Luther's Work's Volume 6

LUTHER’S
WORKS

VOLUME 6

LECTURES ON GENESIS

Chapters 31–37

Marriage, the blessing of God

AELW 5: 363

"The rest of the populace is more wicked than even the heathen themselves. For most married people do not desire offspring. Indeed, they turn away from it and consider it better to live without children, because they are poor and do not have the means with which to support a house-hold. But this is especially true of those who are devoted to idleness and laziness and shun the sweat and the toil of marriage. But the purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. This, of course, is a huge burden full of great cares and toils. But you have been created by God to be a husband or a wife and that you may learn to bear these troubles. Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessing of God, the Creator and Author of marriage."

Ask, Seek, Knock

AELW 5:360-361

"This is how we, too, should learn to ask and hope for help whenever there is misfortune and faith totters. For we have the promise of the Gospel; we have Baptism, absolution, etc., by which we have been instructed and strengthened. We have the command by which we are ordered to pray; we have the spirit of grace and of prayer. But as soon as we have begun to pray, our heart is troubled and complains that it is accomplishing nothing. Therefore one must learn that if you accomplish nothing by asking, you should add searching, that is, you should seek; if that, too, seems to be useless, and God conceals and hides Himself even more, add knocking, and do not cease until you storm the door by which He has been confined (cf. Matt. 7:7–8). For there is no doubt that our prayer is heard immediately after the first syllable has been uttered."

Cling Tightly to the Word of God

AELW 5:353-354

"But we should take hold of and firmly retain the Word, and we should bear in mind that we have been baptized, absolved, and taught by the Word of God. Therefore let us give thanks to God and be joyful. Whether heaven or the whole world crashes in ruins and, in addition, hits us on the head, we are nevertheless certain that our games and most wretched misfortunes have been adorned and crowned with divine glory and splendor, namely, with the Word of God. For this reason these histories are called sacred and are common to all men who have the Word of God and in whom God works, and does so with good pleasure, with His mercy, and with His grace. He does not deal in this way with Alexander, Scipio, Cicero, Hannibal, etc. Therefore we should rejoice and be grateful and happy to find rest in God’s good pleasure, and we should bear with equanimity whatever troubles confront us. And no matter how unimportant, servile, womanish, and full of wretchedness our works are, we should nevertheless add this title: THE WORD OF GOD, because of which everything we do becomes glorious and will remain forever, while, on the other hand, the histories of the world are eternally wretched."

Sola Scriptura

AELW 5:348

"...human nature does not want to be content with the usual doctrine and Word of the Gospel or to be satisfied with the sacraments which have been handed down through the Son of God and the apostles and have been propagated through their successors; but it demands something special. Then the devil comes and speaks with you. Therefore unless you will be able to reply: “This is what God’s Word says; you say things contrary to the Word. Get behind me, Satan! (cf. Matt. 16:23)” you will be overthrown immediately."

And again on allegory

AELW 5:347

"Consequently, I hate allegories. But if anyone wants to make use of them, let him see to it that he handles them with discretion. For first of all the historical sense must be sought. It gives us correct and solid instruction; it fights, defends, conquers, and builds. If this is genuine and pure, an allegory may be sought later, not a monastic allegory or one concerning the speculative life but one that is in agreement with the history and embraces the sacred matters pertaining to the holy cross, that is, the doctrine of the cross, of faith, of hope, of love, and of patience, not a monk who sits and speaks with Christ and boasts of visions and of having heard the voices of angels or the voice of Blessed Virgin Mary. For he sits in idleness without a cross and trial. Such a speculative life is cursed and damned."

Luther on allegory

AELW 5:345

"But I have often declared that I greatly abhor allegories and condemn the fondness for them. For the examples and the footsteps of the fathers frighten me. By means of their allegories they obscure doctrine and the edification of love, patience, and hope in God when by those speculations of their allegories they divert us from the doctrine and genuine meaning of the words. Jerome and Origen are especially devoted to this. Indeed, Augustine, too, would have been brought to do so had he not been withdrawn from it by his controversies and disputes with the heretics. But because I admired these men as very great theologians, I followed the same course at the outset. When I read the Bible, I did not follow the literal sense; but according to their example, I turned everything into allegories.

Accordingly, I urge students of theology to shun this kind of interpretation in the Holy Scriptures. For allegory is pernicious when it does not agree with the history, but especially when it takes the place of the history, from which the church is more correctly instructed about the wonderful administration of God in all stations of life, in the management of a household, in the state, and in the church. Inasmuch as such interpreters overlook these things in the histories, they necessarily transform everything into allegories and a different meaning. Thus in this example, because they do not see the counsels of God and His governance, which is hidden under this ordinary outward appearance of household management and marriage, they attach to it a foreign meaning concerning the contemplative and active life"

Luther and Nostradamus

Did Luther (like the alleged predictions of Nostradamus) in this text anticipate and name a combination of several groups of 21st century radicals? e.g., Eco-PETA-Manichaean's?

AELW 5:344

"In his Confessions Augustine reports that the Manichaeans inveighed against the very saintly patriarchs with the most virulent reproaches for having many wives and children. “When I was a Manichaean,” he says, “I derided them as completely lustful men. But you in turn, dear Manichaean, derided me when I devoted myself to your prodigious nonsense, so that when plucking an apple or a pear from a tree I believed that the tree wept.”

Ah Ha!

It is very interesting that in this paragraph, the word "change" and "kitchen" appear. Is this a veiled reference ( a la Da Vinci Code) to a conspiracy by the monks to cause division in the church by changing the authority over the church's kitchen? Can you read into this text that the rulers of the kitchen became the rulers of the church? ;-) (Please read this with an unveiled attempt at humor!)

AELW 5:342

"But God’s care and concern for us does not appear to be so great. Therefore one must learn, and accustom oneself to, that changing and alteration of things and men in the world. The heathen have learned in one way or another by experience that a servant is the master in the house and that the master is a servant. Indeed, the monks made the same complaint about their servants. For they had brothers whom they called lay brothers. To them the kitchen and domestic works were entrusted. But these also ruled over the others..."

It's good to be a peasant...

AELW 5:341-342

"God regulates the world in such a way that all things—those that are highest, those in the middle, and those that are lowest—serve Him. The highest things are the lowest, and the lowest are the highest. Therefore Duke Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, stated wisely and brilliantly to Staupitz that when he made a mental survey of the whole world and all ranks of men, it seemed to him that the peasants, who occupied the lowest place in the state, were the happiest, because they alone enjoy peace and true tranquility and are not tormented by the cares and dangers of the state. In summer they cultivate their fields; in winter they sit by the fire and enjoy their possessions. Although they lack royal magnificence, they nevertheless enjoy the greatest blessings, namely, tranquility and ease, and live more safely and happily within their own enclosure than kings and princes within their citadels or fortifications.

This is God’s wonderful governance or changing of things. For the things that seem to be lowest and most wretched are the greatest and most prosperous. Nothing in the world is more wretched than the church. Hence arise those complaints of the church: “Why hast Thou turned Thy face away? Why dost Thou forget me? I preach, I confess, I do and endure everything that God enjoins; but no one is more afflicted and forsaken than I am.” But then the Lord replies: “I do not forget you,” as is stated most sweetly in Is. 49:14–15: “But Zion said: ‘The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the sons of her womb? Even these may forget, yet will I not forget you.”"

I know I'm behind ;-) Catching up again...Interesting...

In Genesis 32 Jacob wrestles with God. In Genesis 30:8, the Hebrew text states, (literally) that Rachel, with wrestlings of God, I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. In Genesis 42, Jacob would struggle again, this time through deciding whether or not to withhold sending his son to Egypt in exchange for his starving families daily bread. Thank God that He did not withhold the sending of His only Jesus Christ so that we may be offered the Bread of eternal Life.

AELW 5:340
An interesting listing by Luther.

A table copied from Dr. Luther’s work on chronology which illustrates the historical sequence in an excellent manner 

	Leah bore		Rachel bore
	Reuben	1	0
	Simeon	2	0
	Levi	3	0
	Judah	4	0
	0	5	Dan
	0	6	Naphtali???	from Bilhah
	0	7	Joseph
	Gad	8	0
from Zilpah	??? Asher	9	0
	Issachar	10	0
	Zebulun	11	0
	Dinah	12	0
	0	13	0
			Benjamin

Yikes! But true...

Of Jacob and Leah

AND

of Luther and Katie

This gives a new meaning to the song, "Can I get a witness?" ;-)

AELW 5:298-299

"But the question is asked what kind of nuptial rites there were among those people, for Jacob alone sleeps with her alone in the bedchamber and on the same bed. Yet he does not realize that Leah has been substituted for Rachel. For he has lived in this house for seven whole years, and here he undoubtedly saw his bride occasionally and sometimes spoke with her. And if he could not have discovered this by touching her in the bed, yet he could have recognized and distinguished her voice. According to our customs, we act far more cautiously. For we lead the bride both to the church and to the nuptial chamber not in darkness but with trumpets and torches, and we also bring witnesses along, so that there can be no room for any imposture. "

the stone at the well...

Genesis 29:1- 3 "Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and lo, three flocks of sheep lying beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place upon the mouth of the well."

An interesting contrast? (my thought's not Luther's)

Jacob on a journey to the people in the east and saw flocks who had arrived for nourishment. Here the shepherds would roll away the stone, and water, that is to say nourish their flocks, and then the stone , the large one, was placed back upon the mouth of the well.

Christ on a journey from heaven to earth, from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the heavenly Jerusalem, was born of Mary of whom shepherds sought. Christ arrived as the "bread of life" to nourish His flocks with his body and blood which conveys forgiveness and therefore eternal peace. The stone was rolled back, not by shepherds, but by the hand of God as Jesus rose from the dead. Nor is the stone in front of the well of life ever replaced, the tomb is open and from it Christ arises to offer forgiveness to all who would believe...

Sustained....Not by example, but by the Word!

AELW 5:254

"The fact that David killed Goliath, a bear, a lion, etc., does not edify me much. For I cannot imitate such things, since they surpass my strength and all my thinking. Although they commend the saints in their strength and heroic fortitude, they do not concern us; for they are too sublime for us to be able to match or imitate them. But when examples of weakness, sins, trepidation, and trials are set forth in the saints—as when I read David’s complaints, sobs, fears, and feelings of despair—they buoy me up in a wonderful manner and give great consolation. For I see how they, fearful and terrified though they were, did not perish but buoyed themselves up with the promises they had received; and from this I conclude that there is no need for me to despair either. For in this struggle with hell, in fears and struggles of conscience, they feel and speak as if they had no promises at all. Nevertheless, they are finally preserved and sustained by the Word."

What the church is...

AELW 5:250

"Thus the church is established among men when God dwells with men, with this end in view that it may be the gate of heaven and that we may pass from this earthly life into the eternal and heavenly life. Who can adequately marvel at or comprehend this, namely, that God dwells with men? This indeed is that heavenly Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from God and has the splendor of God, as is stated in Rev. 21:2. This is the definition of the church in its essence: “The church is the place or the people where God dwells for the purpose of bringing us into the kingdom of heaven, for it is the gate of heaven.” From this it follows most properly that in the church nothing should be heard or seen except what God does, according to the statement (1 Peter 4:11): “hoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies.” But if I am uncertain about the Word or the administration of God, I must be silent. But whenever I minister, that is, baptize or absolve, I must be certain that my work is not mine, but God’s, who works through me. Baptism is a work of God; for it is not mine, although I lend my hands and my mouth as instruments. Thus when I absolve you or call you to the ministry and lay my hands on you, you should not doubt that, as Peter says, it is God’s strength. This, then, is the complete definition of the church, which is the habitation of God on earth. Not that we should remain on earth, but the sacraments are administered and the Word is taught in order that we may be led into the kingdom of heaven "and through the church may enter into heaven.

The water of God the Savior

AELW 5:248

"But the blindness and stupidity of our minds has been put before our eyes like a cloud, so that we do not see such great glory. It is great honor and majesty, however, when one says: “This is the Word of God.” I hear a man’s voice. I see human gestures. The bread and the wine in the Supper are physical things. At ordination the hands of carnal men are imposed. In Baptism water is water. For the flesh judges in no other way concerning all these matters. But if you look at that addition with spiritual eyes, namely, at whose Word it is that is spoken and heard there, not indeed the word of a man—for if it is the word of a man, then the devil is speaking—but the Word of God, then you will understand that it is the house of God and the gate of heaven. The wooden house or the land per se does not deserve this name; but the land where the Word resounds is the land of God, not of the Creator but of the Ruler of His church, who governs His saints in such a way that they enter into the kingdom of heaven. Thus the water that is poured in Baptism is not the water of the Creator; it is the water of God the Savior."

Jacob's ladder, Christ, and the church

AELW 5:247

"...he describes the glow of this church in a very magnificent manner by saying that here the entrance to the kingdom of heaven is open. For God governs us in such a way that wherever He speaks with us here on earth, the approach to the kingdom of heaven is open. This is truly extraordinary consolation. Wherever we hear the Word and are baptized, there we enter into eternal life. But where is that place found? On earth, where the ladder which touches heaven stands, where the angels descend and ascend, where Jacob sleeps. It is a physical place, but here there is an ascent into heaven without physical ladders, without wings and feathers. This is how faith speaks: “I am going to the place where the Word is taught, where the Sacrament is offered and Baptism is administered.” And all those things that are done in my sight in a physical place are heavenly and divine words and works. That place is not only ground or earth; but it is something more glorious and majestic, namely, the kingdom of God and the gate of heaven. “Here one goes to the stars,” as is stated by the poet. There is no reason for you to run to St. James’s or to withdraw into a comer or to hide yourself in a monastery. Do not seek a new and foolish entrance. But look in faith at the place where the Word and the sacraments are. Direct your step to the place where the Word resounds and the sacraments are administered, and there write the title THE GATE OF GOD. Let this be done either in the church and in the public assemblies or in bedchambers, when we console and buoy up the sick or when we absolve him who sits with us at table. There the gate of heaven is, as Christ says (Matt. 18:20): “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Throughout the world the house of God and the gate of heaven is wherever there is the pure teaching of the Word together with the sacraments."

Faith does not snore...

AELW 5:205

"Therefore faith is not a laughable, cold quality that snores and is idle in the heart. No, it is agitated and harassed by horrible trials concerning the nothingness and the vanity of the divine promises. For I believe in Christ, whom I do not see. But I have His Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar, and consolation through the Word and Absolution. Yet I see nothing of what He promises. Indeed, I feel the opposite in my flesh. Here, then, one must struggle and do battle against unbelief and doubt."

btw...

The section AELW 5:189 to 196 contains a wonderful exposition on marriage, well worth re-reading...

The constant course of the church...

AELW 5:202

"This is the constant course of the church at all times, namely, that promises are made and that then those who believe the promises are treated in such a way that they are compelled to wait for things that are invisible, to believe what they do not see, and to hope for what does not appear. He who does not do this is not a Christian. For Christ Himself entered into His glory only by first descending into hell. When He is about to reign, He is crucified. When He is to be glorified, He is spit on. For He must suffer first and then at length be glorified."