BS 1235 .L973 1910 v. 2 
 Luther, Martin, 1A83-1546. 
 
 Commentary on Genesis 
 
LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD 
 
 COMMENTARY ON 
 GENESIS 
 
 BY 
 
 y 
 
 JOHN NICHOLAS LENKER, D. D. 
 
 TRANSLATOR OF LUTHER'S WORKS INTO ENGLISH; 
 AUTHOR OF "LUTHERANS IN ALL LANDS" 
 
 Vol. II 
 Second Thousand 
 
 Wi)t lutfjer ^ress 
 
 MINNKAPOLIS, MINN., U. S 
 
 1910 
 
DEDICA TION. 
 
 To all interested in studying the Christian 
 
 Missionary problems of "the last 
 
 times" of the modern world, this 
 
 volume is dedicated. 
 
 Copyright, 1910, by J. N. LENKER. 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 The first volumes of the "American Luther" we selected for 
 publication were his best commentaries, then eight volumes of his 
 Gospel and Epistle sermons and one volume of hia best catecheti- 
 cal writings. These rich evangelical works introduced us to the 
 real Luther, not the polemical, but the Gospel Luther. They con- 
 tain the leaven of the faith, life and spirit of Protestantism. We 
 now return to his spiritual commentaries on the Bible which are 
 the foundation of all his writings. The more one reads Luther 
 the greater he becomes as a student of the One Book. 
 Contents of This Volume. 
 
 This, the second volume of Luther's great commentary on Gene- 
 sis, appears now in English for the first time. 
 
 It covers chapters four to nine inclusive of Genesis. The sub- 
 jects discussed are: Cain's murder, his punishment, Cain's sons, 
 Seth and his sons, the wickedness of the old world, the ark, 
 Noah's obedience, the universal destruction, the salvation of 
 Noah's family, his sacrifice, his blessing, the rainbow covenant, 
 Noah's fall, Ham cursed and Shem and Japheth blessed. These 
 great themes are discussed by Moses and Luther. They have 
 vital relations to problems pertaining to the end of the modern 
 world. Our hope and prayer are that God may use this volume 
 to make the book of Genesis and the whole Old Testament 
 a greater spiritual blessing to the Church and that it may serve 
 the servants of God in these latter days in calling people to 
 repentance, faith and prayer like Noah and Luther did. 
 
 In his "Dear Genesis" Luther proved that the free Evangelical 
 religion he taught was not new, but as old as the first book of 
 the Bible, and that it does not consist in outward forms, organiz- 
 ations and pomp, but in true faith in Christ in our hearts and 
 lives. Genesis contains the only historic records accessible of the 
 first 2364 years of the 4004 years before Christ. It is worthy of 
 study in our day as it was in the days of the Eeformation. 
 Acknowledgments. 
 
 Luther advised no one should translate alone and he practiced 
 what he taught. We have followed his rule and example. Pastor 
 C. B. Gohdes of Baltimore translated chapter six and President 
 Schaller of Milwaukee Theological Seminary, chapters five, seven, 
 edght and nine. 
 
 Inaccuracies may be due to the revision and editing, and not 
 to the translators, for every good translation must be fluent and 
 idiomatic, to secure which is the most difficult task. Pastor 
 Gohdes also rendered valuable help in the final revision of parts. 
 The translation of the analyses is by the undersigned. 
 
 The few last pages of the first edition of volume one we 
 revised and reprint in this volume in order to make the pages 
 of each volume of our edition to correspond with the German 
 and Latin volumes of the Erlangen edition. The paragraphs 
 are numbered and the analyses given according to the old Walch 
 edition. 
 
Luther and World-Evangelization. 
 
 In translating Luther into practical English in practical Ameri- 
 ca, and in this age that is growing more and more practical, we 
 need to be reminded that this work is for practical use and 
 purposes. Luther was radical along Bible lines in applying the 
 truth personally and to the world. 
 
 It is a year since the last volume of the "American Luther" 
 appeared. The delay was caused by an effort to raise the work to 
 a higher standard and by the publication of a book on "The True 
 Place of Germans and Scandinavians in the Evangelization of the 
 World", not a revision of, but a new companion volume to "Lu- 
 therans In All Lands" that appeared seventeen years ago. By 
 comparing these two books one has the best evidence of the mar- 
 velous progress of God's Kingdom in recent years, and the grow- 
 ing world-significance of Luther's evangelistic writings. Evangeli- 
 zation at home and abroad is the popular religious theme today in 
 the German fatherland and in the whole Protestant world. The 
 word "world" is becoming so common its full meaning is not 
 appreciated. When world-evangelization is discussed, it is too often 
 from the standpoint of the nation discussing it. Each nation is 
 so active in its own work that it fails to appreciate what others 
 are doing. For example how little the world missionary confer- 
 ences in English lands have to say of the German and Scandina- 
 vian missions and the Eeformed Churches of the Lutheran work. 
 Hence the fruits of Luther's evangelical writings are underes- 
 timated by the English people. It is opportune to translate not 
 only Luther but also the best fruits of those writings in various 
 languages during the past 400 years, especially since the memorable 
 date of 1917 is soon to be celebrated by universal Protestantism. 
 Luther in all languages and Lutherans in all lands go together. 
 We ought to consider most carefully the great Eeformer in his 
 relation to the modern world and modern world-evangelization. 
 The known world in his day was not so large. He had, however, 
 a clear view of it all in his writings, which is due to his 
 faithful study of the Scriptures. The Bible gave him a knowledge 
 of the world, including all lands and all times. His commentary 
 of eleven volumes on Genesis illustrates this. The first volume on 
 Genesis treats of the first part of the ancient world; the second 
 volume, the one before us, treats of the second part and end 
 of the old world. This Luther would have us apply to the last 
 times of the modern world. 
 
 Luther Educational and Devotional. 
 
 Here, as everywhere in his catechisms, sermons and commentaries, 
 Luther is unique among religious authors in that he is both 
 educational and devotional, appealing equally to head and heart. 
 He is "religiously helpful and intellectually profitable," covering 
 every phase of religious, moral and social conditions, and touching 
 every interest of humanity. "His words went to the mark like 
 bullets and left marks like bullets." Being beyond criticism they 
 have a unique place to fill in the literature and libraries of the 
 world. 
 
FOREWORD. 5 
 
 Although the cry, "Read Luther!" has been raised here in the 
 new world the multitudes of the English people are not rushing 
 for his writings, as the Germans did when they first appeared in 
 the old world, under conditions similar to what they are in Ameri- 
 ca at present. If asked what made the German people what they 
 are, the answer is, these writings, so universally circulated and 
 read. If the Anglo-Saxons appreciated their educational and de- 
 votional value the 35,000 copies circulated the last seven years would 
 easily, as a professor suggested, be increased to a hundred thousand 
 copies. 
 
 Nations Helping Nations. 
 
 The world-consciousness is growing, so is the national conscious- 
 ness. Both are characteristic of our times. Perhaps never did the 
 national spirit develop as in recent years. The great powers, 
 instead of dividing China, witness the national spirit growing 
 everywhere — in Japan, China, India, Africa, South America, Nor- 
 way, Sweden, as well as in Germany, England, Russia and the 
 United States. This is a good sign, for the world-family is com- 
 posed of nations, and each nation has at least one talent not 
 to be crushed, but with which to serve all the others. One serves 
 the world when he serves his nation. Luther's words, "I live for 
 my countrymen", illustrates this. It is not the nations that have 
 the largest armies and navies that are the greatest blessing to 
 the world, but the nations that work out the best Christian civili- 
 zation for the world to imitate and send over the earth the best 
 farmers to show other nations and tribes how to cultivate 
 the earth, the best teachers, preachers and authors to train the 
 people, the best medical skill to relieve human suffering, the best 
 mechanics and servants, the greatest philanthropists, the best 
 Christians. In educational, industrial, medical and charitable mis 
 sion work the nations dominated by Luther's writings stand high. 
 Nations, like individuals, are the greatest which serve others best; 
 not the nations which have the most territory, but nations which 
 do the greatest service for the whole human family. The students 
 missionary movement develops men, and the laymen's misionary 
 movement raises money. Both are needed, but men must be 
 trained to do their work in the best way and the money be used 
 to bring the best results. Hence nations should help and study 
 one another most carefully with this in view. Luther and his 
 writings in the evangelization of Europe ought not to be over- 
 looked in the evangelization of other continents. By helping 
 abroad the home does not suffer. Among American Lutherans the 
 Norwegians prove this, for they have done the most for the heath- 
 en and have the best home mission work. 
 
 Transition and Translation or Transition ajid Revolution. 
 While we are translating Luther for all Anglo-Saxons, we do 
 not overlook the fact that Luther's disciples, Germans and Scand- 
 inavians, are themselves being translated, or are in a state of 
 transition. The translation of a people and of their literature 
 or spirit clearly presents a double problem, both sides of which 
 demand at once the most careful work. The translation of both 
 the people and their literature should run parallel and in the 
 same, and not in an opposite, direction. Germans and Scandinavi- 
 ans have always, and do still, make the fatal blunder of trans- 
 lating from English into their own languages, instead of from 
 
6 LUTHEK OJ^ SIN AJSIB THE- JTLOUD. 
 
 their languages into English. They thus cross one another's path 
 never to meet again. Their children and grandchildren, however, 
 find it easier to translate into English, their mother tongue; but, 
 alas, they have little interest in doing it. They make the mistake 
 in thinking their old thoughts and classics are not needed in the 
 new language. Their motto seems to be, "new literature for the 
 new language", when to the English public, if not to themselves, 
 the old writings would be the newest. It is marvelous how wide- 
 awake preachers are mislead. 
 
 Best Literature is Translations. 
 
 People who are prejudiced against translations, forget that the 
 Bible and our best literature are translations of the classics of 
 the world's leading languages. Translations should be welcomed 
 by a people who themselves are in a state of translation, especially 
 if the translations are from their mother tongue into the language 
 they are learning. What endless friction and confusion would be 
 avoided, if people and their life and literature were translated at 
 the same time. As we have said, a transition of a people without 
 a translation of their literature is no transition, but a revolution. 
 To this various church bodies witness. During the transition of 
 language the best literature for the children to read is the trans- 
 lations of the classics of the language of the parents. There may 
 be better literature, but not for these particular children, if th« 
 unity of the family life is to be perpetuated. Hence it becomes 
 a vital concern that both children and parents understand that the 
 best literature for them is such translations. But where are the 
 German or Scandinavian teachers and preachers who are enthui- 
 ing over putting this thought deep into the family life of their 
 congregations. 
 
 A Lesson from Luther and Wesley ip. America. 
 
 What unwisdom even to attempt to build up the Lutheran 
 Christian life in free, aggressive Protestant Anglo-Saxon civilization 
 without Luthers's writings in good Anglo-Saxon! Muhlenberg 
 (b. 1711; d. 1787) and Wesley (b. 1703; d. 1791) came to America 
 about the same time. Wesley returned home in 1738 after a stay 
 of two years in the south. Muhlenberg spent his ministerial life 
 of 45 years (1742-1787) in America, in the Keystone state, in 
 and near Philadelphia, the metropolis of the new world. When the 
 two Palatinate Germans from Limerick County, Ireland, Philip Em- 
 bury and Barbara Heck, a lay-preacher and a godly woman, held 
 the first Methodist service in America, in 1766, in New York City, 
 the Lutheran faith had been planted here by the Dutch since 
 1657 in the same city, by the Swedes on the Delaware since 1639, 
 (Torkillus), by the Germans since 1708 (Kocherthal); Muhlenberg 
 had arrived in Philadelphia in 1742, built churches the following 
 year in Philadelphia and "The Trappe", and organized the Synod 
 of Pennsylvania among its 60,000 Lutherans in 1748. All these 
 Lutherans to some extent learned, preached and confirmed in Eng- 
 lish. Muhlenberg was naturalized in 1754 as a subject of Great 
 Britain. This and his stay in England gave an Anglican turn to 
 his German pietism. When we became a free people in 1776, the 
 Methodists had only 20 preachers and 3418 members in America 
 and less than 76,000 followers in Europe from which to receive 
 immigrant members, while the Lutherans were strong here and in 
 Europe. Today American Methodists report 60,737 churches, and the 
 
FOEEWOED. 7 
 
 Lutherans 13,533. Why did Wesley's followers become the domin- 
 ating religious force in America? Not because Wesley and his 
 writings were greater than Luther and his writings. Methodists 
 did not bear Wesley's name, but they did have his spirit and 
 writings. Even to the present day every Methodist preacher 
 must pass an examination in Wesley's writings before ordination. 
 Where were Luther's spirit and writings among his early Ameri- 
 can followers? 
 
 Language is no more a barrier to Luther's spirit than to 
 Wesley's. Methodism forged its way from English into German, 
 Norwegian, Danish and Swedish and among Indians, Mexicans and 
 Negros. People, regardless of language, color or condition, could 
 not help but learn what real spiritual Methodism is. It was 
 preached and sung in such simple, plain Anglo-Saxon, and 
 in good translations, that it could not be misunderstood nor 
 misrepresented. Wesley's simple evangelical message was abroad 
 in the land in the hearts of the people. But the evangelical voice 
 of Luther, the prince of translators, was hardly heard and even 
 today the English world has no clear popular view of what 
 spiritual Evangelical Lutheranism is. Often when they speak of 
 it, they seem to think it is the opposite of what it is. Germans, 
 Scandinavians and all know the spiritual side of Methodism, 
 but the English world does not know the spiritual side of Luther- 
 anism, and it never will until Luther's spiritual writings are 
 translated into readable English and circulated broadcast over 
 the land, and the hearts of the people come into direct and close 
 touch with the heart of the great Eeformer himself. 
 
 The English world knows the statistics, the numerical strength 
 of Lutherans, That needs no apology. But what does need a 
 defense among Americans is the spirituality of the Lutherans. 
 That is developed by the translations into the plainest vernacular 
 of God's Word and Luther's evangelical sermons and commentaries. 
 These are the best literature for young Germans and Scandinavi- 
 ans. Although translations, and not perfect, they are the best 
 for them. The Bible first; Luther's spiritual writings second, not 
 first nor third. Have not Lutherans in America been follow- 
 ing the disciples of Luther instead of Luther; while Methodists 
 have followed Wesley and not Wesley's disciples. The Dutch, 
 Swedish and German Lutherans in the east, all learned English. 
 We say it was a transition, but was it not a revolution? Their 
 history stands forth as beacon lights of warning to the polyglot 
 Lutherans migrating to the ends of earth and learning all languages. 
 They will no more keep up their faith with one language than the 
 English nation will keep up their trade by refusing to learn 
 other languages. Strange it is that nations can learn and use 
 other languages in one line and not in another — the English in 
 church work and not in trade; the Germans in trade, but not 
 in church work. 
 
 It is said there are 30 million people in the United States with 
 some German blood in their veins. Two thirds of these, or 20 mil- 
 lions, may be said to have some Lutheran mixture in their make- 
 up, but only one and a half million of these 20 millions are 
 communicant members of English and German Lutheran churches. 
 What people in America can show a worse religious record? Yet 
 the tenders of the sheep and lambs are afraid to feed them in 
 the only way they can be fed. Verily whatever you sow, that 
 
8 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 shall you also reap. Lift up your eyes, behold the harvest! Can 
 you not discern the signs of the times'? 
 
 It is no wonder that the United States Census of 1890, the 
 latest reliable statistics on the subject, gave the number of 
 Lutheran communicants using only English in this English land 
 at 198,907; General Synod 143,764; United Synod South 37,457; 
 General Council 14,297; Ohio Synod 287; Missouri Synod 1,192— 
 after 150 years of work. Our good German and Scandinavian 
 parents, in the light of these figures, need not fear loosing 
 many members to purely English churches. Eeading Luther" 
 in German, Swedish, Norwegian and English will bring better 
 results to old and young than if read only in one language. 
 The Church of the Eeformation is not one-tongued, but many- 
 tongued. 
 
 English Luther in German and Scandinavian Churches. 
 April 12th, 1910, became a memorable date in the North- 
 west by the introduction of the Scandinavian languages into 
 all the high schools of Minneapolis. German and Scandinavian 
 taxpayers are gradually becoming more interested in having their 
 children learn the language of their mothers in the public 
 schools. This will prove to be a great blessing to children and 
 home, society and state. The Church however will blunder, if 
 she thinks there will now be no need of circulating English 
 literature in German and Scandinavian congregations. Translating 
 Luther and teaching German and Scandinavian are two T>'ays of 
 doing the same thing, for language is not an end, but a means 
 to an end. Many young people are being confirmed in English 
 and they often attend services in foreign languages. Many know 
 m.ore of the language than of the matter preached. When weak 
 in the language they understand better what is preached if they 
 are familiar with the thought. The reason many do not ap- 
 l^reciate a sermon with the Luther ring is because they are familiar 
 with neither the language nor the thought. Hence the need 
 of our young people becoming familiar with Luther's sermons 
 and commentaries in English. One understands better in a 
 strange language what he is familiar with. This familiar know- 
 ledge would help to bridge the chasm between Lutheran parents 
 and children. Ask parents and they will tell about the "Old Luther 
 Eeaders," in their native land and tongue. All admit that if the 
 young people are not interested to read Luther in English, they 
 will never read liim. All who do will the better understand 
 sermons in German and Scandinavian. The universal reading of 
 the English Luther, on the part of the young people, will there- 
 fore help, and not harm, the German and Scandinavian congre- 
 gations. Luther's teachings thoroughly understood in a living 
 way will bind the young to their Christian convictions, as much as 
 the knowledge of a language binds them to that language. The 
 passive interest therefore, on the part of German and Scandina- 
 vian pastors and congregations in circulating the English Luther, 
 as far as their young people are concerned, should give way to 
 active interest, for the sake of their own work in the future. It is 
 important to learn your mother's language. You may do that 
 and forget her faith — Better retain the faith than the language. 
 The Fiftieth Day (Pentecost), 1910. J, N. Lenker. 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
COMMENTARY ON GENESIS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IV. CAIN MURDERS HIS BROTHER; CALLED TO ACCOUNT. 
 
 I. HOW CAIN MURDERED HIS 
 BROTHER. 
 
 1. What moved Cain to com- 
 mit murder, 107. 
 
 2. Cain's liypocritical actions 
 
 in concealing tiis anger 
 tliat he might tlie more 
 easily commit the murder 
 108-9. 
 
 * Cain the picture of all hyp- 
 ocrites 110-129. 
 
 * The attitude of hypocrites 
 to their neighbors. Also, 
 liow we are to view the ef- 
 forts of the i-ope and bish- 
 ops in behalf of peace and 
 unity 111-112. 
 
 * Against what people we 
 should most guard 12. 
 
 8. How Cain listened to no 
 warning in his thoughts of 
 murder 113. 
 
 * Complaint of the world's 
 attitude to good admoni- 
 tion 114. 
 
 * The ways of the hypocrite. 
 Also, why falsehood wears 
 a friendly aspect, 115. 
 
 4. Whether Cain's passion to 
 
 murder Abel was notice- 
 able 115. 
 
 5. Cain took no notice of 
 
 Abel's sighing and praying 
 116. 
 
 * The origin of man's cruel 
 and tyrannical nature 117. 
 
 II. HOW CAIN WAS CALLED 
 
 TO ACCOUNT, AND HIS 
 BEHAVIOR. 
 
 1. Who questioned Cain, and 
 liis deiiant actions 118. 
 
 2. Cain accused himself most 
 when lie tried to clear him- 
 self 119. 
 
 * Liars speak against them- 
 selves, as is proved by ex- 
 amples 119-120. 
 
 3. Cain's vindication more fool- 
 
 ish than that of the flrsi 
 parents in paradise 121. 
 
 * St. Martin will absolve the 
 devil if he repents 122. 
 
 * Whoever excuses his sin 
 follows the example of Sa- 
 tan and makes his case 
 worse 123. 
 
 4. How Cain heaps sin upon 
 
 sin 124. 
 
 5. Cain despairs and is in a 
 
 worse state than our first 
 parents after their fall 125. 
 
 6. How Cain placed himself 
 in a position where noth- 
 ing could help him 126. 
 
 7. Gently accused, and yet de- 
 
 fiant 127. 
 
 8. Cain lias not the least rev- 
 
 erence for God or his 
 father 128. 
 
 * This is a picture of all 
 hypocrites 129. 
 
 9. How his defense ends 130. 
 ■* How man ought to act 
 
 when his conscience ac- 
 cuses him ot sin 131. 
 
 * The hypocrite's actions 
 when his conscience is 
 awakened, and what he is 
 to do 132-3. 
 
 10. In Cain's defense wicked- 
 
 ness and folly are mingled 
 134. 
 
 * How God reveals hypo- 
 crites 135. 
 
 * Moses says much in few 
 words 136. 
 
 * Whether Abel and our first 
 parents anticipated Cain's 
 murder 137. 
 
 * Without a tliought of what 
 might restrain him, Cain 
 commits the deed 138. 
 
 * The picture of the sacrifice 
 of Iphigenia applied to Mo- 
 ses' description of Cain's 
 murder 139-140. 
 
 * Cain's is no ordinary mur- 
 der, and how he differs 
 from other murderers 141. 
 
 * The hypocrite's hatred is 
 different from other hat- 
 red, and is found among 
 the Jews and the Papists 
 142-143. 
 
 * Cain the father of all mur- 
 derers 144. 
 
 * How the first parents felt 
 over this whole affair 145. 
 
 a. Tlieir grief was so great 
 
 that they could not have 
 endured without special di- 
 vine comfort 146. 
 
 b. Their severe trial in view 
 of the first sin 147. 
 
 c. Very likely because of this 
 murder tliey refrained so 
 long from bearing children 
 148. 
 
 ■* Whether the first parents 
 had at the time more chil- 
 
10 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 dren than Cain and Abel when Cain was called to 
 
 148. account 150. 
 
 * Why Cain slew Abel, and 12. Adam with the authority of 
 
 how he did it 149. God calls Cain to account 
 
 11. The time and occasion 152. 
 
 IV. HOW CAIN" MUEDERED HIS BROTHER AND 
 
 WAS REQUJRED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT, 
 
 AISTD HOW HE CONDUCTED HIMSELF. 
 
 A. How Cain Murdered His Brother. 
 V. 8a. And Cain told (talked with) Abel his brother. 
 
 107. Our translation adds that Cain said: "Let us go out 
 doors..'" But this is one of the comments of the rabbins, whose 
 relative claim to credit I have fully shown on a previous occa- 
 sion. Lyra, following the invention of Eben Ezra, relates that 
 Cain told his brother how severely he had been rebuked of the 
 Lord. But who would believe statements for which there is no 
 authority in the Scriptures ? We hold therefore to an explana- 
 tion which has the warrant of the Scriptures, namely that Cain, 
 finding himself rejected of God, indulged his anger, and added 
 to his former sins contempt of his parents and of the Word, 
 thinking within himself: "The promised seed of the woman 
 belongs to me as the first-bom. But my brother, Abel, that 
 contemptible, good-for-nothing fellow, is evidently preferred to 
 me by divine authority, manifest in the fire consuming his 
 sacrifice. What shall I do, therefore? I will dissemble my 
 wrath until an opportunity of taking vengeance shall occur.'' 
 
 108. Therefore- the words, "Cain told Abel his brother," 
 I understand to mean that Cain, dissembling his anger, con- 
 ducted himself toward Abel as a brother, and spoke to him and 
 conversed with him, as if he bore with good nature the sentence 
 pronounced upon him by God. In this manner also Saul sim- 
 ulated an attitude of kindness toward David. "I know well," 
 said Saul, "that thou shalt surely be king," 1 Sam 24, 20 ; and 
 yet he was all the while planning to prevent this by killing 
 David. Just so Cain now conversed with Abel his brother, 
 and said : I see that thou art chosen of the Lord ; I envy thee 
 not this divine blessing, etc. This is just the manner of hypo- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 11 
 
 c-iites. Tliey pretend friendship until an oppoi'tunit)'' of doing 
 tJie harm they intend presents itself. 
 
 109. Tha-t such is the true sense of the passage, all the cir- 
 cumstances clearly show. For if Adam and Eve could have 
 gathered the least suspicion of the intended murder, think you 
 not that they would either have restrained Cain or removed 
 Abel, and placed the latter out of danger? But as Cain had 
 altered his countenance and his deportment toward his 
 brother, and had talked with him in a brotherly manner, they 
 thought all was safe, and the son bowed to and acquiesced in the 
 admonition of his father. The appearance deceived Abel also, 
 who, if he had feared ^ything like murder from his brother, 
 would dbubtless have fled from him, as Jacob fled from Esau 
 when he feared his brother's wrath. What, therefore, could 
 possibly have come into the mind of Jerome when he believed 
 the rabbins, who say Cain was expostulating with his l)rother? 
 
 110. Accordingly, Cain is the image and picture of all 
 hypocrites and murderers, who kill under the show of godli- 
 ness. Cain, possessed by Satan, hides his wrath, waiting the 
 opportunity to slay his brother Abel; meanwhile he converses 
 with him, as a brother beloved, that he might the sooner lay 
 his hands upon him unawares. 
 
 111. This passage, therefore, is intended for our instruc- 
 tion in the ways of murderers and hypocrites. Still Cain 
 talks in a brotherly manner with his brother, and, on the other 
 hand, Abel still trusts Cain as a brother should trust a brother ; 
 and thus he is murdered, and the pious parents meanwhile are 
 deceived. 
 
 Just so the pope and the bishops of our day talk and confer 
 much concerning the peace and concord of the Church. But 
 he is most assuredly deceived who does not understand that 
 the exact opposite is planned. For true is that word of the 
 Psalm, "The workers of iniquity speak peace with their neigh- 
 bors, but mischief is in their hearts," Ps 28, 3. For it is the 
 nature of hypocrites that they are good in appearance, speak 
 kindly to you, pretend to be humble, patient and charitable, 
 
12 LUTHEK ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 give alms, etc.; and yet, all the while they plan slaughter in 
 their hearts. 
 
 112. Let us learn, then, to know a Cain and. especially to 
 beware when he speaks kindly, and as brother to brother. 
 For it is in this way that our adversaries, the bishops and the 
 pope, talk with us in our day, while they pretend a desire for 
 concord, and seek to bring about doctrinal harmony. In real- 
 ity, if an opportunity of seizing us and executing their rage 
 upon us should present itself, you would soon hear them speak 
 in a very different tone. Truly, "there is death in the pot," 
 2 Kings 4, 40 ; and under the best and sweetest words there 
 lies concealed a deadly poison. , 
 
 V. 8b. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, 
 that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. 
 
 113. Here you see the deceptive character of those alluring 
 words. Cain had been admonished by his father with divine 
 authority to guard against sin in the future, and to expect pa,r- 
 don for that of the past. But Cain despises the twofold ad- 
 monition, and indulges his sin, as all the wicked do. For true 
 is the saying of Solomon, "When the wicked cometh, there com- 
 eth also contempt,, and with ignominy cometh reproach," Prov 
 18, 3. 
 
 114. Our ministry at the present day deserves no blame. 
 \Vi' I CD oh, we exhort, we entreat, we rebuke, we turn ourselves 
 every way, that we may recall the multitude from security to 
 the fear of God. But the world, like an untamed beast, still 
 goes on and follows not the Word, but its own lusts, which it 
 tries to smooth over by a show of uprightness. The prophets 
 and the apostles stand before us as examples, and our own ex- 
 perience is instructive, also. Our adversaries, so often warned 
 and convicted, know they are doing wrong, and yet they do not 
 lay aside their murderous hate. 
 
 115. Ijearn, then, what a hypocrite is; namely, one who 
 lays claim to the worship of God and to charity, and yet, at 
 tlie same time, destroys the worship of God and slaughters hi^- 
 brotlier. And all this semblance of good-will is only intended 
 to bring about better opportunities of doing harm. For, if 
 Abel had foreseen the implacable wrath and the truly diabolical 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 13 
 
 anger, he would have saved himself by flight. But as Cain be- 
 trayed no such anger, uttered a friendly greeting and manifest- 
 ed his usual courtesy, Abel perished before he felt any fear. 
 
 116. There is no doubt that Abel, when he saw his brother 
 rising up against him, entreated and implored him not to pol- 
 lute himself vnth this awful sin. However, a mind beset by 
 Satan pays no regard to entreaties, nor heeds uplifted hands, 
 but as a father's admonition had been disregarded, so now the 
 brother is spurned as he pleads upon his knees. 
 
 117. Light is cast here upon the bondage to Satan by 
 which our nature, entangled in sins, is oppressed. Hence 
 Paul's expression, "children of wrath," Eph 2, 3, and the dec- 
 laration that such are taken captive by Satan unto his will, 2 
 Tim 2, 26. For when we are mere men; that is, when we ap- 
 prehend not the blessed seed by faith, we are all like Cain, 
 and nothing is wanting but an opportunity. For nature, des- 
 titute of the Holy Spirit, is impelled by that same evil spirit 
 which impelled wicked Cain. If, however, there were in any 
 one those ample powers, or that free will, by which a man 
 might defend himself against the assaults of Satan, these gifts 
 would most assuredly have existed in Cain, to whom belonged 
 the birthright and the promise of the blessed seed. But in 
 that very same condition are all men ! Unless nature be helped 
 by the Spirit of God, it cannot maintain itself. Why, then, 
 do we absurdly boast of free-will? Now follows another re- 
 markable passage. 
 
 B. How Cain Had to Give an Account, and His Conduct. 
 V. 9. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Ahel thy brother? 
 And he said, I hnow not: Am I my broth er's Tceeper?" 
 
 118. Good God ! into what depth of sin does our miserable 
 nature fall when driven onward by the devil. Murder had 
 been committed on a brother, and perhaps murdered Abel lay 
 for ^days unburied. Thereupon, as Cain returned to his par- 
 ents at the accustomed time, and Abel returned not with him, 
 the anxious parents asked him: Cain, thou art here, but where 
 is Abel ? Tliou hast returned home, but Abel has not returned. 
 The flock is without their shepherd. Tell us therefore, where thy 
 
14 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 brother is. Upon this, Cain, becoming abusive, makes answer 
 to his parents, by no means with idtie reverence, "I know not : Am 
 I my brother's keeper?" 
 
 119. But it happened to Cain as to all the wicked, that by 
 excusing himself he accused himself, according to the words of 
 Christ, "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked 
 servant," Luke 19, 32. Also the heathen had a striking 
 proverb among them, "A liar ought to have a good memory." 
 Such was the judgment of heathen men, though they knew 
 nothing of the judgment of God and of conscience, and had 
 nothing to guide their judgment but their experience in civil 
 affairs. And true it is that liars run much risk of being dis- 
 covered and unmasked. Hence the Germans have the proverb, 
 ■'A lie is a very fruitful thing." For one lie begets seven other 
 lies, which become necessaiy to uphold the first lie. And yet 
 it is impossible, after all, to prevent conscience from arousing 
 and betraying itself at times, if not in words, then in gestures. 
 This is proved by numberless examples. I will cite only one 
 example here: 
 
 120. In Thuringia there is a small to^vn in the district of 
 Orla, called Neustadt. In this town a harlot had murdered 
 her infant, to which she had secretly given birth, and had 
 thrown it, after the murder, into a neighboring fishpond. Ac- 
 cidentally the little piece of linen in which she had wrapped 
 the infant, brought the horrid deed to light. The case was 
 brought before the magistrate; and as the simple men of the 
 place knew no better means of investigating the crime, they 
 called all the young women of the town into the town hall 
 and closely examined them, one by one. The face and the 
 testimony of each one of these proclaimed her innocent. But 
 when tliey came to her Who vras the real perpetrator of the 
 deeid, she did not wait for questions to be put to her, but im- 
 mediately declared aloud that she was not the guilty person. 
 The contrast ^le presented, to the others in making such haste 
 to defend h.erself, confirmed the suspicion of the magistrates. 
 At once she was seized by the constables and put to death. 
 
 Indeed, instances are innumerable and of daily occurrence 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 15 
 
 which show that people, in their eagerness to defend them- 
 selves, accuse themselves. Sin may, indeed, lie asleep, but 
 that word which we have just heard, is true. It lies at the 
 door. 
 
 121. Just so in the present case. Cain thinks he has made 
 an effectual excuse for himself by saying that he is not his 
 brother's keeper. But does he not confess by the very word 
 "brother'' which he takes upon his lips that he ought to be his 
 keeper? Is not that equal to accusing himself, and will not 
 the fact that Abel is nowhere in evidence arouse the suspicion 
 in the minds of his parents that he has been murdered? Just 
 BO also Adam excuses himself in paradise, and lays all the 
 blame on Eve. But this excuse of Cain is far more stupid; 
 for while he excuses his sin he doubles it, whereas the frank 
 confession of sin finds mercy and appeases wrath. 
 
 122. It is recorded in the history of St. Martm, that when 
 he absolved certain notorious sinners, he was rebuked by Satan 
 for doing so. St. Martin is said to have replied, "Why, I 
 would absolve even thee, if thou wouldst say from thy heart, 
 I repent of having sinned against the Son of God, and I pray 
 for pardon." But the devil never does this. For he persists 
 in committing sin and defending the same. 
 
 123. All liars and hypocrites imitate Cain their father, by 
 either denying their, sin or excusing it. Hence they cannot 
 find pardon for their sins. And we see the same in domestic 
 life. By the defense of wrong-doing, anger is increased. For 
 whenever the wife, or the children, or the servants, have done 
 wrong, and deny or excuse their wrong-doing, the father of the 
 family is the more moved to wrath; whereas, on the other 
 hand, confession secures pardon or a lighter punishment. But 
 it is the nature of h3rpocrites to excuse and palliate their sin or 
 to deny it altogether and under the show of religion, to slay 
 the innocent. 
 
 124. But here let us survey tJie order in which sins fol- 
 low each other and increase. First of all Cain sins by pre- 
 sumption and unbelief when, priding himself on the privilege 
 of his birthright, he takes it for granted that he shall be ac- 
 cepted of God on the ground of his own merit. Upon this 
 
16 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 pride and self-glorification immediately follow envy and hatred 
 of his brother, whom he sees preferred to himself by an unmis- 
 takable sign from heaven. Upon this envy and hatred follow 
 hypocrisy and lying. Though he designs to mnrder his brother, 
 he accosts him in a friendly manner and thereby throws him 
 off his guard. Hypocrisy is followed by murder. Murder is 
 followed by the excusing of his sin. And the last stage is de- 
 spair, which is the fall from heaven tr, hell. 
 
 125. Although Adam and Eve in paradise did not deny 
 their sin, yet their confession was lukewarm, and the sin was 
 shifted from the one to the other. Adam laid it on Eve, and 
 Eve on the serpent. But Cain went even farther, for he' not 
 only 'did not confess the murder he had committed, but dis- 
 claimed responsibility for his brother. And did not this at 
 once prove his mind to be hostile against his brother? There- 
 fore, though Adam and Eve made only a half-hearted con- 
 fession, they had some claim to pardon, and in consequence 
 were punished with less severity. But Cain, because he reso- 
 lutely denied his sin, was rejected, and fell into despair. 
 
 And the same judgment awaits all the sons of Cain, popes, 
 cardinals, and bishops, who, although they plan murder against 
 us day and night, say likewise, "I know not : Am I my brother's 
 keeper?" i ' • 
 
 126. There was a common proverb of old, '^Vhat is it to the 
 Romans that the Greeks die?" So we think that our dangers 
 and calamities only belong to ourselves. But how does this 
 principle agree with the commandment of God? For his will 
 is that we should all live together, and be to each other as 
 brethren. Cain, therefore, by this very saying of his, heavily 
 accuses himself when he makes the excuse that the custody of 
 his brother was no affair of his. Whereas, if he had said to 
 his father, ''Alas, I have slain Abel, my brother. I repent of 
 the deed I have done. Return upon me what punishment thou 
 wilt," there might have been room for a remedy ; but as he de- 
 nied his sin, and, contrary to the will of God, disclaimed 
 responsibility for his brother altogether, there was no place 
 left for mercy or favor. 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 17 
 
 127. Moreover, Moses took special pains in the prepara- 
 tion of this account, that it might serve as a witness against all 
 hypocrites, and as a chronicle containing a graphic descrip- 
 tion of their character and of the ire to which they are aroused 
 by Satan against God, his Word and his Church. It was 
 not enough for this murderer that he had killed his- brother, 
 contrary to the command of God, but he added the further sin 
 that he became filled with indignation and rage when. God in- 
 quired of him concerning his brother. I sa}^, "when God in- 
 quired of him," because, although it was Adam who spoke these 
 words to his son Cain, yet he spoke them by the authority of 
 God and by the Holy Spirit. In view of so great a sin, was it 
 not quite gentle to inquire, "Where is Abel thy brother?" 
 And yet, to this word, which contained nothing severe, the 
 hypocrite and murderer is ferocious and proud enough to reply, 
 "1 know not." And he is indignant that he should be called 
 to an account concerning the matter at all. For the reply of 
 Cain is the language of one who resists and hates God. 
 
 128. But to this sin Cain adds one still worse. Justly un- 
 der indictment for murder, he presently becomes the accuser of 
 God, and expostulates with him: "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
 He prefaces his reply with no such expression of reverence or 
 honor as is due both to God and to his father. He did not say, 
 'T/ord, I know not." He did not say, "My Father, didst thou 
 make me the keeper of my brother?" Such expressions as 
 these would have indicated a feeling of reverence toward God 
 or toward his parent. But he answers with pride as if he him- 
 self were the Lord, and plainly manifests that he felt indigna- 
 tion at being called to account by him who had the perfect right 
 to do so. 
 
 129. This is a true picture of all hypocrites. Living in 
 manifest sins, tliey grow insolent and proud, aiming all the 
 Avhile to appear righteous. They will not yield even to God 
 himself and his Word when upbraided by them. Nay, they set 
 themselves against Gofl, contend with him, and excuse their 
 sin. Thus David says, that God is judged of men, but that 
 at length he clears and Justifies himself, and prevails, Ps 51, 
 
18 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 4. Suoh is the insolence of the hypocrites Moses has here 
 endeavored to paint. 
 
 130. But what success has Cain with his attempt? This, 
 that his powerful effort to excuse himself becomes a forcible 
 self-accusation. Christ says, "Out of thine own mouth will I 
 judge thee, thou wicked servant/' Lk 19, 22. Now, this ser- 
 vant wished to appear without guilt, saying : "I knew thee that 
 thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow ; and I 
 was afraid, and hid thy talent,^' Mt 25, 24-25. Could he have 
 brought a stronger accusation against himself, in view of the 
 fact that Christ immediately turns his words against him? 
 Thereby Christ evidences the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 131. Such illustrations help us to learn not to contend with 
 God. On the contrary when you feel in your conscience that 
 you are guilty, take heed with all your soul that you strive 
 neither with God nor with men by defending or excusing your 
 sin. Eather do this: When you see God point his spear at 
 you, flee not from him; but, on the contrary, flee to him with 
 a humble confession of your sin, and with prayer for his par- 
 don. Then God will idraw back his spear and spare you But 
 when, by the denial and excuse of your sin, you flee farther and 
 farther from him, God will pursue you at close range with still 
 greater determination, and bring you to bay. Nothing, there- 
 fore, is better or safer than to come with the confession of 
 guilt. Thus it comes to pass that God's victory becomes our 
 victory through him. 
 
 132. But Cain and hypocrites in general do not this. God 
 points his spear at them, but they never humble themselves be- 
 fore him nor pray to him for pardon. ISTay, they rather point 
 their spear at God, just as Cain did on this occasion. Cain 
 does not say, "Lord, I confess I have killed my brother; forgive 
 me." On the contrary, though being the accused, he himself 
 accuses God by replying, "Am I my brother's- keeper?" And 
 what did he effect with his pride ? His reply was certainly equal 
 to the confession that he cared naught for the divine law, which 
 says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," Lev 19,18. 
 AnidI again, "Do not unto another that which you would not 
 have another do unto you," Mt 7, 12. This law was not first 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 19 
 
 ■written in the Decalog; it was inscribed in the minds of all 
 men. Cain acts directly against this law, and shows that he 
 not only cares nothing for it, but absolutely despises it. 
 
 133. In this manner, Cain represents a man who is not 
 merely wicked, but who occupies such a height of wickedness 
 as to combine hypocrisy with bloodshed, and yet is so eager to 
 maintain the appearance of sanctity that he rather accuses God 
 than concedes the justice of the accusation against himself. 
 And this is what all hypocrites do. They blaspheme God and 
 crucify his Son, and yet wish to appear righteous. For after 
 their sins of murder, blasphemy and the like their whole aim 
 is to seek means whereby to excuse and palliate the same. But 
 the result always is that they betray themselves and are con- 
 demned out of their own mouths. 
 
 134. While Cain makes an effort to clear himself, he exhibits 
 the foulest stains. He thinks he made a most plausible excuse 
 when he said, "Am T my brother's keeper?" But this very ex- 
 cuse becomes his most shameful accusation. The maxim of 
 Hilary, that wickedness and stupidity always go hand in hand, 
 finds unvarying application. If Cain had been as wise as he 
 was wicked, he would have excused himself in quite a different 
 manner. Wow, under the operation of the divine rule that 
 wickedness and stupidity are running mates, he becomes his 
 own accuser. The same principle operates in favor of the truth, 
 and makes her defense against all adversaries easy. Just as 
 Cain betrayed by word and mien his indifference and hate to- 
 ward his brother, so all adversaries of the truth betray their 
 wickedness, the one in this way, the other in that. 
 
 135. Facts of importa,nce and apt for instruction are, there- 
 fore, here set before us. And their general import is that God 
 does not permit hypocTites to remain hidden for any length of 
 time, but compels them to betray themselves just when they 
 make shrewd efforts to hide their hypocrisy and crime. 
 
 136. Moses does not exhibit in his narrative the verbose dic- 
 tion characteristic of pagan literature, where we often find one 
 and the same argument embellished and polished by a variety 
 of colors. We find by experience that no human power of 
 
20 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 description can do justice to im^^ard emotions. In consequence, 
 verbosity, as a rule, comes short of expressing emotion. Moses 
 employs the opposite method, and clothes a great variety of ar- 
 guments in scant phraseology. 
 
 137. Above the historian used the expression, "when they 
 were in the field." Thereby Moses indicates that the murderer 
 Cain had watched his opportunity to attack his brother when 
 both were alone. All the circumstances plainly shoAv that Abel 
 was not idle at the time; for he was in tlie field, where he had 
 to do the things his father committed to him. From Moses' 
 statement we may infer that Abel's parents felt absolutely no 
 fear of danger. For, although at the outset they had feared 
 that the wrath of Cain -would eventually break out into still 
 greater sin, Cain, by his gentleness and pretended affection, 
 prevented all suspicion of evil on the part of his parents. For 
 had there been the least trace of apprehension, they certainly 
 would not have permitted Abel to go from their presence alone. 
 They would have sent his listers with him as companions; for 
 he no doubt had some. Or liis parents themselves would have 
 prevented by their presence and authority the perpetration of so 
 great a crime. As already stated, also the mind of Abol was 
 perfectly free from suspicioti. For, had he suspected the least 
 evil at the hand of his brother, he would doubtless have sought 
 safety by flight. But after he had heard that Cain bore the 
 judgment of Grod with composure, and did not envy the brother 
 his honor, he pursued his work in the field with a feeling of 
 security. 
 
 138. What orator could do justice to the scene which Moses 
 depicts in one word : "Cain rose up against his brother ?" Many 
 descriptions of cruelty are to be found on every hand, but could 
 any be painted as more atrocious and execTable than is the case 
 here? "He rose up against his brother," Moses writes. It is 
 as if he had said, Cain rose up against Abel, the only brother 
 he had, with whom he had been brought up and with whom he 
 had lived to that day. But not only the relationship Cain ut- 
 terly forgot; he forgot their common parents ailso. The greatness 
 of the grief he would cause his parents by such a grave crime, 
 never entered his mind. He did not think that Abel was a 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 21 
 
 brother, from wliom lie had never received any offense what- 
 ever. For Cain knew that the honor of having offered the more 
 acceptable sacrifice, proceeded not from. ,any desire or ambition 
 in Abel, but from God himself. Nor did Cain consider that 
 he, who had hitherto stood in the highest favor with his par- 
 ents, would lose that favor altogether and would fall under 
 their deepest displeasure as a result of his crime. 
 
 139. It is recorded in liistory of an artist who painted the 
 scene of Iphigenia's sacrifice, that when he had given to the 
 countenance of each of the spectators present its appropriate 
 expression of grief and pain, he found himself unable to por- 
 tray the vastness of the father's grief, who was present also, 
 and hence painted his head draped. 
 
 140. Such is the method, I think, Moses employs in this 
 passage, when he uses the verb yaliain, "Eose up against." What 
 tragical pictures would the eloquence of a Cicero or a Livy have 
 drawn in an attempt to portray, through the medium of their 
 oratory, the wrath of the one brother, and the dread, the cries, 
 the prayers, the tears, the uplifted hands, and all the horrors of 
 the other ! But not even in that way can justice be done to the 
 subject. Moses, therefore, pursues the right course, when he 
 portrays, by a mere outliae, things too great for utterance. 
 Such brevity tends to enlist the reader's undivided attention 
 to a subject which the vain adornment of many words dis- 
 figures and mars, like paint applied to natural beauty. 
 
 141. This is true also of the additional statement, "He slew 
 him." Occasionally we see men start a quarrel and commit 
 murder for a trivial cause, but no such ordinary murder is 
 described here. Murderers of this kind immediately afterward 
 are filled with distress ; they grieve for the deeds they have done 
 and acknowledge them to be delusions of the devil by which he 
 blinded their minds. Cain felt no distress; he expressed no 
 grief, but denied the deed he had done. 
 
 142. This Satanic and insatiable hatred in hypocrites is 
 described by Christ in the words, "When they kill you, they will 
 think that they do God service," Jn 16, 2. So the priests and 
 the kings filled Jerusalem with the blood of the prophets and 
 
22 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 gloried in what they did as a great achievement ; for they con- 
 sidered this as proof of their zeal for the Law and the house 
 of God. 
 
 143. And the fury of popes and bishops in our day is just 
 the same. They are not satisfied with having excommunicated 
 us again and again, and with having shed our blood, but they 
 wish to blot out our memory from the land of the living, ac- 
 cording to the description in the Psalm, "Ease it, rase it, even 
 to the foundation thereof," Ps 137, 7. Such hatred is not 
 human but satanic. For all human hatred becomes mellow in 
 time; at all events, it will cease after it has avenged our injury 
 and gratified its passion. But the hatred of these Pharisees 
 assumes constantly larger dimensions, especially since it is 
 smoothed over by a show of piety. 
 
 144. Cain, therefore, is the father of all thoae murderers 
 who slaughter the saints, and whose wrath knows no end 
 so long as there remains one of them, as is proved in the case 
 of Christ himself. As for Cain, there is no doubt of his 
 having hoped that by putting Abel to deatli he should keep 
 the honor of his birthright. Thus, the ungodly always think 
 that tlieir cruelty will profit them in some way. But when they 
 find that their hope is vain they fall into despair. 
 
 145. Now, when the fact of this shameful murder was made 
 known to the parents, what do we tliink must have been the sad 
 scenes resulting ? What lamentations ? What sighs and groans ? 
 But I dwell not on these things; they are for the man with the 
 gifts of eloquence and imagination to describe. It was certainly 
 a marvel that both parents were not struck lifeless with grief. 
 The calamity was rendered the greater by the fact that their 
 first-born, who had aroused so large hopes concerning himself, 
 was the perpetrator of this horrible murder. 
 
 146. If, therefore, Adam and Eve had not been helped from 
 above, they could never have been equal to this disaster in their 
 home; for there is nothing like it in all the world. Adam and 
 Eve were without that consolation which we may have in sud- 
 den and unexpected calamities, namely, that like evils have be- 
 fallen others and have not come upon us alone. Our first 
 parents had only two sons, though I believe that they had 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEBEH. 23 
 
 daughters also; and therefore they lacked such instances of 
 grief in the human family as we have before our eyes. 
 
 147. Who can doubt, moreover, that Satan by this new 
 species of temptation increased greatly the grief of our first 
 parents? They no doubt thought, Behold, this is all our sin. 
 We, in paradise, wished to become like God; but by our sin we 
 have become like the devil. This is the case also with our son. 
 We loved only this son, and made everything of him ! Our 
 other son, Abel, was righteous before us, above this son; but of 
 his righteousness we made nothing ! This elder son we hoped 
 would be he who should crush the serpent's head; but behold, 
 he himself is crushed by the serpent ! Nay, he himself has be- 
 come like the serpent, for he is now a murderer. And whence 
 is this? Is it not because he was born of us, and because we, 
 through our sin, are what we are ? Therefore it is to our flesh ; 
 therefore it is to our sin, that this calamity must be traced. 
 
 148. It is very probable, accordingly, and the events of the 
 series of years which followed strengthen this probability, that 
 the sorrowing parents, shaken to the core by their calamity, ab- 
 stained for a long time from connubial intercourse. For it ap- 
 pears that when Cain committed this murder he was about 
 thirty years of age. During this period some daughters were 
 born unto Adam. In view of the subsequent statements, verse 
 17, that "Cain knew his wife," he no doubt married a sister. 
 Moreover, since Cain himself says in verse 14, "It shall come 
 to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me", and as it 
 is further said in verse 15, "The Lord set a mark upon Cain, 
 lest any finding him should kill him" — it appears most 
 probable from all these circumstances that Adam had many 
 children besides Cain and Abel, but these two only are men- 
 tioned, on account of their important and memorable history, 
 and because these two were their first and most remarkable 
 children. It is my full belief that the marriage of our first 
 parents was most fruitful during the first thirty years of their 
 union. Somewhere Calmana and Dibora are mentioned as 
 daughters of Adam, but I know not whether the authors are 
 worthy of credence. Inasmuch, therefore, as the birth of Seth 
 is recorded as having taken place a long time after this mur- 
 
24 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 der, it seems to me very probable that the parents, distressed 
 beyond measure at this monstrous crime in the bosom of their 
 family, refrained for a long time from procreation. While 
 Moses does not touch upon all these things, he intimates enough 
 to arouse in the reader a desire to dwell upon the noteworthy 
 events which the absence of detailed information penults us to 
 survey only from a distance. 
 
 149. But I return to the text before us. Cain is an evil and 
 wicked man, and yet, in the eyes of his parents, he is a divine 
 possession and gift. Abel, on the contrary, is in the eyes of his 
 parents nothing; hut in the eyes of G-od he is truly a righteous 
 man; an appellation with which also Christ honors him when 
 he calls him "righteous Abel" ! Mt 23, 35. This divine judg- 
 ment concerning Abel, Cain could not endure, and, therefore, he 
 thought that by murder not only the hatreid against his brother 
 could be satisfied, but also his birthright be retained. But he 
 was far from thinking that was sin ; as the first-born he thought 
 he had exercised his right. He killed Abel, not with a sword, 
 as I think, but with a club or a stone, for I hold that there were 
 as yet no iron weapons. 
 
 150. After the murder, Cain remained unconcerned, for he 
 thought the deed could be concealed by hiding the body, which 
 he buried, or perhaps cast into a river, thinking that thus it 
 would surely remain undiscovered by his parents. 
 
 When Abel, however, had been from home a longer time than 
 had been his habit, the Holy Spirit prompted Adam to inquire 
 of Cain concerning Abel, saying, "Where is Abel thy brother ?" 
 The above-mentioned utterance of Adam, "If not, sin lieth at 
 the door," was a prophecy which now began to come true. Cain 
 thought he had laid his sin to rest, and all would thus remain 
 hidden. And true it was that his sin did lie at rest, but it lay 
 at rest "at, the door." And who opens the door? None other 
 than the Lord himself ! He arouses the sleeping sin ! He brings 
 the hidden sin to light ! 
 
 151. The same thing must come to pass with all sinners. 
 For, unless by repentance you first come to God, and yourself 
 confess your sin to God, God will surely come to you, to disclose 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 25 
 
 3'our sin. For God cannot endure that any one should deny 
 his sin. To this fact the psalmist testifies: "When I kept 
 silence, my bones wasted away through my roaring all the day 
 long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my 
 moisture was changed as with the drouth of summer." Ps 32. 
 3-4. For, although sin has its sleep and its securit)^ yet that 
 sleep is "at the door"; it cannot long last, and the sin cannot 
 remain hidden. 
 
 152. When Moses introduces Jehovah as speaking, I under- 
 stand him to mean, as above, that it was Adam who spoke by 
 the Holy Spirit in the place of God, whom he represented in 
 his relation as father. The expression of the Holy Spirit, there- 
 fore, is intended to set forth the high authority of parents; 
 when children dutifully hear and obey these, they hear and 
 obey God. And I believe Adam knew by the revelation of the 
 Holy Spirit that Abel had been slain by his brother; for his 
 words intimate the commission of murder at a time when Cain 
 still dissembled as to what he had done. 
 
 V. CAIN PUNISHED FOR HIS MURDER. 
 
 C A I N' S PUNISHMENT IN 
 GENERAL. 
 
 By whom and how he is 
 punished 153. 
 :. Why he was not put to 
 death 153. 
 
 * The double grief of the 
 first parents 154. 
 
 * What was Adam's church 
 and altar 155. 
 
 How Cain was excommuni- 
 cated 156. 
 
 * God's inquiry about Abel's 
 blood. 
 
 a. How vinbelievers refer to 
 it 157. 
 
 b. How a theologian should 
 use it 158. 
 
 c. It is a g-reat and impor- 
 tant matter 159. 
 
 * How Abel's death is to be 
 viewed 159. 
 
 d. Why God does not inquire 
 after the blood of beasts 
 160-1. 
 
 e. Whether this Inquiry was 
 from God direct or made 
 througli Adam 162-3. 
 
 f. How Cain felt upon this 
 inquiry 164. 
 
 * The result of sin to mur- 
 derers and other sinners 
 165-6. 
 
 * An evil conscience tlie re- 
 
 sult of evil-doing 166. 
 g. How to understand the 
 statement that Abel's blood 
 crieth to heaven 167. 
 
 * How God's children are to 
 comfort tliemselves when 
 the world oppresses them 
 and seemingly God refuses 
 to help 168-71. 
 
 h. This inquiry is a sign of 
 God's care for Abel 169. 
 
 * The blood of many Evan- 
 gelical martyrs cry to the 
 Papists 170. 
 
 * How God opportunely judg- 
 es the afflictions of be- 
 lievers 171. 
 
 * Why God's vengeance does 
 not immediately follow 172. 
 
 i. The time this inquiry oc- 
 curred 173. 
 
 * God indeed has regard for 
 the sufferings and tears of 
 his children 174. 
 
 * How sinners can meet the 
 judgments of God 174. 
 
 4. The miserable life Cain 
 must have led after his 
 punishment 175. 
 II. C A I N' S PUNISHMENT IN 
 DETAIL. 
 1. The Church suffered, 
 a. How Cain's punishment 
 
26 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 and curse differed from a. How this curse affected the 
 
 Adam's 176-8. earth 186-7. 
 
 b. Why Cain's person was t.. Why Adam used such se- 
 
 cursed 178-9. vere words In this curse lob. 
 
 ^ _,, /-, . ^ „ ^ c. How it caused the earth 
 
 The more Cam desired ^^ ^e less fruitful 187. 
 
 honor, the less he received • -j. ^ e difference between 
 
 180 
 
 "Arez" and "Adama" li 
 
 ♦ The beginning of both 3. The State suffered, 
 churches, the true and tne ♦ What "No" and "Nod" 
 false 181. mean, and how they dlf- 
 
 * Cain's whole posterity per- fer 189-90. 
 
 ished in sin 181. * Cain's sin punished in three 
 
 c. How his curse and pun- ways and in each the sin 
 
 ishment were lightened was mitigated 191-3. 
 
 182. * Cain a fugitive and a wan- 
 
 • Whether any of Cain's pos- derer. 
 
 terity were saved, and holy a. This refers chiefly to the 
 
 182. true Church, as is illus- 
 
 * The way the heathen had trated by many examples 
 part in the promise 182-5. of the saints 194-5. 
 
 • The way Cain withheld his b. It refers less to the false 
 children from the true church 194-5. 
 
 Church 185. c. Many take offense at thl» 
 
 2. The Home suffered. 196. 
 
 V. HOW CAIN WAS PUNISHED FOR HIS MURDER. 
 
 A. Cain's Punishment in General. 
 
 153. If Eve overheard these words, what think you must 
 have been the state of her mind ! Her grief must have been 
 beyond all description. But the calamity was brought home 
 to Adam with even greater force. As he was the father, it fell 
 to him to rebuke his son and to excommunicate him for his sin. 
 Since, according to the ninth chapter, the law concerning the 
 death-penalty for murderers was not promulgated until after- 
 ward when the patriarchs beheld murder becoming alarmingly 
 frequent, Adam did not put Cain to death, but safeguarded his 
 life in obedience, to the prompting and direction of the Holy 
 Spirit; still, it is a fact not to be gainsaid that the punishment 
 ordained for him and all his posterity was anything but light. 
 For in addition to that curse upon his body he suffered excom- 
 munication from his family, separation from the sight of his 
 parents and from the society of his brothers and sisters, who 
 remained with their parents, or in the fellowship of the Church 
 
 154. Now, Adam could not have done all this, nor could 
 Eve have heard it without indescribable anguish. For a father 
 is a father, and a son is a son. Gladly would Adam have spared 
 his son and retained him at home, as we now sometimes see 
 murderers become reconciled to the brothers of their victims. 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 27 
 
 But in this case uo place was left for reconciliation. Cain is 
 bidden at once to be a fugitive upon the face of the earth. The 
 pain of the parents was doubled in consequence. They see one 
 of their sons slain, and the other excommunicated by the judg- 
 ment of God and cut off forever from the fellowship of his 
 brethren. 
 
 155. Moreover, when we here speak of excommunication 
 from the Church, it stands to reason that not our houses of 
 worship, built in magnificent style and ample proportions out 
 of hewn stone, are meant. The sanctuary, or church, of Adam 
 was a certain tree, or a certain little hill under the open heaven, 
 where they assembled to hear the Word of God and to offer 
 their sacrifices, for which purpose they had erected altars. 
 And when they offered their sacrifices and heard the Word, 
 God was present, as we see from the experience of Abel. 
 
 Also elsewhere in the sacred story, mention is made of such 
 altars under the open heaven, and of sacrifices made upon them. 
 And, if we should come together at this day under the open 
 sky to bend our knees, to preach, to give thanks, and to bless 
 each other, a custom would be inaugurated altogether beneficial. 
 
 156. It was from a temple of this kind and from such a 
 church, not a conspicuous and magnificent church at a particu- 
 lar place, that Cain was cast out. He was thus doubly pun- 
 ished; first, by a corporal penalty, because the earth was ac- 
 cursed to him, and secondly, by a spiritual penalty, because by 
 excommunication, he was cast out from the temple and the 
 church of God as from another paradise. 
 
 157. Lawyers also have drawn upon this passage, and quite 
 properly brought out the fact that Jehovali first investigated 
 the matter and then passed sentence. Their application is, 
 that no one should be pronounced guilty until his case has been 
 tried; until he has been called to the bar, proved guilty and 
 convicted. This, according to a previous statement, was also 
 done with Adam: "The Lord God called unto Adam, and 
 said unto him. Where art thou?" Gen 3, 9. And further 
 on: "I will go down now, and see whether they have done al- 
 together according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; 
 and if not, I will know," Gen 11, 5; 18, 21. 
 
28 LTTTITER ON STN AND THE FT.OOD. 
 
 158. However, dismissing the matter in its bearings upon 
 public life, let us view its more attractive theological features. 
 The element of doctrine and of hope is found in the fact that 
 Jehovah inquires concernig the dead Abel. Clearly there is 
 pointed out to us here the truth of the resurrection of the dead. 
 God declared himself to be the God of Abel, although now dead, 
 and he inquired for the dead, for Abel. Upon this passage we 
 may establish the incontrovertible principle that, if there were 
 no one to care for us after this life, Abel would not have been 
 inquired for after he was slain. But God inquires after Abel, 
 even when he had been taken from this life ; he has no desire to 
 forget him ; he retains the remembrance of him ; he asks : "AVhere 
 is he?'^ God, therefore, we see, is the God of the dead. My 
 meaning is that even the dead, as we here see, still live in ths 
 memory of God, and have a God who cares for them, and saves 
 them in another life beyond and different from this corporal 
 life in which saints suffer affliction. 
 
 159. This passage, therefore, is most worthy of our atten- 
 tion. We see that God cared for Abel, even when dead; and 
 that on account of the deaid Abel, he excommunicated Cain, and 
 visited him, the living, with destruction in spite of his being 
 the first-born. A towering fact this, that Abel, though dead, 
 was living and canonized in another life more effectually and 
 truly than those whom the pope ever canonized ! The death o f 
 Abel was indeed horrible; he did not suffer death witliout ex- 
 cruciating torment nor without many tears. Yet it was a 
 blessed death, for 'now he lives a more blessed life than he did 
 before. This bodily life of ,ours is lived in sin, and is ever in 
 danger of death. But that other life is eternal and perfectly 
 free from trials and troubles, both of the body and of the soul. 
 
 160. ISTo! God inquires not after the sheep and the oxen 
 that are slain, but he does inquire after the men who are slain. 
 Accordingly men possess the hope of a resurrection. They have 
 a God who brings them back from the death of the body unto 
 eternal life, a God who inquires after their blood as a most 
 precious thing. The Psalmist says: "Precious in the sight of 
 Jehovah is the death of his saints," Ps 116, 15. 
 
GENESIS lA^ CAIN'S MUEDEE. 29 
 
 161. This is the glory of the human race, obtained for it 
 by the seed of the woman which bruised the serpent's head. 
 The case of Abel is the first instance of such promise made 
 to Adam and Eve, and God showed by the same that the ser- 
 pent did not harm Abel, although it caused his murder. This 
 was indeed an instance of the serpent's 'Taruising the heel" of 
 the woman's seed. But in the very attempt to bite, its own 
 head was crushed. For God, in answer to Abel's faith in the 
 promised seed, required the blood of the dead, and proved him- 
 self thereby to be his God still. This is all proved by what 
 follows. 
 
 V. 10. And he said, WMt hast thou done? The voice of 
 thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground. 
 
 162. Cain's sin hath hitherto lain at the door. And the 
 preceding circumstances plainly show how hard he struggled to 
 keep his sin asleep. For being interrogated by his father con- 
 oerning his brother Abel and his whereabouts, he disclaimed 
 knowledge of the matter, thus adding to murder lying. This 
 answer of Cain is sufficient evidence that the above words were 
 spoken by Adam in his own person, and not by God in his divine 
 Majesty. For Cain believed that the deed was hidden from his 
 father, as he was a mere man, while he could not have thought 
 this of the divine Majesty. Therefore, had God spoken to him 
 in his own person, he would have returned a different answer. 
 But, as he thought himself dealing with a human being only, 
 Cain denied his deed altogether, saying: "I know not. How 
 numerous are the perils by which a man may perish. He may 
 have been destroyed by wild beasts ; he may have been drowned 
 in some river; or he may have lost his life by some other death." 
 
 163. Thus Cain thought that his father would think of any 
 other cause of death than the perpetration of murder. But 
 Cain could not deceive the Holy Spirit in Adam. Adam there- 
 fore, as God's representative, arraigns him with the words, 
 'Wliat hast thou done ?" As if he had said '^Vliy dost thou 
 persist in denying the deed; be assured thou canst not deceive 
 God, who hath revealed to me all. Thou thinkest the blood 
 of thy brother is hidden by the earth. But it is not so absorbed 
 and concealed thereby as to prevent the blood crying aloud 
 
30 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 unto God." That meant to awaken the sin lying at the door, 
 and to drag it forth. 
 
 164. The text before us, then, provides much consolation 
 against the enemies and murderers of the Church ; for it teaches 
 us that our afflictions and sufferings and the shedding of our 
 blood fill heaven and earth with their cries. I believe, there- 
 fore, that Cain was so overwhelmed and confounded by these 
 words of his father that, as if thunderstruck, he knew not what 
 to say or what to do. No doubt his thoughts were, "If my 
 father Adam knows about the murder which I have committed, 
 how can I any longer doubt that it is known unto God, unto 
 the angels, and unto heaven and earth? Whither can I flee? 
 Which way can I turn, wretched man that I am ?" 
 
 165. Such is the state of murderers to this day. They are 
 so harassed with the stings of conscience, after the crime of 
 murder has been committed, that they are always in a state of 
 alarm. It seems to them that heaven and earth have put on a 
 changed aspect toward them, and they Imow not whither to 
 flee. A case in point is Orestes pursued by the furies, as de- 
 scribed by the poets. A horrible thing is the cry of spilled blood 
 and an evil conscience. 
 
 166. The same is true of all other atrocious sins. Those 
 who commit them, experience the same distresses of mind when 
 remorse lays hold of them. The whole creation seems changed 
 toward them, and' even when they speak to persons with whom 
 they have been familiar, and when they hear the answers they 
 make, the very sound of their voice appears to them altogether 
 changed and their countenances seem to wear an altered as- 
 pect. Whichever way they turn their eyes, all things are 
 clothed, as it were, in gloom and horror. So grim and fierce 
 a monster is a guilty conscience ! And. unless such sinners are 
 succored from above, they must put an end to their existence 
 because of their anguish and intolerable pain. 
 
 167. Again Moses' customary conciseness is in evidence, 
 which, however, is more effective than an excess of words. In 
 the first place, he personifies a lifeless object when he attributes 
 to blood a voice filling with its cries heaven and the earth. 
 How can that voice be small or weak which, rising from earth, 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDEE. 31 
 
 is heard by God in heaven? Abel, therefore^ who when alive 
 was patient under injuries and gentle and placid of spirit, 
 now, when dead and buried in the earth, can not brook the 
 wrong inflicted. He who before dared not murmer against his 
 brother, now fairly shrieks, and so completely enlists God in 
 his cause that he descends from heaven, to charge the murderer 
 with his crime. Moses, accordingly, here uses the more preg- 
 nant term. He does not say, "The voice of thy brother's blood 
 speaketh unto me from the ground," but, "The voice of thy 
 brother's blood crieth unto me." It is a cry like the shout of 
 heralds when they raise their voices to assemble men together. 
 
 168. These things are written, as I have observed, to con- 
 vince us that our God is merciful, that he loves his saints, takes 
 them into his special care, and demands an account for them; 
 while, on the other hand, he is angry with the murderers of 
 tis saints, hates them and designs their punishment. Of this 
 consolation we stand in decided need. When oppressed by our 
 enemies and murderers, we are apt to conclude that our God 
 has forgotten and lost interest in us. We think that if God 
 cared for us, he would not permit such things to come upon 
 us. Likewise, Abel might have reasoned : God surely cares 
 nothing for me; for if he did, he would not suffer me thus to 
 be murdered by my brother. 
 
 169. But only look at what follows! Does not God safe- 
 guard the interests of Abel better than he could possibly have 
 done himself? How could Abel have inflicted on his brother 
 such vengeance as God does, now that Abel is dead ? How could 
 he, if alive, execute such judgment on his brother as God here 
 executes ? Now the blood of Abel cries aloud, who, while alive, 
 was of a most retiring disposition. ISTow Abel accuses his brother 
 before God of being a murderer; when alive he would bear 
 all the injuries of his brother in silence. For who was it tliat 
 disclosed the murder committed by Cain? Was it not, as the 
 text here tells us, the blood of Abel, fairly deafening with its 
 constant cries the ears of God and men? 
 
 170. These things, I say, are all full of consolation; especi- 
 ally for us who now suffer persecution from the popes and 
 
32 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 wicked princes on account of our doctrine. They haye prac- 
 ticed against us the utmost cruelty and have vented their rage 
 against godly men, not in Germany only, but also in other 
 parts of Europe. And all this sin is disregarded by the papacy, 
 as if it were nothing but a joke, l^ax, the Papists really con- 
 sider it to be a service toward God, Jn 16, 2. All this sin, 
 therefore, as yet "lieth at the door." But it shall become man- 
 ifest in due time. The blood of Leonard Kaiser, which was 
 shed in Bavaria, is not silent. 'Nov is the blood of Henry of 
 Zutpheu, which was shed in Dietmar; nor that of our brotlier 
 Anthony, of Englaxid, who was cruelly and without a hearing 
 slain by his English countrymen. I could mention a thousand 
 others who, although their names are not so prominent, were 
 yet fellow-sufferers with confessors and martyrs. The blood 
 of all these, I sa}-, will not be silent; in due time it will cause 
 God to descend from heaven and execute such judginent in the 
 earth as the enemies of the Gospel will not be able to 'bear. 
 
 171. Let us not think, therefore, that God does not heed 
 the shedding of our blood ! Let us not imagine for a moment 
 that God does not regard our afflictions! No! he collects all 
 our tears, and puts them into his bottle, Ps 56, 8. The cry of 
 the blood of all the godly penetrates the clouds and the heavens 
 to the very throne of God, and entreats him to avenge the 
 blood of the righteous, Ps 79, 10. 
 
 172. As these things are written for our consolation, so are 
 they written for the terror of our adversaries. For what think 
 you can be more horrible for our tyrants to hear than that the 
 blood of the slain continually cries aloud and accuses them 
 before God? God is indeed long-suffering, especially now to- 
 ward the end of the world; and therefore sin lies the longer "at 
 the door," and vengeance does not immediately follow. But 
 it is surely true that God is most grievously offended with all 
 this sin, and that he will never suffer it to pass unpunished. 
 
 173. Such judgment of God on Cain, however, I do not be- 
 lieve to have been executed on the first day, but some time 
 afterward. For it is God's nature to be long-suffering, inas- 
 much as he waits for the sinner to turn. But he does not, on 
 
' GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 33 
 
 that account, fail to punish him. For he is tlie righteous 
 Judge both of the living and of the dead, as we confess in our 
 Christian Faith. Such judgment God exercised in the very 
 • beginning of the world with reference to these two brothers. 
 He judged and condemned the living murderer, and justified 
 murdereid Abel. He excommunicated Cain and drove him into 
 such agonies of soul that the space of the whole creation seemed 
 too narrow to contain him. From the moment Cain saw that 
 God would be the avenger of his brother's blood, he felt no- 
 where safe. To Abel, on the other hand, God gave for enjoy- 
 ment the full width of earth and heaven. 
 
 174. Why, then, should we ever doubt that God ponders and 
 numbers in his heart the afflictions of his people, and that he 
 measures our tears and inscribes them on adamantine tablets ? 
 And tliis inscription the enemies of the Church shall never be 
 able to erase by any device whatever except by repentance. 
 Manasseh was a terrible tyrant and a most inhuman persecutor 
 of the godly. And his banishment and ca,ptivity would never 
 have sufficed to blot out these sins. But when he acknowledged 
 his sin and repented in truth, then the Lord showed him mercy. 
 
 So Paul had, and so the pope and the bishops have now, 
 only one way left them : to acknowledge their sin and to sup- 
 plicate the forgiveness of God. If they will not do this, God 
 in his wrath will surely require at their hands the blood of the 
 godly. Let no one doubt this ! 
 
 175. Abel is dead, but Cain is still alive. But, good God, 
 what a wretched' life is that which he lives! He might wish 
 never to have been born, as he hears that he is excommunicated 
 and must look for death and retribution at any moment. And 
 in due time this will be the lot of our adversaries and of the 
 oppressors of the Church. 
 
 V. 11. And now cursed art thou front the ground, which 
 hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother s blood from thy 
 hand; 
 
 B. Cain's Punishment In Detail. 
 
 176. We have heard, so far, of the disclosure of Cain's sin 
 through the voice of Abel's blood, of his conviction by Adam 
 
34 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 his father, and of the decision rendered with reference to the 
 two brothers, namely, that the one should be canonized, or de- 
 clared a saint — the first fruits, as it were, of the blessed seed; 
 but that the other, the first-bom, should be condemned and ex- 
 communicated, as shall presently be shown. Now Moses men- 
 tions the penalties to be visited upon such fratricide. 
 
 177. First of all, we should mark as particularly worthy 
 of note the discrimination exercised by the Holy Spirit. Previ- 
 ously, when the penalty for his sin was inflicted upon Adam, 
 a curse was placed not upon the person of Adam, but only upon 
 the earth; and even this curse was not absolute but qualified. 
 The expression is this: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake"; 
 and in the eighth chapter of the Eomans, verse twenty, we 
 read : "The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly." 
 The fact is, that the earth, inasmuch as it bore guilty man, 
 became involved in the curse as his instrument, just as also 
 the sword, gold, and other objects, are cursed for the reason 
 that men make them the instruments of their sin. With fine 
 reasoning the Holy Spirit discriminates between the earth and 
 Adam. He diverts the curse to the earth, but saves the person. 
 
 178. But in this instance the Holy Spirit speaks of Cain. 
 He curses the person of Cain. And why is this ? Is it because 
 the sin of Cain, as a murderer, was greater than the sin of 
 Adam and Eve? Not so. But because Adam was the root 
 from whose flesh and loins Christ, that blessed seed, should be 
 bom. It is this seed, therefore, that was spared. For the sake 
 of this seed, the fruit of the loins of Adam, the curse is trans- 
 ferred from the person of Adam to the earth. Thus, Adam 
 bears the curse of the earth, but his person is not cursed; 
 from his posterity Christ was to be born. 
 
 179. Cain, however, since he fell by his sin, must suffer 
 the curse being inflicted upon his person. He hears it said to 
 him, "Cursed art thou," that we might understand he was cut 
 off from the glory of the promised seed, and condemned never 
 to have in his posterity that seed through which the blessing 
 should come. Thus Cain was cast out from the stupendous 
 glory of the promised seed. Abel was slain; therefore there 
 could be no posterity from him. But. Adam was ordained to 
 
GENESIS lA^ CAIN'S MUEDER. 35 
 
 serve God by further procreation. In Adam alone, therefore, 
 after Cain's rejection, the hope of the blessed seed rested until 
 Seth was bom unto him. 
 
 180., The words spoken to Cain, "Cursed art thou," are few, 
 but nevertheless entitled to a great deal of attention, in that 
 they are equal to the declaration: Thou art not the one from 
 Avhom the blessed seed is hoped for. With this word Cain 
 stands cast out and cut off like a branch from the root, unable 
 longer to hope for the distinction around which he had circled. 
 It is a fact, that Cain craved the distinction of passing on the 
 blessing; but the more closely he encircled it the more elusive 
 it became. Such is the lot of all evildoers : their failure is com- 
 mensurate with their efforts to succeed. 
 
 181. From this occurrence originate the two churches 
 which are at war with each other: the one of Adam and the 
 righteous, which has the hope and promise of the blessed seed; 
 the other of Cain, which has forfeited this hope and promise 
 through sin, without ever being able to regain it. For in the 
 flood Cain's whole posterity became extinct, so that there has 
 been no prophet, no saint, no prince of the true Church who 
 could trace his lineage back to Cain. All that was denied Cain 
 and withdrawn from him, when he was told : "Cursed art thou." 
 
 182. We find added, however, the words, "from the ground." 
 These words qualify the fearful wrath. For, if God had said, 
 "from the heavens," he would have deprived his posterity for- 
 ever of the hope of salvation. As it is, the words, "from the 
 ground," convey, indeed, the menacing decision that the promise 
 of the seed has been forfeited, but the possibility is left that 
 descendants of Cain as individuals, prompted by the Holy 
 Spirit, may join themselves to Adam and find salvation. 
 
 This, in after ages, really came to pass. While it is true 
 the promise of the blessed seed was a distinction confined to 
 the Jews, according to the statement in Psalm 147, 20: "He 
 hath not dealt so with any nation," the Gentiles, nevertheless, 
 retained the privilege of beggars, so to speak. It was in this 
 manner that the Gentiles, through divine mercy, obtained the 
 same blessing the Jews possessed on the ground of the divine 
 faithfulness and promise. 
 
36 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 183. In like manner, all rule in the Clmrcli was absolutely 
 denied also to the Moabites and Amorites ; and j'et many private 
 individuals among them embraced the religion of the Jews. 
 Thus, every right in the Church was taken away from Cain and 
 his posterity absolutely, yet permission was left them to beg, 
 as it were, for grace. That was not taken from them. Cain, 
 because of his sin, was cast out from the right of sitting 
 at the family table of Adam. But the right was left him to 
 gather up, doglike, the crumbs that fell from his father's table, 
 Mt 15, 26-27. This is signified by the Hebrew expression min 
 liaadama ,"From the ground." 
 
 184. I make these observations because there is a great 
 probability that many of the posterity of Cain joined them- 
 selves to the holy patriarchs. But their privileges were not 
 those of an obligatory service toward them on the part of the 
 Church, but mere toleration of them as individuals who had lost 
 the promise that the blessed seed was to spring from their flesh 
 and blood. To forfeit the promise was no trifle; still, even that 
 curse was so mitigated as to secure for them the privilege of 
 beggars, so that heaven was not absolutely denied them, provided 
 the}^ allied themselves with the true Church. 
 
 185. But this is what Cain, no doubt, strove to liinder in 
 various ways. He set up new forms of worship and invented 
 numerous ceremonies, that thereby he might also appear to be 
 the Church. Those, however, who departed from him and 
 joined the true Church, were saved, although they were com- 
 pelled to surrender the distinction that Christ was to be borii 
 from their flesh and blood. But let us now return to the text i 
 
 186. Moses here uses a very striking personification. He 
 represents the earth as a dreaded beast when he speaks of her 
 as having opened her mouth and swallowed the innocent blood 
 of Abel. But why does he treat the earth so mthlessly since 
 all this was done without her will? Yes, being a creature of 
 God which is good, did not all transpire in opposition to her 
 will and in spite of lier struggle against it, according to Paul's 
 teaching: "The earth was made subject to vanity, not willing- 
 ly," Rom 8, 20. My reply is: The object was to impress 
 Adam and all his posterity, so that they might live in the fear 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 37 
 
 of God and beware of murder. The words of Adam have this 
 import "Behold the earth hath opened her mouth and swal- 
 lowed the blood of thy brother ; but she ought to have swallowed 
 thee, the murderer. The earth is indeed a good creature, and 
 is good to the good and godly ; but to the wicked she is full of 
 pitfalls." It is for the purpose of inspiring murderers with 
 fear and dread that these terrifying words were spoken. Nor 
 is there any doubt that Cain, after hearing the words from an 
 angry father, was overwhelmed with terror and confusion, not 
 knowing whither to turn. The expression, "which hath opened 
 its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand," is, in- 
 deed, terrifying, but it portrays the turpitude of the fratricidal 
 deed better than any picture. 
 
 V. 12a, When thou iillest the ground, it shall not hence- 
 forth yield unto thee its strength. 
 
 187. The Lord said above to Adam, "Thorns also and this- 
 tles shall it bring forth to thee." But the words spoken to 
 Cain are different. As if he had said, "Thou hast watered and 
 fertilized the earth, not with healthful and quickening rain, 
 but with thy brother's blood. Therefore the earth shall be to 
 thee less productive than to others. For the blood thou hast 
 shed shall hinder the strength and the fruitfulness of the 
 earth." This material curse is the second part of the punish- 
 ment. The earth, although alike cultivated by Adam and Cain, 
 should be more fruitful to Adam than to Cain and yield its 
 return to the former for his labors. But to the labors of Cain 
 it should not yield such returns, though by nature desirous to 
 give in proportion to its fruitfulness and strength, because it 
 was hindered by the blood spilled by Cain. 
 
 188. Here we must offer a remark of a grammatical nature. 
 In the present passage Moses terms the earth haadama. In the 
 passage following, "A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in 
 the earth" he uses the term arez. Now adama signifies, accord- 
 ing to grammatical interpreters, that part of the earth whicli 
 is cultivated, where trees grow and other fruits of the earth 
 adapted for food. But arez signifies the whole earth, whether 
 cultivated or uncultivated. This curse, therefore, properly has 
 reference to tlie part of the earth cultivated for food. And 
 
38 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 the curse implies that where one ear of wheat brings forth three 
 hundred grains for Adam, it should bring forth scarcely ten 
 grains for Cain the murderer; and this for the purpose that 
 Cain might behold on every side God's hatred and punishment 
 of the shedding of blood. 
 
 V. 12b. A fugitive and a waiiderer {vagabond) shalt thou 
 he in the earth. 
 
 189. This is a third punishment resting on murderers to 
 our day. For, unless they find reconciliation, they have no- 
 where a fixed abode or a secure dwelling-place. 
 
 We find here, in the original, two words, No Vanod, signi- 
 fying vagabond and fugitive. The distinction I make between 
 them is, that No designates tlie uncertainty of one's dwelling- 
 place. An illustration is furnished by the Jews, who have no 
 established habitation, but fear every hour lest they be compelled 
 to wander forth. Nod, on the other hand, signifies the uncer- 
 tainty of finding the dwelling-place sought; with the uncer- 
 tainty of a present permanent dwelling-place there is linked 
 the uncertainty of a goal to strive for when the present uncer- 
 tain dwelling-place must be abandoned. Thus, the punish- 
 ment contains two features, the insecurity of the present 
 dwelling-place and a lack of knowledge whither to turn when 
 thrust forth from tlie insecure abode of tlie present. In this 
 sense the term is used in Psalm 109, 10 : "Let his children be 
 continually vagabonds." That means. Nowhere shall they find 
 a certain abode; if they are in Greece this year, they shall 
 migrate to Italy the next, and so from place to place. 
 
 190. Just such is evidently the miserable state of the Jews 
 at the present day. They can fix their dwelling-place nowhere 
 permanently. And to such evil God adds this other in the case 
 of Cain, that when he should be driven from one place of abode 
 he should not know where to turn, and thus should live sus- 
 pended, as it were, between heaven and earth, not knowing 
 where to abide nor where to look for a permanent place of 
 refuge. 
 
 191. In this manner the sin of Cain was visited with a 
 threefold punishment. In the first place he was deprived of 
 all spiritual or churchly glory; for the promise that the blessed 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 3.f> 
 
 seed was to be born from his posterity, was taken from him. 
 In the second place, the earth was cursed, which is a punish- 
 ment affecting his home life. The third punishment affects 
 his relations to the community, in that he must be a vagabond 
 without a fixed abode anywhere. 
 
 193. iSrotwith>tanding, an open door of return into the 
 Church is left, bu'i, without a covenant. For, as has been ex- 
 plained, in the event tJiat any one of Cain's posterity should 
 ally himself witli the true Church and the holy fathers, he was 
 saved. Thus the Home is left, but without a blessing; and 
 the State is left so that he may found a city and dwell there, 
 but for how long, is vmcertain. Without exaggeration, there- 
 fore, he may be likened to a beggar in Church, Home and 
 State. 
 
 193. This punishment is mitigated by the prohibition to 
 slay him forthwith after the commission of the murderous 
 deed, a law providing for the punishment of murderers which 
 was reserved for a later day. Cain was saved that he might be 
 an example for others, to teach them to fear God and to be- 
 ware of murder. So much about the sin, arraignment, and 
 punishment of Cain. 
 
 194. But there are some who reply that, the godly, likewise 
 sometimes endure these same curses, while the wicked, on the 
 contrary, are free from them. Thus, Paul says that he also 
 "wandered about and had no certain dwelling-place," 1 Cor 4, 
 11. Such is even our condition to-day, who are teachers in 
 the churches. We have no certain dwelling-place; either we are 
 driven into banishment or we expect banishment any hour. 
 Such was the lot also of Christ, the apostles, the prophets, and 
 the patriarchs. 
 
 195. Concerning Jacob the Scriptures say "The elder shall 
 serve the younger," Gen 25, 23. But does not Jacob become 
 a servant when we see him, from fear of his brother, haste 
 away into exile? Does he not, on his return home, supplicate 
 his brother and fall on his knees before him? Is not Isaac 
 also seen to be a most miserable beggar? Gen 6,1-35. Abra- 
 ham, his father, goes into exile among the Gentiles and pos- 
 sesses not in all the world a place to set his foot, as Stephen 
 
40 LTJTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 says, Acts 7, 1-5. On the otlier hand, Ishmael was a king, and 
 had the princes of the land of Midian as his offspring before 
 Israel entered into the land of promise. Gen 25, 16. Thus, as 
 we shall see a little later, Cain first built the city of Enoch, 
 and, furthennore, became the ancestor of shepherds, workers in 
 metals, and musicians. All this appears ta prove that it is a 
 mistake to attribute to Cain and his posterity a curse. The 
 curse seems to rest with' weight upon the true Church, while 
 the wicked appear to thrive and flourish. 
 
 196. These tilings are often a stumbling-block, not to tlie 
 world only, but even to the saints, as the Psalms in many 
 places testify. And the prophets, also, are frequently fomid 
 to grow indignant, as does Jeremiah, when they see the 
 wicked possess freedom as it were from the evils of life, while 
 they are oppressed and afflicted in various ways. Men may 
 therefore inquire, Where is the curse of the wicked? Where 
 is the blessing of the godly? Is not the converse the truth? 
 Cain is a vagabond and settled nowhere; and yet Cain is the 
 first man that builds a city and has a certain place to dwell in. 
 But we will answer this argument more fully hereafter. We 
 will now proceed with the text of Moses. , 
 
 VI. CAIN'S CONDUCT WHEN PUNISHED. 
 
 1. How he despaired. "My interpreting Scripture 204. 
 
 punishment is greater" etc. 2. How Cain viewed his politi- 
 
 a. These words have greatly cal punishment 205. 
 perplexed interpreters 197. 3. How he viewed his ecclesi- 
 
 b. The way Augustine ex- astical punishment 206. 
 plains them 197. * Why Cain was excommuni- 
 
 c. The explanation of the cated by Adam 206-7. 
 rabbins 198.. * In what sense Cain was a 
 
 * How the rabbins pervert fugitive and a wanderer 
 the Scriptures and whence 20S-9. 
 
 their false comments 198-9. * Adam received his punish- 
 
 d. Why tlie rabbins' interpre- ment in a better way 210. 
 tation cannot be accepted * The meaning of being a 
 200. fugitive and a wanderer. 
 
 e. The true understanding of How the same is "ound 
 these words 201. among the papists 211-12. 
 
 * The punishment troubles ♦ The grace of God was 
 Cain more than his sin 201. guaranteed to Seth and his 
 
 f. What makes these words posterity 212. 
 
 difficult 202. * Why no temptation can 
 
 * The right understanding harm believers 212. 
 
 of the words "Minso" and 4. Cain's fear that in turn he 
 
 "Avon" 202-3. would be slain 213. 
 
 * Grammarians a gramma- ■* God shows Cain a double 
 rians cannot get at the favor in his punishment, 
 right meaning of the Scrip- Why he does this 213. 
 tures 204. • Whether any of Cain's pos- 
 
 * How we should proceed in terity, under the Old Testa- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 
 
 41 
 
 ment, were saved 214-15. 
 5. Whether Cain prayed that 
 he might die, as Augustine, 
 Lyra and others relate 216- 
 217. 
 
 * The fables of the rabbins 
 cause Luther double work 
 and why he occasionally 
 cites them 218. 
 
 » Whether God changed his 
 judgment upon Cain 219. 
 
 * Why God still showed' Cain 
 incidental grace 219. 
 
 * The fables of the Jews 
 concerning Cain's death 
 and Lamech's punishment 
 220-21. 
 
 * It is foolish to dispute con- 
 cerning the sevenfold ven- 
 geance to be visited upon 
 the one who slew Cain 222. 
 
 * The divine promises. 
 
 a. They are twofold, of the 
 law and of grace 223. 
 
 b. The promise Adam receiv- 
 ed 224. 
 
 c. Whether God gave Cain 
 one of these promises 224- 
 225. 
 
 d. The kind of promises well 
 organized police stations 
 have 226. 
 
 e. The promises the Church 
 has 227. 
 
 f. Cain's promise is temporal, 
 incidental and incomplete 
 227. 
 
 * Was Cain murdered 22S. 
 
 6. How Cain had cause to 
 fear, even though there 
 were no people on the earth 
 except Adam and Eve and 
 his sisters 229-30. 
 
 • The sign that Is put upon 
 Cain. 
 
 a. Can anything definite Ue 
 said of it. What the fathers 
 thought of it 231. 
 
 b. Why this sign was placed 
 upon him 232. 
 
 c. How he had to carry it his 
 whole life 232. 
 
 d. How the sign was a con- 
 firmation and a promise of 
 the law 233. 
 
 7. Of Cain's departure, and his 
 excommunication from the 
 presence of Jehovah. 
 
 a. The first parents in obedi- 
 ence to God made Cain an 
 outcast 234-5. 
 
 b. How the first parents 
 overcame their parental 
 
 affections in expelling Cain 
 236. 
 
 * What should urge men to 
 flee from their false secur- 
 ity 237. 
 
 c. His expulsion must have 
 pierced Cam to the heart 
 238. 
 
 * What is the presence oi: 
 Jehovah 238. 
 
 d. How he went from the 
 presence of Jehovah, to 
 to be without that pres- 
 ence 239. 
 
 e. It was a sad departure, 
 both for Cain and his par- 
 ents 240. 
 
 f. Whither he resorted 241. 
 
 * What meaning of "in the 
 land of Nod" 241. 
 
 * Of Paradise. 
 
 (1) The deluge very likely 
 destroyed paradise 241. 
 
 (2) Where was paradise 242. 
 
 * Of the Deluge. 
 
 (1) The deluge destroyed par- 
 adise 243. 
 
 * Cain lived where Babylon 
 was built later 244. 
 
 (2) The deluge gave the earth 
 an entirely different form 
 244. 
 
 VI. CAIN'S CONDUCT UPOF BEING PUNISHED. 
 
 V. 13. And Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment {in- 
 iquity) is greater than I can hear [than can he remitted). 
 
 197. Here Moses seems to have fixed a cross for the gram- 
 marians and the rabbins; for they crucify this passage in var- 
 ious ways. Lyra recites tlie opinions ,of some who see in tliis 
 passage an affirmation, considering it to mean that in his des- 
 pair Cain claimed his sin to be greater than could be pardoned. 
 This is our rendering. Augustine likewise retained this view 
 of the passage, for he says, "Thou liest, Cain; for the mercy of 
 God is greater than the misery of all the sinners." 
 
42 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 198. The rabbins, however, expound the passage as a denial 
 in the form of a question, as if he had said, "Is my iniquity 
 greater than can be remitted?" But if this rendering be the 
 true one, Cain not only does not acknowledge his sin, but ex- 
 cuses it and, in addition, insults Grod for laying upon him a 
 punishment greater than he deserves. In this way the rab- 
 bins almost everywhere corrupt the sense of the Scriptures. 
 Consequently I begin to hate them, and I admonish all who 
 read them, to do so with careful discrimination. Altliough 
 they did possess the knowledge of some things by tradition 
 from the fathers, they corrupted them in various ways; and 
 therefore they often deceived by those corruptions even 
 Jerome himself. Nor did the poets of old so fill the world with 
 their fables as the wicked Jews did the Scriptures with their ab- 
 surd opinions. A great task, therefore, is incumbent upon us in 
 endeavoring to keep the text free from their comments. 
 
 199. The occasion for all this error is the fact that some 
 men are competent to deal only with grammatical questions, but 
 not with the subject matter itself; that is, they are not theolo- 
 gians at the same time. The inevitable result is mistakes and the 
 crucifixion of themselves as well as of the Scriptures. For how 
 can any one explain what he does not imderstand? Now the 
 subject matter in the present passage is that Cain is accused in 
 his own conscience. And no one, not only no wicked man, but 
 not even the devil himself, can endure this judgment; as James 
 witnesses, "The devils also believe and tremble before God," 
 Jas. 2, 19. Peter also says, "Whereas angels which are greater 
 in power and might cannot endure that judgment which the 
 Lord will exercise upon blasphemers," 3 Pet 2, 11. So also 
 Manasseh in his prayer, verses 4 and 5, confesses that all men 
 tremble before the face of the Lord's anger. 
 
 200. All this is sufficient evidence that Cain, when arraigned 
 by God, did not have courage to withstand and to argue with 
 him. For God is an almighty adversary; the first assault he 
 makes is upon tlhe heart itself when he takes the conscience into 
 his grasp. Of this the rabbins know nothing, nor can they un- 
 dierstand it ; in consequence they speak of this arraignment as if 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 43 
 
 it took place before men, where the truth is either denied or 
 facts are smoothed over. This is impossible when God arraigns 
 men; as Christ says in Matthew 12, 37, "By thy words thou shalt 
 be justified and by thy word's thou shalt be condemned." 
 
 201. Cain thus acknowledges his sin, although it is not so 
 mudh. the sin he grieves over as the penalty inflicted. The state- 
 ment, then, is to be understood in the affirmative, and it reveals 
 the horrors of despair. 
 
 A further proof of Cain's despair is, that he does not utter 
 one word of reverence. He never mentions the name of God 
 or of his father. His conscience is so confused and so over- 
 whelmed with terror and despair that he is not able to think 
 of any hope of pardon. The Epistle to tilie Hebrews gives 
 the same description of Esau when it states that he "for one 
 mess of meat, sold his own birthright. For ye know that even 
 when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was re- 
 jected ; for he found no place for change of mind, though he 
 sought it diligently with tears," Heb 12, 16-17. Thus in the 
 present instance, Cain, feels his punishment, but he grieves 
 more for his punishment than for his sin. And all persons, 
 when in despair, do the same. 
 
 202. The two original words of this passage, minneso and 
 avon, are a pair of crosses for grammarians. Jerome trans- 
 lates this clause, "My iniquity is greater than can be pardoned." 
 Sanctes, the grammarian of Pagnum, a man of no mean erudi- 
 tion and evidently a diligent scholar, renders the passage, "My 
 punishment is greater than I can bear." But by such a render- 
 ing we shall make a martyr of Cain and a sinner of Abel. Con* 
 cerning the word nasaj I have before observed that when it 
 is applied to sin it signifies, to lift sin up, or off, or on high; 
 that is, to take it out of the way. Similarly the figure has found 
 currency among us: the remission of sins, or to remit sin. In 
 the Thirty-second Psalm, verse one, we find the expression, 
 Aschre Nesu Pascha. This, literally translated, would make: 
 Being blessed through the removal of crime, or sin. We make 
 it : Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, or taken away. 
 The same is found in Isaialh 33, 24 The people that dwell there- 
 
44 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 in shall be Nesu Avon, that means, relieved from sin — shall l)e 
 the people whose sin is forgiven. 
 
 203. The other original term, avoni, grammarians derive 
 from the verb anali, which signifies "to be afflicted," as in 
 Zechariah 9, 9 : "Behold thy king cometh unto thee lowly (or 
 afflicted)." Our translation renders it "meek." Likewise in 
 Psalms 132, 1: "Jehovah, remember for ©avid all his afflic- 
 tion." From the same root is derived the expression, "low 
 estate," or "lowliness," used by the Virgin Mary in her song, Lk 
 1, 48. This fact induces Sanctes to render it "punishment." 
 
 But here avoni signifies "iniquity" or "sin," as it does also in 
 many other passages of the Holy Scriptures, wliicii appears 
 more plainly from the verb "remit," which stands connected 
 with it. 
 
 204. Hence it is that grammarians, who are nothing but 
 such and know nothing of the divine things, find their crosses in 
 all such passages, and crucify, not only the Scriptures, but 
 themselves and their hearers as well. In the interpretation 
 of the Holy Scriptures, the sense is first to be determined; and 
 when that appears in all resj)ects consistent with itself, then 
 the grammatical features are to receive attention. The rab- 
 bins, however, take the opposite course, and hence it grieves me 
 that divines and the holy fathers so frequently follow them. 
 
 V. 14. Behold, tJiou hast driven me out this day from the 
 face of the ground; and from thy face shall I he hid; and I 
 shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will 
 come to pass, that whosoever fmdeth me will slay me. 
 
 205. From these words it appears that the sentence on 
 Cain was pronounced through the mouth of Adam. Cain 
 acknowledges that he is diiiven first from Home and State, 
 and then also from the Church. Of the difference between 
 the words adamah and erez we spoke above. We showed that 
 erez signifies the earth generally, while the word adamah means 
 the cultivated part of the earth. The meaning therefore is: 
 I am now compelled to flee from thy presence and from that 
 part of the earth whic'h I have cultivated. The whole world 
 indeed lies before me. bnt T must be a fuo-itive pnd a vasrabonid 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 4-3 
 
 upon the earth; that is, I shall have no certain dwelling place. 
 In the same way fugitive murderers among us are punished 
 with exile. These words, accordingly, cast additional light 
 upon the utterance of Adam, "Cursed art thou from the 
 ground." They refer to Cain's hanishment. This part of 
 Cain's punisfhment therefore is a civil punishment, and hy ii; 
 he is shut out from civic association. 
 
 306. But tliat which Cain next adds, "From thy face shall 
 I be hid," is an ecclesiastical punishment and true excommun- 
 ication. For, as the priesthood and the kingdom rested with 
 Adam, and Cain on account of his sin was excommunicaten 
 from Adam, he was thereby also deprived of the glory both of 
 priesthood and kingdom. But why Adam adopted this pun- 
 i^ment is explained by the words, "When thou tillest the 
 ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength;" 
 as if he haid said. Thou art cursed and thy labors are cursed 
 also. Therefore if thou shalt remain with us upon earth it 
 cannot be but that hoth thyself and we likewise must perish 
 with hunger. For thou hast stained the earth with thy broth- 
 er's blood, and wherever thou art, thou must bear about the 
 blood of thy brother, and even the earth itself shall exact her 
 penalties. 
 
 207. A similar sentence we find pronounced in 1 Kings 2, 
 29-33, where Solomon gives commandment to Benaiah, son of 
 Jehoiada, saying, "Fall upon Joab, that thou mayest take away 
 the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from 
 my father's house. And Jehovah will return his blood upon 
 his own head. But unto David, and unto his seed, and unto 
 his house, and unto his throne, shall there be peace for ever 
 from Jehovah." As much as to say. If Joab suffer not this 
 punishment of his unjust murder, the whole kingdom must 
 suffer that punishment and be shaken by wars. The meaning 
 of Adam then, in this passage is, If thou shalt remain on the 
 earth with us, God will bring punishment upon us for thy 5y\ke, 
 in that the earth shall not yield us her fruit. 
 
 208. But now let us reply to the question raised above. 
 It was said to Cain, "A fugitive and wanderer shalt thou be 
 
46 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 in the earth." And yet, Cain was the first man who builds a 
 city, and his posterity so increased from that time that they 
 debauched and oppressed the Church of God, and so utterly 
 overthrew it as not to leave more than eight persons of the pos- 
 terity of Seth. All of the remainder of mankind, which per- 
 ished in the flood, had followed Cain, as the text plainly de- 
 clares when it affirms that the sons of God, when they came 
 unto the daughters of men, begat giants and mighty men, which 
 were of old, men of renown, Gen 6, 4, Therefore, since Cain 
 had so great a posterity, and he built the first city, how can it 
 be true, men ask, that he was a fugitive and wanderer upon 
 earth ? 
 
 209. We will reply in accordance with what is written. The 
 illustrations from the New Testament above mentioned, Paul, 
 the apostles, Christ, and the prophets, assuredly belong to 
 quite a different category. When Adam here says to Cain, "'A 
 fugitive and a wanderer ehalt thou be in the earth," he speaks 
 these words to him to send him away, without further precept. 
 He does not say to him, ''Go to the east;" he does not say, "Go 
 to the south ;" he does not mention any place to which he should 
 go. He gives him no command what to do; but simply casts 
 him out. Whither he goes and what he does, is no concern of 
 his. He adds no promise of protection, he does not say: God 
 shall take care of thee; God shall protect thee. On the con- 
 trary; as the whole sky is free to the bird, which is at liberty 
 to fly whither it pleases, but is without a place where it may 
 be secure from the attacks of other birds, so Adam turns Cain 
 away. The latter feels this. Hence his rejoinder: "It shall 
 come to pass that every one that findeth me, shall slay me." 
 
 210. The condition of Adam was different and better. 
 Adam had sinned, and by his sin he had sunk into death. But 
 when he was driven out of paradise, God assigned him a par- 
 ticular task — that he should till the earth in a particular 
 place. God also clothed him with a covering of skins. 
 This, as we said, was a sign that God would take care of him 
 and protect him. And, last but not least, a glorious promise 
 was made to the woman concerning the seed which should 
 bruise the serpent's head. Nothing like this was left to Cain. 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 47 
 
 He was sent away absolutely without assignment of any par- 
 ticular place or task. No command was given him nor was 
 any promise made him. He was like a bird aimlessly roving 
 beneath the wide heavens. This is what it means to be a vaga- 
 bond and wanderer. 
 
 211. Unsettled and aimless, likewise, are all who lack God's 
 Word and command, wherein person and place receive adequate 
 direction. Such were we under the papacy. Worship, works, 
 exercises — all these were present; but all these existed and 
 found acceptance without a divine command. A trying con- 
 dition was that and Cainlike — to be deprived of the Word; 
 not to know what to believe, what to hope, what to suffer, but 
 to undertake and to perform everything at haphazard. What 
 monk is there who could affirm that he did anything right? 
 Everything was man's tradition and man's teaching, without 
 the Word. Amid these we wandered, being driven to and fro, 
 and like Cain, uncertain what verdict G-od would pass, whether 
 we should merit love or hate. Such was, in those days, our 
 instruction. 
 
 Unsettled and aimless like tliis was Cain's whole posterity. 
 They had neither promise nor command from God, and lacked 
 all definite guidance for life and for death. Hence, if any of 
 them came to the knowledge of Christ, and allied themselves 
 with the true Church, it was not by reason of a promise but 
 through sheer compassion. 
 
 213. Seth, however, who was born subsequently, had, to- 
 gether with his posterity, a definite promise, a definite abode 
 and a definite mode of worship; on the other hand, Cain was 
 aimless. He founded a city, it is true, but he did not know how 
 long he should dwell in it, not having a divine promise. What- 
 ever we possess without a promise is of uncertain duration; at 
 any amount Satan may disturb it or take it. However, when 
 we go into the fray equipped with God's command and promise, 
 the devil fights in vain; God's command insures strength and 
 safety. Therefore, although Cain was lord of the whole world 
 and possessed all the treasures of the world, still, lacking the 
 promise of God's help and the protection of his angels, and hav- 
 ing nothing to lean upon but man's counsels, he was in every 
 
48 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 respect aimless and unsettled. This- lie bimself admits when he 
 further says: 
 
 V. 14b. And it shall come to pass that every one that find' 
 eth me shall slay me. 
 
 213. Tliis result was qiiite to be expected. Having neither 
 God nor his father to look to for succor, having forfeited his 
 rights both as priest and as ruler, he saw the possibility before 
 him that any one found him, might slay him, for lie was 
 outlawed, body and soul. Notwithstanding, God conferred upon 
 the nefarious murderer a twofold blessing. He had forfeited 
 Church and dominion, but life and progeny were left. God 
 promised him to protect his existence, and also gave him a wife. 
 Two blessings these by no means to be despised; and when he 
 heaxd the first part of his sentence pronounced by his father, 
 they were more than he had a right even to hope for. They were 
 valuable for the additional reason that opportunity and time 
 for repentance were granted, though, in the absence of a clear 
 promise, there was neither covenant nor commission. In the 
 same manner, we found our way under the papacy to uncove- 
 nanted mercy (fortuita gratia), if I may use this expression, 
 for no promise was previously given that the truth was to be 
 revealed in our lifetime, and the Antichrist to become manifest. 
 The reason to which these blessings are attributable, is con- 
 sideration for the elect. It is quite credible that many of Cain's 
 offspring were saved, namely, those who joined the true Church. 
 Likewise, at a later day, provision was made among the Jews 
 for proselytes and Gentiles. 
 
 214. While a stern law existed according to which the 
 Moabites and Ammonites were not admitted to the religious 
 services. Ammonites and Moahites were saved, such as came to 
 the kings of Judali to serve under them. Also Euth, the mother 
 and ancestress of our Saviour, was a Moabite. This is what I 
 call uncovenanted mercy, no previous promise having rendered 
 it certain. 
 
 215. Also Naaman, and the king of IsTineveh, and Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and Evilmerodach, and others from among the Gen- 
 tiles, were saved by such uncov-enanted mercy; for, unlike the 
 Jews, they had no promise of Christ. In the same way, bodily 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 49 
 
 safety is vouchsafed to Gain, and a wife with offspring, for the 
 sake of the elect to be saved! by uncovenanted mercy. For, al- 
 though what we said of the Moabites is true of all his posterity, 
 that it was to live under a curse, it is true, notwithstanding, 
 that some of the patriarchs took their wives from the same. 
 
 V. 15a. Arid Jehovah said unto 1dm, Therefore whosoever 
 slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be talcen on him sevenfold. 
 
 216. Jerome, in his Epistle to Damascus, contends that 
 Cain had begged of the Lord that he might be slain, an opinion 
 into which he rushes full sail, as it were, entertaining no doubt 
 whatever concerning its truth. Lyra follows Jerome, and reso- 
 lutely affirms that the context requires this interpretation. But 
 this error of theirs should be laid at the door of the rabbins 
 from whom they received it. The true sense of the passage is 
 rather that everyone was prohibited from killing Cain. Judg- 
 ment is pronounced here by God, and when he spares Cain's life 
 and in addition permits him afterward to marry, it is done to 
 stay its execution. 
 
 217. Moreover, how is it likely that an ungodly person asks 
 death at the very time when God exercises judgment? Death is 
 the very punishment of sin; therefore he flees and dreads death 
 as the greatest part of his penalty. Away, therefore, wnth such 
 vagaries of the rabbins! With these also Lyra's suggestion may 
 safely be classed that tlie text ought to be divided and made to 
 mean, Whoever shaJl kill Cain, shall surely meet with sever*' 
 punishment. And when it is further stated, He shall be pun 
 ished sevenfold, they would explain it as meaning that in the 
 seventh degree — in the seventh generation — the punishment is 
 to be inflicted. 
 
 218. Such vagaries are worthy of the rabbins after having 
 cast away the light of the New Testament. However, they im- 
 pose a double labor upon us, inasmuch as we are compelled to 
 defend the text and to clear it of such corruptions, and to cor- 
 rect their absurd comments. If I quote them occasionally, it is 
 to avoid the suspicion of proudly despising them, or of failing 
 to read, and to give sufficient consideration to, their writings. 
 While we read them intelligently, we do so with critical dis- 
 
50 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 crimination, and we do not permit tliem to obscure Christ, and 
 to corrupt the Word of God. 
 
 219. The Lord, accordingly, does not in this passage at all 
 alter the sentence upon Cain whereby he had been doomed to a 
 curse on earth, but merely vouchsafes to him this uncovenanted 
 mercy for the sake of the elect that are to be saved from that 
 curse as from a mass of dregs. That is the reason he said Cain 
 should not be killed, as he feared. 
 
 There is, then, no necessity for doing violence to this text 
 as Eabbi Solomon does, who, after the words "whosoever slay- 
 eth Cain,'^ puts a stop; making it to be a hiatus or (ellipsis), 
 as we find is that noted line in Virgil (Aeneas, 135) — 
 
 Quos ego — sed motos praestat componere fluctus. 
 
 Whom I — but now, be calm, ye boist'rous waves. 
 And then the expression, "shall be punished sevenfold," the 
 rabbi refers to Cain himself, who was punished in his seventh 
 generation. For Cain begat Enoch, and Enoch begat Irad, and 
 Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methusael, and Methu- 
 sael begat Lamech, 
 
 220. And the Jews' absurd comment upon that passage 
 (verse 23, below), is that Lamech, when he was old, and his 
 eyes dim, was taken by his son Tubal-Cain into a wood to hunt 
 wild beasts, and' that, when there shooting at a wild beast, 
 Lamech accidently shot Cain, who in his wanderings had con- 
 cealed himself in the wood. Such interpretations are only 
 fables, unworthy a place or notice in our schools. Moreover, 
 they militate against the very truth of the text. For if Cain 
 was really designed of God to be killed in the seventh genera- 
 tion, and if that time was thus fixed for his death, he was not 
 "a fugitive and a vagabond upon earth." 
 
 221. We condemn, therefore, this interpretation of Eabbi 
 Solomon, on the ground of critical discrimination, because it 
 militates directly against that sentence which God had before 
 pronounced; and God is not man, that he should change his 
 mind, 1 Kings 15, 29-30. This rule should be strictly observed 
 in all interpretation of the holy Scripture, that the rendering 
 of .one passage must not subsequenty conflict with that of 
 another. And when the rabbins, moreover, say that the deluge 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 51 
 
 tisis the particular punisliment of Lamech's sin in thus killing 
 (vas the common punishment of the whole world of wicked men. 
 Cain, Lyra refutes them. He very truly affirms that the deluge 
 We leave, therefore, all tliese Jewish absurdities and hold fast 
 the true meaning of the text before us, that, when Cain feared 
 lest he should be sladn by any one who should find him, the 
 Lord prevented him from being thus slain, and denounced on 
 such murderer a pimishraent sevenfold greater than that of Cain. 
 
 222. And, though Lyra argues and inquires how it could be 
 that he who should slay Cain could deserve a sevenfold greater 
 vengeance than Cain deserved, who slew his own brother, of what 
 profit is it to us to inquire into the counsel of God in such mat- 
 ters as these, especially v/hen it is certain that God permitted 
 his mercy to stray to Cain in the form of promises and blessings 
 under the Law, if I may so express myself, thus securing his 
 safety. 
 
 223. There are two kinds of promises, or a twofold promise, 
 as we have often explained. There are the legal promises, if I 
 may so call them, which depend, as it were, upon our own works, 
 such as the following: "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall 
 eat the good of the land," Is 1, 19. Again, I am God, showing 
 mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my com- 
 mandments. Ex 20, 6. And also above, in this case of Cain, 
 "If thou doest well, ©hall not thy countenance be lifted up?" 
 Gen 4, 7. And these legal promises have for the most part 
 their corresponding threats attached to them. 
 
 But the other kind of promises are promises of grace, and 
 with them no threats are joined. Such are the following : "Je- 
 hovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst 
 of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall heark- 
 en," Deut 18, 15. Again, "I will put my law in their inward 
 parts, in their heart will I write it ; and I will be their God, 
 and they shall be my people," Jer 31,33. And again, "I will 
 put enmity between thee and the woman," Gen 3, 15. Now, 
 these promises depend not in any way upon our Works, but ab- 
 solutely and only upon the goodness and grace of God, because 
 he was pleased to make those promises and to do what he thus 
 promised. Just in the same way we have the promise of Bap- 
 
52 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 tism, of the Lord's Supper, and of the Keys, etc., in which God 
 sets before us his good will and his mercy and his works. 
 
 224. Now, God gave no promise of the latter kind to Cain. 
 He only said to him. Whosoever shall slay thee shall he pun- 
 ished sevenfold. But Adam had such a promise of grace made 
 to him. And Cain, because he was the first-born, ought to have 
 
 -received that promise as an inheritance from his parents. That 
 promise was the large a,nd blessed promise of eternal glory, be- 
 cause by it the seed was promised which should bruise the ser- 
 pent's head, and this without any work or merit of man. For 
 that promise had no condition attached to it, such as. If thou 
 shalt offer thy sacrifices, if thou shalt do good, etc. 
 
 225. If, therefore, you compare this promise of grace witli 
 the words God spake to Cain, the latter are as a mere crust held 
 out to a beggar. For even Cain's life is not promised him abso- 
 lutely. Nothing more is said than a threat pronounced against 
 those who should slay him. God does not say positively, No 
 man shall slay thee. He does not say, I will so overrule all 
 ethers that no one shall slay thee. Had the words been thus 
 spoken, Cain might have returned into the presence of God and 
 of his parents. But a command only is given to men that they 
 slay not Cain. If, therefore, the words spoken to Cain be at all 
 considered as a promise, it is that kind of promise which, as we 
 have before said, depends on the works and will of man. And 
 yet, even such promise is by no means to be despised, for these 
 legal promises often embrace most important things. 
 
 226. Thus, Augustine observes that God gave to the Romans 
 their empire on account of their noble virtues. And in the same 
 manner we find, even to this day, that the blessings of those 
 nations which keep from murder, adultery, theft, etc., are 
 greater than those of other nations in which these evils prevail. 
 And yet, even governments which, as far as mere reason can 
 succeed, are especially well established, possess nothing beyond 
 these temporal promises. 
 
 227. The Church, however, possesses the promises of grace, 
 even the eternal promises. And although Cain was left utterly 
 destitute of these promises, yet it was a great favor that the 
 temporal mercies were left him: that he was not immediately 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 53 
 
 killed, that a wife was given him, that children were born unto 
 him, that he built a city, that he cultivated the earth, that he 
 fed his cattle and had possessions, and that he was not utterly 
 ejected from the society and fellow^ship of men. For God could 
 not only have deprived Cain of all these blessings, but he could 
 have added pestilence, epilepsy, apoplexy, the stone, the gout, 
 and any other disease. And yet there are men disposed curi- 
 ously to argue in what manner God could possibly have multi- 
 plied the curse of Cain sevenfold on himself or on any other. 
 
 As G^od above deprives Cain of all the divine blessings, both 
 spiritual — or those pertaining to the Church — and civil, so 
 here he mitigates that sentence 'by commanding that no one 
 3hall slay Cain. But God does not promise at the same time 
 that all men shall surely obey his command. Therefore Cain, 
 even possessing this promise in reference to his body, is still 
 a fugitive and a wanderer. And it might be that if he con- 
 tinued in his wickedness, he was liable to be slain at any mo- 
 ment; whereas, if he did well, he might live a long time. But 
 nothing is promised him with certainty, for although these 
 corporal or legal promises are great and important, yet they are 
 positively uncertain and uncovenanted, 
 
 238. Whether, therefore, Cain was killed or not, T cannot 
 with any certainty say, for the Scriptures afford no plain infor- 
 mation upon that point. This one thing, however, evidently can 
 be proved from the present text, that Cain had no certain 
 promise of the preservation of his life; but God left him to a 
 life of uncertainty, doubt and restless wandering, and did no 
 more than protect the life of Cain by a command and a threat 
 which might restrain the wicked from killing him, on a<3Count 
 of the certain awful punishment which would follow such de- 
 struction of the murderer. But a promise that he should not 
 be murdered was withheld. We know, moreover, what is the 
 nature of the law, or a legal command, and that there are al- 
 ways very few who obey it. Therefore, although it is not record- 
 ed at what time, in what place, or by whom, Cain was slain, yet 
 it is most probable that he was killed. The Scriptures how- 
 ever make no mention of it, even as they are quite silent 
 also concerning the number of the yeairs of Cain, and say noth- 
 
54 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ing about the day of liis birth or the day of his death. He 
 perished, together with his whole generation; to use a popular 
 proverb, "without cross, candle, or God." A few only of his 
 generation are excejjted, who were saved by the luicovenanted 
 mercy of God. 
 
 239. The question is here usually asked. To what persons 
 could the words of Cain possibly apply, Avhen he says, "Every- 
 one that fmdeth me shall slay me," when it is evident that be- 
 sides Adam and Eve and their few daughters, no human beings 
 were in existence. I would at once reply that they bear wit- 
 ness to the fact that we see the wicked "flee when no man pur- 
 sueth," as the Scriptures say; for they imagine to themselves 
 various perils where none really exist. Just so we see it to be 
 the case with murderers at the present day, who are filled with 
 fears where all is safe, who can remain quiet nowhere, and who 
 imagine death to be present everywhere. 
 
 230. However, when it follows in the command of God, 
 "Yea, verily, whosoever slayeth Cain shall be punished seven- 
 fold,"' these words cannot be referred exclusively to the fears 
 of Cain, for Cain had sisters, and perhaps he greatly dreaded 
 that sister whom he had married, lest she should take vengeance 
 on him for the murder of her brother. Moreover, Cain had per- 
 haps a vague apprehension of a long life, and he saw that many 
 more sons might be born of Adam. He feared, therefore, the 
 whole posterity to Adam. And it greatly increased these fears 
 that God had left him nothing more than his stray mercy. I do 
 not think that Cain feared the beasts at all, or dreaded being 
 slain by them; for what had the sevenfold vengeance threatened 
 upon murderers to do with beasts? 
 
 15b. And Jehovah appointed a sign for {set a marJc 
 upon) Cain, lest any finding him should smite him (slay him). 
 
 231, What this mark was is not to be found in the Holy 
 Scriptures. Therefore commentators have entertained various 
 opinions. Nearly all, however, have come to thi« one conclusion 
 — they have inferred that there was apparent in Cain a great 
 tremor of his head and of all his limbs. They suppose that, as 
 a physical cause of his trembling, God had dianged, or dis- 
 arranged, or mutilated some particular organ in his body, but 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. S5 
 
 left the body whole as it was first created, merely adding a vis- 
 ible outward mark, such as the trembling. This conjecture of 
 the fathers contains much probability, but it cannot be proved 
 by any testimony of the Scriptures. The mark might have been 
 of another kind. For instance, we observe in nearly all mur- 
 derers an immediate change in the eyes. The eyes wear an ap- 
 pearance of sullen ferocity, and lose that softness and inno- 
 cence peculiar to them by nature. 
 
 233. But whatever this mark was, it was certainly a most 
 horrible punisliment; for Cain was compelled to bear it during 
 his whole life as God's penalty for the awful murder whicli 
 he had committed. Eendered conspicuous by this degrading 
 mark, hateful and abominable in the eyes of all, Cain was sent 
 away — banished from his home by his parents. And although 
 the life he asked of God was granted him, yet it was a life of 
 ignominy, branded with an infamous mark of homicide; not 
 only that he himself might be perpetually reminded of the sin 
 he had committed, to his own confusion, but also that others 
 might be deterred from the crime of committing murder. Nor 
 could this mark be effaced by repentance. Cain was compelled 
 to bear about this sign of the wrath of God upon him as a 
 punishment in addition to his banishment, the curse, and all 
 the other penalties. 
 
 233. It is wortliy of observation that the original verb used 
 above is harag, which signifies "to kill." But the verb here 
 found is nakah, which means "to strike." God, therefore, here 
 gives to Cain security, not only from death, but also from the 
 danger of death. This security, hov^^ever, as we have observed, 
 is a legal' security only; for it merely commands that no one 
 shall slay Cain, threatening a sevenfold punishment upon the 
 person who should do so. But God does not promise that all 
 men will obey his command. It was far better for Cain, how- 
 ever, to have this legal promise made him, than to be without 
 any promise at all. 
 
 V. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, 
 and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 
 
 234. This also is a very remarkable text, and it is a wonder 
 that the fancy of the rabbins did not run riot here as usual. 
 
56 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 Moses leaves it to the thoughtful reader to reflect how miserable 
 and how full of tears this departure of Cain from his father's 
 house must have been. Hia godly parents had already lost their 
 son Abel; and now, at the command of Grod, the other son 
 departs from them into banishment^ loaded with the divine 
 curses, on account of his sin — the very son whom his parents 
 had hoped to be the only heir of the promise, and whom they 
 therefore had devotedly loved from his cradle. Adam and Eve, 
 nevertheless, obey the command of God, and in conformity 
 therewith they cast out their son. 
 
 235. Accordingly, this passage rightly praises obedience to 
 Grod, or the fear of God. Adam and Eve had, indeed, learned 
 by their own experience in paradise that it was no light sin to 
 depart from the command of God; therefore they thought: 
 Behold, our sin in paradise has been punished with death, and 
 with an infinite number of other calamities into which we have 
 been thro^vn since we were driven out of paradise. And now 
 that our son has committed so atrocious a sin, it behooves ua 
 not to resist the will of God and his righteous judgment, how- 
 ever bitter we feel them to be. 
 
 236. Tihe story of the woman of Tekoali is well known, 
 whom Joab instructed to intercede for the banished Absalom. 
 She pleads as an argument before the king, that as slie had lost 
 one son, it would be wicked in the extreme to deprive her of the 
 other also. Also Rebecca said to Jacob, her younger son, after 
 she had perceived the wrath of Esau against his brother : "Why 
 should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" Gen 27, 45. 
 Adam and Eve overcame this same pain in their bosoms, and 
 thus mortified their paternal and maternal afl'ections. For not 
 only did they feel it to be their iduty to obey the will of God, 
 but they had also learned wisdom from former obedience. They 
 had been driven out of paradise for their sin of disobedience. 
 They feared, therefore, that if they now retained their son 
 with them, contrary to the will of God, they sliould be cast out 
 of the earth altogether. 
 
 237. Tliis part of the history of Adam and Eve, therefore, 
 is a beautiful les(.>on in ol)edience to God, and a striking exhor- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 57 
 
 tation to fear God. This is also Paul's principal object in his 
 first Epistle to the Corinthians, nearly all of which is written 
 against the self-conficlence of the human heart. For, although 
 God is merciful, yet men are not therefore to sin; he is merciful 
 to those only who fear and obey him. 
 
 238. As it was bitter in the extreme for the parents to lose 
 their son, this departure from his home was, I have no doubt, 
 Laost bitter also to Cain himself. For he was compelled to 
 leave, not only the common home, his dear parents and their 
 protection, but his hereditary right of primogeniture, the pre- 
 rogative of the kingdom and of the priesthood, and the com- 
 munion of the Church. 
 
 Hence it is that we have the expression in the text, that Cain 
 "went out from the presence of Jehovah." We have above 
 shown what the Scriptures term "the face of Jehovah," namely, 
 all those things and means by which Jehovah makes himself 
 known to us. Thus the face of Jehovah, under the Old Testa- 
 ment, was the pillar of fire, the cloud, the mercy-seat, etc. Un- 
 der the New Testament, the face of Jehovah is baptism, the 
 Lord's Supper, the ministry of the Word, etc. For by these 
 things, as by visible signs, the Lord makes himself known to 
 us, and shows that he is with us, that he cares for us and 
 favors us. 
 
 239. It was from this place, therefore, in which God declared 
 that he was always present, and in which Adam resided as high 
 priest, and as lord of the earth, that Cain "went out;" and 
 he came into another place, where there was no "face of God," 
 where there was no visible sign of his presence by which he could 
 derive the consolation that God was present with his favor. He 
 had no sign whatever, save those signs which are common to all 
 creatures, even to the beasts, namely, the uses of sun and moon, 
 of day and night, of water, air, etc. But these are not signs 
 of tliat immutable grace of God contained in the promise of 
 the blessed seed. They are only the signs of God's temporal 
 blessings and of his good will to all his creatures. 
 
 240. Miserable, therefore, was that going out of Cain indeed. 
 It was a departure full of tears. He was compelled to leave 
 forever his home and his parents, who now gave to him, a soli- 
 
58 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 tarj man and a "vagabond/^ their daughter as his wife, to 
 live with him as his companion; but they knew not what 
 would become either of their son or of their daughter. In con- 
 sequence of losing three children at one time their grief is so 
 mudi greater. Ko otJier explanation suggests itself for the 
 subsequent statement "Cain knew his wife." 
 
 241. Where, then, did Cain, live with his wife? Moses an- 
 swers, "in the land of Nod," a name derived from its vaga- 
 bond and unsettled inhabitant. And where was this land sit- 
 uated? Beyond paradise, toward the east, a place indeed most 
 remarkable. Cain came into a certain place toward the east, 
 but when he came tliere, he was insecure and unprotected, for it 
 was the land of Nod, where he could not set foot with certainty, 
 because "the face of God" was not there. For this "face" he had 
 left with his parents, who lived where they had paradise on 
 their side, or toward the west. When Cain fled from his home 
 he went toward the east. So the posterity of Cain was separ- 
 ated from the posterity of Adam, having paradise as a place 
 of division between them. The passage, moreover, proves that 
 paradise remained undestroyed after Adam was driven out of 
 it. In all probability it was finally destroyed by the deluge. 
 
 242. This text greatly favors the opinion of those who be- 
 lieve that Adam was created in the region of Damascus, and 
 that, after he was driven out of paradise for his sin, he lived 
 in Palestine; and hence it was in the midst of the original 
 paradise that Jerusalem, Bethleliem and Jericho stood, in which 
 places Jesus Christ and his servant John chiefly dwelt. Al- 
 though the present aspect of those places does not altogether 
 bear out that conclusion, the devastations of the mighty deluge 
 were such as to' change fountains, rivers and mountains ; and it 
 is quite' possible that on the site which was afterward Calvary, 
 the place of Christ's sacrifice for the world's sin, there stood 
 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the same spot be- 
 ing marked by the death and ruin wrought by Satan and by 
 the life and salvation wrought by Christ. 
 
 243. It is not without a particular purpose, therefore, that 
 Daniel uses the striking expression: "The end thereof (of the 
 sanctuary, the sacrifice and the oblation) shall be with a flood," 
 
GENESIS lY. CAIN'S MURDER. 59 
 
 Dan 9, 26. As if lie had said, The first paradise was laid waste 
 and utterly destroj^ed by the mighty deluge, and the otlier, 
 future paradise, in which redemption is to be wrought, shall 
 be destroyed by the Eomanists as by a flood. 
 
 24-f. We may carry the analogy further by stating that as 
 Babel was the cause of the destruction of the Jewisili people, so 
 this dis>aister had its beginning with Cain and his offspring, 
 who settled in that part of the earth where, at a later day, 
 Babylon was founded. These are my thoughts and views, de- 
 rived partly from the fathers. Though they may not be true, 
 they are yet probable, and have nothing ungodly in them. And 
 there can be no doubt that Koaii, after the flood, saw the face of 
 the whole earth altogether changed from what it was before 
 that awful visitation of the wrath of God. Mountains were 
 torn asunder, fountains were made to break forth and the 
 courses of the rivers themselves were wholly altered and di- 
 verted into other channels, by the mighty force of the over- 
 whelming waters. 
 
 VII. GENERATIONS OF CAIN AND OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 
 
 I. IN GENERAL. righteous are attacked and 
 
 1. Why C a i n' s generations conquered by those of i he 
 
 were described before goditss 249. 
 
 those of the righteous * Of Cain's marriage. 
 
 245. a. Who was his wife, and 
 
 2. How the Holy Spirit is in- the question of his being 
 
 terested more in the gen- married before he commit- 
 
 erations of the righteous ted the murder 250-251. 
 
 than in those of Cain 246- * How to read ttie writ- 
 247. ings of the Jews 251. 
 
 3. Why the Holy Spirit gives b. The question of his being 
 
 this description of both 24S. married after the murder 
 
 4. The relation of the two to 252-4. 
 
 each other 248. * That some of his posterity 
 
 5 How the generations of the were saved 254. 
 
 VII. THE GENEEATION OF CAIN" AND THE GEN- 
 EEATION OF THE GODLY. 
 
 A. The Posterity of Cain in General. 
 
 V. 17. And Cain hnew his wife; and she conceived, and 
 hare Enoch : and he huilded a city, and called the name of the 
 city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 
 
 245. It is worthy of admiration that Moses describes the 
 generation of the sons of Cain before the generation of the sons 
 
60 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FliOOD. 
 
 of God. But all this is done according to the fixed counsel 
 of God. For the children of this world have in this life and in 
 this their generation the advantage of the children of God (Lk 
 16, 8) with reference to the first promise. The spiritual seed 
 of the woman indeed possess the spiritual blessing, but the 
 seed of the serpent arrogate to themselves the corporal, or tem- 
 poral, blessing, and they bruise the heel of the blessed seed. In 
 this respect the temporal has precedence over the spiritual. 
 
 246. But a great difference comes to the surface at a later 
 day. Although Moses records the history of the posterity of 
 Cain before the posterity of the righteous, yet we afterwards see 
 that the latter are more especially the care of the Holy Spirit. 
 He does not confine himself to a bare registration of their 
 names, but he carefully numbers their years, makes mention 
 of their death, and not only chronicles their own doings, as he 
 chronicles in this passage those of the sons of Cain, but also 
 tlie transactions and the conversations which Jehovah had with 
 them, the promises he made, the help rendered in danger, and 
 the blessings vouchsafed. 
 
 247. A^one of these things are recorded of the wicked poster- 
 ity of Cain. When Moses has said that Cain begat a son named 
 Enoch, and that he built a city to which he gave the name ol 
 his- son, calling it Enoch, the sacred historian immediately 
 cuts off the memory of Cain altogether and, as it were, buries 
 him forever with these few short words of record. He seems 
 to entertaan no further care or concern for either his life or 
 liis death. He merely records temporal blessings — tJiat he be- 
 gat a son and that he built a city. For as the gift of repro- 
 duction was not taken away from the murderer Cain, neither 
 was the gift of dominion taken from him. But ho lost all the 
 rich blessings of the earth because it had drunk the blood of 
 his brother, as we have shown above. 
 
 248. The Holy Spirit records these things in order that 
 we may see that there was, from; the very beginning, two 
 oliurches : one the church of the sons of Satan and of the 
 flesh, which often makes sudden and great increase; and the 
 other the church of the sons of God, which is usually weak 
 and makes slow progress. iVlthough the Scriptures do not re- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. Gl 
 
 late how these two churches lived together in the begimiing, 
 yetj as it was declared by Grod to Satan, "I will put enmity be- 
 tween thy seed and her seed/' _ it is certain that the church of 
 Cain was ever hostile to the Church of Adam. And the present 
 text fully shows that the sons of men so increased and prevailed 
 that they almost completely ]3erverted and destroyed the Church 
 of the sons of Gal. For in the great flood, only eight souls of 
 them were saved; all the rest of the human race perished in the 
 waters on account of their sin. 
 
 249. And this is a calamity of the true Church, common to 
 all ages : as soon as she begins to increase, she is compelled 
 to opiDose with all her might Satan and the ungodly. She is at 
 length tired out by the wickedness of her enemy, and is thea 
 either obliged to yield to her enraged foe, overcome by the cross 
 and its afflictions, or she sinks under the seductions of pleas- 
 ures and riches. So it was with the posterity of Adam. Broken 
 down, at length, under so long a war with the sons of men, 
 they yielded, being reduced at last to eight souls only, who were 
 saved. Ungodliness having so far prevailed, and the godly 
 losing ground, the Lord at length interposes and saves the few 
 righteous remaining; but all the rest, both the seduced and the 
 seducers, he punishes, including them in the same judgment. 
 And we hope and believe the Lord will do the same in the judg- 
 ment at the last day. 
 
 350. Many questions arise here. Some inquire respecting 
 the circumstances connected with the wife of Cain: at what 
 time the murder was committed; whether Cain murdered his 
 brother before he was a husband, or after he was married. And 
 the Jews, moreover, say that Eve brought forth twins at every 
 birth, a male and a female; and they assert that Cain married 
 his sister Calmana, and Abel his sister Debora. Whether these 
 things be true or not I cannot affirm. I know not. But they 
 are not vital to the interests of the Church, and there is noth- 
 ing certain known concerning them. This one thing is certain, 
 that Cain had a sister for his wife. But whether or no he had 
 her as his wife when lie committed the murder, cannot with 
 certainty be proven. However, the text before us greatly tends 
 to the conclusion that Cain was married when he committed 
 
62 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 the murder of his brother; for it intimates that the inheritance 
 was divided between the two brothers when it affirms that the 
 care of the cattle was committed by the father to Abel and the 
 tilling of the ground to Cain. I, therefore, am inclined to be- 
 lieve tha.t both of the brothers were married. 
 
 251. This conclusion is favored also by the statement made 
 above, that Cain and Abel "in the process of time" brought 
 their offerings. This has been explained in the following man- 
 ner: At the end of the year, the two newly married husbands 
 brought as offerings the new fruits which God had given them 
 in this first j'ear of their marriage; Cain brought the first 
 fruits of the earth, and Abel the first fruits of his flook. And 
 the time was probably the autumn of the year, the time when 
 the fruits of the earth are gathered, the same season in which 
 the Jews afterwards held, the feast of expiation. Moses, in 
 his Levitical law, seems carefully to have noted and collected 
 the ancestral patterns, and to have reduced them to a code. 
 W'hen, therefore, tlie new husbands came to render their thanks 
 to God for his blessings and to offer their gifts, and Abel's offer- 
 ing was accepted of God and not the offering of Cain, Cain's 
 heart was immediately filled 'by Satan with hatred of his brother; 
 and upon this hatred afterwards followed the horrible murder. 
 This is the opinion of the Jews, which I thus relate because it 
 does not appear to be at all far from the truth. But, as I have 
 often said, the interpretations of the Jews are to be read with 
 critical discrimination, so that in their teachings, we may re- 
 tain the things consistent with the truth, but condemn and 
 refute all fictions of their own making. 
 
 252. If Cain was not married when he slew his brother, it 
 is still more wonderful that after such a wicked deed he ob- 
 tained a wife at 'all ; and certainly that damsel was worthy the 
 highest praise who married such a man. For how could the 
 maiden rejoice in a marriage with her brother who was a mur- 
 derer, accursed and excommunicated? She, on her part, no 
 doubt supplicated her father, and expostulated with him and 
 asked how he could give her, an innocent one, in marriage to a 
 man thus accursed, and force her into banishment with him. 
 Nay, the very example of her brother's murder must have 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. G3 
 
 naturally filled her with terror, lest the crime which her hus- 
 band committed on his brother he might also dare to commit 
 on her, his sister and his wife. 
 
 253. In bringing about this marriage, Adam obviously had 
 to exercise marvelous eloquence. It was for him to convince 
 his daughter that the father's command was not to be disobeyed, 
 and that while Cain, curse-ridden, would have to bear the pen- 
 alty of his sin, God would still preserve and bless her, the inno- 
 cent one. 
 
 jSTor do I entertain the least doubt that God conferred many 
 personal blessings upon Cain, down the whole line of his pos- 
 terity, for the sake of his wife, who, from motives of faith 
 toward God and of obedience toward her parents, had married 
 her murderous hrother. 
 
 As Christ was the minister of the circumcision for the 
 truth of God, to establish the certainty of the promise made 
 unto the Jewish fathers; and as, in the absence of a promise, 
 he was the minister of the Gentiles, because of the mercy of God, 
 (Eom 15, 8-9), so the like uncovenanted mercy was shown also 
 to the posterity of Cain. These two opinions have been ex- 
 pressed concerning the marriage of Cain, but which is the 
 truth I Icnow not. If Cain was married after he committed 
 the murder, his wife is most certainly worthy of all praise and 
 of all fame, who could thus yield to the authority of her par- 
 ents, and suffer herself to be joined in marriage with an ac- 
 cursed murderer. 
 
 254. To myself, the first opinion appears to he much 
 nearer the truth, that he murdered his brother after his mar- 
 riage with his sister; because we have so clear a testimony in 
 the text concerning the division of the inheritance. And in 
 that case, the necessity lay on the wife to follow her husband. 
 As wife and husband are one body and one flesh, Adam had no 
 desire to separate them ; moreover, the wi fe is bound to hear her 
 part of the calamities of her husband. Just in the same man- 
 ner as the posterity of Cain enjoyed a part of those blessings 
 which were bestowed of God upon the innocent wife, Pharaoh, 
 king of Egypt, was saved in the time of Joseph, and the King 
 of ISTineveh was saved in the time of his calamity, although 
 
64 
 
 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 neither of them belonged to the people of God. And so I also 
 believe that some were saved out of the posterity of Cain, al- 
 though Cain himself had utterly lost the promise concerning 
 the blessed seed. 
 
 B. The Posterity of Cain in Detail. 
 
 II. IN DETAIL. 
 A. The Generations of Cain. 
 
 * The names were given to 
 the descendants of Cain, 
 not by accident, but by 
 special thoug-ht and with a 
 definite meaning 255. 
 
 a. Of Enoch. 
 
 (1) The meaning of his 
 name 255-6. , 
 
 (2) Is the first in Cain's pos- 
 terity and the beginning 
 
 of the temporal blessing 
 256. 
 
 * Why Cain built a city 257- 
 258. 
 
 b. Irad and the meaning of 
 his name. It was not given 
 without a purpose 259. 
 
 c. Mehujael and the meaning 
 of his name 260. 
 
 * The means the false church 
 uses to suppress the true 
 Church 260. 
 
 d. Methushael and the mean- 
 ing of his name 261. 
 
 e- Lamech. 
 
 (1) What his name signifies 
 262. 
 * Cain's descendants per- 
 secute the true Church. 
 Yet some of Cain's pos- 
 terity were saved 263. 
 
 (2^ The reason he took two 
 wives 264. 
 
 (3^ Who were his wives 265. 
 
 (4) His sons, Jabal, Jubal, 
 T u b a 1 - c a i n, and his 
 daughter Naamah 266- 
 268. 
 
 * Why Moses mentions the 
 various arts of Cain's de- 
 scendants 269. 
 
 * Wliether poverty drove 
 
 Cain's descendants to the 
 arts 269-70. 
 
 * As the false church was 
 
 before the flood so is she 
 still, and will remain so 
 to the end of the world 
 271. 
 
 * How the Cainites increas- 
 
 ed and oppressed the 
 true Church 272. 
 
 * Why the Scrirtures do 
 
 not mention that some 
 of the Cainites were 
 saved 272. 
 
 (5) Of his haughty speech, 
 "I have slain a man etc." 
 
 a. This is difficult to un- 
 derstand, and has been 
 poorly treated by inter- 
 preters 273. 
 b. The fable explanation of 
 these words by the Jews 
 refuted 274-5. 
 
 c. How others explained 
 
 them 275. 
 
 d. L u t h e r' s understand- 
 
 ing of them 2i6-i. 
 
 (6) Whether Lamech slew 
 Cain, and thereby made 
 himself famous 2 78. 
 
 (7) How he attempted to be 
 ruler upon Adam's death 
 279. 
 
 * How the Church is op- 
 pressed from both sides 
 279. 
 
 * Why Moses mentions 
 the blood descendants of 
 Cain with such care 280. 
 
 (S) Cain is not sorry for his 
 deed, but even boasts ol 
 it 281. 
 
 * The nature of the Cain 
 church 281. 
 
 (9) How he seeks to avoid 
 being slain by others 
 282. 
 
 * The pope has the con- 
 science of Cain and La- 
 mech 282. 
 
 (10) He is a type of all the 
 children of this world 
 283. 
 
 * How the devil drives the 
 Cainites to rage against 
 the Church under the 
 guise of being holy 284. 
 
 * The true Church from 
 the very beginning had 
 to shed her blood 285. 
 
 * The tyranny of Popes 
 Julius II and Clement 
 VII 285. 
 
 * God at all times severely 
 punished the persecutors 
 of his Church 286. 
 
 (11) How Lamech still wish- 
 ed to defend his deed 287. 
 
 (12) He had no Word of God, 
 but was filled with pride 
 288. 
 
 255. As regards the names of Cain's offspring, I believe 
 that, in common with those of the holy patriarchs, they indicate 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 65 
 
 not an absence of purpose or a random selection, but a definite 
 purpose and a proj^hecy. Thus "Adam" signifies a man of, or 
 taken out of, the red earth. "Eve" signifies the mother of life, 
 or of the living. "Cain" signifies possession. "Abel" signifies 
 vanit}^ And we find that also among the Gentiles many names 
 have such a significance; not seldom names are found which 
 are truly prophetic. "Enoch" is a prophetic name, expressive of 
 hope in the future as a relief to Cain's mind, or rather to his 
 wife's, for it was the latter who called the son she bore Enoch, 
 from the Hebrew Ilanach, which signifies, "she dedicated," or 
 ''she devoted." 
 
 256. This is a word frequently used by Moses. As when he 
 says, "AVhat man is there that hath built a nev/ house, and hath 
 not dedicated it ? let him go and return to his house, lest he die 
 in the battle, and another man dedicate it," Deut 20, 5. The 
 verb in this passage, which signifies originally to dedicate, here 
 signifies to possess, or to enjoy; and when this possession or en- 
 joyment begins, it is attended with happy signs and auspicious 
 invocations. So when the wife of Cain brought forth her first 
 son, slie said to her husband, Enoch; that is, "Dedicate him, 
 devote him :" for the verb is in the imperative mood. As if Cain 
 had said himself, May this our beginning be happy and 
 prosperous. My fatlier Adam cursed me on account of my sin. 
 I am cast out of his sight. I live alone in the world. The earth 
 does not yield me her strength; she would be more fruitful to 
 me, had I not thus sinned. And yet G-od now shows me un- 
 covenanted mercy in giving me this son. It is a good and happy 
 beginning. 
 
 As in the generation of Cain tlie corporal blessings begin 
 with Enoch, so it is another Enoch in the generation of the 
 righteous under whom religion and spiritual blessings be- 
 gin to flourish. 
 
 257. That which is added by Moses concerning the city Caiu 
 thus built belongs to history. But I have before observed that 
 Cain, when separated from tlie true diurch and driven into 
 banishment, hated the true church. When, therefore, Cain 
 thus first built a city, that very act tended to show that he not 
 only disregarded and hated the true Church, but wislied also 
 
66 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 to Oppose and oppress it. For lie reflects thus: Behold I am 
 cast out by my father and I am cursed by him, but my mar- 
 riage is not a barren one; therefore I have in this the hope of 
 a great posterity. What, therefore, is it to me that I am driven 
 by my father from beneath his roof? I will build a city, in 
 which I will gather a church for myself. Farewell, therefore, 
 to my father and his church. I regard them not. 
 
 258. Accordingly, it is not through fear, or for defense, 
 that Cain "built a city," but from the sure hope of prosperity 
 and success, and from pride and the lust of dominion. For he 
 had no need whatever to fear his father and mother, who at the 
 divine command had thrust him out to go into some foreign 
 land. Nor had he any more ground of fear from their chil- 
 dren than from themselves. But Cain was inflated with pride 
 through this uncovenanted mercy of God, as I have termed it; 
 and, as the world ever does, he sought by means of his "city" 
 an opportunity of emerging from his present state into future 
 greatness. The sons of God, on the contrar}'', are only anxious 
 about another city, "which hath foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God," as we have it described in the Epistles to the 
 Hebrews 11, 10. 
 
 V. 18a. And unto Enoch was horn Irad. 
 
 259. "What opinion to form concerning this name, I reallv 
 know not, for its origin is very obscure; and yet I believe the 
 name is not accidental but prophetic. In the book of Joshua 
 we have a city* called Ai ; and this same term is used elsewhere 
 as an appellative. Now, the proper naane Ai signifies, "a heap," 
 as a heap of fallen buildings. And if with this name you com- 
 pound the verb Irad, the word thus compounded \n]l signify 
 increase. Although the posterity of Cain, on account of their 
 excommunication, were at that time like a great heap of ruins, 
 it was his prayer that they might not altogether perish, but be 
 preserved and greatly increased by means of this son Irad. If 
 anyone can offer a better interpretation, I will by no means 
 despise it; for on obscure points like the present, conjecture 
 is quite allowable. 
 
 V. 18b. And Irad hegat Meliujael. 
 
 260. This name is formed from the verb mahah, which 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUKDER. 67 
 
 signifies ''to destroy," and from jaal, 'Tie began/' or "he at- 
 tempted or dared." Accordingly this name signifies that tlie 
 posterity of Cain should now enter upon so mighty an increase 
 as to dare to set itself in array against the true Church and to 
 despise it and persecute it ; so mightily should it prevail by its 
 wealth, wisdom, glory and numbers. These, indeed, are for 
 the most part the influences through which the true Church is 
 always overcome by the world and the false church. 
 V. 18c. And Meliujael hegat Metliusliael. 
 
 261. Meth signifies "death," and scliaal means "to ask," 
 or "to demand." Hence we have the name Saul; that is, 
 demanded. This name indicates a spirit haughtier than any 
 of the others. I understand it to signify that Methushael 
 threatens that he will avenge his parents, who are dead, Avhom 
 the other church — that is the true Church — has punished with 
 excommunication and exile. 
 
 V. 18d. And Methushael hegat Lamecli. 
 
 262. Hitherto the Cainites seem to have insulted the 
 true Church with impunity and to have triumphed over them. 
 But the name "Lamech" signifies that God, at the time in 
 which Lamech was born, inflicted on the posterity of Cain 
 their due punishment. The name Lamech is derived from 
 the verb malcalc, which signifies to humble, to diminish, to 
 suppress. Or, it may be understood actively, to mean that in 
 the time of Lamech the posterity of Cain so greatly increased 
 that the true Church was quite overwhelmed by them. 
 
 263. Such was the posterity of Cain; men, no doubt, 
 renowned for their wisdom and greatness. And I also be- 
 lieve that some of them were saved by the uncovenanted mercy 
 of God, as I have above explained. But far the greater part 
 of them most bitterly hated and persecuted the true Church. 
 They could not brook inferiority to the sons of Adam, the 
 true Church; therefore they set up their own forms of worship, 
 and introduced many other new things for the sake of sup- 
 pressing the church of Adam. And because the false church 
 was thus kept separate from the true Church, I believe that 
 Cain married to each other his sons and daughters. Aceord- 
 ing-ly, about the time of Lamech, Cain's posterity began to 
 
68 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 multiply exceedingly. And it is for this reason, I believe, 
 that Moses here terminates the list. 
 
 Vi., 19. And Lamecli tooh unto him two wives; the name 
 of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 
 
 264. Here again a twofold question arises. In the first 
 (place divines dispute whether Lamech married these two 
 wives on account of lustful passion or for some other cause 
 My belief is that polygamy was not entered into for the sake 
 of lust, but with the object of increasing his family, and from 
 the lust of dominion, and especially so if, as his name im- 
 ports, the Lord at that time had been punishing the Cainites, 
 or the posterity of Cain, by pestilence, or by some other 
 calamity. In this case, Lamech probably thought by such ex- 
 pedient to retrieve his greatness. Thus barbarous nations retain 
 polygamy to strengthen and establish, both home and State. 
 
 265. As regards the names of these two Avives, the name 
 of one is Adah; that is, adorned, or, having chains on the 
 neck. A.di signifies a neat, or elegant ' woman, and adali, 
 the verb, signifies to adorn, or, to put on. And perhaps this 
 name was given to her, not only because she was the mistress 
 of the house, elegantly adorned or clothed, but because she 
 was also beautiful. The name of the other wife, Zillah, signi- 
 fies, his shade. 
 
 V. 20. And Adah hare Jahal; he ivas the father of such 
 as dwell in tents and have cattle. 
 
 266. The name Jabal is derived from the verb jahal, 
 which signifies to bring forward, or to produce. 
 
 V. 21. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the 
 father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. 
 
 267. And the name Jubal has the same origin and 
 signification; for it means produced, or introduced. Both 
 these names, therefore, contain a wish or ])ra}'«r of Lamech 
 concerning the increase of his family. The posterity of Cain 
 always entertained the object and expectation of surpassing 
 in numbers. And, no doubt, the Cainites held up this tem- 
 poral blessing in the face of tlie true Church as an evident 
 proof that they were not cast off by God, but were the very 
 people of God. 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 69 
 
 V. 22. And Zillah, she also hare Tubal-cain, the forger 
 of every cutting instrument of (an artificer in every workman- 
 ship of) brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain -was 
 Naamah. 
 
 268. "Tubal-Cain signifies, produce property. So the Eom- 
 ans gave such names as "Valerius" (from valeo), and "August- 
 us" (from augeo). And Naamali received her name from her 
 sweetness, or beauty. This posterity of Cain increased infin- 
 itely; hence Moses breaks off at this point. 
 
 269. Now, wlien he not only chronicles names but makes 
 mention also of the deeds and labors of each one, the Jewish 
 explanation is to be rejected that the offspring of Cain was 
 compelled to follow other occupations because the earth was 
 cursed, and hence gained their livelihood, one as a shepherd, 
 another as a worker in brass, and anotlier as a musician, obtain- 
 ing grain and the other fruits of the earth from the offspring 
 of Adam. But if the Cainites had been so severely pressed by 
 hunger, they would have forgotten the harp, organ and other 
 instruments of music in their extremity; for the enjoyment of 
 music is not characteristic of the hungry and thirsty. 
 
 270. Their invention of music and their efforts in the 
 discovery of other arts is proof that they had the necessaries 
 of life in abundance. The reason, therefore, that the descend- 
 ants of Cain turned to these pursuits and were not contented 
 with the simple food the earth produced, like the descendants 
 of Adam, was that they wished to rule, and aimed at the high 
 praise and glory of being men of talent. I believe, however, 
 that some of them passed over to the true Church and followed 
 the religion of Adam. 
 
 271. And such as Moses here describes the generation of 
 the wicked, or the false church, to he, from the beginning 
 down to the mighty flood of waters, so we find it ever, and 
 such it will remain until the final flood of fire. "The sons 
 of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons 
 of the light," Lk 16, 8. Therefore it is that they ever 
 advance and increase, and commend themselves and their own, 
 and thus acquire riches, dignities and power; while the true 
 
70 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 Church, on the other hand, always lies prostrate, despised, 
 oppressed, excommunicated. 
 
 V. 33-3-1. And Lcunech said iinlo his wives: Adah and ZiJlali, 
 hear mij voice; ye wives of Laniechj hearlceri unto my speech : 
 for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man 
 for bruising me. If Cain shall he avenged sevenfold, iriilij 
 Lamech seventy and sevenfold. 
 
 272. Thus far Moses has given us a history of the gener- 
 ation of the children of this world, and having brought do^\^l 
 the list to the time of Lamech and his wives and cliildren, he 
 buries them, as it were, altogether in silence, leaving them 
 without any promise, either of the life which is to come or of 
 the life that now is. For except that uncovenanted blessing 
 of offspring and of food, the Cainites possessed notliing what- 
 ever. Yet they so increased in power and in multitude that 
 they filled the whole world, and at length overturned and 
 ravaged to such an extent the righteous nation of the childTen 
 of God which possessed the promise of the future and eternal 
 life, and sunk them into so deep a hell of wickedness, that 
 eight men only remained to be saved when the flood came 
 upon the whole world of the ungodly. And though there is 
 no doubt that some of the generation of Cain were saved botli 
 before the flood and in the flood, yet the Scriptures do not 
 mention them, to the end that we might the more fear God 
 and walk according to his Word. But hard as the diamond 
 are those human hearts which fail to be moved by such an 
 example as the flood, than which nothing more dreadful is to 
 be found in the 'whole chain of time. 
 
 373. Moses, therefore, having buried in silence the entire 
 generation of Cain, records only one unimportant fact respect- 
 ing Lamech, but what the real import of that fact is, Moses 
 does not explain. I know not that any other passage in the 
 Holy Scriptures has been so diversely interpreted, and so rent 
 and wrested, as this text. For ignorance at least, if eloquence 
 is not, is fruitful of surmises, errors and fables. I will men- 
 tion some of the vulgar views upon the passage now before us. 
 
 274. The Jews compose the fable that Lamech, when he 
 had grown old and was blind, was led by a youth into the 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 71 
 
 woods to hunt wild beasts, not for the sake of their flesh but 
 for their skins; circumstances which are altogether absurd, 
 and at once prove the whole fable to be a lie. And they hold 
 that Cain w^as there, concealed among the bushes, and in that 
 solitude he not only exercised repentance but sought security 
 for his life. The young man who directed the spear for 
 Lamech, thinking he saw a wild beast in a certain thicket, 
 told Lamech to hurl his spear, and Lamech hurled his 
 spear and, contrary to all thought, pierced Cain. And 
 Ihej add that after Lamech had been made conscious of the 
 murder he had committed, he immediately speared the youth 
 himself, who also died under the wound he received. It was 
 ill us, say the Jews, that the "man" and the ''young man" were 
 slain by Lamech, But such absurdities as these are utterly un- 
 worthy of refutation. Indeed, Moses himself completely re- 
 futes them; he records the fact that Cain, far from fleeing 
 into solitud'e and concealment, "built a city," which implies 
 that he governed a State and thereby established for himself 
 a kind of kingdom. Moreover, the ages of Cain and Lamech 
 would not accord with this explanation, for it is not^ at all 
 probable Cain lived to the time Lamech became old and blind. 
 
 275. There is still another Jewish invention. After Lamech 
 had killed Cain, his wives would no longer live with him, 
 through fear of the pmiishmeat tliey foreboded would come 
 upon him, and therefore Lamech, to comfort himself and 
 to induce his wives to live with him, prophesied that whoso- 
 ever should Icill him would assuredly be punished "seventy 
 and sevenfold." The Jews invent lilve absurdities also con- 
 cerning the sons of Lamech, whom they say he taught to 
 fabricate arms for the destruction of men. Other commen- 
 tators, again, will have it that the sense of this text is to be 
 taken negatively, thus: If I had killed a man, as Cain killed 
 his brother, I should have been worthy of your reprobation. 
 
 276. My interpretation, according^, is that the words, 
 "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold," etc., are not to be taken 
 for the Word of God. For that generation did not have the 
 Word; how, then, could Lamech be believed to have been a 
 prophet? Thus, even such a man as Jerome produces the 
 
72 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 vagary that, inasmncli as, according to Luke, seventy-seven 
 generations can be counted between Adam and Christ, it was 
 after this space of time that Lamech's sin was taken away 
 by Christ. If such vaporings are legitimate, anything can 
 be proved from the Scriptures. Jerome even forgets that 
 Lamech represented the seventh generation from Adam! The 
 word under consideration then, is not to be placed upon the 
 same level with the former, spoken to Cain; for that was the 
 Word of God. It is, on the contrary, the word of a wicked 
 murderer; not true, but an audacious fiction, based upon that 
 spoken by Adam to Cain. But why does he d'eliver his dis- 
 course not before his church but at home, and only before his 
 wives ? 
 
 277. It is probable that the good and pious women were 
 greatly alarmed on account of the murder committed by their 
 husband. The wicked murderer, therefore, to appear equally 
 safe with Cain, endeavored in this way to reassure his wives 
 concerning his safety from death. This is what the wicked 
 church is accustomed to do; it prophesies out of its own 
 head. But all such prophecies are vain. This one thing, 
 however, we can gather from the present text, that Lamech did 
 not utter the contents of his prophecy from the Word of God, 
 but out of his own brain. 
 
 278. In respect to Cain, I do not think that he was killed 
 by Lamech, but that he died long before the time of Lamech. 
 And as there were continual animosities between the Cainite 
 church and tlie Church of Adam — for the Cainites could not 
 brook their being treated as outside of the true communion — 
 my opinion is, that Lamech killed some eminent man and 
 some distinguished youth of the generation of the righteous, 
 just as Cain, his father, had killed Abel. And I believe that, 
 having committed such murders, h© wished to protect him- 
 self from being killed by uttering the words of the text, after 
 the manner of the protection vouchsafed by God to his 
 father Cain. For Lamech was no doubt a man of very great 
 abilities and the chief man in his day and State. He had 
 also strengthened his cause by a novel venture, for he was 
 tlie first man who married two wives. And he harassed the 
 
G:eNESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 7.3 
 
 Clinrcli of the godly in various ways, as men are wont to do 
 who c'ombine talent with malice. Therefore he furnished his 
 men vrith arms, riches, and pleasures, that he might over- 
 come the true Church on every side, which alone held the holy 
 faith, the pure Word, and the pure worship of God. To all 
 else he paid little attention. 
 
 279. It is very probable that the patriarch Adam died 
 about tJiis time, this being the first patriarchal death; and 
 there is no doubt that Lamecli seized this opportunity of 
 transferring the whole government of the world at that time 
 to himself, that he might have all things under his own rule. 
 This is the manner in which the world acts to this day. The 
 Church of God, therefore, placed as it were in the midst, is 
 oppressed on either side; by tyrants and blood-thirsty men 
 on the one hand, and by those who are devoted to the con- 
 cerns and pleasures of this world on the other. As tyrants 
 use violence and the sword to destroy the Church, so the latter 
 entice her by their allurements. 
 
 280. Hence it is that Moses malces a special point of 
 recording that the blood-thirsty seed of the Cainites gave them- 
 selves up to pleasures and to other worldly pursuits. And 
 hence it is, also, that Christ expressly shows that much blood 
 was shed even before the flood, by testifying "that upon you 
 may come all the righteous blood ehed on the earth, from the 
 blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son 
 of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the 
 altar," Mt 23, 35. Moses testifies subsequently (Gen 6, 1-13), 
 that the earth before the flood was filled with iniquities; and 
 he is not speaking of the iniquities and violent deeds of thieves 
 and adultererd, but describes particularly the tyranny of the 
 Cainite church, which pursued with all the violence of the 
 sword the holy posterity of Adam. And it is for this same 
 reason that the sacred historian describes the descendants of 
 Cain by the name "giants." These are the reasons which 
 lead me to conclude that Lamech followed in the footsteps of 
 his father Cain and slew some distinguished man of the 
 holy patriarchs and his son. 
 
 281. It was certainly an evidence of the greatest tyi-anny 
 
74 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 iu Lamech, that, when he had been discovered by his wives, he 
 did not grieve for what he had done, but held in contempt 
 the punishment which he had just cause to dread. As if he 
 had said: I have killed a man 'tis true, but what is that to you? 
 The wound of that belongs to me; I shall be wounded for it, 
 not you. I have indeed killed a young man, but it is to my 
 o^vn hurt. I shall be punished for it, not you. What utter- 
 ances could evince more contempt than these in the face of 
 open sins? 
 
 These are my thoughts on the passage now before us. The 
 text shows that the Cainites were tyrannical men, proud of 
 their success, and given to pleasure; and the very words of 
 Lamech prove him to be a proud man, not grieving at all for 
 the murder he had committed, but glorying in it as in a 
 righteous cause. The Cainite church always excuses that 
 tyranny which it exercises over the godly, as Christ says: 
 ''Whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service 
 unto God," Jn 16, 2. This is expressed in the additional words 
 of Lamech: 
 
 V. 24. If Cain shall he avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech 
 seventy and sevenfold. 
 
 282. Here Lamech sets himself above his father Cain, 
 making it appear that he had a more righteous cause for 
 the murder he had committed, and fortifying himself against 
 those inclined to avenge the murders perpetrated by him. For 
 the words of the text are not the words of the Lord, as we 
 have said, but the words of Lamech himself. Just so the 
 pope fortifies himself by violence, tyranny, threats and anath- 
 emas, to malce himself secure against avengers, for he has the 
 conscience of a Cain and a Lamech. Let him, says the pope, 
 who shall do anything contrary to these my decrees know that 
 he shall incur the indignation of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 283. Lamech, therefore, is an example of this world, and 
 Moses points to him to show what kind of a heart, will and 
 wisdom the world has. Just as if he had said in reference to 
 Lamech: Such are the actions of the seed of the serpent and 
 such are the children of this world. They gather riches, fol- 
 low their pleasures, increase their power, and then abuse all 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 75 
 
 these things by their tyranny, making use of them against the 
 true Church, the members of which they persecute and slay. 
 And yet in the midst of all these mighty sins, the}' fear not, 
 but are proud and secure, boasting and saying, "What can tlie 
 righteous do?" (Ps 11, 3) : "'Our lips are our own: who is lord 
 over us?" (Ps 12, 4) : "He (the wicked) saith in his heart: 
 Crod hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see it," 
 (Ps 10, 11) : and other like sentiments. 
 
 284. That such is the meaning of the passage in question 
 the facts recorded prove, though the words of the text do not 
 so clearly express that meaning. The true Church has ever 
 Satan as its great enemy, and he drives the Cainites into fury, 
 disguised as devotion, against their brethren, the Abels; as 
 Christ also says, affirming that the devil was a murderer 
 from the beginning, Jn 8, 44. It is declared throughout 
 the Scriptures concerning the true Church, that the wicked 
 are ever shedding its blood. The various passages in the 
 Psalms speak the same things, "Precious shall their blood be 
 in his sight," Ps 72, 14. Again, "Precious in the sight of 
 .Tehovah is the death of his saints" Ps 116, 15. And again, 
 "For thy sake are we killed all the day long" Ps 44, 22. 
 
 285. As, therefore, the Church of God has at all times, 
 and in all ages, given her blood to be shed by the wicked and 
 by false bretliren, so also, in that first age of the world she 
 had to suffer from her enemies, whom the Scriptures call 
 "giants," and affirm that those "giants" filled the earth with 
 "violence." Among these giants was also this Lamech now 
 before us, who was one perhaps like Pope Julius II or 
 Clement VII who although they exercised cruelty in the 
 highest degree, yet wished to be called and appear as most 
 holy saints. Just so Lamech here wishes to make it appear 
 that he had a most righteous cause for the murder he had 
 committed, and therefore he threatened greater vengeance on 
 the man who should kill him than God himself had threat- 
 ened on the person who should slay his father, the murderer 
 Cain. 
 
 286. In this manner, the Church was vexed with the cross 
 and with persecutions from the very beginning- of the world 
 
76 . LUTTIER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 until God, compelled' by the wickedness of man, destroyed the 
 whole world by the flood. Just so, also, when the measure of 
 Pharaoh's malice Avas full he was drowned with all his host 
 in the Eed Sea. Just so, again, when the measure of the mal- 
 ice of the Gentile nations was full they were all uprooted and 
 destroyed by Moses and Joshua. In the same manner after- 
 wards when the Jews raged against the Gospel they were so 
 utterly destroyed that not one stone was left upon another in 
 Jerusalem. Other instances are the Babylonians, the Medes, 
 the Persians, the Grecians, and the Eomans. 
 
 287. The Scriptures therefore do not record whom Lamech 
 killed. They only record that two murders were committed by 
 him, and that Lamech, in his impenitence, wished to protect 
 himself in the same manner as his father Cain had been 
 divinely protected, by issuing his proclamation, thereby 
 making it appear that he had righteous cause for the murder 
 he committed. And if this interpretation be not the true one, 
 it is at least certain that the generation of the Cainites was a 
 blood-thirsty generation, and hated and persecuted the true 
 Church. 
 
 388. And it is, moreover, true that Lamech had not the 
 Word, and that, accordingly, his utterance is not to he con- 
 sidered in the same light as that word which was spoken to 
 his father Cain; for the latter was the voice of truth, but the 
 word of Lamech was the voice of his own pride, expressive of 
 the rule of Satan and of a church of hypocrites, which sins 
 securely and yet glories in its sins as if they were deeds of 
 righteousness. 
 
 C. Tlie Posterity of the Righteous in Detail. 
 
 B. The Generations of the 
 
 Righteous. 
 a. Of Seth. 
 
 (1) Why Seth is described In 
 detail 289. 
 
 (2) Why Eve at Seth's birth 
 recalled Cain's murder 
 290. 
 
 * How and why the first 
 parents after Abel's deatli 
 refrained from bearing 
 children 291. 
 
 (3) Seth's birtli was announc- 
 ed before in a special 
 way by God 291-2. 
 
 * Tlie uncovenanted grace 
 of the Cainites. Also, why 
 God did not mention that 
 some of tliem would be 
 saved 293. 
 
 (4) How Eve manifested spe- 
 cial faitli and obedience 
 in Seth's birth 294-5. 
 
 * Why the Romish church 
 never canonized Eve 296. 
 
 * The idle fables of 'che 
 Jews about Lamech and 
 his wives, and about 
 Adam's abstinence and 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 77 
 
 Cain's increase, are to be (d) What is the true worship 
 
 rejected 297. according to the first ta- 
 
 (5) A new s'eneratlon springs hie of the law 3.16-7. 
 
 from Seth, in wliicli the (e) How true worship ac- 
 
 r-romise shall be fulfilled cording- to the second 
 
 29S. table follows from the 
 
 b. Of Enoch. first 308. 
 
 (1) What his name means, (f) People are to be instruct- 
 and why it was given to ed first and chiefly in the 
 him 299. worship of the first table 
 
 * The names of the holy 309. 
 
 patriarchs originated not (g) Whether visible signs 
 
 liy chance 299. were present in these 
 
 (2) How true worship began days in their worship, and 
 under Enoch 300-2. to what end they were 
 
 * Of true worship. necessary 310-11. 
 
 fa) In what it consists 301. (h) The worship of which 
 
 (b) Why it was not in use Moses s- eaks is to be un- 
 before 302. derstood not of the Cain- 
 
 * The meaning of "the ites but of Seth's poster- 
 
 name of Jehovah" or the Ity 312. 
 
 proclaiming of the name • A summary review of the 
 of Jehovah 303. contents of the fourth 
 
 (c) The right course to take chapter of Genesis 313. 
 in the docti-ine concern- * Why the fifth chapter 
 ing divine worship 304. was written 314. 
 
 * God always ministered • Wliy the Jews cannot see 
 comfort to his Church un- the unitv in the first five 
 der the cross 305. chapters' of the Bible 315. 
 
 V. 25. And Adam Icnew li'is trife af/aiii; and site hare a son, 
 and called his name Seth: For, said she, God hath appointed 
 me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him. 
 
 289. Hitherto Moses has spoken of the generation of the 
 wicked onl}^, the whole of which he buries as it were with the 
 above brief catalog. The historian now turns to the descrip- 
 tion of the godly and of the true Churc'h. And first of all, we are 
 to observe the manner of expression Moses uses in reference 
 to the name given b}^ Eve to her son : "And she called his name 
 Seth.'' Moses does not speak thus concerning Cain when he 
 was born, nor concerning righteotis Abel, nor with reference 
 to Enoch, nor with reference to any of the others. By this 
 particular expression regarding vSeth and his name Moses 
 would signify that this was the first son in whom flowed the 
 stream of the promise wliich had been made to the parents 
 in paradise. So Eve is to be understood when she assigns the 
 reason for giving her son this name. Eve manifests her sur- 
 passing godliness and faith in giving her son such a name. 
 
 290. Tlie fact that Eve recalls the murder by wicked Cain 
 of his brother Al)el proves that there had existed a fierce en- 
 mity between these two churches, and that she had witnessed 
 and suffered many evils and indignities from the Cainites. Be- 
 
78 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 cause of this she now called to mind the awful murder which 
 had been committed, whereby Cain wished to destroy the right- 
 eous seed that he might reign alone. But thanks be to God, 
 Bays she, who hath aj)pointed me another seed instead of Abel. 
 
 291. Moses here, as is his usual manner, embraces in the 
 fewest possible words the mightiest things, that he may in- 
 cite the reader to the most diligent consideration of the works 
 of God. Of the pain and righteous 'grief of the parents at 
 the murder of Abel hy his brother we have spoken before. I 
 see no reason why we should not believe that after the perpe- 
 tration of that horrible murder no son was born to Adam until 
 the birth of Seth; for it is most probable that the awful peril 
 of a recurrence of a calamity like that which they had just 
 experienced, induced the godly parents to abstain from con- 
 nubial intercourse. I believe, therefore, that by a particular 
 promise made to them by an angel, their minds were again 
 comforted and confirmed, and that they were influenced to 
 believe that a son of the description of Seth would now be born 
 unto them, who should hold fast the promise; and that, al- 
 though the generation of Cain should utterly perish by their sin, 
 the generation of him about to be born should be preserved un- 
 til the promised blessed seed should come into the world. 
 
 293. It is a proof of some like particular promise having 
 been revealed to the parents by an angel that Eve adds to the 
 name she gave to her son a kind of short sermon, and that 
 Moses when recording this circumstance makes use of an ex- 
 pression not otherwise adopted b}'' him in connection with the 
 names Adam or Eve gave to their children: "And she called 
 his name Seth." Seth is derived from the Hebrew verb sath, 
 which signifies he placed, or he established, and was intended 
 to show that this son would be, as it were, the foundation on 
 which the promise concerning Christ would rest, even though 
 many other sons should be born unto the parents. Eve does 
 not give him an exalted name, such as "Cain," yet she gives 
 him a name signifying that the posterity of Seth should never 
 be suppressed or destroyed. 
 
 293. The Cainites, cast out from the sight of their parents, 
 are left under a curse, without any promise whatever, and 
 
GEN1ESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDER. 79 
 
 have only so much mercy as they receive from the generation 
 of the righteous as beggars, not as heirs. This is the mercy 
 we above called uncovenanted mercy. But who, of the posterity 
 of the Cainites, obtained that mercy, Moses does not mention, 
 and his design in this omission is to keep separate the two 
 churches: the one the Church of the righteous, which had the 
 promise of a life to come, but in this life was poor and af- 
 flicted; the other the church of the wicked, which in this life 
 is rich and flourishing. 
 
 294. Eve, the mother of us all, is highly to be praised, as 
 a most holy woman, full of faith and charity, because in the 
 person of her son Seth she so nobly lauds the true Church, 
 paying no regard whatever to the generation of the Cainites. 
 For she does not saj, I have gotten another son in the place 
 of Cain. She prefers the slain Abel to Cain, though Cain 
 was the first-bom. Herein praise is due, not only to her faith 
 but to her eminent obedience ; for she is not only not oilfendecl 
 at the judgment of God concerning righteous Abel, but she 
 also changes her own judgment concerning God. When Abel 
 was born she despised him, and magnified Cain as the first- 
 born, and as the possessor, as she thought, of the promise. 
 But now she acts in all things quite the contrary. As if she 
 had said : After God's acceptance of him and of his offering, I 
 had placed all my hopes on my son Abel, because he was right- 
 eous; but his wicked brother slew him. But now God hath 
 appointed me another seed instead of Abel. 
 
 295. She does not indulge her maternal affection for Cain, 
 She does not excuse or lessen the sin of her son. But she 
 herself excommunicates him, already excommunicated of God; 
 and she banishes him, together with all his posterity, among 
 the polluted mass of the Gentiles who live without any sure 
 mercy of God, laying hold only as they can of that uncovenant- 
 ed mercy which, as we have said, they receive as beggars, not 
 as heirs. 
 
 296. It is a great marvel, surely, that the church of the 
 pope, having made up so great a list of saints, has not yet 
 inserted in that catalog Saint Eve, a woman full of faith and 
 love, and with an infinite number of crosses ! But perhaps we 
 
80 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 are to gather from this omission that it would rather follow 
 the church of the Cainites than the holy Church. 
 
 297. I am inclined to say nothing here about that absurd 
 and idle fable of the Jews, that Lamech brought his disobedient 
 wives to Adam as judge, and that when Adam commanded 
 them to render to their husband due benevolence the wives in 
 reply asked Adam why he did ^ot do the same to Eve. These 
 fablers say that Adam, Vv^ho had refrained from the bed of his 
 wife from the murder of Abel to that time, again lived with her 
 as man and wife, in order that he might not by his example 
 induce others to maintain perpetual continence, and thus pre- 
 vent mankind from being multiplied. All these lablos show 
 how impure the thoughts of the Jews were. Of the same de- 
 scription is the like argument of these Jews, who hold that 
 when Seth was born, which was within a hundred years after 
 the death of Abel, the children of Cain had increased unto the 
 seventh generation. Such absurdities do wicked men invent 
 to bring reproach upon the Holy Scriptures. And of precisely 
 the same description is the opinion that Cain was born in para- 
 dise, while, as yet, the original righteousness of his parents re- 
 mained. What is the object of this lying invention but to 
 cause us to do away with Christ altogether? For take away 
 original sin, and what need is there of Christ at all? These 
 things are indeed, as we have intimated, unworthy of being 
 mentioned here. But they are worthy the enemies of Christ 
 and the enemies of grace. 
 
 298. In Seth, therefore, we have a new generation, which 
 arises from and ■ comes to pass in accordance with the great 
 original promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the 
 serpent's head. Appropriately the name Seth is bestowed, so 
 that Eve may felicitate herself upon the fact that this seed is 
 established, safe from overthrow. David uses the same verb : 
 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?'' 
 Ps 11, 3. And the Hebi-ew word forms a perfect rhyme with its 
 German equivalent: "Seth— steht." 
 
 V. 26a. And to Seth, to Jiim also there was horn a son; and 
 he called his name Enosh. 
 
 299. The verb yikra, he called, is in the masculine gen- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MUEDEE. 81 
 
 der, by Avliich you are to understand tliat it was the father who 
 gave this name to his son. In the former case the verb was 
 feminine, because Eve gave to her son Seth his name. The ex- 
 pression in each case is different, which difference of gender 
 in a verb the Latin language does not indicate. 
 
 Enosh signifies a man afflicted or full of calamity. "What 
 is man that thou art mindful of him," Ps 8,4. Seth, accord- 
 ingly, intimates that at that time there was some persecution 
 or affliction of the Church. That "old serpent," who had cast 
 man out of paradise and had killed Abel, the man beloved of 
 God, was neither asleep nor idle. Therefore, upon the conso- 
 lation enjoyed in the birth of Seth there soon follows another 
 trial or tribulation, which the godly parents Adam and Eve 
 signalize by giving the name Enosh to their son. The names 
 thus given are by no means to be considered accidental. Thev 
 were either prophetical or commemorative of some particular 
 event. 
 
 V. 26b. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah. 
 
 300. The rabbins understand this as having reference to 
 idolatry. They think that about this time the name of Jehovah 
 began to be given to creatures : to the sun, the moon, etc. But 
 Moses is not here speaking of what the generation of Cainites 
 did, but what the godly generation of Adam did. The sacred 
 historian is testifying that after the birth of Enosh there be- 
 gan the true worship of God, the calling upon the name of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 301. Here Moses most beautifully defines what it is to wor- 
 ship God, to call upon the name of Jehovah; which is, as it 
 were, the work of the first table and concerns the true worship 
 of God. Now, calling upon the name of Jehovah embraces the 
 preaching of the Word, faith, or confidence in God, confession, 
 etc. Paul beautifullv joins these things together in the four- 
 teenth verse of the tenth chapter of his Epistle to the Komans. 
 True, the works of the second table also belong to the worship 
 of God, but these works do not refer directly and only to God 
 as do the works of the first table. 
 
 302. After the confusion made in the house of Adam by 
 Cain, the generation of the godly began to multiply by de- 
 
82 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 grees and a little Churcli was formed, in which. Adam as the 
 high priest governed all things by the Word and by sound doc- 
 trine. Moses here affirms that this took place about the time of 
 the birth of Enosh. Although this name implies that the 
 Church had been overwhelmed by some terrible disaster, yet 
 Gk)d raised her up again by his grace and mercy, and added the 
 great spiritual blessing of godly assemblage in a particular 
 place, with preaching, prayer and the offering of sacrifices, 
 blessings which had hitherto perhaps been eithe'r hindered or 
 forbidden by the Cainites. We have here, then, another evi- 
 dence of the promised seed warring with the serpent and bruis- 
 ing its head. 
 
 303. Furthermore, as Moses does not say: Jehovah began 
 to be called upon, but the name of Jehovah, the reference to 
 Christ recommends itself to our approval, since also in other 
 passages the Schem Jehovah (the name of Jehovah) is so to 
 be understood. This expression, "then men began to call upon 
 the name of Jehovah," contains a meaning most important. It 
 signifies that Adam, Seth, and Enosh taught and exhorted their 
 posterity to expect redemption and to believe the promise con- 
 cerning the seed of the woman, and to overcome by that hope 
 the snares, the crosses, the persecutions, the hatred and the vio- 
 lence of the Cainites, and not to despair of salvation, but rather 
 to give thanks unto God, assured that he would at some time 
 deliver them by the seed of the woman. 
 
 304. What could Adam and Seth teach greater or better 
 than that the great deliverer, Christ, was promised to their' 
 posterity? And this is quite in keeping with the proper prin- 
 ciple to be observed in religious instruction. The first care 
 should ever De directed to the first table. When this table ia 
 well understood, the right understanding of the second table 
 will soon follow; yea, it is then easy to fulfil the latter. For 
 how is it possible that, where pure doctrine is taught, where 
 men rightly believe, rightly call upon the name of Jehovah, and 
 rightly give thanks unto God, the second and inferior fruits 
 can be wanting? 
 
 305. In this manner did it please God at that time to com- 
 fort the afflicted church of the godly and to prevent their de- 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDEE. 83 
 
 spair conoerning the future. We see througliout the pages of 
 sacred history a perpetual succession and change of consola- 
 tions and afflictions, Joseph in Egypt keeps alive his parents 
 and his brethren when divinely visited by famine. After this, 
 when these people were oppressed by wicked kings, they were 
 again delivered from their cruel bondage. And Cyrus delivers 
 them when captives in Babylon. When God permits his own 
 people to be oppressed by the violence and guile of the devil 
 and the world, he always lifts them up again and gives them 
 prophets and godly teachers to restore his sinking church, and 
 to break for a while the fury of Satan. 
 
 306. Furthermore, it is the intention to lay down a logical 
 definition when it is claimed that the worship of God does not 
 consist in ceremonies devised and transmitted by men, in the 
 erection of statues, or the performance of other sport suggested 
 by reason, but in calling upon the name of Jehovah. Worship 
 in its truest meaning, well-pleasing to God, and subsequently 
 made mandatory in the first commandment, embraces the fear 
 of God, trust in God, confession, prayer and preaching. 
 
 307. The first commandment of the Law demands faith, 
 that we believe God is the only helper in time of need, Ps 9, 9. 
 The second commandment demands confession and prayer, 
 that we call upon the name of Jehovah in times of peril and 
 give thanks unto God. The third commandment requires 
 that we teach the truth, and that we guard and defend sound 
 doctrine. 
 
 These are the true and appropriate acts of the worship of 
 God, and they are those which God requires. He requires not 
 sacrifices nor money nor anything of the kind. As regards 
 the first table, he requires that we hear, consider and teach the 
 Word; that we pray to God and fear him. 
 
 308. Where these things exist, the observances and works 
 required by the second table follow, as it were, of their own 
 accord. It is impossible that he who does the works and per- 
 forms the worship of the first table should not do and perform 
 those of the second table also. David saith : "His delight is in 
 the law of Jehovah; and on his law doth he meditate day and 
 nig'ht. And he shall be like a tree planted by the stream of 
 
SI LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 water; that bringeth forth, its fruit in its season, whose leaf 
 also doth not wither." Ps 1, 2-3. These things are evident 
 consequences of the right worship of God, according to the 
 commandments of the first table. He who believes God, who 
 fears God, who calls upon God in tribulation, who praises God 
 and gives thanks unto him for his mercies, who gladly hears 
 the Word of God, who continually contemplates the works of 
 God, and who teaches others to do the same things — do you 
 think that such a one will harm his neighbor, or disobey his 
 parents, or kill, or commit adultery? 
 
 309. The first table, therefore, is to be set forth first of all, 
 and instruction as regards the true worship is to receive pre- 
 cedence to all else. This means, first to make the tree good 
 on which good fruit is to grow. Now, our adversaries take the 
 diametrically opposite course ; they want to have the good fruit 
 before they have even the tree. 
 
 310. Moreover, I believe that about this time there was 
 added some visible ceremony of divine worship, for God is 
 ever wont thus to do. He always joins with the Word some 
 visible sign. When Abel and Cain presented their offerings 
 God showed by a visible sign from heaven that he had respect 
 unto Abel and his offering, but not unto Cain and his offer- 
 ing. And so, in all probability, it was in this case and at this 
 time. When the Church began to flourish and the Word of 
 God was publicly taught with considerable success, God added 
 also some visible sign, that the Church might assuredly know 
 that she pleased God. 
 
 311. But whatever that sign was, whether fire from heaven 
 or something else, God withheld it until the third generation, 
 that men might learn to be content with the Word alone. 
 Afterwards, when men had comforted themselves by the Word 
 alone against the Cainites, in all tribulations, God of his great 
 mercy added to the Word some visible sign. He established 
 a place and appointed persons and ceremonies to which the 
 Church might gather for the exercise of faith, for preaching 
 and prayer. By means of these things, the Word or the first 
 table and then a visible sign ordained' of God, a Church is con- 
 stituted, in which men undergo discipline through teaching. 
 
GENESIS IV. CAIN'S MURDER. 85 
 
 hearing, and the partaking of the sacraments. Then upon 
 tliese things will assuredly follow the works of the second 
 table, which are acceptable, and acts of worship, only on the 
 part of those who possess and practice the first table. 
 
 312. This gift of God, Moses sets forth in the few sliort 
 words of the text before us, when he says, "Then began men to 
 call upon the name of Jehovah/' For this beginning to call 
 upon the name of Jehovah was not on tlie part of the Cainites, 
 as the Jews explained the passage, but on the part of the godly 
 posterity of Adam, which alone was then the true Church. If 
 any of the posterity of Cain were saved, it must of necessity 
 have been by joining tliis Church. 
 
 313. The sum of the first four chapters of Genesis' is that 
 we are to believe in a resurrection of the dead after this life, 
 and a life eternal through the Seed of the woman. This 
 is the blessed portion of the godly, of them that believe, who 
 in this life are filled with afflictions and subject to injuries 
 at the hands of all men. To the v^icked, on the contrary, 
 are given, as their portion, the riches and power of this world, 
 which they use against the true Church of God. 
 
 In the first chapter it is shown that man was created unto 
 immortality, because he was created "in the image of God.'' 
 
 The teaching also of the second chapter sets forth the same 
 thing, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
 die," It follows that the first created man and woman could 
 not have died if they had not eaten of that fruit. By their 
 sin of eating they fell from immortality to mortality, and they 
 begat an offspring like unto themselves. 
 
 In the third chapter immortality is set forth anew, as re- 
 stored by the promise of the Seed of the woman. 
 
 In the fourth chapter we have an especial example of im- 
 mortality set before us in Abel, who, after he had been slain 
 by his brother, was received into the bosom of God, who tes- 
 tified that the voice of the blood of Abel cried unto him from 
 the ground. 
 
 314. And the fifth dhapter, which now follows, is expressly 
 written to set forth the immortality of Enoch, who was taken 
 up into heaven by the Lord. Although the following chapter 
 
86 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 is necessaiy as a chronicle of the number of the years of the 
 generation of the righteous, yet its most remarkable feature 
 is its record ijhat Enoch did not die like Adam, nor was slain 
 like Abel, nor carried away, nor torn to pieces by lions and 
 bears, but was taken up into heaven and translated into immor- 
 tality by the Lord himself; all which was written that we 
 might believe in the Seed of the woman, Christ our Redeemer 
 and Satan's conqueror, and that through him we also might 
 expect a life immortal after this mortal and afflicted life. 
 
 315. This harmony of these five chapters the Jews see not, 
 for they are destitute of that sun which sheds light upon these 
 things and makes them manifest; which sun is Christ, by 
 whom we have the remission of sins and life immortal. 
 
CHAPTER.V. 
 
 THE BOOK OF THE FIRST GENERATIONS OF MAN, AND 
 THE GLORY OF THE CAINITES. 
 
 A. The Book of the First Gen- 
 erations of Man^ 
 
 1. The reasons why Moses 
 records the generations of 
 Adam 1. 
 
 2. Why he so particularly 
 gives the years, and in the 
 case of each patriarch adds 
 "and he died" 1-2. 
 
 3. Why Enoch is placed in the 
 
 records of the dead 3-4. 
 
 * Was Enoch a sinner, and 
 do sinners have hope of 
 eternal life 4. 
 
 * Of death. 
 
 a. How we are to comfort 
 ourselves against death 
 5. 
 
 b. How reason views death, 
 and how the best hea- 
 then philosophers view- 
 ed it 6. 
 
 c. The knowledge the 
 Scriptures give us of 
 death 6. 
 
 4. How we may be greatly 
 profited by the book of the 
 generations of the ancient 
 world 7. 
 
 5. Why the book of the gen- 
 erations of Cain is larger 
 than that of Seth's 7. 
 
 * How terrible that both 
 lines were totally destroy- 
 ed, except eight persons 8. 
 
 6 The aim of Moses in writ- 
 ing this book of the gen- 
 erations of Adam 9. 
 * The glory of the first 
 world. 10. 
 
 a. What was this glory 9-10. 
 
 b. Why this glory was re- 
 vealed 10. 
 
 c. Profitable and interesting 
 to meditate upon it 11. 
 
 d. The patriarchs of the first 
 world the most holy of all 
 martyrs 12. 
 
 B. The Glory of the Cainites. 
 1. The Cainites greatly tor- 
 mented God's Church, es- 
 pecially after Adam's death 
 
 2. To what end their hatred 
 and persecution served the 
 holy patriarchs 13. 
 
 * Why Moses did not record 
 the zeal of the holy fathers 
 against the Cainites 14. 
 
 * Why Moses gives such a 
 short description of the 
 deluge 15. 
 
 * The character of the first 
 world 16. 
 
 * Luther's lamentation over 
 the character of the last 
 world; its approaching de- 
 struction, and an earnest 
 prayer to God 16-18. 
 
 I THE EECOEDS OF THE GENERATIONS OP MAN 
 AND THE GLORY OF THE CAINITES. 
 
 A. The Records of the Generations of Man. 
 
 V. 1. This is the hooh of the generations of Adam. 
 
 1. This chronicle has been arranged by Moses for two rea- 
 sons. First, on account of the promise of the seed made to 
 Adam; and second, on account of Enoch. Moses writes still 
 another genealogy in the tenth (Chapter, after the flood, from a 
 far different motive than the present. In the present chapter, 
 he gives the number of the years of the righteous and adds 
 
SS LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 with a special purpose in the case of each one, the words, "and 
 he died." 
 
 2. This little phrase may at first thought appear super- 
 fluous. After the historian has sard, "All the days that Adam 
 lived were nine hundred and thirty years," what seems to be 
 the use of his adding the few words, "and he died"? The 
 statement as to the number of his years connotes also the time 
 of his death; for had he lived longer, the additional years 
 would have been contained in the enumeration. 
 
 Moses, however, does tliis with the definite purpose of point- 
 ing out the unspeakable wrath of God against sin, and the 
 inevitable punishment of it, inflicted by him on the whole 
 human race, on the righteous as well as on the wicked. So 
 does the Apostle Paul pursue his argument, drawn from this 
 very portion of the Holy Scripture: "As through one man 
 sin entered into the world, and death through sin ; and so death 
 passed upon all men, for that all sinned," Eom 5, 12. This 
 is a consequence perpetuated through all generations. Adam 
 died, therefore Adam was a sinner. Seth died, therefore Seth 
 was a sinner. Infants die, therefore infants partake of sin 
 and so are sinners. This is what Moses intends to set forth 
 when he says, concerning the whole line of patriarchs, that, 
 though they were all sanctified and renewed by faith, yet, 
 "they died !" 
 
 3. Nevertheless, from this line of the dying there flames 
 starlike a most lovely light of immortality when Moses here 
 records concerning Enoch that "he was not;" that is, he 
 no longer appeared among men, and yet he did not die but 
 was taken up into heaven by the Lord himself. By this glo- 
 rious fact is signified tliat the human race is indeed condemned 
 to death on account of sin, and yet the hope of life and im- 
 mortality is left us, that we need not abide in death forever." 
 
 4. For this cause God thought it needful, not only that 
 the promise of life should be given to the original world, but 
 that immortality should be demonstrated by an object lesson. 
 Accordingly Moses said of each patriarch tbat he fulfilled so 
 many years of life and "died" : that is, suffered the punishment 
 of sin, or, was a sinner. But the divine historian does not use 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 89 
 
 these expressions concerning Enoch. Not because that patri- 
 arch was not a sinner, but because, even unto such sinners a^ 
 he, tliere was left a hope of eternal life through the blessed 
 seed. Therefore all the patriarchs, who died in the faith of 
 this seed, held fast the hope of eternal life. 
 
 Enoch, therefore, is the second object lesson by which God 
 makes it manifest that it is his will to give unto us life eternal 
 after this life. The Lord says that Abel, who was killed by his 
 brotJier, still lived, and that his voice cried from the ground. 
 In the present instance, Enoch is taken up by the Lord himself 
 into heaven. 
 
 5. We will not despair, therefore, though we see death, de- 
 rived from Adam, extend to every one of the whole human 
 race. We must, indeed, suffer death because we are sinners. 
 But we shall not abide in death. We rather have a hope in a 
 divine purpose and providence whereby God designs our deliver- 
 ance from death. This deliverance has begun with the prom- 
 ise of the blessed seed, and 'has been demonstrated by Abel and 
 Enoch as object lessons. Wherefore we possess the first fruits 
 of immortality. The Apostle Paul says, "For in hope were 
 we saved," Eom 8, 24-. Hope saves us until the fullness of 
 immortality shall be brought unto us at the last day, when we 
 shall see and feel that eternal life which we possessed here in 
 faith and hope. 
 
 6. Now, the flesh does not understand this. The flesli 
 judges that man .dies like a beast. Men, occupying the front 
 rank of philosophers have felt accordingly that by death the 
 soul is separated and delivered from the prison of the body, to 
 mingle, free from all bodily infirmities, in the assembly of tlie 
 gods. Such was the immortality 'dreamed of by the philoso- 
 phers, though steadfastness of grasp and of vision was out of 
 the question. The Holy Scriptures, however, teach differently 
 concerning the resurrection and eternal life; they place this 
 hope so plainly before our eyes as to leave no room for doubt. 
 
 7. Next in order, we find in this chapter a reflection of the 
 condition of the primitive world. The ten antediluvian patri- 
 archs belonging to the lineage of Christ, with their descend- 
 ants, are enumerated. Nor is it a useless study to put these 
 
90 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 data before one's eyes on paper, according to the directions 
 given by Moses, to see who the patriarchs were, who were their 
 contemporaries, and how old they became, as I have taken the 
 time to do. Cain also has his line, as Moses has shown in the 
 preceding chapter, and I have no doubt that the posterity of 
 Cain was far more nimierous than that of righteous Seth, 
 
 8. Prom these two families, as from roots, was the world 
 peopled, do^vn to the deluge, in which both branches, with their 
 two classes of descendants (that is, the posterity of the wicked 
 and that of the righteous) were rooted out of the earth, eight 
 souls only being left, and even among them one was wicked. 
 Accordingly, as in this chapter a magnificent picture of the 
 primeval world is presented to our view^ so we behold also the 
 incalculable wrath of God, and the horrible event of the re- 
 duction of the total offspring of these patriarchs to eight souls. 
 
 9. We will reserve this awful record for its proper 
 time and place. Let us now do that which Moses does 
 in the present chapter, who wants us to consider the exceeding 
 splendor of this primeval age of the world. Adam lived be- 
 yond the age of his grandson Enoch, and died but a short 
 time before Koah was bom. A hundred and twenty years 
 only intervened between the death of Adam and the birth of 
 Noah. Seth died only fourteen years before Noah's birth. 
 Enosh and the rest of the patriarchs, except Enoch, lived at 
 the same time with Noah. Thus by a comparison of the fig- 
 ures, we shall ascertain that quite a number of gray-headed, 
 patriarchs, of whom one lived seven hundred, and another 
 nine hundred years, were contemporaries, and teaching and 
 governing the Church of the godly, 
 
 10. The exceeding glory of the primitive world consists 
 in this, that it contained' so many good and wise and holy 
 men. We are by no means to think that all these are merely 
 common names of plain and simple men. They were the great- 
 est heroes and men of renown that the world ever witnessed, next 
 to Christ and John the Baptist. In the last day we shall 
 behold and admire the real majesty of all these worthies, and 
 then we shall truly behold the mighty deeds wMeh these 
 mighty men wrought. Yes, it will then be made manifest 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 91 
 
 what Adam did, what Seth did, what Methuselah did, and the 
 others; what they suffered from the old serpent; how they 
 comforted and fortifie^d themselves, by their hope in the prom- 
 ised seed, against all the harm and violence of the world, 
 that is, of the Cainites; what craft they experienced; what 
 injuries and hatred and contempt they bore for the glory of 
 the blessed seed to be born from their lineage. We are as- 
 suredly not to imagine that these great and holy men lived 
 without severe afflictions and innumerable crosses. All these 
 things, I say, shall be revealed at the last day. 
 
 11. And it is an undertaking, as I said, full of profit and 
 pleasure now to contemplate with our minds, as with open 
 eyes, that happy age, in which so many patriarchs lived con- 
 temporaneously, nearly all of whom, except Noah, had seen 
 and known their first father, Adam. 
 
 B. The Glory of the Cainites. 
 
 12. Also the Cainites had their glory. Among them were 
 men most eminent in the liberal arts, and the most consum- 
 mate hypocrites, who gave the true Church a world of trouble, 
 and harassed the holy patriarchs in every possible way. We 
 may justly call all those who were thus oppressed by them 
 most holy martyrs and confessors. The Cainites, as Moses 
 before intimated, very soon surpassed the other descendants of 
 Adam in numbers and activity. Although they were com- 
 pelled to revere their father Adam, yet they adopted all pos- 
 sible means of oppressing the Church of the godly, and 
 especially so after the death of the first patriarch, Adam. By 
 such wickedness, these Cainites helped to bring on the flood 
 as retribution. 
 
 13. This power and malice of the Cainites caused the holy 
 patriarchs to teaoh and instruct their Churc'h with increased 
 zeal and industry. What numerous and powerful sermons 
 may we suppose were preached by them in the course of these 
 most eventful years ! There is no doubt that both Adam and 
 Eve testified of their original state of innocence, described 
 the glory of paradise and warned their posterity to beware 
 of the serpent, who, by tempting them to sin, had caused all 
 these great evils. How constant may we suppose them to have 
 
92 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 been in explaining the promise of the blessed seed! How 
 earnestly must they have exhorted the hearts of their follow- 
 ers to be moved neitlier by the splendor of the Cainites nor 
 by their own afflictions. 
 
 14. All these particulars Moses omits to record, both be- 
 cause they eould not be described on account of their infinite 
 variety of detail and because the revelation of them is re- 
 served for that great day of deliverance and glory ! 
 
 15. Likewise the flood, in spite of its horror, is described 
 with the greatest brevity because he wished to leave suoh 
 things to the meditation of men. 
 
 16. For the same reasons Moses has purposely given us, 
 in these first five chapters, as briefly as possible, a picture of 
 the original and primeval world. It was an admirahle con- 
 dition of life, and yet that primeval age contained a multitude 
 of the worst of men, in consequence not more than "eight 
 souls" were saved from the destroying flood! What then, 
 may we conclude, will be the state of things hefore the last 
 day shall come, seeing that even now, imder the revealed light 
 of the Gospel, there is found so great a host of despisers of 
 it that there is cause to fear that they will fill the world 
 ere long with errors and prevail to the extinction of the Word 
 altogether. 
 
 17. Awful is the voice of Christ when it utters the 
 words, "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he 
 find faith on the earth? Lk 18, 8. And in Matthew 24, 37-38, 
 our Lord compares the last days with the days of IsToah. These 
 utterances of oiir Lord are indeed most awful. But the 
 world, in its security and ingratitude, is a despiser of all the 
 threats as well as all the promises of God. It abounds in 
 iniquities of every kind and becomes daily more corrupt. 
 From the time that the popes ceased to rule among us, who 
 had ruled the whole world by means of the mere dread of their 
 vengeance, sound doctrine has been despised, and men have 
 degenerated into all but brutes and beasts. The number of 
 holy and godly preachers of the Word is becoming less and 
 all men are indulging their desires. The last day, however, 
 shall assuredly come upon the world as a thief, and will over- 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 
 
 93 
 
 take tliese men in all their securit}^, and in the indulgence of 
 their ambition, tyrannj^, lust, avarice, and vices of every kind. 
 18. And let it be remembered that it is Christ himself who 
 has foretold these things, and we can not possibly imagine 
 that he would lie. If the primitive world, which contained 
 so mighty a multitude of the greatest patriarchs, was so 
 wholly corrupted, what may we not have cause to dread in 
 the weakness of our nature? May the Lord our Grod grant 
 that we may be gathered, as soon as possible, in the faith and 
 confession of his Son Jesus Christ, unto these our fathers; 
 yea, if it please him, that we may die within the next twenty 
 years, and not live to see the miseries and calamities, both 
 temporal and spiritual, of the last time ! Amen ! 
 
 II. ADAM AND HIS SON SETH. 
 
 1. The name Adam, and why 
 given to the first man 19. 
 
 2. The Jews' fables of Adam's 
 cohabitation with Eve 20. 
 
 * Purity of doctrine cannot 
 be expected from the Jews 
 20. 
 
 3. Wliy Moses so carefully 
 describes the times of 
 Adam 21. 
 
 4. Why it is said of Adan> 
 that he was created in the 
 likeness of God 21-23. 
 
 * The likeness of God. 
 
 a. The difference between "Ze- 
 
 lem" and "Demuth" 22-23. 
 
 b. How the likeness of God 
 was lost and how it is re- 
 stored 24. 
 
 c. Whether it can be fully re- 
 stored in this life 25. 
 
 5. The prating of the rabbins 
 about the name Adam 26. 
 
 * Why Moses here mentions 
 the blessing 27. 
 
 * Why he did not refer to 
 the blessing in the descrip- 
 tions of Cain and Abel 28. 
 
 6. How long it was before 
 Adam begat Seth 29. 
 
 * Abel's age when murdered 
 29. 
 
 7. How and why Adam mourn- 
 
 ed so long for his son Abel, 
 and therefore refrained 
 from bearing children 29- 
 30. 
 
 S. The Jews' fable of Adam's 
 vow of chastity refuted 30. 
 
 9. How we are to understand 
 that Adam begat a son In 
 his own likeness 31. 
 10. Whether Adam's son Seth 
 had God's likeness 31. 
 
 11. How Adam acquired again 
 the lost image 32. 
 
 12. How Seth secured the like- 
 ness of God 32. 
 
 13. Why Adam gave his son 
 the name Seth; its mean- 
 ing 33. 
 
 * The long lives of the first 
 men. 
 
 a. Longevity a part of the 
 happy state of the first 
 world 34. 
 
 b. The causes of such long 
 lives 34-35. 
 
 * Men's bodies were much 
 stronger and healthier 
 than ours 35. 
 
 c. Whether the climate, food 
 and holy living contributed 
 to this end 36-37. 
 
 * The creatures given to 
 man for food after the 
 flood were inferior to 
 those .before, and they 
 injured the body more 
 than nourished it 37. 
 
 d. Luther's thoughts on this 
 theme 38. 
 
 14. Which is the first or chief 
 
 branch born from Adam 
 and Eve 39. 
 
 15. How long Adam lived after 
 
 Seth's birth 39. 
 
 * The glory of the first 
 world 40. 
 
 * The histories of the first 
 world were most excellent, 
 but they were destroyed in 
 the flood 41. 
 
 * EVe's age and experiences 
 42. 
 
 * The age of the first world 
 is called the golden age 
 43. 
 
0-t LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 II. ADAM AND HIS SON SETH. 
 
 V. la. This is the booh of the generations of Adam. 
 
 19. "Adam/' as will be stated further on, is the common 
 name of the whole human race, but it is applied to the first 
 man more expressly as an appellation of dignity, because he was 
 the source, as it were, of the whole human family. The He- 
 brew word sepher, "a, book/' is derived from saphar, which 
 signifies "to narrate" or "to enumerate." Wherefore this 
 narration or enumeration of the posterity of Adam is called 
 "the book of the generations of Adam." 
 
 V. lb. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of 
 God made he him. 
 
 30. This clause of the sacred text has induced the blind 
 Jews to fable that Adam slept with Eve as his wife in para- 
 dise on the same day in which he was created, and that she 
 conceived in that same day. Fables of this kind are numerous 
 among them, nor may anything sound or pure in the matter 
 of scriptural interpretation be expected of them. 
 
 21. The intent of Moses, in this clause, is to record the 
 complete age of Adam, and to number the days of his life 
 from the day of his creation, and, at the same time, to show 
 that before Adam there was no generation. G-eneration is to 
 be clearly distinguished from creation. There was no gen- 
 eration before Adam, but creation only. Adam and Eve 
 Avere not born but created, and that directly by God himself. 
 Moses adds, "In the likeness of God made he him." We are to 
 understand, then, that when he afterwards mentions that 
 Adam begat Seth, he numbers his years from the very day of 
 his creation. 
 
 22. In respect to Adam's having been made in the like- 
 ness of God, we have shown above in its place what that "like- 
 ness" of God was. Although almost all commentators under- 
 stand the expressions, "the likeness of God/' and "the image 
 of God/' to mean one and the same thing, yet so far as I have 
 been able from careful investigation to reach a conclusion, 
 there is a difference between the two terms. Zelem properly 
 signifies "an image/' or "figure," as when the Scripture says, 
 Ye shall break down their images, Ex. 23, 24, in which pas- 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 95 
 
 sage the original term signifies nothing more than the figures, 
 or statues, or images erected by men. But demuth signifies "a 
 likeness/^ or "the perfectness of an image." For instance, 
 when we ispeak of a lifeless image, such as that which is im- 
 pressed on coins, we say, This is the image of Brutus or of 
 Csesar. That image, however, does not reproduce the like- 
 ness, nor exhibit every single feature. 
 
 23. Accordingly, when Moses says that man was created 
 also in the likeness of God, he points out that man resembles 
 God not only in the possession of reason, or of intellect and 
 will, but that he has also the likeness of God, that is, a will 
 and an intellect, with which he knows God and wills what he 
 wills. 
 
 24. If man, having been created both "in the image" and 
 "in the likeness" of God, had not fallen, he would have lived 
 forever, full of joy and gladness, and would have possessed a 
 will joyfully eager to obey the will of God. But by sin both 
 this "likeness" and this "image" were lost. They are, how- 
 ever, in a measure, restored by faith, as we are told by the 
 apostle. Col 3, 10; Eph 4, 24. For we begin to know God, 
 and the spirit of Christ helps us, so that we desire to obey 
 the commandments of God. 
 
 25. Of these blessed gifts we possess only the first-fruits. 
 This new creation within us is only as yet begun; it is not 
 perfected here in the flesh. The will is in some measure 
 stirred to praise God, to give him thanks, to confess sin, and 
 to exercise patience, but all this is only the first-fruits. The 
 flesh, obeying the law of its nature, still follows the things of 
 the flesh, while it opposes the things of God. The result 
 is that the restoration of such gifts in us is only in the in- 
 itial stage; but the full tithe of this likeness in all its perfec- 
 tion shall be rendered in the future life, when the sinful flesh 
 shall have been destroyed by d'eath. 
 
 V. 2. Male and female created he them, and hlessed 
 them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were 
 created. 
 
 26. I have above observed that the general name "Adam" 
 was applied to Adam alone, by reason of his superiority. I 
 
96 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 omit to mention those vagaries of the rabbins, who say that no 
 man can be called "Adam" unless he has a wife. Likewise, no 
 woman can be called "Adam" unless married. The thought 
 may have been drawn from the teachings of the fathers, but 
 the Jews have corrupted it by their foolish fancies and opinions. 
 
 37. Moses aims to show this blessing was not taken from 
 man because of his sin, since the blessing of bearing children 
 and ruling them continued with Cain though he had murdered 
 his brother. 
 
 28. Moses mentions not Abel, for he had died without an 
 heir and is presented to us as an example of the resurrection 
 of the dead. Neither is Cain mentioned, who because of his 
 sin was cut off from the true Church. 
 
 39. Scripture says nothing of what Adam and Eve did 
 during the one hundred years. Some of our writers add a 
 hundred years longer Adam should have lived with Eve before 
 Cain slew his brother Abel, which makes Adam two hundred 
 and thirty years of age when Seth was born. It seems to me 
 plausible that the godly parents passed one hundred years in 
 sorrow and mourned the great dishonor that befell their fam- 
 ily. After Adam was expelled from paradise did he first beget 
 children, sons and daughters, who were like him, and Abel 
 was perhaps thirty years of age when he was slain. It appears 
 the children were not much younger than their parents, who 
 were not born, but created. 
 
 30. I believe, accordingly, that the godly parents indulged 
 their grief, and abstained from connubial intercourse. This ab- 
 stinence, however, was not maintained with the intent which 
 the Jews fable, who absurdly affirm that Adam vowed per- 
 petual chastity, like our monks, and that he would still have 
 kept his vow had he not been commanded by an angel from 
 heaven to live together with his wife. Such a story as this 
 is only fit to be told to a Eoman pontiff of the age of forty, 
 who alone is worthy of listening to such fables. No, Adam was 
 not so wicked as thus to refuse the gift and command of God ! 
 Such abstinence would have been taking vengeance on himself 
 for the grief he had endured, and it would have meant to re- 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 97 
 
 ject the gift of that blessing which God had been pleased to 
 leave to nature even in its fallen state. 
 
 Moreover, this was a matter not left in the power of Adam. 
 As Moses has clearly shown, God had created him a male. He 
 had, therefore, need of a female, or wife, because the instinct 
 of procreation vv^as implanted in his nature by God the Creator, 
 himself. If therefore Adam abstained, he did so for a reason 
 only, intending to return to his Eve after giving vent to his 
 grief for a time. 
 
 31. Moses here expressly adds, concerning Adam, that he 
 "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." Theologians 
 entertain various opinions as to the real meaning of those ex- 
 pressions. The simple meaning is, that Adam was created "in 
 the image" and "after the likeness" of God, or that he was the 
 image of God, created, not begotten ; for Adam had no parents. 
 But in this "image of God" Adam continued not; he fell from 
 it b}^ sin. Seth, therefore, who was afterwards born, was begot- 
 ten, not after the image of God, but after the imago of his 
 father Adam. That is, he was altogether like Adam; he re- 
 sembled his father Adam, not only in his features, but he was 
 like him in every way. He not only had fingers, nose, eyes, 
 carriage, voice, and speech, like his father, but he was like him 
 in everything else pertaining to body and soul, in manners, 
 disposition, will and other points. In these respects Seth 
 did not bear the image of God which Adam possessed origin- 
 ally, and which he lost ; but he bore the likeness of Adam, his 
 father. But this likeness and im.age were not of God by crea- 
 tion, but of Adam by generation. 
 
 32. Now, this image included original sin, and the punish- 
 ment of eternal death on account of sin, which God inflicted 
 on Adam. But as Adam, by faith in the seed that was to 
 come, recovered the image of God, which he had lost, so Seth 
 also recovered the same after he grew up to man's estate; for 
 God impressed again his own "likeness" upon him through the 
 Word. Paul refers to this wlien he says to the Galatians, "My 
 little children, of whom I am again in ti-avail until Christ be 
 formed in you," Gal 4, 19. 
 
 33. Of the name Seth I have spoken above. It denotes 
 
98 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 commanid, and voices the sentiments of one praying and prophe- 
 sying good news, as if Adam had said : "Cain has not only him- 
 self fallen, but also caused his brother to fall. May God, there- 
 fore, grant that this my son Seth shall stand as a firm founda- 
 tion which Satan shall not overthrow." Such blessing or prayer 
 is' implied in the name. 
 
 V. 4-5. And the days of Adam after lie hegat Seth were 
 eight hundred years and he hegat sons and daughters. And 
 all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty 
 years and he died. 
 
 34. This is another part of the happiness of that age, that 
 men attained to so long life. Such longevity, when compared 
 with the length of our lives, seems quite incredible. A ques- 
 tion naturally arises as to the cause and theory of such old 
 age. I am not at all displeased with the reasons assigned by 
 some, that the constitutions of men were then far better than 
 ours are now, and also that all things then used for food were 
 more healthful than those now used. To these particulars we 
 must add that important requisite for a long life, the greatest 
 moderation in the use and enjoyment of food. To what extent 
 the latter conduces to health, is needless to explain. 
 
 35. Though the body was sounder than at present, yet the 
 general vigor and strength of limb which men had in paradise 
 before the advent of sin, had passed away. It is true, however, 
 that their bodily well-being was enhanced when, after the fall, 
 they were renewed and regenerated through faith in the prom- 
 ised seed. For the same reason, also, sin was weakened through 
 faith in the seed. As for us, we have lost their strength and 
 vigor just in proportion as we have departed from their right- 
 eousness. 
 
 36. With reference to food, who cannot easily believe that 
 one apple, in that primeval age, was more excellent and afforded 
 a greater degree of nourishment than a thousand in our time? 
 The roots, also, on which they fed, contained infinitely more fra- 
 grance, virtue and savor, tlian they possess now. All these con- 
 ditions, but notably holiness and righteousness, the exercise of 
 moderation, then the excellence of the fruit and the salubrity 
 of the atmosphere — all these tended to produce longevity till the 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 99 
 
 time came for the establishment of a new order by G-od which, 
 resulted in a decided reduction of the length of man's life. 
 
 37. Now, if we turn to consider thoughtfully our present 
 mode of life^ we find that we are much more corrupted than 
 nourished by the meat and drink we consume. In addition to 
 the immoderation characterizing our life, how much have the 
 fruits themselves lost in excellence? Our first parents lived 
 moderately, and chose only those things for their meat and 
 drink calculated to nourish and refresh their bodies. There can 
 be no doubt that after the deluge all the fruits of the earth 
 deteriorated greatly. Even so, in our own age, we find all 
 things deteriorate. The Italian wines and fruits differ no more 
 from our own at the present day than the fruits before the 
 deluge differed from those produced amid that brackishness 
 and foulness made by the sea. 
 
 38. These causes, with others which many assign for the 
 great longevity of the primeval patriarchs, I by no means dis- 
 approve. But this one reason is quite sufficient, in my opinion, 
 that it pleased God to give them such length of life in the best 
 part of the world. Yet we see, as Peter strikingly says, that 
 God willed not to spare the old world, no, not even the angels 
 in heaven that sinned; so horrible a thing is sin. Sodom and 
 Gomorrah were the choicest portion of the earth, and yet, on 
 account of sin, they were utterly destroyed. In the same man- 
 ner the Holy Scriptures everywhere set forth the greatness of 
 sin, and exhort to the fear of God. 
 
 39. We have now the root, or rather the source, of the 
 human race, namely Adam and his Eve. From these Seth is 
 born, the first branch of this tree. But as Adam lived eight 
 hundred years after the birth of Seth, Adam saw himself in 
 possession of numerous progeny. This was the period of the 
 restoration of righteousness through the promise of the seed to 
 come. Afterwards, however, when men increased, and the sons 
 of God mingled with the daughters of men, the world' gradually 
 became corrupt, and the majesty of the holy patriarchs becam? 
 an object of contempt. 
 
 40. It is an attractive sight, to view the number of gray- 
 
100 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 headed patriarclis living at the same time. Only a little cipher- 
 ing is required to do it. If you compute carefully the years of 
 our first parent, Adam, you will see that he lived over fifty 
 years with Lameeh, Noah's father. Accordingly, Adam saw all 
 his descendants down to the ninth generation, having an al- 
 most infinite number of sons and daughters. These, however. 
 Moses does not enumerate, being satisfied to number the trunk 
 and the immediate branches down to Noah. 
 
 41. There were, without doubt, in this mighty multitude, 
 many very distinguished saints, whose history, if we possessed 
 it, would exceed in marvelousness all the histories of the world. 
 Compared with it, the exodus of the children of Israel from 
 Egypt, their passage through the Eed Sea and through Jordan. 
 their captivities and returns, would be as nothing. But as the 
 primeval world itself perished, so did its history. In conse- 
 quence, the first place in the annals of history belongs to the 
 account of the flood, in comparison with which the others are 
 only as sparks to the fire. Of the former world we have notic- 
 ing but names, but these are, so to speak, great histories in 
 miniature. 
 
 42. It is probable that also Eve lived to the age of 800 
 years and saw this great posterity. What must have been her 
 concern, how great her labors, how devoted her toils, in visit- 
 ing, in teaching, and in training her children and grandchil- 
 dren. And what must have been her crosses and sighs, when 
 the generation of the Cainites opposed with so much determina- 
 tion the true Church, although some of them were even con- 
 verted by the uncovenanted mercy of God. 
 
 43. Truly that primeval time was a "golden age," in com- 
 parison with which our present age is scarcely worthy of being 
 called the age of mud. During those primeval centuries, there 
 lived at the same time nine patriarchs, together with their pos- 
 terities, and all of them in harmony concerning the faith in 
 the blessed seed ! All these glorious things Moses just men- 
 tions, but does not explain ; otherwise this would be the history 
 of histories. 
 
GENESIS V. SETII AND HIS SONS. 
 III. ENOCH. 
 
 101 
 
 1. Why Moses writes the his- 
 tory of Enoch and not that 
 of the other patriarchs be- 
 fore the flood 43-45. 
 
 2. How it is to be understood 
 that Enoch led a g'odly life 
 and how the monks inter- 
 pret this falsely 46. 
 
 3. Enoch's prophecy cited 
 by Judas and where Judas 
 received it 47. 
 
 4. Enoch's exceptional cour- 
 age and how he opposed 
 Satan and the world 48. 
 
 5. The length of time he led 
 a godly life; and Moses 
 justly praises him 49. 
 
 6. Why Enoch is so greatly 
 praised 50. 
 
 7. The tenor of his preach- 
 ing 51. 
 
 8. He by no means led the 
 life of a monk 51. 
 
 9. How he was missed. "He 
 was not" 52. 
 
 • Enoch's ascension a proof 
 of the resurrection of the 
 dead 52. 
 
 10. The effect of his ascen- 
 sion upon his father and 
 grandfather 53-55. 
 
 11. Whether the other patri- 
 archs living then at once 
 knew that he ascended; 
 and how such news affect- 
 ed them 54-56. 
 
 • The cross must always 
 precede consolation 54. 
 
 12. Why God took Enoch 55. 
 
 • The news of Enoch's as- 
 cension must have quick- 
 ened the holy patriarchs 
 56. 
 
 13. Enoch's ascension a sign 
 that a better life is offered 
 to man 57. 
 
 14. How Enoch walked and 
 lived before God 58. 
 
 15. Enoch a man as we are 
 and yet God took him 58. 
 
 • The great sorrow of the 
 patriarchs at Enoch's dis- 
 appearance and their great 
 joy over such an experi- 
 ence 59. 
 
 • Seth at the time was high 
 priest, old and tired of 
 life, and died soon after 
 
 Enoch was taken 60-63. 
 
 * What Luther would do if 
 he knew in advance the 
 day of his death 61. 
 
 * This temporal life full of 
 want and misery 62. 
 
 * The results of Seth's 
 preaching after Enoch's 
 ascension 63. 
 
 * The longing of the holy 
 fathers for eternal life, 
 and how it should serve us 
 64. 
 
 * Lamentation over the 
 great corruption inherent 
 in our flesh 65. 
 
 16. Enocli's ascension was 
 great comfort to the holy 
 patriarchs in meeting 
 death 66. 
 
 * Of death. 
 
 a. It is not death to believ- 
 ers, but a sleep 66. 
 
 b. In what way death is a 
 punishment of sin, and 
 how it is sweetened 67. 
 
 * Luther' s thoughts of 
 Enoch's ascension 67. 
 
 17. Enoch's ascension extraor- 
 dinary, and well worthy of 
 consideration by all 68. 
 
 18. The r a b b i n s' foolish 
 thoughts of Enoch's ascen- 
 sion refuted 69. 
 
 19. Enoch doubtless had many 
 temptations 69. 
 
 20. Enoch ascended even bodi- 
 ly, and not with that life 
 which he now lives 70. 
 
 * How and why God willed 
 that the world should have 
 in all times a sign of the 
 resurrection, and hence in 
 the first world Enoch as- 
 cended, in the second Eli- 
 jah, and in the third 
 Christ 71. 
 
 * Lamentation over the un- 
 belief of the world 72. 
 
 * Christ's ascension more 
 significant than Enoch's or 
 Elijah's 73. 
 
 * The chief doctrine of the 
 first five chapters of Gene- 
 sis 74. 
 
 * How and why death and 
 the resurrection of the 
 dead are set forth 74. 
 
 III. ENOCH. 
 
 44. There is one history, however, that of Enoch, the .seventh 
 from. Adam, which Moses was not willing to pass over for the 
 reason of its being extraordinarily remarkable. Still, even 
 in this ease he is extremely brief. 
 
102 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 In the case of all the other patriarchs he mentions only the 
 names and the number of their years. Enoch, however, he de- 
 lineates in such a manner that he seems, in comparison, to 
 slight the other patriarchs and, as it were, to disparage them as 
 if they were evil men, or at least slighted of God. Did not 
 Adami also, and Seth, and Cainan, together witli their descend- 
 ants — did not all these, also, walk with God? Why, then, does 
 Moses ascribe this great honor to Enoch only ? And is the fact 
 that God took Enoch to be understood as if the other patriarchs 
 are neither with God nor living ? Yes, they all, like Enoch, now 
 live with God, and we shall behold them all, at the last day, 
 shining equally with Enoch, in the brightest glory ! 
 
 45. Why, then, does Moses discriminate in favor of Enoch? 
 Why does he not bestow the same praise upon the other patri- 
 archs ? Although they died a natural death, and were not taken 
 by God, yet, also they "walked with God." We have heard 
 above concerning Enosh tliat in his times, likewise, mighty 
 things were done. It was in his days that "men began to call 
 upon the name of Jehovah," that is, that the Word and wor- 
 ship of God began to flourish; and as a result holy men once 
 more "walked with God." Why is it then, we repeat, that 
 Moses does not laud Enosh equally with Enoch ? Why does he 
 bestow such high praise on the latter only ? For his words are 
 these : 
 
 V. 21-24, And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and legal 
 Methuselah. "And Enoch walked with God after he begat 
 Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 
 And all the days- of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five 
 years. And Enoch walked with Ood: and he was not; for God 
 took him. 
 
 46. When Moses says that Enoch "walked with God," we 
 must heware of taking the monastic view in the premises, as 
 if he had kept himself secluded in some private corner, and 
 there lived a monastic life. No, so eminent a patriarch must 
 be placed on a candlestick, or, as our Saviour Christ expresses 
 it, set as a city on a hill, that he may shine forth in the pub- 
 lic ministry, 
 
 47. It is as a bearer of such public office the Apostle Jude 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 103 
 
 extols him in his epistle, when he says : "To these also Enoch, 
 the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord 
 came with ten thousands of holy ones, to execute judgment upon 
 all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodli- 
 ness, which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard 
 things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him," Jude 
 vs. 14, 15. From what source Jude obtained these facts I 
 know not. Probably they remained in the memory of man from 
 the primitive age of the world; or it may be that holy men 
 committed to writing many of the sacred words and works of 
 the patriarchs as they were handed down from age to age by 
 tradition. 
 
 48. It is this public ministry that Moses lauds, exalting 
 the pious Enoch as a sun above all the other patriarchs and 
 teachers of the primeval world. Wherefore, we may gather from 
 all these circumstances that Enoch possessed a particular 
 fullness of the Holy Spirit, and a pre-eminent greatness of 
 mind, seeing that he opposed with a strength of faith excelling 
 that of all the other patriarchs, Satan and the church of the 
 Cainites. To walk with God, is not, as we have before ob- 
 served, for a man to flee into a desert, or to conceal himself in 
 some corner, but to go forth in his vocation, and to set himself 
 against the iniquity and malice of Satan and the world, and to 
 confess the seed of the woman; to condemn the religion and 
 the pursuits of the world, and to preach, through Christ, an- 
 other life after this. 
 
 49. This is the manner of life led for three hundred years 
 by the greatest prophet and high priest of his generation, 
 Enoch, the man who had six patriarchs for his teachers. Most 
 deservedly, therefore, does Moses extol him as a disciple of great- 
 est eminence, taught and trained by many patriarchal masters, 
 and those the greatest and most illustrious; and, moreover, so 
 equipped with the Holy Spirit that he was the prophet of 
 prophets and the saint of saints in that primeval world. The 
 greatness of Enoch, then, consisted in the first place in his of- 
 fice and ministry. 
 
 50. In the second place, he receives preeminent praise be- 
 
104 LUTIIEE ON SIN AND TPIE FLOOD. 
 
 cause it was the will of God that he should be an example to 
 the whole world in verifying, and showing the comfort of, the 
 faith in the future life. This text, therefore, is worthy of be- 
 ing written in letters of gold and of being deeply engraven in 
 the inmost heart. 
 
 51. Here we have another view of what it means to walk 
 with God. It is to preach the life beyond this present life; to 
 teach concerning the seed to come, concerning the serpent's 
 head that is to be bruised and the kingdom of Satan that is 
 to be destroyed. Such was the preaching of Enoch, who never- 
 theless was a husband, and the f atiier of a family ; who had a 
 wife and children, who governed his household, and procured 
 his subsistence by the labor of his own hands. 'Wherefore say 
 or think no more about living in a monastery, which has merely 
 the outward show of walking with God. When this godly man 
 had lived, after the birth of Methuselah, 300 years in the truest 
 religion, in faith, in patience and in the midst of a thousand 
 crosses, all of which he endured and overcame by faith in the 
 blessed seed to come, he appeared no more. 
 
 52. Mark how pregnant these words are with power! He 
 does not say, as he expresses himself concerning the other 
 patriarchs, "and he died/' but "he was not," an expression that 
 all scholars have come to regard as a pure proof of the resur- 
 rection of the dead. In the Hebrew this meaning is most strik- 
 ingly brought out. And Enoch walked with God, and vecnenu, 
 "he was not." The original signifies that Enoch was lost 
 or disappeared, contrary to the thouglit or expectation of all 
 the other patriarchs, and at once ceased to be among men. 
 
 53. Without doubt, at the severe loss of so great a man, 
 both his father and his grandfather were filled with grief and 
 consternation; for they well knew with what devotion he had 
 taught the true religion, and how many things he had suffered. 
 When they had thus suddenly lost such a man as Enoch, who 
 had strong testimony of his godliness both from men and from 
 God himself, what do you think must have been their feelings ? 
 
 54. Find me, if you can, a poet or a fluent orator to do 
 justice to this text and to treat it with power! Enosh, Seth, 
 and all the other patriarchs knew not by whom or whither 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 105 
 
 Enoch was taken away; they sought him, but found him not. 
 His son Methuselah sought him, and his other children and 
 his grandchildren sought him, but they found him not. They 
 suspected, no doubt, the malice of the Cainites, and they prob- 
 ably thought that he was killed, as Abel was, and secretly 
 buried. 
 
 At length, however, they learned, through a revelation made 
 to them of God by an angel, that Enoch was taken away by 
 God himself, into paradise. This fact they probably did not 
 know the first or the second day after the translation, and 
 perhaps not till many months, or it may be many years, after- 
 wards. In the meantime the holy men bewailed his wretched 
 lot, as if he had been slain by the Cainite hypocrites. It is 
 always the divine rule that the cross and affliction should pre- 
 cede consolation. God never comforts any but the afflicted, 
 just as he never quickens unto life any but the dead, nor ever 
 justifies any but sinners ! He always creates all things out of 
 nothing. 
 
 55. It was a severe cross and affliction to the patriarchs 
 when they saw taken away from them, to appear nowhere 
 among them, him \v^ho had governed the whole world by his 
 doctrine, and who had done so many illustrious deeds in the 
 course of his life. While these patriarchs were mourning and 
 bewailing the misfortune of the holy man, behold! consola- 
 tion was at hand, and it was revealed to them that the Lord 
 had "translated" Enoch ! Such an expression we have not con- 
 cerning any other man than Enoch, except Elijah, God willed, 
 therefore, to testify by an object lesson, that he has prepared 
 for his saints anotlier life after this life, in which they shall 
 live forever with God. 
 
 56. The Hebrew verb lakak does not signify "translated" 
 according to the impression conveyed by our use of the word, 
 but "received to himself.^' These words are, accordingly, words 
 of life, revealed by God through some angel to the patriarch 
 Enoch, and to the whole of that generation of saints, that they 
 might have the consolation and promise of eternal life, not only 
 through a word, but also through an act, as before in the case 
 
106 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 of Abel. How delightful must have been to them this proclama- 
 tion, when they heard that Enoch was not dead, nor slain by 
 wicked men, nor taken away from them by the fraud or snares 
 of Satan, but translated; that is, "received to himself" by the 
 living and omnipotent God. 
 
 57. This is that bright gem which Moses sought to display 
 in the present chapter — that the omnipotent Grod did not 
 take unto himself geese, or cows, or blocks of wood, or stones, 
 but a man, even Enoch, to teach there was reserved for men an- 
 other and better life than this present one, so lilled with evils 
 and calamities of every kind. Although Enoch was a sinner, 
 yet the manner of his departure from this life proved that God 
 had prepared for him and brought him to another and eternal 
 life ; for" he entered upon the life with God, and God took him 
 to liimself. 
 
 58. Accordingly, Enoch's walking with God signifies that 
 he was in this life a faithful witness of eternal life to be gained 
 after tliis life through the promised seed. This is what living 
 with God means, not the mere animal life subject to corruption. 
 Inasmuch as Enoch constantly preached this doctrine, G^d 
 verified and fulfilled this preaching in the patriarch himself, 
 that we might fully and surely believe it; in that Enoch, a man 
 like unto ourselves, bom of flesh and blood, as we also are, of 
 the seed of Adam, was taken up into heaven by God, and now 
 lives the life of God, that is, an eternal life. 
 
 59. Before the generation of patriarchs knew the facts in 
 the case, it was appalling to them to hear that so holy a man 
 as Enoch had disappeared so completely that his whereabouts 
 or manner of death was beyond everybody's ken. Great, there- 
 fore, was the grief of the pious parents and elders. But after- 
 wards incredible joy and consolation were theirs when they 
 heard that their son lived with God himself and had been 
 translated by God to an angelic and eternal life. 
 
 60. This consolation God made known to Seth, who was the 
 greatest prophet and high priest after his father Adam had 
 fallen asleep in the faith of the blessed seed fifty-seven years 
 before, Seth having then arrived at about his eight hundred 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 107 
 
 and sixtieth year. Seth, being now an old man and full of days 
 and without doubt fiilly confirmed in the faith of the blessed 
 seed to come, and anxiously awaiting deliverance from the 
 body and earnestly desiring to be gathered to his people, died 
 with greater joy about fifty-two years afterward, because of the 
 translation of his son Enoch. Fifty-two years were indeed but 
 a short time for an old man wherein to make his will and visit 
 all his grandchildren, and preach to them and exhort them to 
 persevere in the faith of the promised seed and to hope in that 
 eternal life unto which his son and their father Enoch had been 
 translated to live with God. In this manner, doubtless, the 
 aged saint employed his time among his descendants, bidding 
 farewell to land blessing each one. Full of years and full of 
 joy, he no doubt thus taught and comforted both himself and 
 them. 
 
 61. If I knew that I were appointed to die in six months' 
 time, I should scarcely find time enough wherein to make my 
 will. I would remind men of what had heen the testimony of 
 my preaching, exhort and entreat them to continue and per- 
 severe therein, and v/am and guard them as far as my powers 
 of mind could do so, against tlie offense of false doctrine. All 
 these things could not be done in one day, nor in one month. 
 Those fifty years during which Seth lived after the translation 
 of Enoch, formed but a very short period for him (for spiritual 
 men have an altogether different method of calculating time 
 than the children of this world) in which to instruct all his 
 family in the nature of this glorious consolation — that another 
 and eternal life is to be hoped for after this life, a hope which 
 God revealed to his saints by the marvelous fact of his having 
 taken to himself Enoch, who was of the same flesh and blood 
 with ourselves. 
 
 62. "Follow not," said he, "the evil inclinations of youi 
 nature, but despise this present life and look forward to a bet- 
 ter. For what evil exists that is not found in this present life ? 
 To how many diseases, to what great dangers, to what dreadful 
 calamities, is it not subject? to say nothing now of those evils 
 which are the greatest of all afflictions, those spiritual dis- 
 
108 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 tresses which burden with anguisli the mind and conscience, 
 sudh. as the Law, sin, and death itself. 
 
 63. "Why is it then, that ye so anxiously expect such great 
 consolations from this present life as to seem incapable of ever 
 being completely satisfied? Were it not for the fact that God 
 wants us to live to proclaim him, to thank him, and to serve 
 the brethren, life is such as to suggest its voluntai^ termination. 
 This service, therefore, let us render unto Grod, with all dili- 
 gence. Let us look forward with continual sighs to that true 
 life to which, my children, your brother Enoch has been trans- 
 lated by the glorious God." 
 
 These and like things the aged saint taught his people after 
 his great consolation had been revealed. There is no doubt 
 that after it was understood that Enoch was translated alive 
 into immortality, they longed for the time when they - also 
 might be delivered out of this afflicted life, in the same man- 
 ner, or at least by death. 
 
 64. If, then, those godly patriarchs of old so anxiously 
 looked forward to the eternal life and desired it to come, on ac- 
 count of Abel and Enoch, whom they knew to be living with 
 God, how much greater ought to be our expectation and de- 
 sire, who have Christ for our leader unto eternal life, who 
 is gone before, as Peter says in Acts 3, 20-26. They believed 
 in him as one to come ; we know that he has become manifest, 
 and has gone to the Father to prepare for us a home, and to 
 sit at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. Ought 
 we not, therefore, to sigh for tliose future things, and to hate 
 those of the present? It is not an Enoch or an Abel who sets 
 before us, as those patriarchs did before their people, the hope 
 of a better life to come; but Christ, the leader and author 
 of life himself. It becomes us, therefore, firmly to despise this 
 life and world, and with swelling breast toi pant after the com- 
 ing gloiy of eternal life. 
 
 65. Herein we feel how great is the infirmity of our flesh 
 which lusts after these present things with eager desire but 
 fails to rejoice in the certainties of the life to come. How is 
 it possible that a fact should not be most certain which has for 
 witnesses not only Abel and Enoch and Elijah, but also Christ 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. - 109 
 
 himself, the 'head and the first fruits of those that rise ? Most 
 worthy, therefore, the hatred of both God and men are the 
 wicked Epicureans; and most worthy our hatred also is our 
 own flesh, when we wholly plunge into temporal cares and se- 
 curely disregard the eternal blessings. 
 
 66. Worthy of note and carefully to be remembered is the 
 statement that Enoch was taken up and received, not by some 
 patriarch or angel, but by G-od himself. This was the very 
 consolation which rendered the deaths of the patriarchs endur- 
 able; yea, which enabled them to depart from this life with joy. 
 They saw that the seed which had been promised them warred, 
 even before he was revealed, with Satan, and bruised, through 
 Ennch. his head. Such was the hope entertained by them con- 
 cerning tliemselves and all their believing descendants, and, in 
 perfect security, they despised death as having ceased' to be 
 death, as having become a sleep from which they were to awaken 
 into life eternal. "To them that believe," death is not really 
 death, but a, sleep. Wlien the terror, the power, and the sting 
 of death are taken away, it can no longer be considered death. 
 The greater the faith of the dying man, the weaker is death. 
 On the other hand, the weaker the faith of the dying man, the 
 more bitter is death. 
 
 67. In this text we are also reminded of the nature of sin. 
 If Adam had not sinned, we should not have been dying men, 
 but, like Enoch of old, we should have been translated, without 
 fear or pain, from this animal life to that better and spiritual 
 life. But although we have forfeited that life, the present his- 
 tory of the patriarch Enoch assures us that the restitution of 
 paradise and of eternal life is not to be despaired of. Our flesh 
 cannot be free from pain, but where conscience 'has obtained 
 peace, death is no more than a swoon, by means of which we 
 pass out of this life into eternal rest. Had our nature remained 
 innocent, it would not have known such pain of the flesh. We 
 should have been taken up as if asleep, presently to awaken in 
 heaven, and to lead the life of the angels. Now, however, that 
 the flesh is defiled by sin, it must first be destroyed by death. 
 As to Enoch, perhaps he lay down in some grassy spot and fell 
 
110 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE ELOOD. 
 
 asleep praying; and sleeping he was taken up by God, without 
 pain; without death. 
 
 68. Let us give proper attention to this text to which Moses 
 attaches special importance as embodying an account of the 
 most noteworthy event of the primitive world. What fact could 
 possibly inspire more wonder and admiration than that a man, 
 a corrupt sinner, born of flesh and blood, as we are, and defiled 
 a* we are by that sin and corruption, so obtained the victory 
 over death as not to die at all ! Christ himself is man, and 
 righteous, yet our sins caused him to suffer the bitterest of all 
 deaths ; but he is delivered on the third day, and lifts himself 
 up unto life eternal. In Enoch there was the singular fact that 
 he died not at all, but was caught up, without death interven- 
 ing, to the life spiritual and eternal. 
 
 6Q. Emphatically deserving of aversion are the rabbins. 
 The sublimest passages of the Scriptures they shamefully cor- 
 rupt. As ai case in point, they prate concerning Enoch that, 
 while he was good and righteous, he very much inclined toward 
 carnal desires. God, therefore, out of pity, prevented his sin- 
 ning and perishing through death. Is not this, I pray you, a 
 shocking corruption of the text before us? Why should they 
 say concerning Enoch in particular, that he was subject to 
 the evil desires of the flesh ? As if all the other patriarchs did 
 not experience the same. Why do they not notice the repeated 
 testimony of Moses, that Enoch "walked with God"? That is 
 certainly evidence that Enoch did not indulge those evil in- 
 clinations of his flesh, but bravely overcame them by faith. 
 The Jews when speaking of the corrupt desires of the flesh have 
 reference to lust, avarice, pride, and similar promptings. Enoch, 
 however, without doubt, lived amid mightier temptations than 
 these; like Paul, he felt that "thorn in the flesh"; day by day 
 he wrestled with Satan ; and when, at length, he was completely 
 bruised and worn out with every kind of temptation, God com- 
 manded him to depart from this life to the blessed life to come. 
 
 70. What that life is which Enoch now lives, we who still 
 continue to be flesh and blood cannot possibly know. It is 
 enough for us to know that Enoch was translated in his body. 
 This the patriarchs must have clearly understood by revelation, 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. Ill 
 
 and about to die, tliey needed this comfort. This much we 
 know also. But what that holy patriarch is now doing, where 
 he is, and how he lives, we know not. We know that he lives ; 
 and we also know that the life he lives is not like unto this 
 animal life, but that he is with God. This the text before us 
 distinctly declares. 
 
 71. This fact, then, makes the narrative under considera- 
 tion so memorable that God intended to use it for the purpose 
 of setting before the old, primeval world the hope of a better 
 life. Likewise, to the second world, which had the Law, God 
 gave the example of Elijah, who also was taken up into heaven 
 and translated by the Lord before the very eyes of his own 
 servant Elisha. We are now in the New Covenant, in a third 
 world, as it were. We have Christ himself, our great deliverer, 
 fis our glorious example, who ascended into the heavens, taking 
 with him many of his saints. 
 
 It was God's will to establish for every age a testimonial 
 of the resurrection of the dead, that he might thereby allure 
 our minds by all possible attractions from this corrupt and in 
 many ways wretched life, in which, however, we will gladly 
 serve God as long as it shall please him, by the faithful per- 
 formance of all public and private duties, and especially by in- 
 structing others in holiness and in the knowledge of God. But, 
 as the apostle says, we have here "no certain dwelling-place," 
 1 Cor 4, 11. Christ, our forerunner, is gone before us, that he 
 might prepare for us, the eternal mansions, Jn 14, 2-3. 
 
 72. Just as we lind many among us by whom such things 
 are considered absurd, and not sufficiently worthy of faith, so 
 there is no doubt that this account was deemed ridiculous by 
 most people. The world is ever the same. For that reason 
 these things have by divine authority been committed to writ- 
 ing and recorded for the saints and the faithful, that these 
 might read, understand, believe and heed them. They present 
 to our sight a manifest triumph over death and sin, and afford 
 us a sure comfort in Enoch's victory over the Law, and the 
 wrath and judgment of God. To the godly nothing can yield 
 more grace and joy than these antediluvian records. 
 
 73. But the New Testament truly overflows with the mercy 
 
112 
 
 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE ELOOD. 
 
 of God. While we do not discard records like these, we 
 have others far superior. We have the Son of God himself 
 ascending to the skies, and sitting at the right hand of God. 
 In him we see the serpent's head completely bruised, and the 
 life lost in paradise restored. This is more than the translation 
 of Enoch and of Elijah ; still, it was God's will in this manner 
 to a/d)minister comfort to the original world and also to the 
 succeeding one, which had the Law. 
 
 74. The paramount doctrine contained in these five chap- 
 ters is, accordingly, this: that men died and lived again. In 
 Adam all men died. But believers lived again through the 
 promised seed, as the histoiy of Abel and Enoch testifies. In 
 Adam, death was appointed for Seth and all others; hence it 
 is written of every one : "And he diocT." But Abel and Enoch 
 illustrate the resurrection from the dead and the life immortal. 
 Tlie purpose intended is that we should: not despair in death 
 but entertain the unwavering assurance that the believers in 
 the promised seed shall live, and be taken by God, whether 
 from the water or the fire or the gibbet, or the tomb. We de- 
 sire to live, and we shall live, namely the eternal life through 
 the promised seed, which remains when this is past. 
 
 IV. LAMECH AND HIS SON NOAH. 
 
 r..AMECH. 
 
 He lived at the time Enoch 
 was taken to heaven 75. 
 
 * To what end Enoch's as- 
 cension served tlie holy 
 patriachs 75. 
 
 2. Why Lamech called his 
 son Noah 76-77. 
 
 * Tiie erroneous comments 
 of the rabbins taken by 
 Lyra without any good 
 reason 7S-79. 
 
 3. On what Lamech's heart 
 was centered at Noah's 
 birth 79-81. 
 
 How and why Lamech err- 
 ed in the case of his son as 
 
 Eve did at Cain's birth SO. 
 The long-ing- of the patri- 
 archs for the Messiah v/as 
 of the Holy Spirit SI. 
 
 ■ Complaint of the world's 
 ingratitude 82. 
 The patriarchs' greatest 
 treasure and desire 82. 
 
 ' Comparison of the three 
 worlds S3-S5. 
 
 Why the present world so 
 lightly esteems Christ, 
 whom the patriarchs so 
 highly revered 84. 
 The first world was the 
 best, the last the worst 85. 
 
 IV. LAMECH AND HIS SOX NOAH. 
 
 A. Lamech. 
 Vs. 28-29. And Lamech lived a liimdred eighty and tiuo 
 years, and begat a son: and he called his name Noah, saying. 
 This same shall comfort us in our luorh and in the toil of our 
 
GENESIS V. SETII AND HIS SONS. 113 
 
 hands, wliicli comcth hecaitse of the ground luhich Jehovah hath 
 cursed. 
 
 75. Only incidentally Moses adverts in this account to the 
 name of Noah, which certainly deserves a somewhat careful 
 examination. Lamech was living when Enoch was taken away 
 by God out of this life into the other immortal life. When 
 the great glory of God had become manifest in the extra- 
 ordinary miracle of the rapture from a lowly estate into life 
 eternal of Enoch who was a man like us, a husband, a man 
 with famil}^, having sons, daughters, household, fields and 
 cattle, the holy fathers were filled and fired with such joy as 
 to conclude that the glad day was near which should witness 
 the fulfilment of the promise. That Enoch was taken up liv- 
 ing, to be with the Lord, appeared as a salient display of divine 
 mercy. 
 
 76. As Adam and Eve, after the reception of the promise, 
 were so absorbed in their hope that, in their joy to see a man 
 like themselves, they identified Cain with the promised seed, so 
 in my judgment Lamech committed a similar pious error 
 when he gave his son the name Noah, and said: This same 
 shall comfort us, and shall deliver us from the labors and sor- 
 rows of this life. Original sin, and the punishment thereof, 
 shall now cease. We shall now be restored to our former inno- 
 cent state. The curse shall now cease which rests on the earth 
 on account of the sin of Adam; and all the other miseries in- 
 flicted on the human race on account of sin, shall also cease. 
 
 77. Such considerations as these prompted Lamech to base 
 upon the fact of his grandfather's rapture into paradise un- 
 accompanied by pain, sickness and death, the hope that pres- 
 ently the whole of paradise was to be ushered in. He con- 
 cludes that Noah was the promised seed by whom the earth was 
 to be restored. This notion that the curse is about to be lifted 
 is expressed in unmistakable terms. Not so; neither the curse 
 of sin nor its penalty can be removed unless original sin itself 
 shall have been removed first. 
 
 78. The rabbins, those pestilent corrupters of the Scriptures, 
 surely deserve aversion. This is their interpretation of the 
 
114 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 passage in question: He shall bring iis rest from the toil and 
 labor of our hands by showing ns an easier way of cultivating 
 the earth. With a plowshare, by a yoke of oxen, the earth 
 shall be broken up; the present mode of digging it with man's 
 hand sihall cease. 
 
 I wonder that Lyra is satisfied with this interpretation, and 
 follows it. He ought to have been familiar with the unchang- 
 ing practice of the Jews to pei-vert Scripture by substituting 
 a material meaning for a spiritual one, in order to gain glory 
 among men. Could anything more derogatory to the holy 
 patriarch be said than that he gave such expression to his joy 
 over the birth of his son Noah on account of an advantage 
 pertaining to the belly? 
 
 79. No; it was a much greater concern than this which filled 
 his mind with anxiety. It was the wrath of God, and death, 
 with all the other calamities of this life. His hope was that 
 Noah, as the promised seed, would put an end to these evils. 
 And therefore it was that he thus exulted with joy at the birth 
 of this his son, predicted good things, and called upon others 
 to join him in the same hope. His thoughts did not dwell 
 upon the plow, nor upon oxen, nor upon other trivial things 
 of the kind pertaining to this present life, as the blind Jews 
 rave. He was really filled with the hope that this his son Noah 
 was that seed to come which should restore the former blessed 
 state of paradise, in which tiliere was no cui-se. As if he had 
 said: Now we feel the curse in the very labors of our hands. 
 We toil and sweat in cultivating the earth, yet it yields us in 
 return nothing but briers and thorns. But there shall arise 
 a new and happy age. The curse on the earth which was in- 
 flicted on account of sin shall cease, because sin shall cease. 
 This is the true meaning of the text before us. 
 
 80. But the holy father was deceived. The glory of bring- 
 ing about that renewal helonged, not to the son of a man but 
 to the Son of God. The rabbins are silly. Although the earth 
 is not dug by the hands of men, but by the use of oxen, yet 
 the labor of man's hand has not ceased. Enoch, by his trans- 
 lation, does not disclose the solace of bodily easement, agree- 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 11."* 
 
 able to the belly, but deliA'erance from sin and death. Lamech 
 hoped, in addition, for tlie restoration of the former state. He 
 believed to see the inauguration of this change in his grand- 
 father Enoch, and felt assured that the deliverance, or the re- 
 newal of all things, was close at hand. Just so Eve, as we have 
 already observed, when she brought forth her first-born son 
 Cain, said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah, one 
 who shall take away all these punishments inflicted on sin, and 
 bring about our restoration. But, like Eve, the good and holy 
 Lamech was deceived in his ardent longing for the restoration 
 of the world. 
 
 81. All these anxieties plainly show how those holy patri- 
 archs longed for, hoped for, and sighed for, that great "restitu- 
 tion of all things," Acts 3, 21. Although they herein erred, 
 even as Eve erred and was deceived with respect to Cain, this 
 desire for deliverance in itself, was of the Holy Spirit, and 
 proved the truth and constancy of their faith in the promised 
 seed. When Eve named her son Cain, and when Lamech called 
 his son ISToah, these names were but birth cries, as the apostle 
 represents them, of the whole creation, groaning and travail- 
 ing in pain together, and earnestly expecting the resurrection 
 of the dead, deliverance from sin, the restoration of all things, 
 and the manifestation of tiie sons of God, Eom 8, 19-23. The 
 simplest and true meaning, accondingly, is that Lamech, after 
 seeing the reality of the future life demonstrated by the trans- 
 lation of Enoch from the afflictions and toils caused by sin, 
 has a son bom to him, whom he calls Noah, wliich means rest. 
 an expression of the hope that deliA^erance from the curse of 
 sin and sin itself shall take place through him. This interpre- 
 tation accords with the analog}^ of faith, and confinns the hope 
 for a resurrection and a life eternal. 
 
 82. Such longing for the future life on the part of the holy 
 men whose shoes we are unworthy to clean, contrasts strangely 
 with the horrible ingratitude of our time. How great the dif- 
 ference between having and wishing ! Those patriarchs were 
 men of transcendent holiness, equipped with the highest en- 
 dowments, the heroes of the world! In them we behold the 
 
116 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 strongest desire for the seed which is to come; that is their 
 greatest treasure; they thirst, they hunger, they yearn, they 
 pant for Christ! And we, who have Christ among us, who 
 know him as one revealed, offered, glorified, sitting at the right 
 hand of God and making intercession for us — we despise him 
 and hold him in greater contempt than any other creature ! 0, 
 the wretchedness of it ! 0, the sin of it ! 
 
 83. Note the difference between the several ages of the 
 world! The primeval age was the most excellent and holy. It 
 contained the noblest jewels of the whole human race. After 
 the flood there still existed many great and eminent men — patri- 
 archs, and kings, and prophets; and although they were not the 
 equals of the patriarchs before the flood, yet in them also there 
 appeared a bright longing for Christ, as Christ says: "For T 
 say unto you, that many prophets and kings desired to see the 
 things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things 
 which ye hear, and heard them not," Lk 10, 24. And then 
 there is our own age, the age of the New Testament; to this 
 Christ has been revealed. This age is, as it were, the waste 
 and dregs of the whole world. It holds nothing in greater con- 
 tempt than Christ, than Avhom a previous age knew nothing 
 more precious. 
 
 84. What is the cause of this gi-ave state of affairs? To be 
 sure, our flesh, the world, and the devil. We altogether loathe 
 what we have, according to the proverb : 
 
 Omne varum carum; vilescit quotidianum. 
 "All that's rare, is dear; vile is what is here." 
 And apt is the poetic truism: 
 
 Minuit praesentia famam, 
 "Sight levels what fancy has exalted." 
 As far as the revelation is concerned, we are far richer than 
 the patriarchs. But their devotion to a comparatively inferior 
 revelation was greater; they were lovers of the bridegroom. 
 We, on the other hand, are that fat, bloated, wanton servant, 
 Deut 32, 15; for we have the Word and are overwhelmed by 
 the abundance of it. 
 
 85. In the same degree as the first world was excellent and 
 
GENESIS V. SETII AND HIS SONS. 117 
 
 holy, the latter-day world is evil and. wicked. In view of the 
 fact, then, that God did not spare the first, primitive world, and 
 destroyed the second world by overturning kingdom after king- 
 dom, and government after government, what shall we expect 
 to be the end of this latter-day world which in security despises 
 the Christ, the desire of nations, as he is called by Haggai, in 
 spite of the fact that he nrges himself upon us to the point of 
 weariness ! 
 
 B. Noah. 
 
 II. NOAH. S. How his sons were born 
 
 1. Remarkableness of the act one after the other 95-97. 
 
 that Noah refrained so * Why Shem was preferred 
 
 long from wedlock 86. to Japheth 96. 
 
 2. He was fit to marry, but * How to meet the objec- 
 
 had reasons for abstaining tions to the birth of 
 
 °J- Noah's sons 97. 
 
 6. VVhat his reasons were 88. 9. Noah an excellent example 
 
 4. His chastity is highly of chastity 98. 
 praised by Moses in few * The threefold world, 
 words 89. a. The first world a truly 
 
 5. The Jews' lies about the golden age and the most 
 reasons for his chastity holy. How and why it was 
 refuted 90-91. punished by God 99-100. 
 
 * The Jews' lies as to why b. The second world is full 
 Shem was called the first- of idolatry, and will be se- 
 born 91. verely punished by God 
 
 * Papists without reason loO. 
 
 take offense at Moses re- c. The third world is the 
 
 lating so much about the worst, and hence can ex- 
 
 birth of the children of the pect the hardest punish- 
 
 patriarchs 92-93. ment 101 
 
 6. Noah shines like a bright (i. The punishment of these 
 star as an example of three worlds portrayed in 
 chastity among all the pa- the colors of the rainbow 
 triarchs 93. 101. 
 
 7. Noah remained single, not e. How believing hearts act 
 because he despised mar- upon considering sin and 
 riage; and why he finally the world's punishment 
 married 94. 102. 
 
 V. 32. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah 
 begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 
 
 86. Here again we meet with surprising brevity. As is his 
 custom, Moses expresses in the fewest possible words the great- 
 est and most important things, which the ignorant reader passes 
 by unobserved. But you will say, perhaps. Of what import is 
 it that Woah first begat sons when he was five hundred years 
 old? Why, if Noah had no children all those 500 years, he 
 either endured that length of time the severe trial of unfruit- 
 fulness or, as appears to me more likely, he abstained from 
 marriage all those years, setting an example of most marvel- 
 ous chastity. I do not speak here of the abominable chastity 
 
118 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 of the Papists ; nor of our own. Look at the prophets and the 
 apostles, and even at some of the other patriarchs, who doubt- 
 less were chaste and holy. But what are they in comparison 
 with this man Noah, who, possessed of masculine vigor, man- 
 aged to live a chaste life without marriage for five hundred 
 years ? 
 
 87. N"ow you will scarcely find one in a thousand among tlie 
 men of our age who, at the age of thirty, has not known 
 woman. Moreover, NoaJi, after he had lived a single life for 
 so many centuries, at length took to himself a wife, and begat 
 children; which latter fact carries its own proof that he was 
 in a state appropriate for marriage prior to this, and had a 
 definite reason for practicing continence. 
 
 88. In the first place, it is evident that such unequaled 
 chastity must necessarily have been a peculiar gift of God. It 
 evinced a nature almost angelic. It does not seem a thing pos- 
 sible in the nature of man to live 500 years without knowing a 
 wife. In the next place these five centuries of chastity in Noah 
 manifest some signal displeasure with the world. For what 
 other reason are we to conclude that he abstained from marriage 
 than hecause he had seen the descendants of his uncle and aunt 
 degenerate into giants and tyrants, filling the world with vio- 
 lence?' He thought in consequence, that he would rather have 
 no children at all than such as those. And my belief is that 
 he would never have taken to himself a wife at all if he had not 
 been admonished and commanded so to do either by the patri- 
 archs or by some angel. He who had refrained from marriage 
 for 500 years might have refrained during all the rest of his 
 life. 
 
 89. In this manner Moses explains in brief words exceed- 
 ingly weighty facts, and, what the ignorant reader would never 
 observe owing to the failure of chastity being mentioned in ex- 
 press words, he commends the chastity of Noah above that of 
 all the other inhabitants of the primeval world, setting him up 
 as an example of all but angelic chastity. 
 
 90. The Jews, according to their custom, play the fool, and 
 fable that Noah for centuries denied himself a wife because he 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 119 
 
 knew that God would destroy the world by the flood. If. 
 therefore, Koali had married, like all the other patriarchs, in 
 the earlier part of his life — that is, when he was about a hun- 
 dred years old or less — ^^he himself would have peopled the 
 world in the space of 400 years; and then God would have 
 been compelled to destroy both the father himself and the whole 
 of his progeny. To this fable they add the other, that Seth 
 was called the first-bom for the reason that he was the first to 
 receive circumcision. 
 
 91. In a word, these Jews corrupt everything and twist it 
 to suit their own carnal bent and ambition. If Noali ab- 
 stained from marriage for the reason which they assign, why 
 did not all the other patriarchs, for the same reason, abstain 
 from marriage and fatherhood? These comments of the rab- 
 bins are accordingly frivolous and nonsensical. Why do they 
 not rather urge the real cause, that it was a special gift that 
 jSToah, a vigorous man, abstained from marriage for five hun- 
 dred years? Throughout the course of time no instance of 
 such continence is found. 
 
 93, The book of Genesis highly offends the Papists because 
 it mentions so often that the fathers begat sons and daughters. 
 They say of this book that it is a book in which little more is 
 contained than the record that the patriarchs were men of ex- 
 travagant love for their wives; and they consider it obscene 
 that Moses should make mention of such things with such at- 
 tention to detail. But, in the impurity of their hearts, they 
 can not refrain from l)efouling the most exalted chastity. 
 
 93. If you would really behold the brightest examples of 
 chastity the whole world contains, read Moses as he relates 
 that the patriarchs did not marry until they were of advanced 
 age. Among them JSToah shines forth a star of first magnitude, 
 inasmuch as he did not marry until he had reached the five 
 hundredth year of his life. Where will you find such eminent 
 examples of chastity in the papacy? Although there are some 
 among the Papists who do not actually sin with their bodies, 
 yet how foul and filthy are their minds ! And all this is Judg- 
 
120 LITTITEE ON SIN" AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ment upon their contempt for marriage, wliicli God himself 
 has designed to be a remedy for the corruption of nature. 
 
 94. Anotlier reason why Koah refrained from uiarriage has 
 been mentioned. He did not condemn marriage, nor did he 
 consider it to be a profane or impure manner of life; but he 
 saw that the descendants of the elder patriarchs had degener- 
 ated to the level of the ungodly generation of the Cainitcs. 
 Such children as these he felt he could not endure; he rather 
 waited, in the fear of God, the end of the world. When after- 
 wards he did enter into marriage, and begat children, he no 
 doubt did it by reason of some particular admonition and com- 
 mand of God. 
 
 95. Here a question naturally arises concerning the order 
 in which Noah's sons were born. It will be worth our while 
 to inquire into this matter, so that our computation of the years 
 of the world may have a reliable basis. The common opinion 
 is that Shem was the first-born of Noah, because his name is 
 mentioned first in order. The testimony of Scripture, how- 
 ever, compels us to conclude that Japheth was the first-born, 
 Shem the second, and Ham the last. The truth of this is 
 proved in the following manner: Shem begat his sou Arpach- 
 shad two years after the flood, when he was 100 years old, Gen 
 11, 10. Hence Shem was 98 years old when the flood came, 
 and Noah, when Shem was born, was 498 years old. But Jaj^lieth 
 was evidently born before Shem, for he was the elder brother. 
 Gen 10, 21. It plainly follows, therefore, that only Ham, the 
 youngest brother, was born when Noah was 500 years old. 
 
 96. The reason why Shem is mentioned before Japheth is 
 not because he was first circumcised, as the Jews, who always 
 are hunting carnal glory, falsely claim, but because it was 
 through him that Christ, the promised seed, was to come. For 
 the same reason, Abraham, the youngest, is given precedence 
 to his brothers, Haran and Nahor. 
 
 97. But you will perhaps say. How does this agree with 
 the text whidi positively says, "Noah was five hundred years 
 old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth"? Harmony is 
 restored if you make out of the preterit a pluperfect, and read 
 
GENESIS V. SETH AND HIS SONS. 121 
 
 the passage thus: — When Noah was five hundred years old he 
 had begotten Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Moses does not record 
 the particular year in which each son was born, but merely 
 mentions the year in which tlie number of sons born to Noah 
 reached three. Thus the biblical record is reduced to harmony. 
 
 98. As conclusion to the fifth chapter Moses presents the 
 finest and most noteworthy example of chastity. Saintly and 
 continent throughout his career, Noah had Just rounded out 
 his fifth century when he began married life. Thus far, he 
 had renounced matrimony, repelled by the licentiousness of the 
 young, who were drifting into the depravity of the Cainites. 
 Notwithstanding, at the call of God, he obediently entered upon 
 marriage, although it was quite possible for him to remain 
 chaste, as a '.-idibate. 
 
 99. Such is the description given by Moses of the first, the 
 original world, in five brief chapters. But it is readily seen 
 that in the beginning was the real golden age of which poets 
 have made mention, their information being doubtless the tra- 
 ditions and the utterances of the fathers. 
 
 100. But as the sins of men increased, God spared not the 
 old world, but destroyed it by a flood utterly, even as he did 
 not spare it when under the dispensation of the Law. Be- 
 cause of its idolatry and the impiousness of its worship, he 
 not only overturned one kingdom after another, but even liis 
 own people, the Jews, having been severely pTmished at his 
 hands by various afflictions and captivities, were at length ut- 
 terly destroyed by the Roman armies. 
 
 101. Our age, which is the third age of the world, although 
 it is the age of grace, is so filled with blasphemies and abomina- 
 tions that it is not possible either to express them in language 
 or to form a mental image of them. This age therefore shall 
 not be punished by temporal punishment, but by eternal death 
 and eternal fire, or, if I may so express it, by a flood of fire. 
 The very rainbow even, with its colors, contains a prophetic 
 intimation of these things. The first color is sea-green, repre- 
 senting the destruction of the first world by the waters of tli^ 
 flooul, because of violence and lust; the middle color of the bow 
 
122 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE T'LOOD. 
 
 is yellow, prefiguring the various calamities by Avliich God 
 avenged the idolatry and wickedness of the second age; the 
 third and last color of the bow is fiery red, for fire shall at 
 length consume the world, with all its iniquities and sins. 
 
 102. Wherefore, let us constantly pray that God may so rulo 
 our hearts by his fear and may so fiJl us with confidence in his 
 mercy, that we are able with joy to await our deliverance 
 and the righteous punishment of this ungodly world. Amen. 
 Amen. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SINS OF THE FIKST WORLD, THE CAUSE OF ITS 
 DESTEUCTION. 
 
 * How this chapter and the 
 preceding- one are connect- 
 ed 1. 
 
 * It is terrible that God de- 
 stroyed by a flood the first 
 world, which was the best 2. 
 
 * Of pride and the proud. 
 
 (1) How God humbles what is 
 high and grand in tlie eyes 
 of the world and has the 
 best gifts 3-4. 
 
 * How man can meet the 
 judgments of God 4. 
 
 (2) The more gifts man has 
 the greater his pride 5. 
 
 (3) The most terrible exam- 
 ples of punishment God 
 gives in the case of the 
 
 proud and such examples 
 should be diligently pon- 
 dered 6-7. 
 
 * The complaint that the 
 world is hardened by 
 reason of God's judgments 
 7-8. 
 
 (4) How the ancient world 
 was misled into pride 
 through its gifts 9-10. 
 
 (5) Pride is tlie common 
 weakness of human nature 
 11. 
 
 (6) In what ways man is 
 moved to pride 12-13. 
 
 1. The chief sin of the old 
 world 14-15. 
 
 * Pride is the spring of all 
 vices 15. 
 
 2. How the old world sinned 
 against the first table of 
 the law, and brought on 
 the sins against the sec- 
 ond table 16. 
 
 3. How and why God pun- 
 ished tlie old world 17. 
 
 * From the punishment of 
 the first world we conclude 
 that the last world will 
 be also punished 18. 
 
 4. Whether the first world 
 was wicked before ISioah's 
 birth; on what occasion its 
 wickedness increased 19. 
 
 * Noah the martyr of mar- 
 tyrs 20. 
 
 * Why Lamech called his 
 son Noah 21. 
 
 How sin greatly increased 
 in the days of Noah 22. 
 
 * Why Noah remained un- 
 married so long, which 
 was his greatest cross 23. 
 
 3. When the wickedness of 
 the old world began 24. 
 
 * Concerning unchastlty. 
 
 a. It is the foundation of all 
 want and misery 24. 
 
 b. It is the spring of many 
 other sins 25. 
 
 c. How to remedy it 25. 
 
 d. Whether Bearing children 
 is in itself to be reckoned 
 as unchastity, and how 
 far Moses denounces it 26. 
 
 e. Unchastity makes the bear- 
 
 ing of children difficult 27. 
 
 7. The reason the sons of 
 God looked upon the 
 daughters of men 28. 
 
 8. Why the sin of the first 
 world was not so terrible 
 as the sin of the second 
 '29-30. 
 
 9. How the first world chang- 
 
 ed through the marriages 
 of Adam and the other pa- 
 triarchs 30-32. 
 
 * The sons of God. 
 
 a. What is understood by 
 them 32. 
 
 b. The rabbins' fables about 
 the sons of God, how to re- 
 fute them 33-34. 
 
 * What is to be held con- 
 cerning the "Incubis" and 
 "Succubis" 34-35. 
 
 c. How the deluge came be- 
 cause of the sons of God 
 36. 
 
 d. To what end should the 
 fall and punishment of the 
 sons of God serve us 37-38. 
 
 * Should the Romish church 
 be called holy 37. 
 
 * How the children of God 
 became the children of the 
 devil 38. 
 
 * How Noah had to spend 
 ■ his life among a host of 
 
 villains 39. 
 
 * The conduct of the world 
 when God sends it right- 
 eous servants 40. 
 
124 LUTITEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 I. THE SINS OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD IN GEN- 
 ERAL THE CAUSE OP ITS DESTRUCTION. 
 
 1. Ill the first five chapters Moses describes the state of 
 the human race in the primeval world and the wonderful glory 
 of the holy patriarchs who governed it. In these five chapters 
 the chronicles as in the first book, so to speak, the happiest 
 period of the whole liuman race and of the workl before ilie 
 flood. Now we shall begin what may be termed the second 
 book of Genesis, containing the history of the flood. It iiho\>-.s 
 the destruction of all the offspring of Cain and the eti'rno.l 
 preservation of the generation of the righteous ; for while every- 
 thing perishes in the flood, the generation of the righteous is 
 saved as an eternal world. 
 
 2. It is appalling that the whole human race except eight 
 persons is destroyed, in view of the fact that this was truly the 
 golden age; for succeeding ages do not equal the old world in 
 glory, greatne&s and majesty. And if God visited with destruc- 
 tion his own perfect creation and the very glory of the human 
 race, we have just cause for fear. 
 
 3. In inflicting this punishment, God followed his own pe- 
 culiar way. Whatever is most exalted he particularly over- 
 throws and humiliates. Peter says in 2 Peter 2, 5 : God "spared 
 not the ancient world f and he would imply that it was, in com- 
 parison with succeeding ages, a veritable paradise. Neither did 
 he spare the sublimest creatures — the angels — nor the kings 
 ruling his people, nor the first-born of all times. But the more 
 highly they were blessed with gifts, the more sternly he pun- 
 ished them when they began to misuse his gifts. 
 
 4. The Holy Spirit says in the ninth verse of the second 
 psalm, concerning kings: "Thou shalt breali them with a rod 
 of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 
 But is it not the Lord himself who has ordained kings and 
 wills that all men should honor and obey them? Here he con- 
 demns and spurns the wisdom of the prudent and the right- 
 eousness of the righteous. It is God's proper and incessant 
 work to condemn what is most magnificent, to cast down the 
 most exalted and to defeat the strongest, though they be his 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 12.1 
 
 own creatures. lie does this,, however, that abundant evidence 
 of his wrath ma}^ terrify the ungodly and may arouse us to 
 despair of ourselves and to trust in his power alone. We must 
 either live under the shadow of God's wing, in faith in his 
 grace, or we must perish. 
 
 5. After the fall it came to pass that the more one was 
 blessed with gifts, the greater was his pride. This was the sin 
 of the angels who fell. This was the sin of the primitive world, 
 in which the grandest people of the race lived; but because they 
 prided themselves in their wisdom and other gifts, they per- 
 ished. This was the sin of the greatest kings. This was the 
 sin of nearly all the first-born. But what is the need of so 
 many words? This is original sin — that we fail to recognize 
 and rightly use the great and' precious gifts of God. 
 
 6. That the greatest men must furnish the most abhorrent 
 examples is not the fault of the gifts and blessings, but of those 
 to whom they are intrusted. God is a dialectician and judges 
 the person by the thing,* meting out destruction to the thing 
 or gift as well as to its possessor. 
 
 7. It is expedient to give heed to siich examples. They are 
 given that the proud may fear and be humbled, and that we 
 may learn our utter dependence upon the guidance and will of 
 God, who resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble. 
 Lacking the understanding and practice of these truths, man 
 falls continually — kings, nobles, saints, one after the other, 
 filling the world with examples of the wrath and judgment of 
 God. The Blessed Virgin sings: "He hath scattered the proud 
 in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down the 
 princes from their thrones, and hath exalted them of low de- 
 gree." Lk. 1, 51-53. 
 
 8. Full of such examples are all ages, all princely courts, all 
 lands. Yet, by the grace of Saint Diabolus, the prince of this 
 world, our hearts are so hard that we are not moved by all this 
 to fear; rather to disdain, though we feel and see that we also 
 shall incur destruction. Blessed are they, therefore, who heed, 
 
 ut arguat a conjugatis. 
 
126 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 and are moved by such examples of wrath to be humble and to 
 live in the fear of God. 
 
 9. Consider, then, the preeminence of the old world, that 
 perished in the flood. It possessed apparently the best, holiest 
 and noblest men, compared witli whom we are as the dregs of 
 the world. For the Scriptures do not say tliat they were wicked 
 and unjust among themiselves, but toward Grod. '"He saw," 
 says Moses, "that they were evil." The e^yes of God perceive 
 and judge quite differently from the eyes of men. He says in 
 
 Isaiah 55, 8-9 : "Neither are your ways my ways For as 
 
 the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher 
 than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 
 
 10. These tyrants and giants were esteemed and honored 
 among themselves as the wisest and most just of men. So in our 
 day kings and princes, popes and bishops, theologians, physi- 
 cians, jurists and noblemen occupy exalted places and receive 
 honor as the very gems and luminaries of the human race. 
 More deservedly did the children of God in the old world re- 
 ceive such honor, because they excelled in power and possessed 
 many gifts. Nevertheless, falling into pride and contempt of 
 God while enjoying his blessings, they were rejected by God 
 and destroyed, together with their gifts, as if they had been 
 the lowest and vilest of the human race. 
 
 11. And this is a common failing of our human nature. It 
 necessarily puffs itself up and prides itself on its gifts unless 
 restrained by the Holy Spirit. I have often siaid that a man 
 has no more dangerous enemy than himself. It is my own ex- 
 perience that I have not without me so great cause for fear as 
 within me; for it is our inner gifts that incite our nature to 
 pride. 
 
 12. As God, who is by nature most kind, cannot refrain 
 from gracing and showering us with various gifts : health, 
 property, wisdom, skill, knowledge of Scripture, etc., so we can- 
 not refrain from priding ourselves upon these gifts and flaunt- 
 ing them. Wretched is our life when we lack the gifts of God, 
 but twice wretched is it when we have them; for they tend to 
 make us doubly wicked. Such is the corruption of original 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 127 
 
 sin, though all but believers are either unaware of its existence 
 or regard it a trivial thing. 
 
 13. Such corruption is perceptible not only in ourselves but 
 in others. How property inflates pride though it occupies rel- 
 atively the lowest place among blessings ! The rich, be they 
 noblemen, city-dwellers or peasants, deem other people as flies. 
 To even a gi-eater extent are the higher gifts abused — wisdom 
 and righteousness. Possession of these gifts, then, makes inevita- 
 ble this condition — Grod cannot suffer such pride and we cannot 
 refrain from it. 
 
 14. This was the sin of that primeval world. Among 
 Cain's descendants were good and wise men, who, nevertheless, 
 before God were most wicked, for they prided themselves upon 
 their gifts and despised God, the author. Such offense the 
 world does not perceive and condemn; God alone is its judge. 
 
 15. Where these spiritual vices exist and flourish, the lapse 
 into carnal ones is imminent. According to Sirach 10, 14, sin 
 begins with falling from God. The devil's first fall is from 
 heaven into hell; that is, from the first table of the Law into 
 the second. When people begin to be godless — when they do 
 not fear and trust God, but despise him, his Word and his 
 servants — the result is that from the true doctrine they pass 
 into heretical delusions and teach, defend and cultivate them. 
 These sins in the eyes of the world are accounted the greatest 
 holiness, and their authors alone are reputed religious, God- 
 fearing and just, and held to constitute the Church, the family 
 of God. People are unable to judge concerning the sins of the 
 first table. Those who despise God sooner or later fall into 
 abominable adultery, theft, murder and other gross sins against 
 the second table. 
 
 16. The purpose of my statements is to make plain that 
 the old world was guilty, not only of sin against the second 
 table, but most of all of sin against the first table by making 
 a fine, but deceptive and false show of vrisdom, godliness, de- 
 votion and religion. As a, result of the ungodliness w'hich 
 flourished in opposition to the first table, there followed that 
 moral corruption of w^hidh Moses speaks in this chapter, that 
 
128 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FliOOD. 
 
 I lie pcoi)le polluted themselves with all sorts of lust and after- 
 ^va^d filled the world with oppression, bloodshed and wrong. 
 
 17. Because the ungodly world had trampled both tables 
 under foot, God came to judge it, who is a consuming fire and 
 a jealous God. He so punishes ungodliness that he turns ever}^- 
 thing into sheer desolation, and neither government nor the 
 governed remain. We may, therefore, infer that the world 
 was the better the nearer it was to Adam, but that it degener- 
 ated from day to day until our time, when the offscouring and 
 lowest filth of humanity, as it were, are living. 
 
 18. ^s'ow, if God did not spare a world endowed with so 
 many and great gifts, "what have we to hope for, who, offal 
 that we are, are subject to far greater misfortune and wretch- 
 edness? But if it please God, spare the Roman pontiff and his 
 holy bishops, who do not believe such things! I now come to 
 my text. 
 
 V. 1-2. And it came to pass^ when men began to multi- 
 ply on the face of the ground, and daughters were horn unto 
 them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they 
 lucre fair; and they tooh them wives of all that they chose. 
 
 19. This is a very brief but comprehensive account. The 
 text must not be understood to mean that the world did not 
 increase until the five hundredth year of Noah. The more 
 ancient patriarchs are embraced in this statement. This is 
 demonstrated by the fact that Noah had no daughters. The 
 reference in the text to "daughters" certainly iriust be under- 
 stood as referring to the by-gone age of Lamech, Methuselah. 
 Enoch and others. The world, accordingly, was corrupt and 
 evil before Noah was born, particularly when licentiousness be- 
 gan to prevail after the death of Adam, whose authority, as the 
 first father, they feared. 
 
 20. I have said that Noah was a virgin above all others; 
 I may add he was the greatest of all martyrs. Our so-called 
 martyrs, compared with him, have infinite advantage in strengtli 
 received from the Holy Spirit, by which death is overcome and 
 all trials and perils are escaped. Noah lived among the unright- 
 eous for six hundred 3^ears. and like Lot at Sodom, not without 
 numerous and dire perils and trials. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 129 
 
 21. This was, perhapS;, one reason why Father Lamech gave 
 his son the name Noah at his birth. AYlien the holy patriarch saAv 
 evil abounding in the work!, he entertained the liope concerning 
 his son that he should comfort the righteous by opposing sin 
 and its author, Satan, and restoring lost righteousness. 
 
 32. However, the wickedness that began then, not only failed 
 to cease under N"oah, but rather grew greater. Hence Noah 
 is the martyr of martyrs. For is it not much easier to be de- 
 livered from all danger and suffering in a single hour than to 
 live for centuries amid colossal wickedness? 
 
 23. The opinion before expressed I maintain, that Noah 
 abstained from matrimony so long that he might not be com- 
 pelled to witness and suffer in his own offspring what he saw 
 in the descendants of the other saints. This sight of man's 
 wickedness was his greatest cross, as Peter says of Lot in So= 
 dom (2 Pet 2, 8) : "That righteous man dwelling among them, 
 in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to 
 day with their lawless deeds." 
 
 24. Accordingly, tlie increase of humanity of which Moses 
 speaks has not reference alone to the time of Noah, but also to 
 the age of the other patriarchs. It was there that the viola- 
 tion of the first table commenced — in the contempt manifested 
 for Jehovah and his Word. This was followed later by such gross 
 offenses as oppression, tyranny and lewdness, which Moses ex- 
 plicitly mentions and names first as the cause of evil. Consult 
 all history, study the Greek tragedies and the affairs of barba- 
 rians and Eomans of all times, and yon find lust the mother 
 of every kind of trouble. It can not be otherwise. Where 
 God's Word remains unknown or unheeded, men will plunge 
 into lust. 
 
 25. Lust draws in its train endless other evils^, as pride, 
 oppression^ perjury and tlie like. These sins can be attacked 
 only as men, through the first table, learn to fear and to trust 
 in God. Then it is that they follow the Word as a lamp 
 going before in the dark, and they will not indulge in such 
 scandalous deeds, but will rather beware of them. With violation 
 of the first table, however, the spread of passions and sins of 
 every description is inevitable. 
 
130 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 26. But it seems strange that Moses should enumerate in 
 the catalog of sins the begetting of daugnters. He had found 
 it commendable in the case of the patriarchs. It is even en- 
 joyed by the ungodly as a blessing of God. Why, therefore, 
 does Moses call it a sin? 
 
 I reply, he does not condemn the fact of procreation as such, 
 but the abuse of it, resulting from original sin. To be en- 
 dowed with royal majesty, wisdom, wealth and bodily strength 
 is a goodly blessing. It is God who bestows these gifts. But 
 when men, in possession of these blessings, fail to reverence 
 the first table, and by means of these very gifts do violence to it, 
 such "udckedness merits punisliment. Therein is the reason for 
 Moses' peculiar words: "The sons of God saw the daughters 
 of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all 
 that they chose," without consideration of God or of law, nat- 
 ural or statutory. 
 
 27. The first table having been despised, the second shares 
 the same fate. Desire occupies the principal place and in con- 
 tempt for procreation it becomes purely bestial; whereas God 
 has instituted matrimony as an aid to feeble nature and chiefly 
 for the pur])'Ose of procreation. But when lust in this manner 
 has gained the upper hand, all commandments, those that go 
 before and that follow, are ruthlessly broken and dishonored. 
 Parental honor becomes insecure ; men do not shrink f om doing 
 murder ; from alienating property, speaking false testimony, etc. 
 
 28. The v/ord jiru, "saw," does not merely signify "to 
 view," but "to view with pleasure and enjoyment." This 
 meaning often occurs in the psalms, for instance: "Mine eye 
 also hath seen my desire on mine enemies," Ps 92, 11; that is, 
 shall with pleasure see vengeance executed upon my enemies. 
 The meaning here is that, after turning their e^'es from God 
 and his Word, they turned them, filled with lust, upon the 
 daughters of men. The sequence is imerring that, from the 
 violation of the first table, men rash to the violation of the 
 second. After despising God they despised also the laws of 
 nature and, as they pleased, they married whom they chos«. 
 
 29. These are rather harsh words, and yet it is my opinion 
 that lust continued hitherto within certain limits, inasmuch as 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 131 
 
 they neither committed incest with their mothers, as later 
 the inhabitants of Canaan, nor polluted themselves with the 
 vice of the Sodomites. Moses confines his charge to their 
 casting aside the legal trammels set by the patriarchs and recog= 
 nizing in their matrimonial alliances no law but that of lust, 
 selecting only as passion directed and against the will of the 
 parents. 
 
 -'30. It seems the patriarchs had strictly forbidden to con- 
 tract alliances with the offspring of Cain, just as, later, the 
 Jews could not lawfully mingle with the Canaanites. Thougli 
 there are not wanting those who write that incestuous marriages 
 existed before the flood, blood-relationship being held to be no 
 barrier, I yet infer from the fact that Peter has extolled the 
 old world, that such incestuous atrocities did not exist at that 
 time, but that the sin of the ancient world consisted rather in 
 men marrying whom they pleased, and as many wives from 
 the Cainites as tliey chose, ignoring parental authority and con- 
 trolled alone by passion. It is, therefore, a harsh word — "All 
 which they chose." 
 
 31. I have shown, on various occasions, that the two gener- 
 ations, or churches, of Adam and Cain were separate. For, as 
 Moses clearly states, Adam expelled the murderer from his as- 
 sociation. Without doubt, therefore, Adam also exhorted his 
 offspring to avoid the church of the evil-doers and not to mingle 
 with the accursed generation of Cain, Anid for a while his 
 counsel or command was obeyed. 
 
 32. But when Adam died and the authority of the other 
 patriarchs became an object of scorn, the sons of God who had 
 the promise of the blessed seed and themselves belonged to the 
 blessed seed, craved from the tribe of the ungodly, intercourse 
 and espousal. He tersely calls the sons of the patriarchs the 
 "sons of God," since to them was given the promise of the 
 blessed seedJ and they constituted the true Church. Yielding 
 to the corruptions of the Cainite church they indulged the flesh 
 themselves and took from the tribe of Cain, as wives and 
 mistresses, whom and as many as they chose. This Lamech 
 and ISToah saw witli pain, and for that reason, perhaps, deferred 
 entering upon marriage. 
 
lo2 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 33. In reference to this point the Jews fancy foolish tilings. 
 They interpret the sons of God to signify demon-lechers by 
 wlioni that impious generation was begotten, and that they were 
 call«l the sons of God by reason of tdieir ispiritual nature. The 
 more moderate ones, however, refute such folly and represent 
 the sons of the mighty. This has been aptly disproved by Lyra ; 
 for the punishment of the deluge befell, not alone the mighty, 
 but all flesh, as shall the doom at the last day, * 
 
 34. But as regards the demon-lechers and strumpets (iueu- 
 bi and succubi), I do not deny — nay, I believe — that a demon 
 may be either a lecher or a strumpet, for I have heard men cite 
 their own experience. Augustine says that he heard this from 
 trustworthy people whom he was constrained to believe, Satan 
 is pleased when Jie can deceive us in this manner, by assumin.u' 
 the form eitlien of a young man or a 3'oung woman. But that 
 anything may be begotten by a devil and a human being is 
 simply false. We hear of monstrous births of demon-like feat- 
 ures, and I have even seen some. I am of opinion, however, 
 that they have been deformed by the devil, but not begotten : 
 or that they are real devils with a human body either simulated 
 or purloined. For if the devil, by diivine permission, may take 
 possession of the whole man and change his mind, is it strange 
 that he may disfigure also his body, causing men to be boi-n 
 sightless or cripples? 
 
 35. Hence, the devil may so deceive frivolous people and 
 such as live without the fear of God that when the devil is 
 in bed, a young man may think that he has a girl with him. 
 and a girl that she has a youth with her; but that any thins: 
 may be born from such concubinage I do not believe. Many 
 sorceresses have at one time or another been subjected to death 
 at the stalce on account of their intercourse with demons. If 
 the devil can deceive eyes and ears so that they fancy they sec 
 and hear tilings which do not exist, how much easier is it for 
 him to deceive the sense of touch, which is in this nature ex- 
 ceedingly gross ! But enough ! These explanations have no 
 bearing upon the present text, and we have been led to thorn 
 merely by Jewish babbling. 
 
 3G. The true meaning is that Moses calls those men the 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 133 
 
 sons of God, who had the promise of the blessed seed. This is 
 a N'ew Testament j^hrase and signifies the believers who call 
 lif.d, Father, und whom, God in turn, calls sons. The flood 
 came not because the generation of Cain was corrupt, but be- 
 cause the generation of the righteous who haid believed God, had 
 nheyed his Word, and had possessed the true worship, now had 
 lapsed into idolatry, disohedience to parents, sensuality, op- 
 pression. Even so the last day shall be hastened, not by the 
 profligacy of Gentile, Turk and Jew, but by the filling of the 
 Church with errors through tlie pope and fanatical spirits, so 
 that those very ones who occupy the highest place in the 
 Church exercise themselves in sensuality, lust and oppression. 
 
 37. It is a cause of fear for us all, that even those who 
 were descended from the best patriarchs, hegan to grow 
 haughty and depart from the Word. They gloried in their wis- 
 dom and righteousness, as later the Jews did in circumcision 
 and Father Abraham. So did the popes glory in the title of the 
 Church only to replace gradually their spiritual glory by car- 
 nal indulgence after forfeiting the knowledge of God, his Word 
 and his worship. The Eoman Church was truly holy and 
 adorned by the grandest martyrs. We, at this da}^ however, 
 are witnesses how she has fallen. 
 
 38. Let nO' one, therefore, glory in his gifts, however 
 spcndid! The greatest gift is to be a member of the true 
 Church. But take care not to become proud on that account, 
 for you may fall, just as Lucifer fell from heaven and, as we 
 are here informed, as the sons of God fell into carnal pleasures. 
 They are, therefore, no longer sons of God, but sons of Satan, 
 having fallen alike from the first and the second table of the 
 Law. So in the past, popes and bishops have been good and 
 holy, but today they are of all men the worst and, so to speak, 
 the dregs of all classes. 
 
 39. Among this rabble of decadent men who had departed 
 from the piety and virtues of their ancestors, godly Noah 
 lived in the greatest contempt and hatred of everybody. How 
 could he approve the corruption of such degenerate progeny? 
 And they themselves were most impatient of reproof. While, 
 therefore, his example shone and gleamed, and his holiness 
 
134 
 
 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 filled the whole earth, the world became worse from day to 
 day, and the greater the sanctity and chastity of Noah, the 
 more the world reveled in lust. This is the beginning; it in- 
 variably introduces ruin. 
 
 40. When God arouses holy men, full of the Holy Spirit, 
 to instruc-t and reprove the world, the worLd, impatient of 
 sound doctrine, falls with much greater zeal into sin and plies 
 it with much greater persistency. This was the situation at 
 the beginning of the world, and now, at the end of the world, 
 we realize it is still the case. 
 
 IL GOD'S JUDGMENT AND GRIEF OVER THE FIRST WORLD; 
 NOAH AND HIS PREACHING. 
 
 GOD'S JUDGMENT AND 
 LAMENTATION OVER 
 THE OLD WORLD. 
 1. The words of the lamenta- 
 tion. 
 
 a. Interpreters have shame- 
 f uHy perverted these 
 words 41. 
 
 b. The Jewish interpretation, 
 wliicli Jerome follows 4Z. 
 
 c. Tlae Jews' interpretation 
 refuted 42-43. 
 
 d. The interpretation of Rab- 
 bi Solomon. 
 
 e. The interpretation of oth- 
 ers, especially of Origen 
 45. 
 
 * Why Augustine was espe- 
 cially pleased with the 
 doctrine of the Maniclieans 
 45. 
 
 f. Rabbi David's explanation 
 46. 
 
 * The false idea of the Jews 
 and some Christian inter- 
 preters that the true sense 
 of Scripture is learned 
 from grammar. 
 
 (1) Tlius ideas most foreign 
 
 to tlie sense of Scriptur& 
 are defended 46-47. 
 
 (2) This method is false and 
 
 led the Jews into many 
 fantasies 47. 
 
 g. The source of Rabbi Da- 
 vid".=! awkward interpreta- 
 tion of these words 48. 
 
 * Why Luther has so much 
 to say about the false in- 
 terpretation of Scripture 
 49. 
 
 * What is necessary to in- 
 terpret Scripture 50. 
 
 h. The true sense of these 
 words 51. 
 
 * Scripture definition of "to 
 judge" 51. 
 
 The author of tliis judg- 
 ment and lamentation 51- 
 53. 
 
 Man's conduct upon hear- 
 ing God's Word preached 
 54. 
 
 Prom what kind of a heart 
 does sucli judgment and 
 lamentation spring 55. 
 What kind of grief is the 
 grief of the Holy Spirit 56. 
 God's severest punishment 
 57-59. 
 
 What follows when man 
 does not possess God's 
 Word 57-58. 
 
 Why the heathen are so 
 carnal 58. 
 
 The nature of this judg- 
 ment and lamentation 59. 
 Tlie lamentation and judg- 
 ment of Luther over Ger- 
 many because it lightly 
 esteemed God's Word 60. 
 The spirit of grace and or 
 prayer 61. 
 
 The office of the ministry. 
 It requires two things 62. 
 It is the greatest blessing 
 of God 63. 
 
 To despise it is a great 
 sin, and what follows 
 when it is taken from a 
 people 63. 
 
 A complaint of its neglect 
 64. 
 
 This office is explained by 
 the expression "to judge" 
 65. 
 
 Every godly preaclier is 
 one wlio disputes and 
 judges 65. 
 
 Luther's grief because of 
 the stubbornness of the 
 world 66. 
 Why Ahab called Elijah a 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 135 
 
 troubler of Israel 67. 8. In what v/ay they have 
 
 * Why the world resents be- been published to the 
 ing- reproved by sound doc- world 77. 
 
 trine. It is a g-ood sign if 9. How the world resented 
 a minister is reviled by the this Judgment and corn- 
 world 6S. plaint 78. 
 
 * The glory of people who * Time 
 
 boast of being- the Church. g-iven to the first world for 
 
 a. Such g-lory avails nothing repentance. 
 
 before God 68-70. a. We are not to understand 
 
 b. Papists wish by all means the 120 years as the period 
 to have this glory 68-70. of a man's life 79. 
 
 c. Papists need this g-lory to b. The 120 years the time 
 suppress the Protestants g-iven these people In 
 
 71. which to repent 80-81. 
 
 d. Christ will decide at the 10. Whether and to what end 
 judgment day to whom this this time was necessary 82. 
 g-lory belongs 71. 11. How the old world felt up- 
 
 e. Although the first world on hearing this 83. 
 adorned itself with this * The complaint and judg-- 
 glory, it did not save them ment of the last world 84- 
 
 72. 86. 
 
 5. How a,nd why this judg-- * The nearer the world ap- 
 ment and complaint are proaches its destruction 
 ascribed to God 73-74. the less it thinks of it 86. 
 
 6. How they were published * How the time of the flood 
 to the world by the holy is to be compared with the 
 patriarchs 75. time God gives man to re- 
 
 7. Why they were made 76. pent 87. 
 
 II. THE JUDG-MENT AND LAMENTATION OF GOD 
 OVER THE FIRST WORLD; NOAH AND 
 HIS PREACHING. 
 
 V. 3. "Jehovah said. My Spirit shall not strive with man 
 forever, for that he also is flesh : yet shall his days he a hundred 
 and twenty years/' 
 
 41. Moses here begins by describing Noali as the highest 
 pontiff and priest, or, as Peter calls him, a preacher of right- 
 eousness. This text has been mangled in various ways, for the 
 natural man cannot understand spiritual things. When, there- 
 fore, the interpreters, with unwashed feet and hands, rushed 
 into the Holy Scriptures, taking with them a human bias and 
 method, as they themselves acknowledge, they could not but 
 fall into diverse and erroneous views. It has almost come to 
 pass, that the more sublime and spiritual the utterances of 
 Scripture, the more shamefully they have been distorted. This 
 passage in particular they have managed so shamelessly that 
 you would not know what to believe, if you followed the in- 
 terpreters. 
 
 42. The Jews are the first to c-rucify Moses here, for this 
 is their exposition: My Spirit, that is my indignation and 
 
136 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 wrath;, shall not always abide upon man. I will not be angry 
 with men, but spave them, for they are flesh. That means, be- 
 ing spurred by sin, they incline to sin. This meaning Jerome 
 also adopts, who is of the opinion that here only the sin of lust 
 is spoken of, to which we are all prone by nature. But his 
 first error is that he interprets Spirit as wrath. It is tlie Holy 
 Spirit Moses here speaks of, as the contrast shows. ''For man," 
 he says, "is flesh." The meaning is, therefore, that the flesh is. 
 not only prone to sin, but also hostile toward God, 
 
 43. Then the matter itself serves as refutation, for could 
 anything more absurd have been devised? They see with their 
 eyes the wrath of God swallowing the whole human race 
 through the flood, and yet they expound that God does not 
 wish to be influenced toward the human race by anger but by 
 mercy, and this after a hundred and twenty years, the very 
 time of the flood. 
 
 4:4:. Eabbi Solomon expounds it thus : The Spirit Vvdiieh is 
 in Gad shall no more strive and wrangle. As if God in his 
 majesty would have disputed and wrangled ahout what should 
 be done with man, whether to destroy or to spare him, flnally, 
 wearied by man's wickedness, determining upon his destruction, 
 nevertheless. 
 
 45. Others understand this of the created spirit: My spirit 
 that I breathed upon the face of man, that is the spirit of man, 
 shall no longer strive and contend with the flesh, which is in 
 subjection to its lusts, for I shall take away this spirit and 
 free it from the flesh, so that when the latter has become ex- 
 tinct, it may create no more difficulties for the spirit. This 
 is the understanding of Origen, and it does not differ much 
 from the Manichean error which attributes sin not to the 
 Avhole man, but only to a part. And Augustine says that this 
 had pleased him most in the tenets of the Manicheans, to hear 
 that his depravity was not altogether his, but only of that 
 part of the body which is evil from the beginnmg. The Man- 
 icheans posited two principles, the good and the bad, just as 
 certain philosophers have posited enmity and friendship. Thus 
 do men not only miss the mark, but they also fall intO' ungodly 
 delusions. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 137 
 
 46. Kabbi David cites Sanctes, and derives the word jadoii 
 from nadan^ which means sheath, or shell. But as the inter- 
 pretation is very clumsy, so he clothes it also in a very clumsy 
 word: My Spirit shall not be inclosed in man as in a sheath. 
 Ilasi anything more unnatural ever been heard? But the Jews 
 make a laughing-stock of modern Hebraists when they con- 
 vince them that the Holy Scriptures can not be understood 
 except through grammatical rules and an exact science of 
 vowel-points. jSTo exposition is so absurd but that they defend 
 and polish it with their stale grammatical rules. 
 
 47. But tell me, M'hat language has there ever been that 
 men easily have learned to speak from grammatical rules? Is 
 it not true that the very languages most thoroughly reduced 
 to rules, like G-reek and Latin, are learned rather by practice? 
 What stupendous absurdity, therefore, it is to gather the sense 
 of a sacred tongue, which is the repositoij of things theolog- 
 ical and spiritual, from grammatical rules, and to pay no at- 
 tention to the proper signification of things? And this is what 
 the rabbis and their disciples do almost universally. Many 
 words and verbs may be declined for which no use is seen in 
 the language. While they make such things paramount and 
 everywhere chase anxiously after etymology, they fall into 
 strange fancies. 
 
 48. So here. Because the word in this passage can be de- 
 rived from nadmi, they construct from that a prodigious mean- 
 ing. My spirit, they say, shall not be held back as in a sheath. 
 They mean the spirit of man contained in the body as in a 
 sheath. I shall not leave it in a sheath, they say, but I shall 
 remove him and destroy the sheath. Such absurdities originate 
 in the stale grammatical rules, whereas usage rather shordd be 
 considered; it is that which trains the grammarian. 
 
 49. But I recite all this at lengtli, in order to admonish 
 you, when you come upon such silly commentators, not to fol- 
 low them and admire such singular wisdom. For great men 
 even liave found delight in the folly of the rabbis. They are 
 not unlike the Sacramentarians, who do not deny the words of 
 Christ, This is my body, this is my blood; but explain it thus: 
 Bread is bread, and yet the body of Christ, namely, his creat- 
 
138 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 lire; this is my bloody namely my wine. This passion of dis- 
 torting texts no sane man tolerates in the exposition of the 
 fables of Terence, or of the eclogues of Virgil, and, forsooth, 
 we should tolerate it in the Church ! 
 
 50. We need the Holy Spirit to understand the Holy Script- 
 ures. For we know that the same Spirit shall exist to the end 
 of the worM who existed before all things. We glory in possess- 
 ing this Spirit through the grace of God, and, through him, 
 we have faith, a moderate knowledge of Scripture and an un- 
 derstanding of the other things necessary to godliness. Hence 
 we do not invent a new interpretation; we are guided not only 
 by an analogy of Holy Scripture but also by faith. 
 
 51. Through the Holy Scriptures in its entirety, the verb 
 judge, dun, signifies almost invariably a public office in the 
 Church, or the office of the ministry, through which we are 
 corrected, reproved, instructed and enabled to distinguish the 
 evil from the good, etc. Thus, Psalm 110, 6: Jadin hagojim, 
 "He will judge among the nations;" which means: He will 
 preach among the nations. The word found in this passage is 
 evidently the same. And in the New Testament this phrase, 
 originally Hejbrew, is very much in vogue, especially in Paul's 
 writings, who uses the Hebrew idiom more than the others. 
 
 52. I understand this passage therefore as words spoken by 
 Lamech or Noah as a new message to the whole world. For it 
 was a public message proclaimed at some public assembly. When 
 Methuselah, Lamech and Noah saw that the world was hasten- 
 ing straight to destruction by its sins, they resorted to this 
 proclamation : My Spirit shall no longer preach among men. 
 That means: we teach in vaiu, we admonish in vain; the world 
 has no desire to be better. 
 
 53. It is as if one in the present perverse times should say: 
 We teach and make ample effort to summon the world back to 
 sobriety and godliness, but we are dterided, persecuted, killed, 
 and all men, in the end, rush to destruction with blind eyes 
 and deaf ears; therefore we are constrained to desist. These 
 are the words of a soul planning appropriate action and full of 
 anxiety, because it is clear that the human race, at the height 
 of its peril, cannot be healed. 
 
GENESIS YI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 139 
 
 54. This exposition conforms to faith and Holy Scriptures. 
 When the Word is revealed from heaven, we see that some are 
 converted, who are freed from damnation. Tlie remaining mul- 
 titude despises it and securely indulges in avarice, lust and 
 other vices, as Jeremiah says (ch. 51, 9) : "We should have heal- 
 ed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go 
 everyone into his own country." 
 
 The more diligently Moses and Aaron importuned and in- 
 structed, the more obstinate Pharaoh became. The Jews were 
 not made better by even the preaching of Christ and the apos- 
 tles. The same 'befalls us who teach in our day. What, in 
 consequence, are we to do? Deplore the blindness and ob- 
 stinacy of men we may, correct it we cannot. Who would re- 
 joice in the eternal damnation of the popes and their follow- 
 ers ? Who would not prefer that they should embrace the Word 
 and recover their senses ? 
 
 55. A similar esliibition of obstinacy Methuselah, Lamech 
 and Noah saw in their day. Therefore there bursts from them 
 this voice of despair; My Spirit, namely the Word of healing 
 truth, shall no longer bear witness among men. For inasmuch 
 as you refuse to embrace the Word — ^will not yield to healing 
 truth — ^you shall perish. 
 
 These are the words of a heart filled with anxiety after the 
 manner that the Scriptures say God is anxious; that is, the 
 liearts of Noah, Lamech, Methuselah and otlier holy men who 
 are filled with love toward all. Beholding this wickedness of 
 men, they are troubled and pained. 
 
 56. Such grief is really tdie grief of the Holy Spirit, as 
 Paul says, "G-rieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye 
 were sealed unto the day of redemption," Eph 4, 30. This 
 means that the Holy Spirit is grieved when we miserable men 
 are distracted and tormented by the wickedness of the world, 
 that despises the Word we preach by the Holy Spirit. Thus 
 Lot was troubled in Sodom, and the pious JeAvs in Babylon under 
 the godless king Belshazzar; also Jeremiah, when he preached 
 to the ungodly Jews and exclaimed (Jer. 15, 10) : '^oe is me, 
 my mother, that thou hast borne me." So in Micah 7, 1 : "Woe 
 
140 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 is me! for I am as tJie grape gleanings of the vintage: there 
 is no cluster to eat." 
 
 57. The Avratli of God is most i'earl'ul as he recalls the 
 Word. What man would not prefer pestilence, famine, war 
 — these being mere bodily calamities — to a famine of the Word 
 which is always joined to eternal damnation? An example of 
 the horrible darkness into which Satan can lead men Avhen 
 (iod is silent and does not speak, is furnished by the Gentiles 
 who have been bereft of the Word. Who is not horrified by 
 the Romans, men of exemplary wisdom and famous before othei' 
 nations by reason of their dignified discipline, who obseiTe;! 
 the custoim of letting the worthy matrons worship and crown 
 Priapus, the foul idol, and of leading bridal virgins before it? 
 What is more ludicrous than that the Egyptians adored tlie 
 calf Apis as the supreme godhead? 
 
 58. The Tripartite History gives an account of Constan- 
 tine the Great being the first to abolish in Phoenicia and other 
 places the shameless custom of using virgins, before their nup- 
 tials, for purposes of prostitution. Such monstrous infamies 
 were accounted religion and righteousness among the Gentiles. 
 There is nothing, in fact, so ridiculous, so stuj)id, so obscene, 
 nothing so remote from all projjriety, tliat it cannot be foisted 
 as the very essence of religion upon men who have been forsaken 
 by the Word. 
 
 59. This is, therefore, the greatest penalty, that God, through 
 tlic mouths of the holy patriarchs, threatens no longer to reprove 
 p'cn by his Spirit; which means tliat henceforth he will not give 
 Ill's Word to men, since all teaching is vain. 
 
 60. Like punishment our times will bring also upon Ger- 
 many. For we see the haste, the unrest, of Satan, and his ef- 
 forts to defraud whom he may of the Word. How many sects 
 has he roused during our lifetime, and this while we bent all 
 our energies toward the maintenance of pure doctrine ! What 
 is in store after our death? Surely, he will lead forth whole 
 swarms of Sacramentarians, Anabaptists, Antinomians, Serve- 
 tians, Campanistans and other heretics who at present, con- 
 quered by the pure Word and the constancy of faithful teachers. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 141 
 
 keej) out of sights, but are ready for every opportunity to estab- 
 lish their doctrines. - ' 
 
 61. Those, therefore, who have the Word in its purity, 
 should learn to embrace the same, to thank God for it and to 
 call upon him while he may be found. For when the spirit of 
 knowledge is taken away, tlie spirit of prayer is also gone. 
 Zechariah says (Zech 12, 10) : For the spirit of prayer is 
 joined to the spirit of grace. It is the spirit of grace which re- 
 proves our sins and gives instruction concerning their remis- 
 sion, which condemns idolatry and instructs concerning the 
 true worship of God, which condemns avarice^ lust and oppres- 
 sion, and teaches chastity, patience and charity. This spirit, 
 God here threatens, shall no longer continue his work of instruc- 
 tion, since men refuse to hear and are incorrigible. The spirit 
 of grace having been taken away, the spirit of prayer has also 
 been taken away. For it is impossible for him to pray who is 
 without the Word. 
 
 63. Accordingly, the office of a priest is twofold ; first, 
 that he turns to God and prays for himself and for his peo- 
 ple; second, that he turns from God to men through instruc- 
 tion and the Word. Says Samuel: "Far be it from me that I 
 should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you: but I 
 will instruct you in the good and the right way," 1 Sam 12, 
 23. He is aware that this is his proper office. 
 
 63. Therefore, the ministry is rightly praised and esteemed 
 as the highest favor. Wlien this has been lost or has been vi- 
 tiated, not only prayer becomes impossible, but men are simply 
 in the power of the devil, and do nothing but grieve the Holy 
 Spirit with all their deeds, and thus fall into mortal sin, for 
 which it is not lawful to pray. Such other lapses as occur 
 among men are trivial, for return is open and the hope of 
 pardon is left. But when the Holy Spirit is grieved and men 
 refuse to receive the witness and reproof of the Holy Spirit, 
 the disease is desperate and incurable. 
 
 GJ:. But how common is this sin today among all classes ! 
 Priuces, noblemen, inhabitants of city and country, refuse to 
 be reproved; they rather reprove and sit in judgment upon the 
 Holy Spirit in his servants. They judge of the office of the 
 
142 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ministry by the lowliness of the person. They reason thus : 
 This minister is poor and despised; why then should he re- 
 prove me, a prince, a nobleman, a magistrate? Eather than 
 endure this, they trample under foot the ministers, together 
 with their office and their message. Should we not, then, fear 
 the judgment of God, such as he here announces to the old 
 world ? 
 
 65. These, therefore, are the words of a father who disin- 
 herits his son, or of a severe schoolmaster in wrath ejecting a 
 pupil, when God simply fizes a hundred and twenty years as 
 the time in which opportunity is granted for repentance. He 
 threatens, should it not be improved, his Spirit shall no longer 
 reprove and strive. 
 
 This word pertains properly to the office of the ministry 
 and, in a certain sense, describes it. For every preacher or ser- 
 vant of the Word is a man of strife and judginent, and is con- 
 strained', by reason of his office, to chide whatever is viciou:=, 
 without considering the person or office of his hearer. When 
 Jeremiah does this zealously, he incurs not only hate but 
 also the gravest dangers. He is moved even to impatience, so 
 that he wishes he had never been born, Jer 20, 14. 
 
 6Q. And if I had not been particularly vstrengthened by 
 God, I should have been wearied and broken down ere this by 
 the contumacy of an impenitent world ; for the ungodly 
 so grieve the Holy Spirit in us, that, with Jeremiah, we 
 Avish often we had never made a beginning of anything. 
 Hence I often pray to God to let the present generation die 
 with us, because, after our death, the most perilous times are 
 to come. 
 
 67. For this reason Elijah is called by Ahab the godless 
 king of Israel, the disturber of Israel; because he openly re- 
 proved the idolatry, violence and passions of his day. Like- 
 wise we today are deemed the disturbers of Germany. 
 
 68. But it is a good sign when men condemn us and call 
 us authors of strife, for the Spirit of God strives with men, 
 reproves and condemns them. But men are so that they wish 
 to be taught only what gives them pleasure, as they frankly 
 admit in Micah 2, 6-7: "Prophesy not to us; for confusion has 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 143 
 
 not seized us, says the house of Jacob." The latter they use 
 as an argument; because they look upon themselves as the 
 house of Jacob and the people of God, they decline chasten- 
 ing, and will not take to themselves penalties and threats. 
 So today the pope and his accomplices plume themselves solely 
 upon being the Church, and declare that the Church is incap- 
 able of error. But notice this text and it will appear how 
 frivolous such an argument is. 
 
 69. Are not those whom God threatens to no longer judge 
 by his Spirit likewise the sons of God? What can be more 
 splendid than this name? Beyond doubt they gloried in this 
 name and rebelled against the patriarchs when they opposed, or 
 at least despised, their preaching. For it does not seem likely 
 that God should be thrown into a rage against the whole hu- 
 man race on account of a few sins. But the magnificent name 
 did not save them, nor did it avail that they were strong and 
 great in number. Six hundred thousand marched out of Eg}^pt, 
 and two only entered the land of Canaan; all the others were 
 prevented by death on account of their sins. 
 
 70. Evidently God will in no way inquire aJbout the mag- 
 nificent titles of the Church, pope and bishop. Other testi- 
 mony will be needed when they desire to escape the wrath of 
 God than to boast of being the Church. For it is written 
 (Mt 7, 20) : "By their fruits ye shall know them." And verse 
 21: "Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall en- 
 ter into the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 71. If ever in the future a council shall be held — which I 
 hardly believe — no one will be able to take from them the title 
 of Church, but propped up by this alone they will condemn and 
 oppress us. Different shall be the judgment, when the Son of 
 man shall come in his glory. Then it shall appear that 
 aijiong the members of the holy Church have been John Huss 
 and Jerome of Prague. The pope, however, and the cardinals, 
 the bishops, doctors, monks and priestly mountebanks, shall ap- 
 pear as the church of evil-doers, enthroned in pestilence, and as 
 veritable henchmen of Satan, rendering aid to their father in his 
 lying .and murdering. 
 
 72. Such judgment of God we see also here. He does not 
 
144 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 deny that the offspring of the saints are sons of God. This 
 magnificent title in which they took pride and securely sinned, 
 God leaves to them. And yet these very sons oi God who took 
 in marriage the daughters of men, he warns that he not only 
 will take the Word from their hearts and minds, but that he 
 will take from their eyes and ears also the ministering Spirit 
 wlio preaches, prays, reproves, teaches and sighs in holy ser- 
 vants, and because they refuse to be chastened .and reproved; 
 knowing themselves to be the sons of God they despise the 
 "Word and its teachers. But they do not escape punishment 
 because of their name. The same shall likewise befall the 
 papists and other enemies of the Word. 
 
 73. In accordance with this I hold that the sentiments of 
 pious men are here attributed to God himself, according to the 
 usage of the Holy Scriptures; for instance in Malachi 3,8, 
 where tlie Lord says tliat he is pierced through, or, as the He- 
 brew has it, that violence is done to him because tlie people were 
 unfaithful in rendering to the priests the first-fruits and the 
 tenth. 
 
 74. But why, you may say, should God need to complain 
 thus? Can he not when it pleases him suddenly destroy the 
 whole world? He surely can, but does not do so gladly. He 
 says: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that 
 the wicked turn from his way and live," Ezk 33, 11. Such a 
 disposition proves that God is inclined to pardon, to endure 
 and to remit the sins of men, if only they will come to their 
 senses; but inasmuch as they continue in obduracy, and reject 
 all help, he is, as it were, tormented by this wickedness of men. 
 
 75. The words '''And Jehovah said," I attribute to the holy 
 fathers, who testified through a public decree that God should 
 be compelled to exercise vengeance, for they taught by divine 
 authority. When Koah and his ancestors had preached nearly 
 a thousand years, and yet the world continued to degenerate 
 more and more, they announced God's decision to an ungrate- 
 ful world and disclosed this as his thought: Why should I 
 ]u-eacli forever and permit my heralds to cry in vain? The 
 more messengers I send, the longer I defer my wrath, — the 
 worse they become. It is therefore necessary for preaching 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 143 
 
 to cease^ and for retribution to begin. I shall not permit my 
 Spirit;, that is my Word, to sit in jud'gment and to bear wit- 
 ness forever, and to tolerate man's wickedness. I am con- 
 strained to punish their sins. Because man is flesh, he is op- 
 posed to me. He is earthh', I am spirit. Man continues in his 
 carnal state, mocks at tlie Word, persecutes and hates my Spirit 
 in the patriarchs, and the story is told to deaf ears. Hence it is 
 necessary that I should cease and permit man to go his own 
 way. This contrast he desires to indicate when he says : "For 
 he is flesh.'' 
 
 76. Noah, Lamech and Methuselah were very holy men, full 
 of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly they performed their office 
 by teaching, admonishing, urging and entreating, in season and 
 out of season; as Paul says, 2 Tim 4,2. But they reproved 
 flesh and did' unprofitable labor, for the flesh would not yield 
 to sound teaching. Should I, says he, endure forever such con- 
 tempt for my Word ? 
 
 77. This proclamation, therefore, contains a public com- 
 plaint, made by the Holy Spirit through the holy patriarchs, 
 Noah, Lamech, Methuselah and others, whom God took away 
 before the flood that they might not be spectators of so widely 
 diffused wrath. All these, with one voice and mouth, admon- 
 ished the giants and tyrants to repent, .and added the threat 
 that God would not endure forever such contempt of his Word. 
 
 78. But the flesh remained true to its nature; they despised 
 faithful exhortations in their presumption and carnal security, 
 and the holy patriarchs they treated as men in dotage and as 
 simpletons because of their threat that God would move in wrath 
 even upon his Church, namely, the heirs of the promise of the 
 coming seed. 
 
 79. The added clause, "yet shall his days be a hundred and 
 twenty yeai"s," Jerome afflrms must not be understood as re- 
 ferring to the years of human life, nor to the age of individ- 
 ual men; for it is certain that after the flood many exceeded 
 the two hundredth year. If you refer it to the years allotted 
 to individuals, the promise would be that individuals should 
 complete so many years, which, however, is false. Thereforo 
 
146 LUTIIEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 lie speaks of the time conceded to the world for repentance un- 
 til the flood should arrive. 
 
 80. This interpretation agrees with what precedes. God 
 shows that he is displeased with the perversity of men. He 
 is full of solicitude and quite ready to forbear. Against his 
 will, so to speak, he permits the flood to rage. Therefore, he 
 decided upon a fixed and adequate time for them to come to 
 their senses, and to escape punishment. All this time Noah 
 admonished men to repent, making it clear that God could 
 not longer endure such wickedness, while he was yet so kind 
 as to grant adequate time for repentance. 
 
 81. There is a beautiful cohesion between the words and 
 their significance. A former proclamation threatens: I cannot 
 endure longer contempt for my "Word; my preachers and 
 priests attain nothing with their infinite labor except derision. 
 Nevertheless, as a father or good judge would gladly spare 
 a son but is compelled by his wickedness to be severe, so, the 
 Lord says, I do not d'estroy gladly the human race. I shall 
 grant them one hundred and twenty years in which they may 
 come to themselves, and during which I shall exercise mercy. 
 
 83. Horrible was the disaster, because neither the brothers 
 nor the sisters of Noah were saved. It was necessary that the. 
 most earnest warning should precede, that, perhaps, they might 
 be called back to repentance. To the Ninevites Jonah an- 
 nounces destruction within forty days, and they repent and are 
 saved. 
 
 83. It is clear, therefore, that the heedlessness of the old 
 world was very great, inasmuch as in the one hundred and 
 twenty years of grace it obstinately persisted in its lusts, even 
 deriding its pontiff Noah, the teacher of righteousness. 
 
 84. In our times, at the approach of the day of the Lord, 
 almost the same condition obtains; we exhort to penitence 
 the papists and our noblemen; the inbahitants of city and 
 country we admonish not to continue despising the Word, 
 since God will not leave this unavenged. But in vain we exert 
 ourselves, as the Scripture says . A few faithful folk are edified 
 andj these are, one by one, gathered away from the face of sin, 
 and "no man layeth it to heart," as is spoken in Isaiah 57, 1. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. Ii7 
 
 But when God, in this way, has shaken out the wheat and gath- 
 ered the grain in its place, what, thinlv you, shall be the future 
 of the chaff? Nothing else but to be burned with inextinguish- 
 able fire, Mt 13,42. This shall be the lot of the world. 
 
 85. But the world does not understand how it can be that 
 through the preaching of the Gospel the wheat should be separ- 
 ated from the chaff, to be gathered into the bam, while the 
 chaff, that is, the throng of unbelievers sunk in idolatry and 
 darkness, shall be consigned to the fire. It is written: "In a 
 day of salvation have I helped tliee; and I will preserve thee," 
 Is 49, 8. Those who will neglect this day of salvation, will 
 find God as an avenger, for he will not do useless labor in 
 threshing empty chaff. 
 
 86. But the world is flesh; it does not obey. Yea, tlie nearer 
 and more immediate the calamity, the more secure it is and the 
 more readily it despises all faithful admonitions. Though 
 this offense provokes the righteous, we should, notwitlistanding, 
 conclude that God does not reprove in vain the world through 
 his Holy Spirit, nor that the Holy Spirit in the righteous is 
 grieved in vain. Christ uses this as an example when he speaks 
 of the wickedness and heedlessness of our age: "And as were 
 the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man," 
 Mt 24, 37. 
 
 87. It is to be observed here what has been an object of dif- 
 ficulty for Jerome, that the flood came a hundred years after 
 the birth of Shem, Ham and Japheth, while here a hundred 
 and twenty years are said to have been the time of the flood. 
 
 II. NOAH AND HIS PEEACHING. 
 
 II. NOAH AND HIS PREACH- and his the greatest of 
 
 ING. prophecies 91. 
 
 1. Tlie time Noah began to 5. His preaching- disreg-ard- 
 preach 87. ed not only by the Cainites 
 
 2. Why tlie world took oc- but by the sons of God 93. 
 ce-sion to despise Noah's * To what end God's com- 
 preaching SS. plaint of the first world 
 
 * Jerome's reckoning- of the should serve us 93. 
 
 120 years S9. * When was the judgment 
 
 3. Why Noan married after of God announced 94. 
 livina: so long single, when * The g-eneration of the 
 the world was to tie de- Cainites. 
 
 stroyed 90. a. Whether it still existed in 
 
 4. How and why Noah was the days of Noah 95. 
 
 the prophet of prophets b. Why Moses does not re- 
 
lis LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 cord the generations of the S. What impelled Noah to 
 
 Cainites and of their patri- continue his work, and 
 
 archs 95. not to turn to the world 
 
 c. How the holv patriarchs ^^- ^, , . 
 warned their children 9- How Noah s ag-e was the 
 ag-ainst the Cainites 96. wickedest and he had to 
 
 :i TT i, /-I - -4. 4. 4. oppose its wickedness all 
 
 d. How the Cainites torment- alone 100 
 
 ed the holy patriarchs 96. * W h o of ' the patriarchs 
 
 6. Why God raised up Noah were still living- in Noah's 
 97. time 100. 
 
 7. Noah's faith exceptionally 10. T\''hat trials Noah had to 
 strong 97-98. experience 101. 
 
 But this passage shows that iSToah began preaching ahont 
 the impending punishment of the deluge before liis marriage, 
 having hitherto led the life of a celibate. 
 
 88. Consider, therefore, what pastime he offered to a wicked 
 world in its fancied security. He predicts destruction to the 
 whole world through the flood, nevertheless, he himself marries. 
 Why? Was it not sufficient for him to perish alone, that he 
 must join to himself a companion for the disaster ? Oh, foolish 
 old man ! Surely if he believed the world was to perish by a 
 deluge, he would rather perish alone than marry and take the 
 trouble to beget children. But if he himself will be saved, why, 
 so shall also we. 
 
 In this manner they commenced to despise the preaching 
 concerning the flood with the greater assurance because of tlie 
 marriage of Foaih, ignorant of the counsel of God, who moves 
 in a manner altogether unintelligible to the world. How absurd 
 to promise Abraham posterity through Isaac, and yet to com- 
 mand Isaac to be sacrificed! 
 
 89. The divine Jerome argues against the view that God 
 had fixed the time for the flood at a hundred and twenty 
 years, but saw himself compelled, later, when wickedness had 
 waxed strong, to shorten the time. 
 
 90. But we shall not make God a liar; we rather give it as 
 our conviction that Noah had hitherto preached, while in a state 
 of celibacy, that the world was to be destroyed through the 
 flood, and later, by a divine command, had taken a maid as a 
 little branch, so to speak, from the race of women, and begot- 
 ten three sons. Below it is written that he had found grace 
 with the Lord; otherwise he who had refrained from marriage 
 
GENESIS YI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 14 n 
 
 SO long-, might have continued to do so still longer. But God, 
 in order to restrain his wrath, wants to leave a nursery for 
 the human race; therefore, he commands marriage. This the 
 wicked believe to be a sign that the world shall not perish ; they 
 live accordingly in security and despise the preacher, Noah. But 
 the counsel of G-od is different — to destroy the whole world and 
 to leave through this righteous Noah a nursery for the future 
 world. 
 
 91. Noah was, therefore, the greatest prophet; his equal 
 the world has not had. First he teaches the longest time ; then 
 he gives instruction concerning a universal punishment com- 
 ing upon the world, and even fixes the year of its advent. Like- 
 wise Christ prophesies concerning the last judgment, when all 
 flesh shall perish. "But of that day," he says in Mark 13, 32, 
 "or that hour knoweth no one, * * * but tlie father." 
 
 Jonah foretells punishment for the Ninevites within forty 
 days; Jeremiah foretells seventy years of captivity; Daniel, 
 seventy weeks until the coming of Christ. These are remark- 
 able prophecies, in which time, place and person are accurately 
 described. 
 
 But this prophecy of Noah surpasses all others, inasmucih 
 as he foretells through the Holy Spirit that within a certain 
 number of years the whole human race shall perish. He is 
 worthy to be called the second Adam and the head of the human 
 race, through whose mouth God speaks and calls the whole world 
 to repentance. 
 
 93. It is terrible, however, that his message was despised 
 with such assurance that not only none of the Cainites, but not 
 even any one of Adam's progeny underwent a change. There- 
 fore Noah was compelled to witness the destruction of brothers, 
 sisters, relatives and kindred without number, and all these 
 made a mock of tlie pious old man and of his message as an old 
 woman's tale. 
 
 93. This awful example is held up to us lest we persist in 
 sin. For if God did not spare the primitive world, which was 
 so magnificent — the very flower and youth of the world — and 
 in which had lived so many pious men, but, as he says in Psalm 
 81, 13, "gave them up unto their own hearts' lust," and cast 
 
ir.O LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 them aside, as if they had no claim upon the promise made to 
 the Church — if he did this, how much less will he spare us 
 who do not possess sucli prerogatives? 
 
 94. Therefore, the decree cited in this passage that God 
 would grant men a hundred and twenty years for repentance, 
 was rendered and promulgated before Foah had begotten chil- 
 idren. 
 
 95. With reference to the generation of the Cainites, no 
 mention is made of their patriardis at the time of the flood, 
 nor does Moses even deem them worthy of being named. Previ- 
 ously he has brought down the generation of Cain as far as 
 Lameeh, but whether his sons or nephews lived at the time of 
 ISToah is uncertain. This much is certain, that the offspring of 
 Cain existed to that time, and were so powerful as to mis- 
 lead the very sons of God, since even the posterity of the holy 
 patriarchs perished in the flood. 
 
 96. Before this time the holy patriarchs — the rulers of the 
 true Church, as it were — admonished their families to beware 
 of the accursed generation. But the Cainites, incensed at being 
 condemned, made the attempt to overturn the righteous with 
 every kind' of mischief; for the church of Satan wars perpet- 
 ually against the Church of God. 
 
 97. Therefore, as the righteous begin to waver and wicked- 
 neSiS gains ground, God raises Noah to exhort to repentance and 
 to be for his descendants a perpetual example, whose faith and 
 diligent, patient devotion to teaching, his offspring might ad- 
 mire and imitate. A great miracle is it and a case of illustri- 
 ous faith, that Noah, having heard through Methuselah and 
 Lameeh the decree that the world is to perish after a hundred 
 and twenty years, throug'h the flood', does not doubt its truth, 
 and yet, when the hundred and twenty years have almost ex- 
 pired, marries and begets children. He might rather have 
 thought : If the human race is to perish, why should I marry ? 
 Why should I beget sons? If I have refrained these many 
 years, I shall do so henceforth. But Noah does not do this ; 
 rather, after making known God's purpose respecting the 
 world's destruction, he obeys God, v/l^o calls him to matrimony, 
 and believes God that, though the whole world may perish, yet 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN^S WICKEDNESS. 151 
 
 he with his children shall be saved. An illustrious faith is 
 this and worthy of our consideration. 
 
 98. There was in him first that general faith, in common 
 with the patriarchs, concerning the seed which was to bruise 
 the head of the serpent. He possessed also the singular virtue 
 of holding fast to this faith in the midst of such a multitude 
 of offenses, and not departing from Jehovah. Then, to this 
 general faith he added the other, special faith, that he believed 
 God as regards both the threatened destruction of the rest of the 
 world and the salvation promised to ISToah himself and his sons. 
 Beyond a doubt, to this faith his grandfather Methuselah and 
 his father Lamech earnestly incited him; for it was as difficult 
 to so believe as it was for the Virgin Mary to believe that none 
 but herself was to be the mother of the Son of God. 
 
 99. This faith taught him to despise the presumption of 
 the world which derided him as a man in his dotage. This 
 faith prompted him diligently to continue the building of the 
 ark, a work those giants probably ridiculed as extreme folly. 
 This faith made Noah strong to stand alone against the many 
 evil examples of the world, and to despise most vehemently the 
 united judgment of all others. 
 
 100. But almost unutterable and miraculous is this faith, 
 burdened as it is with strange and most weighty obstacles, 
 which the Holy Spirit shows in passing, without going into 
 great detail, that we may be induced to meditate the more dili- 
 gently upon its circumstances. Consider first the great corrup- 
 tion of the age. While the Church had before this time many 
 and most holy patriarchs, it was now deprived of such rulers; 
 Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch are all 
 dead, and the number of patriarchs is reduced to three — Metliu- 
 selah, Lamech and Noah. These alone are left at the time the 
 decree concerning the destraction of the world is published. 
 These three are compelled to witness and suffer tlie incredible 
 malice of men, their idolatry, blasphemy, violent acts, foul pas- 
 sions, until finally Methuselah and Lamech are also called out 
 of this life. There Noah was the only one to oppose the world 
 rushing to destruction, and to make an effort to preserve right- 
 eousness and to repress unrighteousness. But far from meet- 
 
152 
 
 liUTIlER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ing with success, he had to see even the sons of God lajDse into 
 wickedness. 
 
 101. This ruin and havoc of the Church troubled the right- 
 eous man and all but broke his heart, as Peter says of Lot in 
 Sodom, 3 Pet 2, 8. jSTow, if Lot was so distracted and vexed 
 by the wickedness of one community, how must it have been 
 with N"o.ah, against whom not only the generation of Cain raged, 
 but who was opposed also by the decadent generation of tlio 
 patriarchs, and then even by his own father's house, his broth- 
 ers, sisters, and the descendants of his uncles and aunts ? For 
 all these were corrupted and estranged from the faith by the 
 daughters of men. As the text says, they "saw the daughters 
 of men.'' 
 
 III. THE SINS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 I. THE FORBIDDEN MARRI- 
 AGES ENTERED INTO. 
 
 1. Why this is said of the 
 sons and not of the daugh- 
 ters of the holy patriarchs 
 10 2. 
 
 2. Why were the holy fathers 
 so emphatically forbidden 
 to let their sons marry 
 the ung-odly 103-4. 
 
 3. How this was the begin- 
 ning- of all evils 105. 
 
 * What evils have in all 
 times come through wom- 
 an 106. 
 
 4. The sins here sprang from 
 despising the first table of 
 the law 107-8. 
 
 * Tho sins of the second ta- 
 ble follow when the first 
 table is not kept 108. 
 
 5. Everything that is called 
 sin is embraced in this sin 
 109-10. 
 
 6. How marriage with the 
 children of the true Church 
 was despised 111. 
 
 7. Their desire to marry thus 
 resembled Eve's desire to 
 take the forbidden apnle 
 112. 
 
 8. Why the patriarclis' chil- 
 dren took this step 113. 
 
 9. How these marriage alli- 
 ances were formed 114-16. 
 
 10. Berosus' testimony con- 
 cerning these forbidden 
 marriages 116. 
 II. DISORDER IN ALL. 
 
 BRANCHES OF SOCIETY 
 116-117. 
 III. THE TYRANNY EXER- 
 CISED. 
 
 1. By the "giants" or tyrants. 
 
 a. What is to be understood 
 by tyrants 117. 
 
 * The pope resembles the ty- 
 rants before the flood 118. 
 
 b. The nature of these ty- 
 rants 119. 
 
 c. Why called Nephilim 120-2. 
 
 d. Whether they received 
 their name from their 
 size or from their cruelty 
 123. 
 
 * How the Scriptures desig- 
 nate true rulers 123. 
 
 e. These tyrants types of An- 
 tichrist 123. 
 
 f. They were raging, power- 
 ful and criminal charac- 
 ters 124. 
 
 * Of authorities. 
 
 (1) How God wants \js to 
 
 honor the authorities 
 though he terribly 
 threatens them 12.5-6. 
 
 (2) Why God wants them to 
 
 be honored, when he 
 himself does not honor 
 them 127. 
 
 (3) Godless rulers are God's 
 swine and are rare birds 
 in heaven 128. 
 
 g. Whether these tyrants 
 were rulers and wliy God 
 called them by such a 
 shameful name 129. 
 
 h. Moses chose the word Ne- 
 philim, which in his day 
 designated a wicked peo- 
 ple, to express the ty- 
 rants of the first World 
 130. 
 J. By "the mighty men." 
 
 a. How Jerome perverts this 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. ]Sn 
 
 text 131. b. Who they were 136. 
 
 b. "Wliat is to be understood * They resembled the poi e 
 by "the mighty men that and bishops 136. 
 
 were of old" 131. c. Lyra's false explanation of 
 
 * The meaning- of "Olam" it refuted 137. 
 
 132. * How Antichrist is re- 
 
 c. Whence did they receive strained from the world, 
 their power 133. and true doctrine main- 
 
 d. Why called "mig-hty men" tained 137. 
 
 134. IV. The Sin Against the Holy 
 
 * The character of the true Spirit 13S. 
 
 church 134. * That one sin follows an- 
 
 3. By "the men of renown." other until man reaches 
 
 a. Why they were thus nam- the highest degree of sin 
 
 ed 135. 139. 
 
 III. THE SINS OF THE OLD WOELD IN 
 PARTICULAR. 
 
 103, But, I ask, why is not compkint made also of the men, 
 or why are not the daughters of God included in this complaint ? 
 He says merely that they "saw the (daughters of men." It was 
 surely for this reason, that the holy generation of Seth had re- 
 ceived the peculiar injunction to beware of fellowship with the 
 Cainites, inasmuch as they had been excluded from the true 
 Church, and to mingle with tliem neither socially through mar- 
 riage, nor ecclesiastically through worship, for the righteous 
 should avoid every occasion of offense. 
 
 103. In prohibiting marriage with the Cainites it was the 
 chief purpose of the pious fathers to maintain their generation 
 pure; for daughters bring into the houses of their husbands the 
 views and manners of the fathers. Thus, we read of Solomon 
 in the Book of the Kings that he was led asti-ay through a 
 wom.an who was a stranger; and thus Jezebel introduced the 
 wickedness of the Syrians into the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 lOJ:. The holy fathers saw the same would come to pass m 
 their generation; therefore, after they were separated from tlie 
 Cainites through the divine command, they resolved that the 
 sons of the holy generation should not marry the daughters of 
 men. The daughters of the race of the righteous could more 
 readily be restrained from marriage with the Cainites, while 
 the sons were independent and headstrong. 
 
 105. In this way Moses wishes to show the trouble began 
 from the time the sons of God joined themselves to the 
 daughters of men, seeing that they were fair. The sons of men 
 
]i)4 LUTHER ON" SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 who were proud and strong and passionately given to pleasure, 
 without doubt despised the plain maidens of the pious race who 
 had been reared by the holy patriarchs not delicately, but sim- 
 ply and modestly, being arrayed in homely garb. There was 
 hence no necessity of making a law also for the maidens, inas- 
 much as they were in any case neglected by the noble Cainites. 
 
 106. If yon study the history of nations you will find that 
 women have been the occasion for the overthrow of the strong- 
 est kingdoms. Well known is the disgrace of Helen. The sacred 
 writings demonstrate also that woman occasioned the fall of 
 the whole human race. This, however, i^hould be mentioned 
 without reflection upon the sex, for we have a command, "Honor 
 thy father and thy mother,'-' Ex 20, 12. Likewise, "Husbands, 
 love your wives," Col 3, 19. It is true that Eve was the first 
 to pluck the apple; however, she first sinned by idolatry and 
 fell from the faith, which faith, as long as it is in the heart, 
 controls also the body; but when it has departed from the 
 heart, the body serves sin. Guilt is not peculiar to sex but to 
 sin, which man has in common with woman. 
 
 107. Thus Moses gives an account of the prevailing unright- 
 eousness and lust. But he gives the reader to understand that, 
 before sin was committed against the second table of the Law, 
 the first had been violated, and the Word of God treated with 
 contempt. Otherwise the sons of God would have obeyed the 
 will of their pious parents forbidding marriage with those out- 
 side the Church. 
 
 108. Moses, therefore, concludes that, because the sons of 
 God had forsakeii the worship and Word' of God and departed 
 from the precepts of their parents, thereupon to fall into sens- 
 uality and lust, and to take to wife whom they pleased, they 
 also became violent and appropriated the goods of others. The 
 world cannot idb' otherwise. When it has forsaken God, it wor- 
 ships the devil; when it has despised the Word and fallen into 
 idolatry, it rusihes forth into all sins of passion, in which fierce- 
 ness of anger and fierceness of desire by turns are aroused, and 
 thus all the appetites are thro'^vn into a state of the greatest 
 disorder. When the righteous reprove this, the result is resent- 
 ment and violence against them. 
 
GENESIS YL MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 155 
 
 109. The sin of the flood, then, embraces everything that 
 may be called sin, by the first as well as the second table. Wicked 
 men first depart from God through unbelief; then tliey disre- 
 gard obedience to parents, and finally become murderers, adul- 
 terers, etc. 
 
 110. I mention this to the end that no one may believe that 
 sex or the marriage estate in themselves are to blame. It is 
 chiefly transgression of God's commandments and disobedience 
 to parents which are condemned. Owing to absence of fellow- 
 ship between the Cainites and the true Church, pious parents 
 desired also social separation from the Cainites, for fear they 
 might be perverted by the manners of ungodly wives. But God's 
 command being neglected, and the authority of parents despised, 
 the younger generation lapsed into the passions of concupiscence 
 and vehemence. In this way the honor of sex and the dignity 
 of matrimony are conserved : accusation is brought solely against 
 the unrighteousness which first departs from God and then 
 manifests itself in injuring the saints. 
 
 111. This is the teaching of the words: "The sons of God 
 saw the daughters of men that they were fair." Why did they 
 not see the daughters of God andl desire those in the Churcli 
 and possess the promise of the seed? Are they not convicted 
 of contempt for the sisters of their own generation, that is the 
 true Church, and of mingling with the carnal and impious gen- 
 eration of Cain? They despise the simplicity and reserve of 
 their sisters and prefer the smiles, the dress, the wiles of the 
 daughters of Cain; the latter they crave and cultivate, the 
 former they treat eitlier with neglect or dishonor. 
 
 112. With such eyes as Eve viewed the apples when she 
 fell into sin, the sons of God viewed the daughters of men. Eve 
 had seen the forbidden tree before that, but with eyes of faitli 
 looking back to God's commandment; for that reason she did 
 not crave, but rather she fied from the same. When, however, 
 the eyes of faith were dimmed and she beheld the tree solely 
 with carnal eyes, she stretched out her hand with desire and 
 invited also Adam, her husband. 
 
 113. Likewise the sons of the patriarchs had seen long be- 
 fore that the daugliters of the Cainites excelled in form, dress 
 
]o6 LUTTTEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 and elegance of manners. Nevertheless, they did not mingle 
 Avith them, for the eye of faith looked back to the command- 
 ment of God and to the promise of the seed to be born from the 
 generation of the righteons. But the eyes of faith having been 
 lost, they saw no longer either the command or the promise of 
 God, but followed merely the desire of the flesh. The simple, 
 good and virtuous girls of their own generation they despised; 
 the Cainites they married, seeing they were polished, charming 
 and pleasant. 
 
 114. It is not a sin, therefore, that they marry, nor is the 
 sex in itself condemned. Condemnation lies in this, that with 
 contempt of the divine commandment they marry unlawfully; 
 that they permit themselves to be led astray by their wives 
 from the true worship to the wicked worship of a false church ; 
 that, after the fashion of the ' Cainites, they pay no heed to 
 parental authority and become guilty of violence, oppression 
 and other sins. 
 
 Moses clearly reveals their sin when he says: "They took 
 them wives of all that they chose," as if he said: To marry a 
 wife is not an evil but a blessing, if it be done lawfully. But 
 they sinned in that the}^ married without judgment, against the 
 will and purpose of the parents, marrying whom and as many 
 as they pleased, regardless of their own estate, whether married 
 or single. 
 
 115. This is a stern word, by which Moses characterizes it 
 as a great sin that they arbitrarily married two wives or more, 
 exchanged them, or snatched them from others, after the man- 
 ner of Herod, who possessed himself of his lirother's wife. It 
 is this unbridled reign of evil lust that Moses discloses and 
 condemns. 
 
 116. Berosus writes that incestuous marriages also took 
 place among them, so that they married even their mothers and 
 sisters. But I doubt whether they were so wicked as that. It 
 is a sin sufficiently grave that in marrying they dispensed with 
 judgment, the authority of their parents and even with the 
 Word of God, following altogether the guidance of lust and de- 
 sire. They took whom they pleased and whom they could, and 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 1.37 
 
 by sucli license they broiig'lit chaos into domestic, public and 
 cliurchly relations. 
 
 The sin of the primeval world was, therefore, an upheaval of 
 all established order, inasmuch as tlie Church was demoralized 
 by idolatry and false modes of worship. This condition was ag- 
 gravated by those oppressors who cruelly persecuted the right- 
 eous teachers and holy men. Public discipline was destroyed by 
 oppression and violent deeds, and domestic discipline by un- 
 curbed lust. Upon such overturning of piety and integrity fol- 
 lowed universal depravity; men were not merely evil but plainly 
 incorrigible. 
 
 V. 4a. The Ncphilim {giants) were in the earth in those 
 days," 
 
 117. Moses continues the descrij^tion of the sin and offense 
 which 2)rovoked the deluge. The first point was that the sons of 
 God liad fallen froui the fear of God, and the Word had become 
 altogether carnal, perverting not only the Church but also the 
 State and home. Now he adds that wickedness had grown to 
 the extent of giants arising upon earth. He clearly states that 
 there were born from the concubinage of the sons of God with 
 the daughters of men, not sons of God, but giants; that is, bold 
 men who arrogated to themselves at the same time both govern- 
 ment and priesthood. 
 
 118. Just so the pope arrogates to himself at the same time 
 the spiritual and the temporal sword. This would not be 
 the height of evil, if he would only make use of his power for 
 the preservation of State and Church; but the greatest sin is 
 that he abuses his power for the establishment of idolatry, for 
 a warfare against sound doctrine, and for purposes of oppression 
 even in the State. When the Papists are reproved with the 
 Word of God, they spurn sucK reproof, claiming that they are 
 the Church and incapable of -error. This class of people Moses 
 calls "giants," men who arrogate to themselves power both 
 political and ecclesiastical, and who sin most licentiously. 
 
 119. Such men are described in the Book of Wisdom who 
 say: 'T/et unrighteousness be our law," 2, 11. Also in Psalms, 
 12, 4: 'Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our 
 lips are our own: who is lord over us?" Again in Psalm 73. 
 
loS LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD: 
 
 "Tliey scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression : they speak loft- 
 ily," etc. Such were the giants who withstood the Holy Spirit 
 to his face, who, through the mouth of Lamech, Noah and the 
 sons of JSToah, exhorted, implored, taught and reproved. 
 
 120. There are those who dispute the meaning of the noun 
 Nephilim and derive it from Naphal, which signifies "to fall." 
 They commonly take it in a passive sense, meaning that other 
 men, seeing tlie uncouth form^ and extraordinary.- size, fell 
 down from fear. Let the rabbis vouch for the correctness of 
 this; it is ridiculous to call them "Nephilim" because others 
 fell. Some, however, suggest the etymology that tliey were 
 thus called because they had fallen from the common stature of 
 men, and allege as proof-passage Numbers 13,133, from which 
 it appears that giants possessed huge bodies like^the Anakim and 
 Eephaim. Which of these are right, I do not decide, especially 
 since it is certain that a theory of all words can not be given, 
 nor their origin demonstrated. 
 
 181. But here another question obtrudes itself: Why should 
 those born from the sons of God and the daughters of men 
 alone have differed from the ordinary stature of man ? I have no 
 other answer than that the text says nothing of stature in tliis 
 place. In Numbers 13, 33 it is said : "There we saw the giants, 
 the sons of Anak, who come of the giants : and we were in our 
 sight as grashoppers, and so we were in their sight." There 
 hugeness of body is shown, but not here; therefore they may be 
 called giants for some other reason than massive stature. 
 
 122. To give my opinion of the word, I hold it is to be 
 taken neither in the sense of the neuter nor of the passive, 
 but of the active, inasmuch as the word "naphal" is often used 
 in the sense of the active, though it does not belong to the third 
 conjugation, in whicli almost all transitive verbs are found. 
 Thus in Joshua 11, 7 : "So Joshua came, and all the people of 
 war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly, 
 and fell upon them." If the verb is construed as neuter, as if 
 Joshua and his men had fallen before the enemies, history will 
 object; for the meaning is that they fell upon the enemies and 
 suddenly overpowered them. 
 
 123. Therefore, this passage and other, similar ones prompt 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 159 
 
 me to understand "nepJiiUm" to designate not bulk of body, but 
 tyranny and oppression, inasmuch as they domineered by force, 
 making no account of law and honor, but merely indulging 
 their pleasure and desire. Eightful rulers the Scripture calls 
 shepherds and princes, but those who rule by wrong and vio- 
 lence are rightly called "NepJiilim," because they fall and prey 
 upon those beneath them. 
 
 Thus in Psalm 10: "He croucheth and humbleth himself 
 and Venaphal Baa Zumaf Helkaim (falls with his strong ones 
 upon the poor)". The Holy Spirit speaks there of the reign 
 of the Antichrist, whom he describes as raging so furiously as 
 to crush what he can, and, at all events, to bend what he cannot 
 crush, so that afterward he may suppress with all his strength 
 what has been bent. For laazuma can be indifferently rendered 
 by "with his strength," or "with his strong ones." This power, 
 he says, he uses only against those who are Hill-aim, that is the 
 poor, such as have previously been in some state of affliction. 
 Others who excel in power, he worships so as to draw them over 
 to his side. 
 
 134. Accordingly I interpret "giants" in this passage not 
 as men of huge stature, as in Numbers 13, 33, but as violent 
 and oppressive; as the poets depict the C3^clopeans, who fear 
 neither God nor men, but follow only their desires, relying upon 
 their strength and power. For the oppressors sit enthroned in 
 majesty, sway empires and kingdoms, and arrogate to them- 
 selves even spiritual power, but use such power against the 
 Church and the Word of God for the gratification of their lust. 
 
 125. Observe here the strange counsel of God, commanding 
 us to fear the authorities, to obey, serve and honor them, while 
 at the same time the threats and dreadful reproofs which he ad- 
 ministers are almost invariably directed against those in author- 
 ity, against kings and princes, as if God proceeded against 
 them with a peculiar hatred. Scripture enjoins upon us to 
 honor authority, but itself does not honor it; rather it destroys 
 it with a threat of the gravest penalties. Scripture enjoins us to 
 fear authority, but itself appears to despise authorities, inasmuch 
 as it does not commend but threatens. 
 
 126. Does not Mary earnestly declaim in her song against 
 
160 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 princes, Luke 1, 51-53 : "He hatli scattered the proud in the 
 imagination of their heart. He hath put down princes from 
 their thrones, and hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry 
 he liath filled with good things ; and the rich he hatli sent empty 
 away"? If we believe this to be true, who would wish to be 
 found among authorities, for whom so certain perdition is pre- 
 pared and imminent? Who would not prefer to live on a lowly 
 plane and suffer hunger ? The second psalm accuses the author- 
 ities of the gravest crime when it says that they place themselves 
 with united strength and efforts in opposition to God and his 
 anointed and render violence to his kingdom, "Thou hast made 
 of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin/' Is 25, 2. The whole 
 Bible abounds with like sentiments. 
 
 137. Thus, the Bible does not honor the authorities, but 
 threatens them with danger, and drags them into manifest con- 
 tempt; and still with consummate care it commands us to rever- 
 ence and fear them, and to render them all manner of service. 
 Wiiy is this? Surely because God himself desires to punish 
 them, and has reserved vengeance for himself instead of sur- 
 rendering it to their subjects. Jeremiah argues in chapter 12, 1. 
 concerning the prosperity of the way of the ungodly, and yet 
 the Lord is righteous. But he concludes : "Thou, Lord, f at- 
 tenest them and preparest them for the sacrifice." 
 
 128. So might it be said that the authorities are God's swine, 
 as it were; he fattens them, gives them wealth, power, fame and 
 the obedience of their subjects. They .are not pursued, while 
 they themselves pursue and oppress others; they suffer no in= 
 jury, but they inflict it upon others; they do not give to others, 
 but rob them until the hour comes when, like fattened swine, 
 they are slaughtered. Hence the German proverb: A prince is 
 a rare bird in the kingdom of heaven or, princes are wild game 
 in heaven. 
 
 129. Accordingly, those whom Moses calls here "Nephilim," 
 which is an odious and disgraceful name, were without doubt 
 the lawful administrators of Church and State. But because 
 they did not use their office as they should, God marks and 
 brands them with this opprobious name. As we, in this cor- 
 rupt state of nature, are unable to use the least gift without 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 161 
 
 pride, so Grod, most intolerant of pride, thrusts the mighty from 
 their throne, and leaves the rich empty. 
 
 130. I accept, then, the word "Nepliilim" as having an active 
 signification, being equivalent to tyrants, oppressors, revelers.. 
 I believe, furthermore, as has been the case with other languages 
 also, that Moses has transferred the usage of this word from 
 his own times to those before the deluge, after changing some- 
 what its meaning, inasmuch as these degenerate descendants of 
 the sons of God abused their power and position for the oppres- 
 sion of the good, just as those Anakim were tyrants relying upon 
 boidily strength, and so Moses will presently show. 
 
 V. 4b. And also after that, ivJien the sons of God came in 
 unto the daughters of men, and they hare children to them ; the 
 same were the men that were of old, the men of renown. 
 
 131. Jerome* renders: Isti sunt potentes a seculo (these are 
 mighty men from the beginning). But the word seculum 
 (olam) does not here signify duration of time, nor does it pred- 
 icate extent. These giants did not exist from the beginning, 
 they were not born until the sons of God had degenerated. But 
 seculum (olam) connotes a second predicate, that of substance, 
 so that Moses explains the nature of the power in which they 
 trusted to have been secular or wordly. They despised the min- 
 istry of the Word as a vile office; therefore they seized upon 
 another office, a secular one. The very same thing our Papists 
 have done. It has pleased them better to hold ample revenues 
 and wordly kingdoms than to be hated of all men for the sake 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 132. As far as Moses is concerned, the noun olam designates 
 the world itself, and also age or time. Hence it is to be care- 
 fully noted when olam [seculum) signifies duration of time, 
 and when it signifies "world" in the Scriptures. Here it 
 signifies of necessity ''world," for they did not exist from the 
 beginning. 
 
 133. This clause, then, aptly describes the power they had 
 
 ■'■') So also the A. V. and the R. V., while Luther has by no means 
 the philological science against him. Mrnidus, seculum, aion, 
 and olam are used to express the same conception. Translator. 
 
162 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 received, not from the Cliurch, nor from the Holy Spirit, but 
 from the devil and the world. It is, as it were, the counter- 
 part of what Christ says before Pontius Pilate, John 18, 36: 
 "My kingdom is not of this world." The servants of the 
 Word struggle with hunger, and they labor under the hate of 
 all classes. In consequence, they cannot exercise tyranny; but 
 those who possess kingdoms, who govern states, who possess 
 castles and domains, are equipped for exercising tyranny. 
 
 134. This clause contains also a suggestive reference to 
 the small Church with her few souls. These are cross-bearers 
 without wealth; but they possess the Word. Their only wealth 
 is what the world despises and persecutes. The JSTephilim, on 
 the other hand, or giants, usurp as the descendants of the patri- 
 archs the splendid name of the Church, and possess also king- 
 doms. They exercise dominion, and pursue the miserable 
 Church in their power. In accordance therewith Moses calls 
 them mighty before, or in, the world; or worldlings and tem- 
 poral potentates. 
 
 135. What Jerome renders viri famosi (famous men) is, in 
 Hebrew, "men of name," that is, renowned or famous in the 
 world. Moses touches here also upon the sin of the Cyclo- 
 peans, who, possessing everything in the world, possessed also a 
 famous name and were renowned throughout the world; while, 
 on the contrary, the true sons of God, namely Noah .and his 
 sons, were held in the greatest scorn and regarded as heretics, 
 as sons of the devil, as a blot upon the grandeur of Church 
 and State. So is it now with us. Christ testifies in Matthew 
 34, 37, that the last times resemble the times of Noah. 
 
 136. Moses had before testified that the Holy Spirit would 
 be taken from the wicked and they would be sent in the ways 
 of their own desire. They were, accordingly, such rascals as 
 the pope today with his cardinals and bishops, who are not only 
 styled princes and possess kingdoms, but also take to them- 
 selves the name of Church, so as to subject us as heretics to 
 the ban, and securely to condemn us. They do not permit them- 
 selves to be called tyrants, nor wicked, nor temple-robbers. 
 They wish to be styled most kind, holy and reverend gentle- 
 men. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 163 
 
 137. The meaning, therefore, is not that which Lyra fol- 
 lows when he understands "famous" as "notorious." As the 
 world does not call the pope Antichrist, but ascribes to him 
 the name of the greatest saint and admires him as if he and 
 his carnal creatures were filled with the Holy Spirit and incap- 
 able of error, and therefore humbl}'' worships whatever he com- 
 mands or advises — exactly so those giants had a noble name 
 and were held in admiration by the whole world. On the con- 
 trary, ISToah with his followers was condemned as a rebel, as a 
 heretic, as a traducer of the dignity of State and Church. So 
 today do bishops regard us who profess the Gospel. 
 
 138. This passage furnishes a description of the sins with 
 which that age was burdened: Men were averse to the Word; 
 they were given over to their own lusts and reprobate minds; 
 they sinned against the Holy Spirit by persistent impenitence, 
 by defending their ungodly behavior and by warring upon the 
 recognized truth. Yet with all these blasphemies they re= 
 tained the name and authority, not only of the State, but also 
 of the Church, as if God had exalted them to the place of the 
 angels. When this was the state of things, and Noah and 
 Lamech with their pious ancestor Methuselah taught in vain, 
 God turned them over to the desires of their hearts (Ps 81, 12) 
 and maintained silence until they should experience the flood, 
 the prophecy of which they refused to believe. 
 
 139. This is falling away from God and Church and enter- 
 ing upon illicit marriage. One sin, unless corrected at once, 
 will lead to another, and so on indefinitely until the state is 
 reached which Solomon describes in Proverbs 18, 3, ^^hen 
 the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, and with ig- 
 nominy Cometh reproach." They who thus sin, even if after- 
 ward rebuked, do not heed. They imagine they stand in 
 need of no instructor, and think they represent a just cause. 
 They do not believe in a life after this, or even hope for sal- 
 vation, while living in open sin. Notwithstanding, scorn and 
 sihame shall overwhelm them. It was this persistent impen- 
 itence and consummate contempt for the Word that impelled 
 God to visit all flesh with a universal flood, 
 
161 
 
 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 IV. GOD'S EEPENTANCE AND GfilHF THAT HE MADE MAN. 
 
 CONTENTS: 
 I. Tlie Repentance of God. 
 A. The Words, "The wicked- 
 ness of man was great." 
 a. How Ijuthcr used these 
 words against tlie doctrine 
 of free will; how the ad- 
 vocates of free will false- 
 ly interi>rcted them, and 
 how they are refuted 140-1 
 * Concerning- free will. 
 
 (1) Augustine's doctrine of 
 
 free will misinterpreted 
 by the schools 140. 
 
 (2) The schools unreasonably 
 
 defend it 141. 
 
 (3) Man has no free will and 
 
 without the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit can do noth- 
 ing 142-3. 
 
 (4) The reproving office of 
 
 the Holy Spirit makes it 
 clear that man has no 
 free will 144. 
 
 (5) Whether there is hope, if 
 a council be held, that 
 the Papists will abandon 
 their false doctrine of 
 free will 145. 
 
 (6) How the true doctrine of 
 free will leads us to a 
 knowledge of sin and 
 what we are to hold in 
 reference to it 146. 
 
 (7) Why we should guard 
 
 against the false doc- 
 trine concerning free 
 will 147. 
 
 * The comfort for one 
 who commits sins of 
 infirmities 147. 
 
 * All endeavors without 
 the Holy Spirit are evil 
 14S. 
 
 (8) We are to' distinguish in 
 
 the doctrine of free will 
 what is good politically 
 from what is good theo- 
 logically 149-50. 
 
 b. These -words are w^rongly 
 understood by the Jews 
 
 and sophists 151. 
 * How we should vie^w the 
 discussions of philosophers 
 in regard to God and di- 
 vine things 152. 
 
 c. These words should be un- 
 derstood as spoken not on- 
 ly of the people before the 
 flood, but of all men 153. 
 
 P.. The Words, "it Repented 
 Jehovah." 
 a. How the repentance of God 
 is to be reconciled with the 
 
 wisdom and omniscience of 
 God. 
 
 (1) The way soihists answer 
 
 this question 15 4. 
 
 (2) Ijuther's answer 155-7. 
 
 ■* How man should treat 
 questions vi'^hich lead us 
 into the throne of the 
 divine majesty 15S. 
 
 * How the passages of 
 Scripture are to be un- 
 derstood w^hich attrib- 
 ute to God the mem- 
 bers of a human body 
 159. 
 
 * Whether the anthroiio- 
 morphites were Justly 
 condemned 159. 
 
 * Why God is represented 
 to us as if he sprang 
 from the temporal and 
 the visible 161-3. 
 
 * We cannot explore God's 
 nature 163. 
 
 * In what pictures God re- 
 veals himself in the Old 
 Testament, and in tiie 
 New 164. 
 
 * The will of God in .■-■igns 
 and the will of God's 
 good pleasure. "signs" 
 and "Beneplaciti." 
 
 (a) How %\'e can know God's 
 ^vill in signs 165-6. 
 
 (b) Why we cannot know 
 the will of God's )ileas- 
 ure, nor fathom it 165-6. 
 
 (c) What is really to be iin- 
 derstood by the will in 
 signs 167. 
 
 b. The way the schools ex- 
 plain these v/ords 168. 
 
 c. How they are to be right- 
 ly understood 169. 
 
 * Disputing about God's maj- 
 esty and omnipotence 
 
 places man in a danger- 
 ous position 169-71. 
 
 * How man should hold to 
 the signs by which God re- 
 vealed himself 171. 
 
 * What the will of God's 
 pleasure is, to what it 
 serves and how it is re- 
 vealed in Christ 172-6. 
 
 * The will of good pleasure 
 of which the fathers speak 
 cannot comfort the heart 
 175. 
 
 * The only view of the God- 
 head possible in this life 
 170. 
 
 d. In what sense it can T>e 
 said that "it repented Je- 
 hovah that he had made 
 man" 177. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 165 
 
 IV. THE REPEATTANCE AND GEIEF OF GOD BE- 
 CAUSE HE HAD MADE MAN. 
 
 A. The Repentance of God. 
 
 V. 56. And Jehovah saw that the wichedness of man ivas 
 great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart luas only evil continually. And it repented Je- 
 hovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him 
 at his heart. 
 
 140. This is tlie passage which we have used against "free 
 will," of which Augustine writes that without the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit it can do nothing but sin. The scholastics, how- 
 ever, the champions of free will, are not only hard beset 'by 
 this clear passage, but also by the authority of Augustine, and 
 they sweat. Of Augustine they say that his language is hy- 
 perbolical, as Basil writes of one who in refuting the other side 
 had gone too far, that he did lilce the farmers; they when try- 
 ing to straighten out crooked branches bend them a little too far 
 on the other side; and so Augustine, in beating back the Pela- 
 gians, is asserted to have spoken more severely against free 
 will in the defense of grace than the merits of the case war- 
 ranted. 
 
 141. As far as this passage is concerned, it is slandered 
 when it is held that it spealcs only of the evil generation be- 
 fore the flood, and that now men are better, at least some who 
 make good use of their freedom of will. Such wretched in- 
 terpreters do not see that the passage speaks of the human 
 heart in general, and that a particle is plainly added, EaTc, 
 which signifies "only.'' In the third place, they fail to see 
 that after the flood the same declaration is repeated in the 
 eighth chapter in almost precisely the same terms. For God 
 says, "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," 
 Gen 8, 21. Here evidently he does not speak only of the ante- 
 diluvians. He rather speaks of those to whom he m^akes the 
 promise that henceforth another general flood of water shall 
 never come, that is, of all the offspring of Noah. These are 
 words of universal application: "The imagination of man's 
 heart is evil." 
 
166 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 142. We draw, therefore, the general oonclusion that man 
 witilioiit the Holy Spirit and without grace can do nothing 
 but sin, and thus he unlialtingly goes forward from sin to 
 sin. When in addition, he will not endure sound doctrine 
 but rejects the word of salvation and resists the Holy Spirit, 
 he becomes an enemy of God, blasphemes the Holy Spirit 
 and simply follows the evil desires of his heart. Witnesses 
 of this are the examples of the prophets, Christ and the Apos- 
 tles, the primeval world under Noah as teacher, and also the 
 example of our adversaries today, who cannot be convinced by 
 anything that they are in error, that they sin, that their wor- 
 ship is ungodly. 
 
 143. Other declarations of Holy Scripture prove the same 
 thing. Is not the statement of the fourteenth Psalm, verse 3, 
 sweeping enough whan it says: "Jehovah looked down from 
 heaven upon the children of men, to see if there was any that 
 did understand, and did seek after G-od. They are all gone 
 aside?" Thus, Ps 116, 11, "All men are liars;" and 
 Paul, "God hath shut up all unto disobedience," Rom 11, 32. 
 These passages are most sweeping, and emphatically force the 
 conclusion that we all, without the Holy Spirit, whose dispenser 
 is Christ, can do nothing but err and sin. Therefore, Christ 
 says in tlie Gospel, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: * * * 
 apart from me ye can do notliing," Jn 15, 5. Without me you 
 are a branch cut off, dry, dead and ready for the burning. 
 
 144. And the very reason the Holy Spirit performs the of- 
 fice of reproving tlie world is that he may call the world back 
 to penitence and the recognition of its derangement. But the 
 world remains consistent with itself; it hears not and believes 
 it can please God with forms of worship of its own dhoosing 
 and witliout the sanction of the divine Word, and does not 
 permit itself to be undeceived. 
 
 145. If ever a council should be held, the final declaration 
 and conclusion with reference to this very point, the freedom 
 of will, will be that we s;hould abide by the decisions of the 
 pope and the fathers. We may clamor until we are hoarse 
 that man in himself without the Holy Spirit is evil, that every- 
 thing he does without the Holy Spirit or without faith is con- 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 167 
 
 denmed before God, that his heart is depraved and all his 
 thought; we shall effect nothing. 
 
 146. Therefore, the mind is to 'be grounded in this, and we 
 are to hold fast the doctrine which lays before us our sin and 
 condemnation. This knowledge of our sin is the beginning 
 of salvation; we must absolutely despair of ourselves and give 
 glory for righteousness to God alone. Why does Paul else- 
 where complain, and in Eomans 7, 18 freely confess that there 
 is nothing good in him? He says plainly, "in my flesh;" so 
 that we understand that the Holy Spirit alone can heal our in- 
 firmity. When this has been fixed in our hearts, the founda- 
 tion of our salvation is largely laid, inasmuch as subsequently 
 clear testimonies are given that God will not cast away the sin- 
 ner, that is, one who recognizes his sin and desires to come to 
 his senses and thirsts after righteousness and the remission of 
 sin through Christ. 
 
 147. Let us, therefore, take care not to be found among 
 those Cyelopeans who oppose the Word of God and proclaim 
 their freedom of will and their own powers. Though we 
 often err, though we fall and sin, still, upon yielding to re- 
 proof on the part of the Holy Spirit with an humble confession 
 of our depravity, the Holy Spirit himself will be present, and 
 not only not impute to us the sin we aclmowledge, but the 
 grace of Christ shall cover it and he will shower upon us other 
 gifts necessary to this life as well as the future one. 
 
 148. But the words of Moses are to be more closely con- 
 sidered, for with a definite purpose he has used here a pe- 
 culiar expression; he has not merely said, "The thoughts of 
 inan's heart are evil," but "the imagination of the thoughts of 
 his heart." Thus he expresses the highest that man can 
 achieve with his thoughts or with his reason and free will, 
 "I):;! agination" he calls that which man with his strongest ef- 
 fort devises, selects, creates like a potter, and believes to be 
 most beautiful. 
 
 But such imagination is evil, he says, and that not once, 
 but always. For our reason without the Holy Spirit is alto- 
 gether without knowledge of God. Fow, to be without knowl- 
 
]G8 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE ELOOD. 
 
 edge of God means to be entirely base, to dwell in darkness and 
 to deem that very good which, in reality, is very bad. 
 
 149. But when I speak of good, I do so from the stand- 
 point of theology, for we must distinguish between the theo- 
 logical and the civil standpoints. God approves also the rule 
 of the ungodly; he honors and rewards virtue also among the 
 ungodly: but only in regard to the things of this life and in 
 things grasped by a reason which is upright from the civil 
 standpoint; whereas the future life is not embraced in such 
 reward. His approval is not with regard to the future life. 
 
 150. When we dispute about the freedom of the will, the 
 question with us is what it may do from the theological stand- 
 point, not in civil affairs and in those subjects to reason. We 
 believe that man, without the Holy Spirit, is altogether cor- 
 rupt before God, though he may stand adorned with all hea- 
 then virtues, inasmuch as there are certainly distinguished ex- 
 amples of moderation, of liberality, of love of country, par- 
 ents and children, of courage and humanity, even in the his- 
 tory of the Gentiles. We maintain that man's best thoug-hts 
 concerning God, the worship of God, the will of God, are worse 
 than Cimmerian darkness; for the light of reason, which has 
 been given to man alone, understands only bodily blessings. 
 Such is the wicked infatuation of our evil desires. 
 
 151. This declaration, therefore, should not be construed 
 frivolously, as the Jews and sophists do, who believe that the 
 lower part of man only is here meant, which is bestial, and 
 that the reason longs for better things. "The imagination of 
 the tlioughts" they apply accordingly to the second table, like 
 the Pharisee who condemns the publican and says that he is 
 not like the other persons. The words the Pharisee uses are 
 very fine, for to give thanks to God for his gifts is not a sin; 
 and yet we 'd'eclare this same thing to be ungodly and wicked, 
 because it proceeded from gross ignorance of God, and it is 
 truly prayer turned into sin, tending neither to the glory of 
 God' nor to the welfare of men. 
 
 152. You may observe that philosophers have at various 
 times quite cleverly discussed God and the providence with 
 which he rules all things. To some, such words have seemed 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 160 
 
 80 pious that they almost have placed Socrates, Xenophon and 
 Plato in the same rank with the prophets; yet, because in 
 these discussions the philosophers are ignorant of the fact 
 that God has sent his only Son into the world to save sinners, 
 these beautiful utterances are, according to the declaration 
 of this passage, consummate ignorance of God and mere blas- 
 phemies, for the passage states unequivocally that all imagin- 
 ation and effort of the human heart is only evil. 
 
 153. The text speaks, accordingly, not only of the sins be- 
 fore the flood, but it speaks of the whole nature of man, his 
 heart, his reason and his intellect, even when man pretends 
 to righteousness and desires to be very holy, as do today the 
 Anabaptists when they purpose in their heart so to excel as to 
 fail in notliing, when for a show they attempt to attain the 
 fairest virtues. The truth is that hearts without the Holy 
 Spirit are not only ignorant of God, hut naturally even hate 
 him. How, then, can anything be aught but evil tliat pro- 
 ceeds from ignorance and hatred of God? 
 
 154. Another qnestinn is here raised. Moses speaks thus: 
 "When Jehovah saw that every imagination of the thoughts 
 of man's heart was only evil continually, it repented him that he 
 had made man on the earth.'' If God foresees everything, 
 why does the text say that he now first sees? If God is wise, 
 how can regret for having created anything befall him? Why 
 did he not see this sin or depraved nature of man from the be- 
 ginning of the world? Why does Scripture thus attribute to 
 God such things as a temporary will, vision and purpose? 
 Are not the purposes of God eternal and unalterable, incap- 
 able of being regretted? Similar instances are found also in 
 the prophets, where God threatens penalties, as for instance to 
 the Ninevites, and yet pardons the penitent. 
 
 To this question the sophists have no other reply than this, 
 that the Scripture spealts after the manner of men, that such 
 tilings are ascribed to God accordingly through the use of a 
 figure of speech. Hence they contend concerning a dou1)lc 
 will of God, the will expressed by signs (voluntas signi) and 
 the will of his good pleasure {voluntas leneplaciti) . The will 
 of his good pleasure, they say, is constant and unchangeable, 
 
170 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 v'-hile the expressed will is subject to crhange. For the signs 
 through Wliich lie expresses himself, he changes when he 
 pleases. Thus he has abolished circumcision and instituted 
 baptism, whereas the will of his good pleasure, fixed from 
 eternity, abides. 
 
 155. While I do not condemn this interpretation, a sim- 
 pler meaning of the Scripture seems to be that the Holy 
 Scriptures express the thought of men in the ministry. For 
 when j\Ioses says that God sees and regrets, this is really done 
 in the hearts of those who have the ministry of the Word. 
 Thus he said above: ^'My Spirit shall not strive with man," 
 but he does not say this simply of the Holy Spirit as exist- 
 ing in Im own nature, or of the divine majesty, but of the 
 Holy S2)irit in the hearts of Noah and Methuselah, that is, the 
 Holy Spirit as officiating and administering the Word through 
 the saints. 
 
 156. In this manner God saw the wickedness of man and 
 repented; that is, Noah, who had the Holy Spirit and was a 
 minister of the Word, saw the wickedness of men and, see- 
 ing such things, he was moved by the Holy Spirit to grief. 
 So Paul says in Epiiesians 4, 30, that the Holy Spirit in the 
 righteous is grieved by the ungodliness and malice of tHie 
 wicked. Inasmuch as Noah is a faithful minister of iihe 
 Word and an organ of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is 
 said to grieve when Noah grieves and wishes that man rather 
 did not exist than to be thus iniquitous. 
 
 157. The meaning, tlierefore, is not that God did not see 
 these things from' eternity; he saw everything from eternity; 
 but inasmuch as this wickedness now manifests itself in all its 
 fierceness, God now first reveals tlie same in the hearts of his 
 ministers and prophets. 
 
 From eternity, therefore, God is firm and constant in his 
 purpose. He sees and knows everything. But only in his 
 own time does God reveal this to the righteous so that they, 
 also, may see it. This seems to me the simplest meaning of 
 this passage, nor does Augustine differ from it much. 
 
 158. However, I constantly follow the rule to avoid, when- 
 ever possible, such questions as draw us before the throne of 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 171 
 
 the highest majesty. It is better and safer to stand at the 
 jnanger of Christy the man. To lose one's self in the laby- 
 rinths of divinity is fraught with greatest danger. 
 
 159. To this passage belong also other similar ones in 
 whic'h GrodI is pictured as having eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands 
 and feet, as Isaiah, Daniel and other prophets saw him in their 
 visions. In such passages the Bible speaks of God in the 
 same manner as of a man. In consequence, the Anthropomor- 
 phites stood condemned of heresy because they attributed to 
 the divine essence a human form. 
 
 160. Because the Anthropomorphites fancied such gross 
 things, they have rightly been condemned. Their fancy is 
 manifestly erroneous, for a spirit, as Christ says (Lk 24, 39), 
 has not fles'h and bone. I am rather of the opinion that the 
 Anthropomorphites intended to adapt the form of their doc- 
 trine to the plainest people. For in his substance, God is un- 
 Jciiowable, indefinable, inexpressible, though we may tear our- 
 selves to pieces in our efforts to discern or portray him. 
 
 161. Hence, God himself condescends to the low plane of 
 our understanding and presents himself to us with childlike 
 simplicity in representations, as in a guise, so that he may be 
 made known to us in some way.. Thus the Holy Spirit ap- 
 peared in the form of a dove; not because he is a dove, but in 
 this crude form he desired to be recognized, received and wor- 
 shiped, for it was really the Holy Spirit. No one, to be sure, 
 will say that the same passage defines God as a voice speak- 
 ing from heaven, yet under this crude image, a human voice 
 from heaven, he was received and worshiped. 
 
 163. When Scripture thus ascribes to God human form, 
 voice, actions and state of mind, it is intended as an aid 
 only for the uncultivated and feeble; we who are great and 
 learned and of discernment in reference to Scripture, should 
 likewise lay hold of these representations, because God has put 
 them forth and revealed himself to us through them. The angels 
 likewise, appear in human form, though it is certain that they 
 are only spirits; spirits we cannot recognize when they present 
 themselves as such, but likenesses we do recognize. 
 
 163. This is the simplest way of treating such passages, 
 
172 LUTIIER on sin AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 for the nature of God we cannot define; what he is not we can 
 Avell define — he is not a voice, a dove, water, hread, wine. 
 And yet in tliese visible forms lie 2)resents himself to us and 
 deals with us. l^iese forms he shows to us that we siliould 
 not become wandering ,and unsettled spirits which dispute con- 
 cerning God, but are completely ignorant concerning him, 
 since in liis unveiled majesty he can not be apprehended. He 
 sees it to be impossible for us to know him in his own nature. 
 For he lives, as the Scripture says in 1 Timothy 6, 16, in an 
 inaccessible light, and what we can apprehend and understand 
 he has declared. They who abide in these things will truly lay 
 hold of him, while those who vaunt and follow visions, revela- 
 tions and illuminations will either be overwhelmed by his 
 majesty or remain in densest ignorance of God. 
 
 Wi. Thus the Jews also had their representations in which 
 God manifested himself to them, as the mercy-seat, the ark of 
 the covenant, the tabernacle, the pillars of smoke and fire. 
 God says in Exodus 33, 30, "Man shall not see me and live," 
 therefore he gives a representation of himself in which he eo 
 manifests himself to us that we may lay hold of him. In the 
 new covenant we have Baptism, the Lord's Supper, absolution 
 and the ministiy of the Word. 
 
 165. These are what the scholastics call voluntas signi, the 
 will expressed through signs, Vidiich we must view when we de- 
 sire to know the will of God. Another is the voluntas hencpla- 
 citi, the will of his good pleasure, the essential will of God, or 
 his unveiled majesty, which is God himself. From this our 
 eyes are to be turned away. It cannot be laid hold of; for in 
 God is nothing but divinity, and the essence of God is his in- 
 finite wisdom and almighty power. These are absolutely inac- 
 cessible to reason : what he has willed according to the will of 
 his good pleasure, that he has seen from eternity. 
 
 166. Into this essential and divine will we should not pry, 
 but should absolutely refrain from it as from the divine majesty, 
 for it is inscrutable, and God has had no desire to declare it in 
 this life. He desires to show it under certain tokens or cover- 
 ings, as Baptism, the Word and the Lord's Supper. Tliese are 
 the images of the deity and are his will as expressed tlrrough 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 173 
 
 signs, hy wliicli lie deals with us on the plane of our intelli- 
 gence. Hence, avc should look to these alone. The will of his 
 good pleasure is to ])e left entirely out of contemplation, iinles;^ 
 you happen to be Closes, or David, or some similarly perfect 
 man, although even they so looked to the will of the divine good 
 pleasure as never to turn their eyes from the will expressed by 
 signs. 
 
 167. This will of God is called his activity (effedus Dei), 
 wherein he comes out to us and deals with us garbed in the 
 drapery of things extraneous to himself; these we can lay liold 
 of — the Word of God and the ceremonies instituted by himself. 
 This will of God is not that of his omnipotence, for though God 
 in the ten commandments enjoins wha.t ought to be done it is 
 yet not done. Thus, Christ has instituted the Lord's Supper 
 to strengthen in us faith in his mercy, and yet many receive it 
 to their condemnation, that is, without faith. 
 
 168. But I return to Moses. He says that God sees man's 
 wickedness and repents. The scholastics explain this: He sees 
 and repents, namely, according to the expressed will, not that 
 of his good pleasure, or the essential will. 
 
 169. We say that ]Sroa;h's heart is moved 13}^ the Holy S])irit 
 to understand that God is wroth witli man and desires his de- 
 struction. This interpretation commends itself to our intelli- 
 gence and does not draw us into discussions concerning the ab- 
 solute will or marjesty of God, whioh are very dangerous, as I 
 have seen in many. Such spirits are first puffed up by the 
 devil so that they believe themselves to be in possession of the 
 Holy Spirit, neglect the Word to the point of blaspheming it 
 and vaunt nothing but the Spirit and visions. 
 
 170. This is the first degree of error — that men, paying no 
 heed to the Deity as imaged and incarnate, seek after the un- 
 veiled God. Afterward, wiien the hour of judgment comes, 
 and they feel the wrath of God, God himself judging and 
 st-arching their hearts, the devil ceases to puff them up and 
 they despair and die. They go about in tlie untempered 8im~ 
 liglit and forsake the shade that delivers from the heat. Is 4, 6. 
 
 171. Let no one therefore meditate upon divinity unveiled, 
 
174 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 but flee from suoh thoughts as from the infernal regions and 
 the very temptations of Satan. But let us take care to abide iu 
 these symbols through which God has revealed himself to us 
 — the Son^ born of the Virgin Mary, lying among beasts in the 
 manger, and the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper and absolu- 
 tion. In these images we see and find God in a way wherein we 
 can endure him ; he comforts us, lifts us up into hope and saves. 
 Other thoughts about the will of the good pleasure, or the es- 
 sential and eternal will, kill and damn. 
 
 172. However, to name this the will of "good pleasure" is a 
 misnomer. For that deserves to be called the will of good pleas- 
 ure which the Gospel discloses, concerning which Paul says, 
 "thai je may prove what is the good will of God," Eom 12, 2. 
 And Christ says,"Thi£ is the will of my Father, that every one 
 that beholdeth the Son should have eternal life," Jn 6, 40. Also, 
 "Whosoever shall do the will of my FatHier who is in heaven, 
 lie is my brother," Mt 12, 50. Again, "This is my beloved Sou, 
 iu whom I am well pleased," Mt 3, 17. This will of grace is cor- 
 rectly and properly called the will "'of the divine goo-d pleas- 
 ure" and it is our only remedy and safeguard against that other 
 will, be it called the "expressed will" or the "will of good 
 pleasure," about the display of whidi at the flood and the de- 
 struction of Sodom the scholastics dispute. 
 
 173. On both occasions a terrible wrath is in evidence, 
 against wliich no soul could find protection, except in that gra- 
 cious will, keeping in mind that the Son of God was sent into 
 the flesh to deliver us from sin, death and the power of the 
 devil. 
 
 171. This will of the divine good pleasure has been deter- 
 mined from eternity, and revealed and publishod in Christ. 
 It is a quickening, gracious and lovable will, and consequently 
 it alone merits to be called ''the will of good pleasure." But the 
 good fathers almost pass the promises by; they do not press 
 them, though they could properly be called "the will ^ the 
 good plensure.'^ 
 
 175. Therefore, as they enjoin looking to the will expressed 
 by signs, they do well, but this is in no wise sufficient; when 
 we consider the ten commandments, arc we not frightened by 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 175 
 
 the sight of our sins? Wdien those terrible examples of wrath 
 are added whic'h are also divine will as expressed by signs, it is 
 impossible for the soul to be lifted up except by looking back to 
 tlie will of the good pleasure, as we call it, that is, the Son of 
 God, who portrays for us the spirit and the will of his Father, 
 who does not hate sinnersi but desires to have compassion upon 
 tihem through his Son. Christ says to Philip, "He that hath 
 seen me hath seen the Father," Jn 14, 9. 
 
 176. The Son of God, therefore, who became incarnate, is 
 that sign or veil of God in which the divine majesty with all its 
 gifts so offers itself to us that no sinner is so wretched but he 
 dare approach him in certain confidence of obtaining forgive- 
 ness. This is the only vision of Deity which in this life is expe- 
 dient and possible. However, those who have died in this faith 
 shall on the last day be so illumined by power from on high as 
 to behold the majesty itself. In the meantime, it behooves us to 
 approach the Father through the way, which is Christ himself. 
 He will lead us safely and wc shall not be deceived. 
 
 177. The additional statement of the text, "It repented 
 Jehovah that he had made man on the earth," I believe to be 
 meant to bring out the antithesis, that God has in mind not the 
 earthly man, who is subject to sin and death, but the heavenly 
 man, who is lord over them. He expresses his love for the 
 latter, while he hates the former and plans his destruction, 
 
 B. The Grief of God. 
 
 II. THE! GRIEF OF GOD. 6. Moses describes this grief 
 
 1. This is not to be under- very carefully 186. 
 
 stood of the divine na^ture. « jjow we see the grief of 
 but of the hearts of the ^od in his saints 187. 
 
 patriarchs 178-9. * tt ■,-, ■ • ■. 
 
 2. Abraham; Samuel and * How all is ruined on ac- 
 Christ grieved in like man- count of sm 1.S7. 
 
 ner ISO. * Why Noah did not dare to 
 
 3. By whom such grief is reveal the great wrath of 
 awakened in the heart 181. God to the world 188. 
 
 4. The cause of this grief 182. * What prevents the world 
 
 * Tlie character of the child- from believing God's 
 ren of God and of the threatenings 188-9. 
 
 world in the face of the ap- * To w^hom God's promises do 
 
 preaching calamity 183-4. and do not apply 190. 
 
 * How the patriarchs and * Why the old world did not 
 the Church were walls of believe the threat of the 
 defense 185. deluge 191. 
 
 5. What made the grief ot * The fate of true doctrine 
 the holy patriarchs greater in our day is the same as It 
 185. was in Noah's 192, 
 
 V. 6b. And it grieved him at Ids heart. 
 
176 LUTIIEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 178. Such was the regret of God that he was pained in his 
 heart. The word here is azab, which was used before when he 
 said (Gen 3, 16), "In pain shalt thou bring forth children"; 
 also in Pselm 127, 2, "the bread of toil." This expression must 
 be understood according to the usage of Scripture. We n\ust 
 not thiuk that God has a heart or that he can suffer pain, but 
 when the spirit of Noah, Lamech or Methuselah is grieved, God 
 himself is said to be grieved. We may understand such grief 
 not of his divine nature, but of his conduct. Noah, with his 
 father and grandfather, feels in his heart, through a revelation 
 of the Holy Spirit, that God hates the world because of sin and 
 desires its destruction; therefore they are grieved by this im- 
 penitence. 
 
 179. This is the simple and true meaning. If yon refer 
 tliose words to the will of the divine essence and hold that God 
 has resolved! this from eternity, a perilous argument is employed 
 to which are equal only men who are spiritual and tested 
 by trial, like Paul, for instance, who has ventured to argue con- 
 cerning predestination. Let us take our stand on an humbler 
 plane, one less open to danger, and hold that Noah and the 
 other fathers were most grievously paine^d when the Spirit dis- 
 closed to them such wrath. These inexpressible groanings o!" 
 the best of men are accordingly attributed to G^d himself, be- 
 cause they emanate from his Spirit. 
 
 180. An example of such groanings we see later in the case 
 of Abraham, who interposed himself like a wall in behalf of tlie 
 safety of the Sodomites and did not abandon the cause until 
 they came down to five righteous ones. Without a doubt th? 
 Holy Spirit filled the breast of Abraham with infinite and fre- 
 quent groanings in his attempts to effect the salvation of the 
 wretched. Likewise Samuel — what does he not do for Saul''^ 
 He cries and implores with such vehemence that God is coui- 
 pelled to restrain him : "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, 
 seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel?" I 
 Sam ]n, 1. So Christ, forseeing the destruction of Jerusalem 
 within a few years by reason of its sins, is most violently moved 
 and pained in his soul. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 177 
 
 181. Such promptings the Spirit of prayer arouses in pious 
 souls. Present everywhere, he is moved by the adversities of 
 others, teaches, informs, spares no pains, prays, complains, 
 groans. Thus Moses and Paul are -falling to be accursed for the 
 sake of their people. 
 
 182. In this manner jSToah, the most holy man, and hi^ 
 father and grandfather are consumed with pain at the sight of 
 such terrible wrath of God. He is not delighted at this over- 
 thiow of the whole human race, but is filled with anxiety and 
 the most grievous pain, w'hile at the same time the sons of men 
 live in the greatest security, mocking, boasting and taunting. 
 Thus Psalms 109, 4, "For my love they are my adversaries : but 
 I give myself unto prayer." Thus Paul, "1 tell you even weep- 
 ing." Phil 3, 18. And what else could holy men do but weep 
 when the world would in no wise permit itself to be corrected? 
 
 . 183. It is always the appearance of the ti'ue Church that 
 she not only suffers, not only is humiliated and trampled under 
 foot, but also prays for her tormentors, is seriously disturbed by 
 their dangers; on the contrary, others play and frolic in pro- 
 portion as they approadi their doom. But when the hour of 
 judgment comes, God in turn closes his ears so completely that 
 he does not even hear liis own beloved children as they pray and 
 intercede for the wicked. So Ezekiel laments tiliat no one is 
 found who will stand for Israel as a protecting wall, saying that 
 this is the office of the prophets, Ezek 13, 5. 
 
 184. It is impossible for the ungodly to pray ; let no one, 
 therefore, entertain the hope concerning the papists, our adver- 
 saries, that they pray. We pray for them and plant ourselves 
 like a wall against the wrath of God and, without doubt, it is by 
 our tears and groanings that they are saved, if, perchance, they 
 will repent. 
 
 185. It is a terrible example, that God has spared not till.? 
 first world, for which Noah, Lamech and Methuselah set them- 
 selves like a wall. What, then, shall we expect where such walls 
 do not exist, where there is no Church at all? The Church is 
 always a wall against the wrath of God. She feels pain, is tor- 
 mented in her soul, prays, intercedes, instructs, teaches, exhorts, 
 
178 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 as long as the juidgment hour is not here but coming. When 
 she sees these ministrations to be unavailing, what else can ^e 
 do but feel grievous pain at the destruction of the impenitent? 
 The pain of the godly fathers was augmented by the sight of so 
 many relatives and kindred at one time going to destruction. 
 186. This pain Moses could not express in a better and more 
 .graphic description than to say that God repented of having 
 made man. Before, when he describes man's nature as having 
 been formed in God's image, he says that God beheld all that he 
 had made and it was very good. God, then, is delighted with 
 his creatures and has joy in them. Here he absolutely alters 
 that statement by one altogether at variance with it — that God 
 is grieved at heart and even repents of having created man. 
 
 187. It was Noah and the other fathers who felt this through 
 the revelation of the Holy Spirit; otherwise, they would have 
 shared those thoughts of joy and would have judged according 
 to the earlier prophecy that God had delight in all his works. 
 Never would they have thought that the wrath of God was such 
 as to destroy not only the whole human race, but also all living 
 flesh of sky and earth, which surely had not offended, yea, the 
 very earth also; for the earth, because of man's sin, had not 
 retained after the flood its pristine excellence. Some ■ have 
 written, as Lyra reminds us, that by the flood the surface of the 
 earth was washed away three hands deep. Certain it is that 
 paradise has been utterly destroA'^ed through the flood. There- 
 fore, we possess today an earth more deeply cursed than before 
 the flood and after the fall of Adam; though the state of the 
 earth after the fall could not compare with the grandeur of its 
 primeval state before sin. 
 
 188. These disasters, therefore, the holy fathers saw through 
 the revelation of the Holy Spirit a hundred and twenty years 
 before. But such was the wickedness of the world that it put 
 the Holy Spirit to silence. Noah could not venture to reveal 
 such threats without risk of the gravest dangers. With hi? 
 father and grandfather, with his children and wife, he would 
 discuss this great wrath of God. The sons of men, however, had 
 no more inclination to hear these things than the papists today 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 179 
 
 have to hear themselves called the church of Satan and not of 
 Christ. Accordingl}^, they would vaunt their ancestors and 
 over against Noah's proclamations they would plead the prom- 
 ise of the seed, believing it to be impossible for God, in this 
 manner, to destroy all mankind. 
 
 189. For the same reason, the Jews did not believe tlie 
 prophets nor even Christ himself when called to repentance, but 
 maintained that they were the people of God, inasmuch as 
 they had the temple and worship. The Turks today are inflated 
 with victories which they believe to be the reward for their faith 
 and religion because they believe in one God. We, however, 
 are viewed as heathen and reputed to believe in three Gods. God 
 would not give us such victories and dominions, they say, if he 
 did not favor us and approve our religion. This same reasoniug 
 blinds also the papist. Occupying an exalted position, they 
 maintain they are the Church and hence they have no fear of 
 divine punishment. Devilish, therefore, is that argument where- 
 by men take the name of God to palliate their sins. 
 
 190. But if God did not spare the first world, the genera- 
 tion of the holy patriarchs, which had the promise of the seed as 
 its very own— if he saved only a very small remnant — the 
 Turks, Jews and Papists shall boast in vain of the name of God. 
 According to Micah 2, 7, the "Word of God promises blessings to 
 those who walk in uprightness. But those who do not walk in 
 uprightness are cursed. Those he threatens, those he destroys. 
 Neither does he take account of the name "Church", nor of their 
 number, whereas he saves the remnant which walks in upright- 
 ness. But never will you convince the world of this. 
 
 191. In all probability the descendants of the patriarchi 
 wno perished in the flood abused quite shamefully the argument 
 of the dignity of the Church, and condemned Noah for bias* 
 phemy and falsehood. To say, they argued, that God was about 
 to destroy the whole world! by a flood is equal to saying that God 
 is not merciful, nor a Father, but a cruel tyrant. You proclaim 
 the wrath of God, Noah! Then God is not such a being as 
 to promise deliverance from sin and death through the seed of 
 woman? The wrath of God, therefore, will not swallow the 
 
180 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 whole earth. We are the people of God. We have from God 
 magnificent gifts; never would God have given these to ns if he 
 had resolved to act against ns with such hostility. In this fash- 
 ion the wicked are in the habit of applying to themselves the 
 promises and trusting to the same. All warnings, however, they 
 neglect and deride. 
 
 192. It is profitable to contemplate this diligently so that we 
 may be safeguarded against such vicious heedlessness of the 
 wicked. For A'^hat happened to Moses, now happens also to us. 
 Our adversaries ascribe to themselves the name of God's people, 
 true worship, grace and everything holy; to us, everything devil- 
 ish. Now, when we reprove them for blashemy and say that 
 they are the church of Satan, they rage against us with every 
 kind of cruelty. Hence we mouni with Noah, and commend 
 the cause to God, as Christ id'id on the cross — w^hat else could we 
 do? — and wait till God shall judge the earth and show that he 
 loves the remnant of those that fear him and that he hates tlie 
 multitude of impenitent sinners in spite of their boast of being 
 the Church, of having the promises, of having the worship of 
 God. When God destroyed the whole original world, he mani- 
 fested the promise of the seed to that wretched and tiny rem- 
 nant, Noah and his sons. 
 
 V. NOAH ALONE WAS RIGHTEOUS; THE WORLD DESTROYED. 
 
 I. NOAH ALONE WAS and more ingenious tlian 
 
 FOUND RIGHTEOUS. now 200. 
 
 1. What comfort was offered 5. Noah may be caUed both 
 Noah bv his rigrhteousness ii^-^Vf"^ ^'xt^^v,"! "/i „^^ 
 in the midst of his suf- 6. Righteous Noah led a god- 
 Verin^ 193 ^^ ''^'•' Possessed great 
 
 ^ ■ , ^ ^ , courage and was a marvel- 
 
 * To find grace before God ^^g character 202. 
 
 leads to faith and excludes ^^ gy j-^jg pjety Noah was a 
 
 works 194. confessor of the truth 203- 
 
 2. For what was righteous 204. 
 
 Noah especially praised by * it is very difficult for one 
 
 God 195. man to withstand the 
 
 * Many great men lived In united opposition of many 
 the days of Noah 196. 204. 
 
 3. How righteous Noah had to 8. Being a preacher of right- 
 contend against so much eousness Noah was in 
 all alone 197. greater danger 205. 
 
 * By what means the Pa- 9. Noah an example of pa- 
 pists contend against the tience and of all virtues 
 Evangelicals 198. 206. 
 
 4. "With what the world espe- 10. How he traveled and 
 
 dally upbraided righteous preached everywhere In 
 
 Noah 199. the world, and preserved 
 
 * People then were wiser the human race temporal- 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 
 
 181 
 
 11. 
 
 II. 
 
 ly and spiritually 207-8. 
 The world takes offense at 
 rig-hteous Noah's marry- 
 ing', and adds sin to sin 
 209. 
 
 The order of the birth of 
 Noah's sons 210. 
 THE' WHOLE WORLD 
 DESTROYED. 
 Whether, as Lyra teaches, 
 birds and animals were de- 
 stroyed 211. 
 
 Why the punishment of 
 sin was visited also upon 
 the animals 212-13. 
 The meaning- of "the earth 
 was corrupt before God" 
 214-16. 
 
 The sins against the first 
 table of the law can easier 
 be concealed than those 
 against the second table 
 214. 
 
 Where false doctrine Is 
 taught, godless living: fol- 
 lows 215. 
 
 How the earth was cor- 
 rupt In the light of the 
 first table of the law 215- 
 216. 
 
 How the earth was cor- 
 rupt in the light of the 
 second table 217-18. 
 The meaning of "violence" 
 in Scripture 218. 
 The greatest violence can 
 
 obtain under the ap- 
 pearance of holiness, as 
 among the Papists and 
 Turks 219-21. 
 ' Moses beautifully traces 
 the course God takes in 
 his judgments 222. 
 
 * Who can pass the right 
 judgment upon the pope 
 that he is Antichrist 223. 
 
 * How Antichrist strength- 
 ens the courage of the 
 godly, and whether they 
 can check him 223. 
 
 Noah laments this cor- 
 ruption 224. 
 Godlessness cannot be rem- 
 edied when it adorns it- 
 self with the appearance 
 of holiness 225. 
 How God views this cor- 
 ruption 226. 
 
 Luther laments the wick- 
 edness of the enemies of 
 the Gospel 227. 
 How we should view 
 God's delay In punishing 
 the wickedness of his 
 enemies 22S. 
 ' God's delay is very hard 
 for believers 229. 
 The first world, although 
 corrutit, was much better 
 than the present world 230. 
 
 V. HOW ^OKR ALONE WAS FOUND EIGHTEOUS, 
 AND HOW THE WHOLE WORLD WAS DESTROYED. 
 
 A. Noah Alone Was found Righteous. 
 
 V. 8. Bui Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah. 
 
 193. These are the words through which Noah was lifted up 
 and quickened again. For such wrath of the divine majest}' 
 would have killed him, had not God added the promise of sav- 
 ing him. It is likely, however, that his faith had a struggle 
 and was weak. We cannot imagine how such contemplation of 
 God's wrath weakens courage. 
 
 194. This novel expression of the Holy Spirit the heavenly 
 messenger Gabriel also uses when speaking to the Blessed Virgin 
 Lk 1,30, "Thou hast found favor (grace) with God." The 
 expression most palpably excludes merit and commends faith, 
 through which alone we are justified before God, made accept 
 able and well pleasing in his sight. 
 
 Y. 9. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a 
 
382 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 righteoiis man, and perfect in his generations; Noah walked 
 with God. 
 
 195. With this passage the Jews commence not only a new 
 chapter, but also a new lesson. This is a very brief history, but 
 it greatly extols our patriarch Noah ; he alone remained just and 
 upright while the other sons of God degenerated, 
 
 .(96. Let us remember many most excellent men were among 
 the sons of God, of whom some lived with Noah well nigh five 
 hundred years. Man in that age before the flood was very long- 
 lived; not only the sons of God, but also the sons of men. A 
 very wide and rich experience had been gathered by these 
 people during so many years. Much they learned from their 
 progenitors and much they saw and experienced. 
 
 197. Amu\ the corruption of all these stands Noah, a truly 
 marvelous man. He swerves neither to the left nor to the right. 
 He retains the true worship of God. He retains the pure doc- 
 trine, and lives in the fear of God. There is no doubt that a 
 depraved generation hated liim inordinately, tantalized him in 
 various ways and thus insulted him: "Art thou alone wise? 
 Dost thou alone please God? Are the rest of us all in error? 
 Shall we all be damned? Thou alone dost not err. Thou 
 alone shalt not be condemned. And thus the just and holy 
 man must have concluded in his mind that all others were in 
 error and about to be condemned, while he and his offspring 
 alone were to be saved. Although his conviction was right 
 in the matter, his lot was a hard one. The holy man was in 
 various ways troubled by such reflections. 
 
 198. The wretched Papists press us today with this one argu- 
 ment: Do you believe that all the fathers have been in error, 
 It seems hard so to believe, especially of the worthier ones, such 
 as Augustine, Ambrose, Bernard and that whole throng of the 
 best men who have governed Churches with the Word and have 
 been adorned with the august name of the Church. The labors 
 of such we both laud and admire. 
 
 199. Put surely no less a difficulty confronted Noah himself, 
 who aloue is called just and upright, at a time when the very 
 sons of men paraded the name of the Church. When the sous 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 183 
 
 of the fathers allied themselves with these they, forsooth, 
 believed that Noah with his people raved, because he followed 
 another doctrine and another worship. 
 
 200. Today our life is very brief, still to what lengths human 
 nature will go is sufficiently in evidence. What may we imag- 
 ine the condition to have been in such a long existence, in which 
 the bitterness and vehemence of human nature were even 
 stronger? Today we are naturally much more dull and stupid, 
 and yet men singularly gifted rush into wickedness. It is after- 
 ward said that all flesh had corrupted its way upon the eaith, 
 only Noah was just and upright. 
 
 201. From these two words we may gather the thought that 
 Noah is held to be "jusf as he honored the first table and 
 "upright" as he honored the second. "Just" he is called, 
 because of his faith in God, because he first believed the gen- 
 eral pcoiuise with respect to the seed of woman and then also 
 the particular one respecting the destruction of the world 
 tlirough the flood and the salvation of his own offspring. Ok 
 the other hand he is called "upright" because he walked in the 
 fear of Go<[ and conscientiously avoided murder and other sins 
 with which the wicked polluted themselves in defiance of con- 
 science. Nor did he permit himself to be moved by the fre- 
 quent offenses of men most illustrious, v/ise and apparently 
 holy. 
 
 202. Great waa Jiis courage. Today it appears to us impos' 
 sible that one man idiould oppose himself to all mankind, con- 
 demning them as evil, wliile they vaunt the Church and God's 
 Word and worship, and to maintain that he alone is a son of 
 God and acceptable before him. Noah, accordingly, is a mar- 
 velous man, and Moses commends this same greatness of mind 
 when he plainly adds "in his generation," or "in his age," as if 
 he desired to say that his age was indeed the most wicked and 
 corrupt. 
 
 203. Above, in the history of Enoch, we explained what 
 it means to walk with God, namely, to advocate the cause of 
 God in public. To be just and upright bespeaks private vir- 
 tue, but to walk with God is something public — to advocate 
 
184 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE PLOOD. 
 
 the cause of God before the world, to wield his Word, to teach 
 his worship. jSToah was not simply just and holy for himself 
 but he was also a confessor; he taught others the promises 
 and tlireats of God, and performed and suffered all that be- 
 hooves a public personage in an age so exceedingly wicked and 
 corrupt. 
 
 204. If it were I wlio had seen that so great men in the 
 generation of the ungodly were opposed to me, I surely in 
 desperation should have cast aside my ministry. For one can- 
 not conceive how difficult it is for one man to oppose him- 
 self alone to the unanimity of all churches; to impugn the 
 judgment of the best and most amicable of men; to condemn 
 them; to teach, to live, and to do everything, in opposition to 
 them. This is what Noah did. He was inspired with admir- 
 able constancy of purpose, inasmucli as he, innocent before 
 men, not only regarded the cause of God, but most earnestly 
 pressed it among the most nefarious men, until he was told: 
 "My spirit shall not further strive with man." And the word 
 "strive" finely portrays the spirit with which the ungodly 
 heard ISToah instruct them. 
 
 205. Peter also beautifully sets forth what it means to 
 walk with God when he calls Noah a preacher, not of the 
 righteousness of man, but of God; that is, that of faith in the 
 promised seed. But what reward Noah received from the un- 
 godly for his message Moses does not indicate. The statement 
 is sufficient, that he preached righteousness, that he taught 
 the true worship of God while the whole earth opposed him. 
 That means the best, most religious and wisest of men were 
 against him. More than one miracle, in consecjuence, was nec- 
 essary to prevent liis being waylaid and killed by the ungod- 
 ly. We see today how much wrath, hate, and envy one ser- 
 mon to the people may create. What shall we believe Noah 
 may have suffered who taught not a hundred, not two hun- 
 dred, but even more years, down to the last century, when 
 God did not desire the wicked to receive instruction any long- 
 er lest they become still fiercer and more depraved. 
 
 206. Therefore we may conjecture from tlie condition and 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 185 
 
 nature of the world itself, and of the devil, from the experience 
 of the apostles and the prophets, and likewise from our own, 
 what a noble example of patience and other virtues Noah has 
 been, who was just and irreproachable in that ungodly geu'^.ration 
 and walked with God — that is, governed the churches with the 
 Word — and who, when the one hundred and twenty years 
 were determined upon, after the lapse of which the world was 
 to be destroyed by a flood, in face of such a terrible threat, 
 entered into matrimony and begot children. 
 
 207. It is very probable that he traveled up and down the 
 earth ; that he taught everywhere ; that everywhere he exhorted 
 to worship God in truth; that he, hindered by many 
 labors, refrained from m-atrimony on account of abundance of 
 tribulations and in the expectation of the advent of a better 
 and more religious age. But when he recognized this hope as un- 
 founded and by a voice divine was warned that a time had been 
 set for the world's destruction, then and not before, promt- 
 ed by the Spirit, did he make up his mind to marry, in or- 
 der to transmit to the new age seed out of himself. And 
 thus the holy man preserved the human race, not only spirit- 
 ually, in the true Word and worship, but also bodily, by be- 
 getting children. 
 
 208. As in paradise a new Church had its beginning, be- 
 fore the flood, through Adam and Eve's faith in the promise, 
 so also here a new world and a new Church arise from the 
 marriage of ISToah — a nursery of that world which shall endure 
 to the end. 
 
 209. I stated above (§88) that this marriage was an 
 occasion of great offense to the ungodly and that they made 
 the most extraordinary sport of it. How inconsistent that 
 the world is to perish so soon, when Noah, fi.ve hundred 
 years old, becomes a father ! They deemed his act the surest 
 evidence that the world was not to perish by a flood. Hence, 
 they began to live even more licentiously, and in the greatest 
 security to despise all threats. Christ says in Matthew 24, 38, 
 that in the days of ISToali they ate, they drank, etc. The 
 world does not understand the plans of God. 
 
186 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 210. Concerning the order of the sons of ISToah, I said 
 above that Japheth was first, that Shem was born two 
 years afterward when ISToah commenced to build tlie ark, and 
 Ham two years later. This has not been clearly explained 
 by Moses, but still it has been carefully noted. 
 
 B. Destruction of the Wliole "World. 
 
 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was 
 filled zvith violence. 
 
 211. Lyra, perhaps under the influence of rabbinic inter- 
 pretation, contends here that even the birds and other animals 
 forsook their nature and mixed with those of another species. 
 But I do not believe it, for the creation or nature of animals 
 remains as it was fashioned. They have not fallen through 
 sin, like man, but are, on the contrary, fashioned for this 
 bodily life alone. In consequence they neither hear the Word, 
 nor does the Word concern them. They are absolutely with- 
 out the Law of the first and the second tables. Accordingly, 
 this passage refers only to man. 
 
 212. But that the beasts bore the penalty of sin and per- 
 ished at the same time with man through the flood was the re- 
 sult of God's purpose to destroy man altogether; not alone in 
 body and soul, but with the possessions and dominion which 
 were his at creation. Instances of similar retribution occur 
 in the Old Testament. In the sixth chapter of Daniel we see 
 the enemies of Daniel cast into the lions' den, together with 
 their wives, children and whole families. In the six- 
 teenth chapter of Numbers a like incident is narrated in con- 
 nection Vv'itli the destruction of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 
 Similar is also an instance spoken of by Christ when the king 
 commands to sell the servant together with wife, children 
 and all hii:5 substance. 
 
 213. In this manner, evidently, not only men but all their 
 goods were destroyed, so that punishment might be full and 
 complete. Beasts, fields and the birds of heaven were created 
 for man. They are man's property and chattels. Therefore, the 
 animals perished, not because they had sinned, but because God 
 wanted man to perish amid all his earthly possessions. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 187 
 
 214. In this passage Moses' specific statement that "the 
 earth was corrupt before God," is made to show that Noah 
 was treated and esteemed in the eyes of Ms age as a stupid and 
 good for nothing character. The world, on the contrary, ap- 
 peared in its own eyes perfectly holy and righteous, believing 
 it had just cause for the persecution of ISToah, especially in re- 
 gard to the first table of the Law and the worship of God. 
 The second table is not without its disguise of hypocrisy, but 
 in this respect it bears no comparison to the former. The 
 adulterer, the thief, the murderer can remain hidden for a 
 while, though not forever. But the sins of the first table gener- 
 ally remain hidden under ihe cloak of sancity until God brings 
 them to light. Godlessness never wishes to be godlessness, but 
 chases after a reputation for piety and religion; and trims its 
 cult so finely that in comparison with it the true cult and the 
 true religion appear coarse. 
 
 215. The verb sliiheth is very frequent and conspicuous in 
 Holy Scripture. Moses uses it in the thirty-first chapter of 
 Deuteronomy, verse 29 : "For I know that after my death ye 
 will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way 
 which I have commanded you." And David says, "They are all 
 gone aside; they are together become filthy," Ps 1-4, 3. Both 
 passages speak particularly of the sins against the first table; 
 that is, they accuse the apparently devoutest saints of false 
 worship and false doctrine, for it is impossible for a righteous 
 life to follow teaching that is false. 
 
 216. WTien Moses says the earth was corrupt before God, 
 he clearly points out the contrast — ^the hypocrites and oppres- 
 sors judged Noali's teaching and practise as v/holly wrong, and 
 their own as altogether holy. The reverse, Moses says, was true. 
 Manlcind was assuredly corrupt measured by the first table. 
 They lacked the true "Word and the true worship. This dis- 
 tinction between the first and the second tables commends it- 
 self strongly to my judgment and was doubtless suggested by 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 217. The additional statement — "and the earth was filled 
 with violence" — points to this unfailing sequence. With the 
 
T88 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 Word lost^ with faith extinct, with traditions and will-worship 
 — to use St. Paul's phraseology (Col 2, 8) — having replaced 
 the true cult, there results violence and shameful living. 
 
 218. The correct significance of the word hainas is violence 
 force, wrong, with the suspension of all law and equity, a 
 condition where pleasure is law and everything is done not 
 by right, but by might. But if such was their life, you may 
 say, how could they maintain the appearance and reputation 
 of holiness and righteousness? As if w^e did not really have 
 similar instances Before our eyes today. Has the world ever 
 seen anj^hing more cruel than the Turks? And they adorn 
 all their fierceness with the name of God and religion. 
 
 219. The popes have not only seized for themselves the 
 riches of the earth, but have filled the Church itself with 
 stupendous errors and blasphemous doctrines. They live in- 
 fchocking licentiousness. They alienate at pleasure the hearts 
 of kings. Much is done by them to bring on bloodshed and 
 war. And yet, with all such blasphemies and outrages, they 
 arrogate to them.selves the name and title of the greatest 
 saints and boast of being vicars of Christ and successors of 
 Peter. 
 
 220. Thus tlie gi-eatest wrong is allied to the names of 
 Church and true religion. Sliould any one offer objection, im- 
 mediately is he put under the ban and condemned as a heretic 
 and an enemy of God and man. Barring the Romans and 
 their accomplices, there is no people which plumes itself more 
 upon religion and righteousness than the Turks. The Chris- 
 tians they despise as idolaters; themselves they esteem as most 
 holy and wise. Nothwithstanding, what is their life and re- 
 ligion but incessant murder, robbery, rapine and other horrible 
 outrages ? 
 
 221. The present times, therefore, illustrate how those two 
 incompatible things may be found in union — the greatest 
 religiousness with abominations, the greatest wrong with a 
 show of right. And this is the very cause for men becoming 
 hardened and secure without apprehending tiie punishment 
 they merit by their sins. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 189 
 
 V. 13. A?id God saw the earth, and, behold, it ivas cor- 
 rupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 
 
 222. Inasmuch as the wrath of God is appalling and de- 
 struction is imminent for all flesh except eight souls, Moses is 
 somewhat redundant in this passage, and uses repetitions, 
 wliich are not superfluous but express an emphasis of their 
 own. Above he said the earth M'as corrupt; now he says that 
 God, as if following the customary judicial method, saw this 
 and meditated punishment. In this manner he pictures, as it 
 were, the order in wliich God proceeds. 
 
 223. The judgment of spiritual people concerning the pope 
 at the present day is that he is the Antichrist, raging against 
 the Word and the kingdom of Christ. But they who censure 
 it are unable to correct this wickedness. Wickedness is grow- 
 ing daily and contempt for godliness is becoming greater 
 every day. Now comes the thought: What is God doing? Why 
 does he not punish his enemy? Does he sleep and care no 
 longer for human affairs? The delay of judgment causes the 
 righteous anguish. They themselves cannot come to the suc- 
 cor of a stricken religion and they see God who could help, 
 connive at the fury of the popes, who securely sin against the 
 first and the second tables of the Law. 
 
 224. Just so Noah sees the earth filled with wrongs. There- 
 fore, he groans and sighs to heaven in order to arouse God 
 from the highest heaven to judgment. Such voices occur 
 here and there in the Psalms (10, 1) : "Why standest thou afar 
 off?"; (13, 1): "How long, Oi Jehovah?"; (9, 13): "Have 
 mercy upon me, Jehovah; consider my trouble"; (7, 6-9) : 
 "Arise, judge my cause, etc." 
 
 225. What Moses here describes comes at length to pass, 
 that God also sees these things and hears the cry of the right- 
 eous who are able to judge the world; for they who are spirit- 
 ual judge all things ( 1 Cor 2, 15), though they cannot alter 
 anything. Wickedness is incorrigible when adorned with a show 
 of piety, and so is oppression when it assumes the disguise of 
 justice and foresight. It is nothing new that they who seize 
 the wives, daughters, houses, lands and goods of others desire 
 
190 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 to be just and holy, as we showed above in respect of the 
 papacy. 
 
 226. This is the second stage then: When the saints have 
 seen and judged the wickedness of the world, God also sees 
 it. He says of the Sodomites: "The cry of them is waxed 
 great before Jehovah" (Genl9, 13) ; and above (ch. 4, 10) : "The 
 voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me." But always be- 
 fore the Lord takes note, the sobs and groans of the right- 
 eous precede, arousing, as it were, the Lord from slumber. 
 
 What Moses desires to show in this passage through the 
 word, "saw" is that God finally perceived the fflictions and 
 heard the cries of the righteous, filling at last all heaven. 
 He who hitherto had winked at everything and seemed to 
 favor the success of the wicked, was awakened as from slum- 
 ber. The fact is he saw everything much sooner than Noah; 
 for he is the searcher of hearts and cannot be deceived by sim- 
 ulated piety as we can. But not until now, when he meditates 
 punishment, does ISToah perceive that he sees. 
 
 227. Thus we are afflicted today by extreme and unheard 
 of wickedness, for our adversaries condemn from sheer caprice 
 the truth they know and profess. They try to get at our 
 throats and shed the blood of the righteous with a satanic 
 fury. Such blasphemous, sacrilegious and parricidal doings 
 against the kingdom and name of God, manifest as such be- 
 3'ond possibility of denial, they defend as the acme of justice. 
 Wliile contending for the maintenance of their tyrannical po- 
 sition they go so far as to arrogate to themselves the name of 
 the Church. What else can we do here but cry to Jehovah to 
 make his name sacred and not to permit the overthrow of his 
 kingdom nor resistance to his paternal will? 
 
 228. But so far the Lord sleeps. He apparently does not 
 observe such wickedness, because he gives no sign as yet of 
 observing it. Bather he permits us to be tormented by such 
 woeful sights. We are, therefore, thus far in the first stage 
 and this verse, stating that the whole earth is corrupt, applies 
 to our age. But at the proper time the second stage will be 
 reached, when we can declare in certainty of faith that not 
 
GENESIS VL MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 191 
 
 only we but God also sees and hates such wickedness. Though 
 God, in his long-suffering, has continued to wink at many 
 things, he shall retain the name of One who in righteousness 
 shall judge the earth. 
 
 229. How bitter and hard such delay is for the righteous, 
 the lamentations of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 12, Iff., and 20, 7ff, 
 show. There the holy man almost verges on blasphemy until 
 he is told that the Babylonian king should come and inflict 
 punishment upon the unbelieving scoffers. Thereupon Jere- 
 miah recognizes that God looks down on the earth and is 
 Judge upon the earth. 
 
 230. The universal judgment which follows is terrible in 
 the extreme, namely that all flesh upon the earth had corrupt- 
 ed its way and that God, when he had begun to examine the 
 sons of men, did not, from the oldest to the youngest of the 
 fathers, find any he could save from destruction. 
 
 This strikes our ears as still more awful when we take into 
 consideration the condition of the primitive world, not judg- 
 ing by the miserable fragments we have today. As the phys- 
 ical condition of the world at that time was infinitely ahead 
 of this age, so we may conclude that the majesty and pomp 
 of our rulers and the show of sanctity and wisdom on the 
 part of the popes are not to be compared to the show of re- 
 ligion, righteousness and wisdom found among those renowned 
 men of the primitive world. 
 
 And yet the text says that all flesh had corrupted its way, 
 save ISToah and his offspring. That means all men were 
 wicked, lived in idolatry and false religion and hated the 
 true worship of God. They despised the promise of the seed, 
 and persecuted Noah, who proclaimed forgiveness through the 
 seed and threatened to those, who should fail to believe 
 his forgiveness, eternal .doom. 
 
 VI. GOD DECIDES TO PUNISH THE FIRST WOELD; COM- 
 MANDS NOAH TO BUILD AN ARK; THE COVENANT. 
 
 I. HOW GOD DECREED TO * Luther's hope that God's 
 
 PUNISH THE OLD judgment may soon break 
 
 WORLD IN HIS WRATH. upon the last world 231. 
 
 1. How punishment finally 2. Whether reason can grasp 
 
 comes when God has suf- the wrath and punishment 
 
 fered sin long enough 231. of God 232. 
 
192 
 
 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 How God's promises stand 
 in tlie midst of liis wrath 
 and punisliment 232. 
 Tlie first world thoug-ht 
 itself secure against God's 
 wrath 233. 
 
 The Papal security and 
 boldness ag-ainst the Evan- 
 g-elicals 234. 
 
 By what means God pun- 
 ished the first world 235. 
 The Holy Spirit must re- 
 veal that God's wrath and 
 punishment do not violate 
 his promises 236. 
 The causes of this wrath 
 and punishment 237. 
 By what may it be known 
 
 that God will visit Ger- 
 many with punishment 
 238. 
 
 God complains more of the 
 violence shown to the 
 neighbor than to himself 
 239. 
 
 The damages of the deluge 
 240. 
 
 The 
 
 was 
 
 fore 
 
 240. 
 
 The colors in the rainbow 
 
 signs of the punishment of 
 
 the first and the last world 
 
 241. 
 
 ground of the earth 
 in a better state be- 
 the flood than now 
 
 A. God Decides to Punish the Old World. 
 V. 13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is 
 come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through 
 them; and, heliold, I ivill destroy them with the earth. 
 
 231. After Noah and his people had for a long time raised 
 their accusing cry against the depravity of the world, the 
 Lord gave evidence that he saw the depravity and intended 
 to avenge it. This, the second stage, we also look for today, 
 nor is there any doubt that men shall exist, to whom this 
 coming destruction of the world is to be revealed, unless the 
 destiniction be the last day and the final judgment, which I 
 truly wish. We have seen enough wickedness in these brief 
 raid evil days of ours. Godless men, as in Noah's time, adorn 
 their vices with the name of holiness and righteousness. Hence, 
 no penitence or reformation is to be hoped for. This stage 
 having been reached in the times of Noah, sentence is finally 
 passed, having been previously announced by the Lord when 
 he gave command that striving should cease and issued the 
 declaration that he regretted having made man. 
 
 232. Eeason is incapable of believing and perfectly un- 
 derstanding such Avrath. Just consider how different this is 
 from what had been. Above we have read (ch 1, 31) that God 
 saw everything he had made and behold, it was very good; 
 that he gave man and beast the additional blessing 
 lof propagation ; that he subjected to man's rule the earth and 
 all the treasures of the earth; that as the highest blessing, he 
 added the promise of the woman's seed and life eternal and 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 193 
 
 instituted not only the home and the State, but also the 
 Church. How, then, is it that the first world, called into be- 
 ing in this way through the Word, should, to use Peter's ex- 
 pression, perish by water? 
 
 233. There is no doubt that the sons of the world threw 
 all this up to N"oah as he preached the coming imiversal de- 
 struction, and publicly charged him with lying, on the ground 
 that home, State and Church had been instituted by God; that 
 God surely would not overturn his own establishment by a 
 final destruction; that man liad been created for propagation 
 and dominion upon the earth, not for the rule of water over 
 him to his destruction. 
 
 234. Just so the Papists press us v.'ith the one argument 
 that Christ will be with the Church to the end of the world 
 (Mt 28, 20) ; that the gates of hell will not prevail against it 
 (Mtl6, 18). This they vaunt in a loud-voiced manner, believing 
 tlieir destruction to be an impossibility. Swept by the waves 
 Peter's ship may be, they say, but the waters cannot over- 
 whelm it. 
 
 235. Quite similar was the security and assurance before 
 the flood; notwithstanding, Ave see that the whole earth per- 
 ished. The scoffers boasted that God's regulations are per- 
 petual, and that God had never completely abolished or al- 
 tered his creation. But consider the outcome and you will 
 see that they were wrong, while ISToah alone was right. 
 
 236. Unless the additional light of the Holy Spirit is 
 vouchsafed, man will surely be convinced by such argument; 
 for is it not equivalent to maldng God inconstant and change- 
 able, to maintain that he will completely destroy his creature? 
 Yet God gives Noah the revelation tliat he will make an end 
 of flesh and earth, not in part, but of all flesh and all the 
 earth. Would it not be awful enough to partition the earth 
 into three parts and to threaten destruction to one? But 
 to rage against the whole earth and against all mankind seems 
 to be in conflict with God's government and the declaration 
 that everything is very good. These things are too sublime 
 to be understood or comprehended by human reason. 
 
194 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 237. What is the cause of wrath so great? Surely, the 
 fact that the earth is filled with violence, as he here says. 
 Astonishing reason ! He says nothing here concerning the 
 first table ; he mentions only the second. It is, as if he said : 
 T shall say nothing of myself that they hate, blaspheme and 
 persecute my "Word. Among themselves how shamefully do 
 they live ! Neither home nor State are properly administered ; 
 everything is conducted by force, nothing by reason and law. 
 Therefore, I shall destroy at the same time both mankind and 
 the earth. 
 
 238. We see also in our age that God winks at the profa- 
 nation of the mass, a horrible abomination that fills the whole 
 earth, and at ungodly teachings and other offenses which have 
 hitherto been in vogue in religion. But when men live so 
 together that they disregard both State and home, when huge 
 covetousness, graft of every description and manifold iniquity 
 have waxed strong, does it not become clear to every man that 
 God is compelled, as it were, to punish, yea to overturn Ger- 
 many? 
 
 239. It is the fullness of his mercy and love that prompts 
 God rather to make complaint concerning the -^^Tongs inflicted 
 upon his members than those inflicted upon himself. We ob- 
 serve he maintains silence respecting the latter, while he 
 threatens punishment, not to man alone, but even to the very 
 earth itself. 
 
 240. A twofold effect is traceable to the flood; a weaken- 
 ing of man's powers and an impairment of his wealth and 
 that of the earth. The latter-day fruit of trees is in nowise 
 to be compared with that in the da.js before the flood. The 
 antediluvian turnips were better than afterward the melons, 
 oranges or pomegranates. The pear was finer than the spices 
 of today. So it is likely that a man's finger possessed more 
 strenght than today his whole arm. Likewise man's reason 
 and understanding were far superior. But God, because of 
 sin, has brought punishment to bear, not alone upon man, 
 but also upon his property and domain, as witness to posterity 
 also of his wrath. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 195 
 
 But how is the destruction to be effected? Assuredly, by his 
 (seizing the watery element and blotting out everything. The 
 force with which this element is wont to rage is common 
 knowledge. Though the atmosphere be pestilential, it does 
 not always infect trees and roots. But water not only over- 
 turns everything, not only does it tear out trees and roott^, 
 but it also lifts the very sui-face of the earth. It alters the 
 soil, so that the most fertile fields are marred by the over- 
 flow of salty earth and sand (Ps 107, 34). This was therefore 
 equal to the downfall of the primitive world. 
 
 241. The penalty of the present world, however, will be 
 different, as the color of the rainbow shows. The lowest color 
 the extent of which is well defined, is that of water. For 
 tJie fury of the water in the deluge was so great that limits 
 were set to its havoc, and the earth was restored to the rem- 
 nant of the godly after the destruction of the evil-doers. But 
 tlie other arch of the rainbow, the outer, which has no clearly 
 defined bounds, is of the color of fire, the element which shall 
 consume the whole world. This destruction shall be suc- 
 ceeded by a better world, which shall last forever and serve 
 the righteous. This the Lord seems to have written in the col- 
 or of the rainbow. 
 
 B. God Commands Noah to Build an Ark. 
 
 II. GOD COMMANDED NOAH of the body of Christ — of 
 
 TO BUILD AN ARK. the Church 250. 
 
 ♦ That Noah had only throe 9. The windows of the ark: 
 
 children is a sign of God's a. V>''hether it had more than 
 
 mercy 242. one window 251. 
 
 1. The kind of wood iised In • The Latin version is not 
 buildinsr the ark 243. clear here 252. 
 
 2. Its various rooms 244. b. What kind of a window 
 
 3. The pitch by which It was it was, and how it could 
 protected 245. stand the rain 253. 
 
 4. Why God instructed Noah c. Luther's opinion of the 
 so "particularly how each Jews' ideas about the win- 
 part was to be constructed dow 253 
 
 246. 10. The door of the ark 254. 
 
 5. The form of the ark, and 11. How to meet the various 
 how teachers differ on this questions about the ark 
 point 247. 255-6. 
 
 6. The place Noah occupied * The deluge was a new 
 in the ark. and that of the method of punishment, 
 animals 248. hence the non incredible 
 
 7. Whether the ark had the 257-8 
 
 proportions of a human • God was in earnest In the 
 
 body 249. threatening of this flood 
 
 8. How the ark was a type 259. 
 
 V, 14. Mahe thee an arlc of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou 
 
196 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 make in the arJc, and slialt pitch it within and without with 
 pitch {bitumen). 
 
 242. God's first thought was to save a remnant through 
 that tiny seed^ the three sons of ISToah, for Noah ceased hence- 
 forth to beget children. This strongly attests the mercy of 
 God toward those who walk in his ways. 
 
 243. Gopher some make out to be pine, others hemlock, 
 still others cedar; hence, a guess is rather difficult. The 
 choice appears to have been made owing to its lightness or 
 its resinous quality, so that it might float more easily upon 
 the water and be impervious to it. 
 
 244. Kinnim signifies "nests" or "chambers"; that is sepa- 
 rate spaces for the various animals. Bears, sheep, deer and 
 horses did not dwell in one and the same place, but the sever- 
 al species had their respective quarters. 
 
 245. But what is meant by hitumen, I do not know. With 
 us vessels are made water tight with pitch and tow. Pitch, 
 it is true, withstands water, but it also invites the flame. 
 There is no bitumen with us which resists water, hence we 
 raise no objection to 'Taitumen" being rendered "pitch." 
 
 246. You may ask: Why does God prescribe everything 
 so accurately? The injunction to build the ark should have 
 been sufficient. Reason could determine for itself the rules 
 concerning dimensions and mode of construction. Why, then, 
 does God give such careful instruction with reference to dimen- 
 sions and materials? Certainly that Noah, after undertaking 
 all things according to the Lord's direction (as Moses built 
 the tabernacle according to the model received on the mount), 
 should with the greater faith trust that he and his people 
 were to be saved, nor entertain any doubt concerning a work 
 ordered by the Lord himself, even how it should be made. 
 This is the reason the Lord gives his directions with such 
 attention to detail. 
 
 V. 15. And this is how thou sJialt make it: the length of 
 the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, 
 and the height of it thirty cubits. 
 
 247. A nice geometrical and mathematical exercise con- 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 197 
 
 cerning the form and dimensions of the ark is here presented. 
 The views of writers vary. Some claim it was four-cornered, 
 others that it was gabled like nearly all our structures in 
 Europe. As for myself, I hold it was four-cornered. Eastern 
 people's were not acquainted with gabled buildings. Theirs 
 were evidently of four-cornered form, as the Bible mentions 
 people walking on roofs. Similar was the shape of the temple. 
 348. There is a difference of opinion also concerning the 
 arrangement of the animals in their quarters, which occupied 
 the upper, which the central and which the lower places, this 
 being the distinction warranted by the text. No certainty, 
 liowever, can be arrived at. It is likely that Noah himself 
 and the birds occupied the upper part, the clean animals the 
 central and the unclean animals the lower one. The rabbis 
 assert the lower part served the purpose of storing dung. But 
 ] think the dung was thrown out of the window, for its re- 
 moval was necessitated by such a multitude of beasts abiding 
 in the ark for over a year. 
 
 249. Augustine quotes Philo against Faustus in stating that 
 on geometrical principles, the ark had the proportions of the hu- 
 man body, for when a man lies on the ground his body is ten 
 times as long as it is high and six times as long as broad. 
 So three hundred cubits are six times fifty and ten times 
 thirty. 
 
 250. An application is made of this to the body of Christ, 
 the Church, which has baptism as the door, through which 
 clean and unclean enter without distinction. Although the 
 Church is small, she rules the earth notwithstanding, and it 
 is due to her that the world is preserved, just as the unclean 
 animals were preserved in the ark. Others stretch the appli- 
 cation so far as to point to the wound in the side of Jesus' 
 body as prefigured by the windows in the ark. These are al- 
 legories which are not exactly profound, but still harmless be- 
 cause they harbor no error and serve a purpose other than 
 that of wrangling, namely, that of rhetorical ornamentation. 
 
 y. 16. A light slialt thou make to the arJc, and to a cubit 
 shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the arh shalt 
 
198 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third 
 stories shalt thou make it. '\ 
 
 251. Behold, liow diligent an architect God is ! With what 
 care he interests himself in all the parts of the structure and 
 their arrangement. Futhermore, the word Zohar does not 
 properly signify window, but southern light. The question 
 may be raised here whether the ark had only one window 
 or several. For the Hebrew language permits the use of the 
 singular for the plural, or of the collective for the distributive 
 term, as for instance : "I will destroy man from the face of 
 the ground.'' Here evidently not one man but many are 
 spoken of. But to me it seems there was only one window that 
 shed light upon man's domicile. 
 
 253. The Latin interpreter is so strangely obscure as to 
 fail to make himself understood. My unqualified opinion 
 is that he was unable to divest himself of the image of a mod- 
 ern ship, in which men are commonly carried in the lower 
 part. Nor is it quite intelligible what he says about the door, 
 inasmuch as it is certain that the ell-long window was in the 
 upper part, and the door in the center of the side or in the 
 navel of the ark. Thus, also, Eve was framed from the mid- 
 dle portion of man's body. The whole structure was divided 
 into three partitions, a higher, a central and a lower one, 
 and it was the upper one wliich, according to my view, was 
 illuminated by the light of day through the window. 
 
 253. You may say, however: What kind of a window was 
 it, or how could it exist in those frequent and violent rains? 
 For rain did not fall then as it does ordinarily, since the 
 water in forty days rose to such proportions as to submerge 
 the highest mountains by fifteen arm-lengths. The Jews claim 
 that the window was closed by a crystal which transmitted 
 the light. But too curious a research into these matters ap- 
 pears to me useless, since neither godliness nor Christ's king- 
 dom are put in jeopardy from the fact of our remaining in 
 ignorance concerning some features of this structure of which 
 God was the architect. It seems to me sufficiently satisfactory 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 199 
 
 to assume that the window was on tlie side of the upper 
 partition. 
 
 254:. As to the door, it is certain that it was about thirteen 
 or fourteen cubits from the earth. The ark, when it floated, 
 sank about ten feet into the water with its great weight of 
 animals of every kind and provender for more than a year. 
 This may suffice as a crude conception of the ark; for, be- 
 sides height and length, Moses merely indicates that it had 
 three partitions, a door and a window. 
 
 255. ^Ye will dismiss innumerable otlier questions such as : 
 What kind of air was used in the ark? for such a stupend- 
 ous mass of water, particularly falling water, must have pro- 
 duced a violent and pestilential stench; whence did they 
 draw their drinking-water? for water cannot be preserved 
 a whole year, hence mariners often call at ports in their 
 vicinity for the purpose of drawing water; again, how could 
 the bilge- water with its obnoxious odor be drawn up? 
 
 256. Such questions and other subordinate points related 
 to the experience of the mariner we may pass by. Otherwise 
 tJiere Avill be no end of questions. We will be content with 
 the simple supposition that the lower part probably served 
 the purpose of securing the bears, lions, tigers and other 
 savage animals; the middle part, that of housing the gentle 
 and tractable animals, together with the provender, which 
 cannot be kept in a place devoid of all air-currents; the upper 
 that of accommodating human beings themselves, together 
 with the domestic animals and the birds. This should be 
 enough for us. 
 
 V. 17. And 1, behold, I do bring the flood of ivaters upon 
 the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, 
 from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shal^ 
 die. 
 
 257. .\bove God has threatened in general the human 
 race with destruction. Here he points out the method; name- 
 ly, that he intends to destroy everything by a new disaster, 
 a flood. Such a punishment the world hitherto had not 
 known. The customary punishments, as we see from the 
 
200 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 prophets, are pestilence, famine, the sword and fierce beasts. 
 Men and beasts perish of pestilence. The earth is laid 
 waste by war, for it is deprived of those who till it. The 
 sufferings of famine, though they seem to be less cruel, are 
 by far the most terrible. With the fourth class of penalties, 
 our regions have almost no exnerience at all. Although 
 these are severally sufficient for the chastisement of the hu- 
 jnan race, the Lord desired to employ a novel kind of punish- 
 ment against the primeval world, through which all flesh 
 jiaving tlie breath of life was to perish. 
 
 258. Because this punishment was unheard of in former 
 ages, the wicked were slower to believe it. They reasoned 
 thus: If God is at all angx}'-, can he not correct the disobedi- 
 ent by the sword, by pestilence? A flood would destroy also 
 the other creatures which are without sin; surely God will not 
 plan anything like this for tlie world. 
 
 259. But in order to remove such unbelief from the mind 
 of Noah and the inghteous, he repeats with stress the pro- 
 noun, "And I, behold, I do bring." Afterward he clearly 
 adds that he will destroy all flesh that is under heaven and 
 in the earth; for he excludes here the fishes whose realm is 
 widened by the waters. This passage tends to show the mag- 
 nitude of the wrath of God, through which men lose, not on- 
 ly body and life, but also univereal dominion over the earth. 
 
 C. God's Covenant with Noah. 
 
 III. GODS COVENANT WITH time, and why it was need- 
 
 NOAH. ed at this time 265. 
 
 • The way God comforted 5. How a special call was 
 
 Noah in announcing the . ^^^^^^ ^P }^*^ covenant 266. 
 
 flood, and why such com- ' Go<i s judg-ment upon the 
 
 fort was needed 260. ^ fijst world terrible 267. 
 
 1 „, . * 4.V,- Why Ham was taken into 
 
 1. The nature of this cove- the ark, who was later re- 
 ^^T^^- jected 267. 
 
 a. The views of Lyra, Bur- • Foreknowledge and elec- 
 gensis and others 261. tion. 
 
 b. Luther's views 262-3. a. Why we should avoid 
 
 2. Whether the giants or ty- thinking and disputing on 
 rants were embraced in this subject 268. 
 
 this covenant and how re- b. To what end should the 
 
 ceived by them 262-3. examples of Scripture on 
 
 3. Why it was made only this theme serve 269. 
 with Noah 264. c. How consideration of the 
 
 4. How this covenant was same may help and harm 
 made clearer from time to us 270. 
 
 V. 18. But I ivill establish my covenant with thee; and 
 
GENESIS VL MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 201 
 
 thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and ithyi 
 wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 
 
 260. To this comfort Moses before pointed when he de- 
 clared that IsToah had found grace. Xoah stood in need of 
 it, not only to escape despair amid such wrath, but also for 
 the strengthening of his faith in view of the raging ret- 
 ribution. For it was no easy matter to believe the whole 
 human race was to perish. The world consequently judged 
 Noah to be a dolt for believing such things, ridiculed hiui 
 and, undoubtedly, made his ship an object of satire. In order 
 to strengthen his mind amid such offenses, God speaks with 
 him often, and now even reminds him of his covenant. 
 
 261. Interpreters discuss the question, what that covenant 
 was. Lyra explains it as the promise to defend him against 
 the evil men who had threatened to murder him. Burgensis 
 claims this covenant refers to the perils amid the waters, 
 which were to be warded off. Still others believe it was 
 tlie covenant of the rainbow, which the Lord afterward made 
 with Noah. 
 
 262. In my opinion, he speaks of a spiritual covenant, or 
 of the promise of the seed, which was to bruise the serpent's 
 head. The giants had this covenant, but when its abuse re- 
 sulted in pride and wickedness, they fell from it. So it was 
 afterward with the Jews, whose carnal presumption in refer- 
 ence to God, the Law, worship and temple led to their loss 
 of these gifts and they perished. To Noah, however, God 
 confirms this covenant by certainly declaring that Christ 
 was to be born from his posterity and "that God would leave, 
 amid such great wrath, a nursery for the Church, This 
 covenant includes not only protection of Noah's bod}^, the 
 view advocated by Lyra and Burgensis, but also eternal life. 
 
 263. The sentiment, therefore, of the promise is this : Those 
 insolent despisers of my promises and threats will compel me 
 to punish tliem. I shall first withdraw from them the pro- 
 tection and assurance which are theirs by reason of their 
 covenant with me, that they may perish without covenant 
 and without mercy . But that covenant I shall transfer to you 
 
202 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD, 
 
 SO that you shall be saved, not alone from such power of the 
 waters, but also from eternal death and condemnation. 
 
 264. The plam statement is, "With tliee." Not the sons, 
 not the wives, does he mention, vfhom he was also to save; 
 but Noah alone he mentions, from whom the promise was 
 transmitted to his son Shem. This is the second promise of 
 Christ, which is taken from all other descendants of Adam 
 and committed alone to Noah. 
 
 265. Afterward this promise is made clearer from time 
 to time. It proceeded from the race to the family, and from 
 the family to the individual. From the whole race of Abraham 
 it was carried forward to David alone; from David to Nathan; 
 from Nathan down to one virgin, Mary, who was the dead 
 branch or root of Jesse, and in whom this covenant finds 
 its termination and fulfilment. The establishment of such 
 a covenant was most necessary in view of the imminence of 
 the incredible and incalculable wrath of God. 
 
 266. You will observe here, however, a special call when 
 he says: "Thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, 
 etc," If Noah had not received this special call, he woul(J 
 not have ventured to enter the ark. 
 
 267. How terrible is it that from the whole human race 
 only eight persons should be selected for salvation and yet 
 from among them. Ham, the third son of Noah, be rejected ! 
 By the mouth of God he is numbered here among the elect 
 and saints. Yea, with tliem he is protected and saved. Nor 
 is he distinguished from Noah. If he had not believed and 
 prayed for tlie same things, if he had not feared God, he 
 would in nowise have been saved in the ark; and yet, aft^r- 
 Avard he is rejected ! 
 
 268. The sophists wrangle here concerning an election that 
 takes place according to the purpose of God. But often have 
 I exhorted to beware of speculations about the unveiled 
 majesty, for besides being anything but true, they are far 
 from being profitable. Let us rather think of God as he 
 offers himself to us in his Word and sacraments. Let us 
 not trace these instances back to a hidden election, in -which 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 203 
 
 God arranged everj^thing with himself from eternity. Such 
 doctrine we cannot apprehend with our minds, and we see 
 it conflicts with the revealed will of God. 
 
 269. What, then, you will ask, shall we declare with refer- 
 ence to these examples? Nothing but that they are pointed 
 out to inspire us with the fear of God, so that we believe it 
 ic possible to fall from grace after once receiving grace. Paul 
 warns, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest 
 he fall." 1 Cor 10, 13. We should heed such examples to 
 teach us humility, that we may not exalt ourselves with our 
 gifts nor become slothful in our use of blessings received, but 
 may reach forth to the things which are before, as Paul saj^s in 
 Philippians 3, 13. They teach us not to believe that we 
 have apprehended everything. 
 
 270. Malignant and most bitter is our enemy, but we are 
 feeble, bearing this great treasure in earthen vessels. 2 Cor. 
 4, 7. Therefore, we must not glory as if we were secure, but 
 seeing that men so holy fell from grace, which they had ac- 
 cepted and for a long time enjoyed, we should look anxiously 
 to God as if in peril at this very moment. In this manner 
 these examples are discussed to our profit; but those who give 
 no attention to them and chase after complex high thoughts 
 on an election according to the purpose of God, drive and 
 thrust their souls into despair, to which they naturally in- 
 cline. 
 
 VII. ANIMALS AND FOOD IN THE AEK; NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 
 
 I. THE ANIMALS NOAH felt danger was near 278-9. 
 
 TOOK INTO THE' ARK. 5. The animals came of them- 
 
 1. The number and kinds of selves to Noah in the ark 
 animals 271-2. 280. 
 
 2. The differences in the II. THE POOD NOAH TOOK 
 animals 273. INTO THE ARK. 
 
 a. What is understood by the 1. Why necessary to take 
 "Behemoth" 274. with them food 281. 
 
 b. By the "Remes" 275. * The kind of food man then 
 
 c. Whether this difference is had, and if he ate flesh 
 observed in all places 276. 282. 
 
 3. Whether wild and fero- 2. God's foreknowledge shines 
 cious animals were in par- forth here 283. 
 
 adise, and if created from 3. Why God did not maintain 
 
 the beginning' 276-7. man and the animals in 
 
 4. How Noah could bring the the ark by a miracle 284. 
 ani m a 1 s , especially the * The extraordinary ways 
 wild ones, into the ark and miracles of God. 
 278-9. a. Why man should not seek 
 
 • The animals at the time miracles, where ordinary 
 
204 
 
 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ways and means are at 
 hand 285. 
 b. The monks seek extraordi- 
 nary ■ways and thus tempt 
 God 2S6. 
 
 • Whether we should use 
 medicine, and If we should 
 learn the arts and lan- 
 guages 286. 
 
 c. Why God did not save Noah 
 in the water witliout the 
 ark, when he could have 
 done so 287. 
 d. When does God use extra- 
 ordinary means with man 
 288. 
 
 III. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 
 
 1. In what respect it was es- 
 pecially praised 289. 
 
 • Obedience to God. 
 
 a. How one Is to keep the 
 golden mean, and not turn 
 to the right or left 290. 
 b. How man can by obedi- 
 ence or disobedience mark 
 out his own course 290-1 
 
 g- 
 
 Why most people shun 
 obedience 291. 
 How we are here not to 
 look to the thing com- 
 manded, but to the person 
 commanding 292-6. 
 How sadly they fail who 
 look at the thing com- 
 manded 293. 
 
 How the Papists neither 
 understand nor keep God's 
 commandments 294. 
 What we are to think of 
 the holiness of the Papists 
 295. 
 
 All God commands is good, 
 even if it seems different 
 to reason 296. 
 How the Papists dj harm 
 by the works of their wis- 
 dom, and only provoke 
 God to anger, as king 
 Saul did 297. 
 
 How in his obedience Noah 
 held simply to God's Word 
 and overcame all difflcul- 
 tiea 298. 
 
 VII. THE ANIMALS AND THEIR FOOD, AND NOAH'S 
 OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Vs. 19-20. A7id every living iliing of all flesh, two- of 
 every sort slidlt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive 
 rvith thee; they shall he male and female. Of the 'birds after 
 their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping 
 thing of the ground after its kind; two of every sort shall 
 come unto thee, to keep them alive. 
 
 271. Here again a dispute arises, as is the case when in 
 historical narratives one proceeds to the application and in- 
 cidental features. Our text appears to vindicate the view 
 that here two and two are spoken of; but in the beginning 
 of the seventh chapter seven and seven. Hence, Lyra quarrels 
 with one Andrea, who believed fourteen specimens were in- 
 cluded in the ark, because it is written: "Of every clean beast 
 thou shalt take to thee seven and seven." But I approve 
 Lyra's interpretation, who says seven specimens of every class 
 
 ■ were inclosed in the ark, three male and three female, and 
 the seventh also male, to be used by Noah for purposes of 
 sacrifice. 
 
 272. When Moses says here that two and two of the several 
 species were brought into the ark, we must necessarily under- 
 stand the seventh chapter as speaking only of the unclean 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 205 
 
 animals, for the number of clean animals was the greater. Of 
 the unclean seven. of every species were inclosed in the ark. 
 
 373. It is also necessary that we here discuss the sig- 
 nification of terms as "all life/' "beasts," "cattle." Though 
 these are often used without discrimination, still at various 
 places the Scripture employs them discriminatingly; for in- 
 stance, when it says, "Let the earth bring forth living creat- 
 ures." Gen 1, 24. 'Tiet the waters swarm with swarms of 
 living creatures." Gen 1, 20. In those places the words of the 
 genus stand for all living beings on the earth and in the 
 waters. Here the constituent species are named — cliayah, 
 rentes, and lehemah — though frequently used without discrimi- 
 nation. 
 
 274. The cattle he calls here behemoth, though in Ezekiel, 
 first chapter, those four animals are called by the common 
 name, hachaijoth, a word by which we commonly designate not 
 Po much animals as beasts, subsisting not on hay or anything 
 else growing out of the earth, but flesh; as lion, bear, wolf 
 and fox. Behemoth are cattle or bnites which live on hay 
 and herbs growing from the earth; as sheep, cows, deer and 
 roe. 
 
 275. Remes means reptile. The word is derived from 
 ramas, which means to tread. Wlien we compare ourselves 
 with the birds, we are remasian, for we creep and tread upon 
 the earth with our feet like the dogs and other beasts. But 
 the proper meaning is, animals which do not walk with 
 face erect. The animals which creep and which we term reptiles 
 have a specific name, being called sherazim, as we see in Le- 
 viticus from the word sharaz, which means to move, hereafter 
 used in the seventh chapter. The word oph is known, mean- 
 ing bird. 
 
 276. Such are the differences among these terms, although, 
 as I said before, they are not observed in some places. The 
 interpretation must be confined, however, to the time after 
 the flood; otherwise the inference would be drawn that such 
 savage beasts existed also in paradise. Wlio will doubt that 
 before sin, dominion having been given to man over all ani- 
 
206 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ir.als of earth, there was concord not only among men but al- 
 so between animals and man? 
 
 277. Though the first chapter clearly proves that these 
 wild beasts were created with the others, on account of sin 
 their nature was altered. Those created gentle and harmless, 
 after the fall became wild and harmful. This is my view, 
 though since our loss of that state of innocent existence it is 
 easier to venture a guess than to reach a definition of that life. 
 
 278. But, you ask, if because of sin the nature of animals 
 became completely altered, how could Noah control them, 
 especially the savage and fierce ones? The lion surely could 
 not be controlled, nor tigers, panthers and the like. The an- 
 swer is: Such wild animals went into the ark miraculously. 
 To me this appears reasonable. If they had not been forced 
 by a divine injunction to go into the ark, Noah would not 
 have had it within his power to control such fierce animals. 
 Undoubtedly he had to exercise his own human power, but 
 this alone was insufficient. And the text implies both con- 
 ditions, for at first it says: "Thou shalt bring into the ark," 
 and then adds: "Two of every sort shall come unto thee." 
 If they had not been miraculously guided, they would not 
 have come by twos and sevens. 
 
 279. That two by two and seven by seven came of their 
 own accord is a miracle and a sign that they had a premoni- 
 tion of the wrath of God and the coming terrible disaster. 
 Even brute natures have premonitions and forebodings of im- 
 pending calamities, and often as if prompted by a certain 
 sense of compassion, they will manifest distress for a man 
 in evident peril. "We see dogs and horses understand the perils 
 of their masters and show themselves affected by such intelli- 
 gence, the dogs by howling, the horses by trembling and the 
 emission of copious sweat. As a matter of fact it is not rare 
 that wild beasts in danger seek refuge with man. 
 
 280. When, therefore, there is elsewhere in brute natures 
 such an intelligence, is it a wonder that, after having been 
 divinely aroused to a sense of coming danger, they joined 
 themselves voluntarily to Noah? For the text shows they 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 207 
 
 came voluntarily. In the same manner history bears witness, 
 and onr experience confirms it, that, when a terrible pestilence 
 rages or a great slaughter is imminent, wolves, the most fero- 
 cious of animals, flee not only into villages, but, on occasion, 
 even into cities, taking refuge among men and humbly asking, 
 as it were, their help. 
 
 V. 21. And iake thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, 
 and gather it to thee; and it shall he for food for thee, and 
 for them. 
 
 281. Inasmuch as the flood was to last a whole year^ it 
 was necessary to remind Noah of the food to be collected 
 from the herbs and the fruits of trees in order to preserve the 
 life of man and of animals. Though the wrath of God was ter- 
 rible, to the destruction of everything born on earth, the 
 goodness of the Lord shines forth, notwithstanding, in 
 this an awful calamity. He looks to the preservation of man 
 and the animals, and through their preservation to that 
 of the species. The animals chosen for preservation in the 
 ark were sound and of unblemished body, and through divine 
 foresight, they received food suitable to their nature. 
 
 282. As for man, it is established that, as yet, he did not 
 use flesh for food. He ate only of the vegetation of the 
 earth, which was far more desirable before the flood than at 
 present, after the remarkable corruption of the earth through 
 the brackish waters. 
 
 283. We observe here the providence of God, by whose 
 counsel the evil are punished and the good saved. By a mira- 
 cle God preserves a portion of his creatures when he punishes 
 the wicked and graciously makes provision for their posterity. 
 
 284. It would have been an easy matter for God to pre- 
 serve Noah and the animals for the space of a full year without 
 food, as he preserved Moses, Elijah and Christ, the latter for 
 forty days, without food. He made everything out of noth- 
 ing, which is even more marvelous. Yet God, in his gover- 
 ment of the things created, as Augustine learnedly observes, 
 allows them to perform their appropriate functions. In other 
 words, to apply Augustine's view to the matter in hand, God 
 performs his miracles along the lines of natural law. 
 
208 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 285. God also requires that we do not discard the pro- 
 visions of nature, which would mean to tempt God; but that 
 we use with thanksgiving the things God has prepared for us. 
 A hungry man who looks for bread from heaven rather than 
 tries to obtain it by human means, commits sin. Christ 
 gives the apostles command to eat what is set before them, 
 I-fk 10,7. So Noah is here enjoined to employ the ordinary 
 methods of gathering food. God did not command him to 
 expect in the ark a miraculous supply of food from heaven. 
 
 286. The life of the monks is all a temptation of God. 
 They cannot be continent and still they refrain from matri- 
 mony; likewise they abstain from certain meats, though God 
 has created them to be received with thanksgiving by them 
 that believe, and by those vv^ho know the truth, that every 
 creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected, if it be 
 received with thanksgiving, 1 Tim 4, 3-4. The use of medicine 
 is legitimate; yea, it has been created as a necessary means 
 to conserve health. The study of the arts and of language 
 i? to be cultivated and, as Paul says, "Every creature of God 
 is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with 
 thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through prayer." 1 Tim 4, 4-5. 
 
 287. God was able to preserve ISToah in the midst of the 
 waters. They fable of Clement that he had a cell in the 
 middle of the sea. Yea, the people of Israel were preserved 
 in the midst of the Eed Sea and Jonah in the belly of the 
 whale. But this was not God's desire. He rather willed that 
 ISToah should use the aid of wood and trees, so that human 
 skill might thereby have a sphere for its exercise. 
 
 288. When, however, human means fail, then it is for you 
 either to suffer or to expect help from the Lord. No human 
 effort could support the Jews when they stood by the sea and 
 were surrounded in the rear by the enemy. Hence, a miracu- 
 lous deliverance was to be hoped for, or a sure death to be 
 suffered. 
 
 V. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that Ood com- 
 manded him, so did he. 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 209 
 
 289. This phrase is very frequent in Scripture. This is 
 the first passage in which praise for obedience to God is clothed 
 in such a form of words. Later we find it stated repeatedly 
 that Moses, the people, did according to all that God com- 
 manded them. But ISToah received commendation as an ex- 
 ample for us. His was not a dead faith, which is no faith 
 at all, but a living and active faith. He renders obedience to 
 God's commands, and because he believes both God's promises 
 and threats, he carefully carries out what God commanded 
 with reference to the ark and the gathering of animals and 
 food. This is unique praise for iSToah's faith, that he re- 
 mains on the royal way — adds nothing, changes nothing 
 and takes nothing from the divine command, but abides ab- 
 solutely in the precept he has heard. 
 
 290. It is the most common and at the same tim.e most 
 noxious sin in the Church, that people either altogether change 
 God's commands or render something else paramount to them. 
 There is only one royal road to which we must keep. They 
 sin who swerve too much to the left by failing to perform the 
 divine commands. Those who swerve to the right and do 
 more than God has commanded, like Saul when he spared the 
 Amalekites, also sin even mbre grievously than those who 
 turn to the left. They add a sham piety; for, while those who 
 err on the left cannot excuse their error, these do not hesitate 
 to ascribe to themselves remarkable merit. 
 
 291. And such error is exceedingly common. God is wont 
 sometimes to command common, ' paltry, ridiculous and even 
 olTensive things, but reason takes delight in splendid things. 
 From the common ones it either shrinks or undertakes them 
 under protest. Thus the monks shrank from home duties and 
 chose for themselves others apparently of greater glamor. To- 
 day the great throng, hearing that common tasks are preached 
 in the Gospel, despises the Gospel as a vulgar teaching, lack- 
 ing in elegance. What noteworthy thing is it to teach that 
 servants should obey their master and children their parents? 
 Such a common and oft-taught doctrine the learned papists 
 not only neglect but even ridicule. They desire rather some- 
 
210 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 thing unique, something remarkable either for its reputed wis- 
 dom or for its apparent difficult character. Such is the mad- 
 ness of man's wisdom. 
 
 292. In general it is wisdom to observe not so much the 
 person that speaks as that which he says, because the teach- 
 er's faults are always in evidence. But when we consider pre- 
 cepts of God and true obedience, this axiom should be reversed. 
 Then we should observe not so much that which is said, but 
 the person of him who speaks. In respect to divine pre- 
 cepts, if you observe that which is said and not him who 
 speaks, you will easily stum.ble. This is illustrated by the 
 example of Eve, whose mind did not dwell upon the person 
 who issued the command. She regarded only the command 
 and concluded it to be a matter of small moment to taste the 
 apple. But what * injury was tliereby wrought to the whole 
 human race ! 
 
 293. He who observes him that gives the command will 
 conclude that what is very paltry in appearance is very great. 
 The Papists estimate it a slight thing to govern the State, to 
 be a spouse, to train children. But experience teaches that 
 these are very important matters, for which the wisdom of 
 men is incompetent. We see that at times the most spiritual 
 men have here shamefully fallen. When we, therefore, remem- 
 ber him who gives the command, that which is paltry and 
 common becomes a responsibility too great to discharge with- 
 out divine aid. 
 
 294. The Papists, therefore, who look only at the out- 
 ward mask, like the cow at the gate, can make light of duties 
 toward home and State, and imagine they perform others of 
 greater excellence. In the very fact that they are shameless 
 adulterers, blasphemers of God, defilers of the sanctuary and 
 brazen squanderers of the Church's property, they powerfully 
 testify against themselves that they can in no wise appreciate 
 the paltry, common and vulgar domestic and public duties. 
 
 295. In what, therefore, consists the holiness they vaunt? 
 Forsooth, in that on certain days they abstain from meat, 
 that they bind themselves to certain vows, that they have 
 
GENESIS VI. MAN'S WICKEDNESS. 211 
 
 a liking for certain kinds of work. But, I ask you, who has 
 given command to do those things ? No one. That which God 
 has enjoined or commanded, they do not respect. They ren- 
 der paramount something else concerning which God has given 
 no command. 
 
 296. Hence, the vital importance of this rule, that we 
 observe not the contents of the command but its author. He 
 who fails to do this will often be offended, as I said, by the 
 insignificance or absurdity of a task. God should receive 
 credit for wisdom and goodness. Assuredly that which he 
 himself enjoins is well and wisely enjoined, though human 
 reason judge differently. 
 
 297. From the wisdom of God the Papists detract when 
 they consider divinely enjoined tasks as paltiy and attempt 
 to undertake something better or more difficult. God is not 
 propitiated by such works, but rather provoked, as Saul's 
 example shows. As if God were stupid, dastardly, and cruel 
 in that he commanded to destroy the Amalekites and all their 
 belongings, Saul conceived a kinder plan and reserved the cat- 
 tle for the purpose of sacrifice. What else was such action 
 but to deem himself wise and God foolish. 
 
 298. Hence Moses rightly commends in this passage Noah's 
 obedience when he says that he did everything the Lord had 
 enjoined. That means to give God credit for wisdom and good- 
 ness. He did not discuss the task, as Adam, Eve and Saul did 
 to their great hurt. He kept his eye on the majesty of him who 
 gave the command. That was enough for him, even though the 
 command be absurd, impossible, inexpedient. All such ob- 
 jections he passes by with closed eyes, as it were, and takes 
 his stand upon the one thing commanded by God. This text 
 therefore is familiar as far as hearing it is concerned, but even 
 as to the performance and practice of it, it is known to very 
 few and is extremely difficult. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I. NOAH OBEYS COMMAND TO ENTER THE ARK. 
 
 1. Noah saw Ood's favor in 
 his command l. 
 
 * Noah exoerienced severe 
 temntations and needed 
 comfort 1-2. 
 
 2. What God wished to teach 
 Noah bv calline: him to en- 
 ter the ark 3. 
 
 3. "Whether Ood snoke this 
 commandment directlv to 
 Noah 4-5. 
 
 * When God sneaks to ns 
 throue-h men it is to he 
 viewed as God's Word 4-5. 
 
 * The thoughts of the Jew.s 
 on the seven davs 6 
 
 * The office of the ministry. 
 
 a. Throue-h it God deals with 
 mankind 7. 
 
 b. Why we sliould not despise 
 the oftice and expect revel- 
 ations direct from God 8-9 
 
 * God speaks with man iri 
 various ways 9. 
 
 * Corruption and destruction 
 of the first world. 
 
 a. The ruin of the first com- 
 pared with that of the last 
 world 10-13. 
 
 * The need of posterity to 
 pray that they retain pure 
 doctrine 12. 
 
 b. Why so few righteous 
 persons were found in 
 Noali's day 12. 
 
 * The efforts of the pope 
 and bishops to crush the 
 Gospel 13. 
 
 c. First world severely pun- 
 ished, neither old nor 
 young- were spared 14-15. 
 
 d. Punishment of first world 
 greatly moved Peter when 
 he wrote about it 16-17. 
 
 * Peter's record of sermon 
 Christ delivered to the 
 spirits of the first world in 
 prison 16-17. 
 
 a. Who are to be understood 
 
 here by the unbelieving 
 world IS. 
 
 Peter here shows the 
 wrath and long suffering 
 of God 19. 
 
 Nature and manner of this 
 sermon 20. 
 
 Apostles had special revel- 
 ations we cannot grasp 
 20-21. 
 
 How Noah -was righteous 
 before God 22. 
 How the world laughed r. 
 him while executing God's 
 command, God then com- 
 forted him 23-24. 
 Greatness of Noah's faith 
 and steadfastness in exe- 
 cuting tills command 25-26. 
 Lutlier's confession he 
 would liave been too wean 
 for such a work 25-26. 
 The great firmness of John 
 Huss and Jerome of Pra- 
 gue 27. 
 
 We are to comfort our- 
 selves when all the world 
 forsakes and condemns us 
 28. 
 
 God commands Noah to 
 take the animals he names 
 along into the ark 2 9. 
 Why God so often repeats 
 the same thing 29. 
 What is to be understood 
 by Behemoth 30. 
 Plow many of each kind en- 
 tered the ark 31. 
 The rain at the flood was 
 exceptional 32. 
 The flood is a token of 
 God's righteousness and 
 from it we conclude G^ • 
 will punish the sins of the 
 last world 33. 
 By what may we learn 
 Noah's faith and obedience 
 to God 34. 
 
 "^''hy God did not save No- 
 ah in some other way 34. 
 
 1. NOAH OBEYS COMMAND TO ENTER THE AEK. 
 
 V. 2a. And JeJiovah said unto Noah, Come tlioa and all 
 thy house into the arJc. 
 
 1. As soon as that extraordinary structure, the ark, was 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 213 
 
 built, the Lord commanded Noah to enter it, because the time 
 of the deluge, which the Lord announced one hundred and 
 twenty years before, was now at hand. All this convinced No- 
 ah that God was taking care of him; and not only this, but 
 also, as Peter says (3 Pet 1, 19), gave him an ample 
 and abundant word to support and confirm his faith in such 
 great straits. Having foretold the deluge for more than a 
 century, he doubtless v^^as bitterly mocked by the world in 
 many ways. 
 
 3. As I have said repeatedly, God's wrath was incredible. 
 It could not be grasped by the human mind, in that original 
 age of superior men, that God was about to destroy the whole 
 human race, except eight souls. Noah, being holy and just, 
 a kindly and merciful man, often struggled with his own 
 heart, hearing with the greatest agitation of mind the voice 
 of the Lord, tlireatening certain destruction to all flesh. It 
 was needful, tlien, that repeated declaration should confirm his 
 agitated faith, lest he might doubt. 
 
 3. God's command to enter the ark amounted to this: 
 "Doubt not, the time of punishment for the unbelieving world 
 is close at hand. But tremble not, do not fear, for faith is 
 at times very weak in the saints. I shall take care of you and 
 your house." To us such promise would have been incredible, 
 but we must admit that all things are possible with God. 
 
 4. Notice Moses' peculiar expression again: "Jehovah said." 
 It gives me particular pleasure that these words of God did 
 not sound from heaven, but were spoken to Noah through the 
 ministry of man. Although I would not deny that these reve- 
 lations may have been made by an angel, or by the Holy Spirit 
 himself, yet where it can plausibly be said that God spoke 
 tlirough men, there ihe ministry must be honored. We have 
 shown above that many of God's words according to Moses, 
 were spoken through Adam; for the Word of God, even when 
 spoken by man, is truly the Word of God. 
 
 5. Now, as Methuselah, Noah's grandfather, died in the 
 very year of the deluge, it would not be inapt to infer that 
 (since Lamech, Noah's father, had died five years before the 
 
214 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 flood,) this was, so to speak, Methuselali's last word and testa- 
 ment to his grandson, a dying farewell. Perhaps he added 
 some remarks as these: My son, as thou hast obeyed the Lord 
 heretofore, and hast awaited this wrath in faith, and hast ex- 
 perienced God's faithful protection from the wicked, henceforth 
 firmly believe that God will take care of thee. The end is now 
 at hand, not mine alone, which is one of grace, but the end of 
 all mankind, which is one of wrath. For after seven days the 
 flood will begin, concerning which thou hast long and vainly 
 warned the world. After this manner, I think, spoke Methu- 
 selah, but the words are attributed to God, because the Spirit 
 of God spoke through the man. 
 
 Thus I like to interpret these instances to the honor of 
 the ministry wherever, as in this case, it can appropriately be 
 done. Since it is certain that Methuselah died in the very 
 year of the flood, the supposition is harmless that these were 
 his last words to Noah, his grandson, who heard his words 
 and accepted them as the Word of God. 
 
 6. The Jews' peculiar idea concerning these seven days is 
 that they were added to the one hundred and twenty years in 
 honor of Methuselah, that therein his posterity might bewail 
 his death. This is a harmless interpretation, for the patriarch's 
 descendants did not fail to do their duty, particularly his piou3 
 children. 
 
 7. But the first view concerning tlie ministry of the Word, 
 is not only plausible, but also practical. God does not habitu- 
 ally speak miraculously and by revelation, particularly where, 
 he has instituted the ministry for this very purpose of speaking 
 to men, teaching, instructing, consoling and entreating them. 
 
 8. In the first place, God entrusts the Word to parents. 
 Moses often says : "Thou shalt tell it to thy children." Then to 
 the teachers of the Church is it entrusted. Abraham says(Lk 16, 
 29) : "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." 
 We must expect no revelation, be it inward or outward, where 
 the ministry is established ; otherwise all ranks of human society 
 would be disturbed. Let the pastor preach in Church; let 
 the magistrate rule the State; let parents control the house 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 215 
 
 or family. Such are the ministries of men instituted by God. 
 We should make use of them and not look for new revelations. 
 
 9. Still I do not deny that Noah heard God speak after 
 Methuselah's death. God speaks ordinarily through the public 
 ministry — through parents and the teachers of the Church — 
 and in rare cases by inward revelatiin, through the Holy 
 Spirit. It is well that we remember not to overlook the Word 
 in vain expectation of new revelations, as the fanatics do. 
 Such a course gives rise to spirits of error, a source of disturb- 
 ance to the whole world, as the example of the Anabaptists 
 proves. 
 
 V. lb. For thee have I seen righteous before me in this 
 generation. 
 
 10. This is truly a picture of the primitive, ancient world, 
 as Peter calls it. 2 Pet 2, 5. His appellation carries the though 
 of a peculiarity of that particular age, which is foreign to the 
 people of our own. Could words be more appalling than these, 
 that Noah alone was righteous before the Lord? The world is 
 similarly pictured in Ps 14, 2-3, where we read that the Lord 
 looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did un- 
 derstand, that did seek God. But he says: "They are all gone 
 aside; they are together become filthy; there is none that 
 doeth good, no, not one." 
 
 11. Similar to this judgment upon the world was Christ's 
 declaration as to the last days. He says: "When the Son of 
 man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Lk 18, 8. It 
 is a fearful thing to live in such an evil and godless world. 
 By the goodness of God, since we have the light of his Word, 
 we are still in the golden age. The sacraments are rightfully 
 administered in our Churches, pious teachers proclaim the 
 Word purely, and, though magistrates be weak, wickedness is 
 not desperately rampant. But Christ's prophecy shows that 
 there will be evil times when the Lord's day approaches. Whole- 
 some teaching nowhere will be found, the Church being domi- 
 nated by the wicked, as today the plans of our adversaries 
 are a menace. The pope and the wicked princes zealously 
 strive totally to destroy the ministry of the Word, oppressing or 
 
216 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 corrupting the true ministries, that everyone may believe 
 whatever pleases him. 
 
 Ih. So much the more diligently should we pray for our 
 posterity, and take earnest heed that a more wholesome doc- 
 trine be transmitted to them. If there had been more godly 
 teachers in the days of Noah, there might have been more 
 righteous people. The fact that Noah alone was proclaimed 
 a righteous man makes it evident that the godly teachers had 
 been either destroyed or corrupted, leaving Noah the sole 
 preacher of righteousness, as Peter calls him, 2 Pet 2, 5. 
 Since government had been turned into tyranny and the home 
 vitiated by adultery and whoredom, how could punishment be 
 delayed any longer? 
 
 13. Such danger awaits us also if the last days are to be 
 like tire days of Noah. Truly, the popes and bishops stren- 
 uously endeavor to suppress the Gospel and to ruin the 
 Churches which have been rightfully established. Thus does 
 the world assiduously press onward to a period similar to 
 the age i of Noah, when, with the light of the Word extin- 
 guished, all shall go astray in the darkness of wickedness. 
 For without the preaching of the Word, faith cannot endure 
 nor prayer, nor the purity of t1ie sacraments. 
 
 14. Such, according to Moses, was the condition of the 
 ancient world in Noah's day, when the world was young and 
 and at its best. The greatest geniuses flourished everywhere 
 and people were well educated by experience because they lived 
 so long. What will be our fate in the frenzy, so to speak, that 
 shall befall the World in its dotage? We should remember to 
 care for our posterity and continually pray for it. 
 
 15. As the first world was most corrupt, it was thus sub- 
 ject to terrible punishment. Adults perished who provoked 
 God to anger by their wicked deeds, also those of an innocent 
 age, who had Imowledge and were unable to distinguish be- 
 tween their right hand and their left. Many, doubtless, were 
 deceived by their own guilelessness ; but God's wrath does not 
 discriminate, it falls upon and destroys alike adults and infants, 
 the crafty and the guileless. 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 217 
 
 16. This awful punishment appears to have moved even 
 the Apostle Peter. Like one besides himself , he uses words which 
 we today are not able to understand. He says : Christ, having 
 been made alive in the Spirit, also "went and preached unto 
 the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when 
 the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the 
 ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were 
 saved through water," etc. (1 Pet 3, 19-20). 
 
 17. A strange declaration, and an almost fanatical saying, 
 by which the Apostle describes this event!/ .By these words, 
 Peter assures us that there was a certain unbelieving world to 
 whom the dead Christ preached after their death. If this is 
 true, who would doulDt that Christ took Moses and the prophets 
 with him to those who were fettered in prison, in order to 
 change the unbelieving world into a new and believing one? 
 This seems to be intimated by Peter's words, though I should 
 not lil<e to make this assertion authoritatively. 
 
 18. But doubtless those whom he calls an unbelieving world 
 were not the wicked despisers of his Word nor the tyrants. If 
 they were overwhelmed in their sins, these were certainly con- 
 demned. The unbelieving world of which he speaks seems rather 
 to be the children and those whose lack of judgment precluded 
 belief. These were at that time, seized and carried away head- 
 long to their destruction, by the offenses of the Avorld, as if in 
 the power of a rapid stream, only eight souls being saved. 
 
 19. In this way does Peter magnify the awful intensity of 
 God's wrath. At the same time he praises his long-suffering 
 in that he did not deprive those of the Word of salvation who 
 at the time did not or could not believe because they hoped in 
 the patience of God and would not be convinced that he would 
 visit such fearful and universal punishment upon the world. 
 
 20. How this came to pass is beyond our understanding. We 
 know and believe that God is wonderful in all his works and 
 has all power. Therefore he who in life preached to the living, 
 could also in death preach to the dead. All things hear, feel 
 and touch him, though our human minds can not understand 
 the process. Nor is it to our discredit when we are ignorant of 
 
218 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 some of the mysteries of Holy Writ. The apostles had each 
 his own re^'elation, and contention concerning them would be 
 presumptuous and foolish. 
 
 21. Such was the revelation of Christ given to the spirits 
 that evidently perished in the flood, and we may perhaps, not 
 inappropriately connect it with that article of our creed which 
 speaks of the descent of Christ into hell. Such was also Paul's 
 revelation concerning paradise, the third heaven (3 Cor 12, 2-4), 
 and certain other matters of which we may be ignorant without 
 shame. It is false pride to profess to understand these things. 
 St. Augustine and other teachers give their fancy loose rein 
 when they discuss these passages. May it not be that the 
 apostles had revelations which St. Augustine and others did 
 not have ? But let us return to Moses. 
 
 22. A truly fearful description of the world is vouchsafed 
 in this declaration of God that he saw Noah alone to be right- 
 eous before him, in spite of the small cliildren and those others 
 who had innocently been misled. Let us particularly note the 
 term, "Before me." It signifies that Noah was blameless not 
 only as regards the second table of the Law, but also as regards 
 the first. He believed in God, and hallowed, preached and called 
 upon his name; he gave thanks to God; he condemned godless 
 teachings. For, to be righteous before God means to believe 
 God and to fear him, and not, as they taught in popedom, 
 to read masses, to ir^e souls from purgatory, to become a monk, 
 and like things. 
 
 23. This term "Before me" has reference also to the con- 
 demnation of the ancient world. Having neglected the wor- 
 ship demanded by the first table, they criminally transgressed 
 also the second. Not only did they mock Noah as a fool, but 
 diey went so far as to condemn his teaching as heresy. Mean- 
 while they ate, drank, and celebrated festivals in security. 
 Before the world, accordingly, Noah was not righteous; meas- 
 ured by her code he was a sinner. 
 
 24. Hence God, or the grandfather, Methuselah, consoles 
 Noah with the Word of counsel to disregard the blind and 
 wicked verdict of the world, neither to care for her views 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 219 
 
 and utterances, but to close eyes and ears while heeding 
 alone the Word and verdict of God, believing himself to be 
 righteous before God, or approved and acceptable to him. 
 
 25. And Noah's faith was truly great; he could rely upon 
 God's utterance. I, forsooth, should not have believed. I realize 
 what weight the whole world's hostile and condemnatory 
 judgment must carry. We are condemned in the judgment of 
 the Pope, the Sacramentarians, and the Anabaptists, but this 
 is mere play and pleasure, compared to what the righteous 
 Noah had to bear, who found not a single person in the 
 whole world to approve of his religion or life, except his own 
 sons and his pious grandfather. We have, the endorsement of 
 many Churches, by God's grace, and our princes fear no dan- 
 ger in defense of their doctrine and religion. Noah had no 
 such protectors, and he saw his enemies living in peaceful 
 leisure and enjoyment. If I had been he, I surely should have 
 said: Lord, if I am righteous, if I am well pleasing to thee 
 and if those people are wicked and displeasing to thee, 
 why, then, dost thou enrich them? Why dost thou heap upon 
 them all manner of favors, while I, with my family, am 
 greatly harassed and almost without assistance? In short, 
 I should have despaired in such great afflictions unless the 
 Lord had given me that spirit which Noah had. 
 
 26. Therefore, Noah is a brilliant and admirable example 
 of faith, who opposed the judgments of the world with an 
 heroic steadfastness of mind in the assurance that he was right- 
 eous while all the rest of the world was wicked. 
 
 27. Often when I think of those most holy men, John 
 Huss and Jerome of Prague, I view with astonishment the 
 courage of their souls, as they, only two in number, set them- 
 selves against the judgment of the whole world, of pope, 
 emperor, bishops, princes, universities and all the schools 
 throughout the empire. 
 
 28. It is helpful often to reflect upon such examples. 
 Since the prince of the world battles against us, endeavoring 
 to kindle despair in us with his fiery darts, it behooves us to be 
 well armed, lest we succumb to the enemy. Let us say with 
 
220 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 jSToali; I know that I am righteous before God, even though 
 the whole workl condemn me as heretical and wicked, yea, 
 even desert me. Thus did the apostles desert Christ, leav- 
 ing him alone; but he said (Jn 16, 32) : "I am not alone." 
 Thus did the false brethren desert Paul. Hence, this is no 
 uncommon danger, and it is not for us to despair; but with 
 courage to uphold the true doctrine, in spite of the v^orld's 
 condemnation and curse. 
 
 Vs. 2-3. Of every dean beast tltou slialt take to thee seven 
 Qnd seven, the male and Ids female; and of the beasts that 
 are not clean two, the inale and his female. Of the birds also 
 of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female; to keep seed 
 alive upon the face of all the earth. 
 
 29. It is evident that God takes pleasure in speaking 
 to Noah. Hence, he does not confine himself to a single 
 command, but repeats the same things in the same words. To 
 human reason such repetition appears to be absurd talkative- 
 ness, but to a soul struggling against despair the will of God 
 cannot be repeated too often, nor can too exhaustive instruc- 
 tion be given relative to the will of God. God recognizes 
 the state of a soul that is tempted, and hence makes the same 
 statements again and again, so that ISToah may learn from 
 frequent conversations and conferences that he is not only 
 not forsaken though the whole world forsake him, but that he 
 has a friend and protector in God who so loves him that he 
 never seems to Aveary of conversing with him. This is the 
 cause of the statements being repeated. However, as has 
 been explained, God spoke with Noah not from heaven but 
 through men. 
 
 30. In respect to the language, this passage shows that 
 ha-behemah signifies not only cattle, the larger animals, but 
 also the smaller ones which were commonly used for sacrifice, 
 as sheep, goats and the like. The custom of offering sacrifices 
 was not first instituted by Moses, but was in the world from 
 the beginning, being handed down, as it were, by the patri- 
 archs to their posterity; as shown by the example of Abel, 
 who brought of his first fruits an offering to God. 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 221 
 
 31. As to the remainder of the passage, we explained at 
 the end of the sixth chapter how to harmonize the discrepan- 
 cies apparent in the fact that here seven beasts of each kind 
 are ordered to be taken into the ark while only two of each 
 kind are mentioned there. To repeat is not necessary. Since 
 Noah was saved by a miracle, he thought that a seventh 
 animal should be added to the three pairs of clean beasts 
 as a thank-offering to God, after the flood, for his deliverance. 
 
 V. 4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon 
 the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing 
 that I have made zvill I destroy from off the face of the 
 ground. 
 
 33. Here you see God's care to give Noah complete assur- 
 ance. He sets a limit of seven days, after which will follow 
 a rain of forty days and forty nights. God speaks with pe- 
 culiar significance when he says that it shall rain. It was not 
 a common rain, but fountains of the deep as well as the win- 
 dows of heaven were opened; that is, not only did a great mass 
 of rain fall from heaven, but also an immense amount of 
 water streamed forth from the earth itself. And an immense 
 amount of water was necessary to cover the highest mountain 
 tops to a depth of fifteen cubits. It was no ordinary rain, 
 but the rain of God's wrath, by which he set out to de- 
 stroy all life upon the face of the earth. Because the earth 
 was depraved, God despoiled it, and because the godless peo- 
 ple raged against the first and second tables of the command- 
 ments, therefore God also raged against them, using heaven 
 and earth as his weapons. 
 
 33. This story is certain proof that God, though long- 
 suffering and patient, will not allow the wicked to go un- 
 punished. As Peter says( 2 Pet 2, 5), if he "speared not the 
 ancient world," how much less will he spare the popes or 
 the emperors who rage against his Word? How much less 
 will he spare us who blaspheme his name when our life is 
 unworthy of our calling and profession, when we freely and 
 daily sin against our consciences? Let us, then, learn to fear 
 
222 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 the Lord, humbly to accept his AVord and obey it; otherwise 
 punishment will overtake also us, as Peter threatens. 
 
 Vs. 5-10. And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah 
 commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old 
 when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah 
 went in, and his sotis' and his wife, and his sons' wives with 
 him, into the arh, because of the waters of the flood. Of 
 clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, 
 and of everything that creepeth upon the ground, there went 
 in two and two unto Noah into the arh, maH \and female, 
 as God commanded Noah. And it came to pass after the 
 seven days, that the imters of the flood were upon the earth. 
 
 34. This is clear from what precedes. Noah's faith is 
 praiseworthy in that he obeyed the Lord's command and un- 
 waveringly entered the ark with his sons and their wives. 
 God truly could have saved him in innumerable other ways; 
 he did not employ tliis seemingly absurd method because he 
 knew no other. To him who kept Jonah for three days 
 in the midst of the sea and in the belly of the whale, what 
 do you think is impossible? But Noah's faith and obedience 
 are to be commended because he took no offense at this plan of 
 salvation divinely shown to him, but embraced it in simple 
 faith. 
 
 II. COMPLETE DESTRUCTION BY FLOOD. 
 
 * Why Moses so often re- overflow the earth since 
 peats and expresses in few the earth floats in the wa- 
 words what other writers ter 46. 
 
 describe at length 35-39. (2) Why the water above the 
 
 * Noah's e:rief because of the earth does not fall and 
 approaching-' calamity 3S. overflow the earth 47-4.S. 
 
 * The way of coarse and (3) How the prophets wonder- 
 satiated spirits 39. ed at this as a miracle, but 
 
 1. When did the flood com- we in our day give it little 
 
 commence. thoug-ht 49. 
 
 a. Some think it began in the b. How were the fountains 
 t- ^P^'"^ ^P'. 1 ... ^ • broken up, how can such a. 
 
 b. Others think It began in work be ascribed to God 
 the autumn 41. 50-51 
 
 c. Which is the more prob- * overflowing of the German 
 . ^?. * *^- *u- , * *t, T fountains at Halle 51. 
 
 * What to think of the Jews c. How were the windows ot 
 reckoning the year has two heaven opened 52. 
 beginnings 44. d) what is meant by the win- 
 
 2- ¥,°^. the flood continued. flows of heaven 53. 
 
 a. Must distinguish the foun- (2) why such words used here 
 
 tains of the earth, the 53 
 
 windows of heaven and the 3. Flood covered and destroy- 
 
 rain 45. pA t;he whole earth 54 
 
 /?N wu'^^®*t^'^*^ ^x"*^ ^^^ water. 4. why God sent the deluge 
 
 (1) Why the water does not 54 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 
 
 223 
 
 * Why God so often repeats 
 the same thing 55-60. 
 
 * What is meant b.v Zipor 55. 
 
 * How God's wrath as seen 
 in the deluge was very 
 great 56-57. 
 
 5. The deluge was a terrible 
 spectacle; Noah and his 
 sons took courage from it 
 58-60. 
 
 * Noah's glorious faith at the 
 sight of the deluge 60. 
 
 * Noah's long ship voyage; 
 how he was comforted 61. 
 
 6. How the world's destruction 
 harmonizes with God's 
 promises: how the promises 
 to the Church agree with 
 his threatenings 62f£. 
 
 * God's threatenings and 
 man's unbelief. 
 
 a. Why the first world be- 
 lieved not the threatenings 
 about the deluge 62ff. 
 
 b. Why the Jews believe not 
 the .threatenings of the 
 prophets 63. 
 
 c. Why the Papists believed 
 not the threats against 
 them 64. 
 
 * God's Church and her 
 maintenance. 
 
 a. The world understands not 
 how the church is main- 
 tained 66. 
 
 b. What it. the true form of 
 the true Church 66. 
 
 c. God's promises not rescind- 
 ed when rejected; who bear 
 the name of the Churcii 
 67-68. 
 
 7. Whether God fully rescind- 
 ed through the flood the 
 rule over the earth he once 
 gave man 69. 
 
 * How God preserved his 
 Church through the delujge 
 69. 
 
 8. The deluge was apparently 
 against God's promise 70. 
 
 * God allows nothing to hin- 
 der the punishment of the 
 impenitent 71-73. 
 
 * By what means Papists 
 adorn themselves and how 
 it is all in vain 72. 
 
 * Why we should not rely on 
 present, temporal things, 
 but upon God's Word 73. 
 
 * The marks of a true 
 Church. 
 
 a. What they are not and 
 what they are 74-76. 
 
 b. Papists have characteristics 
 Holy Scriptures give as 
 marks of Antichrist 75. 
 
 c. Church born of God's Word 
 and is to be known by that 
 Word 76. 
 
 d. Rule to be observed in the 
 marks of the true Churcli 
 
 e. How far one may consider 
 therapists the true church, 
 and how far not 78-79 
 
 f. The true church is where 
 the Word is, although few 
 belong to it and it has no 
 temporal power 79. 
 
 g. "Whether the Evangelicals 
 can justly be accused of 
 falling from the old church 
 80. 
 
 h. How and why the Evangel- 
 ical or Gospel Church is 
 really the true Church 81. 
 
 * How Noah retained all and 
 remained lord of the woi i 
 although the deluge de- 
 stroyed everything 81. 
 
 II. COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. 
 
 Vs. 11-12. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the 
 second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same 
 day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and 
 the windows of heaven zuere opened. And the rain was upon 
 the earth forty days and forty nights. 
 
 35. We see that Moses uses a great many words, which 
 results in tiresome repetition. How often he mentions the 
 animals ! how often the entrance into the ark ! how often 
 the sons of Noah who entered at the same time ! The rea- 
 son for this must be left to the spiritually minded; they alone 
 know and see that the Holy Spirit does not repeat in v&in. 
 
 36. Others, however, who are more materially minded may 
 think that Moses, being moved, when he wrote the pas- 
 sage, by the greatness of God's wrath, desired to enforce its 
 
224 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 truths by repetition; for reiteration of statements is soothing 
 to troubled minds. Thus did David repeat his lament over 
 his son Absalom, 2 Sam 18, 33. So viewed, this narrative 
 shows depth of feeling and extreme agitation of mind. This 
 example of wrath so impi'esses the narrator that for emphasis 
 he mentions the same thing again and again, and in the same 
 words. 
 
 37. This is not the custom of poets and historians. Their 
 emotions are factitious; they are diffuse in their descriptions; 
 they pile up words for mere effect. Moses husbands his words, 
 but is emphatic by repetition that he may arouse the reader's 
 attention to the importance of the message and compel him 
 to feel his own emotions instead of reading those of another. 
 
 38. Evidently Moses did not only wish to convey by per- 
 sistent repetition the extreme agitation of his own mind, but 
 also of that of ISToah himself, who, being filled with the Ho- 
 ly Spirit, and burning with love, necessarily deplored the 
 calamity when he saw that he could not avert it. He foresaw 
 the doom of the wisest and most distinguished and eminent 
 men. Thus did David mourn when he could not call back 
 Absalom to life. So Samuel mourned when he despaired of 
 saving Saul. 
 
 39. The text is not a mere tautology or repetition. The 
 Holy Spirit does not idly repeat words, as those superficial 
 minds believe, which, having read through the Bible once, 
 throw it aside as if they had gathered all its contents. Yet 
 these very repetitions of Moses contain a statement more 
 startling than ' any to be found in heathen records — that 
 Noah entered the ark in the six hundredth year, the second 
 month and the second day of his life. 
 
 40. Opinions differ as to the beginning of the year. One 
 is, that the year begins at the conjunction of the sun and 
 the moon Avhich occurs nearest to the vernal equinox. Thus 
 this month is called the first by Moses in Exodus. If the flood 
 set in on the seventeenth day of the second month, it must 
 have continued almost to the end of April, the most beauti- 
 ful season of the year, when the earth seemingly gathers new 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 225 
 
 strength, when the birds sing and the beasts rejoice, when 
 tlie world puts on a new face, as it were^ after the dreary 
 season of winter. Death and destruction must have come 
 with added terror at that season which was looked forward 
 to as a harbinger of joy and the apparent beginning of a 
 new life. This view is substantiated by the words of Christ 
 in Matthew 2-1, 38, where he compares the last days of the 
 world to the days of Noah and speaks of feasting, marriage 
 and other signs of gladness. 
 
 41. A second opinion makes the year begin with that 
 new moon which is nearest to the autumnal equinox, when 
 all the harvest has been gathered from the fields. Its advo- 
 cates declare this to be the beginning of the year, because Moses 
 calls that month in which such new moon occurs, the end 
 of the year. They call this, autumnal equinox the beginning 
 of the civil year, and the vernal equinox the beginning of tlie 
 holy year. The Mosaic ceremonies and festivals extend from 
 the latter season up to the autumnal equinox. 
 
 42. If Moses in this passage is speaking of the civil year, 
 then the flood occurred in September or October, an opinion 
 I find Lyra held. It is true that fall and winter are more 
 liable to rains, the signs of the zodiac pointing to humidity. 
 Again, as Moses writes further on, a dove was sent forth 
 in the tenth month and brought back a green olive branch. 
 This fact seems to harmonize with the view that the deluge 
 began in October. 
 
 43. But I cannot endorse this argument of the Jews, 
 assuming two beginnings of the year. Wliy not make four 
 beginnings, since there are four distinct seasons according to 
 the equinoxes and solstices? It is safer to follow the divine 
 order, making April the first month, starting with the new 
 moon which is nearest to vernal equinox. The Jews betray 
 their ignorance in speaking of an autumnal beginning of the 
 year: the autumnal equinox is necessarily the end of the 
 year. Moses so calls it for the reason that all field labors had 
 then ceased and all products had been gathered and brought 
 home. 
 
226 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 44. Hence, it is my belief that the flood began in the 
 spring, when all minds were filled with hope of the new year. 
 Such is the death of the wicked that when they shall say, 
 "Peace and safety," they perish. 1 Thes 5, 3. Nor is any in- 
 consistence shown in the fact that the green olive branch is 
 afterward mentioned, for certain trees are evergreen, as the 
 boxwood, fir, pine, cedar, laurel, olive, palm and others. 
 
 45. But what does Moses mean by saying that the foun- 
 tains of the great deep burst, and that the windows of heaven 
 were opened? No such record is found in all pagan litera- 
 ture, although the heathen searched with zeal the mysteries 
 of nature. One discrimination should be made as regards the 
 abysses of the earth, the floodgates or windows of heaven, 
 and the rain. Kain, as we know it, is a common phenomenon, 
 while that of bursting floodgates and abysses is both unfamiliar 
 and amazing. 
 
 46. Almost all interpreters are silent on this point. We 
 know from Holy Writ that God, by his Word, established 
 a dwelling-place for man and other living beings on dry land, 
 above the water, contrary to nature; for it is opposed to natu- 
 ral law that the earth, being placed in water, should rise up 
 out of it. If you cast a clod into the water, it sinks at once. 
 But the dry land stands up out of the water by virtue of the 
 Word, which has set bounds for the sea, as Solomon (Prov 8, 37) 
 and Job (ch38, 11) declare. Unless the water were restrained 
 by the power of the Word, with a bound, as it were, they 
 would overflow and lay waste everything. Thus is our life 
 guarded every single moment, and wonderfully preserved 
 by the Word. We have an illustration in partial deluges, 
 when at times entire states or regions are flooded, proving 
 that we should daily suffer such unpleasant things if God did 
 not take care of us. 
 
 47. But just as there are waters below us, and beneath 
 the earth, so, too, are there waters above us, and beyond the 
 sky. If they should descend, obeying natural law, destruction 
 would result. The clouds float as if suspended in space. When 
 at times they descend, how great the terror they cause! But 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 227 
 
 imagine the result of a universal collapse ! How they would 
 burst, in obedience to the law of their nature, did they not 
 remain in place above us, suspened, as it were, by the Word ! 
 
 48. Thus we are girt about on all sides by water, shielded 
 only by a frail ceiling of unsubstantial material — the air 
 that we breathe — which bears up the clouds and carries that 
 weight of water, not in obedience to the laws of nature, but by 
 the command of God, or by the power of the Word. 
 
 49. When the prophets think of these things th^ey are 
 lost in admiration. It is contrary to nature that such a weight 
 should remain in suspension above the earth. But we, blind- 
 ed by daily witnessing of such wonders, neither observe nor 
 admire them. That we are not at any moment overwhelmed 
 by waters from above or from below, we owe to the divine 
 majesty which orders all things and preserves all creatures so 
 wonderfully, and he ought to be the object of our praise. 
 
 50. Startling and significant are the words Moses uses — 
 the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The conception 
 he would convey is that they had been closed by God's power 
 and sealed, as it were, with God's seal, as today; and that 
 God did not open them with a key, but rent them with vio- 
 lence, so that the ocean, in a sudden upheaval, covered every- 
 thing with water. It is not to be supposed that God moved 
 his hand, because the fountains of the deep are said to have 
 been broken up. It is the custom of Scripture to adapt it- 
 self to our understanding in the phraseology employed, and 
 that under consideration here denotes that God gives leave to 
 the waters in that he no longer restrains or coerces them but 
 suffers them to rage and break forth unchecked according 
 to their nature. That is the reason the ocean seemed to 
 swell and boil. In the salt works in our neighborhood there is 
 a spring named after the Germans, which, if it is not pumped 
 out at certain times, swells and overflows with terrific force. 
 
 51. They say that in olden times the town of Halle was 
 once destroyed by a ^dolent overflow of a spring of the 
 kind described. If a single spring could work such destruction 
 what would be the result of the uncurbed power of ocean 
 
228 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 and seas? Thus mankind was destroyed before they even 
 knew their danger. Whither should they flee when the wa- 
 ters poured in upon them with such force? 
 
 52. But this is not all: the windows of heaven also were 
 opened. Moses' word implies that to that time the windows 
 were closed as they are closed today. Indeed, the world 
 thought such opening impossible; their sins, however, made it 
 possible. 
 
 53. Moses' use here of the word "windows" signifies the 
 literal opening of heaven. With rain as we know it, the water 
 appears to fall by drops from the pores of the rain-clouds, 
 but at the time of the flood it came down with great force, 
 not through pores, but through windows, like water poured 
 from a vessel with one movement, or as when water-skins 
 burst in the middle. Moses uses this figure of speech for 
 the sake of effect, so that those occurrences are brought to 
 our vision. . 
 
 54. A volume of water, therefore, swept over the earth, 
 from the sky as well as from the innermost parts of the 
 earth, until at last the whole earth was covered with water, 
 and the fertile soil, or the entire face of the earth was 
 destroyed by the briny flood. A like instance occurs nowhere 
 in any book. The Holy Scriptures alone teach us that 
 these things were visited upon the world sinning in imagined 
 security, and that to this day the waters suspended in the 
 clouds are restrained only by the kindness of God. Other- 
 wise they would descend in vast volume, as in the flood, ac- 
 cording to the law of their nature. 
 
 Vs. 13-16. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, 
 and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, 
 and three wives of his sons ivith them, into the arh; they, 
 and every heast after its hind, and all the cattle after their 
 Jcind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 
 after its hind, and every bird after its hind, every bird of 
 every sort. And, they ivcnt in unto Noah and the arh, 
 two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. And 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 229 
 
 they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as 
 God commanded him. 
 
 55. Here Moses begins to be remarkably verbose. His 
 wordiness hurts tender ears when he so often and apparently 
 without any use repeats the same things. It is not sufficient 
 to say "all birds/^ but he names three kinds of birds. Of 
 these, the term zippor is usually said to mean "a sparrow,'' 
 but this passage shows clearly that it is a generic term, doubt- 
 less so called from the sound, zi, zi. He also names three kinds 
 of beasts. Also, when speaking of the flood itself, he is very 
 word}", saying that the waters prevailed, that they increased, 
 that they flooded and covered the face of the earth. Finally, 
 when he tells of the effect of this flood, he makes similar 
 repetition: "All flesh expired, died, was destroyed," etc. 
 
 56. But I said above (§37) that Moses repeats these things 
 contrary to his style, in order to force the reader to pause and 
 more diligently learn and meditate upon this great event. We 
 cannot fully comprehend the wrath which destroys, not 
 man alone, but all his possessions. Moses wishes to arouse 
 hardened and heedless sinners by such a consideration of God's 
 wrath. 
 
 57. Hence, these words are not idle, as a shallow and 
 unspiritual reader might judge. They rather challenge us 
 to fear God, and call attention to the present so that, sobered 
 by the thought of such wrath, we may make an earnest 
 beginning in the fear of God, and cease from sin. For not 
 without many tears does Moses appear to have written this 
 account ! So utterly is he with eyes and mind absorbed 
 in this horrible spectacle of wrath that he cannot but re- 
 peat the same statements again and again. Doubtless he 
 does this with the purpose to thrust such darts of divine 
 fear, so to speak, into the souls of pious readers. 
 
 58. It may be well to transport ourselves in thought into 
 the time of the event. Wliat do you think would be our 
 state of mind if we had been put into the ark, if we had 
 seen the waters spreading everywhere with overwhelming force 
 and the wretched human beings perishing without possibility 
 
230 LUTIIEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 of help? Let us remember that Noah and his sons were 
 also flesh and blood; that is, they were men who, as that 
 person in the comedy (Terence, Heaut. 1: 1, 25) says, thought 
 nothing human was foreign to themselves. They were in 
 the ark for forty days before it was lifted off the earth. 
 In those days were destroyed all the human beings and 
 animals living upon the earth. This calamity they saw with 
 their own eyes; who would doubt that they were violently 
 stirred by the sight? 
 
 59. Furthermore, the ark floated upon the waters for 
 one hundred and fifty days, buffeted on all sides by the waves 
 and winds. There was no hope for any harbor, or for 
 any meeting with men. As exiles, therefore, as vanished 
 from the earth, as it were, they were driven here and there 
 by currents and winds. Is it not a miracle that those eight 
 human beings did not die from grief and fear? Truly, we 
 are made of stone if we can read this story with dry eyes. 
 
 60. What outcry, sorrow and wailing if from the shore 
 we see a small boat overturned, and human beings miserably 
 perishing! Here, however, not one boat-load, but the entire 
 world of men perish in the waters; a world composed not only 
 of grown persons, but also babes; not only of criminal and 
 wicked ones, but also simple-hearted matrons and virgins. 
 They all perished. Let us believe that Moses told the tale of 
 this calamity with such redundancy of words in order that 
 we might be impelled to give earnest attention to this im- 
 portant event. Noah's faith was truly of a rare kind, since 
 he consoled himself and his family with the hope of promised 
 seed and dwelt more upon this promise than the destruction 
 of all the rest of the world. 
 
 'Vs. 16-24. And Jehovah shut him in. And the flood was 
 forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and 
 hare up the ark, and it zms lifted up above the earth. And 
 the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; 
 and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the 
 waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the 
 high mountains that were under the whole heaven were 
 covered. Fifteen cubits upzvard did the waters prevail; and 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 231 
 
 the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved 
 upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and 
 every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every 
 man: all, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, 
 of all that was on the dry land, died. And every living 
 thing was destroyed that ivas upon the face of the ground, 
 both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of 
 the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth : and 
 Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. And 
 the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty 
 days. 
 
 61. For forty days the ark stood in some plain. By that 
 time the waters had risen to such an extent that they lifted 
 the ark, which then floated for one hundred and fifty days. 
 A long sea voyage indeed, and one of great mourning and 
 tears. Yet the occupants upheld themselves by faith, not 
 doubting the kindness of God toward them. They heui ex- 
 perienced his goodness when building the ark, when pre- 
 paring the food, when getting ready other things needful 
 for this occasion, and finally when the Lord closed the ark 
 after the flood came in its power. 
 
 62. The question arises, how can Grod be trutliful here? 
 He had set man as master over the earth to cultivate and 
 rule it. God did not create the earth to lie waste, but to 
 be inhabited and give its fruits to men. How can we rec- 
 oncile such purpose of the creator with the fact that he 
 destroyed all mankind except eight souls? I have no doubt 
 that this argument influenced the descendants of Cain as 
 well as the wicked posterity of the righteous generation not 
 to believe Noah when he proclaimed the flood. How can 
 we harmonize God's promise to Adam and Eve, "You shall 
 rule the earth," and his words here to Noah ,"The water shall 
 overpower all men, and destroy them all." So the unbelievers 
 decided that Noah's preaching was wicked and heretical. 
 
 63. In like manner the books of the prophets bear witness 
 that the threats of the Ass}Tian and Babylonish captivity were 
 not believed by the priests and kings, who knew this grand 
 promise: "This is my resting-place forever: here will I dwell; 
 
232 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 for I have desired it/' Ps 132^ li; and that other, by Isaiah: 
 "Here is my fire, and my hearth-stone/' Is 31, 9. To them 
 it was incredible that either the State or the temple should 
 be overthrown by the gentiles. And the Jews, miserable 
 outcast though they be, even to this day hold fast the 
 promise that they are God's people and heirs of the promises 
 given Abraham and the fathers. 
 
 64. Thus is the pope puffed up with the promises given 
 to the Church: "I am with you unto the end of the world," 
 Mt 28, 20; "I will not leave you desolate," Jn 14, 18; "I made 
 supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not," Lk 22, 32; 
 and others. Though he sees and feels the wrath of God, 
 yet, caught in these promises, he dreams, and likewise his 
 followers, that his throne and power are secure. Hence the 
 Papists blatantly use the name of the Church to ovenvhelm 
 us, promising themselves the utmost success, as if they 
 could force God to establish the Church according to their 
 dreams and desires. 
 
 65. Fitly, then, do we here raise the question how the 
 flood, by which all mankind perished, agrees with the will of 
 God, who created human nature and gave it the promise and 
 endowment of dominion. The answer to this question will 
 likewise settle the one concerning the Church. It is this: 
 God remains truthful, preserving, ruling and governing his 
 Church though in a manner transcending the observation 
 and understanding of the world. He permits the Eoman 
 pontiff and his adherents to think that the pope is the 
 Church. He suffers him to feel secure and to enjoy his 
 dignity and title. But in fact God has excommunicated the 
 pontiff, because he rejects the Word and establishes idolatrous 
 worship. 
 
 66. On the other hand, God has chosen for himself an- 
 other Church, which embraces tlie Word and flees idolatry, 
 a Church so oppressed and shamefully afflicted that it is not 
 considered a Church but a band of heretics and the devil's 
 school. Thus Paul writes to the Eomans (ch. 2, 17) that the 
 Jews do not fear God yet they glory in the Law and in 
 God, at the same time denying, blaspheming and offending 
 
GENESIS VIT. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 233 
 
 God. And while the Jews, who take pride in being God's 
 people, are doing this, God prepares for liimself a Church 
 from the gentiles, who truly glory in God and embrace his 
 Word. 
 
 67. But who should dare to accuse God of untruthfulness 
 because he preserves the Church in a manner unknown and 
 undesired by man? Of similar nature were the promises 
 concerning the preservation of Jerusalem and the temple. These 
 promises were not violated when that city and temple 
 were laid waste by the Babylonians. For God established 
 another Jerusalem and another temple in the Spirit and by 
 the Word; Jeremiah promised (Jer 39, 10-11) that the peo- 
 ple should return after seventy years and that then both 
 the temple and the nation should be re-established. 
 
 68. As regards the Jews, these were destroyed at that 
 time, but not as regards God who had promised in his Word 
 that they should be rebuilt. The Jews argue correctly that 
 God will not desert the nation and temple; but God keeps 
 his promise in a way foreign to the thought of the Jews, 
 who believed that the nation would not be destroyed be- 
 cause the promise said: "This is my resting-place forever." 
 God permitted destruction in order to punish the sins of 
 his people, and yet he preserved and protected the Church 
 when the pious were brought back by Cyrus and built the 
 temple. 
 
 69. In like manner, dominion over the world was given to 
 man in the beginning of creation. This is taken away in 
 the flood, not forever, but for a time, and that not al- 
 together. Though the greater part of the world perishes, 
 yet man retains his mastery; and this mastery is preserved 
 to mankind, not as represented by a multitude, as the world 
 desired and believed, but by a few persons — eight souls — a 
 thing which seemed incredible to the world. 
 
 70. Hence God did not lie; he kept his promise, but 
 not as the world would have had it. He destroyed the sin- 
 ners and saved the righteous few, which, like a seed, he 
 thereafter multiplied in many ways. 
 
 71. The Papists should keep before their eyes this judg- 
 
234 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ment of God. It teaches that neither numbers nor power 
 nor his own promise is allowed to prevent him from 
 punishing the impenitent. Otherwise he would have spared 
 the first world and the offspring of the patriarchs to whom 
 he had granted dominion over the earth. Now he destroys all 
 and saves only eight. 
 
 72. Is it wonderful, then, that he deals with the Papists 
 in. the same way? Though they boast of rank, dignity, 
 numbers, and power, yet, because they trample the Word of 
 God under foot and rage against it, God will cast them away, 
 choosing for himself another Church, wliich will humbly obey 
 the Word and accept with open arms the gifts of Christ 
 which the pope's Church, trusting in its own merits, haught- 
 ily spurns. 
 
 73. Therefore none should trust in the good things of 
 present possession, though they be promised by the divine 
 Word. We must look to the Word itself and trust in it 
 alone. Those who set the Word aside and put their trust 
 in present things, will not go unscathed in their fall from 
 faith, however much they may boast of power and num- 
 bers. This truth is shown by the flood, by the captivity of 
 the Jews and their present misfortune, and by the seven 
 thousand men in the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 74. The proof is sufficiently strong, that great numbers 
 do not make a Church. Nor must we trust in holiness of 
 origin, in forefathers, or in the gifts of God which we enjoy. 
 We must look to the Word alone and judge thereby. Those 
 alone who truly embrace the Word will be as immovable 
 forever as Mount Zion. They may be few in number and 
 thoroughly despised by the world, as were Noah and his 
 children. But God, through these few, preserved to man 
 the truth of that promised mastery when he had not even 
 room to set his foot upon the earth. 
 
 75. Our enemies, setting aside the Word, make much of 
 number, outward appearance, and persons. But the apostles 
 foretold that the Antichrist will be a respecter of persons, 
 that will rely upon numbers and ancient origin, that he 
 will hate the Word and corrupt God's promises and that he 
 
GENESIS VII. NOAH'S OBEDIENCE. 235 
 
 will kill those who cling to the Word. Shall we, then, con- 
 sider such people to be the Church? 
 
 76. The Church is a daughter bom from the Word, not 
 the mother of the Word. Therefore, whoever loses the Word 
 and looks to men instead, ceases to be the Church and 
 lapses into utter blindness; nor will either great numbers 
 or power avail. They who keep the word, as did Noah and 
 his family, are the Church, though they be few in number, 
 even but eight souls. The Papists at this time surpass us 
 in numbers and rank; we not only are cursed, but suffer 
 many things. But we must endure until the Judgment, 
 when God will reveal that we are his Church, and the 
 Papists the church of Satan. 
 
 77. So, then, we must observe that rule in 1 Sam 16, 7, 
 where the Lord says to Samuel: '%/ook not on his counte- 
 nance, or on the height of his stature; because I have 
 lejected him: for Jehovah seeth not as man seeth; for man 
 looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on 
 the heart." 
 
 78. Let us not, therefore, give heed to the greatness 
 and might of the pope, who boasts that he is the Church, 
 proclaiming the apostolic succession and the majesty of his 
 person. Let us look to the Word. If the pope embraces it, 
 let us judge him to be the Church ; but if he does violence 
 to it, let us judge him to be the slave of Satan. 
 
 79. Paul says (1 Cor 2, 15) that the spiritual person 
 judgeth all things. If I were the only one on the face 
 of the earth to keep the Word, I should be the Church, and 
 rightfully pass judgment upon all the rest of the world 
 that they were not the Church. Our enemies have the 
 office without the Word, and really have nothing. We, 
 on the other hand, have the Word, though we have nothing; 
 yet we have everything through the Word. Therefore, either 
 let the pope, the cardinals and the bishops come over to 
 our side, or let them cease to boast that they are the Church, 
 which they cannot be without the Word, since it is begotten 
 only by the Word. 
 
 80. We bear a great load of hatred, being accused of 
 
236 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 having deserted the ancient Church. The Papists, on the 
 other hand, boast that they liave remained true to the 
 Church, and they want to leave everything to the judgment 
 of the Church. But we are accused falsely. To speak the 
 truth, we must say that we departed from the Word when 
 we were still in their Church and now we have returned 
 to the Word and have ceased to be apostates from the Word. 
 
 81. Therefore though in their judgment they rob us 
 of the title of the Church, still we retain the Word, and 
 through the Word we have all ornaments of the true Church. 
 For whoever has the Creator of all, must needs also possess 
 the creatures themselves. In this sense Noah remained 
 master of the world, though the waters prevailed, and the 
 earth perished. Though he lost his property, yet, because 
 he retained the Word by wliich everything was created, 
 it may truly be said he retained everything. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I, XOAH'S CONDITION IN THE AKK; THE WATERS ABATE. 
 
 . NOAH'S CONDITION IN THE 
 ARK. 
 
 1. How Noah and his family 
 anxiously waited for God's 
 promise, and lived in faith, 
 which is a hard life 1-3. 
 
 2. He had a hard time in the 
 ark. What sustained him 
 2-4. 
 
 3. How he suffered in two 
 ways 5. 
 
 * Whether God can forget 
 his saints 6. 
 
 * Severest temptations are 
 when man thinks he is for- 
 saken by God 7. 
 
 I. Noah's condition became 
 more miserable because of 
 his family's distress S-10. 
 
 ). Noah and family with dif- 
 ficulty overcame their 
 temptation 11. 
 
 * Christians need steadfast- 
 ness 12. 
 
 * Why God for a time con- 
 ceals himself from his 
 faithful ones 13. 
 
 * Temptations severe when 
 saints imagine God has for" 
 saken them 14. 
 
 THE WATERS ABATE. 
 .. The time the waters abated 
 
 15. 
 !. How the wind blew upon 
 
 the earth and dried it. 16- 
 
 17. 
 !. The abating of the waters 
 
 was a sign by which Go;: 
 comforted Noah I8. 
 
 * Noah's Ark. 
 
 a. When it began to float, 
 how long it floated ami 
 when it rested 19. 
 
 b. On what mountain did it 
 rest 20. 
 
 c. What to think of Josephus' 
 testimony 21. 
 
 4. When the mountain tops 
 first seen 22. 
 
 5. How Noah learned the del- 
 uge had ceased. 
 
 a. Why Noah sent forth the 
 raven, and how the error 
 arose the raven never re- 
 turned 23-24. 
 
 * The Jews' unclean thoughts 
 of the raven 24. 
 
 b. Noah sent forth a dove, and 
 if at the same time wu- 
 the raven 25. 
 
 c. Noah sent out a second 
 dove, which assured him 
 that the flood had ceasetl 
 26. 
 
 (1) Dove returned with an 
 olive leaf 26. 
 
 (2) Whether it did this of its 
 own impulse, and what ' 
 thereby wished to indicate 
 27-28 
 
 (3) The jews' ideas on where 
 the dove got the olive leaf 
 27. 
 
 (4) Why an olive leaf 28. 
 
 6. How long Noah and familj^ 
 were in the ark 29. 
 
 I. NOAH IN ARK— FLOOD ABATES. 
 
 V. la. And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, 
 and all the cattle that were ivith him in the arh. 
 
 1. When that horrible wrath had exhausted itself, and 
 all flesh with the earth had been destro3^ed, the promise made 
 by Grod to Noah and his sons, that they were to be the seed 
 of the human race, began to be realized. No doubt this 
 promise was to them an object of eager expectation. No 
 life is so hedged about with difficulties as that of faith. 
 This was the life lived by Noah and his sons, whom we see 
 
238 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 absolutely depending upon the heavens for support. The 
 earth was covered with water. Bottom on which to stand 
 there v^^as none. It was the word of promise that upheld 
 them, as they drifted in this welter of waters. 
 
 2. When the flesh is free from danger, it holds faith 
 in contempt, as the claims of the Papists show. It loves 
 showy and toilsome tasks; in these it sweats. But behold 
 Noah, on all sides surrounded by waters, yet not over- 
 whelmed! Surely it is not works that sustain him but 
 faith in God's mercy extended through the word of promise. 
 
 3. The difficulty besetting Noah is hinted at in the 
 words: "God remembered." Moses thus intimates that Noah 
 had been tossed on the water so long that God seemed to 
 have forgotten him altogether. They who pass through such 
 a mental strain, when the rays of divine grace are gone and 
 they sit in darkness or are forgotten by God, find by ex- 
 perience that it is far more difficult to live in the Word or 
 by faith alone than to be a hermit or a Carthusian monk. 
 
 4. Hence, it is not a meaningless expression when the 
 Holy Spirit says that "God remembered Noah." He means 
 that from the day Noah entered the ark, no word was 
 spoken, nothing was revealed to him; that he saw no ray of 
 divine grace shining, but merely clung to the promise which 
 he had accepted, while in the meantime the waters and 
 waves raged as if God had certainly forgotten. The same 
 danger beset his children and also the cattle and all the 
 other animals throughout the one hundred and fifty days they 
 were in the ark. And though the holy seed by the aid of the 
 conquering Spirit overcame those difficulties, the victory was 
 not won without vexation of the flesh, tears and stupendous 
 fear, felt, in my opinion, even by the brutes. 
 
 5. Thus a twofold danger beset them. The universal 
 flood which swallowed up all mankind could not vanish 
 without stupendous grief to the righteous, particularly as 
 they saw themselves reduced to so small a number. Further, 
 it was a serious matter to be buffeted by the water^s 
 for almost half a year without any consolation from God. 
 
 6. The cxpresion used by Moses, "God remembered Noah," 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 239 
 
 must not be short of its meaning by calling it a rhetorical 
 figure, signifying that God acted after the manner of one 
 who had forgotten Noah, whereas God cannot in truth for- 
 get his saints. A mere master of rhetoric, indeed, does 
 not know what it means to live in such a state as to feel 
 that God has forgotten him. Only the most perfect saints 
 understand that, and can in faith bear, so to speak, a God 
 who forgets. Therefore the Psalms and all the Scriptures 
 are filled with complaints of this nature, in which God is 
 called upon to arise, to open his eyes, to hear, to awaken. 
 
 7. Monks possessed of a higher degree of experience, 
 at times underwent this temptation and called it a suspen- 
 sion of grace. The latter may be experienced also in tempta- 
 tions of a slighter nature. The flame of lust found in 
 young people is altogether unbearable unless it is held in check 
 by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Similarly, at a 
 more mature age, impatience and the desire for revenge can 
 nowise be overcome unless God tears them from the soul. 
 How much more liable is the soul to fall into the darlcness 
 of despair, or into ensnaring predestinarian tenets, when more 
 severe temptations beset us and the suspension of grace is felt. 
 
 8. Hence this expression is not to be passed by as a mere 
 rhetorical ornament, according to the interpretation of the 
 rabbis. It is intended rather to portray the state of soul 
 which feels despair coming on amid unutterable groanings 
 of heart, with just a spark of faith left to wrest victory 
 from the flesh. In the same way that Paul suffered from 
 Satan's messenger, we may believe that Noah felt himself 
 stabbed in the heart, and that he often argued thus within 
 himself: Dost thou believe that thou alone art so beloved 
 of God? Dost thou believe that thou will be kept safe to 
 the end, when waters are boundless, and tliose immense 
 clouds seem to be inexhaustible? 
 
 9. When, then, such broodings found their way also into 
 the weak souls of the women, what cries, wails and tears 
 may we surmise to have been the result? Almost overcome 
 by sadness and grief, he was forced to lift up and comfort 
 those with the cheer his own heart did not feel. 
 
240 ' LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 10. It waS;, therefore, no jest or frolic for them to live 
 so long locked up within the ark, to see the endless down- 
 pour of rain and to be carried to and fro floating upon 
 the waves. This was the experience of having been forgot- 
 ten by God which Moses implies when he says that God 
 at last remembered Noah and his sons. 
 
 11. Though the occupants of the ark overcame this 
 feeling by faith, they did not do so without great vexation 
 of the flesh; just as a young man who leads a chaste life 
 overcomes lust, but surely not without the greatest vexation 
 and trouble. In this instance, where the trial was greater, 
 where all evidence was at variance with the fact that God 
 was gracious and mindful of them, they indeed triumphed, 
 but not without fearful tribulation. For the flesh, weak in 
 itself, can bear nothing less patiently than the thought of 
 a God who has forgotten. Human nature is prone to be 
 puffed up and haughty when God remembers it, when he 
 vouchsafes success and favor. It is a wonder, then, that we 
 become broken in spirit and desperate when God seems to 
 have cast us away and everything goes against us? 
 
 12. Let us remember that this story sets before us an 
 example of faith, of endurance, and of patience, to the end 
 that, having the divine promise, we should not only learn to 
 believe it, but should also consider that we are in need of 
 endurance. Endurance is not maintained without a great 
 struggle, and Christ calls upon us, in the New Testament, 
 to acquire it when he says: "He that endureth to the end, 
 the same shall be saved," Mt 34, 13. 
 
 13. This is the reason why God hides for a time, as it 
 were, seeming to have forgotten us, suspending his grace, as 
 they say in the schools. As in this temptation not only the 
 spirit but also the flesh is afflicted, so afterward, when he 
 again begins to remember us, the perception of grace which 
 during the trial was evident only to the spirit and most 
 faintly at that, is extended to the flesh also. 
 
 14. Hence, the word "remembered" indicates that great 
 sadness beset both man and beast during the entire time of 
 the flood. It must have been by dint of great patience and 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 241 
 
 extraordinary courage that JSToah and the others bore this 
 lapse from God's memory, which is simply unbearable to the 
 flesh without the spirit even in slight trials. True, God al- 
 ways remembers his own, even when he seems to have for- 
 saken them; but Moses indicates that he remembered his peo- 
 ple here in a visible way, by a sign, and by openly fulfilling 
 what he had previously promised through the Word and the 
 Spirit. This is the most important passage in this chapter. 
 
 B. Waters Abate. 
 
 Vs. lb-3. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, 
 and the waters assuaged; the fountains also of the deep and 
 the windows of heaven zuere stopped, and the rain from heav- 
 en was restrained; and the waters returned from off thd 
 earth continually/; and after the end of a hundred and fifty 
 days the tvaters decreased, v 
 
 15. Moses said above (ch 7, 11-12) that the deluge raged 
 in three different ways; for not only were the fountains of the 
 great deep broken up and the windows of heaven opened, 
 but also the rain descended. When these forces ceased on 
 the one hundred and fiftieth day, quiet was once more in 
 evidence and the fact that God remembered, and Noah with 
 his sons and their wives, as also the animals, was refreshed 
 after terror so great and continuous. If a storm of two daj's 
 duration causes seafarers to despair, how much more distress- 
 ing was that tossing about for half a year ! 
 
 16. The question here arises, how the wind was made to 
 pass over the earth, which as yet was entirely covered with 
 water. It is nothing new that winds have the power to dry, 
 especially those from the east, called by our countrymen 
 'Tiohle winde," and by Virgil "parching winds," from the 
 drouth which they bring upon the earth. These are mentioned 
 also by Hosea 13,15. The explanation, accordingly, is simple. 
 Moses says that the wind was made to pass over the earth, that 
 is, over the surface of the waters, for such a length of time 
 that at last, the waters being dried up, the earth again ap- 
 peared. So, in Exodus, a burning wind is said to have dried 
 up the Eed Sea. Now, God might have accomplished this 
 
242 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 without any wind, yet he habitually employs a natural means 
 "to attain his pui'poses. 
 
 17. Up to this time Noah had lived in darkness, seeing 
 nothing but the waters rolling and raging in a terrifying 
 volume. Xow the delicious light of the sun bursts forth once 
 more, and the winds cease to roar from all points of the com- 
 pass. Only the east wind, calculated to reduce the waters, 
 is blowing, and gradually it takes away the stagnant 
 flood. Other means also are effective; the ocean no longer 
 hurls its waves upon the land, but takes back the waters 
 which it had spewed forth, and the floodgates of heaven 
 are closed up. 
 
 18. These are outward and tangible signs by which God 
 consoles Noah, showing him that he had not forgotten, but 
 remembered him. This is a practical and needed lesson 
 also for us. "When in the midst of dangers we may with 
 certainty look for God's help, who does not desert us if we 
 continue in faith, looking forward to the fulfilment of 
 God's promises. 
 
 V. 4. And the arJc rested in the seventh month, on the 
 seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 
 
 19. The waters increased for forty days, until the ark was 
 lifted from the earth. Then for one hundred and fifty 
 days it floated upon the waters, driven by the winds and the 
 waves, without a sign of God's remembrance. At length the 
 waters began to decrease, and the ark rested. 
 
 20. The point of dispute among the Jews here is the 
 number of months. But why waste any more time upon im- 
 material matters,' particularly as we see that the suggestions of 
 the rabbis are not at all wise? It is more to the purpose for 
 us to inquire wliere the mountains of Ararat are to be 
 found. It is generally believed that they are mountains of 
 Armenia, close by the highest ranges of Asia Minor, the 
 Caucasus and the Taurus. But it appears to me that more 
 likely the higliest of all mountains is meant, the Imaus (Him- 
 alaya), which divides India. Compared to this range, other 
 moutains are no more than warts. That the ark rested 
 iipon the highest mountain is substantiated by the fact that 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 243 
 
 the waters continued to fall for three whole months before 
 such smaller ranges as Lebanon, Taurus, and Caucasus were 
 uncovered, which are, as it were, the feet or roots of the 
 Himalaya, just as the mountains of Greece may be called 
 branches of the Alps extending up to our Hercinian Forest 
 (Harz). To anyone who surveys them with care the mountains 
 seem to be wonderfully related and united. 
 
 21. Josephus has wonderful things to tell about the moun- 
 tains of Armenia, and he records that during his time re- 
 mains of the ark were discovered there. But I suppose no- 
 body will judge me to be a heretic if I occasionally doubt 
 the reliability of his statements. 
 
 V. 5. And the waters decreased continually until the 
 tenth month : in the tenth month, on the first day of the 
 month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 
 
 22. Moses said before that by the seventh month the 
 waters had fallen so far that the ark rested upon Ararat. In 
 the third month thereafter, the tops of the lower mountains 
 began to appear, so that Noah, looking down from the 
 mountains of Ararat as if from a w^atchtower, saw also the 
 peaks of the other mountains, of the Taurus in Asia, the 
 Lebanon in Syria, and the like. All these were signs of 
 God's remembrance. 
 
 Vs. 6-7. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, 
 that Noah opened the window of the arlc which he had made: 
 and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until 
 the waters were dried up from off the earth. 
 
 23. So far the history; the allegorical significance we shall 
 discuss at its proper place. The carelesness of a translator 
 has caused a dispute upon this part of the story. The Hebrew 
 text does not say that the raven did not return, as Jerome 
 translated; hence there was no need to invent a reason why he 
 did not return — because he found dead bodies lying about every- 
 where. They claim that abundance of food prevented him. 
 
 24. On the contrary, Moses says that the raven which 
 had been sent forth, returned; although he did not permit 
 himself to be again imprisoned in the ark as the dove did. 
 Moses implies that IsToah sent forth the raven, to find out 
 
244 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 vv]] ether animals could, by that tune find dry land and food. 
 The raven, however, did not faithfully carry out his mission, 
 but rejoicing to be set free from his prison, he flew to and 
 fro, and paying no attention to Noah, he enjoyed the free 
 sky. The swinish Jews, however, show the impurity of their 
 minds everywhere. For they suppose that the raven had fears 
 concerning his mate, and that he even suspected Noah con- 
 cerning her. Shame upon those impure minds ! 
 
 Vs. 8-9. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the 
 waters were abated from off the face of the ground; hut 
 the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she, 
 returned unto him to the arTc; for the waters were on the 
 face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and 
 took her, and brought her unto him into the arlc." 
 
 25. When Noah's hopes had been set at naught by the 
 raven, which flew about wantonly but brought no tidings 
 concerning the condition of the earth, he took a dove, think- 
 ing that she would more truly perform the mission. The 
 text almost authorizes us to say that those two birds were 
 sent forth at the same time, so that Noah might have two 
 witnesses from whom to gain desired knowledge. The raven 
 enjoying the free sky, flew round about the ark, but did 
 not want to return into it. The dove, however, fleeing from 
 the corpses and corruption, comes back and permits itself 
 to be caught. This story, as we shall hear, offers a fine alle- 
 gory concerning the Church. 
 
 Vs. 10-13. And he stayed yet other seven days; and 
 again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; and the dov& 
 came in to him at eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive- 
 leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated 
 from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and 
 sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him. 
 any more. 
 
 26. The dove, being a faithful messenger, is sent forth 
 once more. Moses carefully describes how the waters de- 
 creased gradually, until at last the surface of the earth, to- 
 gether with the trees, was laid bare. We do not believe that 
 the dove brought the olive leaf intentionally, but by the com- 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 245 
 
 mand of God, who wanted to show IsToali, little by little, that 
 he had not altogether forgotten but remembered him. This 
 olive leaf was an impressive sign to Noah and his fellow-pris- 
 oners in the ark, bringing them courage and hope of impend- 
 ing liberation. 
 
 37. The Jews dispute sharply in respect to this matter 
 of where the dove fonnd the olive leaf, and some, in order to 
 secure special glory for their homeland, make the ludicrous 
 assertion that she took it from the Mount of Olives in the 
 land of Israel, which God had spared from the flood that de- 
 stroyed the remainder of the earth. But the saner Jews right- 
 ly refute this nonesense by arguing that if this were true, 
 the oHve leaf could not have been a sign for Noah that the 
 waters had fallen. Others have invented the fable that the 
 dove was admitted to paradise and brought the leaf from 
 there. 
 
 28. But I have (ch. 2, §39-42) set forth at length my 
 views concerning paradise, and this nonsense is not worthy 
 the efl'ort of a refutation. It serves a better purpose to re- 
 mind you that all these things happened miraculously and 
 supernaturally. A dove is not so intelligent as to pluck 
 a bough and bring it to the ark in order that Noah might 
 form a judgment with reference to the decrease of waters. 
 God ordained these events. Other trees had leaves at that time, 
 particularly the taller ones which rose sooner from the waters. 
 The olive tree is comparatively short, hence it was calculated 
 to furnish information concernina: the decrease of the waters 
 and to serve as an object lesson of the cessation of the wrath 
 of God and the return of the earth to its former state. Of this 
 he had more certain proof however, when the dove, having 
 been sent out the third time, did not return: for not only did 
 it find food on earth, but was able to build nests and to flit 
 to and fro. 
 
 Vs. 13-14. And it came to pass in the six hundred and- 
 first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the 
 waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed 
 the covering of tlie arlc, and loolced, and, behold, the face 
 of the ground was dried. And in the second month, on the 
 
246 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry. 
 
 29. Here we see that Noah was in the ark an entire year 
 and ten days; for he entered the ark on the seventeenth day 
 of the second month, and came out again, after a year had 
 passed, in the same month, but on the twenty-seventh day. 
 Poor Koah, with his sons and the women, lived in the ark 
 more than half a year in sore grief, without a sign of being 
 remembered by God. Afterward God gave him gradual 
 proof, through various signs, that he had not forgotten him, 
 until at last, after the lapse of a year and ten days, he was 
 again given dominion over the earth and sea. On this day of 
 the second month, the flood had not only disappeared, but 
 the earth was dry. This is the story of the flood and its 
 abatement. After this fearful wrath, there ensues an im- 
 measurable light of grace, as is shown in the following 
 sermon addressed to Noah by God himself. 
 
 II. NOAH COMMANDED TO LEAVE THE ARK; HIS OFFERING 
 TO GOD; GOD'S RESOLVE NOT TO CURSE THE EARTH AGAIN. 
 
 A.NOAH COMMANDED TO (1) Should we imitate the 
 
 LEAVE THE ARK, AND Rli: worlds of the holy patri- 
 OBEYED 30-32. archs 34-35. 
 
 * Man should do nothing but ,„. _, ,. ., 
 
 what God commands 30-3.'?. (2) The result among the .Tews 
 
 * Is it right to start a new of a reckless imitation of 
 worship without God's *^"® saints 3b. 
 
 command to do so 33-34. (3) Should have regard here, 
 
 * The examples of saints and not to works but to faith 
 special works. 87-88. 
 
 II. NOAH LEAVES ARK, HIS SACEIFICE AND GOD'S 
 
 PEOMISE. 
 
 A. Noah Obeys Command to Leave the Ark, 
 Vs. 15-17. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth 
 from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy 
 sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living 
 thing that is with thee of all flesh, both birds, and cattle, 
 and every creeping thing that crcepeth upon the earth; that 
 they may breed ahundantly in the earth. 
 
 30. Up to tliis point the narrative is only a record of facts, 
 or tlie description of a divine work. Though the works of 
 God are not mute but eloquent witnesses, and present to our 
 vision the will of God, a still greater comfort is vouchsafed 
 when God links to the works the "Word, which is not manifest 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 247 
 
 to the eye but perceptible to the ear and intelligible to the 
 heart through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, So far 
 God had given proof by his work that he was appeased, that 
 the God of wrath had turned into a God of mercy, who turns 
 back the waters and dries up the earth. Such comfort he 
 now amplifies by his Word in that he lovingly accosts and 
 enjoins him to leave the ark with the other creatures, both 
 men and animals. 
 
 31. In the light of this passage the frequent and emphatic 
 application of the principle is justified tliat we should neither 
 design nor do anything, especially in respect to God's service 
 and v^orship, without the initiative and command of the Word. 
 As above narrated, Noah enters the ark upon God's com- 
 mand; and he leaves the ark upon God's command to leave it. 
 He does not follow superstitious notions, as we see the Jews 
 do, who, when they establish anything temporary by command, 
 endeavor to retain it forever, as if it were essential to sal- 
 vation. 
 
 32. Noah might have argued thus: Behold, I built the 
 ark by the command of God; I was saved in it while all other 
 men perished: tlierefore I will remain in it, or keep it for 
 a place of divine worship, since it has been sanctified by the 
 Word of God and the presence of the saints, the "Church 
 But the godly man did nothing of the kind. The Word had 
 commanded him to go forth, therefore he obeyed. The ark 
 had done its service during the flood and he left it, assured 
 that he and his children were to live on the earth. So must 
 we undertake nothing without the Word of God. In a holy 
 calling, which has the Word and command of God, let us 
 walk! For whosoever attempts anything without the command 
 of God, will labor in vain. 
 
 33. To deny this, some one might cite as example the act 
 of Noah, described below, when he built an altar without 
 God's command, and offered a burnt-offering thereon to God 
 from the clean animals. If this was permitted to Noah, 
 why should we not be permitted to choose certain forms of 
 worship? And, in truth, the Papacy has heaped up works 
 and forms of worship in the Church without measure, just 
 
248 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 as it pleased. But we must hold fast to the principle, which 
 is a theorem of general application, that whatsoever is not of 
 faith, is sin, (Rom 14-23). But faith cannot be separated 
 from the Word; hence, whatsoever is done without the Word, 
 is sin. 
 
 34. Furthermore, it is plainly dangerous to take the 
 acts of the fathers as models. As individuals differ, so also 
 do their duties differ, and God requires diverse works accord- 
 ing to the diversity of our calling. Accordingly the epistle 
 to tlie Hebrews fitly refers the various acts of the fathers to 
 the one faith, in order to show that each of us must imitate, 
 •in his calling, not the works, but the faith of the fathers. 
 Heb 11. 
 
 35. Hence works peculiar to the holy fathers must by no 
 means be considered as models for us each to imitate as the 
 monks imitate the fasting of Benedict, the gown of Francis, 
 the shoes of Dominic and the like. Men become apes wlio 
 imitate witliout judgment. The monks try to ape the works, 
 but know nothing of the faith of tlie fathers. 
 
 36. Abraham was commanded to slay his son. Afterward 
 his descendants most wickedly believed they should follow his 
 example, and they filled the earth with innocent blood. In 
 a similar manner the people worshiped the brazen serpent 
 and offered sacrifices before it. In both instances the people 
 wanted to justify themselves by the example of their forefath- 
 ers; but since they established these forms of worship without 
 the Word, they were righteously condemned. 
 
 37. Let us, therefore, remember not to establish anything 
 without the Word of God. Duties differ, and so must the 
 works of individuals. Hov/ foolish it would be for me to pro- 
 claim that I must follow Caesar's example, and that others 
 must obey my laws ! How wicked it would be for me to assert 
 that I must follow the example of a judge, condemning some 
 to the cross, others to the sword ! Then, we must look, not 
 upon the works, but upon the faith of individuals; for the 
 faith of all saints is one, though their works are most diverse. 
 
 38. Think not that because Noah built an altar, you may 
 do likewise; but follow the faith of Noah, who thought it 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 240 
 
 right to show his merciful Savior that he understood his 
 beneficent gifts, and was grateful for them. Follow Abraham, 
 not in slaying your son, but in believing the promises oi 
 God, and in obeying his commandments. The epistle to the 
 Hebrews fitly refers tlie deeds and acts of the fathers to 
 their faith, setting forth that we should follow their faith. 
 
 B. Noah's Sacrifice. 
 
 B. NOAH'S SACRIFICE. on the words, "Be fruitful" 
 
 1. Whether Noah was com- etc. 43. 
 
 raanded to offer a sacrifice * Why Moses said so much 
 
 and in what way sacriflc- about their leaving the ark 
 
 ing is justified S9-41. 44. 
 
 • Have monks divine com- 2. Noah's sacrifice proves Mo- 
 mand to support their or- ses did not originate the 
 der 40. idea of sacrifice 45-46. 
 
 • Shan we find fault with the 3. Why Noah's sacrifice was 
 works of saints, for which pleasing to God 47-48. 
 they apparently had no * The meaning of "sweet sa- 
 oommand 41. vor" 47-48. 
 
 • How in all works we 4. How it can be said God 
 should have respect for "smelled the sweet savor", 
 God's command 42. and why this form of speecli 
 
 • Lyra's unfounded thoughts used 49-50. 
 
 39. The objection under consideration can be invalidated 
 by the rejoinder that Noah did have a command to erect an 
 altar and offer sacrifices. God approved the rite of sacrifice 
 by ordering that more of the clean animals — suitable for 
 sacrifice — should be taken into the ark. Nor was Noah 
 permitted to cast aside the office of the priesthood, which 
 had been established by the World before the flood and had 
 come down to him by the right of primogeniture. Adam 
 Seth, Enoch and others had been priests. From them Noah 
 possessed the office of the priesthood as an inheritance. 
 
 40. Therefore Noah, as priest and prophet, was not only 
 at liberty to offer sacrifice, but he was under obligation to do 
 so by virtue of his calling. Since his calling was founded on 
 God's Word, in harmony with that Word and by God's com- 
 mand he built an altar and offered sacrifices. Therefore 
 let a monk prove it is his office and calling to wear a cowl, 
 to worship the blessed Virgin, to pray the rosary and do like 
 things, and we will commend his life. But since the call 
 is lacking, the Word is not the authority and the office does 
 not exist, the life and works of the monks in their entirety 
 stand justly condemned. 
 
 41. Finally, even if all other arguments should fail, this 
 
250 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 argument, according to which man judges tlie cause by the 
 effect, remains; namely, tliat G-od expresses approval of Noah's 
 deed. Although such reasoning from effect to cause may not 
 be unassailable, it yet is not without value in respect to such 
 heroic and uncommon men, who meet not with rejection but 
 approval on the part of God, although they appear to do w^hat 
 they have not been expressly commanded. They possess the 
 inward conviction that they are guilty of no transgression, 
 though the disclosure of this fact is delayed until later God 
 expresses his approval. Such examples are numerous and it is 
 noteworthy that God has expressed approval even of the acts 
 of some heathen. 
 
 42. Let this maxim, then, stand, that everything must be 
 done by the command of God in order to obtain the assurance 
 of conscience that we have acted in obedience to God. Hence 
 they who abide in their divinely assigned calling, will not run 
 uncertainly nor will they beat the air as those who have no 
 course in which they have been commanded to run, and in 
 consequence may not look forward to a prize. 1 Cor 9, 24. 
 
 But I return to the text. Noah, with his sons and the 
 women, is commanded to leave the ark, and to lead forth 
 upon the earth every species of animals, that all his works 
 may be sanctiiied and found in keeping with the Word. Con- 
 cerning the animals Moses now expressly states : 
 
 Vs. 17-19. Be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And 
 Noah went forth, and his sons, aiid his wife, and his sons' 
 wives with him. :, every heast, every creeping thing, and every 
 bird, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families, 
 went forth out of the arTc. 
 
 43. The Lord speaks of the propagation of Noah and 
 his sons in the ninth chapter and that, I believe, is the 
 reason why he speaks here only of the propagation of the 
 animals. From the expression here used, Lyra foolishly con 
 eludes that cohabitation had been forbidden during the flood 
 and was now again permitted after the departure from the 
 ark, since God says, "Go forth, * * * thou and thy wife." 
 Such thoughts belong to monks not to God, who plans not sin- 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 2.51 
 
 ful lustj but jDropagation ; the latter is God's ordination, but 
 lust is Satan's poison infused into nature through sin. 
 
 44. Moses here uses many words to illustrate the over- 
 flowing joy of the captives' souls, when they were commanded 
 to leave their prison, the ark, and to return upon the earth 
 now everywhere open before them. In recounting the kinds 
 of animals, however, he arranges them in a different order, 
 distinguishing them by families, as it were, to let us see 
 that only propagation was Grod's aim. It must have been a 
 glad sight when each one of the many beasts, after leaving 
 the ark, found its own mate, and then sought its accustomed 
 haunt: the wolves, the bears, the lions, returning to the 
 woods and gi'oves; the sheep, the goats, the swine, to the 
 fields; the dogs, the chickens, the cats, to man. 
 
 V. 20. And Noah huilded an altar unto Jehovahj and tooTc 
 of every clean heast, and of every clean bird, and offered 
 hurnt-offerings on the altar. 
 
 45. This text shows conclusively that Moses was not the 
 first person to introduce sacrifices but that, like a bard who 
 gathers chants, he arranged and classified them as they had 
 been in vogue among the fathers and transmitted from the 
 one to the other. Thus also the law of circumcision was not 
 first written by Moses but received from the fathers. 
 
 46. Above (ch. 4, 4-5), where Moses mentioned the sacri- 
 fice of Abel and Cain, he called it minchah, an offering; 
 here, however, we find the first record of a burnt-offering, 
 one entirely consumed by fire. This, I say, is a clear proof 
 that the law of sacrifices had been established before the time 
 of Moses. His work, then, consisted in arranging the rites of 
 the forefathers in definite order. 
 
 V. 21. And Jehovah smelled the szveet savor. 
 
 47. It is set forth here that Jehovah approved Noah's 
 sacrifice wliich he offered by virtue of his office as a priest, 
 according to the example of the fathers. However, the differ- 
 ences of phraseology is to receive due attention. Of the form- 
 er sacrifice he said that Jehovah "had respect" to it; here 
 he says that "Jehovah smelled the sweet savor." Moses sub- 
 sequently makes frequent use of this expression. The heathen 
 
252 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 also adopted it; Lucian, for example, makes fun of Jove who 
 was conciliated by the odor of meats. 
 
 48. The word in the original, however, does not properly 
 signify the "savor of sweetness", but "the savor of rest," 
 for niclioacli meaning "rest", is derived from tlie verb nuach, 
 which Moses used before, when he said that the ark rested 
 upon the montains of Ararat. Therefore it is the "savor of 
 rest," because God then rested from ids wrath, dismissing 
 ]iis wrath, becoming appeased, and, as we commonly say, well 
 content. 
 
 49. Here the question might be raised why does he not 
 say, Jiehovah had respect to Noah and his burnt offering, rath- 
 er than, Jehovah smelled the savor of rest, which latter cer- 
 tainly sounds shocking, as though he were not commending the 
 man for his faith, but merely for his v^^ork. This objection 
 is usually answered by saying that the Scriptures speak of 
 God in human fashion Men are pleased by a sweet savor. 
 But it seems to me there is still another reason for this 
 expression, namely, that God was so close at hand that he 
 noticed the savor; for Moses desires to show that this holy 
 rite was well-pleasing to God: Solomon says (Prov 27,9) that 
 perfume rejoiceth the heart. Physicians sometimes restore con- 
 sciousness by sweet odors. On the other hand, a violent stench 
 is extremely offensive to our nature, and often overpowers 
 it. 
 
 50. In this sense, one may say that God, having been 
 annoyed by the stench of wickedness, was now refreshed, so 
 to speak, when he saw this one priest girded himself to per- 
 form holy rites in order to give proof of his gratitude, and 
 to manifest by some public act he did not belong to the 
 ungodly, but that he had a God whom he feared. This is 
 the real meaning of a sacrifice. As it had pleased God to 
 destro}^ mankind, he is now delighted to increase it. Moses 
 uses this expression for our sake, that we, through the experi- 
 ence of God's grace, may learn that God delights to do us 
 good. 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 253 
 
 C. God's Eesolve Not to Curse the Earth Again. 
 
 C. GOD'S RESOLVE NOT TO ♦ Experiences in spiritual 
 
 CURSE THE EARTH AGAIN. temptations and how Goa 
 
 1. God solemnly and earnest- helps us to bear them 54. 
 
 Iv means it 51. . . ,,^ . .,, 
 
 * How understood "it repent- 2. The meaning of "God will 
 
 ed God that he had made not again smite the earth 
 
 man" 52-54. 55. 
 
 V. 21b. And Jehovah said in his heart. 
 
 51. Moses points out that these words were not spoken 
 by God without heart and feeling, but from his very vitals. 
 This is the meaning of the Hebrew text which has it that 
 God spoke to his own heart. 
 
 V. 21c. I will not again curse the ground amj more for 
 mane's saTce. 
 
 52. God speaks as if he were sorry for the punishment 
 inflicted upon the earth on account of man, Just as formerly 
 he expressed regret for his creation, reproving himself, as it 
 were, for his fury against man. This must not, of course, 
 be understood as implying that God could possibly change 
 his mind; it is written only for our consolation. He accuses 
 and blames himself in order to rouse the little flock to the 
 certain faith that God will be merciful hereafter. 
 
 53. And their souls stood in real need of such consolation. 
 They had been terrified as they witnessed God's raging wrath, 
 and their faith could not but be sliaken. So now God is impel- 
 led to so order his acts and words that these people might ex- 
 pect only grace and mercy. Accordingly he now speaks with 
 them, is present at their sacrifice, shows that he is pleased 
 with them, blames his own counsel, and promises that he will 
 never do anything like it in the future. In brief, he is a dif- 
 ferent God from what he had been before. While God, indeed, 
 does not change, he wants to change men, who have become 
 altogether habituated to thoughts of wrath. 
 
 54. Tbey who have experienced trials of the spirit, know 
 full well how much the soul then stands in need of sure and 
 strong consolation to induce it once more to hope for grace 
 and to forget the wrath. One day, a whole month, perhaps is 
 not enough for this change. Just as it takes a long time 
 to recover from bodily disorders, so such wounds of the soul 
 
254 
 
 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 cannot be healed at once, or by one word. God sees this, and 
 tries by various means to recall the terrified souls to a certain 
 hope of grace; he even chides himself, speaking to his own 
 heart, as in Jeremiah 18, 8, where he promises to repent of 
 the evil he thought of doing, if the offenders also repent. 
 
 55. It should furthermore be noted that he says, "I will 
 not again curse the ground." He speaks of a general destruc- 
 tion of the earth, not of a partial one, as when he destroys 
 fields, cities, or kingdoms. The latter instances are for a 
 warning; as Mary says, "He hath put down princes from 
 their thrones." Lk 1, 52. 
 
 III. 
 
 MAN'S NATURAL DEPRAVITY AND HIS NATURAL 
 POWERS. 
 
 1. Natural depravity crops out 
 in infancy 56. 
 
 2. It is seen as the years ad- 
 vance 57-58. 
 
 3. Whether those who vp-ould 
 drown it have reason for 
 doinpT so 59-60. 
 
 4. There Is none untainted 
 it 61-62. 
 
 5. The godless yield to it, be- 
 
 lievers resist it 62. 
 
 * Can God be charged with 
 being changeable 63-64. 
 
 6. The knowledge of natural 
 depravity is very necessary 
 65. 
 
 7. What moves sophists to ig- 
 nore natural depravity 65- 
 66. 
 
 8. How to view those who 
 lightly regard natural de- 
 pravity, and how to refute 
 them 68-89. 
 
 ♦ Meaning of "the imagina- 
 tion of the heart," 70. 
 
 ♦ True theological definition 
 of man 71. 
 
 9. The proof of natural de- 
 pravity and that the natu- 
 ral is not perfect 72-73. 
 
 10. Consequence of false teach- 
 ing on natural depravity 
 and the natural 74-75. 
 
 * What sophists understand 
 bv Merito congrui and con- 
 digni 74. 
 
 11. How Scotus tried to prove 
 that man's natural powers 
 were all he had, and how 
 to refute his opinion 75-76. 
 
 * Value of the Scholastics 
 and their theology 77. 
 
 12. How teachers in these 
 things lead astray 78. 
 
 * The virtues of the heathen. 
 
 a. Estimate of them 79-80. 
 
 b. How they differ from the 
 good works of the saints 
 81. 
 
 c. "What they lack 82-83. 
 
 13. Natural depravity may 
 sleep in youth, but "it will 
 awake as the years ad- 
 vance 84-86. 
 
 14. Those who ignore natural 
 depravity may be refuted 
 by experience 87. 
 
 15. Philosophy manifests its 
 vanity and blindness in its 
 attitude to this doctrine 88- 
 89. 
 
 16. Experience confirms natur- 
 al depravity 89-90. 
 
 17. Whether natural depravit^' 
 can be completely eradica- 
 ted: how to check it 91. 
 
 * Ho-^v to understand "God 
 ■will not smite the e.^rf' 
 again" 92. 
 
 * Nature thro-wn Into great 
 disorder bv the deluge 93. 
 
 * Seasons of the vear again 
 put in their order 94. 
 
 * The people's talk about the 
 signs of the last times 95. 
 
 * The days of earth to be 
 followed by the days of 
 heaven, and we should pre- 
 pare for them 96. 
 
 III. MAN'S NATURAL DEPRAVITY AND HIS 
 
 NATURAL POWERS. 
 v. 2 Id. For that the imagination of man's heart is evil 
 from his youth. 
 
 56. This is a powerful passage, relating to original sin. 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 25o 
 
 Wlioever. weakens its force, goes straying like the blind man 
 in the sunlight, failing to see his own acts and experiences. 
 Look at the days of our swaddling clothes; in how many ways 
 sin manifests itself in our earlier years. "What an amount of 
 switching it requires until we are taught order, as it were, 
 and attention to duty ! 
 
 57. Then youth succeeds. There a stronger rebellion be- 
 comes noticeable, and in addition that untamable evil, the 
 rage of lust and desire. If one take a wife, the result is 
 weariness of his own and a passion for others. If the govern- 
 ment of a State is entrusted to him, an exceptionally fruit- 
 ful harvest of vice will follow — as Jealousy, rivalry, haughti- 
 ness, hope of gain, avarice, wrath, anger, and other evils. 
 
 58. It is true, as the German proverb has it, that sins 
 grow with the years : Je laenger, je aerger ; je aelter, je kaerger 
 worse with time, stingier with age). All such vices are 
 so blatant and gross' as to become objects of observation and 
 intelligence. What, then shaU we say of the inward vices 
 when unbelief, presumption, neglect of the Word, and wicked 
 views grow up? 
 
 59. There are those who are and desire to be considered 
 powerful theologians, though they extenuate original sin by 
 sophistry. But vices so numerous and great cannot be ex- 
 tenuated. Original sin is not a slight disorder or infirmity, 
 but complete lawlessness, the like of which is not found in 
 other creatures, except in evil spirits. 
 
 60. But do those extenuators have any Scriptural proof 
 to rest upon? Let us see what Moses says. As I pointed out 
 in explaining the sixth chapter, he does not call such things 
 evil, as lust,, tyranny, and other sins, but the imagination of 
 the human heart; that is, human energy, wisdom and reason, 
 with all the faculties the mind employs even in our best works. 
 Although we do not condemn acts which belong to the so- 
 cial or civil sphere, yet the human heart vitiates these works in 
 themselves proper, by doing them for glory, for profit, or for op- 
 pression, and either from opposition to the neighbor or to God. 
 
 61. jSTor can we escape the force of this passage by 
 saying that those are meant who perished by the flood. God 
 
256 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 uses a generic term which denotes that the heart of man, as 
 such, is meant. At the time this was spoken there were no 
 other people than those saved in the ark, and yet the declara- 
 tion is: the imagination of man's heart is evil. 
 
 62. Therefore, not even the saints are expected. In Ham, 
 the third son, this imagination of the heart betrayed its 
 nature. And the other brothers were no better by nature. 
 There was only this difference, that they, believing in the prom- 
 ised seed, retained the hope of forgiveness of sin, and did 
 not give way to the evil imagination of their hearts, rather 
 resisting it through the Holy Spirit, who is given for the 
 very purpose of contending against, and overcoming, the 
 malignity of man's nature. Because Ham gives way to his 
 nature, he is wholly evil, and totally perishes. Shem and 
 Japheth, who contend against it in their spirit, though being 
 evil, are not altogether so. They have the Holy Spirit, through 
 whom they contend against the evil, and hence are holy. 
 
 63. It would seem here that God might be accused of 
 fickleness. Before, when he was about to punish man, he as- 
 signed as a reason for his purpose the fact that the imagina- 
 tion of man's heart is evil; here, when he is about to give 
 unto man the gracious promise that he will not thereafter 
 show such anger, he puts forward the same reason. To human 
 wisdom this appears foolish and inconsistent with divine 
 wisdom. 
 
 64. But I gladly pass by such sublime themes, and leave 
 them to minds possessed of leisure. For me it is enough 
 that these works are spoken to suit our spiritual condition, 
 inasmuch as God points out that he is now appeased and 
 no longer angry. So parents, having chastised their dis- 
 obedient children as they deserve, win again their affections 
 by kindness. This change of mood is not deserving of criticism 
 but rather of commendation. It profits the children; otherwise 
 they, while fearing the rod, might also begin to hate their 
 parents. This explanation is good enough for me, for it ap- 
 peals to our faith. Others may explain differently. 
 
 65. We should give diligent attention to this passage be- 
 cause it plainly shows that man's nature is corrupt, a truth 
 
WJliJNiliSiS Viii. FLiOUU ABATiiilS. 'AOt 
 
 above all others to be apprehended, because without it God's 
 mercy and grace cannot be rightly understood. Hence, the 
 quibblers previously mentioned are to be despised and we 
 have good reason to take to task the translator who gave 
 occasion for this error by rendering the words so as to say, 
 not that the imagination of man's heart is evil, but that it 
 is inclined to evil. Upon this authority the quibblers distort 
 or set aside those passages of Paul where he says that all are 
 children of wrath (Eph 2, 3) that all have sinned (Rom 5, 13) 
 and are under sin (Eom 3,9). They argue from our passage 
 as follows: Moses does not say that human nature is evil, 
 but that it is prone to evil; this condition, call it inclination 
 or proclivity, is under the control of free will, nor does it 
 force man toward the evil, or (to use their own words) it 
 imposes no constraint upon man. 
 
 66. Then they proceed to find a reason for this statement 
 and declare that even after the fall of man, there remains 
 in him a good will and a right understanding. For the na- 
 tural powers, say they, are unimpaired, not only in man 
 but even in the devil. And finally they so twist Aristotle's 
 teachings as to make him say that reason tends toward that 
 which is best. Some traces of these views are found also in the 
 writings of the Church fathers. Using Psalms 4, 6 as a 
 basis, where the prophet says, "Jehovah, lift thou up the light 
 of thy countenance upon us," they distingiTish between a high- 
 er part of reason which inquires concerning God, and a lower 
 part employed in temporal and civil affairs. Even Augustine 
 is pleased with this distinction, as we stated above when dis- 
 cussing the fall of man. 
 
 67. But if only a spark of the knowledge of God had re- 
 mained unimpaired in man, we should be different beings 
 by far from what we now are. Hence, those quibblers who 
 pick flaws in the plain statements of Paul are infinitely blind. 
 If they would carefully and devoutly consider that very passage 
 as they read it in their Latin Bible, they would certainly cease 
 to father so bad a cause. For it is not an insignificant truth 
 which Moses utters when he says the senses and the thoughts 
 of the heart of man are prone to evil from his youth. This is 
 
258 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE ELOOD. 
 
 the case especially in the sixth chapter (vs 5) where he says 
 that the whole thought of his heart was bent on evil continually, 
 meaning thereby that he purposes what is evil, and that in incli- 
 nation, purpose and effort he inclines to evil. For example ; an 
 adulterer, whose desires are inflamed, may lack the opportunity, 
 the place, the person, the time, and nevertheless be stirred by 
 the fire of lust, unable to dwell upon anything else. In this 
 manner, says Moses, does human nature always incline toward 
 evil. Can, then, the natural powers of man be said to have 
 remained unimpaired, seeing that man's thoughts are always 
 set upon evil things? 
 
 68. If the minds of the sophists were as open toward the 
 holy doctrine contained in the prophetical and apostolical writ- 
 ings as toward their own teachers who teach the freedom 
 of the will and the merit of works, they surely would not 
 have permitted themselves by so small an inducement as one 
 little word to be led away from the truth so as to teach, contrary 
 to Scripture, that man's natural powers are uninjured, and that 
 man, by nature, is not under wrath or condemnation. Not- 
 withstanding, it appears that they turn against their own ab- 
 surdity. Although the natural powers of man are uninjured, 
 yet they maintain that, to become acceptable, grace is required ; 
 in other words, they teach that God is not satisfied with man's 
 natural goodness, unless it be improved by love. 
 
 69. But what is the need to argue longer against the mad- 
 ness of the sophists, since we know the true meaning of the 
 Hebrew text to be, not that man's mind and thoughts are 
 inclined to evil, but that the imagination of the human heart 
 is evil from youth? 
 
 70. By imagination, as I stated several times before (ch 6, 
 §148), he means reason itself, together with the will and the 
 understanding, even when it dwells upon God, or occupies 
 itself with most honorable pursuits, be they those of State or 
 Home. It is always contrary to God's law, always in sin, al- 
 ways under God's wrath, and it cannot be freed from this evil 
 state by its own strength, as witness Christ's words : "If there- 
 fore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,'' 
 Jn 8, 36. 
 
uriiN iiiisiis viii. hijkjkjij A.tiA.iria. 
 
 71. If you wish a definition of the word ''man" take it 
 from this text teaching that he is a rational being, with a 
 heart given to imagination. But what does he imagine? 
 Moses answers, "Evil"; that is, evil against God or God's Law, 
 and against his fellow man. Thus holy Scriptures ascribe to 
 man a reason that is not idle but always imagines something. 
 This imagination it calls evil, wicked, sacrilegious, while the 
 pniJosophers call it good, and the quibblers say that the nat- 
 ural gifts are unimpaired. 
 
 72. Therefore this text should be carefully noted and urged 
 'against the caviling quibblers: Moses declares the imagination 
 of the human heart to be evil. And if it be evil, the conclusion 
 is natural that the natural gifts are not unimpaired, but corrupt- 
 ed : Inasmuch as God did not create man evil, but perfect, sound, 
 holy, knowing God, his reason right and his will toward God 
 good. 
 
 73. Seeing we have clear testimony to the fact that man is 
 evil and turned away from God, who would be mad enough to 
 say that the natural gifts in man remain unimpaired? That 
 would be practically saying that man's nature is unimpaired 
 and good even now, whereas we have overwhelming evidence 
 in our knowledge and experience that it is debased to the ut- 
 most. 
 
 74. From that wicked theory there have sprung many danger- 
 ous and some palpably wicked utterances, for instance, that 
 when man does the best in his power, God will unfailingly 
 give his grace. By such' teaching they have driven man, as 
 by a trumpet, to prayer, fasting, self-torture, pilgrimages and 
 similar perfomances. Thus the world was taught to believe 
 that if men did the best that nature permitted, they would earn 
 grace, if not the grace "de merito," at least that "de congruo." 
 A "meritum congrui" (title to reward based upon equity) they 
 attribute to a work which has been performed not against but 
 in accordance to the divine law, inasmuch as an evil work is 
 subject not to a reward but a penalty. The "meritum condigni'' 
 (a title to reward based upon desert) they attribute not to the 
 work itself but to its quality as being performed in a state 
 of grace, 
 
260 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 75. Another saying of this kind is the declaration of Scotus 
 that man by mere natural powers may love God above all things. 
 This declaration is based upon the principle that the natural 
 powers are unimpaired. He argues as follows : A man loves 
 a woman, who is a creature, and he loves her so immoderately 
 that he will imperil his very life for her sake. Similarly, a 
 merchant loves his wares, and so eagerly that he will risk death 
 a thousand times if only he can gain something. If therefore, 
 the love of created things is so great, though they rank far be- 
 low God, how much more will a man love God who is the 
 highest good ! Hence, God can be loved with the natural 
 powers aione. 
 
 76. A fine argument, indeed, and worthy of a Franciscan 
 monk ! For he shows that, though he is a great teacher, he does 
 not know what it means to love God. Nature is so corrupt that 
 it can no longer know God unless it be enlightened by the Word 
 and Spirit of God ; how then can it love God without the Holy 
 Spirit? For it is true that we have no desire for what we 
 do not know. Therefore, nature cannot love God whom it 
 does not know, but it loves an idol, and a dream of its own 
 heart. Furthermore, it is so entirely fettered by the love of 
 created things that even after it has learned to know God from 
 liis Word, it disregards him and despises his Word. Of this 
 the people of our own times are an example. 
 
 77. Such foolish and blasphemous deliverances are certain 
 .proof that scholastic theology has degenerated into a species of 
 philosophy that has no knowledge of God, and walks in darkness 
 because it disregards his Word. Also Aristotle and Cicero, who 
 have the greatest influence with this tribe, give broad instruc- 
 tions concerning moral excellences. They magnify these ex- 
 ceedingly as social forces since they recognize them as useful 
 for private and public ends. In nowise, however, do they teach 
 that God's will and command is to be regarded far more than 
 private or public advantage (and those who do not possess the 
 Word are ignorant of the will of God). Quite plainly the 
 scholastics have fallen victims to philosophical fancies to such 
 an extent as to retain true knowledge neither of themselves nor 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 261 
 
 of God. This is the cause of tlieir lapse into such disastrous 
 errors. 
 
 78. And, indeed, it is easy to fall after you have departed 
 from the Word; for the glitter of civil virtues is wonderfully 
 enticing to the mind. Erasmus makes of Socrates almost a 
 perfect Christian, and Augustine has unbounded praise for 
 Marcus Attilius Kegulus, because he kept faith with his enemy. 
 Truthfulness indeed is the most beautiful of all virtues, and 
 in this case another high commendation is added in that there 
 was combined with it love of coimtrj', which in itself is a pecu- 
 liar and most praiseworthy virtue. 
 
 79. You may find men of renown not famous for truth- 
 fulness. Themistocles, for instance, did not have this virtue 
 though he was a heroic man and did his country great service. 
 That is the reason why Augustine admires Attilius, finding his 
 reason and will to be utterly righteous, that is as far as it is 
 possible for human nature to be. Wliere, then, is vice in this 
 case? Where is wickedness? The hero's work surely cannot 
 be censured. 
 
 80. First, Eegiilus knew not God, and, although his conduct 
 was right, it is still to be seen whether a theologian should 
 not censure his motive. For to his zeal in behalf of his coun- 
 try is added the thirst for glory. He evinces contempt for 
 his life so as to achieve immortal glory among those to live 
 after him. Contemplating, therefore, merely his life's dream, 
 as it were, and the outward mask, it is a most beautiful 
 deed. But before God it is shamful idolatry; because 
 he claims for himself the glory of his deed. And who 
 would doubt that he had other failings besides this thirst 
 for glory? Attilius cannot claim the great virtues of truthful- 
 ness and love of country without tending violently and insanely 
 toward wickedness. For it is wicked for him to rob God of 
 the glory and to claim it for himself. But human reason cannot 
 recognize this spoliation of the T)iety. 
 
 81 A distinction must be made between the virtues of the 
 heathen and the virtues of Christians. It is true that in both 
 instances hearts are divinely prompted, but in the former am- 
 bition and love of glory afterward defile the divine impulse. 
 
262 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 83. If now, an orator should come fortli, who would dilate 
 upon the efficient cause, but disguise the ultimate and vicious 
 one, would it not be apparent to every one that with the two 
 most potent causes, the formal (that, which gives moral value 
 to an act) and the ultimate one, disguised, an eloquent man 
 could extol such a wretched shadow of a virtue? But a man apt 
 m logic will readily discover tlie deception; he will observe the 
 absence of the formal cause, namely the right principle, there 
 being no true knowledge of God nor of the proper 
 attitude toward him. He sees, furthermore, that the final 
 cause is vicious, because the true end and aim, obedience to 
 God and love of neighbor, is not taken into consideration. 
 But what kind of virtue is that where nearly every cause is 
 lacking except the natural cause, which is a passion, an im- 
 petus or impulse, by which the soul is moved to show loyalty 
 to an enemy ? These impulses, as I said, are found also in the 
 ungodly. If exercised for the good ef the countiy, they become 
 virtues; if for its injury, they become vices. This Aristotle 
 sets forth very skillfully. 
 
 83. I refer to these things that students of sacred litera- 
 ture may make special note of this passage, which advisedly de- 
 clares human nature to be corrupt. For those make-believe vir- 
 tues, found among the heathen, seem to prove the contrary — 
 that some part of nature has remained as it was originally. 
 Hence there is need of careful judgment in order to distinguish 
 in this matter. 
 
 84. Moses adds, "from his youth," because this evil is con- 
 cealed during the first period of life and sleeps, as it were. 
 Our early childhood so passes that reason and will are dor- 
 mant and we are carried along by animal impulses, which pass 
 away like a dream. Hardly have we passed our fifth year 
 when we affect idleness, play, unchastity, and evil lust. But 
 we try to escape discipline, we endeavor to get away from 
 obedience, and hate all virtues, especially of a higher order as 
 truth and justice. Then reason awakes out of a deep sleep, 
 as it were, and sees certain kinds of pleasure, but not yet the 
 true ones, and certain kinds of evils, but not yet the most 
 powerful ones, by which it is held captive. 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 263 
 
 85. Where, then, the understanding has attained to matur- 
 ity, not only the other vices are found to have grown strong, but 
 there are joined to them now sexual desire and unclean pas- 
 sion, gluttony, gambling, strife, rape, murder, theft, and 
 what not? And as the parents had to apply the rod, so 
 now the government must needs use prison and chains in 
 order to restrain man's evil nature, 
 
 86. And who does not know the vices of a more advanced 
 age? They march along in unbroken file — love of money, 
 ambition, pride, perfidy, envy, and others. These vices are 
 so much the more harmful as at this age we are more crafty in 
 concealing and masking them. Hence, the sword of govern- 
 ment is not sufficient in this respect; there is need of hell fire 
 for the punislmient of crimes so manifold and gi-eat. Justly, 
 then, did Moses say above (ch 6) that the human heart, or the 
 imagination of the heart, is only evil each day — or at all times 
 — and here again, that it is evil from youth. 
 
 87. The Latin version, it is true, makes use of a weaker 
 term; yet it says enough by stating that it is inclined toward 
 evil, just as the comic dramatist says that the minds of all 
 men are inclined to turn from labor to lust, Ter Andr 1, 1, 51. 
 But those who try to misuse this expression for the purpose 
 of making light of original sin, are shown to be in the wrong 
 by the common experience of mankind; chiefly, however, that 
 of the heathen, or ungodly men. Tor if spiritual men, who 
 surely enjoy divine help from heaven, can hardly hold their 
 ground against vices and be kept within the bounds of discip- 
 line, what can any man do without this help? If divine aid 
 contends against the captivity of the law of the flesh only 
 with fierce struggles (Eom 7,32-23), how insane is it to dream 
 that, without this divine help, human nature can withstand 
 corruption ? 
 
 88. Hence reason of itself does not decide upon the right, 
 nor does the will, of itself, strive after the same, as a blind 
 ])]ulosophy declares which does not know whence these fearful 
 impulses to sin aii-e in children, youths, and old men. There- 
 fore it defends them, calls them emotions or passions only, 
 and does not call them natural corruption. 
 
264 LUTJIER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 89. Furtlierinore, in noble men, who check and control these 
 imj^ulses, it calls tlieni virtues; in others who give the reins 
 to their desires, it calls them vices. This is nothing less than 
 ignorance of the fact that human nature is evil. The Script- 
 ures, on the contrary agree with our experience and declare 
 that the human heart is evil from youth. For we learn by 
 experience that even holy men can scarcely stand Arm; yea 
 that even they are often entangled by gross sins, being over- 
 whelmed by such natural corruptions. 
 
 90. The term ne-urim denotes the age when man begins 
 to use his reason; this usually occurs in the sixth year. Simi- 
 larly, the term ne-arim is used to denote boys and youths 
 who need the guidance of parents and teachers up to the age 
 of manhood. It will be profitable for each of us to glance 
 backward to that period of life and consider how willingly we 
 obeyed the commands of our parents and teachers, how diligent 
 we were in studying, how persevering we were, how often our 
 parents punished our sauciness. Who can say for himself 
 that he Avas not much more pleased to go out for a walk, to 
 play games, and to gossip, than to go to Church in obedience to 
 his parents? 
 
 91. Although these impulses can be corrected or bridled to 
 a certain extent by discipline, they cannot be rooted out of 
 the heart altogether, as the traces of these impulses show 
 when we are " grown. There is truth in that unpolished 
 lie: "The angelic 3^outh becomes satanic in his older 
 years." God, indeed, causes some persons to experience 
 emotions which are naturally good; but they are induced by 
 supernatural power. Thus Cyrus was impelled to restore the 
 worship of God, and to preserve the Church. But such is not 
 the tendency of human nature. Where God is present with 
 his Holy Spirit, there only, the imagination of the human 
 heart gives place to the thoughts of God. God dwells there 
 through the Word and the Spirit. Of such, Moses does not 
 speak here, but only of those who are without the Holy Spirit; 
 they are wicked, even when at their best. 
 
 V. 21e. Neither will I again smite anij more everythiug 
 living, as I liave done. 
 
GENESIS VIII. FLOOD ABATES. 265 
 
 i)2. Moses clear!}' speaks of a general destruction, like tliat 
 which was caused by the flood. From this it does not follow 
 that God will also abstain from partial destruction, and that 
 he will take no heed of anybody's sin. There will also be 
 an exception in the case of the last day, when not only all 
 living things will be smitten, but all creation will be destroyed 
 by lire. 
 
 y. 22. While the eartlt rcigiicth, seedtime and harvest, 
 and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
 night shall not cease. 
 
 93. Following this text, the Jews divide the year into six 
 parts, each comprising two months, a fact which Lyra also 
 records in this connection. But it seems to me that Moses 
 simply speaks of the promise that we need not fear another 
 general flood. During the time of the flood such confusion 
 reigned that there was no season, either of seedtime or harvest, 
 and by reason of tlie great darkness caused by the clouds 
 and the rain, day could not readily be distinguished from 
 night. We know how heavy clouds obscure the light. How 
 much greater, then, was the darkness when the waters, lying 
 under the clouds like a mirror, reflected the darkness of 
 the clouds into the faces and eyes of the beholders ! 
 
 94. The meaning, accordingl)^ is simply that God here 
 promises Noah the imminent restoration of the earth, so that 
 the fields might again be sowed; that the desolation caused 
 by the flood should be no more; that the seasons might run 
 their course in accordance with regular law : harvest following 
 seedtime, winter following summer, cold following heat in due 
 order. 
 
 95. This text should be carefully remembered in view of 
 the common notions concerning the signs before the last day. 
 Then, some declare, there will be eclipses of I know not how 
 many days duration. They say foolishly that for seven years 
 not a single woman will bring forth a child, and the like. But 
 this text declares that neither day nor night, neither summer 
 nor winter, shall cease; therefore these natural changes will 
 go on, and there will never be an eclipse which will rob human 
 eyes of an entire day. 
 
266 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE TLOOD. 
 
 96. Nor is it a phrase devoid of meaning when he says. 
 "While the earth lemaineth," for he gives us to understand that 
 the days of this earth shall sometime be numbered, and other 
 days, days of heaven, shall follow. As long, therefore, as the 
 days of the earth endure, so long shall the earth abide, and 
 with it the rotation of seasons. But when these days of the 
 earth shall pass, then all these things shall cease, and there 
 shall follow days of heaven, that is, eternal days. There shall 
 be one Sabbath after the other, v^^hen we shall not be engrossed 
 with bodily labor for the purpose of gaining a livelihood; for 
 we shall be as the angels of God, Mk 12, 25. Our life will 
 be to know God, to delight in God's wisdom and to enjoy 
 the presence of God. This life we attain through faith in 
 Christ, in which the eternal Father may mercifully keep 
 us, through the merit of his son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, by 
 the ruling and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I. GOD BLESSES NOAH AND THE EACE. 
 
 A. MARRIAGE STATE BLES- 3. Evidence of God's^love to 
 SED 1-5. the human race 3. 
 
 1. Why this blessing neces- ^- gid^h^s blessing pertain to 
 
 ^^^y 1- * Bearing- of children a spe- 
 
 2. Wedlock established twice cial blessing of God un- 
 2. known to the heathen 5. 
 
 I. GOD BLESSES NOAH AND THE EACE. 
 
 A. Marriage State Blessed. 
 V. 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto 
 them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 
 
 1. This consolation was indeed needed after the whole 
 human race had been destroyed by the flood and only eight 
 souls were saved. Now Noah knew that God was truly merci- 
 ful, since, not content with that first blessing which he had 
 bestowed upon mankind in the creation of the world, he added 
 this new blessing, that Noah might have no misgivings what- 
 ever in regard to the future increase of his posterity. And 
 the joy brought by this promise was all the greater for God's 
 emphatic promise on a previous occasion, that he would never 
 again visit mankind with such severe punishment. 
 
 2. In the first place, then, this chapter renews the establish- 
 ment of marriage. God, by his Word and command, joins 
 male and female for the purpose of repopulating the earth. 
 Inasmuch as God had been roused to anger before the flood 
 by the sin of lust, it was now needful, by reason of that 
 fearful proof of wrath, to show that God does not abhor the 
 lawful cohabitation of man and woman, but that it is his will 
 to increase mankind by this means. 
 
 3. The fact that God had expressed it as his will that the 
 human race should be propagated through a union between 
 man and w^oman, an end which could have been attained from 
 stones had he failed to approve such union as lawful, after the 
 
268 
 
 LUTHEK ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 manner of Deucalion of whom the poets fable — this fact 
 tended to furnish Noah sure evidence that God loved man, 
 and desired his welfare, and that now all anger was at an 
 end. Therefore this passage illustrates the dignity of wed- 
 lock, which is the foundation of the family and State, and 
 the nursery of the Church. 
 
 4. The objection is here raised that Noah had already 
 reached an age no longer fit for j)rocreation in view of the fact 
 that the Bible records no instance of children being born 
 to him afterwards, and therefore this promise was valueless. 
 To this I reply that this promise was given, not to Noah alone, 
 but also to his sons, even to all mankind; so that the expecta- 
 tion of offspring was entertained even by the grandsire Noah. 
 
 5. This passage, furthermore, tends to convince us that 
 children are a gift of God and a result of his blessing, as is 
 shown in Psalms 127, 3. The heathen, who know nothing 
 of God's Word, ascribe the increase of mankind partly to 
 nature and partly to chance, in view of the fact that those 
 who are evidently most fit for procreation often remain with- 
 out offspring. Hence, they do not thank God for this gift, 
 nor do tliey receive their children as a blessing from God. 
 
 B. Man's Use Of and Dominion Over Animals. 
 
 B MAN'S USE OF AND DOMIN- 
 ION OVER ANIMALS 6-31 
 Whether animals feared 
 man before the flood 6-7. 
 Relation between this use 
 and dominion and of what 
 they give evidence 7-9. 
 This use and rule a special 
 blessing- of God S-10. 
 Whether the custom of 
 slaying cattle dates from 
 the beginning of the world 
 10-11. 
 
 Whether Adam knew of 
 this use and dominion 12. 
 Ttiis use of animals is evid- 
 ence of God's love to the 
 human race 13. 
 God's blessings greater 
 than his wrath 13. 
 Whether this use extends 
 to unclean animals 14-15. 
 How man's fear of animals 
 and their w i 1 d n e s s and 
 
 cruelty can exist with this 
 dominion 16-18. 
 
 * New sins accompanied by 
 new punishments 19-20. 
 
 * Sodom before and after its 
 destruction 21. 
 
 * God's punishment of Wit- 
 tenberg, Bruges and Ven- 
 ice, and the cause 22-23. 
 
 * God's command not to eat 
 blood. 
 
 a. Why given 24. 
 
 b. How to treat this text, 
 which contains God's Word 
 25. 
 
 * Meaning of Nephesch and 
 Basar 26. 
 
 c. Right understanding of the 
 command 27. 
 
 * The words, "Surely your 
 blood will I require" etc. 
 
 a. Lyra's and the Rabbis' ex- 
 planation, 28-29. 
 
 b. Their true meaning 30-31. 
 
 V. ,3. And the fear of you and the dread of you sliall he 
 upon every least of the earth, and upon every bird of thd 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 269 
 
 heavens; ivith all zuherewith the ground teemetli, and all the 
 fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered. 
 
 6. It would seem that the dominion of man is here 
 increased for his greater consolation. For though after the 
 creation man was given dominion over all animals, yet we 
 do not read that the beasts feared and fled from him accord- 
 ing to the description of Moses. The reason is found in the 
 fact that heretofore the animals were not destined to be man's 
 food; man had been a kind ruler of the beasts, not a killer and 
 eater. 
 
 7. Here, however, they are subjected to man as a tyrant 
 with unlimited pov^^er of life and death. Since the servitude 
 of the beasts is increased and the power of man over them 
 extended; the animals are harassed by terror and fear of man. 
 We see even the tamed ones do not readily allow themselves 
 to be handled; they feel the mastery of man and have a 
 constant instinct of danger. I do not believe that such was 
 the case before this Word of God was spoken. Before that 
 time, men used suitable animals for their work and for sacri- 
 fice, but not for food. This increase of power also is a token 
 of God's favor; he confers a privilege unknovi^n to the patri- 
 archs, as a token of his love and interest in man. 
 
 8. We must not undervalue this boon authority over the 
 beasts; for it is a special gift of God, of which the heathen 
 knew nothing, because they lack the Word. We are the 
 ones who derive the greatest benefit from this gift. When 
 this revelation was given to Noah, and such a privilege grant- 
 ed, there was really no need of it. A few men possessed the 
 whole earth, so that its fruits were to be enjoyed by them in 
 abundance and it was not necessary to add the flesh of beasts. 
 But we today could not live altogether on the fruits of the 
 earth; it is a great boon to us that we are permitted to eat 
 the flesh of beasts, of birds and of fish. 
 
 9. This word, therefore, establishes the butcher's trade; it 
 puts hares, chickens, and geese upon the spit and fills our 
 tables with all manner of dishes. Necessity makes men in- 
 dustrious. Not only do they hunt the animals of the forests, 
 but carefully fatten others at home for food. God in this pas- 
 
270 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD, 
 
 sage establishes himself a slaughterer, as it were, for by his 
 word he consigns to slaughter and death those animals which 
 are suitable for food, as recompence to Godfearing Noah for 
 his tribulations during the flood. For that reason would 
 God feed Noah with lavish hand. 
 
 10. We must not think that this privilege was not divinely 
 ordered. The heathen believe that this custom of slaughtering 
 animals always existed. Such things are established, or rather 
 permitted, by the Word of God; beasts could not have been 
 killed without sin if God had not expressly permitted it by 
 his Word. It is a great liberty for man to slaughter all kinds 
 of beasts fit for food and eat them without wrong-doing. Had 
 but a single kind of beasts been reserved for food, it would 
 still have been a great boon; how much more should we value 
 this lavish blessing, that all beasts suitable for sustenance are 
 given into the power of man ! 
 
 11. The godless and the gentiles do not recognize this; 
 nor do the philosophers. They believe that this privilege 
 has always been man's. As for us, however, we should have 
 full light on the subject, in order that our consciences may 
 enjoy both rest and freedom in the use of what God has 
 created and allowed, there being absolutely no law against 
 such food. Tliere can be no sin in their use, though the 
 wicked priests have criminally burdened the Church on this 
 subject. 
 
 12. In this passage, tlien, the power of man is increased 
 and the brute beasts are committed to him, even unto death. 
 They fear man and flee him under the new order, running 
 counter to the. experience of the past. Adam would have 
 been averse to killing even a small bird for food. But now, 
 'since the promulgation of this Word, we know that, as a special 
 blessing, God has furnished our kitchens with all kinds of 
 meat. Later on he will also take care of the cellar by showing 
 man how to cultivate the vine. 
 
 13. These are sure proofs that God no longer hates man, 
 but favors him. This story bears witness that, as God's wrath, 
 once aroused, is unbearable, so his mercy is lilcvvise endless 
 
 and witliout measure when it again begins to glow. But his 
 
GJiJNESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 271 
 
 mercy is the more abundantly exercised because it is the very 
 nature of God, while wrath really is foreign to God; he takes 
 it upon himself contrary to his nature and forced thereto by 
 the wickedness of men. 
 
 V. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall he food for you; 
 as the green herb have I given you all. 
 
 14. Here a question arises. In chapter 7,2, Moses showed 
 the difference between clean and unclean beasts; here, however, 
 he speaks of all animals, without any distinction. Did God, 
 then, permit man to use also the unclean animals for food? 
 
 15. The statement as such is general: every moving thing 
 that moveth upon the earth. There are some who believe that 
 men at the time of Noah made no distinction between clean 
 and unclean animals as regards food. But I hold a different 
 opinion. For since such difference had been established before 
 that time and was carefully observed in the Law afterward, 
 I believe that men used only clean beasts for food; that is, such 
 as were offered in sacrifice. Hence the general declaration must 
 be understood with a modification: Everything that liveth and 
 moveth, of clean beasts, is to be food for you. For, in gener- 
 al, human nature loathes serpents, wolves, ravens, mice, and 
 dormice, though certain tribes may be found who relish even 
 these animals. The fear and terror of man is upon all beasts 
 of the earth, because he is allowed to kill them; but it does 
 not follow that man uses them all for food. It is probable 
 that ISToah ate clean beasts only; and only clean beasts, he 
 knew, were acceptable to Jehovah in sacrifice. 
 
 16. But there is another thing hard to understand. Hotv 
 can it be that the terror and fear of man is upon all animals 
 when wolves, lions, bears, wild boars, and tigers devour men, 
 and are rather a terror to men? So with the entire family 
 of serpents, from which we flee at a glance. What shall we 
 say here ? Is the Word of God untruthful ? I answer : Though 
 we, being aware of our danger, flee from such beasts and arc 
 afraid of them, yet they, likewise, fear man. Even the fiercest 
 beasts become terrified and fiee at the first sight of man; but 
 when they become enraged they overcome man by reason of 
 their bodily strength. 
 
272 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 17. But, 3^ou say, why do they fear when they are stronger? 
 T answer: They know that man is endowed with reason, which 
 is more powerful than any beast. The skill of man masters 
 even elephants, lions, and tigers. Whatever man's bodily 
 strength is unable to do, that he accomplishes by his skill 
 and his reasoning powers. How would it otherwise be possible 
 for a boy of ten years to control an entire herd of cattle? 
 Or for man to guide a horse, an animal of singular fierceness 
 and strength, to go in whatever direction he desires, now 
 urging it forward and then compelling it to a more moderate 
 gait? All these things are done by man's skill, not by his 
 strength. Hence, we do not lack clear proofs that the fear 
 of man remains upon the beasts, which harm man when they 
 become enraged, and for that reason are feared by him. 
 
 18. I have no doubt, however, that at the time of Noah and 
 the patriarchs immediately succeeding, this fear in the beasts was 
 greater, because righteousness then flourished and there was less 
 of sin. Afterward, Avhen holiness of life declined and sin in- 
 creased, man began to lose this blessing, and the wild l)easts be- 
 came a punishment for sin. Moses threatens in Deut. 32, 31 
 that God would send upon them the teeth of beasts. How 
 fearful, also, was the plague of the fiery serpents in the desert ! 
 Num 21, 6. Bears tore to pieces the lads who mocked the 
 prophet, 2 Kings 2, 24. Why did the beasts here lose their 
 fear of man? Why did they rage against man? Was not 
 sin the cause? 
 
 19. Therefore, as stated before, when new sins arise, new 
 punishments will also arise. So we see that in our day disease 
 and misfortunes heretofore rare become general, like tlie 
 English sweat, the locusts whicli in the year 1542 devasted 
 great stretches of land in Poland and Silesia, and other ex- 
 amples. 
 
 20. In like manner, God promised seasons of seeding and 
 of harvest, of heat and cold, and yet he does not so close 
 his eyes to our sins that the seaons, both of seeding and of 
 harvest, are not subject to climatic disturbances, such as the 
 fearful drouth of the year 1504 and the almost unending rains 
 of the two following years. Considering the wickedness of 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 273 
 
 our age, why should we wonder that the blessing gives place 
 to a curse, so that the beasts, which would fear us were we 
 not wicked, are now a terror unto us and harmful? 
 
 21. The country of the Sodomites was like a paradise; but 
 by reason of sin it was turned into a sea of asphalt; and those 
 who have seen that country tell us that most beautiful ap- 
 ples grow there, but when they are cut open they are found 
 to be filled with ashes and offensive odor. The reason for this 
 is that the Sodomites did not acknowledge the gifts of God 
 who blessed them, but misused them according to their own 
 will. Furthermore, they blasphemed God, and persecuted his 
 saints, being haughty by reason of those good gifts. There- 
 fore the blessing was taken away, and ever5rfching became curse- 
 ridden This is the true explanation of the fact that, though 
 there are signs of terror in wild animals, we are nevertheless 
 afraid of them, and they inflict harm upon us. 
 
 22. I am quite certain that very wicked men once lived 
 in this country of ours; how could we otherwise explain the 
 parched soil and barren sands ? Names also show that the Jews 
 at one time peopled this country. Where bad people live, 
 there the land gradually grows bad by the curse of God. 
 
 23. The city of Bruges in Flanders used to be a renowned 
 port; but from, the time when they held King Maximilian cap- 
 tive, the sea retreated, and the port ceased to exist. Of Venice 
 they say the same thing today. ISTor is this very astonishing, 
 since to the numberless sins of rulers of the State, defence of 
 idol worship and persecution of the Gospel was added. 
 
 V. 4. But flesh zvith the life thereof, which is the Mood 
 thereof, shall ye not eat. 
 
 24. What we have heard so far, referred to domestic matters ; 
 now God adds a commandment pertaining to civil government. 
 Since it was no more a sin to kill an ox or a sheep for food 
 than it was to pluck a flower or an herb, growing in the field, 
 there was some danger that men might misuse this God-given 
 power over the beasts and go beyond it even to the shedding 
 of human blood. Hence, he now adds a new law, that human 
 blood must not be shed, and at the same time he curtails the 
 
274 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE ELOOD. 
 
 liberty of eating flesh; lie forbids them to eat flesh which has 
 not first been drained of blood. 
 
 25. The Hebrew text presents many difficulties, and, for 
 this reason, interpreters are at variance. It is needless to 
 recite all renderings of this verse. I steadily follow the rule 
 that the words must explain the things, not the things the 
 words. Hence, I spend no time upon the ideas of those who 
 explain the words according to their own inclinations, making 
 them serve the preconceived notions which they bring to their 
 literature. 
 
 26 Let us first look at the meaning of the words. RepJiesh 
 properly denotes a body with a soul, or a living animal, such 
 as the ox, the sheep, man, etc. It denotes not merely the 
 body, but a living bod}^, as when Christ says: I lay down my 
 life for the sheep, Jn 10, 15. Here the word "life" means 
 nothing else than the life animating the body. Basar, how- 
 ever, means flesh, which is a part of the material element, and 
 yet has its breath and its energy, not from the bod}^, but 
 from the soul. For the flesh or the body, of itself and with- 
 out the soul, is an inanimate thing, like a log or a stone; 
 but when it is filled with the breath of the soul, then its 
 fluids and all bodily forces assume activity. 
 
 27. God here forbids the eating of a body which still 
 contains the stirring, moving, living soul, as the hawk devours 
 chickens, and the wolf sheep, without killing them, but while 
 still alive. Such cruelty is here forbidden by Jehovah, who 
 sets bounds to the privilege of slaughtering, lest it be done 
 in so beastly a manner that living bodies or portions thereof 
 be devoured. The lawful manner of slaughtering is to be 
 observed, such as was followed at the altar and in religious 
 rites, where the beast, having been slain without cruelty and 
 duly cleansed from blood, was finally offered to God. I hold 
 that the simple and true meaning of the text, which is also 
 given by some Jewish teachers, is that we must not eat raw 
 flesh and members still palpitating, as did the Laestrygones and 
 the Cyclopes. 
 
 V. 5. And surely your hlood, the hlood of your lives, will 
 I require; at the hand of every heast ivill I require it: and 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 275 
 
 at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, 
 will I require the life of man. 
 
 28. Here the Hebrew text is even more difficult than in 
 the foregoing verse. Lyra, quoting the Rabbins, finds four 
 kinds of manslaughter indicated here; he divides the statement 
 into two parts, and finds a tvi^ofold explanation for each. He 
 understands the first part to mean those who lay murderous 
 hands upon themselves. If this is correct, then this passage is a 
 witness for immortality; for how could God call to account 
 a person who, being dead, no longer exists? Hence, punishment 
 of sin after this life could be indicated here. But it seems 
 to me that philology militates against this explanation. Though 
 I do not lay claim to a perfect knowledge of the Hebrew 
 tongue, yet I am certain that such a meaning is not here 
 apparent. 
 
 29. The second kind of nmrder, he illustrates by the custom 
 of throwing human beings before Avild beasts, as was done 
 aforetime in the theatres, truly a barbaric spectacle, repulsive 
 to all human feeling; the third kind is murder at the insti- 
 gation of another; the fourth, murder of a relative. 
 
 30. This distinction would be quite satisfactory if it could 
 be proven from the words of the text; but it is a Jewish 
 invention born of their hatred of the Roman laws. It is much 
 simpler to understand this passage as a general prohibition of 
 murder, according to the fifth commandment, which says, 
 "Thou shalt not kill." God desires not even a beast to be 
 killed, except for a sacred purpose or for the benifit of man. 
 Much less does he permit taking the life of man, except by 
 divine authority, as will be explained hereafter. 
 
 31. In the first place, then, wilful and wicked slaughter 
 is forbidden. Culture is opposed to the wanton killing of 
 animals and to the eating of raw meat. In the second place 
 God forbids homicide of any description; for if God will 
 require the blood of a murdered human being from the 
 beast that slew him, how much more relentlessly will he re- 
 quire it at the hand of man? Thus this passage voices the 
 sentiment of the fifth commandment, that no one shall spill 
 human blood. 
 
276 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 II. LAW AGAINST MAN-SLAUGHTEE; GOD'S COVENANT WITH 
 NOAH; THE RAINBOW. 
 
 II. LAW CONCERNING MAN'S 6. How is government a 
 
 SLAUGHTER; GOD'S COVE- proof of God's love to man 
 
 NANT WITH NOAH; THE 38. 
 
 RAINBOW 32-68. 7. Why God gave this com- 
 
 A. LAW CONCERNING SLAY- mand, and why he punishes 
 
 ERS OP LIFE. man slaughter, 39. 
 
 1. If it existed before the 8. Hereby a new police and a 
 flood 32. new order are instituted 40. 
 
 2. Relation of the flood to * Verdict of philosophy and 
 this law 33. of reason on civil authority 
 
 3. This the source of all hu- 41. 
 
 man laws 34-36. * Verdict of God's Word 42. 
 
 4. When and how this law 9. This law applies to all men 
 can be executed 35. 43. 
 
 * Why is it well to observe 10. Why God is such an enemy 
 that government was in- of man-slaughter, and so 
 
 stituted by God 36-37. earnestly forbids it 44-45. 
 
 5. In what respect is it a 11. The conclusion that God 
 great blessing from God 37. loves life 46. 
 
 II. THE LAW AGAINST TAKING LIFE; GOD'S 
 COVENANT WITH NOAH; THE EAINBOW. 
 
 A. The Law Against Talking Life. 
 
 V. 6a. Who sheddeth man's blood, hy man shall his 
 blood be shed. 
 
 33. Here the carelessness of the Latin translator deserves re- 
 proof; for he omitted the very necessary expression "by man." 
 Tlie difference between the time before and that after the 
 flood is thus brought out. When Cain had murdered his 
 brother Abel, God revered human blood so highly that he 
 threatened to visit sevenfold punishment upon anyone who 
 should kill Cain. He would not have the slayer of man 
 put to death even by due process of law; and though Adam 
 punished the sin of his son severely by casting him out, he 
 did not dare to pronounce sentence of death upon him. 
 
 33. But here Jehovah establishes a new law, requiring 
 the murderer be put to death by man- — a law unpreced- 
 ented, because heretofore God had reserved all judgment to 
 himself. Wlien he saw that the world was growing worse 
 and worse, he finally enforced punishment against a wicked 
 world by the flood. Here, however, God bestows a share of 
 his authority upon man, giving him the power of life and 
 death, that thus he may be the avenger of bloodshed. Whoso- 
 ever takes man's life without due warrant, him God subjects 
 not only to his own judgment, but also to the sword of 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 277 
 
 man. Though God may use man as his instrument in punish- 
 ing, he is himself still the avenger. Were it not for the 
 divine command, then, it would be no more lawful now 
 to slay a murderer than it was before the flood. 
 
 34. This is the source from whidi spring all civil laws 
 and the laws of nations. If God grants man the power 
 of life and death, he certainly also grants power in matters 
 of lesser importance — power over property, family, wife, 
 children, servants and fields. God wills that these things 
 shall be under the control of certain men, who are to punish 
 the guilty. 
 
 35. AVe must remember well that between the power of 
 God and of men there is this difference: God has the power 
 to slay us when the world cannot even accuse us — when l)e- 
 fore it we are innocent. Sin is born with us; we are all 
 guilty before God. Men have no authority to slay except 
 where guilt is apparent and crime is proven. Hence courts have 
 been established and a definite method of proceeding instituted 
 for the purpose of investigating and proving the crime before 
 the sentence of death is passed. 
 
 35. Heed, then, this passage. It establishes civil authority 
 as God's institution, with power, not only of life and death, 
 but jurisdiction in matters where life is not involved. Magis- 
 trates are to punish the disobedience of children, theft, adultery, 
 perjury — all sins which are forbidden in the second table. 
 He who grants jurisdiction over the life of man, at the same 
 time grants judgment over lesser matters. 
 
 37. The importance of this text and its claim to atten- 
 tion consists in the fact that it records the establishment of 
 civil authority by God with the sword as insignia of power, 
 for the purpose that license may be curbed and anger and 
 other sins inhibited from growing beyond all bounds. Had 
 God not granted this power to man, what kind of lives, I ask 
 you, would we lead? He foresaw that wickedness would ever 
 flourish, and established this external remedy to prevent the 
 indefinite spread of license. By this safeguard God pro- 
 tects life and property as by a fence and a wall. 
 
 38. We find here no less a proof of God's great love 
 
278 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 toward man than his promise that the flood shall never 
 again rage^ and his promise that flesh may be eaten for the 
 sustenance of human life. 
 
 V. 6b. For in the image of God made he man. 
 
 39. This is the powerful reason why God does not wish 
 men to be killed by private arbitrament. Man is n noble creat- 
 ure, who, unlike other living immaa beings, has been fashioned 
 according to the image of God. While it is true that he has 
 lost this image through sin, as we have seen above, it is capable 
 of being restored through the Word and the Holy Spirit. This 
 image God desires us to revere in each other; he forbids us 
 to shed blod by the exercise of sheer fore. But he who 
 refuses to respect the image of God in man, and gives way 
 to anger and provocation, those worst counselors of all, as some 
 one has called them, his life is suiTcndered to civil authori- 
 ty in forfeit, by God, in that God commands that also his 
 blood shall be shed. 
 
 40. Thus the subject under consideration teaches the 
 establishment of civil authority in the world, which did not 
 exist before the flood. Cain and Lamech — and this is a case 
 in point — were not slain, though the holy patriarchs were the 
 arbiters, judges, of public action. But in this Scripture they 
 who have the sword, are commanded to use it against those 
 Avho have shed blood. 
 
 41. Thus the problem is here solved that worried Plato 
 and all sages. They concluded that it is impossible to 
 administer government without injustice, because all men 
 occu])y the same level of dignity and position. Why did 
 Ceasar rule the world? Why did others obey him, since 
 he was only human like themselves — no better, no stronger 
 and liable to die as soon as themselves? He was subject 
 to the same conditions as all men. Hence it seems to be 
 tyranny for him, who was quite similar to other men, to 
 usurp rulership among men. If he is like other men it is 
 the highest wrong and injustice to ignore this similarity, 
 and to foist his rule by force upon others. 
 
 42. This is the conclusion at which reason arrives and 
 it cannot entertain any view to the contrary. But we, having 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVEXANT. 279 
 
 the Word, can see that we must oppose to such reasoning 
 the command of God, the author of this order of things. 
 Accordingly, it is for us to render obedience to the divine 
 order and to endure it, so that to our other sins this may 
 not be added, that we are disobedient to the will of God at 
 the very point where we derive benefit in so many ways. 
 
 43. To sum up, this passage permits the slaughter of 
 animals for religious and personal use, but it emphatically 
 forbids the taking of man's life, because man is made in the 
 image of God. Those who violate his command he gives 
 into the hands of the authorities to be slain. 
 
 V. 7. And you, he ye fruitful, and multiply; liring forth 
 abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 
 
 44. The slaughter of animals having been granted, not 
 only for sacrifice, but also for food, and the killing of hu- 
 man beings having been forbidden, we are given the reason 
 why God regards tlie shedding of human blood with so much 
 aversion. He desires mankind to multiply on the earth; 
 but the slaughter of men lays the earth waste and produces 
 a wilderness. AYe see tliis in case of war. God did not create 
 the earth without purpose. He intended it to be inhabited, 
 Is 45, 18. He makes it fruitful by ram and sunshine for 
 man's benefit. Therefore he is displeased with those who 
 remove from the earth its inhabitants. His will is life, and 
 not death, Ps 30, 5. 
 
 45. These and similar sayings of the prophets are based 
 upon promises like we find here, that God commands man 
 to multiply. Plainly he is more inclined to give life and 
 to do good than to be angry and to kill. If it were otherwise, 
 why should he forbid the taking of human life? Why 
 should pestilence be of rare occurrence? Pestilence and 
 general epidemics occur scarce once in ten years. Men are 
 born, animals grow, and crops without end are growing con- 
 tinually. 
 
 46. All these facts go to show that God loves, not death, 
 but life. He created man, not that he should die, but that 
 he should live; 'Tjut through the envy of the devil did death 
 enter the world," Sap 2, 24. But even after the fall, the 
 
2S0 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 blessings wliicli remain are so guarded as to render the con- 
 clusion inevitable that God loves life rather than death. 
 
 It is well for us to ponder these matters very often; thus, 
 as Solomon has truly said, Jehovah shall be to us a fountain 
 of blessings. Prov 18, 22. 
 
 B. God's Covenant with Noah. 
 
 B. GOD'S COVENANT WITH * The significance of these 
 NOAH 47-55. to our first parents 49-50. 
 
 * Why the same thing is 3. Nature of this covenant 
 repeated 17. 51. 
 
 1. Whether this covenant ap- * Characteristics of a humble 
 plies to man alone or also heart and God's dealings 
 to the animals 48. with it 52-54. 
 
 2. Whether this covenant ap- 4. This covenant given for 
 plies to tlie men and ani- man's comfort and as a 
 mals of that day only 49. proof of God's love, 53-54. 
 
 * God always connected 5. It is a comfort to us at 
 signs with his promises 49. present 55. 
 
 Vs. 8-11. And God spake unto Noali, and his sons with 
 him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with 
 you, and with your seed after you; and ivith every living^ 
 creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every 
 beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, 
 even every beast of the earth. And I zvill establish my 
 covenant ivith you; ncitlier shall all flesli be cut off any more 
 by the waters of the flood; neither sliall there any more be 
 a flood to destroy the earth. 
 
 47. Previously we at various times explained this mass- 
 ing of words. When the Holy Spirit is prolix, there is a cause 
 for it. Let us therefore, consider what fear, dread and peril 
 Noah and his family endured and it will be easily understood 
 why it was necessary for God to say and to emphasize the 
 same things with such frequency. 
 
 48. "When, in addition it is remembered tliat the cove- 
 nant here spoken of does not pertain to man alone but em- 
 braces every living soul, we recognize that the promise 
 does not relate to the seed but merely, to this bodily life, 
 enjoyed by man in common with the beasts; this God will 
 not destroy by another flood. 
 
 Vs. 12-16. And God said, This is the token of the cove- 
 nant which I make between me and you and every living 
 creature that is with you, for the perpetual generations: I do 
 set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a 
 
GENESIS IX. EATNBOW COVENANT. 281 
 
 covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to 
 pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 
 shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my cove- 
 nant, which is between me and you and every living creature 
 of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to 
 destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and 
 I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting 
 covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh 
 that is upon the earth. 
 
 49. The term "perpetual generations" deserves particular 
 notice; it embraces not only man and beast at that time, 
 but all their offspring down to the end of the world. "We 
 learn another thing from this passage. God usually confirms 
 his promise with an outward sign. In the third chapter 
 above we read of the coats of skin w^ith wliich he covered 
 the nakedness of the first parents as token of his protection 
 and guardianship. 
 
 50. Some offer the following apt allegorical explanation. 
 As the skin of the dead sheep keeps warm our body, so 
 Clirisr,, having died, keeps us warm by his Spirit, and will, 
 on the last day, raise us up and give us life. Otliers say 
 that the skins were selected as a sign of mortality. But this 
 seems unnecessary; all our life reminds us of mortality. More 
 expedient was a token of life, suggesting the blessing and 
 favor of God. The office of such tokens is to console, not 
 to terrify. So was the sign of the rainbow given, a supple- 
 ment of the promise. 
 
 51. In chapter 8, 21-22, God says in his heart that he 
 repents of that terrible punisliment, and promises that he 
 will not repeat it, because the imagination of man's heart is 
 evil from his youth. If he should desire to so punish evil, 
 there would be need of a flood every day. Here he again 
 sends forth his Word to mankind, through an angel, or 
 possibly through the moutli of Noah, promising that no 
 flood shall hereafter come upon the earth. That the promise 
 is repeated so often is evidence of God's endeavor, in loving 
 kindness, to remove man's fear of punishment and to set be- 
 fore him a hope of blessing and utmost mercy. 
 
282 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD, 
 
 5.W. Such consolation Noah and his loved ones required. 
 One who has been humbled by God cannot forget the 
 wound and the pain. Chastening is longer remembered than 
 blessing. Boys are a case in point. The tender mother, 
 having chastised her child with the rod, endeavors to calm 
 him with toys and other allurements, yet the memory of 
 pain lingers, and the child cannot restrain frequent sighs and 
 bitter sobs. How much more difficult for the conscience to 
 accept solace after having felt the wrath of God and the 
 fear of death ! So firmly fixed are these in the mind that the 
 soul trembles and fears in spite of gifts and consolations 
 offered. 
 
 53. So God here shows his good will in manifold ways 
 and feels singular joy in pouring forth mercy. He is like 
 a mother who pets and caresses her boy until he at last be- 
 gins to forget his tears and to smile into his mother's face. 
 
 54. Hence figures are employed, and words are massed 
 and the subject is presented in a clearer and clearer light, in 
 order to adapt the consolation to the needs of the wretched 
 people who, for an entire year, had been witnesses of the im- 
 measurable wrath of God. They could not be delivered from fear 
 and terror by an occasional word. There was need of re- 
 peating the promise with much exposition to dry their 
 tears and to soften their grief. For, though they were 
 saints, they were flesh, even as we are. 
 
 55. Likewise we in our day need this consolation. At 
 all times when the elements rage, we may be secure in the 
 thought that the fountains of heaven and the wells of the 
 deep are closed up by the word of God. The rainbow shows 
 itself to this day for the purpose of symbolizing that, hence- 
 forth, there shall never be another general flood. And this 
 promise requires, on our part, the faith that we trust God, in 
 his mercy, will never bring another great flood upon us. 
 
 C. The Rainbow. 
 
 C. THE RAINBOW. 3. The rainbow witnesses of 
 
 1. Can it be assigned to nat- God's wrath and of his 
 ural causes 56-58. goodness 61. 
 
 * What to think of the flery 4. Did it exist before the 
 
 meteors 59-60. flood? 
 
 2. Can it be caused by the po- a. Opinion of those believing 
 sition of the clouds 60. it did, and their reasons 62. 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 283 
 
 b. Luther's opinion that it sign-board 65. 
 
 was a new creation G3. 6. Colors of the rainbow, 
 c. Holomons words, "There is a. What are they and their 
 
 notliing new", do not apply number 66. 
 
 here 64. b. What do they signify C7. 
 
 5. Rainbow to be viewed as a 7. To what end should the 
 new creature and as God's rainbow serve us 6S. 
 
 56. They further dispute whether the natural causes in 
 the rainbow signify this. It is well known that philosophers, 
 especially Aristotle in his book on Meteors, use all sorts ot 
 arguments on the color of the rainbow, on the character of 
 the clouds where it is produced, and on its curvature. Quite 
 appropriately the resemblance is noted between a mirror, 
 which reflects an image, and the moist and arched cloud, 
 which catches the rays of the sun, and by reflection pro- 
 duces the rainbow. Eeason sees in such phenomena what 
 appears to it most probable, but it does not discover the 
 truth everpvhere. That is not in the power of the creat- 
 ure but of the Creator alone. As for me, I have never given 
 to any book less credence than to that on meteors, the basic 
 principle of which is the assumption that natural causes explain 
 everything. 
 
 57. Some declare the rainbow to be a forerunner of a 
 storm lasting three days, which. I am ready to admit, but 
 this much is certain, that it signifies that there will never be 
 another flood. However, it derives this signification, not 
 from any natural causes but only from the Word of God. 
 Its meaning is such, only because God orders and declares 
 it to be so through his Word. Circumcision was a token 
 that the seed of Abraham were the people of God; yet cir- 
 cumcision did not have this meaning in itself, but only 
 through the Word which was joined with it. Again, the 
 clothing of skin signified life and safety, not because they 
 contained his guarantee by nature, but because God had 
 promised it. So, the significance of the rainbow that the flood 
 shall not return, is not based upon the Word of God. 
 
 58. I do not altogether ignore theories along the lines 
 of natural law concerning these matters; but since they are 
 not substantiated, I place little trust in them. The reason- 
 ing of Aristotle regarding the humid and hollow cloud as 
 the cause of the rainbow is not reliable, such clouds may 
 
284 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 exist without producing a rainbow. Again, according to tlie 
 greater or lesser density of tlie medium, the bow may appear 
 wider or narrower. I have seen here at Wittenberg a cir- 
 cuhir rainbow, forming a complete ring, not simply an arch 
 terminating on the surface of tlie earth, as rainbows gener- 
 ally appear. Why, tlien, do rainbows assume different forms 
 at different times? A philosopher, I suppose, will think 
 of some reason; for he will consider it a disgrace not to 
 be able to assign a reason for all things. But indeed, he 
 will never persuade me to believe that he speaks the truth. 
 
 59. The only consistent and incontrovertable view to take 
 is that all these phenomena are either works of God or of 
 evil spirits. 1 have no doubt that the dancing goats (stars), 
 the flying serpents, fiery lances, and the like, are produced 
 by evil spirits, which thus gambol in the air, either to 
 terrify or to deceive men. The flames which appear on 
 board of ships were thought by the heathen to be Castor 
 and Pollux. Sometimes the image of a moon appears above 
 the ears of horses. It is certain that all these things are 
 due to the antics of evil spirits in the air, though Aristotle 
 believes them to be luminous air, just as he also declares 
 that a comet is shining vapor. 
 
 60. To me it appears that we shall move with greater 
 security and certainty, when, arguing from cause to effect, 
 we conclude that the comet blazes, when it pleases God, as 
 a sign of calamity, just as the rainbow glows, when it pleases 
 God as a sign of mercy. Who can compute all the causes 
 whicli produce the appearance of the rainbow in such 
 diversity of beautiful color, and in the form of an arch of 
 perfect curvature? The arrangement of the clouds alone 
 
 "surely does not produce this perfection. Hence it is by the 
 will and the promise of God, and fulfllling his pleasure, 
 that the rainbow is a sign to man and beast that there will 
 nevermore at any time be a flood. 
 
 61. In recognition of this token we ought to give thanks 
 to God. As often as the rainbow appears, it proclaims to the 
 world with a loud voice, as it were, the story of the wrath of 
 God, which once destroyed the world by a flood. And it 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 285 
 
 proclaims solace for us, so that we may conclude that God 
 is propitious to us henceforth and will never again visit upon 
 us so fearful a punishment. It teaches both the love and 
 the fear of God, the highest virtues, of which philosophy 
 knows nothing. Philosophy only disputes about material and 
 formal causes. It does not know the final cause of this most 
 beautiful creation. But theology does explain it. 
 
 62. In this connection also the question has received much 
 attention whether the rainbow existed from the beginning. And 
 in this controversy much force has been displayed. Since 
 dt is written above (ch 2,23) that God created heaven and earth 
 in six days, and then rested from all his works, some con- 
 clude that the rainbow existed from the beginning. Other- 
 wise it would follow that creation extended beyond those 
 six days. What, however, occurred in Noah's time is this, 
 that the rainbow, created in the beginning, was selected by 
 God and made, through a new word, a fixed symbol, having 
 existed hitherto without special significance. To support this 
 view, they even quote the word of Solomon that "there is no 
 new thing under the sun," Ec 1, 9. On this they base their 
 argument that after those six days no new thing has been 
 created. 
 
 63. My opinion is quite the contrary — that the rain- 
 bow never had existed before; it was then and there created. 
 Thus, the coats of skin with which God clothed the first 
 parents certainly were not created in those six days, but 
 after man's fall; hence, they were a new creation. The 
 statement that God rested, must not be interpreted to mean 
 that he created nothing thereafter; for Christ says, "My 
 Father worketh even until now, and I work," Jn 5, 17. 
 
 6-1. Solomon's statement that there is no new thing under 
 the sun, has given much trouble to the learned. But is it 
 not apparent that it refers not to the works of God, but to 
 original sin, meaning that the same reasoning powers Adam 
 had after the fall are found in man today — the same debates 
 concerning morals, vices, virtues, the nurture of the body and 
 the transaction of business ? As the comic poet has it, speaking 
 of another matter, "Nothing is said that has not been said 
 
286 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 before." Really, within the sphere of man's activity and effort 
 there is nothing new; the same words, thoughts, designs, 
 the same emotions, griefs, affections and incidents exist no\f 
 which always existed. Consequently it is quite inappropri- 
 ate, in consequence to apply this aphorism to God and his 
 works. 
 
 65. Therefore, I believe ' that the rainbow was a new 
 creation, not seen in the world before that time. It was 
 established to remind the world of the bygone wrath, traces 
 of which are still seen in the rainbow, and to give assurance 
 of the mercy of Grod. It is a record, or picture in which 
 both the bygone wrath and the present mercy are revealed. 
 
 66. There is also a difference of opinion as to the colors 
 of the rainbow. Some say there are four colors: the fiery, 
 the bright yellow, the green and the color of water, or blue. 
 But I think there are only two, those of fire and water. The 
 fiery color is above, unless the rainbow is seen reversed; 
 then, as in a mirror, that which is above is seen below. 
 Where the hues of fire and water meet, or blend, yellow re- 
 sults. 
 
 67. The colors have been thus arranged by God for a defin- 
 ite purpose. The blue should be a reminder of bygone wrath ; 
 the fiery color, a picture to us of the future judgment. While 
 the interior or blue portion is restricted, the outer and 
 fiery color is without bounds. Thus, the first world perished 
 by the flood, but an end was set to God's wrath. A rem- 
 nant was preserved and a second world arose, but bounds are 
 set to it. When God shall destroy the world by fire, this 
 bodily life will never be restored. The wicked will suffer the 
 everlasting punishment of death in the fire, while the saints 
 will be raised up unto a new and everlasting life, which, 
 though in the body, shall not be of the body, but of the 
 spirit. 
 
 68. Let this sign teach us to fear God and to trust 
 in him. So may we escape the punishment of fire, even 
 as we have escaped the punishment of the flood. It will be 
 more practical to think of these things than to consider those 
 philosophical argumJents concerning the material cause. 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 287 
 
 III. ALLEGOEIES. 
 
 III. ALLEGORIES. 69-132. 4. Are they to be entirely re- 
 
 A. ALLEGORIES IN GENERAI, jected 73. 
 
 69-81. 5. Some are, and others not 
 
 1. Luther at first given to al- „ J^''^^- ^ , ^ . 
 
 legories 69-70. 6. How to regard Origen's, 
 n TT J V. 1 J Augustine's and Jerome's 
 
 2. How and why monks and alleWories 77 78 
 Anabaptists esteem them ^ pope's allegories of the 
 so highly 71. sun, moon and ark 79-80. 
 
 3. How we should regard 8. What to think of the doc- 
 them 72. trine of these allegories 81. 
 
 III. CONCERJ^ING ALLEGOEIES. 
 A. Allegories in General. 
 
 69. At last we have finished the story of the flood, which 
 Moses satisfactorily describes at great length. It is a fearful 
 example of the immeasurable and all but boundless wrath 
 of God, which is beyond the power of human utterance. There 
 remains to be said a word or two concerning its allegorical 
 meaning. I have often declared that I take no great pleas- 
 ure in allegories, although in my younger days they had 
 Buch a fascination for me that I thought ever3i;hing ought 
 to be shown to have an allegorical meaning. I was in- 
 fluenced in this respect by the example of Origen and Jerome, 
 whom I admired as the greatest of all theologians. I may 
 add that Augustine also uses the allegory quite frequently. 
 
 70. But while I followed the example of these men, I 
 discovered at last that, to my great loss, I had followed a shad- 
 ow, and had overlooked the very sap and marrow of the Script- 
 ures. Thereupon I began to hate allegories. They are 
 pleasing, to be sure, especially when they contain happy 
 allusions. They may be compared to choice pictures. 
 But as much as real objects with their native hues surpass 
 a picture, even though it should glow, as the poet has it 
 (stat silo Y. 1, 5), with Apelles-like colors, closey copied 
 from nature, so much the historical narrative itself is superi- 
 or to the allegory. 
 
 71. In our day the ignorant mob of the Anabaptists is 
 as much filled with immoderate craving for allegory as are 
 the monks. They love to delve in the more mysterious books, 
 such as the Eevelation of John, and that worthless fabrication 
 passing under the title of the second and third books of Esdras. 
 
288 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 For, there you are at liberty to follow your fancy as you 
 please. We recall that Muntzer, the seditious spirit, turned 
 everything into allegory. But true it is, that he who, without 
 judgment, makes allegories or follows those made by others, 
 will not only be deceived but sustain deplorable injury, as 
 there are examples to prove. 
 
 73. Allegories must either be avoided altogether or be 
 worked out with the best judgment. They must conform to 
 the rule followed by the apostles, of which we shall soon 
 'have occasion to speak. Let us avoid falling into those 
 ugly and baneful absurdities, not only of those who are 
 misnamed theologians, but also of the Canonists, or rather 
 Assinists, of which the decretals and decisions of that most 
 detestable master, the pope, are an example. 
 
 73. This statement, however, must not be taken for a 
 general condemnation of all allegory. Christ and the apostles 
 made use of allegories at times. These, however, were in 
 keeping with the faith according to the injunction of Paul 
 (Rom 12, 6) that prophecy, or doctrine, should be according 
 to the proportion of faith. 
 
 74. When we put the allegory under the ban, we confine 
 ourselves to that species which, with the setting aside of 
 scriptural warrant, is altogether the product of man's mind 
 and fancy. Those which are tested by the analogy of faith, 
 serve not only as ornaments of the doctrine but also as 
 consolation for the soul. 
 
 75. Peter turns this very story of the flood into a most 
 beautiful allegory, saying that baptism is symbolized by 
 the flood, and saves us. For, in it not only the filth of the 
 flesh is washed away, but conscience makes good answer to- 
 ward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is 
 enthroned at the right hand of God and has destroyed 
 death in order to make us heirs of eternal life; who, more- 
 over, is gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers 
 being made subject unto him, 1 Pet 3, 21-22. This is, indeed, 
 a theological allegory, in accordance with faith, and full 
 of solace. 
 
 76. Such is also the allegory of Christ in John 3, 14, con- 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 289 
 
 cerning the serpent lifted up in the wilderness and the heal- 
 ing of those bitten by the serpent's tooth who gazed upon 
 it. Again, there is that one by Paul (1 Cor 10 , 1), All our 
 fathers did drink from the same spiritual rock, etc. Such 
 allegories as these not only agree with the matter itself, 
 but also instruct the heart in faith and are a help to the 
 conscience. 
 
 77. But take a look at the ordinary allegory of Jerome, 
 Origen and Augustine. These men, when they create an 
 allegory, leave faith altogether out of consideration, and 
 merely air philosophical opinions, foreign alike to the sphere 
 of faith and to that of morals; not to speak of the fact that 
 they are quite silly and a mass of absurdities. 
 
 73. In a former chapter (ch 3. §§61, 298, 304), we 
 heard of Augustine's allegory concerning the creation of man 
 and woman, by which he illustrates the higher and the lower 
 attributes of man, that is, reason and the emotions. But, I 
 ask you, what is the value of this figment? 
 
 79. The pope, however, carries away the real honors for 
 piety and learning when he thunders from his high seat as 
 follows: God made two great lights, the sun and the moon; 
 the sun represents the authority of the pope, from which 
 his imperial majesty borrows its light as the moon does from 
 the sun. Away with such rash impudence and vicious 
 ambition ! 
 
 80. In a similar style the ark, of Noah's story, is 
 compared to the Eoman Catholic Church, in which is found 
 the pope with his cardinals, bishops, and prelates, while the lay- 
 men are swimming in the sea. That is, the laymen are 
 altogether given to earthly business and would not be saved 
 did not those helmsmen of the ark, or Church, cast boards 
 and ropes to the swimmers, drawing them into the ark by 
 these means. Pictures of this nature were frequently paint- 
 ed by monks to represent the Church. 
 
 81. Origen shows more sanity than the papists, in that 
 his allegories conform to moral standards, as a rule. Yet, 
 he ought to have kept in view the rule laid down by Paul, 
 who demands that prophesy is to be the guardian of faith; 
 
290 
 
 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 for faith is edifying and the proper sphere of the Church. 
 Eules governing morals can be laid by even heathen philosoph- 
 ers who Icnow nothing whatever concerning faith. 
 
 B. Alleo:ories in Detail. 
 
 (4) How the Papists make thp 
 unrig-hteous righteous and 
 condemn the righteous 114- 
 115. 
 
 7. Allegories of the doves in 
 detail 116-124. 
 
 * Characteristics of the dove 
 116. 
 
 a. First dove sent forth. 
 
 (1) A figure of the office of 
 grace 117. 
 
 (2) A figure of the Old Testa- 
 ment prophets llS-119. 
 
 b. Second dove returned with 
 tlie olive leaf. 
 
 (1) A figure of New Testament 
 preachers 120-122. 
 
 * The fanatics and Anabap- 
 tists wait in vain for new 
 revelations 121. 
 
 * Nature of true Gospel 
 preachers 122. 
 
 <2) A figure of the New Testa- 
 ment 123. 
 
 c. Third dove did not return 
 12 4ff. 
 
 8. Allegory of the seven days 
 Noah waited after he sent 
 forth the first dove 125. 
 
 9. Allegory of the evening 
 the dove returned 126-127. 
 
 * Several things to be re- 
 membered in this connec- 
 tion. 
 
 (1) Allegories are not to have 
 a world-wide treatment 
 like the articles of faitli 
 128. 
 
 (2) Defects in the allegories of 
 the fathers 129-130. 
 
 * Lyra is to be preferred to 
 all commentators 131. 
 
 (3) Right use of allegories l^' 
 
 89. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul says (1 Cor 10, 2) 
 that the Israelites "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
 and in the sea." If you regard only the outw^ard circum- 
 stance and the words, even Pharaoh was baptized, but he 
 perished with his men, while Israel passed through safe and 
 unharmed. 'Noah, and his sons were saved in this baptism 
 of the flood, while all the rest of the world, being outside of the 
 ark, perished thereby. Such a way of spealdng is appropriate 
 and forcible. "Baptism" and "death" are interchangeable in 
 Sriptnro. Paul says (Rom 6, 3) : "All we who were baptized 
 into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death," and Jesus 
 
 B. ALLEGORIES IN DETAIL 
 S2-132. 
 
 1. Allegory of the baptism of 
 the Israelites under Moses; 
 the ark and the flood S2ff. 
 
 * Points of likeness and un- 
 likeness in the death of be- 
 lievers and unbelievers 
 S4-S6. 
 
 * In what way is death to 
 be conquered 87. 
 
 * How all temptations are to 
 be overcome and believers 
 be preserved SS-90. 
 
 2. Allegories of the ark's pro- 
 portions 91-92. 
 
 3. Allegories of the sun an; 
 moon 93. 
 
 * To w^hat all allegories 
 should point 94. 
 
 4. Allegory of the cup 95-96. 
 
 5. Allegory of the dove N^ 
 sent out of the ark 97-99. 
 
 6. Allegory of the raven Noali 
 sent forth. 
 
 a. Thoughts of the fathers on 
 this point 100. 
 
 b. The correct allegory of the 
 raven 101-116. 
 
 * The law and the teachings 
 of the law 101-116. 
 
 (1) How illustrated by the ra- 
 ven 102-105. 
 
 * Luther's opponents falsely 
 accuse him of forbidding 
 good works 106-107. 
 
 (2) They are no better than 
 the intelligent moralists 
 among the heathen 108-110. 
 
 (3) They cannot quiet the con- 
 science 111. 
 
 * The raven a perfect repre- 
 sentative of the papists 
 112-113. 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 291 
 
 says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am 
 ^I straitened till it be accomplished!" (Lk 12, 50). And to his 
 disciples he said, "Ye shall * * * be baptized with the 
 baptism that I am baptized with" (Mt 20, 23). 
 
 83. In this sense the Eed Sea was a baptism indeed. 
 It represented to Pharaoh death and God's anger. Yet 
 though Israel was baptized with the same baptism, they passed 
 through it unharmed. So the flood is truly death and the 
 wrath of God, and yet, the faithful are saved in the midst 
 of the flood. Death engulfs and swallows all mankind; for, 
 the wrath of God smites both the good and the bad, the 
 pious and the wicked, without distinction. The flood was 
 sent upon Noah the same as upon the rest of the world. The 
 Red Sea that engulfed Pharaoh was the same as that through 
 which Israel passed unharmed. But in both cases the be- 
 lievers are saved while the wicked perish. That is the 
 point of difference. The ark was Noah's salvation, and it 
 was but an expression of the promise and Word of God. In 
 these he had life, but the wicked, who believed not the Word, 
 were left to perish. 
 
 84. This is the difference which the Holy Spirit de- 
 sired to bring out, so that the righteous, warned by 
 this example, might believe and hope for salvation through 
 the mercy of God in the very midst of deatli. They con- 
 sider baptism as bound together with the promise of life, 
 as Noah did the ark. Therefore, though the wise man and 
 the fool must suffer the same death — for Peter and Paul 
 die, not otherwise than Nero and other wicked persons die — 
 yet the righteous believe that in death they will be saved 
 unto eternal life. And this hope is not vain, for they have 
 Christ, who receives their souls, and will, on the last day, 
 raise up also the bodies of his believers unto eternal life. 
 
 85. This class of allegory is of great service, and tends 
 to comfort the heart when you consider the contrast in 
 the ultimate outcome. The testimony of the material eye 
 would seem to confirm the statement of Solomon (Ec. 2, 16) 
 that the wise man dieth as the fool, that the righteous man 
 dieth as though he were not the beloved of God. But the 
 
292 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 eyes of the soul must view this point of difference, that 
 Israel enters into the Eed Sea and is saved, while Pharaoh, 
 pressing upon the heels of Israel, is overwhelmed by the 
 waves and perishes. It is the same death, then, which takes 
 away the righteous and the wicked, and almost always the 
 end of the former is ignominious, w^hile that of the latter 
 is attended by elements of splendor and power; but in the 
 eyes of God, while the death of sinners is deplorable, that 
 of his saints is precious, for it is consecrated by Christ, 
 through whom it becomes the beginning of eternal life. 
 
 86. As the flood and the Eed Sea were instruments to 
 save Noah and Israel from death, so to us, death is but 
 the instrument to give us life, if we remain in faith. When 
 the children of Israel were in utmost peril, suddenly the 
 sea parted and rose on the right side and on the left, like 
 an iron wall, so that Israel passed through without danger. 
 Why was it? In order that so death might be made to 
 serve life. Divine power overcomes the assaults of Satan. 
 Thus it was in Paradise. Satan purposed to slay all man- 
 kind by his venom. But what happens? By reason of the 
 truly happy guilt of our first parents, as the Church sings, 
 it comes to pass that the Son of God became incarnate 
 to free us from evil. 
 
 87. This allegory, then, beautifully teaches, strengthens 
 and consoles us, enabling us to fear neither death nor sin, 
 but to despise all perils, giving thanks to God that lie 
 has so called and dealt with us that even death, the 
 universal destroyer, is compelled to be a servant of life, just 
 as the flood, an occasion of destruction to the rest of the 
 Wiorld, was one of salvation for Noah; and tlie Eed Sea, 
 when Pliaraoh med his doom, served to save the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 88. What has been here expressed, finds application to 
 the subject of temptation in general, so that we learn to 
 despise dangers and be hopeful even where no hope seems 
 to remain. When death or any other danger is imminent, we 
 should rise to meet it, saying: Behold, here is my Eed Sea; 
 here is my flood, my baptism and my death. Here my life — as 
 
GENESIS TX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 293 
 
 the philosopher said of the sea-farers — is removed from 
 death barely by a hand's breadth. But fear not; this danger 
 is as a handful of water opposed to the flood of grace which 
 is mine through the Word. Therefore death will not destroy 
 me, but will lift me and bear me to life. Death is so utterly 
 incapable of destroying the Christian, that it constitutes the 
 very escape from death. For bodily death ushers in the eman- 
 cipation of the spirit and the resurrection of tlie flesh. Thus, 
 Noah in the flood was not borne by the earth, nor by trees, 
 nor by mountains, but by the very flood which destroyed the 
 total remainder of the human race. 
 
 89. Well may the prophets often extol those wonder- 
 ful works of God — the passage through the Ked Sea, the 
 exodus from Egypt, and the like. For the sea, which by 
 its nature can only devour and destroy, is forced to part 
 and rise and protect the Israelites, lest they be over- 
 whelmed by its tides. That which in its very nature is 
 wrath, becomes grace to the believer; that which in reality 
 is death, becomes life. Therefore, whatever calamity comes 
 — and this life has it in infinite measure — to threaten our 
 property and our lives, it will all become salvation and joy 
 if we only are in the ark; that is, if by faith we lay hold of 
 the promise made in Christ. Then even death, by which 
 we are removed, must be turned into life, and the hell, 
 which swallows us, into a way to heaven. 
 
 90. Therefore Peter says (1 Pet 3, 21) that we are 
 saved by the water in baptism, which was prefigured by the 
 flood. The water which streams about us, or the plunge into 
 it, is death, and yet from this death or plunge, life re- 
 sults by virtue of the ark of safety — the Word of promise to 
 which we cling. The inspired Scriptures set forth this alle- 
 gory, wliich is not only free from weaknesses but of service in 
 every way, and worthy of our careful attention, since it offers 
 wonderful consolation even in the utmost perils. 
 
 91. The fathers have added another allegory taken from 
 the form and dimensions of the ark. The human body, meas- 
 ured from the top of the head to the sole of the foot, is 
 six times as long as it is wide. Now, the ark, which was 
 
294 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 fifty cubits wide, measured six times as much in length, 
 namely 300 cubits. Hence, they say, the ark typifies Christ 
 the man, in whom all promises center. Therefore, those 
 who believe in him are saved even in the midst of the 
 flood, that is, in death itself. 
 
 93. This conception is both appropriate and beautiful; 
 above all, it agrees with faith. Though there may be a mis- 
 take in the application, the groundwork is strong and se- 
 cure. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit found various 
 ways to illustrate the promises to be fulfilled in Christ, 
 and the wonderful counsel of salvation for mankind through 
 faith in Christ. Hence, allegories of this nature, though 
 lacking in aptness, are not necessarily wicked and a source 
 of ofiiense. 
 
 93. Jl one were to say the sun represents Christ, while 
 the moon represents the Church, which receives its light 
 by the grace of Christ, he might possibly be mistaken in 
 his choice of illustration, yet his error is based, not upon 
 an erroneous, but upon a sure foundation. But when the 
 pope declares the sun represents the papal authority, while 
 the moon represents the emperor's, then not only the appli- 
 cation is inapt and foolish, but the very foundation is evil. 
 Such allegories are not conceived and invented by the Holy 
 Spirit, but by the devil, the spirit of lies. 
 
 94. Allegories must have some application to the prom- 
 ises and the doctrine of faith if they are to comfort and 
 strengthen the soul. Peter's allegory teaches us this. Because 
 Peter saw that Noah was set free in the midst of death and that 
 the ark was an instrument of life, the ark was rightly applied 
 to typify Christ. Only divine power can save in the midst 
 of death and lead unto life. The Scriptures declare that 
 to God belong the issues from death, (Ps 68, 21), and he 
 makes death the occasion, yea, even an aid to life. 
 
 95. This has given rise to expressions used in Scripture, 
 where afflictions and perils are likened to a cup that intox- 
 icates. This is an apt and vivid figure of speech. So the 
 passion of Christ is called a draught from a brook (Ps 110, 7), 
 meaning that it is a medicinal draught or mixture, which. 
 
GENESIS IX. KAINBOW COVENANT. 295 
 
 tlioiigii bitter, is liealing in its bitterness and gives life by caus- 
 ing deatli. Such sootliing words serve to console us that we 
 may learn to depise death and other perils and meet them 
 with greatei- readiness. 
 
 96. Satan, also, has his cup; but it is sweet, and inebri- 
 ates unto uausea. He who, attracted by its sweetness, drinks 
 it, loses his life and dies the eternal death. Such was the 
 cup the Babylonians drained, as the prophet has it (Jer 25, 
 15-27). Let us, therefore, accept the cup of salvation with 
 thanksgiving, and, as Paul declares of believers, rejoice 
 in tribulation (Eom 5, 3). 
 
 97. Having explained this figure of the ark and the mean- 
 ing of the flood according to the canonical Scriptures, we 
 will say something also about the other features of this 
 story — about the raven which did not return, and the doves, 
 the first of which returned because she found no resting- 
 place for her foot, while the second brought back with her 
 a twig from an olive tree, and the third did not return 
 because the earth was no more covered by water. 
 
 98. In our treatise on the narrative proper, we stated 
 that these things occurred to be a consolation for Noah and 
 his sons; to assure them that God's wratli had passed and 
 tiiat he was now pacified. Tno dove did not bring the olive 
 branch of her own volition. She miraculously obeyed divine 
 power. So the serpent in paradise spoke, not of its own 
 volition, but through the inspiration of the devil, who had 
 taken possession of it. As, on that occasion, the serpent, 
 by the devil's prompting, spoke, with the result that man 
 was led into sin, so, on tliis occasion, it was not its own 
 volition or instinct which moved the dove to bring the 
 olive branch, but the prompting of Grod, in order that Noah 
 might gain comfort from the pleasant sight. For the olive 
 does not supply the dove with food; she prefers the sever- 
 al species of wheat or pease. 
 
 99. The incident of the dove, then, is a miraculous oc- 
 currence with a definite meaning. The prophets in their 
 messages concerning the kingdom of Christ, frequently 
 make mention of doves (Ps 68, 13) and (Is 60, 8). Solo- 
 
296 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 •mon also in his Song seems to mention the dove with 
 particular pleasure. Therefore, we should not despise the 
 picture this allegory holds before us, but treat its truth 
 S'killfully and aptly. 
 
 100. The allegory of the raven, invented by the doctors, 
 is well known. Because ravens delight in eating dead bodies, 
 they have been taken as a likeness of carnal men, who de- 
 light in carnal pleasures and indulge in them. The Epicur- 
 eans were an example. A very fair explanation but inade- 
 quate, because it is merely of that moral and philosophical 
 sort which Erasmus was in the habit of giving after the 
 example of Origen. 
 
 101. We must look for a theological explanation. In the 
 first place, those moralists fail to observe that Scripture 
 commends the raven for not leaving the ark of his own 
 will. He went out at the bidding of Noah, to ascertain if 
 the waters had ceased and if God's wrath was ended. The 
 raven, however, did not return, neither did he become a mess- 
 enger of happy omen. He remained without the ark, and, 
 though he came and went, yet he did not suffer himself to be 
 taken by ISToah. 
 
 102. In all these points the allegory fittingly typifies the 
 ministry of the Law. Black, the color of the bird, is a to- 
 ken of sadness, and the sound of his voice is unpleasant. 
 Tliis is true of the teachers of the Law, who teach justifi- 
 cation by works. They are the ministers of death and sin, 
 Paul calling the ministry of the Law a ministry of death, 
 (3 Cor 3, 6). The Law is unto death (Rom 7, 10). 
 The Law worketh wrath. (Eom 4, 15.) The Law en- 
 tered that trespass might abound" (Rom 5, 20). 
 
 103. And yet, Moses was sent forth by God with the 
 Law, just as the raven was sent out by Noah. It is God's 
 will that mankind be taught niiorality and holiness of life, 
 and that wrath and sure punishments be announced to all 
 who transgress the Law. Nevertheless, such teachers are 
 naught but ravens wandering aimlessly about the ark; nor 
 do they have the certain assurance that God is pacified. 
 
 104. For, the Law is a teaching of such character that 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 297 
 
 it cannot assure, strengthen and console an uneasy conscience, 
 but rather terrifies it, since it only teaches what G-od requires 
 of us, wliat he wishes to be performed by us. Our consciences 
 bear witness against us that we not only have failed to carry 
 lOut the will of God as set forth in the Law, but that we 
 have done the very contrary. 
 
 105. With all justice, therefore, we may say of the teach- 
 ers of the Law, in the words of Psalms 5, 9 : "There is 
 no certainty in their mouth." Our translation has it "There 
 is no faithfulness in their mouth." Their teaching at it3 
 best can only say : If you do this, if you do that, you will 
 be saved. Christ speaks ironically when he answers the 
 scribe who had grandly set forth the doctrine of the Law, 
 by saying, "This do, and thou shalt live" (Lk 10, 28). He 
 shows the scribe that the doctrine is holy and good, but since 
 we are corrupt, it follows that we are guilty, since we do 
 not, and cannot, fulfil the Law. 
 
 106. Hence, we declare rightly that we are not justified 
 by the works of the Law. By the works of the Law we mean, 
 not the ceremonial commandments, but those highest com- 
 mandments of all, to love God and our neighbor. The rea- 
 son we are not justified is that ^v^e cannot keep the com- 
 mandments. We have reason, however, to challenge the im- 
 pudence of our opponents who set up the cry that we forbid 
 good works and condemn the Law of God because we deny 
 that justification is by works. This would be true if we 
 did not admit that the raven was sent forth from the ark 
 by ISToah. But we do say that the raven was sent out 
 from the ark. And this we deny, that it was not a raven, 
 or that it was a dove. All the clamor, the abuse, the 
 blasphemy of our opponents have no other purpose than to 
 force us to declare that the raven was a dove. 
 
 107. But now examine their books and carefully con- 
 sider their doctrine. Is it anything but a doctrine of works? 
 This is good, this is honorable, they say; this you must do; 
 the other is dishonorable and wicked, hence you must not 
 do it. On the strength of such teaching, they believe them- 
 selves to be true theologians and doctors. But let them 
 
298 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 show us the person who either has done or will do all 
 those things, especially if you present, not only the second 
 table of the Law, as they do, but also the first one. 
 
 108. He who takes his stand upon this doctrine of the 
 Law, then, is traly nothing but a hearer. He does not 
 learn anything except its demands. Since such persons 
 have no desire to learn anything further, it should suffice 
 for them if they are given the poem of Cato, or given Esop, 
 whom I consider a better teacher of morals. These two 
 writers are profitable reading for young men. Older per- 
 sons should study Cicero, who, to my astonishment, is con- 
 sidered by some as inferior to Aristotle in the sphere of 
 ethics. This would be a rational course of study. So far as 
 imparting moral precepts is concerned, the good intentions and 
 the assiduity of the heathen must be commended. Yet they 
 are inferior to Moses. He sets forth not only morality, but 
 also teaches the true worship of God. Nevertheless, he who 
 places his trust solely in Moses has nothing but the raven 
 wandering aimlessly about outside of the ark. Of the dove and 
 the olive branch, he has nothing. 
 
 109 The raven, then, represents not only the Law given 
 by God, but all laws and all philosophy which are the product 
 of human reason and wisdom. They tell us no more than 
 what ought to be done and do not provide the strength to do it. 
 The judgment of Christ is true: "When ye shall have done 
 all the things that are commanded you, say, "We are unprofit- 
 able servants" (Lk 17, 10). 
 
 110. True the raven is sent out. God desires the Law to 
 be taught. He reveals it from heaven; yea, he writes it upon 
 the hearts of all men, as Paul proves (Rom 2, 15). From this 
 inherent knowledge originated all writings of the saner phil- 
 osophers, of Esop, Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, Cicero and 
 Cato. And these are not unfit to set before untrained and 
 vicious persons, that their vile tendencies may be curbed to 
 some extent. 
 
 111. If, however, you seek for peace of conscience and for 
 certain hope of eternal life, such philosophers are like the ra- 
 ven, which wanders around the ark, finding no peace outside. 
 
GEJ^ESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 299 
 
 but not lookiug for it within. Paul says of the Jews, ''Israel, 
 following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that 
 law (1-kjn y, 31) . The reason for tliis is in the fact that the Law 
 (is like the raven; it is either the ministry of death and sin 
 or it produces hypocrites. 
 
 112. Xow, let those who wish, follow out this allegory by 
 studying the nature of the raven. It is an impure bird, of 
 somber and funereal color, with a strong beak and a harsh, 
 shrill voice. It scents dead bodies from a great distance, and 
 therefore men fear its voice as a certain augury of an impend- 
 ing death. It feeds upon carrion and enjoys localities made 
 foul by public executions. 
 
 113. Though I would not apply each and every one of these 
 characteristics to the Law, yet who does not see how well they 
 fit the servants of the Pope, the mass-priests and the monks, 
 who were not only richly fed upon the slaughter of consciences 
 by their false doctrines, but also used the dead bodies to obtain 
 their livelihood, since they made a paying business out of their 
 vigils, their anniversaries, their purifying water used in burials, 
 and even of purgatory itself. And surely, this devotion to the 
 dead was more profitable to them than their care of the living. 
 
 Truly, then, they are ravens, feeding on corpses and sitting 
 upon them with wild cries. Not only may the popish priests 
 be fitly likened to the ravens, but indeed the whole ministry 
 of the papacy, where it is at its best, does nothing but to gash 
 and murder consciences. It does not show the way to true 
 righteousness, but merely makes hypocrites, as does the Law. 
 
 114. Among other crimes of false prophets, Eziekiel enum- 
 erates (ch 13, 19) the fact that, for handfuls of barley and for 
 pieces of bread, they slay souls that should not die, and save 
 the souls alive that should not live. This is true of these ravens, 
 the teachers of the Law. They call those righteous who live 
 according to the letter of the Law, and yet these are the very 
 souls which do not live. On the other hand, they condemn 
 those who violate their traditions, just as the Pharisees con- 
 demned the disciples when they plucked ears of corn, when 
 they did not wash their hands and when they failed to fast. 
 
300 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 This is an outcry, fierce and dismal, reminding us of ravens 
 which sit upon corpses. 
 
 115. When cursing a wicked person, the Greeks said, "To 
 the ravens!" Similarly, the Germans use the expression, 
 "May the ravens devour you." If we make this curse an ele- 
 ment of the allegory, its serious character becomes evident. For 
 what is more deplorably disastrous than to have teachers, the 
 outcome of whose best teaching is death, and who ensnare the 
 conscience with difficulties that cannot be disentangled? 
 Though some say this allegory of the raven is inaptly applied 
 to the priesthood, it is true nevertheless and agrees with the 
 fundamental truth, and it is not only most apt, but very pro- 
 fitahle for instruction. 
 
 116. On the other hand, the incident of the dove is a most 
 delightful picture of the gospel, especially if you carefully con- 
 sider the characteristics of the dove. Ten of these are usually 
 enumerated : 1. It is without guile. 2. It does not harm with 
 its mouth. 3. It does not harm Avith its claws. 4. It gathers 
 pure grains. 5. It nourishes the young of others. 6. Its song 
 is a sigh. 7. It abides by the waters. 8. It flies in flocks. 9. 
 It nests in safe places. 10. Its flight is swift. These ten char- 
 acteristics have been set forth in six verses, as follows: 
 
 Free from guile is the dove; the bite of her beak does not injure; 
 "Wounds her claws do not strike ; pure is the gi-ain that she eats. 
 Frequent and swift is her flight to shining courses of water. 
 
 List to her voice, and lo! sighs you will hear but no song! 
 Other nestlings she rears ; in swarms she flies through the ether. 
 
 Safe is the place and high where she prepares her abode. 
 
 117. The New Testament tells us the Holy Spirit appeared 
 in the form of a dove (Mt 3, 16). Hence, we are justified in 
 using the dove as an allegory of the ministry of grace. 
 
 118. Moses implies that the dove did not fly aimlessly about 
 the ark, as did the raven, but having been sent out and finding 
 no place to rest, it returned to the ark and was seized by Noah. 
 
 119. This dove is a picture of the holy prophets sent to 
 teach the people; but the flood, that is, the time of the Law, 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 301 
 
 had not yet passed away. Thus David, Elias, Isaiah, though 
 they did not live to see the time of the New Testament, were 
 yet sent as messengers with the tidings that the flood would 
 eventually be brought to an end, though that time was at a 
 distance. Having delivered their message, they returned to the 
 ark; that is, they were justified and saved without the Law, by 
 faith in the blessed seed, in which they believed and for which 
 they longed. 
 
 120. After this, another dove was sent forth, which found 
 the earth dried, and not only the mountains, but also the trees, 
 standing free from water. But she alighted upon an olive 
 tree, plucked a branch, and brought it back to Noah. 
 
 131. The allegorical meaning of this incident is interpreted 
 by the Scriptures. The olive tree is very often used as a symbol 
 of grace, of mercy or of forgiveness of sins. The dove brings 
 the branch in her beak, thus typifying the outward ministry, 
 or the spoken Word. For the Holy Spirit does not teach by 
 new revelations aside from the ministry of the Word, as the 
 enthusiasts and Anabaptists, those truly fanatical teachers, 
 dream. It was the will of God that a branch from a living 
 olive tree should be carried to Noah in the mouth of the bird, 
 to teach that in the New Testament, the time of the flood or 
 anger being past, God desires to set his mercy before the world 
 by the spoken Word. 
 
 122. The messengers of this Word are doves; that is, sin- 
 cere men, without guile, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 
 60, 8, likens ministers of the Gospel or of grace to doves which 
 fly to their windows. And, though Christ commands them 
 to imitate the harmlessness of doves, Mt 10, 16, meaning that 
 they should be sincere and free from venom, yet, he admonishes 
 them to be wise like serpents; that is, they should be wary of 
 false and cunning people, and cautious like the serpent, which 
 is said to shield its head with special skill in a fight. 
 
 123. The green freshness of the olive branch, also, is a 
 type of the Word of the Gospel, which endureth forever and is 
 never without fruit. Psalms 1, 3 likens those who study the 
 Word to a tree, the leaves of which do not wither. We heard 
 nothing like this above concerning the raven, which flew to and 
 
302 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 fro near the ark. This second dove which was sent forth is 
 a type of the New Testament, where grace and the forgiveness 
 of sins are promised openly through the sacrifice of Christ. 
 This is why the Holy Spirit chose to appear in the form of a 
 dove in the New Testament. 
 
 134. The third dove did not return. After the fulfilment 
 of the promise given the whole world through the mouth of the 
 dove, no new teaching is to be looked for, but we simply await 
 the revelation of those things which we believe. Herein is 
 certain testimony fqr us that the Gospel will endure unto the . 
 end of the world. 
 
 125. The text, furthermore, specifies tlie time ISToah waited 
 after he had first sent forth a dove, namely, seven days. 
 These seven days typify the time of the Law which, of neces- 
 sity, preceded the period of the New Testament. 
 
 126. We read, likewise, that the second dove returned at 
 dusk, carrying the olive branch. To the Gospel the last age 
 of the world has been assigned. Nor should we look for another 
 kind of doctrine, for it is to an evening meal that Christ com- 
 pared the Gospel (Mt 22, 2; Lk 14,16). 
 
 127. True, the doctrine of the Gospel has been in the world 
 since the fall of our first parents, and the Lord confirmed this 
 promise to the patriarchs by various signs. Tlie first ages knew 
 nothing of the rainbow, nor of circumcision, nor of other signs 
 'afterward ordained by God. But all ages have known of the 
 blessed seed. Since it has been revealed, there remains nothing 
 else than the revelation of that which we believe. With the 
 third dove, we shall fly away to that other life, never to return 
 to the life here, so wretched and so full of grief. 
 
 128. These are my thoughts concerning this allegory. 1 
 have set them forth briefly, for we must not tarry with them 
 as we do with historical narratives and articles of faith. 
 
 129. Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Bernard seek dili- 
 gently for allegories. But this practice has one drawback. 
 The more attention they direct to allegories, the more do they 
 draw it away from the facts of sacred history and from faith, 
 to the exclusion of these more important things. Allegories 
 should be employed for the purpose of inducing and increasing, 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 303 
 
 of explaining and strengthening, that faith of which all the 
 stories treat. It is not to be wondered at, that persons who do 
 not seek faith in the stories of the Bible, look for the region 
 of allegorical shades as a pleasant playground in which to 
 stroll about. 
 
 L30. Just as in the popish Church false and unscriptural 
 words are rendered in sweet music, so learned men have too 
 often spoiled the good meaning of a Bible story, which contains 
 a useful lesson of faith, by their childish allegories. 
 
 131. I have often spoken of the kind of theology that pre- 
 vailed when I began to study. Its advocates said that the letter 
 killeth (2 Cor 3, 6). Therefore I disliked Lyra most of all 
 interpreters, because he followed the literal meaning so care- 
 fully. But now I prefer him, for this very reason, to all in- 
 terpreters of Scripture. 
 
 132. I advise you as strongly as I can to fully appreciate 
 the great value of the Bible history. But whenever you wish 
 to employ allegory, take pains to follow the analogy of 
 faith; that is, make the allegory agree with Christ, with the 
 Church, with faith, with the ministry of the Gospel. If con- 
 structed in this manner, allegories will not go astray from 
 ^aith, even though they may not be genuine in every point. 
 This foundation shall remain firm, while the stubble perishes. 
 But let us return to our story. 
 
 TV. NOAH AND HIS FALL. 
 
 IV. NOAH AND HIS FALL. flood 134. 
 
 A. NOAH. 3. Way Noah executed his of- 
 
 1. Noah's character before the fice as bishop 135. 
 
 flood 133. 4. Way he executed his office 
 
 2. Noah's character after the as a civil ruler 136. 
 
 IV. NOAH AND HIS FALL. 
 A. Noah. 
 "Vs. 20-22. And Noah began to he a husbandman, and 
 planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and was drunJc- 
 fn; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, th^i 
 father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his 
 two brethren without. 
 
 133. AVhat maimer of man Noah was during the flood, is 
 shown sufficiently by the story of the flood itself. What man- 
 
304 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD, 
 
 ner of man he had been before the flood, is shown by Moses' 
 declaration that he was righteous and perfect. Great as this 
 man was, we hear nothing else about him, except that his won- 
 derful and almost incredible continence is faintly suggested 
 and commended by the statement that he begat his first born 
 when five hundred years of age. This very fact shows that 
 human nature was by far stronger in its integrity at that time, 
 and that the Holy Spirit held more perfect sway in the holy 
 men of the (early world than He does in us who arc, as it were, 
 the dregs and the remnants of the world's production. 
 
 It surely was a commendatory record for ISToah to be ac- 
 corded righteous and perfect before God; that is, full of faith 
 and of the Holy Spirit, adorned with chastity and all goo4 
 works, pure in worship and religion, suffering many tempta- 
 tions from the devil, the world, and himself, all which he over- 
 came triumphantly. Such was Noah before the flood, 
 
 134. Of his life after the flood, Moses tells us very little. 
 But is it not apparent that so noble a man, living for about 
 350 years after the flood, could not be idle, but must have been 
 busy with the govermiient of the Church, which he alone es- 
 tablished; and ruled? 
 
 135. First of all, then, he performed the duties of a bishop. 
 Beset with various temptations, his foremost endeavor was to 
 resist the devil, to console the troubled ones, to bring back the 
 erring to the true way, to strengthen the doubting, to cheer 
 souls in despair, to exclude from his Church the impenitent, 
 and to receive back with fatherly gladness the repentant. For, 
 these are thie duties a bishop must perform through the minis- 
 try of the Word^ 
 
 136. Moreover, he had civil duties in establishing forms of 
 government and in making laws, without which human passions 
 cannot be held in check. To this was added the rule of his own 
 household, or the care of his home, 
 
 NOAH'S FALL. 
 
 B. NOAH'S FAJLL. 3. Noah's faH cannot be ex- 
 
 1. Why Moses omitted many cused 140-141. 
 important tiling's about , ^^. , ., „, „, „ „„-« + 
 Noah and related his fall 4. His fall caused a Rreat 
 137-138 scandal 142. 
 
 2, Lyra tries to excuse Noah's 5. Ham scandalized himself 
 fall 139. through it 142-143. 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 
 
 305 
 
 a. Real root of this scandal 
 144. 
 
 b. Thereby Noah greatly sin- 
 ned 145ff. 
 
 * Original sin develops pre- 
 sumptuous people 146-148. 
 
 c. This scandal reveals Sa- 
 tan's bitterest enmity 
 against God's Church 149. 
 
 * Papists are Ham's disciples 
 150. 
 
 * David's enemies rejoiced 
 over his fall 151. 
 
 6. To what end should Noah's 
 fall serve us 152-154. 
 
 * The godless are not worthy 
 to see God's glory in be- 
 lievers 155. 
 
 ■* Why we should not be vex- 
 ed aj; the infirmities of be- 
 lievers 156-157. 
 
 7. The conduct of Shem and 
 Japheth in this connection 
 158-173. 
 
 a. They still honored their fa- 
 ther, though they approved 
 not his deed 158. 
 
 * Origin of outward sin 159. 
 
 * How to avoid offense 160- 
 162. 
 
 * Luther aware of his own 
 infirmities 163. 
 
 * Attitude of the opponents 
 of the "Word to true 
 preachers 164. 
 
 * Why Moses never mention- 
 ed many great events in 
 Noah's life, and thought 
 of his fall 165-166. 
 
 b. Ho'w the sons covered their 
 father's shame 167. 
 
 c. Herein they had regard for 
 God's will and were there- 
 fore pleasing to God 168. 
 
 "* Ham's scandal. 
 
 (1) It was a wilful and griev- 
 ous sin 168-169. 
 
 (2) The lesson -we may learn 
 from it 170. 
 
 (3) Reward of this scandalous 
 deed, and w^hy Canaan is 
 here mentioned 172-173. 
 
 B. Noah's Fall. 
 
 137. Though reason tells us that Noah was burdened -vrith 
 these manifold duties after the flood, yet Moses does not men- 
 tion them. It appears to him sufficient to confine his remarks 
 to the statement that Noah began to plant a vineyard, and 
 that he lay in his tent drunken and naked. 
 
 This, surely, is a foolish and very useless tale in comparison 
 with the many praiseworthy acts he must have performed in 
 the course of so many years. Other things might have been 
 recorded for edification and for teaching righteousness of life. 
 But this story even seems to endorse an offense, by abetting 
 drunkards and those who sin in drunkenness. 
 
 138. The purpose of the Holy Spirit, however, is apparent 
 from what we have said. It is to console by this record of the 
 great sins committed by the holiest and most perfect patriarchs 
 those righteous persons who are discouraged by the knowledge 
 of their own weakness and are, therefore, cast down. In 
 them we are to find proofs of our own shortcomings, that we 
 may come to humble confession and, at the same time, seek 
 and hope for forgiveness. This is the real and theologically true 
 reason why the Holy Spirit records, rather than seemingly 
 more important matters, the great fall of this grand man. 
 
 139. Lyra states as excuse for Noah that he knew not the 
 power of wine and was deceived into drinking a little too 
 
306 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 freely. Whether wine had been known before or whether Noah 
 began to cultivate it by his own skill and by divine suggestion, 
 I know not, but I believe that Noah knew the nature of this 
 produce quite well, and that he had often made use of wine in 
 company with his family, partly for his own person and partly 
 also in his offerings or libations. I think that in making use 
 of wine for his own refreshment, he partook of it too freely. 
 
 140. His action I excuse in no way. Should anyone want 
 to do so, there would be weightier arguments than those Lyra 
 uses. According to him this aged man, tired out by the great 
 number of his daily duties and cares, had been overpowered by 
 the wine although he was already used to it. For wine overcomes 
 more easily those who are either exhausted by much work or 
 burdened with age. Persons of mature age, on the other hand, 
 and such of care-free mind, can drink considerable quantities 
 of wine without greatly impairing their reason. 
 
 141. But he who makes this excuse for the patriarch, wil- 
 fully casts aside that consolation which thte Holy Spirit con- 
 sidered needful for the Church, that even the greatst saints 
 sometimes fall into sin. 
 
 142. Transgression like this may seem to be slight, yet it 
 causes great offense. Not only is Ham offended, but also the 
 other brother, possibly also their wives. And we must not 
 imaginie that Ham was a boy of seven years. Having been 
 born when Noah was five hundred years old, he had reached 
 an age of at least one hundred years and had one or two 
 children of his own. 
 
 143. Hence, it was not boyish thoughtlessness which 
 caused Ham to laugh at his father, as boys will do when sur- 
 rounding a drunken rustic in the street and making sport of 
 him. He was truly offended by his father's sin and thouglit 
 himself to be more righteous, holy and religious than his father. 
 Noah's deed was an offense not only in appearance, but in very 
 truth, since Ham was so far tempted by the knowledge of it 
 that hie passed judgment upon Noah, and found in such sin 
 an occasion for mirth. 
 
 144. If we wish to judge Ham's sin aright, we must 
 take into account original sin, that is, the wickedness of the 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 307 
 
 heart. This son would never have derided his father for be- 
 ing overcome by wine had he not first dismissed from his soul 
 that reverence and esteem which God's commandment requires 
 children to cherish toward their parents. 
 
 145. Noah had been considered a fool before the flood, 
 by the majority of mankind, and had been condemned as a 
 false teacher and despised as a man of wild ideas. Now he 
 is laughed at by his son as a fool, and condemned as a 
 sinner. Noah was sole governor of the Church and State, 
 and ruled his own household with tireless care and labor. 
 He had doubtless therein offended the proud and haughty 
 spirit of his son in many ways. But the depravity of his 
 heart which now, that the father's sin had become manifest, 
 leaped to the surface, had so far been successfully concealed. 
 
 146. "When we consider the source of Ham's sin, its hid- 
 eousness first appears in its true light. One never becomes an 
 adulterer or commits murder until he has first cast out of 
 his heart the fear of God. A pupil does not rebel against 
 his teacher unless he has first lost due reverence for that 
 teacher. The fourteenth Psalm, verse 3, says that Jehovah 
 looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see 
 if there were any that did understand, and that did seek after 
 God. When he saw there was none he adds there was none 
 who did good; that they had all become worthless, sinning 
 tongues, sinning with their hands, fearing where there was nO 
 need of fear, and the like. 
 
 147. So Ham, in his own estimation, was wise and holy. 
 In his judgment his father had often acted unrighteously or 
 foolishly. His attitude discloses a heart that despised, not 
 only the parent, but also the divine commandment. Hence, 
 nothing remains for the evil-minded son but to grasp an op- 
 portunity for obtaining evidence to betray his father's fool- 
 ishness. He does not laugh at his drunken father as a boy 
 would, nor does he call his brethren merely that they may 
 look upon a laughable spectacle. He means that this shall 
 be open proof that God has withdrawn from his father and 
 has accepted himself. Therefore, he takes delight in disclos- 
 ing his father's sin to others. As I said before, Ham was not 
 
308 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 a boy of seven years, but had reached the age of at least one 
 hundred. 
 
 148. Original sin shows its depraving tendency in that it 
 makes men arrogant, haughty and conceited. Paul admonishes 
 in Eomans 12, 3, to think of one's self soberly, "according 
 as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith." But, 
 original sin does not permit Ham to occupy this lowly leyel; 
 hence, he presumes to go beyond his station in passing judg- 
 ment upon his father. 
 
 149. We observe the same attitude in Absalom. Before 
 he stirs up a rebellion against David, his father, he passes 
 unrighteous judgment upon David's governmient. This dis- 
 satisfaction with his father's rule was aftervi^ard followed by 
 unconcealed contempt and open violence, with David's de- 
 struction as the object. Ham's heart being full of poison 
 which he had gathered from his father as a spider gathers poi- 
 son from the fairest rose, precisely such a result had to follow. 
 
 150. These examples serve to call our attention to the 
 battle waged from the beginning of the world between the 
 Church and Satan with his followers, the hypocrites, or false 
 brethren. This deed of Ham must not be looked upon as a 
 result of boyish love of pranks, but of Satan's most bitter 
 enmity, wherewith he inflames his followers against the 
 Church. Particularly does he incite them against those in the 
 ministry, leading them to close watch at all times for material 
 available for purposes of slander. 
 
 The Papists at present have no other business than to 
 watch onr conversation for the purpose of slander. When- 
 ever we fall into human error (for we are truly weak and are 
 beset by our failings), they seize upon our moral uncleanness, 
 like famished swine, and find great delight in publishing 
 and betraying our weaknesses, like Ham the accursed. They 
 truly hunger and thirst after our offenses. Although by God's 
 grace they cannot fasten adultery, murder or like errors upon 
 us, unless by their own fabrication (this shameless class of 
 people abhor no kind of lie), yet they gather up smaller mat- 
 ters, which they afterward exaggerate to the public. 
 
 151. David's experience is well known. He was sur- 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 309 
 
 rounded on all sides by enemies who eagerly sought out every 
 opportunity for persecution. They were envious because he 
 had l)een called to the throne by God; hence, they triumpjied 
 over his horrible fall. 
 
 153. His case, however, serves for our instruction. God 
 sometimes permits even righteous and. holy men to stumble 
 and fall into offenses, either really or apparently, and -we 
 must take heed lest we pass judgment at onoe, after the ex- 
 ample of Ham, v^dio, having secretly despised his father long 
 before, now does so openly. He declared that his parent, being 
 imbecile by age, had clearly been deserted by the Holy Spirit, 
 since he was unable to guard against drunkenness, though 
 the government of the Church, State, and household lay upon 
 his shoulders. wretched Ham, how happy art thou, having 
 found at last what thou soughtest — ^poison in a most de- 
 lightful rose ! 
 
 153. Everlasting praises and blessings be given to God, 
 whose dealings with his saints are wonderful indeed. While 
 he permits them to be weak and to fall, to be overwhelmed 
 with disgrace and offenses, and while the world judges and 
 condemns them, he forgives them their weaknesses and has 
 compassion upon them; whereas he delivers into Satan's hands 
 those who regard themselves angels, and utterly rejects them. 
 
 The first lesson of this story is that godly persons have 
 the needed consolation against their infirmities when they 
 see that even the holiest men sometimes fell most disgracefully 
 by reason of similar infirmities. 
 
 154. In the second place, the case of Ham is a fearful ex- 
 ample of divine judgment, to teach us by Ham's experience not 
 to condemn at once, even when we see rulers of State, Church, 
 or household — such as our parents — fall into error and sin. Who 
 can tell why God so permits? Such sins must not be ex- 
 cused, yet we see that they are of value for the consolation 
 of the pious. They teach us that God can bear with the 
 errors and sins of his people and that even we, when beset 
 with sins, may trust in the mercy of God and need not lose 
 heart. 
 
 155. But what is medicine for the righteous, is poison 
 
310 LUTHEK ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 for the wicked. The latter do not seek to be taught and com- 
 forted by God. Tlieir unworthiness prevents them from recog- 
 nizing his glory in the saints. They see nothing but the 
 stumbling block and the snare, with the result that they fall 
 and are left to perish alone. 
 
 156. Let us, therefore, truly respect those in authority 
 over us. If they fall, we must not be offended. Yie must 
 remember that they are human, and that God's ways are won- 
 derful in his saints, because it is his will that the wicked shall 
 be offended and provoked. Thus Moses threatens the Jew^s: 
 "1 w^ill provoke them to anger with a foolish nation" (Deut 
 33,21). Because, during the whole period of the kingdom, 
 they refused to hear the prophets, God gave the offense of 
 casting away a wise and religious people, which had the prom- 
 ises and was descended from the patriarchs. In its place, he 
 chose the filth and dregs of the world, a foolish people; 
 that is, it was without piety, without religion, without wor- 
 ship, without that divine wisdom which is his "Word. This of- 
 fense roused the Jews to insane anger. 
 
 157. This will be the lot of the papists. Some great of- 
 fense shall be given them by God against which they shall 
 find themselves helpless, and thus they shall come to grief 
 like Ham. Eenouncing the reverence due both to God and 
 his father, in deeming himself more capable of ruling the 
 Church than Noah, in secretly deriding or censuring his parent, 
 he finally presents the spectacle of disclosing his wicked and 
 irreverent attitude before others. 
 
 158. The two other brothers, Shem and Japheth, did 
 not follow Ham's wicked example. While conscious of the 
 scandalous fact that their father was drank and lay in shame- 
 less nakedness like a little boy, — while recognizing that this 
 ill became the ruler of Church and State, they remained 
 mindful of the reverence due a parent. They gulped down 
 the offense given; they hid the offense and gave it a worthier 
 aspect, so to speak, by covering their father with a garment, 
 approaching him with eyes averted. They would have been 
 incapable of this fine outward expression of reverence for their 
 father, had they not occupied a correct attitude toward God in 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 311 
 
 their hearts and believed their father to be both priest and 
 ruler bj right divine. 
 
 151). It is a fearful example, this one of Ham. Though 
 oue of the few saved during the flood, he forgets all piety. It 
 is profitable to carefully consider how he came to fall. Out- 
 ward sins must first be cormiiitted in our minds; that is, 
 before sins are visibly committed, the heart first departs from 
 the Word and from the fear of God. It neither knows God 
 nor seeks after him, as we read in Psalms 14, 2. As soon 
 as the heart begins to set aside the Word, and to despise the 
 ministers and prophets of God, ambition and pride follow. 
 Those who stand in the way of our desires are overborne by 
 hatred and slander, until finally insolent speech ends in 
 murder. 
 
 160. Those who are to become rulers of Church or State, 
 should daily pray earnestly to God that they may remain 
 humble. It is the object of stories of tliis character to set 
 this duty before us, for it is evident what occasioned Ham's 
 frightful fall. 
 
 161. If, then, the saints fall into sin, let us not be of- 
 fended. Much less should we rejoice over the weakness of 
 others, haughtily esteeming ourselves braver, wiser, or holier 
 than they. Let us rather endure and cover np, and even put 
 a good construction upon and excuse such errors in so far as we 
 can, remembering that perhaps tomorrow we may suffer what 
 happened to them today. For we all constitue a unit, being 
 born of the same flesh. Let us then heed the advice of Paul, 
 "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest fe fall'' 
 (1 Cor 10, 12). In this way the other two brothers looked upon 
 their drunken father. Their thoughts were these: Behold, 
 our father has fallen. But God is wonderful in his dealing 
 with saints, whom he sometimes permits to fall for our in- 
 struction, that we may not despair when afflicted by kindred 
 infirmity. 
 
 162. Let us imitate their wisdom ! The sins of others 
 give us no right to judge them. Before their own master they 
 stand or fall (Eom 14, 4). Furthermore, if the downfall of 
 others displease us (since, in truth, many acts neither can 
 
312 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 nor ought to be excused), let us be so much the more careful 
 lest something like it overtake ourselves. Let us not sit in 
 proud and haughty judg-ment, for this is original sin in all 
 its corruption: To lay claim to exceptional wisdom and to 
 hunt for the moral lapses of others in order to gain the re- 
 putation of righteousness for ourselves. 
 
 163. We truly are weak sinners and must freely confes.s^ 
 being human, that our conversation is not always free from 
 offense. But while we share this weakness with our enemies, 
 we nevertlieless do our duty diligently, by spreading God's 
 Word, by teaching tlie churches, by bettering the evil, by urg- 
 ing the right, by consoling the weak, by chiding the stubborn, 
 and, in brief, by doing whatever duty God lays upon us. 
 
 164. On the other hand since our adversaries strive after 
 nothing but hypocrisy and an outward show of holiness, so 
 they add to the frailty which they have in common with us^ 
 the most grievous sins, because they do not follow their calling, 
 but concern themselves with their honors and emoluments. 
 They neglect the churches and suffer them to miserably decay. 
 They condemn the true doctrine and teach idolatiy. In short, 
 in public life they are wise, but in their own sphere they are 
 utterly foolish. This is the most destructive evil in the 
 Church. 
 
 165. This is the first part of the story, and, in the pre- 
 paration of his record, Moses has confined himself to the same. 
 It is certain tliat Noah was a righteous man, gifted with many 
 heroic virtues, and that he accomplished most important things 
 both for the Church and for the State. It is not possible 
 either to establish political communities or to found churches 
 except by diligent effort. Life, in both these manifestations (I 
 will say nothing of the management of the home) is beset 
 with many dangers; for Satan, a liar and murderer, is the 
 most relentless enemy of Church and State. 
 
 166. But Moses passes by all these achievements, not so 
 much as alluding to them. He records but this one circum- 
 stance — that ISToah became drunk and was scoffed at by his 
 youngest son. He intended it as a valuable example, teaching 
 pious souls to trust in God's mercy. On the other hand, the 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 313 
 
 proud, tlie lovers of cant, the sanctimonious, the wise-acres, — 
 let them learn to fear God and beware of passing a reckless 
 judgment upon others ! As Manasseh the king declares, God 
 displays in his saints both his wonders and his terrors "against 
 wicked and sinful men." This is illustrated in the case of 
 Ham, who did not now first come to his downfall but had 
 cherished this hate against his father for a long time, after- 
 ward to fill tlie world with idolatry. 
 
 Vs. 23-2T. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and 
 laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and 
 covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces zwre 
 backzvard, and they saw not their father s nakedness. And No- 
 ah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had 
 done unto him. And he said. Cursed be Canaan; a servant 
 of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 
 
 167. It is truly a beautiful and memorable example of 
 respect to a father which Moses records in this passage. The 
 sons might without sin have approached their father and cover- 
 ed him, while turning their faces toward him. What sin should 
 it be if one, happening upon a nude person, should see what is 
 before him without his will? Still the two sons do not do 
 this. When they heard from their haughty and mocking brother 
 what had happened to their father, they laid a garment 
 upon both their shoulders, entered the tent with faces turned 
 away (how admirable!), and lowering the garment backward, 
 covered their father. 
 
 168. Who can fail to observe here the thoughtfulness of 
 the will and Word of God, and reverence before the majesty 
 of fatherhood, which God requires to be honored, not despised 
 or mocked by children? God seems to approve this reverence 
 and accept it as a most pleasing offering and the very noblest 
 worship and obedience. But his utmost hatred rests upon Ham, 
 who might have seen without sin what he saw, since it came 
 to his view by chance, if only he had covered it up, if only 
 he had remained silent about it, if only he had not shown 
 himself to be pleased by the sin of his father. But he who 
 despised God, the Word, and the order established by God, 
 
314 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE PLOOD. 
 
 not only failed to cover bis father with a garment, but even 
 derided bim and left him naked. 
 
 169. In describing the act of the two brothers Moses 
 emphasizes the malice of Ham, who was hlled with violent 
 and satanic hatred against his father. Who of us, on finding 
 a stranger lying by the wayside drunk and nude, would not 
 at least cover him with his own coat to forestall disgrace? 
 How much greater the demand in this case of a father ! Ham, 
 however, fails to do for bis father, the highest ruler of the 
 world, what common humanity teaches us to do for strangers. 
 Moreover he publishes tlie circumstance joyfully, insulting bis 
 drunken father and making the sin of his father known to 
 his brothers as if he had a piece of good news. 
 
 170. Moses, therefore, sets Ham before us as a fearful 
 example, to be carefully taught in the churches, in order that 
 young people may learn to respect their elders, rulers, and 
 parents. Not on account of Noah, not on account of Ham, 
 but on account of those to come — on our account — is this 
 story written, and Ham, with his contempt for God and father, 
 pictured in most repulsive colors. 
 
 171. Also the punishment of this wickedness is carefully 
 set before us. Noah, looked upon by his son as a foolish, in- 
 sane, and ridiculous old man, now steps forth in the majesty 
 of a prophet, to announce to his son a divine revelation of 
 future events. Truly does Paul declare that "power is made 
 perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12, 9) ; for the certainty char- 
 acterizing Noah's utterance is proof that he was filled with 
 the Holy Spirit, notwithstanding that his son had mocked and 
 despised him as one utterly deserted by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 172. I v^dll not attempt here to settle the question above 
 referred to (ch. 5, §95) concerning the order of the sons of No- 
 ah, as to which of them was the first-born and which the 
 youngest. A point more worthy of our attention is the fact 
 that the Holy Spirit is so filled wath strong wrath against 
 that disobedient and scornful son that he does not even 
 choose to call him by his own name, but calls him Canaan 
 after the name of his son. Some say that, because God bad 
 desired to save Ham in the ark as one under his blessing the 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 315 
 
 same as the others, he had no wish to curse him, but cursed 
 Canaan instead, a curse which, nevertheless, could not but 
 recoil upon Ham who had provoked it. Thus Ham's name 
 perishes here, since the Holy Spirit hates it, whose hatred is, 
 indeed, a serious hatred. We read in the psalm, "I hate 
 them with perfect hatred" (Ps 139, 33). When the Holy Spirit 
 exercises his wrath, eternal death must follow, 
 
 173. Although Ham had sinned against his father in 
 many ways, it is remarkable tliat the fruit of the first sin 
 and the devil's malice did not become manifest until the 
 father lay drunk and bare. When, with this sin, the previous 
 ones had attained to fullness of power and growth, the Holy 
 Spirit condemned him, and, as a warning to others, also an- 
 nounced the infliction of impending, endless servitude. 
 
 V. 36. A7id he said. Blessed be Jehovah, the God of 
 Shem; and let Canaan he his servant. 
 
 These are two sublime prophecies, worthy of close attention. 
 Thej^ have significance in our time, though they were grossly 
 garbled by the Jews. The Jews observe that Ham is cursed 
 thrice; this fact they wrest to the glory of their own nation, 
 promising themselves worldly dominion. 
 
 V. HAM CURSED; SHEM AND JAPHETH BLESSED. 
 
 A. THEJ CURSE PRONOUNCE! B. BLESSING PRONOUNCED 
 
 1 ^^^r^ ^^^ 174-18S. _ UPON SHEM 189-191. 
 
 1. Why Ham was thrice j ^j^jg jg ^^ exceedingly 
 cursed 174. o-reat blessing 189 
 
 * Disrespect of parent's, pas- 2. Why is it clothed in praise 
 tors and authority signs of ^q qo(J 190 
 approaching m i s fo rtune 3 ^j^jg blessing proves that 
 iX^. , , ^, Noah possessed a precious 
 
 2. Way Ham disregarded the light 191 
 
 '■ fSi^yt''^^'^''''' ^- ^^^rii?HET^H^?^2?F2r^^^ 
 
 4. Ham's temporal prosperity 1. Why the form of Japheth's 
 continued with his curse blessing differed from that 
 179-181. of Ham's 192. 
 
 * Faith alone grasps God's 2. Herein lies a special secret 
 threatenings and promises 193. 
 
 180-181. 3. The Jews' false interpreta- 
 
 * Reason God postpones pun- tion of this blessing 194. 
 ishment and reward 181- 4. Relation of these two 
 182. blessings to each other 195. 
 
 * The Papal Church is not * The Jews' false notion 
 the true Churh 183. about Shem's blessing 196. 
 
 * Believers have comfort in 5. The order in which these 
 their tribulations 184-185. blessings are enjoyed 197- 
 
 * The pious have their king- 198. 
 
 dom here in faith 1S6. * The form God's Church 
 
 5. From this curse it is clear takes in this world 199. 
 Noah was enlightened by * Divine promises and threat- 
 the Holy Spirit 187. enings to be understood in 
 
 * Were all Ham's descend- a spiritual sense 199-200. 
 ents cursed? 188. * HamandCain resemble one 
 
.".16 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 another in their positions the sense of the Holy Splr- 
 
 and works 201. it 212. 
 
 * The Turk and the Pope. d. What explanation should 
 
 a. What strengthens them in be given here 213-215. 
 tlieir opposition to tlie 7. All descendents of Japhetli 
 true Church 202. partake of this blessing 
 
 * How a Christian should through the Gospel 216-2 1;. 
 conduct himself in times of !S. Tra.nslations of Latin in- 
 misfortunes 203. terpreters of this blessiiio 
 
 b. The power and advantages are to be harmonized witli 
 
 of the Turk and Pope of no the original text 218-219. 
 
 avail 204. * Ham's name 220-221. 
 
 c. Attitude of Church mem- a. Its meaning and reason hi.s 
 bers to their pride 205-206. parents gave it to him z2u. 
 
 * Wliy Ham's name w^as nui b. The hope of his parents in 
 mentioned wlien he was tliis name disappointed 2i 
 cursed 207-20S. 9. It is ascribed to this prom- 
 
 6. The word dilatet the Latin.s ise that Germany in these 
 
 use in explaining Japheth's last days received the light 
 
 hlessing 209-210. of the Gospel 222. 
 
 a. It is not in liarmony wilb * Abraham had Noah as his 
 the Hebrew 209-210. teacher 223. 
 
 b. Why all Latin interpreters * The temporal prosperity of 
 use it 211. Hain's family, and their 
 
 c. It does not fully express wickedness 224. 
 
 A. The Curse Pronounced Upon Ham. 
 
 174. But there is another reason for this repeatedly ut- 
 tered curse. God cannot forget such great irreverence toward 
 parents, nor does he suffer it to go unpunished. He requires 
 that parents and rulers be regarded with reverence. He re- 
 quires that elders be honored, commanding that one shall rise 
 up before a hoary head (Lev 19, 33). And, speaking of min- 
 isters of the Word, he says, "He that despiseth you, despisetli 
 me" (Mt 10, 40; Lk 10, 16). 
 
 175. Henoe disobedience of parents is a siu'e indication 
 that curse and disaster are close at hand. Likewise is con- 
 tempt of ministers and of rulers punished. When the people 
 of the primitive world began to deride the patriarchs and to 
 hold their authority in contempt, the flood followed. When, 
 among the people of Judah, the child began to behave himself 
 proudly against the old man, as Isaiah has it (ch. 3, 5), Jeru- 
 salem was laid waste and Judah went dov^^n. Such corruption 
 of morals is a certain sign of impending evil. We justly fear 
 for Germany a like fate when we look upon the prevailing 
 disrespect for authority. 
 
 176. Let us, however, bear witness of a practice to which 
 both Holy Writ and our experience testify. Because 
 God delays the threatened punishment he is mocked and con- 
 sidered a liar. In this practice we should see the seal, as it 
 were, to every prophecy. Ham liears that he is accursed; but 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 317 
 
 inasmuch as the curse does not go into immediate effect, he 
 securely despises and derides the same. 
 
 177. Thus did the first world hold Noah's prophecy in 
 ridicule when he spoke of the flood. Had they believed that 
 such a punishment was close at hand, would they have gone on 
 in a feeling of security? Would they not rather have re- 
 pented and begun a better life? If Ham had believed that to 
 be time which he heard from his father, he would have sought 
 refuge in mercy and, confessing his crime, craved forgiveness. 
 But he did neither; rather did he haughtily leave his father, 
 to go to Babylon. There, with his posterity, he gave himself 
 up to the building of a city and of a tower, and made him- 
 self lord of all Greater Asia. 
 
 178. What is the reason for this feeling of security? It 
 lies in the fact that divine prophecies must be believed; they 
 cannot be perceived by our senses, or by experience. This is 
 true both of divine promises and of divine threats. Therefore 
 the opposite always seems to the flesh to be true. 
 
 179. Ham is cursed by his father; but he lays hold upon 
 the greater portion of the earth and establishes vast kingdoms. 
 On the other hand, Shem and Japheth are blessed, but in 
 comparison with Ham, they and their posterity are beggarly. 
 
 Where then are we to seek the truth of this prophecy? I 
 answer: This prophecy and all others, whether they be prom- 
 ises or threats, cannot be understood by reason, but by faith 
 alone. God delays both punishments and rewards; hence there 
 is need of endurance. For "He that endureth to the end, the 
 same shall be saved," as Christ says (Mt 24, 13). 
 
 180. The life of all pious people is wholly of faith and 
 hope. The evidence of our senses, history, and the way of the 
 world, would teach us the opposite. Ham is cursed, yet he 
 alone obtains dominion. Shem and Japheth are blessed,' yet 
 they alone bear reproach and affliction. Since both the prom- 
 ises and the threats of God reach out into the future, the issue 
 must be awaited in faith. Habakkuk says (ch. 2, 3), "It will 
 surely come, it will not delay." 
 
 181. Great is the wrath of the Holy Spirit which here 
 prompts him to say of Ham, "A servant of servants shall he 
 
318 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 be;" that is, the lowest and vilest of slaves. But if you let 
 history speak, you will see Hani rule in Canaan, whereas 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others who followed, and 
 had the blessing, lived like servants among the Canaanites. 
 The Egyptians are Ham's offspring, and how cruel was the 
 servitude Israel suffered there! 
 
 182. How, then, was it true that Ham was cursed and 
 Shem was blessed? In this way: The fulfillment of the 
 promise and of the threat was in the future. This delay is 
 ordained in order that tlie wicked may fill their measure of 
 sin and may not be able to accuse Grod of having given them 
 no room for repentance. On the other hand, when the right- 
 eous suffer at the hands of the unrighteous and become the 
 servants of servants, they undergo such trial and descipline 
 for the purpose of increasing in faith and in love toward God ; 
 so that, trained in manifold vexations and tribulations, they 
 may attain the promise. 
 
 When the time was fulfilled, the might of Ham's posterity 
 was not great enough to withstand the posterity of Shem. 
 Then, indeed, was fulfilled that curse which Ham and his pos- 
 terity had so long despised and disbelieved. 
 
 183. It is much the same with us today. We have the 
 true doctrine and the true worship. Hence we can boast that 
 we are the true Church, having the promise of spiritual bless- 
 ings in Christ. As the pope's church condemns our doctrine, 
 we know her to be not the Church of Christ but of Satan, and 
 truly, like Ham, a "servant of servants." And yet anyone may 
 see that the pope rules, while we are servants aid the off- 
 scouring, as Paul says (1 Cor 4, 12). 
 
 184. What, then, shall we poor, oppressed people do? We 
 are to comfort our souls meanwhile with our spiritual do- 
 minion. We know we have forgiveness of sins and a gracious 
 'God, through Christ, until also temporal freedom shall be 
 vouchsafed on the last day. And we are not without traces 
 of temporal freedom even in this life; for while tyrants stub- 
 bornly oppose the Gospel, they are cut off from the earth, root 
 and branch. 
 
 185. So was the Eoman empire destroyed after all the 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 319 
 
 other world-powers perished; but God's Word and Church 
 remain forever. Likewise, Christ weakens the Pope's power, 
 little by little; but that he may be utterly removed and become 
 a servant of servants with wicked Ham is a matter for faith 
 to aw^ait. Ham is shut out from the kingdom of God and 
 possesses the kingdoms of the world for a time. Just as the 
 pope is shut out from the Church of God and holds temporal 
 dominion for a time. But his dominion shall vanish. 
 
 186. The divine law and order is that the righteous have 
 dominion, but by faith, being satisfied with such spiritual 
 blessing as a gracious God and the certain hope of the heaven- 
 ly kingdom. Meanwhile, we leave possession of the kingdoms 
 of the world to the wicked until God shall scatter also their 
 worldly power, and, through Christ, make us heirs of all 
 things. 
 
 187. Furthermore, we learn from this prophecy that Noah, 
 by a special illumination of the Holy Spirit, was enabled to 
 see, in the first place, that his posterity would remain forever, 
 and in the second place, that the family of Ham, though they 
 were to be rulers for a time, would perish at last and above 
 all would lose the spiritual blessing. 
 
 188. However, the explanation given above (ch. 4, §182) 
 with reference to the descendants of Cain, applies also here. 
 I do not entertain the opinion that the offspring of Ham 
 were doomed, without exception. Some found salvation by 
 being converted to faith, but such salvation was not due to a 
 definite promise but to uncovenanted grace, so to speak. Like- 
 wise the Gibeonites and others were saved when the children 
 of Israel occupied the land of Canaan. Job, ISTaaman the 
 SHrrian, the people of Nineveh, the widow of Zarephath, and 
 others from the heathen were saved, not by virtue of a promise, 
 but by uncovenanted grace. 
 
 B. Blessing Pronounced Upon Shem. 
 
 189. But why does Noah not say, "Blessed be Shem/' 
 instead of, "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem"? I 
 answer that it is because of the magnitude of the blessing. 
 The reference here is not to a temporal blessing, but to the 
 future blessing through the promised seed. He sees this bless- 
 
320 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ing to be so great that he cannot express it; hence, he turns 
 to thanksgiving. It seems that Zacharias was thinking of this 
 very passage when he said, for a similar reason, "Blessed be 
 the Lord, tlie God of Israel'^ (Lk 1, 68). 
 
 190. iSToah's blessing takes the form of thanksgiving unto 
 God. God, he says, is blessed, who is the God of Shem. In 
 other words: It is needless for me to extend my blessing 
 over Shem, who has been blessed before with spiritual bless- 
 ing; he already is a child of God, and from him the Church 
 will be continued, as it Avas continued from Seth before the 
 flood. Full of wonderful meaning is the fact that ISroah joins 
 God with Shem, his son, and, as it were, unites them. 
 
 191. Noah's heart must have been divinely illumined since 
 he makes such a distinction between his sons, rejecting Ham 
 with his posterity and placing Shem in line with the saints 
 and the Church because the spiritual blessing, given in para- 
 dise concerning the seed, would rest upon him. Therefore, 
 this holy man blesses God and gives thanks unto him. 
 
 C. Blessing Pronounced Upon Japheth. 
 V. 27. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the 
 tents of Shem; and let Canaan he his servant. 
 
 192. This prophecy is wonderful for the aptness of each 
 single word. Noah did not bless Shem, but the God of Shem, 
 by way of giving thanks to God for having embraced Shem 
 and having adorned him with a spiritual promise, or the 
 blessing of the woman's seed. But when he mentions Japheth 
 he does not employ the same manner of speaking as in the 
 case of Shem. His words are chosen for the purpose of 
 showing the mystery of which Paul speaks (Eom 11, 11) and 
 Christ (Jn 4, 22), that salvation is from the Jews and yet 
 the gentiles also became partakers of this salvation. Shem 
 alone is the true root and stem, yet the heathen are grafted 
 upon this stem, as a foreign branch, and become partakers of 
 the fatness and the sap which are in the chosen tree. 
 
 193. Noah, seeing this through the Holy Spirit, predicts, 
 in dim allusions but correctly, that Christ's kingdom is to 
 spread in the world from the root of Shem, and not from that 
 of Japheth, 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 321 
 
 194. The Jews prate that Japheth stands for the neigh- 
 boring nations around Jerusalem which were admitted to the 
 temple and its worship. But Noah makes little ado about 
 the temple of Jerusalem, or the tabernacle of Moses; his 
 words refer to greater matters. He treats of the tliree patri- 
 archs who are to replenish the earth. While he affirms of 
 jJapheth that he does not belong to the root of the people of 
 God which possesses the promise of the Christ, he declares 
 that he shall be incorporated through the call of the G-ospel 
 into the fellowship of that people which has God and the 
 'promises. 
 
 195. Here, then, we have a picture of the Church of the 
 Gentiles and of the Jews. Ham, being wicked, is not admit- 
 ted to the spiritual blessing of the seed, except as it happens 
 by uncovenanted grace. To Japheth, however, though he has 
 not the promise of the seed, like Shem, the hope is neverthe- 
 less given that he will, at some future time, be taken into the 
 fellowship of the Church. Thus we Gentiles, being sons of 
 Japheth, have no direct promise, indeed, and yet we are 
 included in the promise given to the Jews, since we are pre- 
 destined to the fellowship of the holy people of God. These 
 matters are here recorded, not for Shem and Japheth so 
 much as for their posterity. 
 
 196. We learn why the Jews are so haughty and boastful. 
 They see that Shem, their father, alone has the promise of 
 eternal blessing, which is given through Christ. So far, so 
 good. But when they believe that the promise pertains not 
 to faith but rather to the carnal descent, they are in error. 
 This subject has been splendidly treated by Paul (Eom 9, 6). 
 There he establishes the fact that the children of Abraham are 
 •not his carnal descendants but those who have his faith 
 (Gal 3, 7). 
 
 197. The same thought is suggested here by Moses, who 
 says in so many words, "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of 
 Shem." This shows that there is no blessing except by the 
 God of Shem. Hence, no Jew will share this blessing unless 
 he have the God of Shem ; that is, unless he believes. ISTor 
 will Japheth share the bles^g unless he dwells in the tents 
 
322 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 of Shem, that is, unless lie associates himself with him in 
 faith. 
 
 198. This is a grand promise, valid unto the end of the 
 world. But Just as it is limited to those who have the God 
 of Shem, that is, who believe, so the curse also is limited to 
 those who abide in the wickedness of Ham. Noah spoke these 
 words, not on the strength of human authority and feeling, 
 but by the Spirit of God. His words then refer not to a 
 temporal, but to a spiritual and eternal curse. Nor must 
 we understand him to speak of a curse that is a curse only 
 in the sight of the world, but rather of one in the sight of 
 God. 
 
 199. The same statement has been made heretofore (ch 4 
 §183) regarding the curse of Cain. Judged by outv^rard ap- 
 pearances, Cain obtained a greater earthly blessing than Seth. 
 God desires that his Church in this world shall apparently suf- 
 fer the curse pronounced upon the wicked and that, on tlie 
 other hand, the wicked shall seem to be blessed. Cain was the 
 first man to build a city, calling it Enoch; while Seth dv^^elt 
 in tents. 
 
 200. Thus did Ham build the city and tower of Babel 
 and ruled far and wide, while Shem and Japheth were poor, 
 living in lowly tents. The facts of history, then, teach thot 
 both the promises and the curses of God are not to be un- 
 derstood carnally, or of the present life, but spiritually. Al- 
 though oppressed in the world, the righteous are surely heirs 
 and sons of God, while the wicked, though flourishing for a 
 season, shall ultimately be cut down and wither; a warning 
 often uttered in the Psalms. 
 
 201. There is a striking similarity in the conduct and the 
 lot of Cain and Ham. Cain killed his brother, which shows 
 plainly enough the lack of reverence for his father in liis 
 heart. Ha\ing been put in the ban by his father, he leaves 
 the Church of the true God and the true worship, builds 
 the city of Enoch, giving himself up altogether to worldly 
 things. Just so does Ham sin by dishonoring his father. 
 "Wlien also he subsequently receives as sentence the curse 
 whereby he is excluded from the promised seed and the Church, 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 323 
 
 he parts with God and the Church without misgivings, since the 
 curse rests not upon his person but upon that of his son, and 
 migrates to Bab3'lon, where he establishes a kingdom. 
 
 202. These are very illustrious examples and needed by 
 the Church, Turk and Pope today; allow us to boast of the 
 heavenly and everlasting promise in that we have the Gospel 
 doctrine, and are the Church They know, however, our judg- 
 ment of them, that we consider and condemn both Pope and 
 Turk as very Antichrist. How securely they ignore our judg- 
 ment, confidently because of the wealth and power they pos- 
 sess, and also because of our weakness in character and num- 
 bers. The very same spirit we plainly see in Cain and Ham, 
 in the condemned and excommunicated. 
 
 203. These truths enforce the lesson that we must not 
 seek an abiding city or country in this bodily existence, but 
 in its varying changes and fortunes look to the hope of eter- 
 nal life, promised through Christ. This is the final haven; 
 and we must strive for it with sail and oar, as eager and ear- 
 nest sailors while the tempest rages. 
 
 204. What if the Turk should obtain sway over the whole 
 world, which he never will? Michael, as Daniel says, will bring 
 aid to the holy people, the Church (ch. 10, 13). What matter 
 if the Pope should gain possession of the wealth of all the 
 world, as he has tried to do for many centuries with all 
 the wealth at his command? Will Turk and Pope thereby 
 escape death, or even secure permanence of temporal power? 
 Why, then, should we be misled by the temporal blessings 
 which they enjoy, or by our misfortunes and dangers, since 
 we know that they are banished from the fellowship of the 
 saints, while we enjoy everlasting blessings through the Son 
 of God? 
 
 205. If Cain and Ham, and Pope and Turk, who are as 
 father and son to each other, can afford to despise the judg- 
 ment of the true Church on the strength of fleeting and 
 meager successes in this life, why can not we afford in turn 
 to despise their power and censure, on the strength of the ever- 
 lasting blessings which we possess? Ham was not moved 
 by his father's curse. Full of anger against him, and despis- 
 
324 LUTHEE ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 ing him. as a crazy old man, he goes away and arms himself 
 with the power of the world, esteeming this more highly than 
 to be blessed with Shem by his father. 
 
 206. This story should give us strength for the similar 
 experiences of today. The priests and bishops heap contempt 
 upon us, saying, What can those poverty stricken heretics do? 
 Priest and bishop are puffed up with their wealth and power. 
 But let us bear this insolence of the wicked vi^ith undisturbed 
 mind, as Noah bore that of his son. Let us take consolation 
 in the hope and faith of the eternal benediction, of which, we 
 know, they are deprived. 
 
 207. I said above (§172) that the Holy Spirit was so 
 greatly angered by the sin of Ham that he could not bear 
 even to speak his name in the curse. And it is true, as the 
 punishment shows, that Ham sinned gi'ievously. The other 
 1-eason mentioned above as not at all unlikely, I will here 
 repeat: Ham had been called and received into the ark by 
 the divine Word, and had been saved with the others, and 
 Noah wanted to spare him whom God had spared in the 
 flood. Therefore, he transferred the curse which Ham mer- 
 ited, to Canaan, his son, whom Ham doubtless desired to keep 
 with him. 
 
 208. The Jews offer a different explanation: Canaan, 
 the son, having been the first to see his grandfather Noah 
 lying naked, announced it to his father, who then saw for 
 himself; hence, Canaan gave his father cause to commit the 
 sin. Let the reader Judge what value there is in this exposi- 
 tion. 
 
 209. But there is also a philological question which must 
 be discussed in connection. Scholars call translators to ac- 
 count for the rendering, "God enlarge Japheth," when the 
 Hebrew v/ords do not permit it, though not only the Hebrews 
 but also the Chaldeans, are mostly agreed that the word 
 jepheth means "to enlarge." Technical discussions of this 
 kind, however, are sometimes very useful to clear up the pre- 
 cise meaning of a passage. 
 
 210. Some scholars derive the name Japheth from the 
 verb jephah, which signifies to he heautiful, as in Ps 45, 2 : 
 
GENESIS IX. KAINBOW COVENANT. 325 
 
 jaij'ajaijhlia mibene Adam/'Thoxx art fairer than the cliildren of 
 men." But this may easily be shown to be an error; for the 
 ti-ue origin of the word is the verb phatah, which means "to 
 persuade," "to deceive with fair words" as in Ex. 23 16: 
 ki jephateh isch hetulali, "If a man entice a virgin, he shall 
 surely pay a dowry for her." And in Jer 20, 7 : pethithani 
 Jehovah va-epath, "0 Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me and 
 I was persuaded ;" Prov 1, 10 : Im-jephatuhah, "If sinners en- 
 tice thee." There is no need of more examples, for the word 
 occurs frequently, and I have no doubt that it is derived 
 from the Greek word peitho, for it has the same meaning. 
 
 211. But let us turn to the question: Why have all 
 translators made it read, "Grod enlarge Japheth," while it 
 is not the word pathach, which means "to enlarge" or "to 
 open", but rather the word pathah? I have no doubt that the 
 translators were influenced by the harsh expression. Since 
 this is a promise, it seemed too harsh to state that Noah 
 had said, "God deceive Japheth." This would appear to be 
 a word of cursing, not of blessing. Hence they chose a milder 
 term, though it, violated the rules of language. And since 
 there is but a slight difference between pathach, and pathah, 
 they used one for the other. They meant to preserve the 
 important fact that this is a promise. 
 
 212. But there is no need for us to alter the text in this 
 manner, and to violate its grammatical construction, since the 
 word pathah, offers a most suitable meaning. Being a word 
 of double meaning, as the word suadere in Latin, it may be 
 accepted either in a bad or in a good sense. Hence, it is 
 not irreverent to apply this word to God. We find it clearly 
 so used in Hosea 2, 11, where the Lord says: "Therefore, 
 behold, I vv^ill (mephateha) allure her (or, entice her by coax- 
 ing), and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably 
 unto her." I will suckle her, speak sweetly unto her, and thus 
 will I deceive her, as it were, so that she may agree with me, 
 so that the Church will join herself to me, etc. 
 
 In this sense the word may here rightly be taken to mean 
 "allure," "persuade," "coax by means of friendly words and 
 flattery." God suckle, persuade, deceive Japheth by per- 
 
326 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 suasion, so that Japheth himself, being allured, as his name 
 signifies, may be invited in a friendly way and thus be be- 
 guiled. 
 
 213. But you say, what will be the meaning of this? 
 or why should there be need for Japheth to be beguiled or 
 persuaded, and that by God himself? I answer: Noah makes 
 the names to serve his purpose in this prophecy. He gives 
 thanks to God that he establishes them to stand like a firm 
 root from which Christ was to spring. For the verb sum, sig- 
 nifies "to place," "to put in position," to establish." 
 
 214. For Japheth, however, he prays that he may become 
 a true Japheth. Since he was the oldest son, who ordinarily 
 should have been given the right of the first-born, he prays 
 that God would persuade him in a friendly manner, first, not 
 to envy his brother this honor, nor to be dissatisfied that 
 this privilege was taken from him and given to his brother. 
 Furthermore, because this matter touches the person of Japheth 
 only,God includes his entire offspring in the blessing. Though 
 the promise was given to Shem alone, yet God does not 
 shut out from it the offspring of Japheth, but speaks to 
 them lovingly through the Gospel, that they may also become 
 jepheth, being persuaded by the Word of the Gospel. This is 
 a divine persuasion, corning from the Holy Spirit; not from 
 the flesh, nor from the world, nor from Satan, but holy 
 and quickening. This expression is used by Paul in Gal 1, 10, 
 where he says, "Am I now persuading men or God?" 
 And Gal 3, 1, "^Vlio did bewitch you that ye should not obey 
 the truth?" — that ye do not agree to the truth, that ye do not 
 permit yourselves to be persuaded by that which is true?" 
 
 215. Viewing the name Japheth in this case, it signifies 
 a person of the kind which we call guileless, who believes 
 readily, permitting himself to be easily persuaded of a matter, 
 who does not dispute or cling to his own ideas but submits 
 his mind to the Lord and rests upon his Word, remaining a 
 learner, not desiring to be master over the words and works 
 of God. 
 
 Hence it is a touching prayer which is here recorded, that 
 God might persuade Japheth; that is, that he might speak 
 
GENESIS IX. EAINBOW COVENANT. 327 
 
 fondly with him, Noah prays that, though God does not 
 speak to Japheth on the basis of a promise, as he does with 
 Shem, yet he would speak with him on the basis of grace 
 and divine goodness. 
 
 216. This prayer of Noah foresees the spread of the 
 Gospel throughout the whole world. Shem is the stem. 
 From his posterity Christ was born. The Church is of the 
 Jews, who had patriarchs, prophets, and kings. And yet 
 God here shows Noah that also the wretched Gentiles were 
 to dwell in the tents of Shem; that is, they were to come 
 into that heritage of the saints which the Son of God brought 
 into this world — forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and 
 everlasting life. He prophesies clearly that also Japheth will 
 hear the sweet message of the Gospel as his name suggests; 
 so that, though he have not the same title as Shem, who 
 was set to be the stem from which Christ was to spring, yet 
 he should have the persuader, namely the Gospel. 
 
 217. It was Paul through whom this prophecy was ful- 
 filled. He almost unaided taught the Gospel doctrine to the 
 posterity of Japheth. He says : "From Jerusalem, and round 
 about even unto Illyi'icum, I have fully preached the Gospel 
 of Christ" (Eoni 15, 19). Almost all of Asia, with the ex- 
 ception of the oriental peoples, together with Europe, belongs 
 to the posterity of Japheth. The Gentiles, therefore, did 
 not, as the Jews did, receive the kingdom and the priesthood 
 from God. They had neither, the law nor the promise. Yet 
 by the mercy of God they have heard that sweet voice of the 
 Gospel, the persuader, which is indicated by the very name 
 of Japheth. 
 
 218. The interpreters failed to recognize tliis as the true 
 meaning, and God permitted them to make this mistake. Still 
 they did not miss the true meaning altogether. For the verb 
 liircMh, which means "to enlarge," means also "to give con- 
 solation," just as conversely in Latin the word angustiae (nar- 
 row place) signifies also "pains," or "perils," or "disaster." 
 Thus we read in Psalms 4, 1 : "Thou hast set me at large 
 when I was in distress." The only real enlargement, or consola- 
 tion, is the Word of the Gospel. 
 
328 LUTHER ON SIN AND THE FLOOD. 
 
 219. Thus the several expositions are harmonized by 
 proper interpretation. But the primary meaning of enlarge, 
 which conveys the idea of persuasion, is the native and proper 
 one. It sheds a bright light upon the fact that we Grentiles, 
 although the promise was not given to us, have nevertheless 
 been called by the providence of God to the Gospel. The 
 promise pertains to Shem alone, but Japheth, as Paul has it 
 in Romans 11, 17, was grafted into the olive tree, like a wild 
 olive, and became a partaker of the original fatness, or the 
 sap, of the olive. The older portions of the Bible agree with 
 the newer, and what God promised in the days of Noah, he 
 now carries out. 
 
 220. ^'Ham" signifies "the hot and burning one." This 
 name was given to him by his father, I believe, because of 
 the great things he hoped for his youngest son. To Noah 
 the other two were cold men in comparison. Eve rejoiced 
 greatly when Cain was born (Gen 4,1). She believed that 
 he Avould restore whatever had been wrought amiss. Yet he 
 was the first to harm mankind in a new way, in that he killed 
 his brother. 
 
 221. Thus God, according to his unsearchable counsel, 
 changes tlie expectations even of the saints. Ham, whom his 
 fatlier, at his birth, had expected to be inflamed with greater 
 zeal for the support of the Church than his brothers, was 
 hot and burning, indeed, when he grew older, but in a dif- 
 ferent sense. IJe burned against his parent and his God, as 
 his deed shows. Hence, his name was one of evil prophecy, 
 unsuspected of Noah when he gave it. 
 
 222. This is Noah's prophecy concerning his sons, who 
 have filled the earth with their offspring. The fact, therefore, 
 that God has permitted the light of the Gospel to shine upon 
 Germany, is due to the prophecy anent Japheth. We see 
 today the fulfillment of that which Noah foretold. Though 
 we are not of the seed of Abraham, yet we dwell in the tents 
 of Shem and enjoy the fulfilment of the prophecies concern- 
 ing Christ. 
 
 Vs. 28-29. And Noah lived after the flood three hurt- 
 
GENESIS IX. RAINBOW COVENANT. 329 
 
 dred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine 
 hundred and fifty years; and he died. 
 
 283. Histoi-}' shows that Noah died fifty years after the 
 birth of Abraham. Abraham, therefore, enjoying the instruc- 
 tion of so able and renowned a teacher until his fiftieth year, 
 had an opportunity to learn something of religion. And 
 there is no doubt that ISToah, being filled with the Holy Spirit, 
 cared for this grandchild of liis with special care and love, 
 as the only heir of Shem's promises. 
 
 224. At that time the offspring of Ham flourished, spread- 
 ing idolatry throughout the regions of tlie East. Abraham 
 was in touch with it, and not without danger to himself. He 
 was saved, however, by Noah, being almost alone in recog- 
 nizing the greatness of a man who was the only survivor of 
 the early world. The others, forgetful of the wrath which 
 had raged in the flood, taunted the pious, old man; particu- 
 larly Ham's progeny, puffed up by wealth and power. They 
 heaped insults upon Father Noah, and — frenzied by success — 
 they divided the curse of servitude pronounced upon them as 
 a sign of his dotas^e. Amen. 
 
A new book in press 
 
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 Commentary on Genesis, 
 
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 The ten volumes of Luther's select spiritual writings now ready at $1 .50 and 
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LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 
 
 "Luther on Christian Education," containing his best catechetical 
 writings. We are happy in assuring the growing Hst of advance 
 subscribers, however, that the enterprise has received no backset. 
 On the contrary, it has grown in every respect, especially in the 
 efficiency of our co-laborers and in the favor it has received from 
 our institutions of learning. The problem of the young people is the 
 burning question at present; and as Catechetics is about the only 
 branch of theology teaching future pastors their duties to the 
 young, the last volume met a long-felt want, both as a text-book 
 and as a help for side reading on many subjects. For example, the 
 president of one institution ordered one hundred copies and turned 
 his whole school into a Luther-class for one period every Thurs- 
 day afternoon to study it. The experiment was a success. It is 
 better to study the classics Luther wrote than what others have 
 written about him. "He is, in the best sense, modern, up-to-date, 
 the prophet of our times." Read him, and judge for yourself. 
 
 State schools also support chapel services, a Y. M. C. A. and 
 occasional Christian sermons and lectures. But church schools are 
 expected to do more. It is indeed a sad sight to see a foundation 
 going to ruin because the building is not erected. Supporters of 
 Christian schools are now beginning to realize that the only 
 reason for their existence is that they are Christian. No church 
 lays a better foundation in the hearts of the young for Christian 
 culture than the Lutheran and no worse advertisement of a Luther- 
 an school is conceivable than for its students to return home with- 
 out any growth or development in harmony with their catechism 
 foundation. It has been overlooked that Luther furnishes the best 
 m.aterial for the building as well as for the foundation. He is the 
 great evangelist in the evangelization of the Gentiles. 
 
 This volume of practical sermons on the epistle texts furnishes 
 the best material for the building, because it exhorts to practice 
 the Christian lessons taught by parent and pastor. In teaching 
 Luther's catechism the aim should be to prepare and interest the 
 pupil to read also his best sermons and commentaries on the 
 Word of God, for God's V/ord is the chief glory and hope of ail 
 Protestants. This was the natural, continued development of our 
 German and Scandinavian parents, whose stable Christian charac- 
 ters their children admire so much, but fail to learn the simple way 
 to imitate. Alas, how many never read a book written by Luther 
 except his Small Catechism! 
 
 Pastors who preach in two languages generally use English in the 
 evening and as they preach on the Gospel texts in the morning 
 these epistle sermons will be especially helpful in the evening serv- 
 ices to all pastors who strive not for new truths, but to put old, 
 familiar truths in the plainest and strongest English. Luther wrote 
 these sermons as models for the preachers of his day, models they 
 are now, and models they ought to be until God raises up a greater 
 preacher. They will aid in making English Lutheran preaching 
 and teaching easy for pastors overburdened not only by large pas- 
 torates, but by two languages in their large fields. 
 
 It is a cherished hope that these practical spiritual writings, 
 teaching true faith in God and right love to our neighbor, may, 
 like "Lutherans In All Lands," contribute to the literature of inner 
 missions. Men like Spener, Wichern, Fliedner and Von Bcdel- 
 schwingh, developed inner missions on the foundation laid by 
 Luther's writings in the hearts of the German people. 
 
CKRiSTIAN EDUCATIONAL SERIES-BOOKS HI 
 
 LUTHER'S 
 
 ZvQO Catecbieme 
 
 
 ^^^ c^^-y^i^ 
 
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 CHRiSTi.'^M EDUCATIONAL SERiES-BOOK 111 
 
 LUTHER'S 
 
 ZvQO Catecbieme 
 
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 EXPLAINED BY HIMSELF 
 
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 LL'THER IW THE UNIVERSITY 
 A 'i.sefii' prr'sent. 12 mo. fPS pp. B0( 
 
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONAL SERIES- BOOK TWO 
 
 LUTHER'S 
 
 iarge Catecbiem 
 
 LUTHER IN THE SCHOOL ROOM 
 
 
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONAL SERIES- BOOK VII 
 
 LUTHER'S 
 
 Cbrietmas Sermons 
 
 EPISTLES 
 
 LUTHER IN THE HOME 
 AFineCkrishnas Gjft. 12mo.i92pp.soi 
 
LUTHER'S SERMONS HIGHLY PRAISED. 
 
 The Lutheran, Philadelphia: Instruction and edification are to be found 
 on every page. The sermons as given in this edition are well printed, and are 
 splendidly summarized by Bugenhagen and divided, so that one can at a glance 
 see the topic that is being treated. 
 
 The Christian Advocate, New York City: We must remember what 
 Luther and his Wittenberg printing press accomplished in spreading evangelical 
 Christianity throughout all lands, and not leave unread the words to which we 
 ourselves, every one, owe so much. 
 
 The Christian Guardian, Toronto, Canada: Many who know much about 
 the life and work of the world-famous reformer are unfamiliar with his ser- 
 mons, and to those who wish to read a graphic translation these volumes will be 
 very welcome. 
 
 The Lutheran Observer, Philadelphia: There is something invigorating 
 to mind and heart in coming into contact with the great soul of the Reformer as 
 he spoke out in his sermons. There is in them a freshness, a vitality that is 
 immensely quickening. It is a great thing to have them, though translated, made 
 accessible to those who cannot read them in the original. 
 
 The Messenger of Peace, St. Louis: The rising generation of German- 
 American Protestants, to whom the English language is becoming more familiar 
 than their mother tongue, may now enjoy the same spiritual nourishment that did 
 so much to give life and power to their fathers. In the translation of Luther's 
 works in the English language. Dr. Lenker has rendered a unique and lasting 
 service to Christians of all lands. The question of language is disturbing many 
 of our German-American churches to a greater or less extent and the transla- 
 tion of Luther into English emphasizes the fact that it is not the language that 
 makes the Church or the Christian, but something deeper and more powerful, 
 the spirit and the life, which may be felt through the medium of any language. 
 The religious life of today needs the clear, rousing, positive note which the grea\ 
 German reformer struck nearly 400 years ago and it is to be hoped that the 
 translation of his works into English will help to establish his influence in 
 America where he has heretofore been known by name rather than by his 
 "works." The Church Postil was considered by Luther to be the best of all his 
 books and Dr. Lenker has succeeded in retaining the peculiar charm of the 
 original, wisely choosing to reveal the real Luther, plain, forceful, earnest and 
 evangelical, rather than attempt clothing his thoughts with the English of the twen- 
 tieth century. 
 
 Winnipeg Telegram, Winnipeg, Canada: Luther, the monk who once shook 
 the world, wrote 1 1 volumes. Only a few of these have been translated into 
 English and the present volume on "Pentecost" is now translated for the first 
 time. The exegetical work is well done and the work is finely edited. One 
 is struck on every page with the simple, direct maimer of this modern church 
 father. He speaks to the point and takes no by-paths. In the age in which he 
 lived it is not to be wondered at that his words went to the mark like bullets 
 and left marks like bullets. 
 
 The works of Luther hold the first rank in Protestant classics, and in their 
 intrinsic value they are not surpassed by all the rich literature of the first four 
 centuries of Christianity. But these writings possess more than an antiquarian 
 interest. Luther was not only the oracle of his age, but like every true prophet 
 he spoke for all the ages. He is in the best sense modern, up-to-date, the prophet 
 of our own times. It is remarkable how he treats the problems which perplex 
 the thinkers of our day, covering almost every phase of religious, moral, and 
 social conditions, touching every interest of humanity. 
 
 "Luther's sermons (8 vols, now in print) carry us back to a simplicity always 
 needed, that the pulpit may be the throne of power." — "A rich storehouse un- 
 locked to the English world for the first time." — "Walch's analyses and Bugen- 
 hagen 's Summaries are excellent features." 
 
 English Lutheran teaching and preaching become easy when pastor and 
 people read the English Luther. Try itl 
 
READ LENKERlS 
 
 humbRms 
 
 
 READ LENKER'S AMERICAN LUTHER SYSTEMATICALLY, 
 
 "When you have finished ihe Small Catechism begin with the Large Cate- 
 chism," is the good advice Luther gives in his preface to his Sir.all Catechism. 
 No better advice could be given, for the Large Catechism is the best explanation 
 and development of the small one. 
 
 Prof. A. G. Voigt, D. D., makes the timely remark, "It is a mistake to think 
 that the Catechism is only a book for the instruction of children. Luther himself 
 in the maturity of his religious life continued to use it devotionally." 
 
 President Roosevelt, it is said, has rediscovered the Ten Commandments and 
 is applying them to the American people. Hence the churches should bestir them- 
 selves to rediscover their Catechisms and popularize them. 
 
 Luther volumes in Preparation: Genesis, Vols. II and III; Psalms, Vol. II; 
 Epistle Sermons; Catechetical Writings, Vol. II; Commentary on Galatians; 
 Table Talk; Free Will; His Letters. Become an advance subscriber now. 
 
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 Luther Press, Box 253, Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 Dear Sirs: Please enter my name as an advance subscriber for the Stancfard 
 Edition of Luther's Works in English at $1.50 per volume (regular price, $2.25), 
 express 15 cents extra. Three volumes to appear annually at $4.95, express pre- 
 paid, with the privilege of discontinuing the subscription at any time. Save money 
 and make sure of having a complete set by subscribing now, during the process of 
 publication. 
 
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 Volume III. of Lutherans In All 
 Lands 
 
 To Appear October, 1910 
 
 Showing the True Place of the Germans and 
 Scandinavians in the Evangelization of the 
 World. 
 
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 Luther on Sin and Destruction of the 
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 his Great Commentary on Genesis, Chap- 
 ters four to nine inclusive. 
 
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