1. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

1. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield; your reward shall be very great.

THIS is a chapter of the highest importance, and it should be read with much meditation. But I am so distracted by the affairs of the churches and of the court that I lack the leisure to devote myself more diligently to meditation.1 Therefore we shall lecture on it at least so far as the language is concerned.

So far we have heard of Abraham's glorious victory and of the wonderful work through which God revealed Himself to that age in order thus to encourage all men to accept the God of Abraham, who alone is the Most High and All-powerful.

Now follow both trials and comforts, and Moses combines these in such a manner with the account of the victory that here as elsewhere he appears to have given little thought to a methodical arrangement of the historical account. Readers who are experienced in spiritual matters know that no pattern is more in accordance with the truth and more common than that new perils and new disturbances always follow comforting events. But he who is not fully experienced often thinks that the discourses and accounts of the prophets lack coherence.

Thus after this glorious victory of Abraham, by which his faith was Undoubtedly strengthened greatly and his heart was buoyed up to an extraordinary degree—especially since Shem, the high priest, delivered such a serious discourse—there follows another trial, one that is new. Yet it is impossible to gather adequately from the account what kind of trial is was.

But this is sure and altogether reliable: that when God addresses Abraham in these words and commands him not to be afraid, these words are not without a reason. Elated and victorious a little while ago, Abraham was now surrounded by new dangers, cares, and terrors.

If he was not at the point of despair over his defense or protection, or did not have doubts about his reward, what was the need of God's exhortation not to fear and of His promise of an abundant reward?

Here, therefore, we follow the general rule which Ps. 30:6–9 presents as the common example of all saints. "As for me," says David, "I said in my prosperity, 'I shall never be moved.' By Thy favor, O Lord,

Thou hadst established me as a strong mountain; Thou didst hide Thy face, I was dismayed. To Thee, O Lord, I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication: 'What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise Thee? Will it tell of Thy faithfulness?' "

This is the usual way of training saintly and godly men. For this reason Ps. 4:3 states that God rules His saints in a wonderful manner. Encouraged now by his miraculous victory, Abraham feels such joy of spirit and such a boundless sense of security with regard to God's goodness that he says in his heart: "I shall never be shaken." But immediately everything is reversed: "Thou didst hide Thy face, O Lord," says

David, "and I was dismayed."

Why or how does God rule in this manner? Why does He not make this joy complete and lasting for His saints? I do not know, except for the fact that I observe this pattern and common example in all the saints, even in Christ Himself, their Head, who sometimes rejoices in spirit and joyfully gives thanks to God in the Holy Spirit. Afterwards He is again troubled in spirit, prays for protection, and laments that He has been forsaken in the hour of death, as one can see in Ps. 8:5 and in Ps. 22:1. Therefore one should learn this example and this pattern of the saints, yes, this method by which God governs His saints.

Abraham had rejoiced over such a notable victory. God had made his name renowned among all the neighboring nations. Therefore the danger of vainglory threatened him. There is nothing which this nature of ours is less able to bear than its own honors and God's favors. Consequently, God turns His face away for a little while and leaves man to himself. Then distress and hardship immediately arise.

Thus Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:9: "Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."

God abhors the confidence which we have with regard to ourselves. But it is a natural shortcoming which troubles all the saints, especially the greatest. As a result, they sin against the First Table.

For lust has been sufficiently subdued in the saints so far as the Second Table is concerned. Theft, adultery, and murder do not harass them as they do young men whose flesh is still strong and sound. But other dangers, more serious and more troublesome, plague them, namely, those outstanding sins against the First Table: reliance on one's own strength, arrogance, and the presumption of righteousness and wisdom. Against these monsters the saints must constantly battle.

- 4 In this arena Abraham, Moses, Aaron, and David sweat to control and overcome presumption and pride.

Abraham appears to have been in a similar trial, as the words clearly bear out. Accordingly, when God sees that he is in danger of falling into presumption, He turns His face away and thus checks the temptation.

This is a shortcoming which we all have: when God bestows outstanding gifts, the old Adam exalts himself and becomes proud; for he sees that others do not have similar gifts. But to keep this sin from destroying the saints, God gives Paul an angel of Satan to harass him, lest he be elated because of his revelation (2 Cor. 12:7).

Therefore praise is properly given to what is related about a certain bishop who, when necessity forced him into the ministry of teaching, declined this office on bended knees or, if God insisted that he assume it, asked to be freed from ambition and the desire for vainglory.2

If Paul, the greatest apostle, is not free from this disease—indeed, if he cannot be delivered from this sickness except by being tormented and buffeted by Satan—why shall we not be afraid, we whose station is far below his?

By nature we cannot avoid being haughty because of the gifts of God, just as, conversely, we despair when His gifts are taken from us.

Nor is it necessary at this point to adduce historical accounts rather extensively. What else than this horrible presumption and ambition stirred up Münzer, the Anabaptists, the Sacramentarians, Zwingli, and Oecolampadius?3 If someone is able to write four Greek words, to explain one psalm, he is puffed up by his knowledge as if by yeast. The result is that he thinks he is walking on the clouds, far above other human beings.

I learned to recognize this disease soon enough, since I was warned by so many accounts of the Holy Scriptures. At the beginning of the Reformation,4 therefore, when God involved me in this faction (if I may call it that) against my will and by means of wonderful opportunities, I asked Him fervently to deliver me from this evil. He heard my prayer; for He kept me free from this temptation, although not so free that I did not feel it. He kept me occupied to such an extent with responsibilities, worries, perils, and hardships that all ambition was readily shut out of my mind.

Unless God delivers us in this manner, this untamed monster overpowers everyone. Youth feels its own evils; then manhood does. For the flesh is plagued by lust, the heart by greed, wrath, hatred, and similar emotions, which trouble the mind in various ways. But these conflicts involve the Second Table and gradually subside.

Therefore when the struggle seems to be over, this new and sharper battle involving the First Table confronts us, the fight against presumption, vainglory, and the confidence we have in ourselves because of our gifts.

To escape this pest, Paul feels the thorn of Satan in his flesh. "To keep me from being too elated by the abundance of the revelations," he says (2 Cor. 12:7), "a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me."

Who would imagine when observing Paul that he was undergoing such a temptation? Who would not think that he himself had long since overcome it and laid it low?

Yet in Romans (7:23) he points out a greater danger, for he complains that he is being taken captive by sin or by "the law of sin."

When you observe these things in so great an apostle, you will not feel, will you, that you can be out of danger? Thus Abraham, too, was still in the flesh. Hence when he was distinguished by such an outstanding victory, is it surprising if he was elated in his heart and puffed up by his success? But to keep him from becoming presumptuous, the Lord sent upon him a great and severe trial to break his spirit and to humble him.

Even though we do not know what the nature of this trial was, we can nevertheless infer that he suffered what we have mentioned above from the psalm.5 After winning his victory he sang a Te Deum laudamus with a joyful spirit and a loud voice. He said: "I shall never be shaken." But when the Lord turned His face away, there came a sadness which filled and troubled his heart so much that he completely forgot the glorious victory, and it seemed to him that he had been utterly forsaken and rejected by God.

- 5 Accounts of this kind should be carefully noted, in order that we may be able to comfort those who are in sorrow. For a trial is sent to keep us from exalting ourselves because of the gifts we have. But even though it is hard to suffer such distress of heart, we should nevertheless be buoyed up and, as it were, lighten those hurts, because we know that the forgiveness of sins is unimpaired and unchangeable. Let us keep this gift in mind and prefer it to others. Indeed, in comparison with this gift let us despise all the others, however great and glorious they may be. In this way our hearts will be eased a little.

God indeed gives great gifts to those who are His, just as here He gave Abraham a glorious victory.

Nevertheless, He does not yet pour out all His gifts; nor does He give Himself completely. Although you may have greater gifts than either Abraham or Moses, still you do not yet have the Lord Himself. He withholds and, as it were, removes Himself from us, evidently in order that when we are not being tried and all is serene and quiet, we may still fear Him and not say, as the smug do: "I shall never be shaken."

For if we sing this song, the words "Thou didst hide Thy face, I was dismayed" follow at once.

Therefore those who consider themselves invincible when they are not afflicted are struck with boundless fear when they are in the clutches of a trial.

But this is not because God may have changed His mind, as though He had withdrawn His grace and were refusing to grant forgiveness of sins. His will to save us through His Son, to whose kingdom He has called us, remains steadfast and unchangeable; but the awareness of this mercy is removed for a time.

Therefore those who experienced this trial in the monasteries have called it a spirit of blasphemy; but others have called it a suspension of grace, a milder and more suitable term.6 As a young man I indeed read this in their discussions, but I did not understand it before I began to read Holy Scripture.

It is no small comfort, however, to know that grace has not been taken away but is truly immovable and unchangeable, although the awareness and experience of grace is taken away for a time, and dread and fear rush in, discouraging and troubling the spirit. Then man becomes impatient, concludes that he cannot bear the wrath of God, and simply makes a devil out of God.

Christ experienced this trial in the garden (Matt, 26:41), where nature was wrestling with the spirit, and the spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was weak, terrified, fearful, and troubled. No one is truly sorrowful unless God forsakes him, just as, conversely, no one can be sorrowful when God is present.

Therefore sorrow is an indication that God has departed from us and has forsaken us for a time, just as in the Song of Solomon (2:9) the bride complains that the bridegroom has concealed himself behind a wall and is looking through lattices. Then occurs what is written in Ps. 107:27: "They reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wits' end."

When, on the other hand, as is written in the Book of Wisdom (3:7), God shines into our hearts with rays of mercy, then it is impossible for our hearts not to be glad, even though we, like Stephen, are being dragged to torture and death.

Therefore it is very profitable to consider these examples, namely, that the saints who are bold in the Holy Spirit are bolder than Satan himself. On the other hand, when they are in the clutches of a trial, they tremble so much that they are afraid even of a rustling leaf.7 We are reminded of our weakness in order that no matter how great the gifts are that we possess, we may not exalt ourselves but may remain humble and fear God. From those who do not do this He turns His face away, and trouble and perplexity follow.

I want to preface these remarks to this chapter, in which we learn about what Ps. 4:3 says: "Know that God has dealt marvelously with the godly," that is, that He keeps those who are His occupied in various ways, lest they become heretics, be presumptuous with regard to their gifts, and be puffed up over against those who do not have these gifts. For those who do this are very close to destruction.

Therefore those who are chosen as teachers of the churches to rule over others should offer special prayers that they be preserved from this affliction as from the greatest and most dangerous evil.

Other sins—such as wrathfulness, impatience, and drunkenness—naturally bring shame because of their foulness. Those who indulge in them know that they have sinned. Consequently, they blush. But vainglory and trust in one's own wisdom or righteousness is a sin of such a kind that it is not recognized as a sin. Instead, men thank God for it, as the Pharisee does in the Gospel (Luke 18:9–14); they rejoice in it as in an extraordinary gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is an utterly incurable and devilish evil.

From this evil God preserves saintly Abraham by subjecting the glorious conqueror to such an affliction that it is necessary to comfort him with a divine word. Although, as I have said, the nature of the - 6 trial is not certain, yet the circumstances prove that it was so severe that Abraham was utterly disheartened.

Perhaps Abraham was troubled about his offspring, as his words indicate. God had promised him the land of Canaan and an eternal blessing; but since Sarah was barren, and the hope of children was almost entirely denied, he thought: "Why is it that God, who is so merciful toward you, does not give you a son?

Perhaps you have offended Him, and He has changed His mind."

I dare not maintain that this was the affliction. Accordingly, I am going along with the general rule: that God makes His saints sad again after they have been gladdened, lest they become proud and smug; that after they have been made alive, He leads them down to hell, in order that He may lead them back from there. But if our surmise as to the specific and individual nature of the affliction now under consideration is not correct, we are not in error with regard to the general pattern.

The words "Fear not, Abram" are absolutely clear. They show that the saintly man did have great fear and the very affliction of mistrust. Otherwise why would God add: "I am your Shield; your reward shall be very great"? Therefore Abraham thought: "Perhaps God has chosen someone else, since He will fulfill this promise; and who knows whether this very victory is everything He has promised you?"

When God withdraws His hand, the flesh creates for itself an odd dialectic and rhetoric. Against these battering-rams, so to speak, with which Abraham's heart is pounded the Lord erects three grand bulwarks:

"Fear not, Abraham; I am your Shield; your reward shall be very great." It is as though He were saying:

"Whom will you fear if I protect you? What more will you demand for yourself if I am your Reward? Do you not have a greater prize than either the land of Canaan or the entire world would be?" This is a very extraordinary comfort, and it shows that the trial and fear which Abraham experienced were extraordinary too.

As to the statement of the text that the Lord spoke with Abraham "in a vision," we have not yet had this expression in Moses. In the twelfth chapter it is simply recorded that the Lord "said to Abram." Later on it is stated that the Lord "appeared to Abraham." In this passage, too, it is recorded that the Lord spoke with Abraham, but a new method is introduced, הזֶֶחֲֲמַַּּבַַּּ.

This diversity of expressions sheds light on the three types of prophecy or the three classes of revelation that are clearly mentioned in Num. 12:6–8, where the Lord says: "If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted with all My house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech."

It is a vision or a form of apparition when God appears to people when they are awake, not as in dreams. Thus Abraham surely was not sleeping when the Lord spoke these words to him, for he went outside and was commanded to look at the heavens and count the stars. This appearance was not imaginary, for Abraham's eyes were open and awake.

But these visions are usually forms which require explanation, as, for example, Amos' vision of someone forming locusts when the crop is already growing into green blades (7:1). The locusts represent the king of Babylon, and the One forming the locusts is God, who inflicts this punishment upon His people. This Moses calls a semblance or an apparition.

Dreams are on a level below this. Scripture often mentions them. Even though a man is asleep and is not making use of his sense organs, some images present themselves to his mind while the body is sleeping and the sense organs are resting.

Thus Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, while asleep, see images of future events.

There is extant a delightful account by Augustine concerning a certain physician who regarded the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul as uncertain. While he is sleeping, a very handsome young man appears to him, addresses him familiarly and asks whether he knows him.

When the sleeping physician says no and yet admits that he sees and hears him, the young man says: allow is it that you see me when your eyes are closed in sleep? "How is it that you hear me when your ears are not open, but you are asleep?"8

Therefore learn and believe that there are other spiritual eyes with which those who believe in Christ see when the eyes of the body have been closed by death or have rather been entirely destroyed.

This image was received by the physician while he was asleep, and Scripture bears witness that God often revealed future events to the godly in this manner.

- 7 But at this point one asks what the criteria of true dreams are and, when visions occur, how one can know whether they are from God or from Satan. The heathen, too, saw that minds are deceived in various ways by phantoms in dreams. For this reason Cato warns against paying any attention to dreams,9 and Sirach says (34:6–7): "Do not give your mind to them. For dreams have deceived many, and those who put their hope in them have failed."

But because superstition and curiosity plague the hearts of men in various ways, Satan also often mocks men on this account, Therefore it is not always easy to make a distinction.

Nevertheless, the historical accounts of Holy Scripture point out this principle:10 through the dreams from God an impression of such a nature is made on the hearts that not only the intellect but also the will is troubled beyond normal. Nebuchadnezzar's dream had so disturbed his mind that he threatened the sorcerers with death if they did not tell the meaning of the dream he had seen, for his mind could not rest unless the dream and its interpretation were revealed anew.

But just as Satan causes both visions and dreams with which he deceives the unwary, so the third type of revelation is completely trustworthy, when God speaks to Moses face to face and adds His Holy Spirit to impress the word on the heart and to give encouragement.

When Abraham hears the promise concerning the Blessed Seed, he receives the revelation of the Holy Spirit at the same time. Therefore his understanding of this revelation is different from that of the Jews. It is not concerned solely with the physical seed and the physical blessing, but there arises in his heart a new light with regard to the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.

Accordingly, this kind of revelation—when God speaks face to face and enlightens hearts with the rays of His Spirit—is far more reliable than dreams and visions.

But when this passage states that the Lord spoke in a vision, we should take it to mean that Abraham heard the Lord speaking in the vision. That is, he not only heard the word; but the word was represented by a certain likeness of the Speaker, whatever its nature was. For Moses does not point this out.

2. But Abram said: O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me; for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

3. And Abram said: Behold, Thou hast given me no offspring, and a slave born in my house will be my heir.

These words reveal to some extent the nature of the trial with which Abram wrestled. Therefore it was necessary to comfort him with the divine words that the Lord would both defend and abundantly bless him.

It is not strange if Abraham in that very concern about descendants, gradually turned to the thought that God was angry with him. But, as I said previously, even though Moses does not state the nature of the trial, still when Holy Scripture relates the examples of the saints, it reveals clues, so to speak, on the basis of which it is possible to draw conclusions concerning trials. Accordingly, we have the general idea that Abraham began to have doubts as to the protection and the kindness of God; but there is no clear record of what occasioned these thoughts.

Nevertheless, Moses seems to imply that Eliezer, the manager of Abraham's house, became rather arrogant and confidently predicted that Abraham's entire blessing would fall to him, since Abraham's was a childless marriage.

In the first place, this is shown by the fact that Abraham laments his childlessness so sadly and not without sighing and sobbing. For these are not words of laughter or of joy; they are words of profound grief and sorrow: "I am without children; that man from Damascus will be my heir." What else did he have to look forward to at his age and with a barren wife? "Thou hast given me a glorious victory, and Thou hast blessed my house," he says, "but Thou art not giving me an heir, and my servant is now being encouraged to hope that all these things will fall to him after I am dead." His heart was deeply troubled by these thoughts.

Furthermore, the Lord's answer corroborates this interpretation when He says: "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir."

Therefore Abraham's trial actually consisted in his fear that the promise would be diverted from his own offspring and seed to his servant.

This trial was no small thing, especially since the servant became insubordinate because of his hope.

The flesh and the world have been corrupted to an extraordinary degree by ambition; they strive with great - 8 zeal after positions of authority. Thus because Cain despised his brother, he usurped both the secular authority and the priesthood. Ishmael and Esau did likewise. And when Sarah was indignant for a similar reason, she drove a mother and the son of that mother out of her house. Thus in all ages the ungodly have seized the name and title of the church and have adorned themselves with it.

Although there is nothing to which they are less entitled, the papists, the Anabaptists, the Sacramentarians, and the instigators of rebellion—Münzer and others—want to be the church and lay claim to this title even if it means bloodshed.

But the true saints, who are the true church, sigh and are saddened when they see how the ungodly so smugly appropriate to themselves the blessing and promises, just as we today are compelled to see and put up with the pretensions of the pope, who boasts that he is the head of the church, though it is certain that he has nothing else in mind than to fill the world with idolatry.

David, too, experienced this trial when he had been driven from his realm; he ordered Zadok to return to the city and to carry the Ark back with him (2 Sam. 15:25–26): "If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord,

He will bring me back and let me see both it and His habitation; but if He says, 'I have no pleasure in you,' behold, here I am, let Him do to me what seems good to Him."

David had very clear and very sure promises about his everlasting kingdom. Yet so severe a trial befalls him that he has doubts about the outcome—whether he would be restored to the kingdom—and he commits the matter to God.

Just as the ungodly seize upon God's promises with inordinate smugness, so the saints, on the other hand, humble themselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6) and submit to God in fear and reverence.

Therefore even though Abraham had been assured by the Word of God about the future blessing, he nevertheless begins to have doubts when he considers both his own childless marriage and the hope and plans of his servant.

This, you see, is the way things go in the church and in the kingdoms of the world: they are at loggerheads with regard to the promises. The pope and his followers want to be the church of God; the Turk also wants to be the church of God. And yet neither of them is.

Thus the heretics, who are the originators of offenses and who subvert sound doctrine, "live as enemies of the cross of Christ," as Paul states with tears (Phil. 3:18–19), whose "god is the belly"; convinced that they are the church, they boast endlessly over against the true church.

Thus Abraham's trial seems to have been the arrogance and contempt of a domestic servant against his master.

Even though Abraham had a clear promise about his natural seed, as chapters twelve and thirteen prove, there were nevertheless those who scoffed at those promises, as heretics are in the habit of doing, and caused Abraham to waver.

This is what they said: that the promise was not to be understood to apply to his natural seed but to an adopted one belonging to the household; for Abraham was now an old man, Sarah was barren, and the Lord had given no word or any indication that Abraham should take another wife.

The promises, of course, were sure. But along came this demonic reasoning with its distinction between a natural and an adopted seed. This reasoning so disturbs and distresses the heart of the saintly patriarch that he humbles himself and submits to the will of God, but not without profound grief and sorrow; for he thinks that God is forsaking him and has changed His will.

Therefore the Lord comforts him and tells him not to fear. "I shall be your protection," He says, "I shall defend you from evils and shall overwhelm you with a blessing, and from your body there will come one who is to be your heir."

This analogy is in agreement with other examples in Scripture. Accordingly, even if we are wrong with regard to the specific nature of Abraham's trial, in general we are nevertheless following the analogy of Scripture.

Thus Abraham is very sad and finally concludes that God has forsaken him. Because great promises had been given to him, he was afraid that they might be transferred to his domestic servant, who perhaps had not only acted with great vigor in that contest but had many children besides.

- 9 This situation distresses the saintly man, and he thinks: "Why does God not give me children, when He gives my servant so many? Surely he will be my heir." Thus before God he pours out his complaint and the thoughts of a very troubled heart.

4. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.

These words tend to reassure Abraham, in order that he may know the identity of the person to whom the blessing will come. "That heir," He says, "will come out of your own flesh and blood. Accordingly, you must not understand the blessing the way they explain it, for your seed will be a natural one.

Therefore believe Me, not them."

This passage contains a hidden comfort and a profitable doctrine. The ungodly, as we have said, are obsessed with the ambition to apply and appropriate the promises to themselves. Therefore they oppress and harass the true church.

In these circumstances there is nothing else for us to do than to commend our cause to the Lord, as Moses did in that troublesome conflict with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16).

They were entirely incurable and so sure of their own cause that they were neither willing nor able to be instructed. Therefore Moses refers the matter to a divine judgment and prays the Lord not to regard their sacrifice. Thereupon the Lord pronounces judgment upon them and encourages the true church.

Münzer, the Anabaptists, and others similarly opposed us with great zeal, savagely defamed our character, and heaped every kind of abuse upon us.

Mindful of this rule, we remained steadfast in the Word and commended ourselves and our cause to God; but the glory and the triumphs we gladly left to our adversaries. For we knew that it was not necessary for us to fight about these. But we knew that the concern for the Word was entrusted to us by God, in order that we might keep it pure and unadulterated. As long as this is our task and endeavor, our opponents gradually fall one after another; but the truth stands unshaken.

Just as Abraham is strengthened by the divine Word, that he might be certain about the promise which Ms domestics were distorting, so it is God's regular custom to stand by and strengthen the church when it is in trouble.

At this point there is a philological dispute about the word קשֶֶׁׁמֶֶ which I leave to the experts in this language.11 Whether this Eliezer was the steward or the butler of Abraham does not matter; for us it is enough that this passage deals with the chief person in the household of Abraham, the person who arrogated the promises to himself because of his high rank and the number of his children.

Similarly, Cain, at the time of Adam—Esau, at the time of Isaac—Reuben, at the time of Jacob—and Judas, at the time of Christ and among the apostles—arrogated to themselves the first place and the possession of the promises.

Furthermore, the name Eliezer and Lazarus have the same meaning: "help of God." Perhaps this servant was also puffed up and thought that his name was in accord with the existing circumstances, since he had the highest rank in Abraham's household and was a native of a famous city of Syria.12 Therefore he considered himself an infante of Spain above the rest and superior to Abraham himself, who did not have such a proud name, such a noble fatherland, or such an abundantly blessed marriage.

Whatever may be the facts about the word קשֶֶׁׁמֶֶ, if we have not treated the linguistic question, we nevertheless have treated the theological aspects better than the rabbis.

Indeed, this is actually one of the colors used in Scripture when the saints are portrayed: they experience rebellions and factions even among their servants. They are living among ungodly people, who are by nature factious and exalt themselves. Accordingly, they harass the saints, who submit to God and commend their cause to Him. Eventually He comes and encourages the humble. But "He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts" (Luke 1:51).

John states (1 John 2:19): "They went out from us, but they were not of us." For Satan leaves the saints and the church of God no peace; when one sect has been either overcome or humbled, another springs up, as Paul says in Acts 20:29–30: "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things."

Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob endured the same thing. So did Christ Himself, who had His Judas, to whose place the pope, who troubles and harasses the church in various ways, has succeeded. Therefore

- 10 let us commend our cause to God; and in due time these wolves will meet their just judge as did Korah, 5. And He brought him outside and said: Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then He said to him: so shall your descendants be.

Inasmuch as God's message to Abraham is so profuse and His encouragement so lavish, even adding signs, the trial which tormented the saintly man was not a light one. For God does not indulge in empty talk. It is our opinion that the promise so clearly set forth concerning the natural son who was to spring from Abrahams own body was sufficient. But a sign is added. Abraham is led out. He is told to look toward heaven and to count the stars. And innumerable descendants are promised him.

Therefore, as I have often said before,13 these accounts are outstanding because the voice of God is heard in them. Thus this very passage, because of God's extensive conversation with Abraham, deserves to be regarded as highly important. For God speaks with Abraham in a manner that is no different from the way a friend speaks with a close acquaintance and another friend. It is God's practice to do so, and this is His nature. After He has properly afflicted His own, He shows Himself most benevolent and pours

Himself out completely.

The fact that Abraham is commanded to look at the stars is proof that this vision occurred at night, at a time when Abraham was sighing and lamenting. It is characteristic of sublime trials to occupy hearts when they are alone. For this reason there is frequent mention in Holy Scripture of praying at night and in solitude. Affliction is the teacher of such praying.14

Thus because Abraham was occupied with these sad thoughts, he was unable to sleep. Therefore he got up and prayed; but while he is praying and feeling such great agitation within himself, God appears to him and converses with him in a friendly manner, so that Abraham, who is awake, is completely enraptured and carried away by the vision.

Thus when Peter was being delivered from prison by an angel (Acts 12:7 ff.), he did not realize at first that what was taking place was actually happening. He thought he was seeing a vision or was dreaming; but shortly after this, when he came to himself, so to speak, he saw that this was really happening.

In the same way this vision comes to Abraham. Yet he finally realizes that the event is actually taking place and that he is not being deluded by a dream. It is characteristic of such visions that they make people ecstatic, as Luke indicates when he says: γενόμενος ἐν ἑαυτῳ̂, "And Peter came to himself." Until then he had thought that he was seeing a vision in his sleep; he had not noticed that his deliverance from bonds and prison was really taking place.

This vision took place at night. Yet it was not a dream; it was an actual occurrence. Abraham heard the voice of the Lord, came out under the open sky from his chamber, looked at the heaven resplendent with stars, and finally heard the promise concerning his countless descendants.

Furthermore, I have stated before that there is a difference between this promise and the previous one in which he receives the promise of descendants like the sand of the sea.15 Moses implies in a hidden fashion that this passage includes the promise about the spiritual and heavenly Seed, while previously he is speaking solely of physical descendants. Therefore in this instance he adds:

6. And he believed the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

No one has treated this passage better, more richly, more clearly, and more powerfully than St. Paul in the third to the twelfth chapters of Romans. Moreover, Paul treats it in such a way as to show that this promise concerning Abraham's descendants should not be interpreted to apply solely to the legitimate physics or temporal seed but to the spiritual and eternal heritage.

For Moses uses heavenly things to illustrate his point, not things that are earthly or temporal.

Therefore the promise, too, is a heavenly one, not of children of the flesh but of the spirit, or, as Paul calls them, "children of the promise" (Rom. 9:8). This meaning is clear from what Paul says.

Moreover, when Moses adds that Abraham believed God, this is the first passage of Scripture which we have had until now about faith. For the others, which Moses mentioned previously—the passage about the Seed of the woman, for example, the command to build the ark, the threat of the Flood, and the command to Abraham to leave his country, etc.—merely demand faith; they do not praise or recommend it.

These promises as well as the threats are all words which require faith, but they do not commend faith as the passage before us does. Therefore this is one of the foremost passages of all Scripture.

- 11 And Paul has not only expounded this passage most carefully; he also takes great pains to commend it to the church when he adds this statement (Rom. 4:23): "But the words 'it was reckoned to him' were written not for his [Abraham's] sake alone"—who later on died—but (Rom. 15:4) "for our instruction, that … we might have hope."

This is truly an instance of treating the Scriptures in an apostolic manner and of establishing the universal statement which is so dreadful and detestable to the very gates of hell: that all who believe the Word of God are just.

Accordingly, lest my discussions obscure what the best interpreter says, I shall speak rather briefly here. Read Paul, and read him most attentively. Then you will see that from this passage he constructs the foremost article of our faith—the article that is intolerable to the world and to Satan—namely, that faith alone justifies, but that faith consists in giving assent to the promises of God and concluding that they are true.16

In conformity with this fundamental principle, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews learnedly includes the deeds of all the saints in faith and maintains that everything was done by them out of faith.

"For without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6); and the very fact that God promises something demands that we believe it, that is, that we conclude by faith that it is true and have no doubt that the outcome will be in agreement with the promise.

Therefore if you should ask whether Abraham was righteous before this time, my answer is: He was righteous because he believed God. But here the Holy Spirit wanted to attest this expressly, since the promise deals with a spiritual Seed. He did so in order that you might conclude on the basis of a correct inference that those who accept this Seed, or those who believe in Christ, are righteous.

Abraham's faith was extraordinary, since he left his country when commanded to do so and became an exile; but we are not all commanded to do the same thing. Therefore in that connection Moses does not add: "Abraham believed God, and this was reckoned to him as righteousness." But in the passage before us he makes this addition when he is speaking about the heavenly Seed. He does so in order to comfort the church of all times. He is saying that those who, with Abraham, believe this promise are truly righteous.

Here, in the most appropriate place, the Holy Spirit wanted to set forth expressly and clearly the statement that righteousness is nothing else than believing God when He makes a promise.

At this point there arises an important debate concerning the Law and faith: whether the Law justifies, whether faith does away with the Law, etc.

In this connection Paul learnedly stresses the matter of time: that in this chapter Moses is speaking about righteousness and a righteous or justified Abraham prior to the Law, prior to the works of the Law, yes, prior to the people of the Law and before Moses, the lawgiver, was born. Accordingly, he says that righteousness is not only not from the Law but is prior to the Law, and that neither the Law nor the works of the Law contribute anything toward it.

Then what? Is the Law useless for righteousness? Yes, certainly. But does faith alone, without works, justify? Yes, certainly. Otherwise you must repudiate Moses, who declares that Abraham is righteous prior to the Law and prior to the works of the Law, not because he sacrificed his son, who had not yet been born, and not because he did this or that work, but because he believed God who gave a promise.

In this passage no mention is made of any preparation for grace, of any faith formed through works, or of any preceding disposition.17 This, however, is mentioned: that at that time Abraham was in the midst of sins, doubts, and fears, and was exceedingly troubled in spirit.

How, then, did he obtain righteousness? In this way: God speaks, and Abraham believes what God is saying. Moreover, the Holy Spirit comes as a trustworthy witness and declares that this very believing or this very faith is righteousness or is imputed by God Himself as righteousness and is regarded by Him as such.

But because the words which the Lord is speaking relate especially to Christ, the spiritual Seed, Paul unfolds this mystery and declares clearly that righteousness comes through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). Let us, then, accept this statement and not allow ourselves to be dislodged from it by the ragings of Satan and the popes.

But how Satan hates this statement is proved not only by the fact that today he assails it in such a hostile manner and impudently blasphemes and condemns it; but here the rabbis of the Jews also reveal their folly and the wrath which they harbor against Christ.

- 12 They read this passage in the following manner: Abraham believed in God, and when he directed his thoughts to Him, he did so in righteousness. This means that Abraham believed the Lord and thought that God was just and would give him a seed because He was just, that is, because He would have regard for the merits and the saintliness of father Abraham.

Surely a thought worthy of the rabbis and enemies of Christ! For by it the entire sense is turned upside down, the promise and grace are excluded, and human righteousness is established—although Paul, on the basis of this very passage, most emphatically attacks this opinion as wrong and ungodly.

As for the verb בשַׁחָ, I do not object very much whether you take it to mean either "to impute" or as ""to think"; for the result remains the same. When the Divine Majesty thinks about me that I am righteous, that my sins have been forgiven, that I am free from eternal death, and when I gratefully grasp this thought of God about me in faith, then I am truly righteous, not through my works but through faith, with which I grasp the divine thought.

For God's thought is infallible truth. Therefore when I grasp it with a firm thought—not with an uncertain and wavering opinion—I am righteous.

For faith is the firm and sure thought or trust that through Christ God is propitious and that through Christ His thoughts concerning us are thoughts of peace, not of affliction or wrath.

God's thought or promise, and faith, by which I take hold of God's promise—these belong together.

Therefore Paul correctly translates the word בשַׁחָ with λογίζεσθαι, which also refers to thinking, as does the word "to account"; for if you believe God when He gives a promise, God accounts you righteous.

It is not stated here that God wants to regard the Law, circumcision, or sacrifices as worthy of righteousness. Only His accounting, only that thought of grace concerning us, brings this about.

For righteousness is given to Abraham not because he performs works but because he believes. Nor is it given to faith as a work of ours; it is given because of God's thought, which faith lays hold of.

Therefore Paul is very adroit in putting such stress on the word "to account" or "to reckon as" (Rom.

4:4–5). "Now to one who works," he says, "his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly his faith is reckoned as righteousness"; and a little earlier (Rom. 3:20): "or no human being will be justified in His sight by works of the Law."

But it is known what the works of the Law are. They are the highest and most beautiful virtues. Do these, then, contribute nothing toward righteousness?

"Nothing," says Paul; "all our virtues are rejected, and mercy alone avails."

Even though God demands our virtues and does not want us to be addicted to the lusts of the flesh but earnestly charges us not only to hold them in check but to slay them completely, yet our virtues cannot help us before God's judgment; for they are polluted and contaminated by lust. Therefore unless God averts His eyes from our sins, yes, even from our righteousness and virtues and reckons us as righteous because of faith, which lays hold of His Son, we are done for. Mercy alone, or the accounting alone, saves us.

Hence our doctrine that we are justified before God solely through His accounting mercy has its foundation in this passage.

This is the source from which Paul has drawn his discussions in Romans and Galatians, where he ascribes righteousness to faith, not to works or the Law. But look at the indifference, the sluggishness, yes, blindness of past times; even Lyra distorts this passage with his interpretation.18

Lyra declares that faith produced by love formally justifies the mind. Accordingly, he concludes that a faith which has not been formed by love is bare, and he rejects it. Is not this maintaining that God disregards faith and has regard for love and works?

But how does this agree with Moses and Paul? if faith is formed by love, then works are the main thing for which God has regard. But if it is works, then it is we ourselves. Therefore love or works are the living colors; but faith is a monogram, something crude and unattractive.

These insipid thoughts arise from a profound ignorance of sacred matters. As a result, the Law and the promise, faith and works, are jumbled, although a very great distinction should be made between them.

The chief and most important part of the doctrine is the promise; to it faith attaches itself, or, to speak more clearly, faith lays hold of it. Moreover, the confident laying hold of the promise is called faith; and it justifies, not as our own work but as the work of God. For the promise is a gift, a thought of God by which - 13 He offers us something. It is not some work of ours, when we do something for God or give Him something. No, we receive something from Him, and that solely through His mercy.

Therefore he who believes God when He promises, he who is convinced that God is truthful and will carry out whatever He has promised, is righteous or is reckoned as righteous.

After that there is also the Law; for God not only promises, but He also commands and enjoins.

Moreover, it is the concern of the Law that you conform your will to it and obey God's commands.

Will you not say, however, it is extraordinary perverseness to conclude that the promise and the Law are the same thing? But if a difference has been established and faith alone lays hold of the promise but works serve the Law, what folly it is to invent an unformed faith 19 and to say that faith formed by love justified Why do they not leave each within its own fixed bounds?

Faith is assuredly nothing else—nor can it be anything else—than giving assent to a promise. But if this assent is reckoned as righteousness, why, you foolish sophist, do you make the same claim for love, hope, and other virtues?

I know that these are outstanding gifts of God and are required by Him, that they are called forth and sustained in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. I know that faith does not exist without these gifts; but the question now before us is: What is characteristic of each?

In your hand you are holding a variety of seeds; yet I do not ask which are related to which; I ask:

What virtue is characteristic of each?

State clearly here what faith alone does, not with what virtues it is closely connected. Faith alone lays hold of the promise, believes God when He gives the promise, stretches out its hand when God offers something, and accepts what He offers. This is the characteristic function of faith alone. Love, hope, and patience are concerned with other matters; they have other bounds, and they stay within these bounds. For they do not lay hold of the promise; they carry out the commands. They hear God commanding and giving orders, but they do not hear God giving a promise; this is what faith does.

Here the testimony of Scripture is clear and beyond doubt. Righteousness is imputed to faith, that is, Abraham is reckoned as righteous by God because he believes God. Scripture makes no such statement about works.

These issues should have been decided on the basis of the sources, not on the basis of the foolish opinions of the sophists, who think as follows: "Behold, it is not enough that you believe; you must also do good works," as though we were concluding that God merely makes promises and does not also give the Law and impose definite duties!

When God makes a promise, there He Himself is dealing with us and is giving and offering us something. But when He gives a command through the Law, He is requiring something from us, and He wants us to do something.

Therefore this distinction must be retained: The only faith that justifies is the faith that deals with God in His promises and accepts them.

But it is love which deals with God when He gives commands; it carries out those commands and obeys God. Similarly, a distinction must be made between the promise and the Law, between faith and love, between the aim of faith and the aim of love; and that destructive gloss about a faith formed by love

—the gloss which attributes everything to love and robs faith of everything—must be completely rejected.

Moreover, we must give heed to Holy Scripture, which proves abundantly that nobody can satisfy the Law. The Law demands that you love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18).

But who, I ask, is there who does this? Even the love of the saints is imperfect and is often troubled by fear, often by lack of trust, and often by impatience in misfortune. At such times what becomes of faith produced by love? If God will not consider you just unless you have loved Him with all your heart and have fulfilled the Law, you will never be justified.

Learn, therefore, not to attribute righteousness to your love or to your works and merits; for they are always unclean, imperfect, and polluted. Consequently, they call for a confession of our unworthiness and for humbling ourselves with a prayer for forgiveness. But attribute your righteousness to mercy alone, to the promise concerning Christ alone, the promise which faith accepts and by means of which it protects and defends itself against conscience when God sits in judgment.

- 14 This is the sound and true doctrine. On the other hand, the scholastic doctrine concerning an unformed and a formed faith is of the devil; it destroys the doctrine of faith and entangles us in Turkish and Jewish errors. Therefore let us reject it as a hellish pest.

We know indeed that faith is never alone but brings with it love and other manifold gifts. For he who believes in God and is sure that God is graciously inclined toward us, since He gave His Son and with His

Son the hope of eternal life, how could he not love God with all his heart? How could he not revere Him?

How could he not strive to display a grateful heart for such great blessings and to obey God while bearing hardships?

Thus faith brings with it a multitude of the most beautiful virtues and is never alone. But matters must not be confused on this account, and what is characteristic of faith alone should not be attributed to other virtues.

Faith is the mother, so to speak, from whom that crop of virtues springs. If faith is not there first, you would look in vain for those virtues. If faith has not embraced the promises concerning Christ, no love and no other virtues will be there, even if for a time hypocrites were to paint what seem to be likenesses of them.

Therefore the promise must be distinguished from the Law. The promise requires faith; the Law, works. The promise is certain and reliable, and is surely carried out, because God carries it out. But the Law is not carried out, because we, who try to fulfill it, are human beings, that is, weak sinners.

Accordingly, our righteousness does not depend on the Law and works, because we cannot perfectly fulfill the Law; it depends on the promise, which is sure and unalterable. Therefore this promise is surely carried out and fulfilled when faith takes hold of it; and it follows with infallible logic that faith alone justifies, inasmuch as faith alone accepts the promise.

The Law and works do not justify; yet Law and works must be taught and performed, in order that we may become aware of our wretched state and accept grace all the more eagerly.

This theology did not originate with us, as the blasphemous papists cry out; nor was it thought up or invented by us. St. Paul teaches it, and as a witness he quotes Moses, who says that Abraham believed

God and that this was reckoned to him for righteousness, that is, that Abraham was reckoned as righteous when he believed the promise, since God had compassion on him.

Furthermore, every promise of God includes Christ; for if it is separated from this Mediator, God is not dealing with us at all.

Therefore the only difference between Abraham's faith and ours is this: Abraham believed in the Christ who was to be manifested, but we believe in the Christ who has already been manifested; and by that faith we are all saved.

7. And He said to him: I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.

The Latin church has few commentators on Moses. The foremost is Lyra. His writings led to the emergence of other commentators: Hugo Carrensis, etc.20 In connection with this passage Lyra draws attention to a fundamental principle that is most necessary for understanding Scripture, namely, that many passages of Scripture have a twofold meaning: (1) a literal meaning pertaining to earthly things and (2) a meaning pertaining to spiritual and eternal gifts. Among these passages he includes the one before us.21

And in the schools of the theologians there is a widely known rule that Scripture must be understood in a fourfold manner:22 (1) that the sense is historical or literal, (2) that it is tropological, (3) that it is anagogic, (4) that it is allegorical. I for my part am ready to concede that every one of these senses is richly represented; but if we want to treat Holy Scripture skillfully, our effort must be concentrated on arriving at one simple, pertinent, and sure literal sense.

For I consider it not only dangerous and unprofitable for teaching to assign a number of senses to a Scripture passage; this practice also makes light of the authority of Scripture, whose meaning should always be one and the same.

Therefore even though I do not oppose Lyra at this place, I nevertheless am unwilling to follow him.

He explains that the less important promise deals with the possession of the land of Canaan, but that the important one deals with the spiritual promise and eternal life.

- 15 Thus it is Lyra's explanation that the statement of the psalm that "he will be my son, and I shall be his father" (cf. Ps. 89:26–27 and 2 Sam. 7:14) deals, in its less important meaning, with Solomon, the son of David; but he says that it must be understood as referring principally to Christ.

Lyra thinks that this fundamental principle helps students acquire the ability to extricate themselves from other obscure passages; but I am of the opposite opinion and maintain that to follow this fundamental principle in the church is neither safe nor profitable.

You must always strive to arrive at one sure and simple meaning of an account; and if you change it or depart from it, you should realize that you have departed from Scripture and, in addition, are following an uncertain and doubtful interpretation.

Accordingly so far as the passage before us is concerned, it is certain that Moses is speaking of both possessions, the spiritual as well as the earthly, but not, as Lyra supposes, with the same words. He uses words in such a manner that with some he points out the spiritual promise, with others the earthly one.

He does the same thing above, in the twelfth chapter.23 There the Lord is talking about the possession of the land of Canaan. But finally He adds the brief statement (Gen. 12:3): "And in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed." Thus He puts the spiritual promise concerning Christ in special words.

It is a serious mistake if Lyra, in keeping with his fundamental principle, tries to give the words a different meaning and to explain them as referring in a less important manner to the physical blessing of a physical Israel.

Thus this passage has the specific meaning—the one and only meaning—that the Lord is speaking about the physical promise of the land of Canaan. No twofold meaning of the account or literal sense must be allowed here.

If someone in search of an allegory should make hell, sin, and death out of Ur of the Chaldeans but eternal life out of the land of Canaan, no one will have any doubt that he is aiming at a foreign meaning and one that is alien to the words.

Even though the allegory is not inappropriate for teaching, its meaning is nevertheless weak and useless in a dispute. For who would prevent the devising of many such meanings, just as many shapes can be formed from a single piece of wax?

We, however, should be concerned about the sure and true meaning. This cannot be any other than that of the letter and the text, or of the historical account. Therefore just as Moses spoke shortly before of the spiritual promise and of true righteousness, so he is now speaking of the promise of the land of Canaan.

No allegory is needed here to interpret Ur as sin and the Promised Land as immortality; for Moses has already stated that Abraham's faith in God was reckoned to him for righteousness, that is, that through faith his sins were forgiven and eternal life was granted to him.

That Abraham is the heir of righteousness and of eternal life through Christ—the literal sense itself reveals this if you treat it skillfully. Now because Abraham is not alone but has the promise of descendants, and his descendants are of the promise, that is, believe the promise, Paul transfers the promise from Abraham's physical seed to the believers among the Gentiles. Since the entire outcome depends on the fact that Abraham believed God and this was reckoned to him for righteousness, that is, that through believing he became righteous and an heir of the eternal kingdom, Paul constructs this universal proposition: that everyone who believes the promise as Abraham did is an heir of the eternal kingdom and righteous, whether he is a physical descendant of Abraham or not.

If Paul had not drawn this meaning from the literal and simple sense, he would never have seen it.

"Those who are men of faith," he says in Galatians (3:9), "are blessed with Abraham, who had faith"; and likewise (Gal. 3:7): "It is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham." On the other hand (Gal. 3:10), "All who rely on works of the Law are under a curse."

What is the source of Paul's arguments? Where did he get them? Without a doubt from this passage; and if he had not undertaken its explanation in an apostolic spirit, we all would have passed it by as a useless and out-of-date statement.

Therefore we owe Paul special honor as the greatest teacher of Holy Scripture, and it is proper for us to follow him. In no circum, stances shall we let lying sophists lead us away from his interpretation.

I have said this for the sake of those who are somewhat inexperienced. When they come across such passages in the writings of the doctors, they think they have found a jewel. Yet such passages are

- 16 dangerous; they lead away from the true way, that is, from the literal and historical meaning, the only one that should be retained and stressed.

8. But he said: O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?

It is the custom of Holy Scripture to add signs to promises. Thus in Baptism and in the Lord's Supper there is not only the Word of promise but also a sign or work or ceremony. Therefore after Abraham has become more intimate with God and has been encouraged by Him, he has the courage to ask for a sign. At any other time this would be the sin of putting God to the test.

Putting God to the test is linked with doubting. Therefore the Virgin Mary seems to have acted more properly when she believed the promise without exacting a sign. Of his own accord the angel gives her the sign concerning Elizabeth (Luke 1:36).

But these matters must not be judged on the basis of reason; the person must be considered. Abraham is a believer and an heir of eternal righteousness, and so it pleases God to add to the promise the sign which he desires. But if he had been without faith, it would have been a sin to ask for a sign.

Thus Gideon and David ask for signs, and their plans are successful. The ungodly Ahaz does not ask for a sign, although he was commanded by the Lord to do so.24 He persists in his habitual unbelief.

Thus one's judgment must be based either on the person or, to express myself more clearly, on the heart itself. "For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). Conversely, whatever comes from faith pleases God.

David wages wars and is successful; another fights without success. For David remains in the faith and in his calling. By slaying his enemies he serves God. The calling, however, does not follow a set pattern. It takes place through signs, through the spoken Word, or even through an inner impulse of the spirit.

David and Samson kill lions without anyone's command; they are urged on by a divine impulse. He who does not have this impulse and attempts the same thing will most certainly become involved in danger.

Therefore just as these special works of a calling should not be adduced as a pattern, so Abraham's example should not be followed by everybody. You should not ask for a sign from God because Abraham asks for a sign. Abraham is described as righteous and full of the Holy Spirit through divine imputation.

Therefore even when he asks for a sign without being commanded to do so, he does not sin but pleases God, who gladly listens to him. Unless you have the sunlight of the Holy Spirit guiding your way, you should never do this; but you must hold fast to the Word and command of God, which should be surer for you than any sign whatever.

I have often warned that much good sense is needed when passing judgment on the works of the saints. When the Spirit had come upon Saul, he cut oxen to pieces and threatened that the same thing would happen to the sheep of those who would not follow him and Samuel to war (1 Sam. 11). Success followed this impulse, which was both heroic and from the Holy Spirit. After Münzer had aroused the peasants to take up arms, he was also sure of victory in what seemed to him a just cause.25 But he perished, and rightly so; for his actions came from his own spirit, not from the Spirit of God. Nor could he get any support from the examples of the Old Testament saints, the examples on which he was nevertheless relying.

For the most part, the examples of the saints are miracles. They should not be adduced as a pattern.

I have no command to walk with Peter on the sea; but I do have the command to love my neighbor, to be patient when under a cross, etc. When I do these things, I am not erring; and I am also out of danger.

In this passage Abraham is described as a friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7), who talks intimately with Him; and God, as his friend, is pleased with everything he does. When we are well-disposed toward someone, we endure and put up with everything and take offense at nothing, as Paul states (1 Cor. 13:7):

""Love bears all things." But in an unfriendly and hostile person everything displeases, and we do not allow even the slightest fault to go unnoticed. The same thing happens here. Abraham comes forward with the utmost trust, through which he is righteous, and asks for a sign, not for his own sake—for he himself was not to possess the land—but for the sake of his descendants, lest their faith succumb during those terrible persecutions and obstacles which would confront them.

What trepidation there was when they were to be led out of Egypt, and how wretched they were while there! How often they grumbled in the wilderness itself because they were impatient! Why say more? Out of such a great multitude only two enter the land of Canaan. How could their faith have remained

- 17 unshaken in so many dangers and difficulties had not this promise and similar ones given strength to their people? Hence this request for a sign was necessary and beneficial to the church.

9. He said to him: Bring Me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10. And he brought Him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

11. And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.

From this sign given by the Lord to Abraham his descendants were to learn that the promise concerning the land of Canaan is certain, no matter how long the Lord may delay it. Moses gives a welldetailed description of the sacrifice. Without a doubt this custom of sacrificing was handed down by Adam himself to his descendants; and gradually the heathen also adopted it, until it was reinstated by the Abraham seems to have been occupied throughout the day with the preparation of this sacrifice and with building the altars, until finally a deep sleep fell upon the tired man at nighttime. The text itself explains both what Moses mentions about the birds of heaven and what the entire sign means.

13. Then the Lord said to Abram: Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years;

14. but I will bring judgment on the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

15. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

16. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

This is the explanation of the sign. The slaughtered animals are the people of Israel, who were abused and afflicted in various ways in Egypt. The birds about to consume the pieces of flesh are Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Abraham, who is the father of this nation, drives the birds away; for the promise made to Abraham does not permit this nation to be completely crushed, even though it is severely oppressed.

Furthermore, the slaughtering of the four kinds of animals depicts the four-hundred-year affliction in Egypt of the descendants of Abraham. The birds denote the final period, during which Israel flew away from slavery to freedom and the Promised Land.

If you consider the time, it is hard to be oppressed by slavery that lasts so long. But the fact that there is the promise of sure deliverance in the end—this is comfort in greatest abundance.

Abraham no doubt impressed this sign on his descendants in sermon after sermon, urging them not to let themselves be overcome by their misfortunes and not to give up but to concentrate on the promise of the land of Canaan and on their deliverance in firm faith and unshaken hope. He also urged that just as he had driven off the birds to keep them from defiling the sacrifice, so his descendants, too, should thwart and overcome offenses until the Lord in His mercy would put an end to these evils and destroy the enemies of His people.

Thus Abraham not only had the promise of a temporal seed before this seed existed, but it had also been foretold to him that sufferings and hardships would precede the fulfillment of the promise.

Abraham was still alone. He was without an heir. But in the sight of God the nation had already been born at this time, yes, was being seized upon greedily by the birds, and the birds had been driven far away, even submerged in the sea, while the nation had been delivered and was safe. But Abraham sees these events only in the Word and in the promise, and he believes that they will surely happen in this manner.

This is the historical meaning of the passage before us. Through this sacrifice the Lord wanted to give Abraham a sign from which he might learn the events of the future. It is as though the Lord were saying:

"In the world this nation will be for Me like the most acceptable sacrifice. Neither the birds of heaven nor the ungodly heathen will cease to assail it. But you will drive them away; that is, My promise, which i have made to you, will keep the nation safe. I Myself will judge the heathen and will lead out My people with great wealth." But this sign was necessary, not for the sake of Abraham, who believed God and was righteous, but for the sake of his descendants, who were to be afflicted among the heathen in various ways. It was necessary to keep them from despairing or being broken down in spirit.

- 18 Moreover, it is also the purpose of this passage to teach us what God's nature is. He is indeed the Deliverer and Liberator from death. But before He delivers, He destroys; before He makes alive, He plunges into death. For He is wont to act in this way "so that out of nothing He may make everything"

Thus when God wants to exalt this nation and to increase it beyond the number of the stars, He first permits birds to attack it and to trouble, oppress, and harass it in various ways.

This was the reason for the tyrannical imposition and exacting of work and for the boundless cruelty practiced at the command of the Egyptian tyrant on the children when they were born (Ex. 1:8 ff.).

It was likewise Satan's intention to devour Moses when he was exposed on the water (Ex. 2:3).

Therefore this nation is rightly compared to a sacrifice, because it was frequently slain in the flesh.

This is also the reason for the fright by which Abraham is seized in the night. For the flesh cannot refrain from grieving and sobbing when it feels the cross.

At this point there arises a question about the number of years, namely, where one should start counting. The end of the exile is definitely the departure from Egypt, but as to its beginning there are various opinions.

Lyra proves clearly enough from the account in Ex. 6:16 ff. that the Jews were not in Egypt for 400 years.26 For Levi had three sons before he went down to Egypt. Kohath was born in Canaan and lived 133 years, but he died in Egypt. His son Amram lived for 137 years and was born and died in Egypt. The son of Amram is Moses, and in his eightieth year the people departed from Egypt.

Therefore this computation must not begin from the entrance into Egypt; for if you acid up the years of the lives of these patriarchs, they amount to only 286.

Accordingly the Jews begin their computation from the birth of Isaac; but here, too, many years are unaccounted for.

Therefore one must begin computing from the year in which Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans, for from that time until the descent into Egypt there are exactly 215 years. But the stay in Egypt also amounts to 215 years. Together these now make 430 years, just as they are reckoned in Ex.

12:40 and in Gal. 3:17.

Abraham was 75 years old when he left Ur. From that year it is 25 years until his hundredth year, during which Isaac was born to him. But from the birth of Isaac to the descent into Egypt there are 190 years. Together these amount to 215 years. H you add the 215 of the stay in Egypt, they total 430 years. I consider this calculation correct, for Moses in Exodus and Paul in Galatians count 430 years.

When in this passage Scripture mentions only 400 years, it does not reckon the time accurately; it indicates that the people will be in exile approximately 400 years. We are in the habit of doing the same thing. At times we count something accurately; at times our count is inaccurate.

But why, you will ask, do you begin the computation with the departure of Abraham from Ur, although the text clearly states that the seed of Abraham will be in exile for so many years?

My answer is: "When Abraham was called out of Ur, he was at that time already being declared the father of this people; and so far as the promise was concerned, he already was a father, even though he was still childless."

The Epistle to the Hebrews (7:9–10) states: "By Melchizedek a tithe was exacted from Levi when he was still in the loins of Abraham"; for when a tithe was exacted from Abraham alone, who through the promise was the father of this nation, a tithe was exacted from his entire posterity, which was still hidden in his loins. When Abraham is an exile, his descendants are exiles; when the descendants of Abraham are afflicted, Abraham himself is afflicted. Nevertheless, toward the end, when deliverance was nearest, everything was in a most disturbed and wretched state.

Similarly today, now that the Day of the Lord and the deliverance of the true church is near, the outburst of violence is most powerful and bitter; for more blood is being shed by the Turk and the pope than was shed during any previous period.

Here, too, we are reminded of the excellence of the sacred accounts. For in all the books of the heathen what do you find to compare with them? Here the events of 400 years are predicted. Accordingly,

Abraham sees the history of his descendants predicted for a long time to come, their afflictions in Egypt and finally their glorious liberation.

- 19 Thus it is evident that God "calls into existence the things that do not exist" (Rom. 4:17). For with God there is no past or future; with Him everything that for us is far in the future exists at the present time.

Therefore this chapter is one of the foremost in the entire Holy Scripture; through the Holy Spirit the prophets have drawn much from it. From this source the psalm (100:3) declares: "Know that the Lord is

God! It is He that made us." And Ps. 139:1—"O Lord, Thou hast searched me"—is also based on it. From this source stem all the prophecies concerning the tribulations of the righteous.

This is a marvelously powerful text if the Holy Spirit comes and explains it to us. "In Thy book," says David (Ps. 139:16), "were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Have you not in this passage (Gen. 15:13–16) a clear example of David's statement?

The years are numbered, and a manifold affliction is predicted; but so far no one of those who will be living during these years exists, for the people of whom the Lord is speaking here have not yet been born.

In this manner the holy prophets, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, drew their sermons from Moses.

But it is a very great comfort to know that the divine truth deceives neither with regard to the past nor with regard to the future. Therefore through this promise Abraham, even though he is still without an heir, nevertheless is sure about the possession of the land of Canaan and about his whole posterity; so far as his faith is concerned, he is already in possession of the land.

Moreover, the passage before us is also useful for strengthening our faith in opposition to the Jews. If God so loved the seed of Abraham that He fixed a definite time when they were to be set free, how will the Jews of our time defend themselves, now that they have been wandering and roaming for more than fifteen hundred years without any prophecy, in a hard exile without any end in sight, without a form of worship, and without a government, especially since there are very important prophecies in Jeremiah and elsewhere, such as "David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel" (Jer. 33:17), etc.?

During the Babylonian captivity, when it seemed that the people had been completely cast aside, the godly were nevertheless clinging to the prophecy of Jeremiah, who, through the Holy Spirit, had set a limit to the time of the captivity, namely, that they would return to Canaan after seventy years.

Are not our Jews forced to admit that ever since the time of Christs crucifixion no man has sat on the throne of David before the face of God?

What now? God is not lying, is He? No, but the Jews themselves are lying when they deny that Christ has come and are now waiting in vain these many years for the Messiah.

But if their hope were reliable, and the Messiah were near, you do not suppose, do you, that they would be without prophets to remind them of the time of His arrival? But because they have been deprived of the ministry of prophets for so long a time and have no knowledge of a definite or indefinite time when their captivity is to end, it is certain that their expectation is vain and their faith of no avail, but that the Word of God is sure and reliable; for it promises that until the coming of the Messiah a descendant of David will never fail to sit on the throne of David.

It also follows that the Jews are no longer the people of God but have been cast aside by Him because of their unbelief in not accepting the promised and manifested Messiah.

Therefore keep this reasoning in mind; it cannot be evaded in any way. God keeps His promise and keeps it to such an extent that He is concerned even about those who have not yet been born, as we see in this passage. How, then, could He disregard those who have already been born and let them wander about for so long a time without prophets if they were the people or the seed of Abraham? Accordingly, their lot proves conclusively that they are not the people of God but have been rejected by God.

Even though the church of the Gentiles has been oppressed in various ways during these last times, it nevertheless has evidences of God's concern for it.

The Turkish religion and the papacy are most powerful monsters. In recent times the church has been severely afflicted by them; yet amid the ragings of the dragon and the lion Baptism remains, the Eucharist remains, the power of the Keys remains, and the text of the Bible, or Holy Scripture, remains. Certainly this is not through human power; otherwise the Turk and the pope would have long since done away with these. But through His power God preserves these, so that when the Word and the sacraments remain, faith and the church remain in spite of the pope and the Turk.

Therefore inasmuch as God is still speaking with us, He has not forsaken His church, even though He allows it to be afflicted.

- 20 The Jews are unable to adduce anything like this; for because they themselves also have Sacred Scripture, there has been added the punishment that their table becomes a snare for them (Ps. 69:22).

Isaiah (29:11–12) compares them to someone who is holding a book but does not know the letters and for this reason is unable to read. He also calls Scripture a closed and sealed book which they cannot open.

Hence the Jews are certainly in error.

For through prophets God always reveals to His people a definite time both of affliction and of deliverance. Therefore it is characteristic neither of God nor of His people that for about fifteen hundred years now they are exiled and without prophets.

We Christians, on the other hand, are as certain as anyone can be that nothing remains to be fulfilled except the Last Day and our redemption. Meanwhile God speaks with us, encourages and instructs us, in order that we may be ready every day and hour. This is positive proof that we are the people of God and the true church, which God does not forsake to such an extent that He does not carefully forewarn the descendants of Abraham, who as yet have not even been born, about the length of their exile.

For with God both the future and the past are the present. For God the descendants of Abraham were living at that time; therefore He is speaking to them and giving them instruction.

Thus even the dead exist and are alive in the sight of God; for just as I was alive for God before I came into existence and before I was born, so I shall also be alive and exist for God even when I am dead.

The text before us asserts powerfully that God is the God of the living and that those who are not yet in existence or through death have ceased to be among the living are just as alive for God as those who are in existence. The holy prophets have based many of their sermons on this passage.

What follows in the text—"As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace"—is a most beautiful comfort. For our thoughts are as follows: Abraham dies as an exile, and not until long after his death do his descendants obtain the promise of the land of Canaan. What, then, becomes of what God said above:

"Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield; your reward shall be very great"? What good is this to one who is dead? This is indeed something great, and I pray that what God promises concerning a pleasant old age and a peaceful death may happen to me. But what is this in comparison with such a magnificent promise?

Since Abraham had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he realized that these words referred to the resurrection of the dead and to the life of the future world, and as a sign or an evidence of this he pointed to the physical promise concerning the land of Canaan. Therefore he concludes that God will be his rich reward when he is already dead and resting in the dust of the earth.

And above all one should note the very pleasing description of death this passage contains. God does not use the term "death." No, He tones down this name, so to speak, with pleasing words. "You will be gathered to your fathers," He says, "and will sleep with Noah and other heroes." Likewise: "You will be buried, that is, you will not be snatched away, as Enoch was, but will be buried in the earth; and you will be reduced to dust at a peaceful old age, when the measure of your days is full and you have become weary, as it were, of this life."

Accordingly, God declares that Abraham will die; yet He promises that He will be Abraham's reward.

How are we going to harmonize these statements unless we conclude that after this life there remains another life, one that is better and eternal, to which we shall be awakened out of the very dust of death by the Son of God?27

The saintly fathers had such tokens of a life to come. With them they sustained themselves in this troubled and wretched life. But those previous statements about imputed righteousness, that is, about the free forgiveness of sins and deliverance from eternal death, serve this same purpose.

"But these words—were written not for Abraham's sake alone," says Paul (Rom. 4:23–24), "but for ours also," in order that we, too, may believe that there has been laid up a reward for us when we shall lie buried in the earth, and indeed such a reward that we may live with God as long as He Himself will live, that is, forever. With this hope Abraham is satisfied. Even though he does not obtain the promise of the land of Canaan, yet he is cheerful. He disregards and despises death, for he knows that he will live with Therefore you must take careful note of this passage. It is like an ocean and a great sea in which the prophets have found many brilliant sermons on justification, on redemption from sin, on the resurrection of the dead and eternal life.

- 21 These things, as we have said, were not written for Abraham's benefit. They are of service to us, in order that when we, with Abraham, believe in the woman's Seed, we may through this hope overcome death and no longer have a horror of departing from this life. Our bodies will indeed be buried in the earth; yes, they will decay in the earth and will be reduced to dust. But in due time the earth will return this deposit to Him who has promised that He will be our reward. This hope is sure and firm.

It is the purpose of the last statement—the one about the fact that the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet complete—to point out the patience of God. For just as there has been assigned to the godly their portion in the land of the living, so the ungodly have their portion assigned in hell. Therefore let us too endure their iniquities for a time; for they will not go unpunished forever.

Thus the iniquities of the pope and of the Turk are not yet complete. God, who is long-suffering and patient, does not punish evildoers immediately. But this does not mean they escape entirely, for the time has been appointed when they will be brought to trial and will pay the penalties their crimes deserve.

Thus Peter says (2 Peter 3:7) that the ungodly are being reserved for the Day of Judgment in order to be punished, and Paul declares (Rom. 2:4) that the punishments are delayed with the intention that God may grant time for repentance. But the imprudent and complacent flesh misuses the long-suffering of God as a license to sin and, because the punishment is not inflicted immediately, dreams of perpetual security.

This is what the Lord promises in this passage concerning the Canaanites: "I shall still spare them and grant time for repentance; meanwhile, My dear Abraham, have patience, you and yours; perhaps some of them will be converted and will repent."

17. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

18. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

19. the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20. the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21. the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The rite of sacrificing did not begin here but was passed on by Adam and the rest of the holy fathers down to Abraham. The writings of the heathen also contain evidences that sacrifices were used in making covenants, and Jeremiah's account of the servants who were to be restored to liberty is also familiar.28

After the sacrificial animal had been slain and cut up, those who were making the covenant would pass between the pieces. Then they would burn one part and keep another part for a feast.

This custom was also observed in our own lifetime. When Maximilian, King Louis of France, and Pope Julius were making the covenant which has been called the most holy covenant, they divided a eucharistic host into three parts and partook of it together. But this sacred covenant lasted barely six months! 29

It appears, therefore, that this way of making covenants is ancient. Because God is making a covenant with Abraham which specifies that the land of Canaan will surely be handed over to Abraham's descendants, He Himself observes this practice and passes between the pieces of the sacrificial animals like a flame; and He sets fire to them for a sign that this sacrifice is pleasing to Him.

In this manner Abraham has been encouraged in this chapter and has been appointed the heir to eternal and temporal life. I confess that this matter is worthy to the highest degree of a longer and more careful discussion; but I am too busy for more elaborate reflections, and the seeds of the very great things which Moses wanted to stand out in this chapter have been pointed out as well as it has been possible for me.