are few of them who cling to you, but you are very happy to be planted. But notice that procreation begins with desolation and destruction. Therefore, let us not despair nowadays. For although the church has a bad reputation, and there are very few of them who teach the word purely and loudly, it will not fall, but will be propagated, if we only stick to the word.
V. 20. That the children of thy barrenness shall continue to say in thine ears.
(53) He says that the church is barren, yet it has many descendants. For its fruitfulness is hidden, but its barrenness is outward appearance. Hence the words in the Psalms: "I am lonely and miserable" [Ps. 25, 16], likewise: "Save my lonely from the dogs" 2c. [Ps. 22, 21.]
V. 21: Who begat these for me?
54. notice the sad words with which the Holy Spirit describes the church, that it is barren, one that is not birthed, solitary, cast out, rejected, lonely 2c. For they describe to us the outward appearance of the church. But should one be ignorant of the
because of despair? No. For it follows that this lonely one marvels at her numerous children. For God is so powerful that He can give more than we understand, as Paul says [Eph. 3:20]. Thus, as the Church cared for the Jews, the Gentiles were also added, and the Jews became apostles and leaders of the Church. It will be the same with us. The blood of the brother Heinrich von Zütphen, and of Leonhard Kaiser 1) and other saints, will, if we only remain constant in the word, awaken a rich seed of believers. For in this way the church is planted; it is not multiplied, unless it is barren and lonely. On the other hand, the adversaries and heretics will not be eradicated until they have become many and have grown. This is a good consolation for our time.
V. 22. Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles.
The Holy Spirit hereby responds to the future wonderment of the Church. For because the church does not see the future happy progress, it holds the present form of the church against it, as if to say: You promise that I will be fruitful in a very glorious way, but I see and feel the opposite. Therefore, show me my children and brothers with fingers. Therefore the Holy Spirit answers and says: I know that you do not see your children whom I promise. But turn not thou from them; labor thou to birth, practice the word, suffer in faith, and wait upon me. For I will bring thee forth, and the word shall be unto me as a banner, to which I will gather thy children 2c.
That is how they will bring your sons in their arms.
The gospel is not a violent teaching, as the laws are, but it carries gently in the word that the children come here of their own free will, not out of compulsion.
1) In the Wittenberg: "Leisers", in the Jena: "Kehsers", in the Erlangen: "Lesers." Now his name is actually "Käser", but he is usually called "Kaiser".
V. 23. And the kings shall be thy keepers.
57 He indicates that kings should also be converted. Thus Carl the Great, Theodosius and other great princes have accepted the Word, and fed the Church with rich alms, preserved peace, protected Christians from violence and injustice. So today our Elector of Saxony applies his government for the benefit of the Church by maintaining the teachers of the Word. Some have taken this passage from the goods given to the church. But I hardly believe that goods have ever been given to the Church for the sake of the Gospel, but rather they have been snatched from the emperors by fraud and theft of the popes.
They will fall to the ground before you and lick your feet.
He expresses here with figurative words the reverence that great princes would show to Christians.
Then you will know that I am the Lord, in whom those who wait for me will not be put to shame.
(59) He concludes these great promises with the word "wait," so that we may persevere in the tribulation, and then we will receive all these things, however impossible they may seem. But this is actually the work of Christians, waiting for the Lord, which cannot be feigned by anyone. For reason by nature takes recourse to other help.
V. 24-26. Can a giant also be robbed?
(60) This is an objection in which the church disputes how the Lord can provide children for it. As if the oppressed church wanted to say: You promise a great offspring, but I see how impossible this is with such great power of the enemies. For the children you promise are among the tyrants, who hold them as a sneeze holds a robbery. They are so blinded and hardened among the heathen that it is impossible to save them from death and hell, by which tyrants, as it were, they are rightly held.
the, to snatch. Therefore he answers: I, the LORD, will provide both that thou mayest have many descendants, and that they who oppose thee shall perish by their own strength. For this is it that he saith [v. 26.], And I will feed thy oppressors with their own flesh. "2c.
Or can the righteous man be loosed his captives? 1)
61 Thus, among the Jews, the people were held captive by the Levites and teachers under a title of law, for their worldly regiment was instituted by GOD Himself. And yet the apostles abolished the whole law. But from where did they have this authority, since the gospel is only a spiritual teaching, and does not abolish external statutes, which may originate from Moses or concern other regiments? This is what has happened to us. We have been under the rule of the pope and the bishops; but why have we shaken off the same from us, since the gospel could have been taught, even if these burdens remained? These are the strong sneezes of which the prophet speaks in this passage. And also Paul was much troubled by the handling of this matter, since he wanted to take away the glory and title of "the righteous" from the synagogue. I answer: The apostles are commanded to teach the gospel; this they teach, and do nothing contrary to Moses, except that they leave consciences free, and do not violate the ceremonies, except in so far as they hold souls captive. For the body is subject to all burdens, but the conscience is not to be subject to anyone, because it has liberty through the gospel, that it is free from sin, from death, from the law, from hell, and from all human statutes. But since the synagogue is not satisfied with the rule it has over the body, but also wants to rule over the conscience, it happens that by demanding something unreasonable, it also loses what was reasonable, and with the observance of the ceremonies at the same time also
1) The fact that only here the second part of v. 24. is subsequently set and interpreted is due to the fact that the section from here to the end of the chapter is added only in the edition of 1534.
the worldly regiment is lost. For God wants to save His children; since the synagogue does not want to let them go, it loses both.
62 Thus, if the pope would remain under his rule, and at least leave the consciences free, we would be obliged to remain under his rule, because the gospel is not seditious, nor does it make free from external burdens. But because he does not want to do this, he also loses what he has under one title.
of law, because it is written Apost. 5, 29: "One must obey God more 1) than men." This is therefore the reason why both the Jews and the Papists perish. For God offers them this, that they should keep the worldly rule; they should only leave the consciences free. Since they do not want to do this, he takes away both.
1) odeäirs oportet is missing in the editions.