The Fifteenth Chapter of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians This chapter deals throughout with our article of faith concerning the resurrection of the dead. This theme was occasioned by the fact that a number of factious spirits had arisen among the Corinthians who were ruining their faith and teaching that the resurrection of the dead is nothing. And there were others, as St. Paul states elsewhere, who tried to be clever and subtle and alleged that the resurrection had taken place a long time ago. As they interpreted it, we arose from sin through Baptism and entered into a new spiritual life, etc. Matters finally came to such a pass that people believed (as in the case of the Sadducees in the days of Christ) that man's years did not extend be¬ yond this life, that man's life was comparable to that of a cow or of other animals, and that man was created for no other purpose than to live blamelessly here on earth. And thus this doctrine gave birth to many impertinent fellows who believed absolutely nothing regarding the resurrection or a future life, who only ridiculed this doctrine and mocked the Christians in every way. They acted like real heathen.
St. Paul quotes their own words, as they said: "What kind of bodies will we have if we all rise again? Where will we all find room? If we all live at the same time, how can we find sufficient food and drink?
How can we all have wives and beget children and perform other natural functions of this body and this life? etc." And thus others too now began to affect wisdom. They made bold to figure out with their own reason and cleverness how it would be possible if all who had ever been born were to rise again at the same time and forgather again in a life such as we now lead, etc. With such inane babble they weakened the Christians' faith in this article and perverted this article into tomfoolery. And unfortunately today we have again arrived at the point where many, both peasants and townspeople, and particularly
Junker Hans of the nobility, prate so absurdly, shamelessly, and heathenishly about this when they presume to be so smart and stick their nose into the Scriptures. For now they have become so learned
[W, XXXVI, 482, 483] through us that they are all our teachers and each one claims to know everything.
Paul had to appear on the scene against such base wiseacres, who also aspired to be acclaimed as excellent teachers, and he had to pre¬ vent this poison from spreading. He had to compose a whole long chapter in strong and solid proof of this article of faith and in refuta¬ tion of their injurious prattle. Thereby he also served us in the future, so that we might be safeguarded the more strongly and be equipped to preserve this article — for the latter is so vigorously, mightily, and clearly substantiated here — especially since the apostles themselves prophesied that in these latter days many mockers would arise in Chris¬ tianity who would ridicule our belief and the article pertaining to the Last Day, the resurrection, and the future life, and who would surely deride us as the biggest fools still to hope for this and to suffer every peril and privation because of it, such as we already see come to pass.
It is truly a sin and a shame, indeed a miserable plague, that the time should come in Christendom, not only in these days of the world's last dregs but even already in the time of the apostles, yes, even among those whom they had shortly before visited and taught, even where they had shortly before planted and founded Christianity, that such a calamity should befall so soon, that some of them dared to arise, such as the apostles' disciples, and publicly proclaim that there was no resurrection and no future life, and that those who professed to be
Christians should deny and ridicule this article, although they were baptized on it and had become Christians by reason of this, the article on which also all their hope and consolation should be based. Thus they had forfeited everything with this and had believed, acted, and suffered in vain. For where this article is surrendered, all the others are gone too; and the chief article and the entire Christ are lost or preached entirely in vain.
For after all, that is the goal of our faith in Christ, of Baptism, of sermon, and of Sacrament, that we hope for a new life, that we come to Christ, that we rule eternally with Him, delivered from sin, devil, death, and every evil. Whoever does not think accordingly, or who even denies and derides this, will surely also have a low regard for Christ and for all that He did as well as for all that He gave us and instituted for us. For what would it amount to if we had received noth¬ ing better from Him than this wretched life and if we relied on Him in vain and suffered all that devil and world can inflict on us, and if He proved a liar with His great promises to us? As St. Paul himself says later (v. 19): "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied." But what more shameful thing might be said of Christians than that such is being preached among them and that they still have no higher regard for their Christ? And yet it hap¬ pened that the dear apostle had to experience this from his pupils. He had to see and hear this in his own parish or diocese. It must have pained him that he was unable to fend this off, and that he could only strengthen and preserve the assailed faith of a small and faithful group through this epistle.
But this has been recorded as our warning and admonition, that we, having the precious Word in its purity, be concerned and intent on being guided by it, apprehend it well and firmly, adhere to it, and do not become slothful, secure, and weary of it, lest factious spirits and wiseacres arise also among us to destroy these articles of faith and deprive us of them (on which our entire salvation and happiness are founded). For since the Corinthians, St. Paul's own disciples, to whom he had also preached and imparted the unadulterated Word, fell so miserably, a striking example has been placed before our very noses, bringing home to us the statement of St. Paul in 1. Cor. 10:12: "There¬ fore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall," being too sure of himself. This prompts us, when seeing or hearing someone who has become such a sow and heathen, to say apprehensively and prayerfully: "Dear Lord, do not let me fall thus." For this happens so easily when we feel secure and careless. For the devil surely presses us hard and assails us and also great men with the temptation to disbe¬ lieve this article or to doubt it. Pope, cardinals, and other great men, especially in Italy, are also fine, wise, intelligent, and learned people; yet if three could be found who believed this article, we should say that these were many. Therefore we may well take a lesson from the fact that the foremost and almost the first congregation among the Gen¬ tiles, in whose midst St. Paul had preached the longest, was split into such factions the moment he turned his back. It deteriorated to such an extent that it is terrible to recall. What might we who are preach¬ ing now expect when the holy and exalted apostle, compared to whom we are nothing, experienced this at the hands of his disciples? More¬ over, this happened during his own lifetime, obliging him to resist this with writings and in every other way possible.
It is, God be praised, more tolerable when this error is confined to [W, XXXVI, 484, 485] the mad rabble, such as the peasant in the village, the citizen in the towns, the nobility in the country, who lead such an infamous life, with no regard for God and God's Word. For these die as they lived, that is, like sows and cows. Thus a peasant said to his pastor, who visited him when he was about to die and asked him whether he desired ex¬ treme unction, "No, dear sir, a peasant dies very well without unction.
But it is the very devil when this finds its way into the pulpit and the article of faith is assailed by those who are preachers and, following
Paul, ascend the pulpit and govern Christendom in his stead. When such men open their despicable mouth and instill this in the people, they above all others work this murderous damage, especially if they are learned and very intelligent. For if only the pastors remain faithful and preserve the doctrine, God will bestow His grace that there will always be a number to accept it; for where the Word is pure and unadulterated, there will, of course, be fruit.
Therefore I have exhorted so often, and still exhort, that all who wish to be saved pray diligently, as Christ Himself commands us to pray (Matt. 9:38), that God may grant us faithful laborers and pastors who are sincere and adhere to the Word. Then if God be willing, there will be no danger. For the pulpit can and must alone preserve Baptism,
Sacrament, doctrine, articles of faith, and all estates in their purity.
However, if we neglect to pray and if we anger God with our se¬ curity, weariness, and ingratitude, He will send us, instead of St. Paul and all upright pastors, stupid asses who will snatch away both Sacra¬ ment and Word, and we lose everything, both in the doctrine and the office. Thus we can observe today that this has already befallen several countries and cities, which have not only lost the Word through such men but have also been led into every sort of misery. Through his lies and deceit the devil always leads to murder and ruin. But if faithful pastors had remained in those places, the pure doctrine would surely also have remained, and other misery would have been spared them, even though the rabble had espoused the error enthusiastically. For it does not dismay me so much to have a lout or a dolt blaspheme or to have a plebeian, insolent nobleman rave and rant, or to have some other wiseacre jeer. For all of these, Christendom and the pulpit will re¬ main intact. But the damage is wrought when they who teach become factious spirits themselves and the people are obliged to preserve themselves, and not only to preserve themselves, but also to be on guard and defend themselves against their own pastors. That is done
[W, XXXVI, 485—487] only with great difficulty. For even without this the poor multitude is soon mislead; it cannot govern and lead itself.
Therefore, I say, we are to think of this as put before our eyes as a terrible example which serves to startle and to warn us; and if such spirits were to arise in our midst, we must not permit this article to be taken from us or to be perverted. For I regret to say that I am worried that our great ingratitude merits that some men will arise also among us and publicly deny this article. Therefore it is indeed necessary that we pray earnestly, sincerely, and incessantly to have the pulpit remain pure, so that such affliction may be prevented or checked. For the pulpit can still staunchly resist all sorts of error and endure the whole world's malice. Let whoever will be converted, be converted; and whoever does not wish to be, let him be gone. At least some will be saved. But where darkness encompasses the whole world and Chris¬ tians are few in number and, moreover, when the pulpits are occupied by worthless, pernicious pastors, the time will not be far distant when thunder, lightning, and every plague of false doctrine will burst in upon us unexpectedly and before we are aware of it, which believes neither this nor any other article of faith. And we will have to tolerate pastors who mislead us with such loose prattle of reason, yes, even of the vulgar, beastly understanding which sows also have, such as those people in Corinth also shared, as we shall see. Therefore Paul takes this matter very seriously in order to preserve his people in the faith in this article against such abominable factions. And he substantiates this article so mightily that even the gates of hell cannot undo matters wherever the Word is adhered to and one does not give way to let blind, foolish reason indulge in subtle arguments; for reason knows nothing and can comprehend nothing of such sublime matters. And thus St. Paul begins:
1-2. Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the Gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast — unless you believed in vain.
That is spoken as it were by way of preface. Thereby he wants to draw them away in the very beginning of his discourse from their sub¬ tle disputations over this article and bring them back to the Word which he had preached to them. He wishes to exhort them to remem¬ ber and to abide by what they had heard, that they might not be di- [W, XXXVI, 487, 4881 verted from it nor give heed to other instruction. Here he gives them a gentle dig, although clothed in fine and proper words, because they had permitted themselves to be carried so far adrift and had arrived at a point where it became necessary to admonish them not to forget this and where the necessity of this reminder really marked a disgrace for them. But thus it goes, as I said before, when false teachers are given an opening and gain entry somewhere; people first become sated with the true doctrine and no longer have any regard for it, and thus they become ever more estranged from it until it is finally forgotten entirely.
Therefore St. Paul introduces his remarks with these words: "Now I would remind you, etc.," as if to say: "I perceive clearly that it will be necessary always to admonish you to be mindful of what I preached to you, lest you lose sight of it or let it be supplanted in your heart by a different message and doctrine." For wherever this is not constantly pursued and recalled, and where the heart does not occupy itself with it, there doors and windows stand wide ajar for all sorts of seduction to enter and for the extinction and removal of pure doctrine.
"But I remind you," St. Paul says, "of the precious Gospel which I, Paul, proclaimed to you. For I behold that others, too, wish to enjoy the repute of preaching the Gospel. In that way they would suppress my doctrine, so that whatever Paul proclaims would be accounted nothing. Instead they want to be regarded as the true apostles and teachers of the Gospel, and they alone want to have the glory and the function to preach it correctly. To counteract this, I must remind you and arouse you to recall and to behold what you received from me.
For you originally received it and learned it from no other than from me. It is from me that you learned what the Gospel, what Christ, what faith, and what everything is. If you ponder this, you will, I am sure, cling to it and not be misled so easily to something different by their boasting and prating. For if you wish to heed the Gospel properly and adhere to it, you must reasonably heed what was first proclaimed to you, what was implanted by me and believed by you. For I was, as you know, the first to bring you the message of Jesus Christ. Next to God, you are indebted to none but me for arriving at this knowledge and for being incorporated into Christendom. Therefore you must not esteem this so lightly and be turned away from it by people who boast of the Gospel at my expense, as though they would teach it to you differently or better than I did. Actually you would know of no Gospel
[W, XXXVI, 488, 489] if it had not been for me; indeed, these other people, one and all, would not know a letter of the Gospel if they had not heard and learned it from me. But now they use it against me and also divert you, under its very name, from it."
You see, St. Paul had the same experience that we have today at the hands of our factions. Now that the Gospel has again been brought into the light of day by us and they themselves have learned it from us, they encroach upon our work and force themselves into places where the Gospel has begun to take hold and where we cleared a way for it. What we planted and what we taught correctly they now spoil by presuming to be our teachers and to improve everything we did, although without us they would never have learned as much as a word about it. Thus Paul, too, had to endure that a number of his pupils, who regarded themselves much smarter and more learned, arose as soon as he had departed and presumed to reform and correct every¬ thing as though his Gospel were nothing. And yet they, under the name of the Gospel, perverted and ruined everything and did nothing but mislead the people.
"Furthermore," Paul continues, "you know that the Gospel was not only first proclaimed to you by me but also that its coming to you and its stay with you was not without fruit. For by the grace of God you accepted it as the true Gospel and recognized it as the real truth. And through it you obtained God's Spirit and God's grace and a sincere faith in Christ. And as many of you as are Christians today still stand solely by virtue of that same Gospel which you received from me. And not only that, but by the same Gospel you are also saved. Therefore you should hold fast to it by all means. You should not be persuaded to gape openmouthed at a different Gospel proclaimed to you by others, who make my message contemptible among you, as though it were nothing and as though they could preach a loftier Gospel.
"For even if you had nothing else, you must note the fruits pro¬ duced among you by my Gospel. Compare this with what they teach you. See whether they are able to give you anything better. Then you will have to understand that you became Christians through my
Gospel, that you were baptized in this, that you believed in it, and that you must still remain in that faith to be saved. That the others did not accomplish with their preaching, nor can they do this now, for they cannot present a different and better Gospel which produces more than mine produced and still produces. And if you wish to follow
[W, XXXVI, 489, 490] a preacher of the Gospel, you should much rather follow me, who first proclaimed it to you and from whom they, too, first had to learn it.
You yourselves must bear witness that I proclaimed it to you correctly and that you thereby received the Spirit and much fruit; that, even though they boast much and make me appear contemptible to you, they cannot do better than I — if only they could do as well as I, but unfortunately they are unable to do this. Instead they spoil and undo everything, so that you again lose both the Gospel and its fruits. Why, then, would you permit yourselves to be duped and fooled and de¬ ceived so abominably by their loose talk?"
But when Paul and other true pastors boast thus — as indeed they must boast of their Gospel — and declare that they alone proclaim the truth, and when the factious spirits hear this, they become foolish and silly and make such an ado and say: "Well, is he not proud and pre¬ sumptuous! He can do nothing but praise himself, just as though he alone were everything, as though he could not err, and as though oth¬ ers did not also have the Spirit, etc." And amid such an outcry they pretend to have unusual humility and profound devotion and nothing but the Spirit. And then the mob rallies to them, believing that this must surely be true. And as it is, the factious spirits enjoy two great advantages with the rabble: the one is curiosity, the other, satiety.
Those are two large gates through which the devil can pass with a wagon of hay, indeed, with all of hell, prompting them to say: "Oh, this man can preach about nothing but Baptism, the Ten Command¬ ments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, with which even the chil¬ dren are conversant. What's the idea, that he constantly harangues us with the same message? Who is not able to do that? After all, one must not always stick with the same thing, but develop and progress, etc." That signifies satiety with and weariness of the message. Junker
Curiosity joins himself to this and says: "Oh, we must also hear this fellow. He is a fine, learned, and pious man, etc." Thus they lend a hand and humor this curiosity to hear whatever their ears itch to hear, saying: "Dear people, all this while you have been hearing the selfsame thing. You must progress beyond that and hear and examine not only one but also others." And thus a person follows these people, lets himself be coaxed and wheedled, stands there gaping and staring and gives ear to all that is told him.
And that demonstrates the truth of what Moses says in Deut. 29:19: absumit ebrius sitientem,1 "a drunkard leads the thirsty, and both are
1 Luther has adapted the Vulgate's absumat ebria sitientem.
[W, XXXVI, 490, 491] lost." For the teacher is drunk and full of the vile devil, belching and vomiting forth. And they are so curious, allowing themselves to be led and taught as anyone chooses to lead and teach them, as people
"who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth," as St. Paul says (2 Tim. 3:7). That will also come to pass when we are gone. Everywhere such drunkards will spew out to the poor people: "Do you suppose that these men knew everything, or that you understood them correctly? You have much to learn." With such talk such a preacher can lead a multitude to its destruction.
Whoever wants to be proof against that and be safe must take this admonition to heart and be warned to retain and cling to this Word which Paul proclaimed and to ignore whatever objections others might raise to it, even though these may boast of their side of the story and lend it a good appearance. For here you hear what fruit this Gospel of St. Paul produced among them and what fruit it still produces, namely, that all became Christians through it and were saved and that people must still be saved by it. And since this fruit is ours by virtue of the Gospel, why should we search further or permit ourselves to be diverted from this and be directed and led to other things? For whatever directs us otherwise can surely not be as good, but it must be false and sheer seduction, since it pretends to have something which we already have by means of this Gospel; and thereby it denies all this or disdains it utterly. Therefore Paul addresses the Corinthians as though it were unnecessary to admonish them beyond asking them to recall and observe what they received and how they became Chris¬ tians. "For if you note that," he wants to say, "you will surely adhere to it and remain safe from all sorts of error. For you can easily dif¬ ferentiate between my doctrine and theirs and judge in accordance with what you gain from each, observing whether they are able to submit something better than my Gospel, by which you are saved."
And let us note here that Paul is speaking of the oral presentation of the Gospel preached by him and that he assigns to it such a claim and such praise, that they "stand in it and are saved by it" alone. This is done in contrast to our blind spirits who disdain the external Word and Sacrament, and in their stead adduce their own imaginary spiritism.
However, Paul appends a warning by way of precaution, saying:
"If you hold it fast — unless you believed in vain." Those are hard and sharp words, and yet they are spoken in a friendly and winning tone, so that they might see how faithfully and fatherly he is disposed
[W, XXXVI, 491, 492| toward them and how concerned he is about them. He wishes to say:
"You know, of course, what I proclaim to you, if you but recall that and hold to it and not let yourselves be misled by others. You also perceive what others arc proclaiming as you compare the two, unless it be that you did not hold to it but already forsook it and believed in vain, which I hope is surely not the case."
For Paul is speaking as a faithful pastor, who must do both, hope for the best regarding them and simultaneously be concerned about them. Thus he wants to comfort them lest they despair and to ad¬ monish them to return and cling to this firmly when they are tempted to fall away. And again he wants to warn them not to be unconcerned but to remember the danger and harm which failure to remain staunchly with what they heard from him entails, as if to say: "I as¬ sure you, if you do not adhere to the Gospel and, instead, give ear to others, then my preaching was in vain and you believed in vain. Then all that was yours till now was futile and is lost, both Baptism and Christ. Then you can no longer hope for salvation, and all that you did hitherto is destroyed and ineffectual. That will be the result if you want to listen to those who boastfully allege to have something different and something more precious. Therefore I want to have done my duty and have a clear conscience, having warned you faithfully against incurring your own harm and ruin. Now the fault is not mine but yours if the Gospel is preached in vain and fails to produce what it should. For, as you know, I did not stint preaching to you but I gave richly of what I received [as he will state later]. No, the fault is yours because you did not remain true to it. But if you did retain it, you know how and in what form I preached it to you. For I did not preach it, as they claim and say, in a human form, in accord with rea¬ son and understanding. For to proclaim it in such a worldly form, or to judge in accordance with it, surely is to destroy and surrender the Gospel entirely. And if you surrendered such a form as I preached to you, you have also surrendered the faith and with it lost everything pertaining to your salvation." Both to say that and to hear that would be terrible; and this should be sufficient warning to hold assiduously and diligently to the Gospel preached by the apostle Paul.
Behold, thus the apostle at the very outset wants to lead us away from all disputation and tutelage of reason and direct us solely to the Word, which he had received from Christ and had proclaimed to them.
And thereby he wishes to show us how to conduct ourselves and act |W, XXXVI, 492, 493] over against all articles of faith. With regard to this I always say that faith must have absolutely nothing but the Word on its side and must permit no subtle argumentation or human ideas in addition. Otherwise it is impossible for faith to be retained and preserved. For human wis¬ dom and reason cannot progress beyond judging and concluding in accordance with what it sees and feels or with what it comprehends with the senses. But faith must transcend such feeling and understand¬ ing or make its decision contrary to these and cling to whatever the Word submits. Reason and human competence do not enable faith to do that, but this is the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of man.
Otherwise, if man could comprehend this with his reason, or if he were to resolve this in accordance with what is and what is not consonant with his reason, he would not need faith or the Holy Spirit.
For instance, in this article we are asked to believe in the resurrec¬ tion of the dead, to believe that all men will be revived again on one day, that our body and soul will be united as they are united today.
To believe that is surely not man's competence and power. For reason does no more than merely to observe the facts as they appear to the eye, namely, that the world has stood so long, that one person dies after another, remains dead, decomposes, and crumbles to dust in the grave, from which no one has ever returned; in addition, that man dies and perishes so miserably, worse and more wretchedly than any beast or carcass; also, that he is burned to ashes or turns to dust, with a leg resting in England, an arm in Germany, the skull in France, and is thus dismembered into a thousand pieces, as the bones of the saints are usually shown. When reason approaches this article of faith and reflects on it, it is entirely at a loss. Here so many odd, peculiar, and absurd ideas present themselves that reason must necessarily judge that there is nothing to it. It judges in the same manner as in every¬ thing else; for instance, when misfortune strikes and we permit reason to cogitate and to measure what it finds in God's Word with its own understanding. Or when man feels his sin and his conscience and fails to hold exclusively to the words of grace and forgiveness through Christ but only surveys his sin and reflects on the Law and on works and tries to scourge and torment himself with these, he surely re¬ moves himself from forgiveness and has lost the grace which he should apprehend through faith.
That has been the experience of all heretics with the exalted article of Christ. And this still happens to our factions today with regard to Baptism and the Sacrament, because they do not simply believe the Word but in addition speculate and brood with their reason. And reason cannot but say that bread is bread and that water is water. How can bread be Christ's body, or how can water be a washing of the soul?
Reason cannot and will not remain within the Word or be captive to it, but it must also give its cleverness a voice, and this insists on under¬ standing and mastering everything, etc. And because reason sees this running directly counter to its understanding and to all senses and feeling, and contrary to all experience too, it departs from it and even denies it. Or when it cannot get around the Word, it twists it and it trims it with glosses, forcing the Word into agreement with reason.
Then faith no longer has any room but must give way to reason and perish.
But over against all that reason suggests or tries to fathom and explore, yes, against everything that all senses feel and comprehend, we must learn to adhere to the Word and simply to judge according to it, even though our eyes behold how man is interred, furthermore, that he decays and is consumed by worms and finally crumbles into dust. Likewise, even though I feel sin oppressing me so sorely and my conscience smiting me, so that I cannot ignore these, yet faith must conclude the opposite and hold firmly to the Word in both these in¬ stances. For if you want to judge according to what you see and feel, and if you, when God's Word is held before you, hold your feeling against that, saying: "You are indeed telling me much, however, my heart is telling me far differently, and if you felt what I feel, you, too, would talk differently, etc.," then you do not have God's Word in your heart; this has been suppressed and extinguished by your own ideas, reason, and reflections. In short, when you no longer accord the Word greater validity than your every feeling, your eyes, your senses, and your heart, you are doomed, and you can no longer be helped. For this is called an article of faith, not one of your reason or wisdom, nor of human power or ability. Therefore here, too, you must judge solely by the Word, regardless of what you feel or see. I, too, feel my sin and the Law and the devil on my neck. I feel myself oppressed under these as under heavy burdens. But what am I to do? If I were to judge according to my feeling and my ability, I, together with all other men, should have to perish and despair. However, if I wish to be helped,
I must surely turn about and look to the Word and say accordingly:
"Indeed, I feel God's wrath, the devil, death, and hell; but the Word [W, XXXVI, 495, 496] conveys a different message, namely, that I have a gracious God through Christ, who is my Lord over the devil and all creatures. To be sure, I feel and see that I and all other men must rot in the ground; but the Word informs me differently, namely, that I shall rise in great glory and live eternally.
That is the knowledge and the wisdom of faith. It renders the wis¬ dom of the world, which regards this a stupid message, foolishness.
The world's wisdom gives itself great airs and says: "Well, all the Gos¬ pel can talk about is that we are to be lords over death, sin, and all things; and yet we observe only the opposite in us and the whole world, namely, that death, sin, and devil prevail, and not life." Worldly wis¬ dom is based and founded on such observations. It says: "Preach as you may and say what you will, but I see things differently." There¬ fore these two facts must stand side by side, that we are lords over devil and death and that we at the same time lie prostrate at their feet. The one must be believed, the other is felt. The devil must be lord over the world and whatever is part of it. He holds us with all his might. He is far stronger than we are. For we are his guests, resid¬ ing as strangers in an inn. Therefore, whatever dwells in us, in our flesh and blood, of the world and this life must be subject to the devil, enabling him to deal with us as he wishes.
Now you will say: "What are you preaching and what, after all, do you believe? Since you yourself confess that we do not feel or per¬ ceive this, your message is necessarily vain and a mere dream. For if there were some basis to your message, this would have to be dem¬ onstrated also by experience." I reply: "That is exactly what I am saying, namely, that we must first believe contrary to our experience what cannot be believed humanly, and that we must feel what we do not feel." Accordingly, in the very thing in which the devil, with respect to feeling, is my lord, he must be my servant. And when I lie prostrate and the whole world lies on top of me, I am still lying on top.
How is that? If it is to be true, you say, experience must come along, and this must be perceived. You are right; however, perception must follow later, and faith must precede it, working without and beyond perception. Thus my conscience must, as it feels sin and as it fears and trembles, become lord and victor over sin; not through feeling and thinking but through faith in the Word. Arfd thereby it is comforted and sustained against and over sin until sin is banished entirely and is no longer felt. Thus death, too, lies prostrate under us, so that it
[W, XXXVI, 496, 4971 cannot devour or hold us. And yet it attaches itself to our neck with pestilence, sword, and all sorts of troubles and hurls us under itself into the grave, where we have to rot. And yet we do not remain there permanently but break away and come forth more gloriously than the heaven with sun and stars. That is what Christ also experienced.
When He died and was buried, there was no perception or expectation of life. And it was so very hard for the disciples to believe that the Christ lying in the grave behind a sealed rock was the Lord over death and grave. They themselves said (Luke 24:21): "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."
Therefore it is all-important to heed St. Paul's admonition here, to adhere firmly to the Word which we received, to call this to mind constantly, and with it to fend off all questioning, subtle arguing, and disputing, and not to give way to the devil's suggestions, whether these be from without by his factions or from within by our own heart.
And in that way we must learn to know the power and might of God in this same Word, namely, that we are saved thereby and solely by it resist the devil's power and all errors. For to believe firmly that I am a Christian, a child of God, and that I am saved, when I feel sin and a bad conscience; to believe that I will live eternally, endowed with a beautiful, glorious body, although I lie under the sod — that re¬ quires a divine and heavenly power and a wisdom which is not gov¬ erned by any feeling or perceiving, but which can look beyond that, convinced that this is not human prattle or phantasy but that it is the Word of God, "who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20). For He has already resurrected our
Lord Jesus Christ. Although no one else was executed so ignominiously and shamefully nor died such a vile and (according to the Law) ac¬ cursed death, etc., so that His name was in much worse odor than that of any other person on earth, yet He proved that Scripture is more than the feeling, the thinking, and the experiencing of all men.
For no one could ever have understood or thought that Christ would be alive on the third day. Within all the world's wisdom there was not an iota of knowledge regarding this. And yet we have the Word which declared Him alive while He was still lying in the grave.
And as this Word declared, so it had to happen, even though all the world's senses and reason and everything else contradict it. Thus it also happens to us. The dead repose under the ground, long decom¬ posed or devoured by maggots and all sorts of other vermin, or they
[W, XXXVI, 497] are turned to dust, or they lie dispersed everywhere; but in the Word which we believe and profess they are assuredly alive and risen. The world does not have this power and is unable to do this; but the Word has it and is able to do it. And thus it must come about, for it is God's own power and might.
This must strengthen and comfort us, even though our faith is not so firm as it should be and even though we do not feel this as clearly as we should like. Yet we should hold to it, constantly pursue it, and never dismiss it from our heart. Thus we also believe but feebly that we through Christ are lords over world and devil; we feel the direct opposite much more. But we console ourselves as much as we can with the fact that we have the Word, which excels all might and wis¬ dom.
Likewise, although I feel my sin and cannot have as confident and cheerful a heart as I should like, still I must permit the Word to have sway and say accordingly: "I am lord over sin, and I don't want to know of any sin." "Indeed," you will say, "let your own conscience say that; it feels and experiences something far different." That is surely true; if things followed the rule of feeling, I would surely be lost. But the Word must be valid over and beyond all of the world's feeling and mine. It must remain true no matter how insignificant it may appear and how feebly it may be believed by me; for we all see and experi¬ ence the fact that sin condemns us straightway and consigns us to hell, that death consumes us and all the world, and that no one can escape it. And you venture to speak to me of life and of righteousness, of which I cannot behold as much as a small spark! To be sure, that must be but a feeble life. Yes, indeed, but a feeble life by reason of our faith. But no matter how feeble it is, as long as the Word and a small spark of faith remain in the heart, it shall develop into a fire of life which fills heaven and earth and quenches both death and every other misfortune like a little drop of water. And the feeble faith shall tear these asunder so that neither death nor sin will be seen or felt any longer. However, to adhere to faith in the face of seeing and feel¬ ing calls for an arduous battle.
Therefore faith is not such a slight object as one assumes but a valiant hero who is to hold to the Word; this appears so insignificant and as nothing, so that all the world would not give a penny for it.
And yet it is so active and so mighty that it tears heaven and earth apart and opens all graves in the twinkling of an eye. And if you but [W, XXXVI, 497, 498] remain with it, you shall live eternally by it and become lord over all things, even though your faith is feeble and your feeling strong. You will live henceforth, no matter how feebly you may live, so long as you do not live according to your ideas and reason but according to Scrip¬ ture. For the devil has contended against Scripture and the Word until now, but he has never been able to detract from it or to invalidate it. Indeed, he slinks around us on all sides 2 in order to lure us away from it; but he does not attack the Word itself. And so long as you have it in your heart, he does not face you squarely. He may make you writhe, but he will not overcome you.
Thus Scripture reports of the patriarch Jacob (Wisd. of Sol. 10:12):
Certamen forte dedit ei. "He 3 let him wage a strong and gallant bat¬ tle, so that he might learn to know the power of the Word from battle and victory." For we never perceive what power inheres in the letter until we become engaged in battle. Then we discover that it can stand its ground against all errors, against sin, death, and devil. The world does not believe that, nor do all who insist on judging according to their own feeling and who torment themselves with oppressive thoughts of sin and death, until they rid themselves of these and en¬ tertain other thoughts. But nothing comes of this, there is no other consolation than that found in holding to the Word, which says:
"You hear clearly that Christ rose for you and extinguished your sin and your death, etc." In brief, we cannot prevail against sin, death, and hell otherwise than through the Gospel; of this Gospel Paul de¬ clares that we stand in it and are saved by it. If he had been ac¬ quainted with anything else with which to comfort and preserve them, he would undoubtedly have apprised them of it too. Here he shows us the easiest method with which to achieve this goal; it requires no expense and no trouble. It costs no more than a word with which we are to withstand death and all our other foes. We may feel differently and be weak; that does not matter, so long as we cling to the Word.
A mother will not cast her child out because it is frail and scabby.
It is weak, to be sure, and cannot help itself, but so long as it rests on its mother's lap and in her arms, it need not worry. But if it strays away from its mother's care, it is lost. Emulate that example if you
3 The subject in this sentence from the Apocrypha is "wisdom." Luther sup¬ plies the masculine pronoun Er instead, perhaps to remind the reader of the personification of wisdom in God.
[W, XXXVI, 498, 499] want to be saved. See to it that you remain in the Word. By it God wants to bear you up and sustain you, so that you will not be lost.
3-7. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in ac¬ cordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
With these words St. Paul explains and repeats the essence of His Gospel, which he preached to them, the Gospel in which they stand and by which they must be saved. Thus he composes a whole discussed on the Day of Easter. For from this flow the basis and the reason of this article on the resurrection of the dead which he is elaborating. And his sermon substantiates this doctrine most force¬ fully, both by proof from Scripture and by the witness of many living people, etc. He wishes to say: "I gave you nothing but what I myself received, nor do I know anything else to proclaim as the basis of our salvation than the Lord Jesus Christ, as He most certainly both truly died and also rose again from the dead. That is the content and the sum and substance of my Gospel, on which you and I were baptized and in which we stand. Thus I did not steal anything, nor did I spin a yarn, nor did I dream this up; no, I received it from Christ Himself."
With this he pricks those false teachers. It is as though he were to say: "If they proclaim something different, they cannot have received it from Christ. It must represent their own dreams and phantasy.
For they obviously did not receive it from us nor from other apostles (since we all agree and are in accord with our message), much less from Christ. Therefore it must be sheer seduction and deception.
Thus Paul also boasts in Gal. 1:11,12,17 4 over against the false apos¬ tles that he did not receive this doctrine from man nor from the apos¬ tles themselves, and that his proclamation was not derived from human reason or wisdom, that no man had invented it or contrived it of him¬ self, but that it was a message which he had to receive through divine revelation. That was something those people could not boast of or 4 The Weimar text has "Gal. 2."
[W, XXXVI, 499, 500] maintain. Indeed, his own reason had contributed absolutely nothing to this, nor had he striven to obtain it. In fact, he had once persecuted it and raged against it like a raving, silly dog. God's Word is so far beyond all reason, also beyond the apostles' own knowledge or wisdom, that no one can attain it by his own power or understanding, to say nothing of contriving or devising anything better, as those people among the Corinthians alleged to be able to do.
Paul adduces two kinds of proof (in refutation of their false teach¬ ing) in support of his message, or Gospel, which he has preached concerning Christ's resurrection. First, he points out that he took this from Scripture and that he proves this with Scripture. In the second place, he cites his own experience and that of many others who saw the resurrected Christ. For it is the mark of a fair man to prove and attest what he proclaims and says, not only with words but also with deed and example both of himself and others. And thus Paul enu¬ merates the eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection; first, Cephas, or Peter, then the Twelve, to whom Christ showed Himself alive, so that they heard and saw Him and associated with Him in His external, physical essence. Later He was seen by more than five hundred brethren who were assembled together, then separately by James, and finally by all the apostles. Here Paul calls all those apostles (different from the Twelve) who were sent out by Christ to preach. For He selected the Twelve especially (as something more than plain apostles, or messengers) to be His witnesses not only of the resurrection but also of His entire life, of His words and deeds heard and seen by them, so that they might disseminate the Gospel after Christ. "All of these are, in addition to me, reliable witnesses of what we saw and experienced, carried out as foretold in Scripture."
And note how Paul again extols and exalts the testimony of Scrip¬ ture and the external Word as he emphasizes and repeats the phrase
"in accordance with the Scripture." To be sure, he does not do this without reason. He does this in the first place to resist the mad spirits who disdain Scripture and the external message and in place of this seek other secret revelation. And today every place is also teeming with such spirits, confused by the devil, who regard Scripture a dead letter and boast of nothing but the Spirit, although these people retain neither Word nor Spirit. But here you notice how Paul adduces Scrip¬ ture as his strongest proof, for there is no other enduring way of pre¬ serving our doctrine and our faith than the physical or written Word,
[W, XXXVI, 500, 501] poured into letters and preached orally by him or others; for here we find it stated clearly: "Scripture! Scripture!" But Scripture is not all spirit, about which they drivel, saying that the Spirit alone must do it and that Scripture is a dead letter which cannot impart life. But the fact of the matter is that, although the letter by itself does not impart life, yet it must be present, and it must be heard or received. And the Holy Spirit must work through this in the heart, and the heart must be preserved in the faith through and in the Word against the devil and every trial. Otherwise, where this is surrendered, Christ and the Spirit will soon be lost. Therefore do not boast so much of the Spirit if you do not have the revealed external Word; for this is surely not a good spirit but the vile devil from hell. The Holy Spirit, as you know, has deposited His wisdom and counsel and all mysteries into the Word and revealed these in Scripture, so that no one can excuse himself.
Nor must anyone seek or search for something else or learn or acquire something better or more sublime than what Scripture teaches of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, our Savior, who died and rose for us.
In the second place, Paul does this in order to resist (as I stated before)5 the temptation to take counsel with reason in this and other articles of faith, or to listen how the world with its wisdom presumes subtly to argue and to speculate about this. For if we consult these and permit them to teach us in this, faith will be crowded out, and this will be regarded as a foolish message and be made sheer mockery.
That is what happened among the Corinthians, as we shall hear later.
However, we who want to be Christians and men of faith must not look for or ask to see what human reason says here, or how this agrees with reason, but what Scripture teaches us, by which this was pro¬ claimed in advance and is now confirmed by public testimony and experience. We let him who does not want to believe that go his way, for he will surely have or believe nothing at all of Christ or of the Gospel.
Such a Gospel no factious spirit will ever produce, no matter how clever or learned he may be. He will never be able to prove his story irrefutably both with Scripture, or God's Word, and then also with people who witnessed and experienced it. You may cheer¬ fully defy them and challenge them to step forth and produce one of these. The first thing that all factions are sure to do is to come
5 Cf. pp. 68—69 above.
[W, XXXVI, 501, 502] trotting along with their own ideas, concocted by reason, and even though they do use Scripture, they have first conceived their own thoughts, brought these in and mixed them in so that Scripture must now agree with them and permit itself to be interpreted and stretched accordingly. That is exactly what we notice today in our people with regard to Baptism and the Sacrament. With their head they observed, first of all, that Baptism is nothing but water, similar to any other water. And after they have comprehended that and cannot see any¬ thing beyond that, they run to the Scriptures, where they have found the statement that we should not repose our trust in any creature, that external things cannot help the soul, etc. And thus they contrive their doctrine: "Water is water; and one must not put any trust in it, because it is creatural. Therefore Baptism cannot be a washing of the soul and wash away sin." Such passages of Scripture, that one must not believe in any creature, etc., must serve them for their trumpery and attest their fantasy and notions. Now, that Scripture is true and certain; but, behold, how shamefully they strain the passage and apply it to Baptism, making nothing but a creature of it. That is not correct; for God Himself together with Christ, His dear Son, and the Holy Spirit are in Baptism.
They do the same thing with the holy Sacrament. To them what we receive can be nothing but bread and wine. They do the same with the spoken Word and with other divine ordinances, as, for in¬ stance, with secular government and also with the state of matrimony.
There they drivel and say: "Oh, married life is worldly and sinful, for it is associated with the creature, with wife and children, with house and home, etc. But he who wants to serve God must keep himself free of all creatures." When the common people hear that, they im¬ mediately concur as though this were something precious; and they disdain married life, government, and all other estates ordained by God. This seems a beautiful thought, and they apply verses of Scrip¬ ture in proof, saying that one must love God above all things, that one must forsake house and home and all things for God's sake, etc.G In reality this is no more than what their fantasy introduced in the first place, that matrimony is something carnal from which one must keep away and remain pure. That is how reason views this in its blind delusion, although Scripture praises and exalts it as the order and creation of God, etc. Yet their story seems excellent to the rabble,
6 Cf. Matt. 22:37; 19:29.
[W, XXXVI, 502—504] especially since Scripture is stretched to fit the case, so that the people cannot defend themselves against this.
But we say, no matter how man and woman be constituted with regard to their external appearance and as viewed by reason, they are at all events adorned with the jewel called God's Word. God created them for the estate of matrimony, joined them together, and blessed them. That is the bond which unites them, namely, God's command and commandment, enjoining them not to separate but to remain to¬ gether. And thus this estate is based on God's Word; thereby it is sanctified and pure, so that it must not be reviled as carnal or sinful.
But to judge it solely by veil and hat, as the mad saints do with their reason — well, a sow could do that as well; for it, too, would be smart enough to say that it sees nothing holy in that. But he who regards
God's Word, which instituted this estate and sanctified it, will not be led astray by such fantasies and by such misinterpretation of Scripture.
For the Word will clearly teach him that this estate is not reprehen¬ sible but pleasing to God and holy, as far as it itself is concerned, if one but uses it properly. And therefore we may well conclude that, since it has God's Word and command, we must not abandon it. But you may say: "Does that verse 7 not tell us that we must forsake every¬ thing?" Indeed, you are right. However, under what circumstances are we to forsake all? Surely not in the manner in which God joined husband and wife together. Otherwise, why should He have joined them together and added His commandment? No, this applies to leaving either Christ and God's Word or wife and child, etc., as Christ clearly says in this context (Mark 10:29): "For My sake and for the I am citing this example to illustrate that they do not teach Scrip¬ ture correctly, and that they themselves do not understand how Paul lauds his doctrine and proves it mightily with Scripture. And I also do this as a warning to be on guard and not to raise many questions as to what reason has to say about this, nor to listen to the Enthusiasts and factious spirits, but to look solely to Scripture. For if you fail to cling to this, both the factious spirits and your reason will soon mis¬ lead you. I myself am also a doctor and have read Scripture, and yet I experience this daily. If I am not properly clad in my armor, such thoughts come to me, and I stand in danger of losing Christ and the Gospel. If I am to stand my ground, I must constantly adhere to Scrip- [W, XXXYI, 504, 505] ture. How, then, will a person fare who is without Scripture and pro¬ ceeds equipped with nothing but reason? For what might I believe regarding this article, which teaches that another life follows the pres¬ ent one, if I were to listen to reason when it comes gushing along with its notions and says: "What becomes of him whom the ravens devour or of him who remains in the water and is eaten by the fish and is completely consumed? Where do the people remain who are burned to ashes, who crumble into dust, who are scattered over the whole earth and vanish? Yes, what becomes of every person who is buried in the ground and is consumed by worms?" I may entertain similar thoughts with regard to all the other articles of faith if I follow my reason, also those which seem very insignificant. I might, for instance, ask concerning the Virgin Mary how it was possible for her to become pregnant without a man, etc. But this is the rule: These articles of faith which we preach are not based on human reason and understanding, but on Scripture; it follows that they must not be sought anywhere but in Scripture or explained otherwise than with Scripture.
That is one way in which Paul refutes the factious spirits, saying that they advance their own ideas without Scripture and that they can submit nothing to support these. The other point is that none of » them is able to present witnesses to attest their story, men who might prove it with their own experience. And he also describes such per¬ sons nicely in Col. 2:18, where he says that they "insist on self-abase¬ ment and worship of angels, taking their stand on visions, puffed up without reason by their sensuous minds." It is as though he were to say: "It is surely the manner of all factions to present things which none of them has seen or experienced, so that they lack the testimony of experience as they lack the testimony of Scripture and the Word."
But "we speak," says Christ (John 3:11), "of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen." And in 1 John 1:1-3 we read: "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life . . . that we proclaim to you." "And thus we, too," says Paul,
"proclaim to you in this article that which I and all the apostles, in conjunction with five hundred brethren, have seen and in which we all concur unanimously."
These are, of course, despicable spirits who shamelessly dare to teach things of which they themselves are ignorant and for which they can adduce neither Scripture nor examples, for which they present
[W, XXXVI, 505, 506] proof neither of doctrine nor of deed. This makes their story a two¬ fold lie, both as regards doctrine and deed. What they say amounts to less than nothing. They make a great noise as they boast and per¬ suade people with fine and great words. Indeed, they even support this with an oath, so that one might think it the unalloyed truth. That is just what our people did, and still do, with the Sacrament. The pope's crowd, monks and priests, did the same with their doctrine of works. They all preach that if a pious monk lives in conformity with his monastic rules, he is saved, if God wills. Likewise, if a person gives many alms and establishes religious offices, he may rest quite assured that God will reward him with heaven for this, etc. Thus all that they preach and teach is based on untrustworthy delusion, something that no one has ever experienced. Nor can they present anybody who might testify and say: "Indeed, I experienced it." I, too, was such a pious monk for all of 15 years. Yet with all my Masses, with prayers, fasts, vigils, and chastity I never advanced to the point where I could say: "Now I am certain that God is gracious to me," or: "Now I have tried and experienced that my order and my austere life have helped me and have promoted me heavenward." Is this not an odious doc¬ trine and a vexatious plague to hoax and fool people with such prattle, for which they have no basis at all in Scripture and no reliable testi¬ mony? They merely prate and blind the people with an airy, delusive vision. So the devil blinds and charms people's eyes physically with a phantom that does not exist in reality.
Therefore we must accept these words of St. Paul as an admoni¬ tion to adhere firmly to this doctrine and proclamation, for which we have both reliable Scripture and also reliable experience. These are to be two proofs, just like two touchstones of the true doctrine. Now, whoever refuses to believe these two and still looks for something else or, finding nothing of the kind, clings to still others, deserves to be de¬ ceived. And yet this was all of no avail, nor does it avail today, with the multitude. They want to be deceived and misled.8 They pay heed only when someone presents something novel and embellishes this prettily. But he who will be taught and not err must watch for these two points: who can adduce testimony for his doctrine from Scripture and from reliable experience. We are able to prove our doctrine and proclamation. I, too — praise God — can proclaim from experience that no works are able to help or comfort me against sin
8 Cf. Luther's Works, 20, p. 238, n. 6.
[W, XXXVI, 506—5081 and God's judgment but that Christ alone can still and console my heart and my conscience. For this I have the testimony of all of Scripture and the example of many pious people, who say the same and have experienced it. In contrast, all the factions can prove or attest nothing from them own experience or from that of others.
Finally we must also note here how St. Paul describes and defines his Gospel, namely, as a proclamation from which we learn that Christ died for our sin and that He rose again. And he proves both from Scripture. There you have everything in a nutshell, and yet it is stated clearly. Accordingly, you may judge all doctrine and life and know that whoever presents anything else as the doctrine of the Gospel and adds some of our own deeds and holiness surely misleads the people.
You hear no mention of any works here, and nothing is said of what I must do or not do to atone for, or to remove, sin and to be justified before God, etc., but only what Christ did to that end, namely, that He died and rose again. After all, those are not my works or those of a saint or of all the people on earth. But how do I bring it about that this helps me and avails for me? Not otherwise than by faith.
Paul declares that the Corinthians received this by faith, that they stand in it, and that they are saved by it. And a little later (v. 11) he will say again: "So we preach and so you believed." Thus he impresses these two points everywhere as the chief article and the epitome of the Gospel, by which we become Christians and are saved, if we retain it and adhere to it firmly and not let it be preached in vain, as I have said often and in much greater detail.9
8-11. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.
For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am ichat I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.
On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
He wants to say: "I did not receive this from others who were apostles before me and who saw and heard Christ and also ate and drank with Him; no, I beheld Him myself like all the others. I was appointed an apostle by Him, so that I may well boast and must boast that I am an apostle." For that he is sent and commissioned directly
9 The first sermon on 1 Cor. 15, preached in the afternoon of August 11, 1532, the Eleventh Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 508—510] by his Lord Himself is indeed a true apostolic condition, or quality, of which every apostle may surely boast legitimately. Thus Paul al¬ ways glories that he was not invested with his apostolate as a fief
"from men or through man" (Gal. 1:1) but by Christ and through Christ Himself, who appeared to him particularly after the other apostles and gave him a special command to preach the Gospel among the Gentiles, as he testifies Acts 26:20 and also 1 Cor. 9:21 and 2 Cor.
Using figurative language, Paul calls himself "one untimely bom," that is, a child born prematurely, before it is fully matured, and, as we say, remains unbaptized. Paul wants to say: "I was just like a child that comes into the world before its due time, that cannot survive and 'never sees the sun,' as Ps. 58:8 puts it, that cannot enjoy this life.
I came from my mother virtually as an immature or untimely, aborted fruit. This mother was the synagog, or Jewry, in which I lived and had my being, which was to give me spiritual life and bring me into the kingdom of God, so that I might live to God and bear fruit and also beget spiritual children from the Jewish nation, as the other apostles did. But I came to be an immature and dead child that perse¬ cuted Christ and His Christendom. Things went awry with me for my mother, and I did not develop normally; for she did not bear me as the people under the Law should be born, preserved under the Law and encompassed there as in a mother's womb, that I might be prepared for Christ and might learn to know and accept Him, etc."
Thus Paul rejects all his previous holiness with these words. It is as though he would say: "To be sure, I was a pious Jew and conducted myself blamelessly in the Law like no other in my generation, etc.10
And yet I regard all of that as an unripe and decayed fruit, without purpose and never beholding the sun until I was reborn by Christ.
Just as such a child is cast forth from its mother's womb and is buried forthwith and thus passes from one place of darkness to another, so all my righteousness in the Law is also nothing but a rejected thing which serves no purpose in the sight of God and is assigned to dam¬ nation. Now I am ashamed of it and must condemn it myself. Yet I formerly esteemed it highly and supposed that I merited much with it before God. Similarly the Jews and all the Jewish saints are still an immature fruit that does not see the sun; this sun is our Lord Jesus
Christ. They remain in darkness and pass from one death to another. io Cf. Gal. 1:14; Phil. 3:6.
Therefore I cannot boast that my holiness and merits persuaded Christ to reveal Himself to me, to accept me in grace, and to appoint me an apostle. No, I would have remained just such dead, rejected fruit like the others who remained in their Judaism. But if I was to become good fruit and fit for life, I had to be born in Christ through Baptism, being brought to this and reared and trained by the Gospel."
Now Paul undertakes a long digression and excursus, as he en¬ larges on his office before he again reverts to the article of faith under discussion, the resurrection. He says: "I am, admittedly, the least of the apostles; but by the grace of God I am what I am, etc." Thereby he wishes to shield his apostolate from contempt, even though he was the least and was by reason of his person unworthy, having persecuted the Christians. But God had wrought far more by him than by any of the other apostles, even of the most exalted ones. For the factious spirits contemned him, as they always do, and adopted as their maxim and chief wisdom: "Is the Holy Spirit such a poor beggar that He can find no one but this one Paul?" Just so they say today: "Are the people in Wittenberg the only smart ones? Could no one else know some¬ thing too? And might the Spirit not also dwell among us? What more do they know than we do?" And aping them, vulgar louts come strutting along and boast: "After all, I , too, am a Christian and have the Spirit just as well as my pastor or doctor, etc. Should I not be able to preach and to judge as well as he?" Thus they come prating about nothing but spirit in their great zealotry.
It is vexatious for a true apostle and a faithful, called pastor to see and to hear that people despise the precious office and the Word, that they show little appreciation for these and superciliously criticize them. What is to be done in this matter? Nothing can be done. It can¬ not be prevented; Christ Himself was not exempt from it. As He says in Matt. 11:19, He had to complain that wisdom is constrained to justify itself and that it must be taken to school by its children. Solomon, too, laments that there is no end to the criticism of true teachers and to the writing of books.11 And it must always be thus. Where God grants His grace and someone begins a work and succeeds in it, a whole nest of vermin immediately comes along. Everyone presumes to be smart and able to do it better. So nothing is accomplished, and the net result is that the world is filled with wiseacres. That was also the experience to date on the part of schoolmen when the Book of n Cf. Eccl. 12:12.
Sentences had appeared and one or two had written about it.12 Soon every place was teeming with authors. No one regarded himself a doc¬ tor without parading his knowledge and writing a book about it. That is the way it happens also in all the other professions, indeed, in every trade. The real masters must put up with such botchers and bunglers who poke their noses into everything, who, although they know noth¬ ing, always ape everything and try to improve on it.
St. Paul, too, accomplished no more with his Gospel among such people when he preached so faithfully than to have them open their worthless mouths for no other purpose than to despise and criticize him and to boast: "Dear friends, we did not issue from a stone.13
Indeed, we are baptized and are Christians as well as Paul is. What was he other than a persecutor of Christians, as he himself must admit?
Furthermore, he is not an imposing figure, but is small and skinny."
They also reproached him for his voice and his pronunciation. They, on the other hand, were great shouters, such as the rabble is fond of hearing and as could fill the people's ears. With their ridicule they destroyed everything they could find in him, and in that way they extolled themselves and gave themselves a reputation. That is also what people do to us and what many who are now not worthy of unlatching our shoestrings will do to us after we are gone. They will criticize us severely and disparage us, as though we were less than nothing.
It is because of these people that Paul is constrained to say this of himself. It is as though he were to say: "I am well aware that they besmirch my name and sully my reputation and that they boast over against this that they are good and qualified people and of good repute. They criticize and revile me as the least and the most un¬ worthy of the apostles, yes, they say that I should not be regarded an apostle. But what am I to do in this matter? I have to commend it to Him to whom Baptism, Gospel, and everything belong. If He does not wish to protect and preserve these Himself, any action of mine will be unavailing here. I can do no more than to declare what is the true Gospel and Word of God and, together with this, to admonish
12 Peter Lombard's Sentences were much commented on, perhaps most notably by Thomas Aquinas.
13 In Homer, Odyssey, XIX, 163, Penelope asks her returned husband Ulysses (unrecognized in the role of a needy beggar) to reveal his identity, saying: "You must have had a father and a mother of some sort; you cannot be the son of an oak or a rock." The phrase has become proverbial for legitimacy. Cf. Luther's
Works, 40, p. 236, where a reference to the Iliad is cited.
[W, XXXVI, 513, 514] and to warn. Let him who does not care to give heed and to follow me launch out on his own adventure." That is what we have to do also with our people. We can do no more than to warn them faith¬ fully and diligently. In that way we can at least keep the doctrine pure. We must let him who refuses to accept that go his own way and see what he gains thereby. If he does not want the true doctrine and the apostles, he will find a plenitude of factious spirits and the devil in the bargain. Meanwhile God will surely provide for the preservation of His Christendom despite this. He will see to it that it will avail them nothing to shout so vociferously, that they are learned and are disciples of the apostles, and that I, on the other hand, am but a vagrant and apostate apostle.
St. Paul is saying: "I suppose that it behooves me more than others to say of myself that I was a persecutor and murderer of Christians, that I contemplated the extermination of all of Christendom, and that I am not worthy of being called an apostle, etc." Similarly I and many pious people with me confess that we were despairing and condemned people under the papacy and that we led shameful lives in monasticism, daily blaspheming and disgracing God and His dear Son with our
Masses and idolatrous worship, etc. And still God had compassion with us and graciously received us and called us through His Holy
Spirit to proclaim Christ. And He granted us many greater gifts than were given to others. And we can glory with Paul that God brought the Gospel into the light of day through us and disseminated this so widely. They have to grant us the boast that we preceded them in the preaching of the Gospel and that they would probably know noth¬ ing about it if we had not first publicized it. In brief, no matter what we were, they still have to receive the Gospel, absolution, and the Sacrament from their pastors and called preachers and not disdain such a divine order, if they cherish their salvation. For if God had chosen to do otherwise, I suppose He would have assigned them precedence and had them preach prior to others, so that we should have to remain silent and listen to them.
But God follows this method and chooses poor sinners, such as St. Paul and we were, to fend off the arrogance and conceit of such wiseacres. For He does not wish to use such self-assured and presump¬ tuous spirits for this work, but people who have been through the mill, have been tested, and crushed, and who know and must confess that they were as vile as St. Paul had been, and who, burdened with [W, XXXVI, 514, 515] real and grave sins before God, know that they are God's and Christ's enemies. Thus they remain humble and can neither presume nor boast, as those untried spirits do, that God had chosen them because of their piety, holiness, and erudition. No, God must always retain the honor and the boast for Himself, so that He can say to them when they are tempted to pride: "My dear people, what do you have to boast of? Or, over against whom do you want to raise your boast?
Do you not know what kind of people you were and what you did both against Me and against Christendom, spotting yourselves with the blood of many people? Or, do you propose to forget the mercy and compassion I showed you?" In this way he ties the stick to the dog's neck.14 Everybody must look behind himself and see in what filth and stench he was mired. Then such people will, I suppose, soon forget any pride and arrogance.
Therefore St. Paul now declares: "Even though you thoroughly despise me and disparage me, saying that I was a persecutor of Chris¬ tians and a blasphemer and that I am even now nothing but an un¬ timely birth and the least among the apostles, how do you like to hear me say this, that I am an apostle nonetheless, and that this man who was so vile surpassed the other apostles in his work and in doing good? Although this does not justify me before God, I may glory over against my noisy critics and defamers and in defiance of them say:
'Still I did more than you and others, even more than the great apos¬ tles, although you presume to be better and more learned than I.'
You may say: 'Indeed, I have the Spirit as well as you do.' I reply:
'No, that does not suffice for this.' And that you may know it, I tell you that you do not have the Spirit for this. For, as I said, if God had ordained you to be an apostle or pastor, I should be obliged to hear you and I myself would have to remain silent. But now that He or¬ dained me to that office, it is incumbent on you to listen to me and regard me as your apostle or doctor. However, if you are endowed with special gifts, with the Spirit, with understanding, and with the ability to expound Scripture, use these (as St. Paul declares in 1 Cor.
14:16 ff.) properly and in season and in the place to which you were called, and not with such pride and boasting as you are now display¬ ing against your true and called apostle. For thereby you betray that your spirit is not the Holy Spirit but the vile devil and that you have
14 Den Kniittel clem Hund an den Hals binden refers to the practice of tying a stick to a dog's neck to prevent his running freely and damaging private hunting grounds. See also Luther's Works, 46, p. 112.
[W, XXXVI, 515—517] as yet not savored or smelled anything of God's Spirit. For that is not what a pious person does. No, even when he hears an error preached, he proceeds with humility and admonishes the preacher in a friendly and fraternal way; he refrains from such defiant and arro¬ gant talk.
"Therefore it is not a question whether those people are of greater renown and can shout more. No, the question is who administers his office faithfully and accomplishes much in it. Thus," says St. Paul, "you must mark whether this person is called and whether the doctrine which he introduces agrees with mine, for I was sent by God to be your pastor. Pay no regard to my insignificance. You cannot vilify or ridicule me so severely in view of my past life that I will not admit and confirm it. And yet that same Paul who once was a blasphemer is now an apostle and wants to be accounted an apostle. For I must not be appraised now according to the person I once was but in accordance with the office that is mine now. As to my person I can indeed bear to be criticized and belittled; indeed, it may be said truth¬ fully that I am the least of the apostles and not worthy of being called an apostle, not even a Christian, as one who persecuted Christendom and God's children and helped to slaughter innocent people. How¬ ever, with regard to the office to preach, to baptize, etc., to which I was commissioned, I want no one to judge me and to despise me.
The devil shall not interfere here, nor shall he have any thanks for it.15
"Even if my person was as evil as a human being can be, I am now forgiven, and by God's grace I am now what I am. And that I want to be. My boast will be that as far as I am concerned I am converted and that the blasphemer and persecutor has become a Christian and an apostle who has established and planted the belief in Christ among the Gentiles. I am not boasting of this in view of any doing and worthiness of my own, as though I had this of myself. This is neither natural nor within the power of man, but it is nothing other than the boundless mercy of God, who accepted me into His grace without any cooperation or any thoughts of my own, who absolved me from murder and bloodshed and endowed me with the knowledge of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit, and who, in addition, placed me into the most sublime office. Therefore I do not want to see this office despised.
If it derived from my working or doing, I should be glad to see it trampled underfoot together with my former life and Jewish sanctity.
15 Und kein Dank dazu haben, as in stanza 4 of Ein feste Burg.
But since it is nought but God's work and mercy, I want to praise it and have it praised by everybody in defiance of the devil and the whole world. Or him who despises it I will condemn to the abyss of hell. In brief, whatever criticism is leveled against our person we should endure and will endure, but whatever is mercy, particularly this office, which has and dispenses sheer mercy, we want to see honored by everyone who claims to be a Christian."
And here you see that St. Paul calls a good and true pastor grace of God, saying that it is not within man's doing or ability to be or to make a pastor, and that it is also not man's doing to be a Christian and to hear the Word or a sermon gladly, but that this is a divine matter and nothing but a heavenly gift and present, without and beyond, yes, against, nature, which God alone effects in us, without any help or ideas of ours. "Such a man," says Paul, "am I, who by the grace of God brought you the Gospel, as I also received it by that grace,
I who was presented to you by God as a rich and precious gem. As such you must regard and honor me, so that no one may rebuke me or upbraid me, as if this were my own doing or that I had come by my own decision. For I am not like those who set themselves up as pastors and who force themselves in, as those sneaks of the factions do or as self-styled scholars and preachers do. No, whatever I am and can do, whatever I have and present, is and shall be nought but the grace of God." That is the way Christians must boast, if they boast at all, not of their spirit, as the arrogant spirits do, nor of their great knowledge or their own wisdom, nor of their sanctity, nor of whatever we ourselves are or can do.
St. Paul speaks at some length of his boast, saying: "And His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, etc." That is displaying still more defiance over against their contempt for his poor and insignificant person, which, they say, is as nothing in comparison with the other apostles. Here he not only makes bold to call himself the equal of the others, but he declares that he may well go beyond that and glory in the fact that God has done great things through him, that He accomplished more through him than He did through the others. He enlarges on this elsewhere. He uses these words, "God's grace was not in vain toward me," against his factions and against all types of factions which, although they have and occupy such an office of grace, nevertheless fail to remain in this grace but fall from it and become loose and idle prattlers and zealots.
They indeed do shout and bluster much, but they do nothing, nor do they accomplish what their office demands of them. Thus the grace of God is in vain toward them. But "toward me," Paul says, ' it was not in vain, for by it I carried the Gospel throughout the world of the Gentiles and converted many people." Elsewhere he says (Rom. 15:
19) that from Asia to Italy he filled every place with the Gospel.
"Indeed, I can defy those who despise and belittle me because of my person," he says, "and I can challenge them to match these accomplish¬ ments. For when it comes to boasting, as they like to boast against me, I can say that I did more than they all. And this I may do with God and in all honor. I shall willingly concede to them and yield to them if they are able to boast not of grace but of their own knowl¬ edge or great gifts. But they shall not venture to say that they preached as much and bore as much fruit as I did by the grace of One might apply the words "I worked harder than any of them" to all the apostles. That is the usual way, too, implying that Paul is exalting himself over the other apostles. But since Paul is speaking so generally here and addresses "all" without distinction, I think that he is not referring to the true apostles but that he is defying the fac¬ tious spirits. It is as though he were to say: "Even if they had done much to boast of, still the whole lot of them did not do as much as I did, and yet I am only one individual and regarded as the least of the apostles." Thus it remains in materia subjecta 10 of whom he is speaking here. For with these words he does not wish to belittle the true apostles, among whom he also numbers himself, but he is attack¬ ing the others, the false apostles, who are criticizing him and finding fault with him.
But if someone wishes to apply these words, "I worked harder than any of them," to all the apostles, he may interpret them to mean that Paul's work was more extensive than that of all the others. For the latter had to remain in Jerusalem and in the land of the Jews; they were not sent to any nation other than their own. But Paul and Barnabas were set apart, as we read in Acts 13:2, as two special preachers who were to journey out into the whole world of the Gen¬ tiles. Thus Paul penetrated the entire Roman empire with the Word, and this empire is, I suppose, twelve times as large as the Jewish realm. Therefore Paul may well boast that he worked harder than
10 I. e., on the basis of considerations not absolute.
|W, XXXVI, 519—521] they all, that is, that he traveled farther in his apostolate or that he got in touch with and covered more countries and people with his preaching than the others. In view of this he often calls himself an apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, so that we may well regard him as our father and apostle and regard ourselves as the heirs of his pulpit. And yet, the apostle's chief meaning is directed against his factions, and he wants to say: "A curse on their boasting, blustering, and raging, for I can truly boast and say that I am not only an apostle, but also a productive apostle and that I was of greater benefit to Chris¬ tendom and wrought more fruit there than all of them together did during their whole lifetime or than they ever will do."
And lest some one find reason to suppose that he is arrogant with his boasting and that he wants to exalt himself over all the other apostles when he says that he alone accomplished the best, he is quick to add "though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me, etc." He brushes all of this away from his person and attributes it to sheer grace, so that these remarks cannot be prompted by arrogance.
No, they reflect true Christian humility, for he confesses that he is nothing at all. And yet there is a blessed arrogance in him, which does not boast presumptuously of himself or of any other man, but of God's work and grace. And all of this Paul does for the good and salvation of the people, lest they be misled by the factions' shouting and boasting and that they may be advised what they have in him.
For it is needful and necessary for the people to be warned and de¬ terred from following the factious spirits and enabled to differentiate thus among pastors: "This is our pastor, whom God has given us and who first preached God's Word correctly, who wrought and effected much good, and who proved himself through the grace of God. The other, however, comes sneaking in here, or he has broken in here without a commission, ridiculing the first pastor. And no one knows who this man is or if he may be trusted. Therefore we will give ear to the former, whom God gave us, and remain with him."
Behold, thus the true doctrine may be retained in the hearts of the people, so that they remain with what God gave them and with what they recognized. This is recorded to serve as an example for us.
For we, too, must boast over against the papacy and all factions that God gave us His Word and true preachers of the same. And although they despise us and condemn us as heretics, we are for all that true pastors and servants of Christ. Moreover, we have been called and [W, XXXVI, 521, 522] ordained to teach by the pope himself. They shall not disdain such our defiant boast. It is not that we thus claim to be better before God, but thus our doctrine becomes more firmly rooted in the people and is not shaken and doubted. For if we ourselves were to falter and to doubt that we are true pastors, all the people would follow us and also doubt and become uncertain about the matter.
After all, every person must be able to boast thus in his vocation and his life and be convinced that he is pleasing God. For instance, every father may boast over against his child that he is a father and that he is privileged to deal with his son as a father, even though he may not be a Christian and even though he does not believe in the Gospel. He should not let others despise him, even though he may be poor, decrepit, and ill, as though this disqualified him as a father. No, he should say to his son: "No matter what my condition otherwise may be, I am still your father, and you are my son, and you cannot deprive me of my paternal position nor withdraw from obedience to me, etc. For I did not make myself your father by my own design and volition, but God created you thus and gave you to me." Similarly, every master of a household should boast over against his servant, a government or a prince over against their subjects, and say: "Although I may be inept, frail, etc., I am nonetheless your master, and you are my servant or subject. And you must also regard and honor me as such, no matter how proud you may be, and not be thanked for it either.17 This you must not do for my sake but for God's, for He wants it that way. If I am frail, so that my person does not appeal to you, that makes no difference. For all of that you shall not say that I am not your master; for that is not my arrangement, but God's work and order.
Since such boasting is necessary in the secular realm, it must far more be in place in the spiritual office, which is entirely God's work and rule. And yet everybody presumes to criticize and despise it at will. We must boldly defy such insolent spirits with God's Word and order and say: "Disapprove of me and contemn me with regard to my person whoever will, but on the other hand, with regard to my office you must honor and laud me, as you love Christ and your soul's salvation. For you are not my pastor or preacher, but God ordained me to be your pastor, in order that you might receive the Gospel from me and come into the kingdom of God through my office."
17 Cf. p. 88, n. 15, above.
See, that is how the apostle first digresses from his theme and talks of his office. He does this to frighten the people and to turn them away from their factious spirits, who attacked the article of the resurrection. He makes mention of this also to strengthen his proc¬ lamation, saying that he is called to this office by God and that he has shown himself as one who preached and worked by grace alone. In that way he adduces a triple testimony for his proclamation. In the first place. Scripture, or God's Word; in the second, the experience of many people; in the third, his office and its fruits. May God supply those who refuse to accept or respect that with a plenitude of factious spirits who will pour their spirit into them with large dippers. There¬ fore Paul concludes with the words of verse 11: "Whether then it was
I or they, so we preach, and so you believe." It is as though he would say: "Now you heard what I am and what I have preached and done, what my office and my doctrine are as a true apostle. I proclaimed what the other apostles proclaimed, who witnessed of this with me.
In fact, I carried this message farther than they did, out into the world.
And in that way you, too, accepted it, believed it, and recognized that it is the doctrine and the Gospel from which this article is derived and on which it is based. Therefore you must remain faithful to it and not be diverted from it by other preachers." Thus he sums up his work or office and its fruit, showing that his proclamation was in the final analysis about nothing other than the article of the resurrection, ac¬ cording to Scripture and the reliable testimony of many people. And now he takes the article itself in hand, to put it on a firm foundation, to prove it, and mightily to refute the error of those who had sowed the poison among Christians that there is no resurrection.18
12-15. Note if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be mis¬ representing God, because we testified of God that He raised
Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
There you can see first of all what pious little children these tender 18 The second sermon in the series, preached September 8, 1532, the Fif¬ teenth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 524, 525] factious spirits were who reviled Paul and ventured to reproach him with his ordinary person and with his past life, as though they them¬ selves were so spiritual and the most excellent saints. And still they presume to say this about themselves and to preach that there is nothing to the resurrection, despite the proclamation and testimony of all true apostles and its basis in Scripture and their experience.
Is this not a disgrace and an abomination on the part of those who desire to be called Christians and who boast of great spirituality as the first pastors after the apostles, some of them even consecrated and inducted into office by Paul himself? And they proclaim this among his disciples, to whom he himself had preached and on whom he had impressed this article so long!
Paul stakes everything on the basic factor with which he began, namely, that Christ arose from the dead. This is the chief article of the Christian doctrine. No one who at all claims to be a Christian or a preacher of the Gospel may deny that. With this he wants to con¬ front them and force them to the conclusion that their denial of the resurrection of the dead denies even more definitely that Christ rose from the dead; for if the former is not true, the latter must be fabri¬ cated also. And since every Christian must believe and confess that Christ has risen from the dead, it is easy to persuade him to accept also the resurrection of the dead; or he must deny in a lump the Gospel and everything that is proclaimed of Christ and of God. For all of this is linked together like a chain, and if one article of faith stands, they all stand. Therefore Paul also makes all things interdependent here, and he always deduces one thing from the other.
But among the heathen and the unbelievers, who deny not only the article which Paul undertakes to prove but also everything that he cites in proof, this appears to be weak dialectics or proof. They call this probare negatum per negatum and petere principium,19 Thus someone may accuse another person in court and say: "You are a rascal, etc.," and when he is asked to prove this, he may constantly repeat the same and cry: "It is true, you are a rascal, and you remain a rascal, being born a rascal." That would not be proving it, but would be empty, idle talk. If the person were to prove this, he would have to proceed to present witnesses and produce other reliable proof against the other. Thus it also seems here when Paul says: "If there
19 "Proving what has been denied by what has been denied'' and "begging the question."
[W, XXXVI, 525, 526] is nothing to the resurrection of the dead, then Christ, too, has not risen from the dead." For if we tell a heathen that, he has as little regard for the one as he has for the other; he believes that Christ rose from the dead just as little as that we rise from the dead. Therefore such an argument does not convince him at all. And even if it were a strong argument, it would after all be no more than an a particulari ad universale.20 It would not be a true deduction to conclude: "Since this one Christ arose, it follows that everyone must arise from the dead." It would be just as illogical to say: "This judge is a rascal, therefore all judges are rascals. One pastor is a factious spirit, there¬ fore all pastors are heretics." It does not reflect masterly learning to make a whole summer out of a single day or to call the whole world rascally because of one rascal, in brief, to generalize from one factor.
So this seems a rather weak proof: "If the dead do not arise, then Christ, too, has not risen." For even if we grant that the one person,
Christ, God's Son, has arisen, we cannot infer from this that we must all rise.
But I stated that this is primarily a sermon for Christians, who believe the article regarding Christ's resurrection and know its power and understand why He arose, namely, to overcome death and to rescue us from death and enable us to live with Him eternally. For since He is our Head and we are His body and members, He must through His resurrection also resurrect us and transplant us into a new life, etc., as He often declares elsewhere. However, lest someone find fault with his argumentation, Paul continues and strengthens his viewpoint. He intertwines and interlaces his argumentation to make it cogently conclusive. He makes proper use of that device of dialectics which is known as reducere per impossible.21 He wants to say: "Whoever denies this article must simultaneously deny far more, namely, first of all, that you believe properly; in the second place, that the Word which you believe has been true; in the third place, that we apostles preach correctly and that we are God's apostles; in the fourth place, that God is truthful; in brief, that God is God.
For all of this must follow, one from the other: If my belief is not correct, the Word, too, must be false. If the Word is incorrect, the preacher, too, must be incorrect. Therefore God, too, who sends the 20 An argument "from the particular to the universal," a generalization.
21 A contraction for reducere per deductionem ad impossibile, the same as reducere ad absurdum, a device that disproves by arguing to an impossible or false conclusion.
[W, XXXVI, 526, 527] preachers, must be a false god. But if He is false, He is not God.
And may he who ventures to say that God is not God be gone. For we have nothing to do with him who believes nothing at all, who denies everything that is said about God and God s Word. Therefore this is also taught in the schools: Contra negantem prima principia non est disputandum, "one must not dispute with him who dares to deny what nature teaches everybody and what everybody's reason and understanding must concede." Such a person must be advised to see a physician to have his brain purged. For that is tantamount to saying that white is not white but black and that two are not two but one. But we are addressing people who regard God as a true
God, who is truthful and does not lie, people who regard the apostles as His ambassadors and witnesses, as men who proclaim His Word and who must be heard as He Himself is heard. As Christ says (Luke
10:16): "'He who hears you hears Me,' and he who hears Me hears My Father." Those are our principia, the bases and the chief article on which the entire Christian doctrine is founded. For all of Scripture asserts solely of that God and of His Son and apostles that their proc¬ lamation constitutes the right Word of God and that whoever be¬ lieves this will be saved. If you deny all of that, I shall have nothing to do with you. For whoever denies God and His Word, His Baptism and Gospel, will not find it hard to deny the resurrection of the dead as well. If you dare to say that God is not God and that the apostles and Christendom do not teach and believe correctly, it is easy for you — and nothing seems better — to knock the whole bottom out of the barrel and say that there is no resurrection, neither heaven nor hell, neither devil nor death nor sin, etc. For what will you believe if you do not believe that God is something?
But if you choose to be numbered among those who regard God and His apostles, His Word and Christendom, as truthful, we shall indeed convince and constrain you to believe also this article. For what Christendom believes and the apostles proclaim cannot be a lie.
Thus it is also impossible for the apostles to be false witnesses of God; otherwise God would not be truthful and could not be God. Now that these principia stand, it follows logically and necessarily that you have to believe the resurrection of the dead, as surely as God is God.
For He revealed the resurrection through His Son in Scripture and had it proclaimed through the apostles; and it was accepted and believed by Christendom. In view of all of this, it must be correct and true.
So all of this ties together, the apostles' Word and Christ's Word, the belief and the profession of Christendom, and God's truth and majesty, so that one cannot give one the lie without involving the other. And because that is and remains certain and true, it must also be certain that the dead will arise, since this is comprehended in God's Word and in the Christian faith. In that way it forms a chain, with everything linked together and with everything falling apart to¬ gether, so that we have to declare: "As surely as it is true that God lives and that Christ lives and that Christendom's faith and proclama¬ tion are correct and true, this article is also true." But, if someone dares to contradict this, we let him go to the devil as one who shall not have fellowship with us who believe and have accepted the Word and who, furthermore, have learned from experience that God con¬ firms His Word and that He gathers His Christendom and has pre¬ served it to date, that many saintly people have confessed this with their blood, that they have been tested and sustained in their faith through all sorts of opposition and temptation and have died believ¬ ing in this article. And because we stand on that foundation and hold to these parts, this article will surely also be preserved for us and will not topple.
Behold, thus this text contends mightily in defense of our faith.
This is the right way to defend our doctrine, for we cannot prove our faith and all the articles in any other way. Whoever refuses to believe that God, Christendom, faith, and the Word are really something will not give ear to instruction or persuasion. All that may be said to him is futile and lost. It is the same as trying to convince a Turk with our faith. He will concede nothing and will reject all your rea¬ sons.
This is what we tell him: "If you come to the point where you no longer accept Christ and His apostles and Scripture, let Satan himself thank you. For after all, we do not proclaim ourselves or anything invented or contrived by man, but the very Word which is founded on Scripture from the beginning, the Word of Christ, God's Son, which was promised by God Himself to our first father, Adam, and to Chris¬ tendom. Whoever does not want to have that, may seek out a different one. We, however, want to adhere to what Adam began, what all holy fathers and pious Christians have believed, and what has to date maintained itself against all power, wisdom, and might of the world and against the gates of hell, and what will endure as long as the [W, XXXVI, 529, 530] world stands. And whoever accepts that will surely also believe and retain this article with us. For with such people I can reason and I can convince them when I say: "If you believe in Christ and believe that He rose from the dead, how can you deny that the dead will arise, etc.? For you must be mad and stupid to believe in Christ and to dis¬ believe His Word and His apostles." In brief, we know that Adam, our very first father, already believed this article when he was told that the woman's Seed should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15).
From him this was transmitted to us all; just as he comprehended it, so it was passed from one to the other. It was preached and treated with ever growing clarity, from Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, David, etc., and thus to Christ and the apostles, from whom it came down to us.
In this way St. Paul contended for and achieved this article from the true and strongest principiis, so that he who denies the resurrec¬ tion of the dead must also deny that Christ rose from the dead. But whoever denies that, denies everything. He regards God and Christ in all His words and works as a liar, indeed, as absolutely nil. Such a person must be considered an infamous, godless heathen, whom neither God nor the world can counsel, and with whom no one should have anything to do. I am unable to proclaim or to support this more strongly and powerfully. Therefore we must hold firmly to such a foundation, be sure of our ground, and not build on a hollow delusion. For as surely as you believe other articles of faith, you must also believe this one. Thus if you can believe that God is God, you must also not doubt that you will rise from the dead after this life; for if you were to stay under the ground, God would first have to become a liar and not be God. But if it is true that God cannot lie or deny or abandon His deity, this article, too, must become true. It is as certain before God as if the resurrection had already taken place, even though present appearances would belie this, with man lying under the ground, stinking like a rotting carcass, and consumed by maggots and worms.
For he who wants to believe must ignore what his five senses com¬ prehend and demonstrate. God, too, does not regard these, nor is He governed by them. On the contrary, His concern is to make His words come true: "Death, I will be your death" (Hos. 13:14), "I will devour you and will revive him whom you devoured, or I will no longer be
God." And just as God pays no attention to the conditions confronting [W, XXXVI, 530, 531] our senses, such as those of one lying ten fathoms in or under the ground, or of another burned to ashes and scattered in all four direc¬ tions or consumed by beasts, birds, and worms — in His eyes all is noth¬ ing but life; for He will create a new and eternal life from this tem¬ poral death and corruption — so we, too, must view this. We must judge contrary to our feelings and in accordance with what God says, as convinced as though this had already come to pass. We must zeal¬ ously guard against doubting this at all.
For ponder this yourself and see what a sin it is to entertain any doubt regarding this article, since Paul states that this is the same as denying God and Christ, as renouncing your faith, Baptism, and the Gospel, giving these the lie and saying: "I believe that there is no God, no Christ, and that all that is said about faith is an abominable lie."
You would graft happiness and a strong faith into your heart if you vividly pictured this to yourself and reflected: "Oh, it would be terri¬ ble and awful and the gravest blasphemy to disbelieve this article; for as St. Paul says, then I would simultaneously have denied that Christ arose from the dead and that God is truthful. May God protect me from saying that and from admitting such horrible blasphemy into my heart. Therefore I shall harbor no doubt regarding this article but regard it as more certain than my own life and boldly depart this life trusting in it and convinced that after I am dead and decayed, I shall come forth again, more beautiful and brighter than the sun."
Thus this text serves both to strengthen the believers and to frighten the others, that they may know what a great blasphemy those who deny this article are committing. It is as though Paul were saying:
"Dear Corinthians, this is not a matter for jest or ridicule; for if you deny this article, you are not denying anything trivial, nor for that matter a single article, but you are actually giving God the lie to His face, saying: 'God is not God, Christ is nothing, etc.' But if you have any regard for God and Christ — as you surely must have if you want to be Christians and have us preach to you — you cannot deny this arti¬ cle. For the inference will constrain you to say: 'In truth, if Christ has
His apostles proclaim this and, in addition, has proved this by deeds, there can be no doubt regarding it.' Therefore, venture forth and de¬ part this life boldly in faith in this article, convinced that after we are long in our graves and are decomposed, and the beautiful trumpet will sound and say, as Christ did to Lazarus: 'Peter, Paul, come forth!' — that we will then come forth in a moment like a spark, more resplen- [W, XXXVI, 531—533] dent than the entire heaven, with our whole body and all our members again completely intact, even though we may now be burned to ashes, consumed in the water, torn to bits by wolves, or eaten by ravens.22
16-19. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.
Here St. Paul affirms the foregoing argument. He carries it even further and supports it and sums up all that would follow if one were not sure of this article in Christendom. He pursues this point to insure that his Corinthians adhere to this staunchly and surely over against their false teachers. We can gather from this that they did not take this article seriously and that St. Paul was vexed to see them treat it so coldly and indifferently, moreover, put it in doubt, indeed, that some spoke of it so carelessly and even heathenishly, as though it were noth¬ ing at all. There are still many who do not believe this in their hearts and secretly regard this as a big laugh, especially those who claim to be smart and very intelligent and who measure and judge God's Word with their reason. They are like the Sadducees and their disciples in the days of Christ, who spread that poison among God's people. This had already been disseminated widely. It necessarily follows, espe¬ cially where factious spirits arise, who agitate this and spew it out among the people, that the majority remain steeped in such shameful unbelief, live riotously, and care neither about God nor about the life beyond, just as though there were neither hell nor heaven; and yet they are called Christians and are baptized. And no matter how much they are preached to, all is preached to deaf ears. Later on they make sport of it, and St. Paul will later mention their mocking.
St. Paul here names the parts one after the other and arrays them per impossible,23 as I said. In the first place, if the dead do not arise, it follows that Christ, too, did not arise. Reasoning: Christ is, as we know, also one of the dead, indeed, He is the Head of us all and, as he says later, "the Firstfruits," who was to rise. And if this article is not true in Him, it is true in no one. In the second place, it would also follow that our preaching is in vain. For why should we bestow such
22 The third sermon in the series, preached in the afternoon of September 22, 1532, the Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
23 Cf. p. 95, n. 21, above.
[W, XXXVI, 533—535] pains, why hazard to preach, to encumber ourselves with so much toil, and all of this at the risk of life and limb and all sorts of danger, if this were naught but an empty, worthless, and useless bauble? Indeed, then we should hold our tongue and forsake pulpit with Baptism, Sac¬ rament, and Scripture. For do you suppose that this was introduced to subdue the peasants, to govern land and people, and to learn how to husband resources and to farm? The heathen were conversant with all of that even before anyone had heard of Christ; this was taught them by reason, yes, necessity also forced them into this. For that you need no Scripture or pulpit, no Gospel, indeed, no knowledge of God.
Therefore, if we knew of no other life, we should also hold our peace and let the people live like cows and pigs, which probably also know very well what is good for them. We should let it rest at that and neglect pulpit and all. We should not devote so much attention to it as to create such a stir over it in the world, if it were but effort lost and if it would serve and help neither this nor that life. Therefore, if you desire no other life nor believe in it, just disregard preaching.
If you do not care to have a God, you also do not need to hear us, nor need we preach to you. For, God be praised, we are not so stupid that we should wish to propagate this doctrine in vain, or only to regulate this body and this life with it. No, we find that ordered very well already by the heathen and by reason. Our only concern is to teach how — after our Baptism — we may get from this to yonder life. To that end we have to preach and to admonish daily. But if there were nothing to the resurrection, all of that would be entirely in vain and futile.
In the third place, Paul said, your faith would be futile and nothing but an empty and worthless idea. For if the resurrection is nothing and yet I believe in it, what is that but a mere dream with sequel? Then all of Christendom from the beginning of the world would have fol¬ lowed a false belief, and all would be poor, bewitched people who per¬ mitted themselves to be fooled and mislead by an empty dream and phantom, one for which people had to endure every persecution, dis¬ tress, and torture. And after hoping for and relying on this for a long time, they would have had to depart this life and die in that confidence and then find themselves deceived shamefully. If it were true, as some people declare, that this article is false and that there is nothing to a life beyond, this would constitute the greatest deception ever perpe¬ trated on earth. Thus many people regard also what we say about [W, XXXVI, 535, 536] heaven and hell as mere fable and fiction, contrived solely for the purpose of terrifying the common people, who presumably could not be tamed or restrained except by painting the devil black and making hell hot for them.
But nothing is accomplished by that either. For if people are not better instructed than to believe this empty delusion, they will still remain as they are and both live and die like pigs. They will believe just as much as a certain village mayor. When he was about to die, he told his pastor, who had debated a long time with him about the resurrection in an effort to convince him of its reality: "To be sure,
I am ready to believe this; but you will see that nothing comes of it."
The majority of the people in the world still think that. But whoever is a Christian must not be so uncertain in his belief; he must be sure of it, knowing how he will fare and paying no heed to the supposing and wavering or the mocking of other people. He must be able to reply: "If you do not want to believe, go your way and learn from ex¬ perience. Your boasting to us will end soon. There is One who can take your conceit out of you. And even if you don't believe, He will still find people who do. In the meantime, let us see who has deceived whom."
In the fourth place, St. Paul says, we, too, would be false witnesses, we who say and teach that Christ has arisen, if the dead do not arise.
And as that belief would be false, we, too, would be nothing but the devil's buffoons and liars, who speak of themselves and babble of things of which they know nothing. As base liars and rascals they in¬ vent things, cheating people out of their lives and out of all they have.
We are, however, Christ's apostles and faithful witnesses. We can prove that we were called and commissioned by God and that we pro¬ claim the truth, so that many people, mightily persuaded, join us of themselves and because of this suffer all that befalls us. This demon¬ strates that we are in earnest about this and do not joke or engage in trickery, as though we were vagrants or charlatans.
The fifth part follows. If there is nothing to the resurrection, Saint Paul says, "you are still in your sins," both you and all those "who have fallen asleep in Christ." Then Christ would be of no avail at all to you. For what good would you derive from the fact that you proclaim and believe you were redeemed from sin and were justified by His resurrection, if there is nothing to that resurrection and if you were not also redeemed from death and would not rise and live again? That [W, XXXVI, 536—538] you and all other Christians from the beginning were baptized on this, heard the Gospel, and lived as Christians who had remission of sin from their Lord would all be in vain. Believing that all ends with death, you would die like the cattle and have no more than the heathen and unbelievers. It would be disgraceful indeed to declare that Christ is nothing and that He does not help either the living or the dead.
The sixth and final point with which St. Paul concludes is: "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied." That is tantamount to saying: "If it were true that there is no life after the present one, I should gladly forgo Baptism, pulpit, and all of Christianity." For observe a Christian and compare him with people who do not believe. The latter live in a whirl of pleasure; they have and they do what they please, and when they have lived their life, "they perish forever without any regarding it," as Job 4:20 says.
They never experience what real suffering or sadness, misery and grief are. In contrast to them, we who want to be Christians endure all kinds of troubles and misfortunes, so that people despise and vilify, revile and slander us. The world is so hostile to us; it begrudges us our very life on earth. Daily we must be prepared for the worst that devil and world can inflict on us. In the face of this, who would be stupid enough to be a Christian if there were nothing to a future life?
Who would not say: I, too, want to have good times and revel as those people do? With what wrongdoing do I charge myself that I let myself be tormented so and endure such sorrow, spite, hatred, and envy from the world? In addition to this, a Christian must suffer so much inward grief and heartache, such fear and terror of death, of sin, and of God's wrath. These are real blows indeed.
For that external suffering is only child's play, it is only the ABC of a Christian's misery and trouble with which the world persecutes him, exiles him, and displays all sorts of malice. But this fear and woe caused by God's wrath really pierces his heart: the fear of eternal death, of becoming partners of the devil in the abyss of hell. This haunts him day and night. Against this the Christian has to contend, well-nigh sweating blood. I should much rather lie in jail for a year, suffer hunger and thirst, than to endure such mortal fright with which the devil afflicts Christians, who, after all, believe and are certain of the future resurrection and of eternal life awaiting them and, on the other hand, of judgment and eternal fire awaiting the evildoers. And [W, XXXVI, 538, 539] just because they know that, they have no rest until they are rescued from this vale of tears. For here the two paths lie before them; in ad¬ dition, the devil and their own conscience attack them, telling them that they are not pious and calling Scripture to witness that we are all sinners and guilty of damnation. The devil knows how to turn that to account and to torment a person so that he breaks out in cold sweat.
Therefore it is necessary for a person to struggle and contend, lest he be engulfed in sadness and fear, but that he may instead remain confi¬ dent that God is gracious to him and wants to take him unto Himself in heaven. The others, the great multitude, know nothing of this. They fear neither God's wrath and judgment nor devil or death. They think that their own death is not unlike the death of a cow. In the meantime, they are secure and happy and experience nothing at all of such a heartache. Therefore a Christian is an especially wretched person, suffering more of whatever may be termed misery than others. His heart is daily roasted on the fire. He must always be terrified, fearful, and trembling when the thought of death and God's severe judgment occurs to him. He must always worry that he has angered God and merited hell, although he may be pious and well practiced in faith.
For such thoughts will not cease; rather, they are felt more and more and always become stronger than the good thoughts. Therefore we behold some people who are so depressed and so beaten and so as¬ sailed and wretched in their hearts that they can impart this to no one.
They are bereft of all joy and happiness and do not care to live.
Therefore, St. Paul says, we would be mad and foolish to subject ourselves to such misery, fear, sadness, and distress and never be safe from death and devil for a moment, if we had nothing but this life.
What could we possess on this earth, even though we might acquire all the goods of the world, to compensate for being Christians and cumbering ourselves with such suffering? Who would want to bear that and spend his life thus in nothing but misery and distress and not get anything but this life in return?
The heathen said very wisely: Qui mortem metuit, quod vivit, perdit id ipsum,24 "he who fears death is a fool, for thereby he loses his own life." It would indeed be well spoken, if anyone could do it. For everybody is well aware that he accomplishes no more with this fear than to spoil this life itself, so that he derives no benefit and no joy from it. This can be observed in those who are so steeped in sadness
24 The quotation has not been identified.
[W, XXXVI, 539—541] that they could find neither consolation nor joy, even if we decked them out with every golden ornament, filled them with the best meat and drink, and entertained them with all sorts of pastime and music.
They feel nothing of life, but harbor only thoughts of death and find themselves in death already. Therefore they advise that there is noth¬ ing better than simply to cast all such fears aside, to force them from your mind, and think: "Why should we worry about this? After we are dead, we are dead." Just as the Corinthians said, as St. Paul indicates later (v. 32): "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, etc." That is making short shrift of it and extinguishing God's wrath, hell, and damnation completely.
However, Christians cannot do that. They cannot dismiss this so from hearts which would gladly believe. On the contrary, the more faith struggles and would strengthen itself, the more this is felt. Thus it is not sure of life for a moment, and God's judgment and the pit of hell always stare it in the face. Such people must be comforted with this message: "My dear man, you may feel this very much, and it may pain you uninterruptedly to live thus, and, admittedly, you are a poor, miserable person; but be patient and be assured that this must be be¬ cause you are a Christian. Otherwise you would not be so tormented.
However, you must fend this off and cling with a firm faith to the fact that your Christ has risen from the dead. He, too, suffered such an¬ guish and fear of hell, but through His resurrection He has overcome all. Therefore, even though I am a sinner and deserving of death and hell, this shall nonetheless be my consolation and my victory that my
Lord Jesus lives and has risen so that He, in the end, might rescue me from sin, death, and hell.
With such faith Christians must soothe and assuage their suffering and check their unhappiness. Otherwise it would be impossible to comfort a saddened and frightened heart or to divert the thoughts with any earthly joy. This, however, is effected when the Man Christ declares that He is the God and Savior of the wretched. Not those who live in security, in a whirl of pleasures, and free of all fear, but those who fear the devil and hell must occupy themselves with Bap¬ tism, the pulpit, and the Gospel and conclude thus: "The fact that I feel this fear of hell and of God's judgment is a reliable sign that I am also a Christian and have some faith; for whoever is terrified by this must surely believe that there is a heaven and a hell. On the other hand, whoever does not fear these does not believe anything.
For that reason I must comfort myself in such terror and fear, pull myself together by faith, and say to the devil and to my heart: 'You frighten me with sin and hell, but Christ tells me of heaven, righteous¬ ness, life, and eternal bliss. He must have greater weight with me than all my feelings and ideas.' " And thus we must ever struggle and resist, firmly holding and clinging to this article. This will be necessary both in life and in death.
So you see that St. Paul spoke the truth when he said: "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied," and we are also the greatest fools, for we alone renounce all goods and comforts, all joy and happiness of this life and of all creatures, we expose ourselves to every peril of life and limb in vain and for nothing and to the terrible and unspeakable terror of hell, so that we have to live in contempt and in misery before the world and in eternal fear before God. After all, there is no trouble or misfortune, no fire, no rope, no sword on earth comparable to this plague. And should we go into this or remain in it voluntarily? We should rather imitate the world or our rabble today and say: "Why do you make such a great ado about the Gospel and faith? If I but had enough money to count out, etc." "But be off, dear brother, with your crowd. Be of good cheer as long as it lasts. Because you are no Christian and believe nothing regarding God or devil, it is easy for you to revel. Nobody is there to assail you. But if you, too, want to be a Christian and strive earnestly for the life to come, you will surely feel the devil press¬ ing you and all Christians hard with every creature which he can use for that purpose. He will terrify you, aggrieve you, he will choke you that you will find rest neither by day nor by night. And your own experience will constrain you to profess that there is no life or exis¬ tence on earth more wretched than that of a Christian. For all of this misery and grief arises because of Christ. It is due to the fact that the devil is hostile to Him and to His Word and to His rule, to Baptism, and to all of Christendom. We have to suffer for that now; and we must not imagine that we will have happiness and peace here on earth.
But to the others he can grant good times and peace, although in the end he will also reward them as the hangman rewards his servant.
In the meantime we must constantly be his target as his sworn enemy.
Daily we must run into his spears and illustrate the saying: The greater one's piety, the earlier one's death. For if God is to preserve a pious person to grant him a long life, a special power and might will be re- [W, XXXVI, 542—544] quired, a power surpassing that of both man and devil. Otherwise the devil in his great malice and anger will butcher and slaughter them all in one heap, just like poor sacrificial sheep.25
20-21. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
Here St. Paul draws the conclusion from the foregoing statements and comments that it is not true, as reason might lead one to assume, that there is nothing to the Christians' faith and proclamation and that we are nothing but the most wretched people on earth. Here he pre¬ sents the only true consolation against such external appearances and feelings. For, as I said, Christians have to have a stronger consolation than gold and silver, singing and dancing, and all that the world pos¬ sesses. A miser can be consoled with money, a sick person with medi¬ cine, a beggar or a hungry person with a piece of bread; but none of these can help a Christian. For because he believes and knows that God has both a heaven and a hell, he is immediately terrified by God's wrath; he becomes a timid and dejected person. Therefore he finds joy and solace only in the promise of the life to come as he hears this article which informs him that Christ has risen from the dead, that He will also awaken him and transport him from death and every mis¬ fortune to joy eternal.
We easily perceive that St. Paul was very much in earnest and that he was particularly fond of emphasizing this article. In fact, he stresses no other as much as this one. He does this like a person made wise and instructed by his own experience, which tells him that he must absolutely cling to this alone by faith and disregard whatever reason together with all five senses wants to add. He must also refuse to see and feel whatever is seen and felt. Otherwise Christians will have nothing but misery, lamenting and weeping, and one misfortune after the other. Therefore we must, of course, have something else to fortify and hearten us and enable us to look elsewhere than at this miserable, wretched existence. That is accomplished solely by this message. For we are not baptized and called, and we do not hear the Gospel, to discover how to become rich, how to acquire and retain goods and honor. That the jurists must teach and deal with. Nor are we to do
25 The fourth sermon, preached October 6, 1532, the Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 544—546] this to find out how we are going to obtain meat and drink. It is the duty of our parents to procure that. Nor how to govern and to protect country and people. That devolves on lords and princes. No, we hear the Gospel that we may direct our hearts to another life and existence, which is not yet present and yet will surely appear.
Therefore Paul now declares: "Though we may be more wretched than any other people on earth, though we may be frightened by what¬ ever will frighten and aggrieve us, death, hell, and every misfortune, and though these may become as severe as they can; now Christ has arisen, not from sleep," he says, "but from death; for He died and was buried the same as other people. But He came forth alive from the grave in which He lay and destroyed and consumed both devil and death, who had devoured Him. He tore the devil's belly and hell's jaws asunder and ascended into heaven, where He is now seated in eternal life and glory." This is to be comfort and defiance. For on His name we are baptized, and we hear and profess His Word. After Him we are called Christians, and for His sake we suffer every mis¬ fortune and grief from the hand of the devil. For this is not aimed at us but at Him and His kingdom, whose enemy the devil is. He tries to destroy it, and he treats us so roughly and wearies us with pursuit, harassment, and death so that we might forsake Christ.
But we will confront him confidently and say: "No, you despicable, vile devil, you will not bring matters to such a pass that I surrender
Baptism and the name of my Lord for your sake. If you can defiantly rely on and make an uproar with your death, fire, water, pestilence, and hell, we can defiantly rely on this Lord Jesus Christ, who has vanquished you. He can again destroy you and cast you into hell eter¬ nally — as He in fact will do — and wrest us alive from your jaws.
Therefore devour us if you can, or hurl us into the jaws of death, you will soon see and feel what you have done. We, in turn, will cause such a great disturbance in your belly and make an egress through your ribs that you wish you had rather devoured a tower, yes, an en¬ tire forest. For you previously consumed a Person and put Him under the ground, but He was too strong for you. To your great disgrace you had to return Him although you blasphemed defiantly: 'He saved others; He cannot save Himself, etc.' (Matt. 27:42). But now He de¬ fies you in return; He has become your death and hell. And soon He will overthrow you completely through us on the Day of Judgment."
You, of course, will say: "It is easy for Christ to defy the devil and [W, XXXVI, 546, 547] death, for He is enthroned on high where no one can harm Him. But what do I gain thereby? Or, how will I obtain that? As you can see,
I remain behind." St. Paul replies with one short statement, saying:
"Christ has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." For with the word "Firstfruits" he implies that Christ is not the only one to arise but that others will follow later. You must not regard this Man as one who arose for Himself alone. We would be but poorly comforted if His resurrection had no sequel. Then we would derive no more benefit from this than if He had never be¬ come man.
It was not necessary for Him to die for Himself, because He was born without sin and the devil had no claim on Him. Moreover, He was Lord over devil and death, so that the devil did not dare to attack
Him. Christ might well have defied the devil and challenged him to touch one little hair of His head.-0 This is the way He repelled the Jews in the Garden when He said: "I am He" (John 18:5). No, we must view Him in this light, that this dying and rising again were for your benefit and mine. As He died and lay under the sod as you and I must die and be buried, thus He also rose again for our sakes and made an exchange with us; as He was brought into death through us, we shall be restored from death to life through Him. For by His death
He has devoured our death, so that we all will also arise and live as He arose and lives. Therefore Christ is rightly called Primitiae, "the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep," since He takes the lead and draws the whole throng after Him. For whenever a first one is mentioned, it is implied that more than one are involved. The others who follow, the second, the third, and so forth, are included here, all bound together, as many as have fallen asleep. Otherwise, if Christ had riseh alone and no one were to follow Him, He could not be called the First.
And note well that Paul refrains from calling those "dead" who will rise after Christ. No, he says that Christ is "the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." And yet he says that Christ arose, not from sleep but "from the dead." For what was a true and eternal death prior to this and without Christ is now, since Christ has passed from death to life and has arisen, no longer death; now it has become merely
26 The German expression is ihm ein Haar kriimmen. This idiom is well known from Paul Gerhardt's Easter hymn, Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden, st. 4: Die HolV und ihre Rotten, die kriimmen mir kein Haar.
[W, XXXVI, 547, 548] a sleep.27 And so the Christians who he in the ground are no longer called dead, but sleepers, people who will surely also arise again. For when we say that people are asleep, we refer to those who are lying down but will wake up and rise again, not those who are lying down bereft of all hope of rising again. Of the latter we do not say that they are sleeping but that they are inanimate corpses. Therefore by that very word "asleep" Scripture indicates the future resurrection.
And what is more than that, by calling Christ "the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" Paul wishes to signify that the resurrec¬ tion is to be viewed and understood as having already begun in Christ, indeed, as being more than half finished, and that this remnant of death is to be regarded as no more than a deep sleep, and that the future resurrection of our body will not differ from suddenly awaking from such a sleep. For the main and best part of this has already come to pass, namely, that Christ, our Head, has arisen. But now that the Head is seated on high and lives, there is no longer any reason for concern. We who cling to Him must also follow after Him as His body and His members. For where the head goes and abides, there the body with all the members must necessarily follow and abide. As in the birth of man and of all animals, the head naturally appears first, and after this is born, the whole body follows easily. Now since Christ has passed over and reigns above in heaven over sin, death, devil, and everything, and since He did this for our sake to draw us after Him, we need no longer worry about our resurrection and life, though we depart and rot in the ground. For now this is no more than a sleep.
And for Christ it is but a night before He rouses us from the sleep.
Now if I know this and believe it, my heart or conscience and soul have already passed through death and grave and are in heaven with Christ, dwell there and rejoice over it. And in that way we have the two best parts, much more than half, of the resurrection behind us.
And because Christ animates and renews the heart by faith, He will also surely drag the decomposed rascal after Him and clothe him again, so that we can behold Him and live with Him. For that is His
Word and work on which we are baptized and live and die. There¬ fore this will surely not fail us, as little as it failed Him. No matter when or how God ordains that we die, whether in bed or in the fire,
27 Cf. Luther's hymn on Simeon's Song, Luke 2:29-32, especially st. 1, line 6:
Der Tod ist mein Schlaf worden. See Luthers Works, 53, p. 248.
[W, XXXVI, 548—550] in the water, by rope or by sword, the devil, death's master and butcher, will surely see to killing us and carrying out his trade, so that we will not be able to choose or select a mode of death. But no matter how he executes us, it shall not harm us. He may give us a bit¬ ter potion, such as is administered to put people to sleep and make them insensitive, but we will wake up again and come forth on that Day, when the trumpet will sound. That the devil shall not prevent, because even now we are more than halfway out of death in Christ, and he will not be able to hold back this poor belly and bag of mag¬ gots either.
Behold, thus we must view our treasure and turn away from tem¬ poral reality which lies before our eyes and senses. We must not let death and other misfortune, distress and misery, terrify us so. Nor must we regard what the world has and can do, but balance this against what we are and have in Christ. For our confidence is built entirely on the fact that He has arisen and that we have life with Him already and are no longer in the power of death. Therefore let the world be mad and foolish, boasting of and relying on its money and goods; and let the devil rage with his poisonous darts in our conscience; and let him afflict us with all sorts of trouble — against all of this our one defiant boast shall be that Christ is our Firstfruits, that He has initiated the resurrection, that He has burst through the devil's king¬ dom, through hell and death, that He no longer dies or sleeps but rules and reigns up above eternally, in order to rescue us, too, from this prison and death. Our money and goods and all that we may boast of shall repose in Him at a place which neither devil nor world can venture to approach.
In the face of this, why should we let the devil terrify us and make us so despondent, even though he comes face to face with us and reaches out to us, as though he would rob us of everything; even though he kills wife and child, torments our heart with all sorts of misery and sorrow, and in the end also destroys our body, assuming that he has thereby taken everything away? But he is still far from accomplishing this. He may now take life and limb while we are lodging here in his inn, where he does nothing but kill and slaughter daily, similar to a hangman or a butcher in a barn filled with sheep.
And since we eat and drink in such an inn, we must naturally also pay him for our keep. He dispenses no other food than pestilence and every other sickness and pours no other wine or drink than pure poison.
Therefore we can expect nothing else than that he will fill us with this and then butcher and flay us.
But with all that done, he has still stripped us of nothing. For the goods and the treasure which we Christians have are not those which the world seeks and possesses in this life on earth. No, we have already secured our possession against the devil, so that he cannot take it from us. It is in safe custody in this Firstfruits of the dead, who is seated on high, who has ascended from the den of murderers and has taken our life and all with Him. We defiantly boast of that and, in addition, scoff at the devil, saying: "Because you hanker so to devour us Christians and assume that you are acquiring a dainty morsel, go ahead and kill and butcher us, fry us and devour us hide and hair. However, begin behind with this, and then you will have mustard and salt in advance. But what do you have after you have completely devoured us? It will be far from satisfying your insatiable appetite. For you will not find what you are seeking and desiring, and that is the best and greatest part of us, indeed, our whole life and treasure, namely, this article of the resurrection in Christ. Through this we have already been wrested from your teeth and have been moved too far on high. For this treasure does not reside with us or in us — if it did, you would soon tear it away from us — but on high in Christ. There you will have to let it rest unassailed and without any thanks.28 What does it harm us that you now kill our body? For the only thing you effect thereby is to help this poor sack of maggots out of its misery and arrive at its destination, where the head, the heart, and everything is except all misfortune. That we look forward to daily and that we desire. Then you shall perceive and feel what you have eaten. It will be most distressing to no one but only you. The very pestilence and poison that you gave us you yourself will have to eat and devour and guzzle down, and it will tear both your jaws and your belly, putting an end to your raging." Behold, thus we must fend off and defy all terror of the vile enemy, because he can after all but afflict us with all distress and grief. This he does to distract our eyes and our heart from this article and the Firstfruits, Christ, making us forget whose we are or what we have and what we are called.
In this way St. Paul demonstrated that Christ's resurrection is the reason for ours. He now expounds and illustrates that further with an example, saying: "For as by a man came death, by a Man has come
Cf. p. 88, n. 15, above.
[W, XXXVI, 551, 552] also the resurrection of the dead." That is to say: "Just as Adam was the beginning, the first man, through whom we must all die as he died, so Christ is the first Man through whom we are all to arise to a new life as He arose first." Those are the two persons and the two types which Scripture juxtaposes. And that is the way God ordained it, namely, as death came, and still comes, over us all through one man, so the resurrection from the dead shall come through one Man. There¬ fore Adam is an image of Christ, as St. Paul says in Rom. 5:14, where he enlarges on both. However, the latter is far better and different, indeed, it effects the direct opposite of what its antitype, Adam, ef¬ fected. For Adam transmitted nothing but death to all men, so that both he and we must submit to it and cannot escape it. But if that was to be corrected, God had to have another Man appear, who would again transfer us from death to life.
Here St. Paul places these two types over against each other. He wants to say: "Through one man, Adam, so much was effected that all men must now die, both he and all of us who, after all, did not com¬ mit or perpetrate the offense but came into sin and death solely be¬ cause we are descended from him." Although this happens after the Fall, yet it is no longer the sin of another, but it becomes our own when we are born. That is a miserable deal and an awful judgment of God; and it would be still more terrible if we were all to remain in death eternally. But now God placed a second Man, called Christ, over against the first one, so that, just as we die without any fault of our own by reason of the first man, we shall live again by reason of Christ and without our merit. And as we in Adam have to pay solely for the fact that we are his members or his flesh and blood, so we enjoy our advantage here in Christ also solely by virtue of His being our
Head. It is pure grace and gift, so that we have no works or merits to boast of here, as our monks and false saints teach. For how should we who are born in sin and belong to death, being of Adam's flesh and blood, manage to liberate ourselves by our cowls or other works both from sin and death, emerging alive from dust and ashes, brighter and more beautiful than the sun and the rest of creation? That can, of course, not be achieved by human power and strength or by that of all creatures, not even by the angels in heaven, but exclusively by God
Himself. There must be another Man who can achieve that and bring it about, a Man who is called Christ, God's Son and Lord over sin, death, devil, and over all things, as St. Paul will say of Him later (v. 27). It is
He who acquired this article and initiated it in Himself and presented it to us, so that we, too, might attain it through Him, solely because we are incorporated in Him through Baptism and were called to this article and engrafted in it, so that we will arise and live by the same power and merit by which He arose and lives.
And now since this is not at all our doing, both that we came into death and that we came into life, our consolation is all the stronger, as is also our hope that we shall have life through Christ as surely as we now have and feel sin and death through Adam. For if it would rest with us and depend on us to work our way out of sin and death and to obtain life by our own doing, we could not be at ease our whole life. We should have to torment and terrify ourselves with works incessantly. And after we had thus tortured ourselves to death, and even if one person were to produce the holiness of the whole world, we could still not be certain and sure that we had done enough and sufficient to satisfy God. Therefore God granted us the mercy to im¬ pose all of this on one Man, who acquired all of this without us and ahead of us, so that it is assured us and cannot fail us. Therefore we come into this entirely without our doing. Nothing that we do or are able to do contributes toward our obtaining grace and resurrection; although we do and must do good works. This is the same as when we become sinners without our doing and must die. For we had no hand in Adam's eating the apple and falling into sin, although we do admittedly commit sin after the Fall. In that way everything that per¬ tains to sin and to righteousness, to death and to life, resides solely in those two men, as St. Paul now elaborates further.
22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Here St. Paul is still speaking only about those who are Christians.
These he wants to instruct and console with this article. For although also the non-Christians must all arise, this will not be to their comfort and joy, since they will arise for judgment and not for life. Therefore to hear this article does not bring comfort and joy to the world and the ungodly people of today either. This I experienced in my own case when I tried to be a holy monk and when I was most pious.
I would much rather have heard about all the devils in hell than about the Last Day. My hair stood on end when I thought of it. For aside from the fact that the whole world is loath to relinquish this life and to die and is frightened when one speaks of death and of yonder life, we are all submerged in the mire of our own holiness, and we are
[W, XXXVI, 554—556] of the opinion that we might silence God's judgment and merit heaven with our life and works. And yet all that we accomplish thereby is that we become ever more averse and hostile to this Day. I will say nothing of that great vulgar throng which seeks its pleasure and con¬ solation only here, which contemns God's Word and cares not a mite for God and His kingdom. It is not surprising that such people are annoyed to hear of the blessed resurrection; for us, however, it is pure joy, because we hear that our greatest Treasure, over which we re¬ joice, is already in heaven above, and that only the most insignificant part remains behind; and that He will awaken this, too, and draw it after Him as easily as a person awakens from sleep. There will no longer be any grief or suffering, and neither world nor devil will plague and sadden us anymore. Now they are persecuting and tormenting us, but then tables will be turned on them. Their lot will be everlasting lamentation, but we will rejoice eternally. For since Christ is to be the Judge both of the good and of the evil, they, too, will have to come forth on that Day to receive their judgment and their punishment for whatever they perpetrated in their impenitent and devilish malice against Christ and us.29
It is a ridiculous message that St. Paul conveys here, telling us where both death and eternal life originate. To clever reason and worldly wisdom it seems to be a great and strong lie that the entire human race must die for the guilt of another, of one single man. It seems too unfair and too absurd that God should treat this matter so strangely and take this silly position in His judgment. Because Adam bit into an apple, he is supposed to have effected that all men are doomed to die to the end of the world. But what is to be our position in this matter? That death befalls us we can all see clearly. But that this is due to one minor sin sounds too odd. When we explain this with words and compare the two, this does appear disproportionate.
For at the time Adam had, after all, not committed murder or adultery, he had not stolen or robbed anyone, he had not blasphemed
God or committed any similar sins, wicked and horrible sins such as abound in the world today. All he did was to bite into an apple, per¬ suaded to do this and deceived by the devil through his wife. Reason asks whether so much importance had to be attached to that one apple that the whole world had to pay for it and that so many fine, excellent,
29 The fifth sermon, preached in the afternoon of Oct. 13, 1532, the Twentieth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 556, 5571 and wise people, indeed, God's Son Himself, together with all the prophets, fathers, and saints, had to die. Yes, if nothing more than death were involved here, as the world and wise people say, who con¬ sole themselves over against death with the assumption that it ends all misfortune! If some better fate should await them after death, as they hope, they are willing to accept it too. Still they cannot conclude that with any degree of certainty; and of the resurrection they know noth¬ ing whatsoever. But the thought that we all deserve eternal punish¬ ment and damnation and suffering in hell because of the sin of some¬ one else, and all of that by reason of just one sin — that is still harder for the human heart to accept. For this judgment on the part of such an exalted Majesty, which is the highest Wisdom and Goodness, seems too unfair, and the action too merciless.
As we have said, we must all profess that it seems so ridiculous that we all must die; however, that this derives from Adam we must learn to believe here. For no human heart or wisdom ever devised or thought this out, that death is a penalty for sin. No, everybody thought and regarded death as man's natural lot, comparable to the death of a dog or a pig or any other animal, or comparable to the rising and the setting of the sun, or the growing or the withering of grass.
All things are considered perishable by nature, vanishing again as they came. However, Scripture teaches us that our death and dying does not come in a natural way but that this is a fruit of and the penalty for our father Adam's sin. He offended the Sublime Majesty so out¬ rageously that he and all who are descended from him and are born on earth must die eternally. No one on earth can escape or ward off this calamity.
And again it sounds so absurd and so false to the world, yes, much more incredible, when Paul declares here that in one Man all men shall rise again; that both death and life rest with and depend on one man; that the whole world is unable to do anything in this matter; that no man's power or might, no saint's life, virtue, and work, are ade¬ quate reason for rising from the dead; that this is absolutely beyond the ability and the merit of every other human being and is centered solely in one single Man, who was unknown to the world and despised by it, who, moreover, died a most shameful and miserable death. To Him all the world is to accord honor, and He is to be regarded as the One by whom we all rise again. No holy monk, Carthusian, yes, no prophet, apostle, or martyr, can contribute anything toward this or [W, XXXVI, 557—559] merit it with all his doings. This appears preposterous as we ponder it.
It often appeared strange and odd to me myself. It is surely hard to convince the heart of this article. When I behold a corpse carried out and buried, it is hard to go my way and believe and think that we will some day rise together. How so, or by what power? Not by myself or by virtue of any merit on earth, but by this one Christ. And that is indeed certain, far more certain than the fact that I will be buried and see someone else buried, which I know with certainty and behold with my eyes. Therefore this is a sermon for Christians and an article of faith. All who are of the world regard this as sheer fraud.
They argue that it is impossible for God to be so foolish and to con¬ demn the whole world without distinction for the sake of one man, or, on the other hand, to save all men without any merit of theirs for the sake of one Man.
For in their opinion, if fair judgment is to be exercised, everyone should die or live as an individual and in accordance with his own deserts, just as a criminal is hanged or beheaded because of his mis¬ deeds. Ordinarily everybody is penalized for his own crime and rewarded for his own piety, it is entirely incongruous that someone should die or be acquitted for the sake of someone else. The belief of the Turks today and, to be sure, of the entire world at its best, would be considered just and fair by the world, namely, that the pious shall rise on the Last Day and live, and vice versa. But that one Man should account for all others and that the question of dying or living of all is dependent on the deserts of someone else, in a manner that all derives from one father and is devoid of any other cause — that is regarded as teaching and preaching offensively and ridiculously. How¬ ever, it pleased God to adopt that plan. He wants to make a fool of the world and of the wise, carrying out His work so that no one can comprehend it.
For if He did what you and I can understand and sketch out for Him, what honor would He derive from that? Or what sort of a God would He be who let us instruct Him, or who would be directed by us and work according to our wisdom? But as it is, He works in a manner in which His wisdom remains profounder than ours; we have to surrender to it and desist from criticizing. We must say:
"According to my wisdom this does not seem good; however, since You say it, it is just and good." Anyone who will not do that but instead places His own wisdom before and above God's and judges
Him accordingly, let him beware what he is doing. We, however, will confine our wisdom to things here below and apply it to cows and horses, trees, houses, fields, etc. In this area you may be smart and judge and rule as you will, and you may stick to your opinion.
But we must not interfere with His wisdom and rule. That is too high and far removed for us, since we are under Him and He is over us as our Creator and Lord. Therefore we must give ear to Him and believe what He says, so that His honor remains unsullied and His grace and mercy alone prevail, without any glory or merit of ours.
That is the message which Paul is so fond of preaching and pro¬ claiming. But, as I always say, this is of benefit only to those Chris¬ tians who are in a position to accept and to believe this article. They feel their sin and death and experience this fact. They confess that they fell into sin through Adam and were cast under God's wrath and condemnation and became forfeit to death. That thought oppresses them continually, and they would like to be free of it. And although according to the flesh they are also loath to die, they are consoled by their desire to be liberated from this, by their longing for the resur¬ rection, and by their willingness to suffer such terror of sin and death in the hope that Christ will free them from these. In their hearts there is nothing but yearning sighs too deep for words and a cry with all their might, as St. Paul expresses it in Rom. 7:24 f.: "Who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, etc." It is as though he were to say: "Indeed, I feel the death and the misery which I have from Adam. This pains me so grievously that my heart all but melts in my body. However, to remedy this I hold to the Man Jesus Christ and take comfort in the knowledge that I have life through Him. This is, admittedly, a scarcely perceptible consolation. To console oneself in such deep sighing and longing is but a feeble undertaking, for the heart beats violently and feels nothing but the pressing burden of sin and fear of death, so that it must cry out. Yet it feels no more and can utter no more than the wish to be relieved of this and be saved. Thus the heart must be sustained and nourished solely by its sighing. But it serves the purpose of teaching a Christian to look for the true con¬ solation in such fear; not in himself nor in men nor in any other creature but in the Christ, through whom alone so much has been earned and acquired that sin and death, transmitted by Adam, do not harm us, but that we come into life through it and from it.
The non-Christians and unbelieving saints cannot do this, although they also cry out and are terrified when their hour strikes. But their thoughts cannot carry them so high, nor can their hearts utter such deep sighing, that God should and would deliver them from this for Christ's sake without any merit of their own; no, they must despair in terror and fear. For they do not know this doctrine which tells us how to escape death, namely, that this is effected exclusively through this one Christ. Meanwhile they run to and fro in their fright, first to this saint, then to another. They look for one work here, for an¬ other there. But a Christian leaves all of that out of consideration, for he has learned and experienced that there is no help on earth against death, which is innate in us. In fact, a Christian must also bear and suffer death the same as others. And of course it frightens and pains him. But he cries solely to God, believing that He will deliver him from death through Christ. In that way he strengthens himself daily until he passes from this life.
Furthermore we enjoy the advantage of which I spoke earlier, namely, that in Christ death has lost its meaning even today and that a part of the resurrection has already taken place — really the best and foremost part — and that we have received a taste of this in our hearts through Christ, and that we, praise be to God, have arrived at the point where the enemy has practically no more teeth and where he has lost his sword. For if we figure it out, we find that he has already almost devoured the world and has emptied the keg down to the very dregs, that he has killed the larger part of the human race, the head, the chest, the belly, and the legs, almost the feet too. For today we are no more than the last toes of the great image of which Daniel speaks in chapter 7. For the four monarchies, or empires, are already past history, and all the prophets and fathers and Christ Himself with His apostles and saints are all gone. In brief, the largest part of the entire body of Christendom and, in addition, the greatest and wisest princes and lords and kings are gone, so that only the last little drink remains to be taken, and it is only a short leap to the end. It is com¬ parable to the time of vintage. Practically all the grapes have been picked and not more than one or two remain hanging on the vines.
Or it is similar to shaking a tree; only two or three apples remain hanging. These pale into insignificance over against the entire harvest or vintage. So death, too, has almost completed his slaughter and has almost finished his reign. But he is not sated until he has also consumed the entire small remnant of pious people.
On the other hand, however, Christ has already brought about life in Himself and His saints, and that almost to the last detail. For He thrones above as our Head and reigns over the entire human race with so much might and majesty that the whole world is as nothing compared with Him. He already owns the greatest part of His body, that is, Christendom, through its belief in His resurrection, so that not more than a leap, yes, a moment, remains until His own, whose bodies still repose in the grave, arise completely. For all of these, excepting a small number, have been taken from their misery, and more than half of them are alive in Christ, because they lived and persevered in the faith. For Christ says (Matt. 22:32) that Abraham and all the other saints are alive in God's sight even though they have departed this life, since we have a God not of the dead but of the living. Therefore death has already been deprived of his power, and he has but few more people left to slaughter; for almost all have already passed through death, and the time is near at hand when
God will present us all alive again and cast death and hell under our feet. In short, our head, yes, our back and our belly, our shoulders and legs have already passed from death, and all the hold death still has on us is by a small toe. This, too, will extricate itself soon. There¬ fore we who have now reached the end of the world have the defiant comfort that it will be but a little while, that we are on our last lap, and before we are aware of it, we shall all stand at Christ's side and live with Him eternally.
Therefore, if we believe God's Word, it must not trouble us if the statement made here by St. Paul sounds ridiculous, namely, that as we all die in one man, so we shall also rise again in one Man. Since we came into sin through Adam without our own fault, and since we could not deliver ourselves from that sin by ourselves, it pleased
God in His divine wisdom and goodness to restore righteousness and eternal life to us through one Man who was without any sin. For it was not His will that we remain in sin and death, which would have happened if Christ had not come. Thus this is all sheer grace. Now we no longer suffer any harm from the fact that we die in Adam.
On the contrary, we derive an advantage from it, namely, a much better life than would have been ours if we were not able to die.
There is only this, that death still seems repugnant to the outer man, our flesh and blood; he approaches it reluctantly. For the outer man cannot do otherwise; it is simply part and parcel of him and inheres
|W, XXXVI, 564, 565] in his nature, inherited from Adam, that he fears death and flees from him.
But here he can take comfort in the knowledge that he surely has life in Christ, together with all the saints who preceded him. Christ is already enthroned on high and lives for Himself and for all of these. Therefore we have already acquired more than half of this, both in those who died before us and in ourselves. And yet we re¬ ceived all of this free and gratis. We contribute nothing except that we are baptized, hear the Gospel, and adhere to Christ — all of which is no work of ours but only God's grace. So we contribute nothing to the fact that we fall into sin in Adam except that we are born of him through a father and a mother and cling and stick to him as his flesh and blood. For he has led us all after himself. He is like a person who goes up a high mountain and in the ascent tumbles down and pulls all who followed him down to the bottom with him. And now, as I have acquired death through Adam, I acquire life through Christ.
I on my part contribute nothing to the latter; I merely accept this or receive it by faith.
Therefore the grace, the consolation, and the joy are as great here as the misery and sadness are there, indeed, even greater. The benefit surpasses the harm done by far. If someone inflicts a slight injury on me and another compensates me richly for this, what cause for complaint do I have? It is as if a thief had stolen ten florins from me and a rich man reimbursed me with one hundred florins. There¬ fore when the devil kills my body with all sorts of evil, Christ again restores this to me in a state much more glorious, beautiful, and bril¬ liant than the bright sun. Therefore we must not be concerned about our reluctance to die, but against this we must vividly picture the happiness and the joy that will be ours in yonder life. This will be inexpressibly greater and more glorious than the damage and the woe which we now suffer from Adam.
23. But each in his oicn order: Christ the Firstfruits, then at His com¬ ing those who belong to Christ.
Here St. Paul does not discuss the question whether several others arose from the dead and are in heaven with Christ. He speaks solely of Christ as of one Man. For he wants to present this article ex¬ clusively and purely according to its substance, making the one Man,
Christ, the Origin and the Beginner of life, or of the resurrection.
Therefore, whether several saints, for instance, Enoch and Elijah, as¬ cended into heaven before Christ or whether several people were resurrected by Him or arose with Him is not the question under dis¬ cussion here. Here we are not dealing de privata resurrectione, how one or two arose from the dead, but with the general resurrection and with the Head or the Cause of the same, which is Christ. For it is of no importance to me whether several people rose under special circumstances. But it is very important to know that Christ arose and how or when we, too, are to arrive there, namely, that we shall be led from this vale of tears by Him and abide where He is.
That is what he means when he adds these words. He brackets Christ with all of us who will arise, making Him the Head and the Beginning. He expresses it thus: "each in his own order," that is, one after the other; first Christ, then we. And with that He also strikes a blow at His factions who carried confusion into this article by all sorts of prattle. Some said that the resurrection had taken place long ago or that it should not be expected in the future. They said: "Of course we hear you say that Christ has risen. From this fact you con¬ clude that we, too, will arise. Well, when will this take place? Or who will rise first and who later? For we don't see anyone who has risen, not even Christ Himself." In this way they made sport and a mockery of this article, as though there were nothing to it, or as though their resurrection had occurred only spiritually. To such Paul wants to make reply, saying: "Indeed, my dear man, you expect this to be shoved under your very nose, so that you can gaze at it as a cow gazes at a new gate. The apostles did not see Christ rise either when
He was hanging on the cross and was laid into the grave. They, too, had to await the time." Thus we, too, must believe it today without seeing it, especially since we know that Christ has already risen as the Head and the Firstfruits. Meanwhile we must wait for the time when we, too, shall follow Him.
St. Paul says that the resurrection will not take place in this man¬ ner, that Christ will immediately take all who died before Him with Himself; nor will He awaken the Christians who die after Him indi¬ vidually and one after the other. No, He was to be the Precursor and the Head, acquiring for all Christians, both those who preceded and those who succeed Him, the ability to live in Him spiritually during their appointed time here on earth. And when the time comes, He will on one day bid all who belong to Him come forth, and then He
15:24 1 CORINTHIANS IS [W, XXXVI, 566—568] will lead them with Him. He arose when His hour was at hand. And thus we, too, shall arise when our hour comes and follow Him. For He will not awaken us before all who are His own have been gathered together. And since many are yet to be born, both we and those who preceded us in death must wait until these are also added and death, which slays us daily, ceases entirely and is abolished, as St. Paul will tell us a little later.
That is what is meant here when we read: "each in his own order."
These words differentiate between His resurrection and ours. For the order demands that He be the first; He must blaze the trail and pro¬ duce life. After that He will gather all those who are His members and belong to the resurrection, one after another, so that they all come forth together on one day appointed by Him and live with Him eternally. Meanwhile He alone remains Primitiae, "the Fristfruits"; and we who believe in Him live in Him by more than one half until
He draws forth also the small remnant completely, namely, our flesh and blood. Thus He remains in His order, and we in ours. And we have the certain hope that since He, our Head, has preceded us, our entire body in one piece will follow Him at the proper time and abide where He is. This will not happen in secret or in some nook or corner, one arising here and another person there; no, this will be a public spectacle viewed by the whole world, when death, sin, and every evil will end and all will be sheer life and joy. Furthermore, our bodies, together with those of all creatures, will possess a new clarity in keep¬ ing with His promise. Therefore the question whether several people rose separately is not to be dragged in here, as I said; for in these this is not yet manifest, nor is the final existence which will prevail at that time.30
24. Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
When the hour strikes, he wishes to say, in which we who are Christ's are to rise and follow Him, then all is accomplished, and the end to which Scripture points is at hand. This earthly life with all its misery and misfortune will cease, the vile devil with his rule will come to an end, yes, also both the secular and the spiritual offices will terminate. In sum, all things on earth will come to an end, and that which we together with all saints have desired and waited for 30 The sixth sermon, preached in the afternoon of October 20, 1532, the Twenty-first Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 568, 569] since the beginning of the world will be ushered in, namely, that God Himself will be Lord alone and rule alone in us, His children. To this rule there will be no end. He Himself explains what He means with the end when He says that He will abolish every rule and power and will alone be all in all.
The life to come will not be regulated as this temporal life is, re¬ quiring man and woman, children, house, fields, menservants and maidservants, and whatever else pertains to the married estate or proceeds from it, such as government, subjects, and whatever other estates and offices there may be on earth. To be sure, man and woman will remain with regard to the nature and person of each, but not for the purpose of begetting children, establishing a home, or provid¬ ing daily bread, food and drink, clothing and shoes, etc. Every pur¬ pose for which God instituted marriage, namely, that husband and wife live together and beget children and then rule city and country and people, is left behind in this life. For wherever the married estate is established, the rest must all follow, entailing everything that per¬ tains to the government of the world. But since the married estate will no longer exist, all the rest will necessarily also terminate.
And then, says St. Paul, Christ will "deliver the Kingdom to God the Father, etc." How is that? Does not Scripture declare everywhere that Christ will remain King forever and that His kingdom will have no end? How does that agree with the statement made here that He will deliver the Kingdom to the Father and subject Himself to Him, laying His crown, scepter, and everything in His lap? Answer: St. Paul is here speaking of Christ's present kingdom on earth. This is a king¬ dom of faith, in which He rules through the Word, and not in a visible and public manner. It is like beholding the sun through a cloud. To be sure, one sees the light but not the sun itself. But after the clouds have passed, both light and sun are viewed simultaneously in one and the same object. In that way Christ now rules undivided with the Father. It is one and the same Kingdom. The only difference is that it is dark and hidden at present, or concealed and covered, com¬ prehended entirely in faith and in the Word. All that is seen of this is Baptism and the Sacrament, and all that is heard is the external
Word. These are the only power and might with which He rules and executes everything.
I suppose that we would like to see Him reign like emperors and kings, surrounded by external splendor and power, and see Him lay
[W, XXXVI, 569—571] about Him with fists against the evildoers. He does not want to do that now. He wants to reign quietly and invisibly in our hearts, solely through the Word. Through this Word He wants to protect and pre¬ serve us amid our weakness over against the world's might and power.
And this Kingdom on earth is identical with the one which will later be in heaven, only that it is hidden now and not open to view. A florin in a purse or pocket is a genuine florin and also remains genuine when
I take it out and hold it in my hand. The only difference is that it is no longer concealed. Similarly, Christ will take the treasure which is now veiled to us, who know nothing of it but what we hear and believe, and reveal it openly and before the eyes of the whole world.
But nonetheless we surely possess this treasure. A merchant who holds a sealed promissory note is just as sure of his money as if he had the cash in his pocket. Here all happens alone in faith, through Word and Sacrament; here I believe and do not doubt that we are
God's children and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is our King who reigns over us and protects us against all enemies and frees us from every need, even though we do not see this but rather feel the reverse, namely, that sin weighs us down, the devil terrifies and harasses us, death kills us, the world persecutes us, and everything overwhelms and oppresses us. But today the order reads not to see but to believe, not to comprehend it with our five senses but to dis¬ regard these and give ear solely to what God's Word tells you, until the hour comes when Christ will put an end to this and present Himself publicly in His majesty and sovereignty. Then you will see and feel what you now believe. Sin will be erased and drowned, death will be abolished and removed from view, the devil and the world will lie at your feet. Life with God will be manifest, and all will be clear before our view, as an uncovered treasure, such as we now yearn for and look forward to.
When St. Paul says that Christ will deliver the Kingdom to the Father, he means to say that He will discontinue faith and the hidden essence and present His own to God the Father and in that way openly transfer us into the Kingdom, which He established and now administers daily, so that we will behold Him most clearly, without veil and obscure words. Then this will no longer be called a kingdom of faith but a kingdom of clarity and manifest being. And although this is one and the same Kingdom — Christ's, who became man that He might create faith in Him; and God's, for whoever hears Christ
[W, XXXVI, 571, 572] hears God Himself — it is at present properly called the kingdom of the Lord Christ, because God in His majesty is now hidden and has given all to Christ, so that He might bring us to Himself by His Word and Baptism. Moreover, God has hidden Himself in Christ, so that we must now seek and acknowledge God only in Him. But up above, when Christ has accomplished all that He is to accomplish; when He no longer reigns amid our weakness and tribulations but death and sin and all that is against God are abolished; when He has brought us to the place where we behold Him with the Father in divine majesty; when we no longer need to administer His Gospel, Baptism, and remission of sin, nor learn to recognize Him or fear any misfor¬ tune any longer; when we will have naught but God, eternal righteous¬ ness, blessedness, and life present and visible with us; and when
Christ bestows all this on us, so that we will be like Him — then it will really be called God's kingdom.
Thus Paul himself explains and interprets it with the subsequent words, "after destroying every rule and every authority and power, etc." This is to say that Christ will put an end to all, both to the spiritual rule which He now administers in the world, consisting of Baptism, preaching, Sacrament, Office of the Keys, or Absolution, etc., and to the secular government with its estates and offices, such as father, mother, child, manservant, maidservant, lords, princes, peasant, burgher, etc. None of these will be needed any longer. For since the spiritual rule of the Word and of faith will cease, the office of the emperor and of Jack Ketch31 with the sword must also terminate.
Only One will remain; He will be called God. He Himself will be Preacher, Comforter, Father, Mother, Lord, and Emperor. And every¬ thing that we must now beg for piecemeal — this item from our father, that one from emperor or princes, or spiritual matters from pastor or preacher — all of that we shall have up there at one time and in a lump. For the preservation of this life demands many classes of people. The father provides life and sustenance; the emperor or prince procures peace and protection; the schoolteacher imparts knowl¬ edge and instruction, etc. Over there, however, nothing will be needed beyond having Him. Everything that we must now obtain from many people and that is acquired and preserved with great difficulty and labor will be furnished there.
31 Luther's term for "executioner" is Meister Hans. In English history a no¬ torious practitioner, Jack Ketch, lends his name to the profession.
And yet St. Paul differentiates between the two kingdoms, the spiritual and the secular. Of the spiritual he does not say that Christ will abolish it, but that He will deliver it to God; it will still remain.
The secular government, however, will be abolished by Christ, as Paul declares, and destroyed completely. For this was instituted not for the sake of the pious but for the sake of the impious, to resist and curb their malice and villainy, so that the pious may maintain them¬ selves over against them and enjoy peace. And when the impious are all executed, He will also have to discard that office and whatever belongs to it, sword, gallows, death. But this will remain, that we may glory and say: "I loved God and His Word. I was baptized and was a Christian, and through love I served my neighbor." But those people, on the other hand, will be constrained to say: "Now our king¬ dom is completely shattered, and nothing of it survives." For it, too, was instituted solely for the sake of temporal life and has nothing to do with heaven, nor does it promote toward heaven. The sole pur¬ pose of the spiritual life, however, is to take us to yonder life. There¬ fore the temporal life will be completely destroyed, and nothing of it will remain; but the spiritual life will be transformed into a better and perfect existence, in which everything we now look forward to by faith will be eternal and present.
St. Paul uses three words: rule, authority, power. Everyone is priv¬ ileged to distinguish here as he will. I differentiate as follows. I think that Paul thereby expresses three divisions pertaining to government; for every secular government requires these three. He calls the first and foremost principatum, "rule"; this refers to the supreme lord, for instance, the emperor in his empire, a prince in his land, a count in his county, also the burgomaster in a city as the head from whom all commands emanate. The second he calls potestates, "authority."
This refers to those who receive the commands from the supreme government and are authorized to issue further commands, such as officials and judges. The third he calls virtutes, "power." This term embraces those who carry out and execute the commands, such as the servants of lords and princes, Jack Ketch,32 and municipal officers. For if both justice and punishment are to be executed, people are needed who put their hand to this task and carry it out. And if it is to be carried out, it must be done by people who do this by virtue of their
[W, XXXVI, 573—575] title and office. But those who execute it must be authorized by a higher power and not do this on their own. Where this order prevails, it is proper that the sovereign lord governs and rules, the official in charge commands and prosecutes, and the servant carries it out and does it. The same procedure must be observed in the home. The husband must be the master who issues a command to son and daugh¬ ter which the servants must carry out. Thus the command passes from the father of the family as the sovereign lord to wife or child and to the servants. Those are the three divisions which St. Paul terms rule, authority, and power. These are to be abolished in all estates and classes of government to the far reaches of the world, the highest and the lowest and the intermediate, making us all equal and erasing every distinction among emperor, kings, nobility, burghers, and peas¬ ants. God alone will be everything.
All of that God will do, says St. Paul, not we nor the factious spirits, who allege that everything must be equal and that no one must be placed above another. They themselves want to abolish all gov¬ ernment and deprive Christ, who alone must do this, of His office.
Therefore government must remain until He appears, just as the spir¬ itual offices, pulpit and Baptism, must remain, indeed, as the sun and the moon must remain in the heavens. Therefore no one dare set him¬ self against this or alter it. Christ Himself will do this without any intermediaries, saying to emperor and princes: "You may no longer be emperor, prince, father, master, mistress, etc. Now no human being shall rule or govern anymore, but all the world shall be subject to God alone."
25. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
Someone might be tempted to say: "Why did He not do this soon after His resurrection, when He already became Lord over all things and had the power to put all things under His feet?" St. Paul replies to this that Scripture declares that He is to reign and rule beside the secular government, through His spiritual rule (Ps. 110:1): "The Lord says to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies
Your footstool.' " This is our consolation, and it was done for our benefit, that Christ did not strike down His enemies immediately a thousand years ago but postponed this until we, too, should appear; for not all who belong to His kingdom have been born as yet. He must reign in order to gather all the children of God, as Scripture
[W, XXXVI, 575, 576] declares elsewhere.33 Therefore He must first complete His kingdom and not annihilate His enemies before He has brought all into His kingdom who belong there. Following that, He will destroy every¬ thing at one time and lay about Him. In the meantime He lets His
Word be preached, and He governs Christendom spiritually with Word, Sacrament, faith, and Spirit amid His enemies, who oppress and harass us; and He preserves and protects us against these with the sure consolation that He will put them completely under His feet on that Day; in fact, He has already begun to do this, and He does it daily. For through the Gospel and through Christendom He strikes the factious spiritually, repels the devil, dethrones the tyrants, sub¬ dues the raging and raving of the world, deprives sin and death of their strength and might, etc. This is His work which He pursues and in which He engages until the Last Day, only that He now does this piecemeal and by degrees. Then, however. He will knock the bottom out of the barrel 34 and put an end to everything at one time.
Thus we perceive how Christ has taken a hand in the affairs of the world from the inception of Christianity, has placed countries and people under the Gospel and toppled and deposed all who opposed this. Here He dethroned a king, and there He banished a tyrant. This action He often demonstrated on such people mightily also within our own memory; and He will do this still more. For He begins to afflict them in that way here, only to destroy them utterly there. They also experience another heartache. Whereas God assigned them rule and government over body and property, expecting them to restrain and punish evil, the disobedient, and the refractory, to maintain peace and to protect the godly, they attack God Himself, misusing their en¬ trusted office for harassing and persecuting the godly, etc. They re¬ fuse to hear or to tolerate the Gospel, and they blame it for causing rebellion and the destruction of country and people. To be sure, the latter does happen. But whose fault is it? No one's but their own, because they will not execute the office commanded and assigned them by God for punishing the evildoers. They venture to punish God's children and to become unruly and rebellious against God Himself.
It serves them right that they thus run their heads against a wall and are toppled in their own might. In Christ God overthrows death and devil similarly; they also had the power to catch and entangle
34 Dem Fass den Boden ausstossen means to put a violent end to something.
[W, XXXVI, 576, 577] sinners in their net. However, when they tried to use their net also for Christ, thinking: "I have devoured so many of them, I shall also devour Him," they were brought up short ancT they burned their fingers. For He was not the quarry that fit their net. They were warned against going after Him. And that is why He stormed through the net and tore it so that it can no longer hold a Christian. In Acts
2:24 St. Peter declares: "It was not possible for Him to be held." And thus it is also impossible that He or His own might be held by the world, even though the world casts the net over them, intent on their destruction. He takes a hand and breaks through their might and power and everything that wants to hold Him, converting it into a torn and rent net; for He will surely not be caught and captured by anyone. The world should catch and capture villains and rascals with its net. But wherever it goes beyond those bounds and ventures to capture Christ Himself, He breaks through as through a spider web and tears it into shreds so that nothing remains of it. That is what
He did first of all to the Jews. They retained no country and no city.
They are so completely rent apart that they could not catch a fox, yes, not even a dog. For they would not content themselves with the power God assigned them over the evildoers, but they attacked the godly, they released Barabbas and wanted to catch and kill God's
That is how the Romans and Greeks also fared. They, too, refused to confine themselves to the office assigned them but captured and slaughtered Christians. On the other hand, every idolatry and villainy went unpunished by them. Therefore God tore into their countries so that these crumbled and were destroyed by Goths, Vandals,33 and Turks. That will happen also to us, because our lords and princes, in disregard of their office, rage against God's Word and persecute, expel, and murder Christians, as though they had nothing to do but to prove their rule and might against God. Otherwise they can tol¬ erate and connive at every knavery and villainy, which will prompt
God to say also to them: "You should seize and be quick to punish rogues and criminals and execute your office. Instead, you proceed in your madness and venture to lay hold of My Word, which con¬ firms your office and which makes people pious. And you cry out frightfully that it creates discord and rebellion, although you yourself rage against God and in addition lead a most shameful life. And since
35 The text has Wenden, but Vandalen is probably meant.
[W, XXXVI, 577—579] you insist on having rebellion and discord, you are going to get it in rich measure, so that you will not retain a government or a country which is not rent asunder."
And God has already begun with this over the Gospel. How was Hungary and now Austria torn apart in a few short years and de¬ spoiled by both friend and foe! Neither they nor anyone else had expected that. And as matters stand in Germany at present, no one knows what will happen to it. For they, too, are inviting this fate.
They are carrying things to such a pass that they richly deserve this fate. For they are knowingly raging against God's Word and the acknowledged truth, so that God can hardly tolerate that any longer.
And I am worried that He will soon interfere here with His punish¬ ment and tear the net apart with His dogs, leaving neither trunk nor head.30 For He has to date overthrown so many countries and cities that were also great and powerful, yes, He tore the four empires of which Dan. 7 speaks asunder one after another and finally destroyed them. Today only the dregs remain, and He may also soon demolish this last and smallest part. He has destroyed, and still destroys, our enemies and beats them down one after another, singly and piece¬ meal, lest one assume that He died or became impotent and that we had no Lord who is able to help us. He tears them up and over¬ throws them, one by one, until they all fall into a heap. Then it will be manifest whose fault it was that secular government and rule foun¬ dered — not the fault of the Gospel but of our great ingratitude and contempt for God's Word and grace and for our refusal to accept Him as our Lord. Because we today give ear neither to warning nor to threat, He will also give ear neither to lament nor to cry.37
26-27. The last enemy to he destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under His feet, etc.
It is an especially fine and appealing text and a comforting note that he calls death the last enemy of Christ. I could never have ex¬ tended the meaning of this text so and interpreted the word "enemies" as referring to death, as St. Paul does here. For at first sight these words apply solely to the Jews and the Gentiles who torment the Christians on earth. But like a true painter and carver, St. Paul
36 Es hlieb weder Strumpf noch Kopf signifies totality of destruction.
Strumpf here means "multilated remains."
37 The seventh sermon, preached in the afternoon of Oct. 27, 1532, the Twenty-second Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 579—581] fashions a lovely picture and portrays death as it must be portrayed.
He refers to death as the words of the psalm do, which read (Ps.
110:1): "Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." In that way we might learn to know and regard our Lord as an enemy of death; His kingdom is intent on engaging death in combat, in putting him in subjection under His feet, until He has utterly destroyed him. I am fond of having Christ depicted and proclaimed thus, showing that He is not a man who delights in wrath and punishment and who deals unmercifully with people, but as one who is a king and who has oc¬ cupied His kingdom for the purpose of battling with all His might against His last enemy until He has cast death under His feet. There¬ fore it would be proper to inscribe this verse with golden letters and to hold it before the eyes of Christians constantly. Note that Christ is called an enemy of death and, in turn, that death is called Christ's enemy. And as Christ will execute His other lesser enemies one after another, as I stated earlier, He will also execute this His greatest enemy.
He demonstrated this enmity with a deed when He trod him underfoot in His own person, so that death is no longer able to harm
Him. And as He cast him underfoot and overpowered him for His own person, He is also resolved to overcome and utterly annihilate him for His entire kingdom, until he lies prostrate at the feet of all, torn asunder and dispersed like dust so that nothing of him remains to be seen. That is portraying Christ's kingdom correctly and lauding it splendidly and interpreting Scripture mightily. This depicts Christ as sitting at the right hand of the Father and occupying the office in which He battles death and hurls him underfoot for all of Christen¬ dom, as He has already done for His own person. In our case, how¬ ever, this is not fully carried out as yet. But it is already initiated and it continues daily until the Last Day, as I said earlier, so that a Christian is already more than halfway out of death. For his life on earth is nothing other than death; as soon as a Christian is baptized, he is thrust into death, as St. Paul declares in Rom. 6:4. And all who accept Christ are already sacrificed and sentenced to death. They are like people who have already died and are awaiting their resurrection.
That is how Christians must regard their position and existence over against the life of the world, which is nothing other than a march toward death; indeed, it is like those who run to their grave back¬ wards, for these live riotously and ignore death until they suddenly tumble into the grave.
But a Christian has already been thrust into death by the very fact that he became a Christian. Wherever he may be, he occupies himself with this hourly. He expects death any moment so long as he sojourns here, because devil, world, and his own flesh give him no rest. However, he enjoys the advantage of already being out of the grave with his right leg. Moreover, he has a mighty helper who holds out His hand to him, namely, His Lord Christ; He has left the grave entirely a long time ago, and now He takes the Christian by the hand and pulls him more than halfway out of the grave; only the left foot remains in it. For his sin is already remitted and expunged,
God's wrath and hell are extinguished, and he already lives fully in and with Christ with regard to his best part, which is the soul, as he partakes of eternal life. Therefore death can no longer hold him or harm him. Only the remnant, the old skin, flesh and blood, must still decay before it, too, can be renewed and follow the soul. As for the rest, we have already penetrated all the way into life, since Christ and my soul are no longer in death.
The world knows nothing of such consolation and of such a defiant boast, although it does boast of and pride itself on its possession of much money and goods, great honor, friendship, power. But I chal¬ lenge you to name one to me who could fend death off or work his way out of death with all of that. There has, of course, been no one who has ever taken as much as a thread or a hair's breadth or a tiny grain or a drop of water with him. There they must lie, unable to help themselves with as much as a breath; and they would, I suppose, lie there forever in unbearable stench if they were not buried under the sod. Not even a small worm is so weak that it is not able to devour the body entirely. There is no king who ever becomes so rich and so mighty that he might take a penny's worth of his crown or his might with him. They must leave all that they ever possessed behind and let themselves be interred in the grave, stripped of everything.
Aside from the fact that not a few have already emerged from death and grave with Christ and have come into life, we have a Man who lost nothing through death and who did not leave as much as a little hair in the grave. Indeed, it was precisely through death that He drew all things to Himself, as He Himself declares, and made all things subject to Himself, so that we, too, shall come forth from the grave in Him and through Him and take all with us that we left behind here. We can glory in that and boast of that over against the [W, XXXVI, 582, 583] whole world, even though it ridicules and mocks faith and Christianity and relies on its possessing enough money and goods now and is able to live as it will in its greed and in all sorts of lusts. But we say: "Just go ahead and scrape, give way to your avarice and accumulate riches as you will. Let us see who can outboast the other. If you have money and goods, power and all that you covet, we challenge you to take one penny with you. I, on the other hand, will show you a Lord who left nothing whatsoever behind in death but took everything with Him and extends His hand to me to enable me to force my way out too. Show me just one such man in the whole world who ever took as much as a thread with him or again brought it away from death!
Of what avail, then, is your scraping and boasting of such ephemeral tilings, which you do not control for a moment when death comes along? You act as though you would possess them forever or as though you would take all of them with you.
Behold, thus Paul teaches us to defy death through faith in Christ as One who is death's powerful foe, who is resolved to do away with death and exterminate it utterly. And death has richly deserved this from Him, because he attacked and assaulted Christ without cause.
He attacked Him with the intent of devouring Him. But death met such a warm reception that his jaws and belly were torn apart. Now he must pay and return all whom he devoured. That serves, as I began to say, to console against daily trials and enables us to view and picture Christ aright. It keeps us from being frightened by images and ideas inspired by the devil that tend to deject and sadden us. It per¬ mits us to conclude that this is not Christ, as the timid conscience fears and assumes, but the enemies of Christ, vile death and the devil.
For here you perceive that Christ is a King for the express purpose of destroying death completely as His enemy. And it surely follows from this that whatever befalls me and is inflicted on me by death is in¬ flicted on me by the enemy of the Lord Jesus. And this vexes Him as much as me and even more than me; for death is not chiefly my enemy, but Christ's, my Lord's. But because I believe in Christ, He takes my part against this His enemy; and now whatever death does to me, he must first have done to Christ. Christ wants to avenge me on death as on His enemy. As Christ overcame him for His own person, so that he no longer gets a sip or a sniff of Him, so He wants to destroy him entirely through me and all Christians, thus tearing him to shreds and annihilating him also in my body.
Therefore you must not worry that Christ would frighten or sadden you, thinking that He delights in slaying and killing. No, since He is hostile to death, He wishes to see no terror or fear but is hostile to everything that intends to distress or scare us. That is the consolation we Christians have in our dear Lord. The world, which relies on its possessions, does not have this. And yet it can take nothing with it.
It and all its possessions are in death's power; and it must leave every¬ thing to him. But he will not deprive us of everything. If he takes much from us, it is still only whatever we possess here on earth. He retains this body in his inn for a while. However, he must release the soul and whatever we possess in Christ. And in the end he must also restore the body together with all that he took from us.
But why does Paul call death "the last enemy"? Or, what other enemies does Christ have? We commonly speak of three enemies that are both Christ's and ours: world, flesh, and devil, which we feel and understand. In Rom. 8:7 St. Paul says: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God." Therefore God will also destroy it with its avarice and care, as he says 1 Cor. 6:13. Thus it is also cer¬ tain that God will destroy the world. He has already ordered a fire in which it will be consumed and dissolved, as 2 Peter 3:10 tells us.
In like manner He has also already sentenced and condemned the devil to eternal fire in hell, for he is God's worst and chief enemy, who instigates every adversity and evil against God's kingdom with lies and murder, also with terror, despair, and unbelief. God has these three foes, all of whom act and contend against Him. He in turn fights against them and arrays His whole kingdom solely against them. With His Word, Sacrament, and Spirit He holds the flesh in check. With these He also repels the devil and his venomous suggestions and all sorts of temptations, and also the world with its raging.
But in addition to these there are also other greater enemies, namely, the Law, sin, and death, by which Christians are harassed the hardest. Without these the other three would be unable to do anything. For if sin and death did not exist, both world and flesh would have to leave us alone. These are the real enemies. They beset us the worst, and it is through them that the others oppress and harass us. For "the power of sin is the Law" (1 Cor. 15:56) and, as St. Paul declares (Rom. 4:15), "the Law brings wrath." He calls it
"the bond which stood against us with its legal demands" (Col. 2:14).
And Moses he calls a servant and preacher of death and his law a law [W, XXXVI, 585, 586] of sin, which does nothing but reveal how evil man, flesh, world, and devil are (Rom. 4:15; 7:8,23). Otherwise we would know nothing of sin, as Paul states elsewhere (Rom. 4:15): "Where there is no law there is no transgression." But where sin stands revealed, the Law renders this sin great and grave. And then when sin is felt, it imme¬ diately brings death in its train.
Those are the real enemies that St. Paul mentions by name here and cites from the text "till I make Your enemies Your footstool, etc."
(Ps. 110:1). But death is called the greatest and the last enemy be¬ cause all the others point to him; and even when we rid ourselves of the others, death still remains and holds us captive. When man is buried, flesh and blood with their lusts must come to an end. These can no longer assail him. For one no longer beholds an adulterer or a miser running about after he has died. Then the world can no longer try and tempt man, nor can any false doctrine, or a factious spirit, or even the devil himself. And the Law, together with sin, must let him alone. In short, Christ removes all these enemies in or with this life; He comforts and preserves us by His Word against world and devil, also, by remission of sin, against the Law and God's wrath, until we depart this life. Thus these enemies can deal with us only here on earth; after that they have to cease. Death, however, survives all the others and holds us in his power, so that we must remain captive forever and cannot escape. But if we believe, we have this consolation here that we have a Lord who can and will do away also with this last enemy, tear his fetters and bonds to pieces, and furthermore slay and exterminate him. Since He now vanquishes and subdues the other enemies, so that flesh, devil, world, sin, and Law cannot overpower us, we must not doubt that He will surely rid and free us also from the last enemy. Otherwise He would not have effected anything so far; then all the rest would be in vain.
Therefore learn to understand this verse now and utilize it for your consolation and the strengthening of your faith, knowing how to divert all six of these enemies from you and to turn them over to Christ; for primarily they are not called our enemies and they are not that, but they are the enemies of Christ. It is not our being that they assail in particular, since we, as far as our person is concerned and when we are without Christ, are already willingly subject and obedient to flesh, world, and devil, pay no heed to sin, Law, and death, and march entirely under their banner. But they are all Christ's foes; for He is
[W, XXXVI, 586, 587] also their foe. It is He whom they are after and whom they have in mind and whom they oppose with all their might. And for His sake they are also hostile to us who cling to Him. And since they are un¬ able to harm His person, they attack us and propose to weaken and to destroy His kingdom in that way.
And now since we have to suffer and pay for Him, He must, in turn, look after us, His members, and avenge us on His enemies. Thus it all centers in the fact that it is He who is battling with these enemies and that He is taking the lead in the fight. Now He has escaped from the flesh. He has soared so high that world and devil can never catch
Him or slay Him or harm Him otherwise. The Law in conjunction with sin and death also terrified Him, but now they must lie prostrate at His feet, sentenced and condemned. Now He reigns in the faith, defeats and kills the same enemies in us uninterruptedly until that Day, when we shall see Him destroy death completely and we can no longer find a trace of him and will think that death never existed.
Thus we must live in faith today as though there were no sin, no Law, no flesh and blood, no world, no devil to harm us, because we have Christ. We must have a very good and cheerful conscience and be convinced that none of these will or can overcome us, no matter how viciously they may attack, frighten, or oppress us, and that our
Lord Jesus Christ has won and retained the victory in us. And as He has already slain the other enemies for His person, has weakened them and daily defeats them in us, preventing them from gaining the upper hand, so He also begins to weaken death in us, so that death no longer gains the advantage over us. It is only the shards and only half of us that death takes away. That is the work and the rule Christ constantly pursues; for that purpose He is also seated at the right hand of God, as the verse in the psalm tells us (Ps. 110:1). It is the Christians' highest knowledge and wisdom to be cognizant of what we have from Him and to learn to understand our glory which God gives us in Christ and to esteem this treasure highly and, on the other hand, to despise the world's fame and splendor, money and goods, honor, power, etc. With these the world distracts us and deludes our eyes to believe that this is something precious, and thus it makes us lose sight of and forget our treasure. But we must be smart over against this and clear our vision that we may recognize and magnify not only the treasure but also our vision and our understanding, "that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God," as St. Paul
[W, XXXVI, 587, 588] says in 1 Cor. 2:12, namely, such gifts as are greater and more splendid than heaven and earth.
For what greater or more splendid thing can be imagined or de¬ sired than to be lord not merely over a city or a country or a kingdom but over all our enemies, over flesh and blood, world and devil? No emperor or king on earth is able to be that. For there is no one who could ward off every evil thought or who could help us to the point where the world with its enmity, power, and might could not harm us.
Indeed, even if we had the world with all its might with us and for us, what could it do to ward off trials and temptations of the devil, or to resist him and defeat him? Only a Christian is such a man to stand his ground against the devil and all his angels, and that solely by enduring in faith in Christ. That is surely a treasure without equal in heaven and on earth, in comparison with which all the world with its power is not worth a thought. Therefore we should not appraise such gifts in Christ lightly and regard them as the world and our flesh do, who view Christ as a poor dead idol, who is seated idly above and does nothing among us, and us Christians as poor, weak, impotent, and wretched people. No, we must remember that we, as the text informs us, are lords with Him over everything that flesh, world, sin, and devil are able to do, and, in addition, also lords over half of death. We must adopt such a defiant and arrogant attitude over against all the world, reflecting that we Christians are greater and more than all other creatures — not in or of ourselves but through the gift of God in Christ, in comparison with which the world is nothing and can do nothing. Its kingdoms and principalities are nothing but a paltry possession which it must leave behind and which will pass away with it.
Behold, thus St. Paul proclaims, praises, and glorifies the Lord Christ, so that we can see what He is and does, and what His office and rule in our midst are. These He administers that we may par¬ ticipate in His rule and gain the victory over the great enemies. For He calls them His enemies and regards them as such, not for His sake but for ours. He is concerned about what happens to us as though it were happening to Himself. Thus He says in the prophet Zechariah
(Zech. 2:8): "He who touches you touches the apple of My 38 eye," that is, "I am hostile to him who is hostile to you." But if He is hostile
38 Luther changes the personal pronoun from "His" to "My" to suit his context.
[W, XXXVI, 588—590] to them, He will surely rescue us and destroy the enemies, for He is powerful enough to do this. Therefore His kingdom exists solely for the purpose of helping us against our sin, Law and conscience, flesh and blood, world, devil, and especially death. He is called Lord, not a lord whom we must serve or who would take something from us, but a lord who only serves us, fights for us, and wards off danger, so that no foe can harm us.
That is the text on which St. Paul bases and presents his argument for the confirmation of the article regarding the resurrection of the dead. For since death, too, is called an enemy of Christ, and the very last enemy at that, He must remove death completely and restore to life those whom death has devoured. The argument for this is, as he said here and again repeats from Ps. 8:6: "Thou hast put all things under His feet." But if everything has been put under His feet, then death, too, must surely lie prostrate at His feet, not only for His per¬ son but for His entire Christendom; for Christ is seated at the right hand of God for the sake of Christendom, that it might be His king¬ dom. And He says that He did all of this not of Himself, but that it is the work and the office of the Father, presented to us for our con¬ solation and to show us His fatherly heart and gracious will, for the Father not only orders and commands that everything be subject to Christ but Himself also places everything under His feet.
For since God hurls both sin and death as Christ's enemies under His feet and makes them His footstool, it surely pleases Him to have sin and death abolished. It is certain that God does not think of killing and condemning us, although we are sinners and are deserving of death, but that He is minded like Christ and will remove sin and death from us and destroy these, so that we might inherit eternal righteousness and life; for it is for that reason that He placed Christ into the Kingdom. Therefore, as I said before, he portrays not only
Christ but also the Father as loving and as friendly as a heart may wish for. We are to regard Him no longer as a severe and irate judge, as the devil and our timid conscience always imagine Him to be, but as a friendly Father, who wants to deliver us from all these enemies and who befriends us just as though they were His own enemies, so that He places His Son, following His suffering and death, at His right hand and puts all things under His feet.
Therefore, if you believe in Christ, you must not flee from Him or be frightened; for here you perceive and see that His whole heart, mind, or thinking are intent only on rescuing you from all that assails
[W, XXXVI, 590, 591] and oppresses you and on placing you with Christ over everything.
But whoever lacks such faith in Christ can never conceive such thoughts. He has to plague and torture himself to death with his own works, by which he wants to reconcile God. For sin and death con¬ tinue to weigh down his heart like a large millstone. He cannot ex¬ tricate himself from it but must remain under it, feeling nothing but God's wrath as long as he occupies himself with works. Throughout his life he cannot entertain a cheerful thought, nor can anyone advise or help him. And in the end he despairs completely and is crushed to death by this unbearable burden.
All who want to serve God and deal with Him with their works are of this type — Turks, papists, Carthusians, and other pseudosaints.
They cannot see God otherwise than as an irate judge who does noth¬ ing but make demands of them and who continuously threatens to punish them. For they are ignorant of the Gospel, which presents
Christ to us and teaches that the Father Himself has introduced and given Him to us as a Mediator and has also placed Him at His own right hand to remove all wrath, sin, and death from us. Therefore they must remain encumbered throughout their life with the millstone of a bad conscience, so that they can never lift up their heart to con¬ ceive a good thought over against God. And the more they torment and frighten themselves in an effort to help themselves, the worse they fare. For they want to be Christ themselves, and they only anger God the more, because they confront Him without the Mediator. But who¬ ever has faith and is acquainted with Christ as the Man who is seated above and reigns over sin and death, he can rid himself of that heavy millstone on his heart. For he knows that God is no longer angry be¬ cause of his sin and that He does not condemn him, but that He has placed Christ at His side to extinguish and destroy it like an enemy of God. He beholds nothing but sheer grace and life welling forth unceasingly from the fatherly heart. Therefore, may this text be com¬ mended to you so that you may learn to know Christ's kingdom aright and look for all that is good from God the Father, who regards you with friendliness and sheer grace because He works this in Christ and has it presented to all through the Word.39
27-28. But when it says all things are put in subjection under Him, it is plain that He is excepted who put all things under Him.
39 The eighth sermon, held in the afternoon of Nov. 3, 1532, the Twentythird Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him icho put all things under Him, that God may be everything to everyone.
Here St. Paul reverts to and concludes what he said earlier, namely, that matters will be entirely different when Christ delivers the King¬ dom to the Father; faith will be changed into clear sight, the Word into the essence, dark understanding into light and bright sun. Then we shall see all our enemies before us, both those we now have on earth and death in the bargain, slain and destroyed. Paul constantly stresses the words which state that the Father has subjected everything to Christ, excepting, of course, Him who put all in subjection under Him, and that the Son, after subjecting everything to Himself, will also be subject. These words seem very obscure; but they all tend, as I said earlier, to point out the difference which St. Paul makes between God's kingdom and Christ's kingdom, although in themselves they are one and the same kingdom. Now it is called Christ's kingdom because we live in it by faith and do not see or hear Him physically as one beholds with the eyes a king of this world in his kingdom with crown and great and grand splendor. For it is not yet manifest what we really possess in Him and what we are to attain through Gospel,
Sacrament, and faith.
But later, when it is no longer hidden but is revealed before all creatures and when faith ends, it will be called God's kingdom. This is what St. Paul calls delivering the Kingdom to the Father, that is, presenting us and His whole Christendom openly to the Father into eternal clarity and glory, that He Himself may reign without cloak or cover. But Christ will nevertheless retain His rule and majesty; for He is the same God and Lord, eternal and omnipotent with the Father.
But because He now reigns through His Word and Sacrament, etc., which is not seen by the world, it is called Christ's kingdom. Every¬ thing must be subject to Him, "excepting Him who put all things under Him," until the Last Day. Then He will abolish all of this and subject Himself with His entire kingdom to the Father and say to Him:
"Until now I reigned with You by faith. This I deliver to You, that they may see that I am in You and You are in Me, joined together with the Holy Spirit in one divine Majesty, and that they have and enjoy visibly in You what they hitherto believed and looked forward to."
Then, says St. Paul, God will be "everything to everyone," that is, everybody will find all wants that are now satisfied by all things satis- [W, XXXVI, 593, 594] fied in God Himself. When He will reveal Himself, we will be satisfied in body and soul and will no longer stand in need of so many things as we now do here on earth. In the first place, for the sustenance and preservation of body and life, father and mother, meat and drink, house and home, clothing and shoes, in addition, princes and masters who protect us and provide peace; then, in the spiritual realm, pastors and preachers who teach us and administer the sacraments, who com¬ fort in times of distress and counsel in matters of conscience, etc.; also sun and moon, air, fire, and water for the entire world. Who can enumerate all the items that man requires here on earth for the wants of the body? But over there all of this will cease; none of these wants will longer exist. We will have so much in God that no food, no drink, no malmsey 40 can be so precious or feed us or quench our thirst as well as God Himself will do with the sight of Himself. You will always be strong and vigorous, healthy and happy, also brighter and more beautiful than sun and moon, so that all the garments and the gold bedecking a king or emperor will be sheer dirt in comparison with us when we are illumined by but a divine glance. Nor will we need a patron or any government, money or goods, house or home, or other physical possessions, but we will have sufficient of everything in Him.
Similarly, we will have all spiritual gifts, eternal righteousness, com¬ fort and joy of conscience, that no one will be able to terrify us or confuse us or disquiet us any longer. In short, in place of whatever we must now derive from all creatures here and there singly and piece¬ meal — although this, too, comes from Him and is given by Him — we shall have Him directly, without any flaw and without ceasing.
But the world and stupid people do not understand this. They are given to their notions about this life, as they are accustomed, and they assume that the stomach must really eat and drink and the body must have its nourishment to be sustained at all. They cannot understand that God is able to nourish better by the mere sight of Himself than by all the bread and food on earth, by means of which He now, too, bestows life and nourishes and changes these into flesh and blood, marrow and bone, etc. If He is able to do that now by means of bread and wine, which after all do not possess life, should He not be far more able to do this through Himself as Creator and Lord of all crea¬ tures? What would all food and bodily nourishment avail if God
40 German Malvasier, a wine known for its sweetness and named after the Greek city Malmasia or Malvasia, modern Monemvasia.
[W, XXXVI, 594, 595] would not preserve us through His Word? That is what Christ tells us (Matt. 4:4), quoting from Deut. 8:3. For if He gave this human body no more than bread and wine, it would not endure or remain alive very long. The body must first of all have life, it must be healthy and strong and have warmth and strength to digest the food. Other¬ wise it would not benefit the body regularly to fill it with bread and to pour every kind of drink into it. We observe this when a person is ill and cannot digest his food, indeed, we note this in all people when they die. Otherwise the rich people and the great lords would very likely gather enough bread to live forever, and no one could ob¬ tain anything on their account.
Since it is very apparent here that bodily food and drink do not suffice if God does not give His blessing, what will happen there when
God reveals Himself? There we will not look at bread and wine; we will neither need nor desire apothecary or medication, but we will have sufficient solely from viewing and looking at God. This will make the whole body so beautiful, vigorous, and healthy, indeed, so light and agile, that we will soar along like a little spark, yes, just like the sun which runs its course in the heavens. In a moment we will be down here on earth or up above in the heavens. Indeed, I believe that everything will become much more beautiful, water, trees, and grass, and that there will be a new earth, as St. Peter says (2 Peter
3:13), which will be a delight to behold. But the preservation of body and soul will be accomplished solely by God, who alone is to be "every¬ thing to everyone." The sight of Him will afford more life, joy, and delight than all creatures are able to accord, and you will have to say,
"I would not exchange one moment in heaven for all the world's goods and pleasures, even though the latter endured thousands and thou¬ sands of years."
Therefore, as I said, the pastor's or preacher's office, too, will be terminated, as will that of princes and secular government and rule.
In short, there will no longer be any office or estate. Persons, such as man and wife, will remain, and also the entire human race as it was created. But none of the wants of this life will survive. Everybody will be a perfect human being and have all he needs in God, so that he no longer requires father, mother, master, servant, food, clothing, house, etc.
Now just consider what you would like to have or what you might wish for. Would you like to have money and goods, and abundance
[W, XXXVI, 595, 596] of food and drink, a long life, a healthy body, beautiful clothes, a nice dwelling, eternal joy and delight, furthermore, perfect wisdom and a knowledge of all things, dominion, and honor? Just look there; there you will receive enough of everything. God will clothe you more beautifully than any emperor was ever clothed, indeed, more beauti¬ fully than the sun and all jewels. If you aspire to be a lord, He will grant you more than you can wish for. If you want to possess acute sight and hearing that reaches farther than a hundred miles, if you want to be able to see through walls and stone, if you wish to be so light as to be in any place of your choice in a moment, down below on earth or up above near the clouds — that will all be granted you.
And whatever else you might think of and desire for body and soul, you shall have in rich measure when you have God. For God requires for Himself neither bread nor wine, neither manservant nor maidser¬ vant, neither house nor home nor clothes, neither gold nor silver, neither princes nor preachers, but He has sufficient of everything for¬ ever in Himself; for He lives in and through Himself. Why, then, should He not do the same in us, that we might have everything solely in and through Him and stand in need of the creatures just as little as He stands in need of anything else? And as God is delighted and pleased as He looks at the creature, so we, too, will need the creature only as a delight for our eyes as a show dish, as we gaze at the beauti¬ ful new heaven and earth and praise and love God in these. But in Him all our needs and wants will be satisfied.
But this is proclaimed exclusively to the Christians, who must be¬ lieve this and look to the future better life. The others, the mad rabble, do not believe anything of this anyhow. Since they despise God's
Word, they are not worthy of recognizing this. God punishes them, so that they go along in their folly and blindness and do not accept it.
His wrath against them has already begun. For this is the worst and most terrible wrath, that God no longer grants the desire to hear His
Word willingly and to give it heed. No greater calamity could be im¬ posed. Therefore it behooves us to let people who will not repent go their way and leave them to God's judgment, for they have already incurred the curse, a greater and graver curse than anyone might wish them. And since they do not want to hear God, they shall also not have Him, but they must be the devil's own eternally in hell, be af¬ flicted with every pain, distress, grief, and misery, burn eternally with¬ out a little drop of water with which to refresh themselves for a mo- [W, XXXVI, 596—598] ment; furthermore, they shall have no light, not even a handbreadth of it or even a thread of it; they must be bereft both of God and of all
His grace and gifts, which the blessed will have, as well as of all that was theirs on earth. In fact, this has its inception already here on earth, where they cannot really enjoy their goods. And later they will have to leave them behind so unwillingly. There they will feel the want still more of everything that God is and grants. How can they be plagued more horribly and severely? And yet it is such a common evil throughout the world, among the nobility and among the common people, among those of high and those of low estate, to deride and ridi¬ cule this Word of God and whatever is said about life to come and also to persecute it most assiduously. Here we behold the punishment already initiated, the hellish fire ignited and burning over them.
May such examples therefore be a terrifying warning to us and serve to strengthen our faith. May they direct our mind to another life, since we can look forward to such great bliss and inexpressible possessions after this wretched life, when God Himself will grant everything and, moreover, will Himself be all that we can desire. For such is His Word and promise. With it He admonishes us so com¬ fortingly and incites us not to let the temporal, which we acquire or lose here, assail us but over against this learn to treasure the future, the promised lot, as the world spurns it and, in turn, spurn what the world treasures, even if this is money, goods, honor, power, and might.
Let us say: "Dear prince, peasant, or nobleman, you have abundant possessions now, you proudly rely on your riches and on your power, and you live riotously; go to it, and be of good cheer. Such husks befit such pigs. In God's sight you have nothing; you are despised and re¬ jected. At present I do not possess your money and goods nor your power; but I know of and look forward to another possession of which you are ignorant. God promised that He would bring me forth from the earth and make me more beautiful than the sun. Then I shall have everything in abundance and beyond measure. That shall be my pride and boast. I shall let you glitter and shine in your worldly possessions, which you must leave behind today or tomorrow when you depart this life wretchedly, bereft of everything."
Behold, thus we must fortify and console ourselves over against the world's unbelief and smugness, with which it offends the weak greatly.
We must ignore that and heed what He says and promises: "Just be¬ lieve in Christ, My Son, and I shall rescue you from death when the [W, XXXVI, 598—600] world must remain in death forever. I will give you everything your heart desires and adorn you more resplendently than all the stars, when those people will have to abide in eternal darkness." May you esteem that more highly as you see the world boast defiantly of its transitory possessions and despise God and His Word much more than we can prize our treasure. For we, too, are still flesh and blood; therefore we are unable to rely on and pride ourselves so fully on our eternal, im¬ perishable treasure in God as they despise it and boast of their posses¬ sions. Yet we must ever pursue this and graft it into our heart, so that we always adhere to it and not depart from it or despise it as the world does.
Behold, that is the consolation we derive from yonder life, that God Himself will be ours and that He will be everything to us. For picture to yourself all that you would like to have, and you will find nothing better and dearer and worth wishing for than to have God
Himself, who is the life and an inexhaustible depth of everything good and of eternal joy. There is nothing more precious on earth than life.
The whole world dreads nothing more than death and desires nothing more than life. And this treasure we are to have in Him without mea¬ sure and without end. There the sky will rain down talers and gold, if you should choose, the Elbe be filled with pearls and other gems, the earth yield all kinds of delight, so that, at your word, a tree will bear nothing but silver leaves and golden apples and pears, the fields will bear grass and flowers which shine like emeralds and other beautiful gems. In short, whatever delights your heart shall be yours abundantly.
For we read that God Himself will be everything to everyone. But wherever God is, all good things that one may wish for must also be present.
29-30. Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why am I in peril every hour?
So far St. Paul adduced reasons and proof for this article; now he proceeds to chide his Corinthians for a while, as is a preacher's duty.
He does this both to teach and to chasten the refractory. He wishes to say: "You wicked factious spirits and heathen people, if you have a heart that does not believe that we will rise, as Christ has risen, why, then, do you have yourself baptized on behalf of the dead? What does Baptism avail you if you do not hope for another life?" So he
[W, XXXVI, 600, 601] remarked earlier: "If the dead do not arise, both our proclamation and your faith are futile." For if there is no other life, why should anyone preach, or why should anyone go to hear someone preach? Such a per¬ son would be just as much inclined to put God off entirely as they who believe nothing at all do. If there is nothing to the resurrection, one does not need Baptism either. For no one may be baptized for the purpose of obtaining enough to eat and to drink or for the purpose of filling his chests and granaries. It is true that whoever strives to do only that needs neither God's Word nor Baptism. He can surely live without these, as both peasants and noblemen imagine they can nowa¬ days. And, furthermore, they may well boast that they need no preacher. They would much rather be rid of God's Word entirely; they don't give a farthing for any sermon. This is due to the fact that they have their own god in whom they believe, namely, their florins and fat farthings. These really comprise their life and their heaven. Therefore it is impossible that they should like to hear God's
Word or be concerned with the life to come. For that matter, I, too, if I believed — may God forbid — that I die like a cow, would never be baptized, take the Sacrament, or come to hear a sermon. Therefore they cannot be reproached for not prizing the life to come, for paying heed neither to Baptism nor the sermon, for not honoring pastors or preachers. For they live as they believe; they are and remain pigs, believe like pigs, and die like pigs.
Therefore St. Paul declares here: "You yourselves must be big fools to let yourselves be baptized if you think nothing of this article." For if this is void, then let God and His Baptism and Christendom go wherever He wishes and whoever wants to hold Him in esteem, let him do so. For whoever believes thus does not believe that He is God who is able to save from death and that he himself will for one moment following the present life have any advantage. Nor does such a person need Word or preacher. All he needs is Jack Ketch.41 He is his preacher and his god, who prevents one pig from eating the other, and who, after his death, takes him out and buries him like any other pig in the carrion pit. Those people will surely discover what they despised and ridiculed, when we again see each other with dissimilar eyes and we have attained what we now believe and hope for and they have to howl and cry forever, which, however, will not help them. So the rich man in Luke 16:19 would not believe either while
41 Cf. p. 126, n. 31, above.
Lazarus lay at his door, until faith became palpable and he was tor¬ tured and had to behold Lazarus in eternal peace and joy. Gladly would he have given all his riches for one little drop of cold water.
But this could not be granted him.
With these words St. Paul wishes to reprimand the ignorant teach¬ ers who despised this article with their swinish reason and yet wanted to be regarded as Christians. For there is not a single Christian so stupid and foolish that he could not also say what those mockers re¬ gard as particular wisdom: "Do you suppose it is true what the par¬ sons preach, namely, that we will all live again after we are buried and decayed?" Or, as our swine say: "Do you suppose there is another fellow hidden in this one?" This requires — God be praised — no acute reason, but is a truly swinish wisdom, which also the most stupid minds know of themselves. But it was a sin and a shame for these Corinthians to presume to say that and yet to have themselves baptized and called
Christians. They would well have deserved a different rebuke from Paul. However, he is not writing to the factious spirits and ungodly people, on whom all admonitions and reprimands would have been lost, but to the small group of those whose heart was not hardened and who could still be converted.
Therefore he wants to convince them with their own action — that they let themselves be baptized — that they must not deny the article of the resurrection. For it is incongruous, on the one hand to accept the validity of Baptism and on the other to reject a future life. Those who have themselves baptized would have to be nothing but fools who do not know what they are doing. There is no pig, to say nothing of Christians, so stupid as not to understand that Baptism serves no pur¬ pose if there is no resurrection. But this argument, strong though it is, proves nothing to a mocker. For he will be quick to say: "Why do they do it? They are fools." But among Christians and believers, where one must furnish the other good examples of faith and testi¬ mony of such faith by Baptism and the Sacrament, by hearing God's
Word and by prayer, there this is accepted as valid and as a strong proof of the certainty of this article, since Christians do have them¬ selves baptized. For it is impossible that so many fine, pious Christians are fools and simpletons; after all, they are just as learned and know as much as the stupid swine, not to say that they possess a far loftier and better mind. And if you are moved by the arrogant talk of swine, why should you not be moved still more by what a Christian, an angel of God, tells you?
"Indeed," you say, "there are so many of them." What does that concern you? Even if there were far more, they are still nothing but swine. Therefore you should rather note how pious, learned, and sen¬ sible these are. You will find a wide difference between a Christian and such swine who believe nothing. For a Christian is able to speak so demonstrably and powerfully of God and His words and works that it is impossible for this to be false or void. Those people, however, know no more and nothing more sublime than is intelligible to any swine. Still they want to judge sublime matters with their swine's head, moreover, teach and chide the Christians, who have more sense in their little finger than all of them have in their whole body and who know their swinish wisdom, if it may be called wisdom, as well as they themselves do. Therefore we can conclude correctly: All Christians have themselves baptized; therefore another life must follow the pres¬ ent one. For Baptism and the Sacrament, like pastors and preachers too, do not serve at all for this life. Therefore, if we were confined to this life, we would abstain from Baptism and every other pursuit of Christians. For with that you will not acquire a sack of florins nor a granary filled with grain but deliverance from death, sin, and every distress and the gift of eternal life. That is the jewel, the pearl, the gem of which Christ speaks in Matt. 13:45-46, which a merchant found and for the acquisition of which he sold everything.
But Paul adds a phrase to the word "baptize," pro mortuis. This has been interpreted to mean — and so it reads in Latin — that they had themselves baptized "for the dead," that is, for the unbelievers in heathendom. Then they would have been baptized twice, once for themselves and the second time for members of their family. But that cannot be. For in Acts 2:38 Peter says: "Be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, etc." This does not mean that one should be baptized for another. It is the same as that everyone must repent, believe, and profess his faith for himself. Therefore I adhere to the meaning, in concurrence with the old Greek teachers, which we indi¬ cated in a marginal note next to this text,42 namely: In St. Paul's day this article was still novel and was just being spread. It was unknown and unheard of among the heathen, also among the most erudite in 42 Luther's marginal note in the German translation of the New Testament, known as Septembertestament, 1522, reads: Die aufferstehung zubestercken, Hessen sich die Christen teuffen uber den todten grebern, und deutten auff die selben, das eben die selben warden aufferstehen. W, Deutsche Bibel, VII, 130, 29.
Greece, although they did advance to the point where they assumed that the soul lived after the death of the body, without being able to prove this conclusively. However, that man would rise again and that body and soul would be reunited, of that they knew nothing at all.
In view of this, it was hard for them at first to believe the apostles' proclamation; and those who believed it had to endure much ridicule.
And so, in order to strengthen this article among the people, they had themselves baptized at the graves of the dead in token of their firm conviction that the dead who lay buried there and over whom they were being baptized would rise again. They were so convinced of this that they were, in a manner of speaking, pointing their finger at it.
Similarly, we might administer Baptism publicly in a common ceme¬ tery or at a funeral. Therefore we read that the congregation at Aquileia had been taught and was accustomed to recite this article in the Creed thus: "I believe in the resurrection of this flesh." This was undoubtedly done for the purpose of teaching and professing also this article clearly and correctly over against the factious spirits.
Since this article was still new, the dear apostles and fathers fol¬ lowed that method of inculcating it both with words and with signs.
Similarly, a doctrine must be drubbed into young, ignorant people with ceremonies and external means that they might, so to say, lay hold of it and be so much less disposed to doubt it. Otherwise it is easily forgotten or soon removed from the heart. For that reason they baptized people here at the graves, as though to say: "Here I am hav¬ ing myself baptized in proof of my faith and my conviction that these deceased people lying here will all arise." Otherwise one might think that only a phantom or that different and new bodies will arise, created anew by God. No, it will be this very same Paul and Peter, etc., who died and lie buried here, and, as our Creed states, this very same flesh which is standing and moving about here or which will be interred in the ground. So the very same Christ who was born of Mary and who was nailed to the cross truly rose again. It was He and no other, as He showed His disciples the scars in His hands and His side.
So you see that it is all-important that this article be firmly main¬ tained among us; for if it begins to totter or is no longer regarded as valid, all the other articles will also be useless and invalid, because all that Christ did in coming to earth and establishing His kingdom in the world was done for the sake of the resurrection and the future
[W, XXXVI, 605, 606] life. Where this article, which forms the foundation, the reason, and the aim of all other articles of faith, is overthrown or removed, every¬ thing else will also topple and disappear with it. Therefore it is indeed necessary to foster and to fortify this article with diligence. That is what these people did with their method of baptizing, and that is what we, too, do with other similar signs. For example, we escort the dead to their graves with honor, walk behind the corpse, sing and pray in profession and token of the belief that these same dead, and we with them, will rise on the Last Day and that these will be the same bodies, though they will be changed and glorified.43
Therefore St. Paul entreats us with all these words that we may by all means be assured of the future resurrection. He also gives vent to great impatience as he says: "If this article did not exist, we should indeed refrain from preaching, from administering Baptism, and from the entire substance of Christianity. Why should we cling to something for which the devil and the world are so exceedingly hostile to us? Why should we toil in vain, and why should we remain in that mortal peril to which we are exposed now? After all, there is not a man on earth so stupid and foolish as to subject himself to inevitable danger without reason and to call nothing but great trouble and peril upon himself." To be sure, there were several among the heathen who incurred such great trouble and peril, risking life and limb, but they derived benefits and honor from this and were highly regarded and esteemed by the world. They always had something to motivate them. Thus soldiers and other daring men voluntarily expose themselves to danger in order to gain honor or acquire money and goods. In short, anyone who ventures to risk and to endure something great must surely be aware of and expect some outstanding compensa¬ tion for which he does this. But the Christians alone are people who endure every danger and misfortune in the world without having any¬ thing on earth to motivate them to do that. For, after all, we have neither money nor other goods, neither honor nor favors shown them, but only the reverse, poverty, misery, contempt, animosity. In addi¬ tion, they are condemned, cursed, exiled, and murdered. They would have to be insane to seek nothing but harm and disgrace and act as though they took delight in having enemies and in being harassed.
For even the heathen declared: Frustra niti, et nihil nisi odium quaer43 The ninth sermon, preached in the afternoon of Nov. 10, 1532, the Twentyfourth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 606—608] ere, extremae dementiae est, "It is the greatest folly on earth to toil in vain and reap nothing but enmity from it." 44
And now, since we can expect nothing else but must forgo this life and all it contains voluntarily, so that our life and existence before the world is fitly called frustra niti, seeking misfortune without any com¬ pensation for it; since we oppose the whole world without profit; since we chasten and reprove princes, scholars, saints, peasants, and bur¬ ghers with the Word of God and tell no one what he likes to hear, thereby surely inviting everyone's enmity; we must necessarily know of something else to which to hold, something which we esteem more highly than this world's goods, than honor, favor and grace, and all the possessions of the world. Otherwise, thanks to God, we would not be so stupid and foolish as not to prefer to keep our mouth shut too and enjoy the world's friendship, have good and easy times, and live as the world does. But since we are able to spurn all of that and dispense with it, we serve ample notice that our consolation is not based on anything here on earth but has begun to center on another life. We care not that the world derides us and regards us as fools or condemns us and tramples us underfoot. We reply to them: "We are well aware that if we want to be Christians, we cannot identify ourselves with the world; for we were baptized and we preach for the express purpose of angering the devil and of calling the whole world down on us. That is what we sought, and with that knowledge we started this. If we had intended to serve the world, we should have begun this differently.
But all of this is done that our Lord may be glorified and that our pos¬ sessions in Him might finally be revealed when the world with all its favors and grace, honor and goods will no longer count for anything and when we acquire a treasure which no lord or king can touch and which no one will discover, unless he holds with us and also has the courage cheerfully to despise the world with its ways and to stake all on this."
Behold, that is what Paul means when he says: "Why am I in peril every hour?" Although he really says this about the apostles — as he states this about his own person a little later — and although all Chris¬ tians do not experience the same exposure to suffering and peril as St. Paul and the other apostles or preachers do, yet this truly applies to all Christians: If we profess Christ and live as we should, the world
44 Luther quotes freely from Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, ch. 3. The original reads: Frustra autem niti neque aliud se fatigando nisi odium quaerere extremae dementiae est.
[W, XXXVI, 608, 609] will become our enemy and attack us as it attacks the preachers, so that we may expect no better fate. This is the common external peril of all
Christians, of one as well as the other. But, as I remarked, St. Paul is here referring to the particular peril which he and the other apostles encountered, and which is always the lot of the preachers' office. As he says elsewhere, 1 Cor. 4:9: "God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death," or consigned to death. For they must not only bear the external peril at the hands of the world, such as persecution, imprisonment, but over and above this, the devil at¬ taches himself to them and hinders them everywhere, pursues them night and day, so that they must be in constant danger of death and in terror. They feel as though death awaited them any moment. For they must always stand at the head of the fray for all the rest and catch and beat off all the spears and arrows of the devil.
Thus he now says: "What might we be seeking by venturing into such great and inevitable danger, where our life is never safe and there is no joy for us? Of course, I am not doing this for the sake of honor or of favor or of friendship; no, all I accomplish with this is that I incur the most bitter enmity of both the world and the devil and that they harass me unto death. Why should I without any reason want to set myself up as a target for the spears, halberds, and firearms of the devil, all aimed to get me?" Undoubtedly St. Paul had to suffer many a thrust and blow which he felt keenly. To him this seemed like run¬ ning the gauntlet of spears which strike and stab from all sides. But who would stand up and preach with loaded and primed firearms aimed at him? Do you suppose that I would deliver a sermon for 100,000 florins under those circumstances?
And here conditions were even more difficult and terrible when the devil directed all his hellish quivers and cannons against the apostle.
These he had to endure perpetually, as he states very clearly in 2 Cor.
11:23 ff. And yet he remained in his office without wavering, regarding no danger and no suffering so great as to impel him to desist from his preaching. But who would want to live in constant expectation of all this if he were not as sure of this article as he is of his own life? In¬ deed, I can say for myself, if I knew that no more than honor and goods were at stake here and I could earn the whole world's posses¬ sions three times over with this, the world could still not induce me to deliver a single sermon.45 I would rather crawl nine yards down
4"' Cf. Luther's Works, 17, pp. 127, 173, 343.
[W, XXXVI, 609, 610] into the ground than be exposed to such danger. But there is some¬ thing else in store for us than we may seek and acquire here, some¬ thing which easily compensates for suffering and misery. Compared with this, as St. Paul declares in Rom. 8:18, all else is to be accounted as nothing. Here we may eat and drink and accept what we obtain, although the world begrudges us that, but it is not for this that we are
Christians or that we believe. No, we are awaiting something loftier, something better — an inexpressible, eternal treasure.
31. I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day.
Here he expresses the constant danger he has in mind. He refers this to himself, pointing out his own situation. With one word he com¬ poses his true biography, of which the world knows and comprehends nothing. For the world knows no more than it has heard, namely, how he and the other apostles raised the dead and performed miracles and such other works as loom big and can be seen. But this part no one understood but he who himself felt it and experienced it. Even now no one understands it unless he has himself felt and experienced it.
Therefore not much is to be said about it here either.
St. Paul affirms this with an oath, "by my pride." He regards this as a strong and solemn oath. It is as though he were to say: "As dear as the pride and honor which I have in Christ Jesus are to me, so sol¬ emnly I swear this oath." But Christians know what this pride in Christ signifies and what it is; not to become enriched by 100,000 florins nor to gain a kingdom or empire but to be delivered by Christ from sin, death, and the devil and to be placed into the hope of the eternal kingdom. Indeed, we are already led into this partway. And we pride ourselves on having a gracious God and Father because we are baptized and believe in the Man who can give us eternal life. No Turk, no factious spirit, no papal bishop, no prince, no scholar, no pseudosaint, in short, not the entire world, knows anything of this.
This is the pride I take in this article and pledge it, knowing that this will not and cannot fail me. I would not take the world for this; other¬ wise I would not swear so solemnly.
But what about his statement "I die every day"? The world would say: "After all, I do not see that you were ever buried. No, we see you walking and standing, eating and drinking, moving about and preach¬ ing and pursuing your occupation. Is that what you call dying or being
[W, XXXVI, 610—612] dead?" Well, he affirms this with an oath because he wants this re¬ garded as certain. But that is the very thing of which I said that not everybody knows or understands what Paul means with this, what this dying signifies, and how this takes place, that he constantly has death hovering over him and is perpetually harassed, feeling more of death than of life. And yet Paul says that he has an honor or a boast along with this, namely, a boast of life, although he feels this life but feebly and often not at all. Thus death and life, sin and piety, good and bad conscience, happiness and sadness, hope and fright, belief and unbe¬ lief, in short, God and devil, hell and heaven, engage in constant com¬ bat and contend with each other. It is of such a battle that Paul is here speaking, which he alone understood, for he was a great apostle who incessantly was involved and exercised in this warfare. Therefore it is necessary for him to affirm this with an oath that people believe he is telling the truth, even though others do not feel this so or under¬ stand it.
"Now, why should I want to do this," he also wants to say, "since I am not only harassed, taken prisoner, tortured by the world and suffer whatever may afflict me externally" — this he enumerates at length in 2 Cor. 11:25 ff. — "but over and above such danger also en¬ gage in constant battle with the devil, wrestle day and night with death, and feel the terror of hell? What do I gain by that? What re¬ ward might induce me to incur this needlessly, when I might well be spared all of this? Should I not rather put an end to this situation once for all and have myself buried? Or should I not rather remedy this as the world does, by bidding farewell to Christ and all that is
His and by living as the others live, so that the world might leave me in peace and the devil might be my gracious lord? To be sure, I could do that if I wished to renounce the life to come. But since I do not want to do that and since I pride myself on another life, I must be prepared for this reward, that the world treats me thus and the devil pierces and tortures me to death, so that I can never enjoy this life.
But even though he slays me daily and does ever so much harm to me, I will not be deprived of this pride, but I will finally defeat him with it and obtain the victory." Now Paul adds an item of his pride or of his danger, although not the greatest, and declares:
32. What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephe¬ sus, if the dead are not raised?
This is also a kind of pride, but not a pride such as the world boasts [W, XXXVI, 612, 613] of, consisting in might and strength or in great honor and possessions, but solely one consisting in suffering and in peril of death and in a victory other than the world can obtain, namely, in the fact that Paul was held in the power of death and yet was rescued from it. He speaks of a particular custom that prevailed in the country, especially in Rome. For special entertainment it was customary to take a criminal or a condemned person, build a fenced enclosure in the center of the marketplace, put the criminal into it, and then admit lions and bears or other ferocious wild animals. With these the man had to fight and either ward them off or be devoured by them. This spectacle was en¬ acted when the beasts were very hungry. They were often first chased and driven around to make them all the fiercer. And the people were amused when such wretched people, especially Christians, were man¬ gled by the beasts. They thought that the terrible pain would be a deterrent against Christianity, or they assumed that this would dispose of them. For it was impossible for a person to defend himself against the cruel beasts, except when God occasionally intervened miracu¬ lously and saw to it that the fiercest beasts brought in to attack the Christians did them no harm. Indeed, the beasts became so gentle with them that they lay down before them, behaved as friendly as one does with young children, and let themselves be treated like sheep.
In that way some were saved to strengthen their faith, but not all of them. Otherwise this would have become too commonplace and would have lost its attraction. But when this failed to accomplish its purpose, the executioner finally had to step in and kill them with the sword.
Now St. Paul glories in this, that he was thrown to the wild beasts to be dismembered by them, but that he nevertheless fought them off and was delivered from them, contrary to the will of the world, just as Daniel was saved when he was thrown into the lions' pit (Dan.
6:16), whereas the others, his accusers, were immediately torn to bits, together with their wives and children, and had their bones crushed by the very same lions. In 2 Cor. 11 Paul relates further that he was often miraculously saved from prison, from danger at sea, and from other perils. So the heathen could not always devour the Christians at will but had to let them live contrary to their own will. They were unable to kill them until it pleased God. This was done that the Chris¬ tians might observe that God was with them and that they might not be entirely without consolation but could behold a part of life in the [W, XXXVI, 613, 614] midst of death. It was to give others pause, so that they might either be converted or be frightened from carrying out their plans. In that way God has also manifested Himself among us today. If He had not been with us, the pope and his irate tyrants would have devoured us ten times already.
"Well, why should I engage in such mortal combat," St. Paul says, "and fight with wild beasts? Who would do that for the sake of tem¬ poral goods and honor? For naught but certain death stares you in the face when one man must fight alone and without any help with raging lions, bears, and leopards. And yet faith had to fight against such a terrible spectacle. And even if I had done it for glory or to please the world, I would still not have reaped any other thanks or any other honor than the world's disdain. The world would have said that I am a sorcerer or that I availed myself of the devil's skill. That is how they treated Christ and would also treat us today even if we raised people from the dead in their presence. Therefore I did not do this in a human fashion or in accord with human understanding in an effort to gain favor with men. And since I am obliged con¬ stantly to fight and battle the devil spiritually and must always hover between life and death, and since every evil the devil is capable of afflicts me and nothing but sheer death is mine, I must be aware of a greater consolation than any other person here on earth. That mur¬ derers and other criminals incur peril and death is not unusual. They richly deserved this. They strove for it, and they cannot fight or con¬ tend against this fate but must despair and perish. But since we vol¬ untarily and willingly and innocently enter into such peril and combat with death, we have to be sure of another life and existence. Otherwise we could imitate the others and talk and do what the world would applaud, or we could flatter princes and lords and strive to become great lords and enjoy good times ourselves. Indeed, this would be the way, if we were looking for no more than the world can bestow. How¬ ever, we do seek and strive for something other than we find here on earth, something no emperor, king, or lord can give and no scholar or doctor knows and understands. Therefore we speak and act differently too."
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Here St. Paul is speaking in the role of the mockers who ridiculed and derided his preaching with these words. He quotes this saying from the prophet Isaiah (Is. 22:13), who had had the same experi- [W, XXXVI, 614, 615] ence. When Isaiah preached forcefully and chided his hearers in Jeru¬ salem as arrogant and miserly paunches because they despised God's
Word and believed in the resurrection of the dead as little as cattle did, they attacked him, opened their big mouths, and sneered at his every threat. They stuck their tongues out at him and jeered at him as a fool, saying to one another: "Dear friend, just listen to what the prophet is saying: that we will die tomorrow. If that is true, let us first eat and drink and be merry while we are still here!" They were surely vexatious windbags to pervert his words like that and indulge in mockery of things that should have frightened them in view of God's wrath and His threat to punish them with all sorts of troubles.
However, they do the opposite and use His threats for their jesting and for greater impenitence. They treat death with levity, as though it were no more than a scarecrow. What devil from hell would want to preach to such people, who pervert everything so maliciously? And when one terrifies them with death, they challenge it in defiance of their prophet.
Undoubtedly St. Paul, too, had to hear something similar from his mockers. For this is a common saying which the world and all peasants and burghers and Sir Braggart40 quote when God's Word is used to frighten them with death and hell: "Oh, tire parsons tell us much about death; they paint a gruesome picture of the devil and make hell hot for us. Well, let us have a good drink together while life lasts.
When we die, we are dead." That is why Paul quotes their words here, as though he wanted to say: "If it is true that the resurrection cannot be believed, I, too, know nothing better than to speak as they do and mock both God and His apostles. For all that one may say and preach is lost anyhow on those who refuse to believe God's Word and those who do not fear God's wrath. After all, they cannot speak otherwise than they believe, as also our junkers do now, namely: "Do you suppose it is true what the parsons say, that there is one fellow stuck in another? My dear man, when we are dead, we are dead; when the body dies, one fellow dies with the other."
All right, Christians must listen to such mockery. They have to let these mockers have their say until things are cleared up and the time comes when these people will not despise death as they do now.
For, praise be to God, I and others have often experienced and wit40 Luther's expression is Junker Scharrhans. For various uses of this name, see especially Luther's Works, 21, p. 133, n. 1.
[W, XXXVI, 615—6X7] nessed that our prophecy and preaching was borne out and that neither peasant nor junker was ever so impudent and proud when death confronted him as not to be frightened and angered by it.
Then his previous mockery and defiance did not help him against death. For death is adept at making the proudest and the jolliest de¬ jected and cowardly when he greets them but a little with a pestilence.
Then their heart and courage droop as they think of leaving their goods and their splendor behind. But if those who do not believe can be frightened so by death, there will surely be far more to frighten them in hell. There they will no longer say as they do now: "When we are dead, we are dead." But they will lie in eternal flames and lament and bewail the fact that they were ever born. They will have to curse and damn themselves for having heard God's Word and for having despised and derided it so blasphemously.
Therefore we should beware of such loose talk and guard against mocking God and His Word thus. For God has a way of punishing such people visibly before they expect it, and He does this as a warn¬ ing to others. Numerous examples have been observed, which cannot be enumerated here, showing that God strikes about Him fiercely against these mockers who consider it a great delight to speak so scornfully and derisively about the Gospel. These examples should not be forgotten and ignored so lightly. To be sure, God does not al¬ ways punish in that way. If He did, but few people would survive on earth. But as a frightening example to others, He occasionally indicates how displeased He is with this and what He will do when
He thinks the right time has come. But then they will have tarried too long. Today you jeer and carouse; tomorrow you are dead and will not return. And what befalls one may befall all, as Christ remarks in Luke 13:5. There He says about the tower in Siloam, which had killed many: "I tell you . . . unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Therefore, when God strikes and slays one, He has them all in mind.
And He will surely strike them before they are aware of it, if they do not desist in time. How much misery we hear of daily! There are all sorts of terrible misfortunes: fire, water, murder, and sudden death!
Even though many are now going their way unconcerned, do you not suppose that God may be postponing His punishment until a time when they have long forgotten the sin? Then they regard themselves as pious, lament and cry as though they did not deserve this. For God does not let punishment follow immediately on the heels of sin but [W, XXXVI, 617—619] lets people go on long enough and restrains Himself to see if they will reform. However, in the end and when least expected He comes with real terror. The speed of the punishment is in proportion to the body; He is quick to punish an individual or a small group, but He tarries long with a country or a city, waiting till it is ripe for punish¬ ment. In the end, however, no one goes unpunished.
Therefore St. Paul gives his warning in the words of the prophet Isaiah. He wishes to use those mockers as an example, as if to say:
"At that time, too, there were wicked and base villains who did nothing but jeer at the prophets. But after they had jeered a long time and were now smug and cheerful and no longer thought of what the prophets had said, the time came when God bade the king of Babylon appear, devastate everything, put fire to city and temple, slay whom he could, and lead the rest away into exile. Then they, too, bemoaned their misery and distress; they, too, thought that they were innocent; but they would not think back and view their old list of sins, and reflect how their fathers had merited this and how they had continued in the same sins. They supposed that all was forgotten, as they had forgotten it. But God has a long memory and does not forget, though we may forget." He will also surely not forget how the whole world now sins against the Gospel so wantonly and unabashedly, as though they were free and at liberty to do as they pleased. And when their attention is called to this, they even mock just as though there were no God who sees and is aware of this. But He will get after them when they suppose it is long forgotten, and this with pestilence, famine, war and slaughter, chopping and spearing them like frogs, both young and old, exacting payment for their present conduct. Then they will have to learn how they mocked and recall what we now told them. But God will let them, too, cry in vain, as they let us admonish and warn in vain.47
33. Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.
St. Paul declares that we cannot prevent the rude multitude from presuming to say: "If we must die, then let us first eat and drink; when we are dead, we are dead." And when one talks to them at length about the Last Day, they express the wish that they may have enough money to count until that time. But let them have their way and mock while they can. In the end it will be manifest who is really
47 The tenth sermon, preached in the afternoon of Nov. 17, 1532, the Twentyfifth Sunday After Trinity, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 619, 620] mocking the other. They will have more to count than they wish when the list of their sins is held under their noses and they will have to give an accounting that will make them sweat. You, however, must pay no heed to what those frivolous people say, but be on your guard and give ear to what God's Word proclaims to you; for such babble will surely delude and mislead you.
St. Paul quotes this saying from a famous Greek poet, Menander.4s It refers to civic morality. In rearing the youth one must be diligent and painstaking lest they behold many bad and offensive examples that would harm and mislead them. Even reason dictates that parents be intent on rearing their children properly. Now, just when a father or a mother has devoted much toil and money to their child before it is trained a little and has been taught fine and mannerly conduct so that it knows how to behave sensibly and chastely over against all people, some pernicious animal comes along, an evil tongue says something into the child's ear, or someone displays a bad example that poisons such a young heart and engenders bad blood of which it can never again rid itself. For instance, even when a young lad has been trained and disciplined well for a long time and to the parents' delight, a wild, evil, frivolous rascal comes along and with a loose and shameless remark or example poisons and spoils with a single stroke the whole object of so much care, diligence, time, and expense.
The heathen have experienced it in their lives, and we still ex¬ perience and witness it daily, how easily and often fine young people, both boys and girls, are so badly misled that it is a shame. An evil tongue can work enough harm and poison to infect and pervert, in a single hour and with a single word, a whole group, one that required ten or twenty years of hard work to train. Therefore the heathen wanted to impress such sayings upon the youth, thereby admonishing each one to guard himself or any member of the family against evil talk or company; for this works murderous harm and ruins whatever is well trained. It is like hail or lightning that ruins the vegetation in the field. And people who take pleasure in poisoning such innocent young people are despicable and devilish.
Now, if evil talk has that effect with regard to civic discipline and pagan wisdom and uprightness, which are taught us by nature and by reason, what might it not do in the lofty and subtle matters of faith,
48 That Paul was aware that he was quoting this particular version of a pro¬ verbial saying is subject to doubt, but the Greek text does match Menander's version in his Thais very closely (Fragments, ed. Meinecke, p. 75).
[W, XXXVI, 620, 621] which reason does not comprehend and which everybody nevertheless ventures to discuss, to refine, and to judge? Nowadays this is cus¬ tomary also among the rabble. For instance, such a loose tongue drivels in a group of peasants or burghers: "Why do you give ear to what the parsons preach? Do you suppose that another fellow is stuck in this one? etc." Or Sir John of nobility and the soldiers will bluster: "If I had to bear in mind that I must die and that another life follows the present one, who would want to go to war?" They say: "Let us be merry and enjoy ourselves as long as it lasts. Who knows how things are over there!" Indeed, some who presume to be very smart regard them as fools who preach and speak about this.
They say: "People who concern themselves with this must have much time on their hands." Very likely they themselves have something more important to do, namely, how they might buy many villages and castles. A host of people take such words to heart and go their way and no longer think of or heed how they live or die but only how they might accumulate money and fill their bellies. Thus they are all soon corrupted with a single word, that no preaching and chastening longer avails.
But the real harm is done when this reaches the learned and in¬ telligent class of people. They first know how to make this look bad and repugnant. And yet they are able to polish and portray it beau¬ tifully to make it glisten. They present it most sarcastically. They say:
"Christ and Paul were good, simple people when they stated that there will be another life after the present one. Why should not many fine people on earth, such as emperors, kings, princes, and lords, scholars and sages — especially those living in Greece — have known as much about this as these poor beggars and uneducated men?"
A simple person will be quick to take that to heart and think: "Who knows, after all, whether it is true what they are preaching? Should
I believe a person whom so many learned and wise people do not believe? Who told him about it?" We have to suffer that and get used to it. Despite all our preaching we cannot prevent such babble and such evil, venomous tongues from following us. St. Paul himself was unable to stop that.
All right, this talk is there, and real evil talk it is too. But to you this should be a warning in God's name not to give heed to it, even though you cannot escape hearing it. You must regard God's Word more highly than the prattle of the whole world, even though this is
[W, XXXVI, 621—623] uttered by the wisest and greatest scholars, emperors, and kings. The more learned and wiser they claim to be, the more they indulge in such talk. For if you do not turn your ears from it but are willing to ponder it, you will surely be assailed and tempted to say: "Who knows? Perhaps there is nothing to it." And if the devil induces you to do that, he has already captured you, as he did Adam and Eve.
For his cunning first lures man away from the Word and steals this from his heart, so that he no longers remembers and feels it. Then he injects other thoughts into the heart. In that way he wins the vic¬ tory. Therefore you must be armed against this and be prepared to take this medicine, or antidote, for and against such poison. And when you hear such talk with one ear, you must counteract it by clinging to the Word with your whole heart.
I myself experienced how perplexing and how painful it is to the heart to hear such people and impertinent wiseacres talk with such arrogance about things and mock so derisively, as though nothing had ever been so surely fabricated as this. Then a person feels constrained to think: "After all, who knows? We find so many great, learned, and outstanding people, the world's elite, and, in addition, the majority, who talk and believe differently. And if this should not be true, it would constitute the greatest deception on earth." Thus I, too, wit¬ nessed and observed many who were grievously assailed by the ques¬ tion whether there will be another life after the present one.
Behold, all of that stems from such loose and evil talk, especially where weak and untried hearts are still found. God be praised, I am so armed against this that the prattle of the whole world will, if it pleases
God, not harm me. Therefore we must be on our guard with all dili¬ gence and always cling to God's Word, on which this article is based.
There it has now stood 1500 years and survived. It has indeed been attacked by many babblers and mockers, but it has never been toppled or crushed, whereas all of these vanished together with their prating and died, and no one speaks of them or remembers them any longer.
This article, however, still remains and stands as it was proclaimed by the dear apostles and was believed by Adam and all the fathers and saints. And it will be proclaimed as long as the world stands, up to the time when it is materialized and experienced. We will cling to it and disregard that there are a few also among us who speak so virulently about it and mock it. We will take comfort in the fact that they are not worthy of it, and dismiss them as blind leaders of [W, XXXVI, 623, 624] the blind. That is what Jesus called the Pharisees (Matt. 15:14). We will let them prate until they have to stop. They have their reward; they cannot be punished more severely. For if they were worthy of it, they would also believe God's Word together with us. Therefore we say to them as St. Paul did to his fellow Jews (Acts 13:46): "Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." You, however, must thank God for granting you the grace, for calling you to this understanding, and for making you worthy of believing it. Let those people go their way with their mocking, their carousing and swilling and living like swine that wallow around among the husks and fatten themselves until they are slaughtered.
You can resist and protect yourself against all sorts of injurious poisons by saying: "I will hear what God's Word says and abide by that; because it is a useful and salutary Word, given by God, which has, moreover, endured since the beginning of the world and will en¬ dure to its end, it is superior to such loose prating. I will emulate the example of a pious daughter who, hearing an unchaste tongue, or in¬ cited to unchastity by a vile whore says: "My dear mother did not teach me thus. I will rather follow her than another person, for she will surely not teach me anything bad." Or like a pious son who will not give ear to what every villain tells him to seduce him, I will say:
"That is not right, for my dear father or teacher did not instruct me thus, etc." As these children conform their lives to the words of the parents and as they conduct themselves over against such poison, lest it harm the heart, so a Christian must cling to the Word of God and reject such pagan and ungodly talk against faith and remain with that on which he was baptized and called, that which constitutes all of Christendom's faith and life.
34. Wake up fully,*9 and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
St. Paul adds these words in order to exhort and warn them the more strongly against evil talk, showing them how to comport them49 Luther translates the Vulgate's evigilate iuste with the German wachet recht auf, and in his comment he stresses the implications of being wide-awake in the Christian life. The RSV translation "come to your right mind" is based on the picture in the Greek word £xvtp]»axE, "sober up." Luther's German transla¬ tion of the New Testament of 1546 incorporates his marginal note of 1540 and translates Werdet dock einmal recht niichtern. Cf. W, Deutsche Bibel, IV, 373;
[W, XXXVI, 624, 625] selves, lest they be misled. He wishes to say: "See to it that such babblers do not find you drowsy or sleepy or weary and indolent. For so you are already giving way to them, and the door is open to all babblers and seducers. I have often said, and I still say, that this is a most pernicious vice, which is called satiety, or, as it has been called to date but not understood or explained correctly, slothfulness toward worship. In it one is bored with the sermon and says: "Oh, I know this myself; I have often heard it; if I care to, I can read it at home.
Why should I constantly listen to the selfsame thing?" They go their way, assuming that they possess the treasure in rich measure, so that they cannot want for it. But St. Paul declares the reverse here: "Be¬ ware and be on your guard lest you become too secure and imagine that you know it too well; for you will surely be deceived." For even if a person is on his guard, it will be difficult to prevent evil talk from entering secretly and before one is aware of it.
Therefore it is always necessary to live vigilantly and circum¬ spectly and cautiously, so that we are not taken unawares and work our own harm. Otherwise we might share the fate of those who sud¬ denly and unexpectedly go to the devil. Take an example from an insane man whom I have seen. Whenever he opened his mouth, he would invariably say: "Thousand devils!" also when he stumbled or bumped against some object. His neighbor often warned him to drop those words. He might, the neighbor said, fall perilously and fatally some time, and then the fellow whom he named would come after him. But he ignored this and said: "Oh, if it really comes to that,
I myself know very well that I must shun those words." However, not long after this it happened that he crossed a bridge, and before he knew it, he stumbled and fell into the water. And immediately he uttered the customary words: "Well, in the name of a thousand devils!"
The devil appeared at once, broke his neck and fetched him as he had desired.50 These smug spirits may fare the same way. They re¬ gard themselves so learned and so safe that they need not hear this or read it or think that the devil comes creeping along stealthily with evil talk and suggestions, making them lose Christ and His Word.
And now the devil sways them as he will.
I myself often experienced and discovered that the devil can cun¬ ningly lead a person away from the Word. Whenever he notices that I am armed and that I am occupying myself with God's Word, he
50 Luther tells the same story in his Sermons on the Catechism, 1528. Cf.
Luther's Works, 51, p. 143.
[W, XXXVI, 625—627] leaves me in peace. However, when I give him even as little leeway as not to think of it and to occupy myself with other matters, he comes after me and quickly gives me a blow, which makes my position dif¬ ficult until I can again lay hold of the Word. What would happen if I, too, were so smug and deemed myself so learned and refrained from preaching or hearing and reading the Word for half a year or a quarter of a year, since I have enough to do as it is to defend my¬ self with daily study and prayer?
Therefore, if you want to avoid being misled, St. Paul says, and losing what you have, you must be watchful and not snore. You must cultivate the Word so that you can maintain your position and defend yourself against this evil pest to keep it from gaining a foothold among you. It does not lie within your power to prevent evil talk from aris¬ ing and to prevent hearing the world; but it behooves you to be vig¬ ilant and not to give way to it but to ward it off wherever it raises its head. For the devil will surely not slumber or snore but will assail you, too, on all sides, wherever you may be. Therefore you must also be on your guard against this, armed with God's Word wherever you are, at home or abroad, in church, in your chamber, at table, and wherever you associate with people. Thus God also commanded His people to write and inscribe His commandments everywhere before their eyes so that they could always behold them and thereby resist all kinds of temptation and offense (Deut. 6:6 ff.).
Such diligent occupation and concern with God's Word St. Paul expresses with the words "wake up'' or "be vigilant." He does not speak merely of waking up but of waking up fully, or of being so wide-awake that it can really and blessedly be called that, that is, according to God's Word. The world, too, is vigilant with regard to its affairs, but not with regard to God's Word. But it is true vig¬ ilance to be awake in God's Word, with it to repeal and defeat the devil and his poisonous darts. Therefore this does not mean to watch as a city watchman does, to prevent someone from breaking in or working harm; or as master or mistress watches in a home to assure that the servants arise early in the morning and perform their tasks.
That is a part of municipal and domestic administration, to see to it that everybody attends to his duties and that all proceeds properly.
But here, St. Paul says, we must watch so as not to sin. The world must watch against poverty, against disturbance of the peace, or against enemies, so that all may be well with people and country.
But our watching serves to end sin and to prosper and preserve righ¬ teousness; it serves the reign of faith and of love and the extermination of unbelief. This demands that we earnestly occupy ourselves with and cultivate God's Word always and everywhere, snatch it up avidly, hear it, sing it, speak and read it gladly against the despicable satiety and indolence of which I have spoken. Then we will have our castle and fortress well guarded and all holes closed to keep the devil from stealing in. Otherwise, if I or others fail to preach with diligence and if you do not hear it or are practiced in it, imagining that you are well acquainted with it — that is not watching or warding off but slumbering, letting your head droop, indeed, it is snoring right in the midst of the devil's guns and spears and affording him a good and safe place for breaking in and ascending into the castle without difficulty.
That is what happened also to the Corinthians. When St. Paul was no longer with them and many of them became complacent, think¬ ing they were sufficiently informed and knew it all, the devil came among them with his tares and his evil talk against this article, so that they made subtle interpretations here based on their own ideas without God's Word and alleged that the resurrection had already taken place. They did not want to appear to deny this article out¬ right and in contradiction to St. Paul's proclamation — then people would not have believed them so easily — no, they gave it a nice ap¬ pearance. They took St. Paul's words and interpreted them as seemed fit to them. They declared that these words were not to be under¬ stood so crudely as though the dead would all come forth again bodily, but that they must be understood to mean that we had all in Baptism arisen spiritually from our dead life in sin and evil works and had now entered into a new, godly, and honorable life.
That was an extremely sweet poison which spread mightily. And it would still spread if one were to commend this with words and impress it upon people who are not safeguarded by a correct under¬ standing of God's Word. Soon the entire mob would blurt out: "Oh, that is surely true. Until now we did not understand it, nor have we heard it interpreted that way." That is what is done right now with regard to the Sacrament and Baptism. For since they dare not deny
Christ's clear words that His body and blood are present, they declare that it is present only spiritually. For how should Christ, they say, permit Himself to be handled and eaten bodily also by the ungodly?
In that way they also treated this article; they daubed their interpre¬ tation with a pretty color, so that it appealed to the rabble, especially since it was proclaimed by such as were highly reputed as the apostles' disciples and companions.
And later others appeared who alleged that the resurrection was to be understood not as pertaining to the flesh but only to the soul.
In proof they quoted a verse of St. Paul from this very chapter (v. 50):
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And since we are flesh and blood, they said, the body cannot rise again. And yet they had to confess that Christ had arisen not only in His soul, but both in body and soul, as He was born and as He had died. There¬ fore our article very clearly bears the title "Resurrection of the Flesh," meaning that the body that dies now shall come forth again and be¬ come alive, just as Christ rose bodily from the grave. That is the correct understanding of this article. It is true that Scripture at times speaks of a spiritual resurrection, namely, when it commands us to de¬ part from sin and enter into a new life. This happens through faith and Baptism while we are still in this life. This article, however, treats of the resurrection following this life and after our death. There¬ fore it is not relevant to cite that verse of St. Paul here and say that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It contravenes the clear meaning which St. Paul pursues throughout this chapter. For as we shall hear, he calls flesh and blood naught but the lusts and the evil which inhere in our flesh and blood from Adam, namely, the sinful, mortal being, the evil lusts, and all sorts of infirmities of flesh and blood. For in the life to come everything is to be pure, without sin and weakness. Therefore all the evil in us derived from flesh and blood must perish, so that we may on that Day be completely new and pure in body and soul. It does not follow from this that we will not rise bodily with flesh and blood. Otherwise we should also have to say that Christ did not have flesh and blood after His resurrection.
Such was the evil talk that passed among them. It was intro¬ duced not by strangers or by common and base people but by their own brethren, who presumed to be the foremost and the most learned among them and who administered the office in their midst. Paul had to admonish and warn them to be on their guard chiefly against their own brethren. Therefore he concludes with harsh words, saying:
"For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame."
It is as though he were to say: "Is it not a sin and a shame that matters have already come to such a pass among you, all of whom
[W, XXXVI, 630, 631] heard my message in rich measure, that such is taught among you and by your people and that you have become so blind as to have almost nothing left of God's Word? What more disgraceful thing might be said about you than that you, who as my foremost disciples should be best informed and the best Christians, have permitted such unchristian prattle to gain ground among you until many of you disregard God and His Word entirely? Therefore I must exhort you to note how these have fallen, to give you pause lest the same happen to you."
For with the words "to have no knowledge of God" Paul means not to know nor to heed God's Word, since anyone who wishes to know God must learn to know Him through the Word. These people do not do that, but they ignore it. They rush into the articles of faith with their reason and their own notions. They make bold to judge about God and all matters themselves. They will never meet Him there, for the proclamation of Christ and the future life has, of course, not grown in their heads. So, when they hear of the resurrection, they also judge in accordance with their own heads, saying that it is no more than rising from sin and becoming godly. God's Word says nothing about that in this article.
Therefore this is but to go astray and to depart further and further from God and the knowledge of God. It is like a blind man who goes astray in broad daylight, unable to find his way back to the path.
And as they who teach depart from God's Word themselves, they also lead the poor multitude after them. In this way one blind man leads the others, until nothing of God's Word is left them and they deal only with their own invented dreams. With these they mislead themselves and others. They say that it is God's decision and will that the flesh or body shall not rise, but only the spirit, or soul; yet this is not His will or meaning at all. Therefore they know nothing of Him. As St. Paul says elsewhere (1 Tim. 1:7), they develop into people who desire "to be teachers of the Law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions."
Therefore be on your guard against such, he wants to say, and pay no heed to their great reputation as Christian brethren or teachers. Rather see to it that you are sure to have God's Word and adhere to it. Then you will not err or stray but know and prove God's will and decisions correctly.51
51 The eleventh sermon, preached Dec. 1, 1532, the First Sunday in Advent, ends here.
35-38. But if someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
So far we have observed how the apostle has taken up this article in good earnest and has worked hard to make it sure and to warn his Corinthians to be on their guard lest they be deluded and misled by dissenting, evil talk. Now he begins to refute their objections, contrived by the shrewdness of their reason. This article does not at all agree with reason. In fact, if one should judge this article in ac¬ cordance with reason and subjective opinion, much nonsense would result. Thus reason must either regard this article a lie, or it must apply its own subtle wit to it and interpret it to make it somehow compatible.
These were surely sharp fellows whom St. Paul introduces here with their remarks. They not only were able to twist and pervert this article cleverly, but they could also mock and ridicule expertly, as they supposed, when the physical resurrection was taught. They said: "My dear man, what will happen when all rise from the dead?
What kind of bodies will they have? Or what sort of an existence will it be?" For figure it out for yourself, if we are all to be revived again, each with his present body restored to him, a teeming world and an innumerable multitude of people will surely forgather. Where will they all find enough to eat and to drink? Where can enough grain, enough oxen, pigs, and sheep be found to supply everyone with food? Just think how many people alone died in two or three centuries, to say nothing of thousands and more thousands of years!
They would be enough to consume the whole store of the earth's meat and bread in one day. Furthermore, where will they all find clothing and shoes and covering and all that pertains to the wants of the body? Even now we barely succeed in supporting ourselves with what we have. What, then, will happen when the world becomes so densely populated, when each one has wife and child, house and home, etc., and people will multiply on and on? Then the world will soon become too small even for every person's body, to say nothing of the fruits and the vegetation that the earth must bear for man and beast.
And furthermore, what will happen when we all are to assemble again and live together as we do now? For when I arise, my wife will simultaneously arise, also my children, indeed, also my father and mother and his father and grandfather, and so forth. Also my master or my country's ruler and his father and grandfather. Where will all the emperors, kings, lords, and princes find room? Will they all, be¬ ginning with the first member of their family, reign over one and the same country? Will there be as many lords in one city, as many masters, manservants and maidservants in one household as were found there successively over the years? Furthermore, if a man had many wives and must take all of them in again at the same time, how will things be divided if they all live together and are fed and sustained from one and the same inheritance and possession, from father and father down to children and children's children? Who will restore to each what he inherited? According to their reasoning, such and countless other incongruous situations will surely follow if all men who ever lived since the beginning of the world will rise again phys¬ ically, as we are now. With such questions the Corinthians presumed to be very clever, displaying unusually great wit and wisdom. With it they supposed they had quashed this article and proved that it amounts to nothing, that Paul had not meant it that way, that it had not been understood correctly, and that Paul must be hiding some other meaning under it.
But St. Paul refutes their folly with clear words. He rejects all such questions and clever explanations as to what kind of bodies we will have and how we can make things tally if the body is to eat and drink, spit and cough up, become mangy and scratch, digest and emit stench, be sick and frail, as we are now, and each one again is man, woman, manservant, maidservant, and the like, as before. Paul replies very briefly: "No, nothing whatsoever of this, neither this nor that. But this is the way it will be: Everybody will remain what he was created, whether man or woman. For Scripture says that God created male and female. He will not change His creation. Therefore everyone's body will remain as it was created. But he will not eat, drink, and do whatever results from this. Nor will he beget children, keep house, govern, etc. For God distinguished between creature, or nature, and the offices and estates on earth which were ordained and instituted after creation. The body retains its nature, but the use of the body does not remain the same. For a person's position as man- [W, XXXVI, 634, 635] servant, maidservant, father, mother, lord, prince, king is not some¬ thing that was created, but that is a regulation regarding the creature.
Therefore only what was created in man, the different members, will remain, but these will no longer be employed for the bodily needs as they are now. It will no longer be necessary to eat, to drink, to digest, to sweep, to live with husband or with wife, to beget children, to cul¬ tivate the fields, to rule home or city. In short, all that pertains to the essence of these temporal goods and is part of temporal life and works will cease to be. That is what Christ, too, teaches in Matt.
22:30: "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."
Those pagan and worldly-wise people are unable to understand this, for concerning this life they do not see or think beyond their swinish head. Therefore they proceed to reason foolishly: "If man were to become alive again, he would also have to eat and drink, keep house, etc. Otherwise, how could he remain alive? If we were to meet again and live together under those circumstances, it would be an odd, nonsensical, and confused existence, so that we would all the more wish to remain dead. Therefore there can surely be nothing to it. For according to outward appearances this does not make sense." Indeed, this does not make sense if we consult and ask reason how things will be in that life. Reason knows nothing and can know nothing about that. And it is true, if the life to come would not be different from what reason conceives it to be, I, too, would not wish for it. However, how things will be must be judged not by our reason but by God's Word. And the latter teaches us that not this old, infirm life will come into being, but a new, perfect, eternal life, that the stomach will no longer be in need of food nor the body require anything for the preservation of life, that there will be no distinction of rank, no prince, master, pastor, or subject, as was also said earlier, but that we will possess everything in God, who will be "everything to everyone." Therefore this will be a wholly different, more beautiful, and perfect existence, devoid of all infirmities and wants. Otherwise, what would God really have accomplished, if things would not be different, if man would always have to bear his paunch and sack of stench with him and eternally stuff himself and eliminate, discharge mucus, suppurate, be lazy and be ill? And why should we proclaim this, believe, and suffer, if we could hope for nothing better?
But as it is, all of this must pass away with this life, and yet the crea- |W, XXXVI, 635, 636] ture will remain, the body of each one, both as male and female, all in the same estate and position.
However, it is also true, as we shall hear later, that there will be distinctions made also in yonder life, depending upon how a person worked and lived here. For instance, since St. Paul was an apostle and Samuel and Isaiah prophets, and so forth, these will enjoy greater glory than others as men who did more and suffered more in their offices. Similarly, pious Sarah or Rachel will be preeminent before other women and yet will not be a different being or life. Thus every¬ body will be distinguished and honored in accordance with his office, and yet there will be one God and Lord in all, and there will be iden¬ tical happiness and bliss. With regard to person, no one will be more or have more than another, St. Peter no more than you or I. Yet there must be a distinction on the basis of works. For God did not effect through St. Paul what he effected through Isaiah, and vice versa.
Therefore all will bring their works with them by which they will shine and praise God; and it will be said that St. Peter wrought more than I or others did. This man or this woman lived in this way and accomplished so much. In short, before God all will be alike in faith and grace and heavenly essence; but there will be a difference in works and their glory. It is like fashioning a hatchet, a nail, a key, or a lock from one and the same iron. All are the identical essence, and yet they serve various uses and functions. Similarly, various vessels are made from the same dough or clay.
That is in brief St. Paul's reply to such a question or objection.
It extends almost to the end of the chapter and relates both to the kind of bodies we will have after the resurrection and what kind of a life this will be; namely, that the body will arise free of all infirm¬ ities, glorified, and perfect, requiring nothing that pertains to this perishable life. And yet there will be a distinction in glory. Paul be¬ gins to illustrate that with a few examples. For since reason fails to understand what will happen and refuses to believe the Word and yet insists on spouting its wisdom about it, it is necessary to stop reason's tongue with vivid illustrations borrowed from this life and manner of existence. From these people can see and comprehend that things do not happen as they imagine. As his first illustration Paul takes various kinds of seed that sprout from the soil. He says: "You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, etc."
Now he is growing angry over this. He becomes vexed with these inane babblers who were mocking as though they were so very smart.
He blurts out: "You foolish man!" It is as though he were to say:
"Your own words betray that you are nothing but a fool and that you believe nothing at all; and yet you venture to spout your wisdom about this in accordance with your stupid head. For Scripture calls him a fool who judges God's affairs, not from God's Word but in accordance with reason and the senses, as things appear to sight and touch. In¬ deed, a cow or a pig can do that too. That is what you are also doing with this article. Because you observe and understand that male and female must unite, keep house, own fields and animals, toil to procure food and drink, etc., you presume to conclude that the same must obtain in heaven. And you fail to see the everyday example of the grain growing in the field year after year. For if you would be gov¬ erned by your sight also there, as you see the grain lying in the granary or in the sack, and gape to watch any kernel growing there, what would come of that? Of course, nothing at all. It would, I am sure, eternally remain the same. But if the grain is to grow, go and sow it in the field, dig it into the ground, and you will soon see it grow forth again, with an entirely different essence or body. Then you may not say: 'There is my grain, exactly the same as when it lay in the sack.' For it decayed to nothing at all there in the earth. And yet in the process of rotting and decaying, when it was no longer of any use and when it had vanished, it received first of all a root below and a stem or a blade above, and a beautiful ear filled with new kernels.
The former kernel disappeared entirely and nothing of it can be found anymore; and yet a new grain emerged from it.
"This you witness daily with your very eyes. It is so common that it is really a shame to present such an illustration. And yet you venture to ask and to debate the question how things will be in the resurrection. You fail to notice that a mirror and an image is here held before your nose which you can lay hold of. For if God is able to work that with a tiny dead kernel, should He not provide us, for whom He created and to whom He gives heaven and earth, with a far different, better, and more glorious essence? Since this is painted before your eyes and penetrates all five senses, you must indeed be a stupid fool. It shows you how every kernel loses its form and body and yet does not lose it; but it sprouts forth again in a far more beau¬ tiful form with leaves and stem. Each kernel acquires a beautiful,
[W, XXXVI, 638—640] new body. If you had not observed this before, you would be amazed to death. And in the face of this you refuse to believe that God will keep His promise to us, to awaken us and to glorify us and to make us much brighter and more beautiful than any other creature on earth." Paul will say more on that later/'2
What a precious artist St. Paul becomes here, painting and carving the resurrection into everything that grows on earth! He encompasses everything with the words "what you sow," namely, all sorts of grains and plants. He employs all of this as an illustration or a painting with which to inculcate this article and everywhere to illustrate it visually.
This he does despite the fact that he has already proved it mightily with Scripture and God's Word; that might have sufficed. For who¬ ever will not believe or cannot be persuaded by God's Word and the example or experience of the resurrection initiated in Christ, will very likely be preached to in vain by illustrations and examples. It should suffice a Christian to hear God's Word declare that he will come forth from the earth alive, with body, soul, and all senses. He should regard that as true and certain because God said it. He should not inquire further how this will happen but should leave that to God.
For He who is able to raise all the dead from the earth with one word will surely also know how to bestow a form and an essence that will serve and be appropriate to the heavenly, eternal life.
However superfluous it may be, St. Paul enters also into this dis¬ pute regarding the question of the how of the resurrection in order to confirm the matter. He proves it and illustrates it with these tem¬ poral creatures, namely, with all that grows in the fields, indeed, as we shall hear later, also with the celestial creatures. He who believes
God's Word that Christ is risen and that we shall rise with Him is well served by such illustrations. They are like silk kerchiefs or paper bags 53 into which he can place this article to carry it with him. For this is what we use allegories and illustrations for, to lay hold of doc¬ trine better and always to bear it in mind. In that way we have it before our eyes daily and are constantly reminded of it. That is the way Scripture portrays Christ and His Christendom as a bridegroom
52 The twelfth sermon, preached Dec. 8, 1532, the Second Sunday in Advent, ends here.
53 The German word is Scharniitzlein. Luther uses this word in his com¬ mentary on his favorite psalm, Confitemini, Ps. 118. There it expresses the boaster's derision of the power inherent in "the name of the Lord.'' He mocks:
"Oh, this is a paper cannon, a paper bag!'' Cf. Luther's Works, 14, p. 74.
[W, XXXVI, 640, 6411 with his bride. It takes such a common illustration and metaphor and in it presents our chief article of faith. Thus it is nicely and easily retained by those who believe it. For he who does not pre¬ viously believe that Christ is our Savior, through whom we become righteous, pure, holy, and entirely one body with Him, is also not bene¬ fited by such a figurative portrayal of the doctrine.
So St. Paul here composes a fine picture and metaphor for the bare words and sermon which he had delivered before this on the resur¬ rection. In this way even a simple person can easily understand and remember this article, because this picture is so common and beheld by everybody daily. Therefore, when you see a peasant or husband¬ man walking along on his field, reaching into his sack and then scat¬ tering and strewing something about him, you have a beautiful pic¬ ture and painting of God's method of resurrecting the dead. But prior to this, it is necessary that you believe this sermon. After that you can imagine and think of God as such a peasant and yourself as a small kernel which He casts into the ground, so that it may come forth much more beautiful and glorious. But God is a much better and greater husbandman than a peasant in his field. He has a sack about His neck filled with seed. We human beings are that seed — as many of us as come into the world, beginning with Adam and ex¬ tending to the Last Day. These seeds God strews about Him into the soil, as He takes them into hand, woman, man, large, small, young and old, etc. For one is the same as another to Him, and the whole world is no more than the cloth bag suspended from the peasant's neck.
Therefore, when God has people die, especially in great numbers by pestilence, war, or otherwise, He is reaching into the sack and strew¬ ing a handful about Him.
Well, what does a pious peasant or husbandman do and think when he scatters his seed about like that? It looks like futile labor and loss, and he appears to be a fool who wantonly squanders his grain.
But ask him, and he will be quick to tell you: "Why, my dear man, I am not casting it away to lose it and to let it spoil, but I am doing this that it may grow forth again most beautifully and bear and yield far more in return for this handful. Indeed, now it seems lost, scat¬ tered into the wind for birds and worms; but let summer come, and you will see it grow forth. One handful will grow into ten, one bushel will yield six others." Such are the peasant's thoughts. They do not dwell on the kernels which fall into the ground to rot. He does not [W, XXXVI, 641—643] think that they will remain in that condition; no, he looks forward to and awaits the coming summer, which will compensate him fully and in rich measure. He is so sure and certain of the growth of the grain as though he already beheld it before him. Indeed, he is much surer of this than of what he here has in hand. Otherwise he would not be so foolish as to throw it away for no reason at all.
Behold, thus we, too, should learn and accustom ourselves to think¬ ing that it is just like that before God when He casts one handful here and another handful there into the cemetery, or when He seizes me today and someone else tomorrow, always one after the other, and puts them into the ground as His kernels, or seeds. This appears like the end and everlasting decay to us. But God takes a far different view of this and entertains far different thoughts. He does this solely in order that His little kernels might emerge again most beautifully during the pleasant coming summer following this miserable existence. He is as sure of this as though it had already come to pass and had been carried out. But it was recorded and portrayed so nicely for us that we, too, might conceive the same thoughts when we lie on our deathbed, and that we might not be concerned although all we see and perceive is that we will be interred in the ground, and although we hear nothing but wailing and weeping, as though this were really the end. No, then we must tear such human thoughts from our heart and graft these heavenly, divine thoughts into it, telling ourselves that it is not a matter of burial and decay but of sowing or planting of a little kernel, or seed, by God Himself. For here we must not judge according to our seeing and feeling, but ac¬ cording to God's Word. When we sow a physical kernel, we do not think of it as cast in the ground and decaying, but we think of it according to our knowledge of its future condition, although this is not at all apparent yet. Such thoughts are not born of our imagination.
Just as we, in our temporal existence, conceive and form our ideas from the work of God, which we behold every year, similarly we are here speaking from the viewpoint of the future life and in accordance with God's Word. And this is true and certain, and it will fail as little when the time comes as His present creation and work on earth fails.
Therefore St. Paul is an excellent teacher who is able to present this article so nicely and charmingly. No other person could have hit upon such a portrayal, evolving a picture of life from what the whole world regards as dead and illustrating this with such common- [W, XXXVI, 643, 644] place and insignificant things, namely, with all kinds of seeds, or kernels, in the field. Thus when a person dies, he must not be re¬ garded otherwise than as a kernel cast into the ground. If this kernel could see and feel what is happening to it, it would also be constrained to think that it is lost forever. But the husbandman would tell it a far different story. He would picture or portray it as already standing and growing there nicely, with beautiful stalk and ears. And we, too, must let ourselves be pictured thus when we are cast into the ground.
We must have it impressed on us that this is a matter not of dying and decaying but of sowing and planting and that in this very act there is to be a coming forth again and a growing into a new, everlasting, and perfect life and existence. In the future we will have to learn a new speech and language when referring to death and the grave.
When we die, this does not really mean death but seed sown for the coming summer. And the cemetery or burial ground does not indicate a heap of the dead, but a field full of kernels, known as God's kernels, which will verdantly blossom forth again and grow more beautifully than can be imagined. This is not human, earthly speech but divine, celestial speech. For it is not found in the books of all the scholars and sages on earth. Read all the histories, the books and writings of philosophers and jurists, and you will not find a word or a letter of this painting or hear a speech informing us that a different, a new, eternal life will evolve from death, and that when people die they are but a seed that is sown. No, they will call this eternal destruction and total annihilation, without further hope or expectation. That other vulgar crowd, titled Master Epicurus, found both among the clergy, the nobility, and among townspeople and peasants, talks in the same strain. They say: "Do you suppose there is one fellow stuck in an¬ other? etc." For to talk of resurrection and eternal life means to speak a strange and obscure language to them.
But among Christians this must be a familiar, common, and cur¬ rent speech. For Christians are different people. As God's children and companions of the angels, they no longer live or speak in an earthly but in a heavenly manner; and as such they must also employ a different language. Therefore they also have a different teacher, the Holy Spirit, who teaches them through the Word of God to under¬ stand and to speak this language spoken in heaven. And now, when
I witness the burial of my father, mother, brother, sister, child, or friend, and behold them lying under the ground, as a Christian I dare
[W, XXXVI, 644, 645] not say: "There lies a stinking, decaying carcass or dead men's bones, but rather there lies my dear father, mother, child, friend, prince, lord, etc., and today or tomorrow I shall lie there with them. What are they? Nothing but kernels, which will soon grow and emerge im¬ mortal and incorruptible and far more beautiful than the green crops in the fields in summer. This is to speak about the subject in a real heavenly language, such as God and His angels employ. Therefore, even if this world is not conversant with such speech and does not understand it, we must nevertheless learn to scrape our tongue and clear our eyes to enable us to view this in the light of God's Word and speak about it.
Behold, this is the painting or picture which St. Paul places before the eyes of us Christians who already believe God's Word regarding this article. He draws almost all of creation into this. He fairly showers and drowns us with illustrations, so that we find examples and illustrations in abundance wherever we look. And every peasant, even though he is unable to read, has this article before his eyes eveywhere and can feel it in his hands. In short, we have as many living proofs of the resurrection as we behold kernels and seeds sown or sprouting in the field or in the garden. And so we say: "Life is emerging from death everywhere."
Go into a garden this very hour 54 to see how things are going, how all sorts of plants and trees are growing there now. You will find that everything is absolutely dead. But if you return in summer, you will find a far different picture. Then all is verdant and is blos¬ soming. There is sheer joy and life compared to this harsh, dead winter. But if we had never witnessed this before, do you not suppose that we would regard it a great deed and miracle to transform one seed into a beautiful apple or cherry tree, which bears a thousand apples or cherries in place of this one kernel? Of course, people do not see or heed that but pass it by and do naught but gorge and swill all that grows. They are like swine that run across a field or wallow in a garden and devour what they find. But if anyone wants to be a swine, let him. This illustration is not presented for swine but for those who are Christians, that they might be delighted at the sight of such beautiful blossoms and fruits and say: "Lo, what a lovely spectacle it is when things are bursting into leaf and blossoming and growing so beautifully! How awful and poor by comparison things
54 The date is Dec. 22.
[W, XXXVI, 645—647] looked half a year ago, when everything lay frozen and dead in the ground! What a great God He must be who is able to fashion such a beautiful living object from the dead winter? My dear man, what does God mean to show with that, or what does it really signify?
This is surely done for our sakes, that we might thereby learn to know Him. He places His work before our eyes to illustrate what He pur¬ poses to do with us, for whose sake He created all of this. For since
He produces such beautiful new vegetation year after year from a dead kernel and seed, He is much more disposed to do the same with us when we similarly lie buried under the ground and the time comes for an eternal summer to dawn. Then we will come forth far more beautiful and glorious." Thus Christians hold converse with trees and all else that grows on earth, and the latter, in turn, with them.
As Christians look at these, they do not think of gormandizing like swine; no, in them they see the work prefigured which God will per¬ form on us. They behold this article comprehended in this spectacle, similar to a precious gem wrapped in a kerchief. This serves to strengthen and confirm our faith previously founded on Scripture.
People who do not possess the Word cannot behold such a doctrine prefigured here or interpret it that way, although they, too, witness such work of God in creation and see everything emerging from death, as pagan philosophers indeed did view it and describe it. Therefore we should take these illustrations of St. Paul to heart and let the resurrection make a deep impression on us, so that we may thoroughly learn this new, celestial language.
This is the first comparison with which St. Paul begins to answer the foolish question and nonsensical talk as to what will happen when the dead arise and what kind of bodies these will have. He rebukes their folly based on their crude, carnal, and pagan ideas, for they view and conceive of this only from observations in this life. In ac¬ cordance with that they presume to speculate and inquire how it is possible for the body to return, since no one can say that the kernel which a peasant sows in a field returns. And yet they must admit that none of these kernels can grow or acquire a new body unless it is first cast into the ground and decays.
"Therefore," he wants to say, "do not keep on asking how God will do this or what form the body will receive, but be content to hear what God will do. Then leave it to Him what will become of it." For as I said earlier, if God can make the essence, He will surely also know
[W, XXXVI, 647—649] how to give it a form. But in order to make this perceptible, Paul submits an illustration. When you see a peasant walking in the field and scattering seed into the ground, He does not intend this to remain lying in the soil — no, then the peasant would rather keep it at home in the loft — but he is prompted to do this mainly by the certain hope of recovering it next summer. He strews it into the ground, even though it must rot and decay there. He knows that it cannot develop any other way. Thus Christ, too, says in John 12:24: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." For only after it has died and lost its form com¬ pletely does it begin to show signs of life again and sprout out below and above until new grain develops from it.
That is what God also does with us. For He does not cast us into the ground with the intention that we remain there forever and de¬ compose. Yet He must go about it as though all appears to be lost and nothing would ever develop from it. For if the body would not rot in the ground, a new body would never grow from it. But if our body is to receive a new form, we must decay and decompose like the kernels in the ground. "Therefore," Paul says, "you must be a big fool to think that man must remain in the ground and be unable to emerge again because he rots and decays there; or, even if he should arise, that he must retain his present filthy form and become again what he now is. You yourself do not do this when you sow your grain in the ground; you do not expect it to remain there and you do not expect it to retain the same form. No, you cast it into the ground expressly that it might shed its present form. If that would not happen, all would be vain, and your sowing and all your grain would be lost." Should God, then, not be much more inclined to impart a different essence to us — even though He has us cast into the earth now — and to bring His grain forth again endowed with a more beautiful and better form than the present one, so that it will lose this mortal essence and acquire an immortal essence instead, as St. Paul later concludes? For this dead, corruptible grain (which is the body as it lives now) is not fit for heaven until it has first divested itself of its form and been garbed in a new one that will no longer eat, drink, digest, fester and stink, associate with wife and child, occupy itself with house and home, or have other wants. This body will purge itself of all of that in the grave and let it vanish or decay, so that it will be completely purified and glorified. And you fool with [W, XXXVI, 649—651] your carnal thoughts presume to construct a heaven for God in which the body should daily fill itself and then eliminate again in the same way as it does now. Search your own heart and contemplate your own work. Note what you do with the grain which you sow. That will surely teach you that this will not and cannot happen so, for you must learn from the grain that its decay serves the purpose of imparting a new and more beautiful form to it. If it would remain where it is now, it would never get any roots, much less would it develop stem or blade or ear later. Should God not produce far more with His grain? For He who creates all things and us human beings in addi¬ tion is a Husbandman different from you. And since He once before created us from nothing, He can also again give us life from the grave and give the body a new form. For it surely denotes greater skill to make something out of nothing than to renew and to beautify what existed previously.
You see, in this way Paul wants to refute the crude, carnal mean¬ ing which they inject into this article with the intention of weak¬ ening it. His meaning and conclusion are that man's body will be transformed. It will not retain the form it now has. Man will retain only what pertains to his essence, but nothing will remain that relates to this transitory life. And yet it will be the same body and soul with all the members that man had here. But he will have to leave behind all that he required in this world: husband, wife, child, house, home, masters, manservant, maidservant, meat and drink, clothing, etc. These man will need until we have all departed this life, one after another, until this life has ceased and vanished completely and another, more beautiful life dawns, which is to endure eternally. Therefore it is not at all a question whether everybody will live a life or occupy positions in the resurrection as he does now, or how everybody will procure food, drink, clothing, etc.; for God wants to create a new life for the very purpose that all that is perishable be entirely abolished.
Death must serve that purpose. He must approach us and say: "Stop eating, drinking, digesting, etc., and lie down and decompose so that you may acquire a new, more beautiful form, just as the grain does which sprouts anew from the soil.155
39-42. For not all flesh is alike, hut there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are r,r> The thirteenth sermon, preached Dec. 22, 1532, the Fourth Sunday in 15:39-42 iw, XXXVI, 651, 652] celestial bodies, and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for stars differ from stars in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead.
St. Paul applies three illustrations to this article. First, as we heard, he speaks of the kernels or seed. The second deals with the various bodies of all living animals, birds, and fish. The third speaks of all the celestial bodies, sun, moon, and stars. All of these serve to illustrate this article for us and to inculcate it. By the first illustration he showed us sufficiently that the new body will acquire a new form in the resurrection; this will be more beautiful and glorious than the present one. It is comparable to the kernel that grows forth again from the ground and is far more beautiful after it has decayed. It will be a new mode of existence, free of all temporal necessities, finding its full sufficiency in God alone. But in the second and third illustra¬ tions Paul wishes to expound the other factor of which I also spoke earlier, namely, the various differences in yonder life. Each body will have its own peculiar clarity; each member will have its own peculiar glory.
This is, in short, St. Paul's meaning: "You can obviously see," he says, "that God created and gave the living creatures various kinds of flesh, such as man, animals, birds, and fish, etc. But they are all of one kind and essence, inasmuch as they are all flesh and are called flesh." To be sure, we Germans and the pope in his language do not apply the word flesh 50 to fish. But among the Romans and the Greeks and all true and natural masters who spoke or wrote about this every¬ thing possessing a living body is called flesh. Now, as there are vari¬ ous kinds of flesh and as not all have one form — cattle and other animals on the ground differ from birds in the air; birds differ from fish in the water; and, moreover, in each of these classes there are many varieties, distinguishing the flesh of one from that of another — so there will also be but one kind of man in the life to come, and yet there will be various differences, each one in accordance with the life he lived here and the works he performed. That is the second illustration.
In the third place, after Paul has spoken of all kinds of living bodies, he also speaks of other bodies in general. Thus he briefly
5(3 In the dietary sense of the German word Fleisch, "meat."
IW, XXXVI, 652, 653] mentions all the physical or visible creatures, gold, silver, fire, water, stone, wood, iron, and whatever other terrestrial things there may be.
And then he also mentions everything up in the heavens, sun, moon, planets, and other stars, which he calls "celestial bodies." There are so very many terrestrial or celestial bodies, and yet each one is dis¬ tinguished in kind from the other. The one is always more glorious and precious than the other: gold is better than lead; silver is better than straw; jewels are better than fieldstones. And among the celestial bodies the sun is more resplendent and beautiful than the moon, and one star is more beautiful and brighter than another. And yet all stars have one nature or body. And everything on earth is also God's crea¬ ture, the least as well as the greatest and the most precious. Similarly, in the life to come, too, there will be various differences with regard to brightness and glory. And yet all will be of one heavenly essence as one body and as members of Christ. So there are many and various members in one natural body, each bearing its own name and ful¬ filling its own functions or offices, and yet all partake of the one essence and nature of the one body.
It would be possible to imitate St. Paul and compose and paint many more such illustrations from any part of nature and show how
God makes one body from a variety of bodies, each with its own body, but with a difference that makes each distinguishable from others, also within the same kind and essence. For instance, among gems we find different names, varying colors and virtues; in one body there are various members. That forcefully demonstrates the invalidity of the carnal thoughts which assume that things in the life to come must be the same as they are here. For reason says: "Why should one need the members of the body if one does not have to eat, drink, digest, etc.?" But if all the members of the body would still be necessary and be used as they are now, this would become a filthy mode of living and a terrible heavenly kingdom, as was said sufficiently before.
Now St. Paul applies this illustration to his article, saying: "So it is with the resurrection of the dead." He wishes to say: "We shall all rise with body and soul but with a new essence or form of the body and its members. Therefore no one should be led astray by pagan talk and ideas as to how this may agree with reason and as to how this may be done. For if the body is glorified, the members with their functions will also enter a new mode of existence. It will quickly be evident what purpose they serve and for what they will be used,
[W, XXXVI, 653, 654] whether or not they will longer be necessary, as they are now, for transitory functions. And yet many differences or degrees of glory will prevail among us. For instance, Peter's and Paul's will be the glory of apostles; one person will partake of the glory of a martyr, another of that of a pious bishop or preacher; each one in accord with the works which he has performed. Similarly, each member of the body has its own honor, the eyes have an honor that differs from that of the hands or feet, etc.; moreover, the sun in the heavens has a bril¬ liance different from that of the stars, and one star is brighter and more radiant than another, making each nicely distinct from the other.
And yet with regard to person they are alike and they have the same essence, and all will have equal joy and bliss in God. In the same way all the stars glitter and glisten in the sky, although one emits more and the other less brightness or light. Let this suffice with regard to the comparisons or illustrations that Paul adduces to impress upon the simple that they should not be misled by the crude, swinish ideas that are based on this life. Now he concludes and explains the illus¬ trations with simple and clear language.
42-44. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.
St. Paul now reverts to the first illustration, which relates to sow¬ ing. He himself interprets it. And thereby he removes another great object of offense which severely agitates also the heathen. For they argue or raise the objection mentioned earlier: "In the first place, the Christians must themselves admit that the bodies of even the greatest saints, such as patriarchs, prophets, apostles, are long decomposed completely, with not as much as a speck of dust left of them." That is the way man is sown. When he dies and lies in his coffin longer than a day, he begins to smell and stink. And beyond this time maggots and worms grow in his body. This is so awful that no one can see or endure it. Therefore man has to be buried quickly or be consumed in fire or water and gotten rid of, for he is simply unendurable on earth. Well, such a spectacle is most offensive, and one is forced to think: "How might something come of such a body, which stinks so offensively and putridly, and which, as those who experienced it say, turns into the vilest worms, adders, toads, and snakes? Also, how
[W, XXXVI, 654—656] might something come of those who are devoured on the gallows by crows, in the water by the fish, or who are burned to ashes in the fire and have their ashes scattered abroad? How does that harmonize with this article, with the resurrection of the dead?"
St. Paul says: "Indeed, I, too, know that very well. I have often observed this. But, you must adhere to the word 'seed' or 'sow' as I presented and interpreted it, namely, that it is sown as God's grain.
Therefore you must disregard the fact that the body stinks so and decays and that nothing of it remains. You must not be deceived by this. Otherwise you would also have to say to the sower: 'Well, what is to become of the seed? After all, there it lies in the ground and is completely rotted.' He would answer you: 'You are a fool and fail to understand. That is exactly what I want it to do. I would deplore if it were otherwise. For the fact that it decays is a good sign that it will develop as I hope.' The sower cast the seed into the ground for the very purpose that it should lose its form and that new grain should grow from it. He is happy to see it decay and rot. Similarly, it cannot be said of man or of a corpse that nothing can come of him because he has no eyes, ears, flesh, lungs, or liver, etc., and because all has perished. No, Christians must say: 'You fool, it is necessary for the whole body to lose its form and decay with hide and hair and all that it has.' This forces people to say that nothing is left of it.
That is termed sowing here, sowing the perishable. Later, however, it will be raised imperishable. Then we will have a new body together with all its members. This can no longer decompose or die or decline, but it will remain eternally hale and hearty, beautiful and fragrant, and possess all that it may desire." That is the first point.
In the second place St. Paul says: "It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory." That is to say that it will be worthless and be cast away. It is apparent that no animal's body is treated so disgracefully after death as man's. Pigs and other animals are slaughtered and killed for the benefit of man. Or if they die of themselves, they are taken outside the city gates to the skinner for the utilization of their hide and lard. Man's body, however, is dishonored inasmuch as every¬ body shuns it, flees from it, holds his nose shut, and hurries it to its grave as fast as possible, whether it be that of emperor, king or prince.
Furthermore, it is stripped of all of its honor and adornment, and it lies there naked and bare. The dead raven, on the other hand, is per¬ mitted to keep its feathers and the pig its bristles. But no golden
[W, XXXVI, 656, 657] chain is left on man's body, not even a thread; it is bereft of everything.
It is wrapped only in a linen cloth lest anyone see it lying there so shamefully. And then it is quickly buried so that it does not remain on earth. That is the disgraceful thing man becomes as soon as he dies. Although a mother would be happy to keep her son or a king his only heir and adorn him gloriously, this cannot be done. The sooner man can be put under the sod, the better. It would be a bold man indeed who could remain alone with a corpse.
But a Christian must not be disconcerted by all of that. After all, you are not now assailed or dismayed by the fact that you have a nose under your eyes and that this nose is rendered so filthy by nasal mucus and other impurities, to say nothing of the belly and the whole body with its sweat and rash and all kinds of filth. You do not hate your body for all of that, and you do not disdain it, but despite the fact that it is such a great object of stench, you adorn it most pains¬ takingly with velvet, gold, pearls, etc. Therefore learn to think here, too, that this article is not necessarily in error because the body is treated so shamefully and dishonorably. No matter how dishonorable or worthless it is at present, it will return in a form so honorable and precious that its future honor and glory will surpass the present shame and dishonor many thousand times. Every creature will be amazed over it, all the angels will sing praises and smile admiringly at it, and God Himself will take delight in it. This is why it is described as "sown." It is like the seed. That too, must submit to being cast away so shamefully, to being scraped into the ground, and to having feet tread over it at the place where it will later grow again. The same process is experienced here, because it is really the work of God. He
Himself wants to create it anew, so that it no longer remains frail and filthy as it is now but becomes perfectly pure and precious.
In the third place, we read: "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." For the body is so weak now that it must suffer all sorts of things when but an illness, yes, a little abscess or a fever, comes along. And when it lies prostrate, it is unable to chase away, if I may say so, even a louse or a flea; it must permit worms and all kinds of vermin to eat it. There is not enough strength present to warrant saying: "He is able to do that," but only: "He must suffer that." In view of this, reason asks how that body might rise from the grave again after it is completely consumed and turned into dust, a body which even now while it is alive is so frail and weak that it is felled
[W, XXXVI, 657, 658] by a little pestilence or by an abscess. All right, if you refuse to be¬ lieve, go your way and remain a pig. We. however, know that later and at the proper time the body, weak and devoid of all strength and power though it may now be when it lies in the grave, will be so strong that with one finger it will be able to carry this church, with one toe it will be able to move a tower and play with a mountain as children play with a ball. And in the twinkling of an eye it will be able to leap to the clouds or traverse a hundred miles. For then the body will be sheer strength, as it is now sheer feebleness and weakness. Nothing that it decides to do will be impossible for it. It will be able to defeat the whole world alone. It will become so light and nimble that it will soar both down here on earth and up above in the heavens in a moment.
At present and until that Day arrives, we look forward to that in faith. Meanwhile we rest under the sod, unable to move a hair's breadth from our place. We must remain where we are bedded and suffer all to tread over us with their feet and all those awful worms to gnaw away at us and consume us. And yet we must not let that dis¬ may us but be minded as the peasant is who sows the kernels in the ground and buries them down deep, letting them rest there until they rot. There these kernels become so weak and perish so thoroughly that they are entirely useless. But nevertheless, when the time comes and summer appears, they come forth again and sprout beautiful blades and shoot into full ears, each of which bears 20 or 30 kernels for that one rotted kernel. And they withstand wind, rain, storm, and all kinds of vermin — unless God inflicts a special calamity.
Behold, this is what such a small kernel or seed, which has no inher¬ ent strength and which earlier, when it was sown, could not move or leave the ground the width of a straw, is able to do. Now it is so astir and active that I often have asked in amazement how it was possible that an object as tiny as a mustard or poppy seed could bore its way through the ground which a peasant only with difficulty penetrates with a stake. And the seed is not assisted in this; it bores through irre¬ sistibly, although it may encounter sand and gravel and although the ground may be hard and dry. In view of this, should God not be able to do that with us, in accordance with His Word, that we come forth with a new strength when He wants to raise us up? Should we not have sufficient strength to penetrate the ground, even though huge fieldstones were lying over us? Should we not bring sufficient strength
[W, XXXVI, 659, 660] and power over all creatures with us, so that all must give way to us and lie under our feet?
Paul concludes with the words: "It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body." This seems like an unusual saying to us, for we have not preached and stressed this article very much. Still it should be current and common in Christendom, since St. Paul speaks of it and treats it with great diligence. But this does not have a familiar ring especially to us Germans. Nevertheless, we will have to familiarize ourselves also with the language of Scripture. Scripture uses the term animale corpus, "a natural body," or a body such as is born on earth, which for its natural preservation or sustenance requires meat and drink, clothing, fire, water, air, wood, iron, as we have it recorded also in Ecclus. 31.57 For the term animale corpus, which we translated with natural body, is derived from the Hebrew tfQ3, anima, which is very generally used in Scripture. It refers not only to a part of man, as we
Germans speak of the soul, but it refers to the whole man as he exists with his five senses and as he maintains himself with meat and drink, house and home, wife and child. In short, a natural body is nothing other than physical life as it is lived by every animal. In good clear
German we might call it einen viehischen Leib, "an animal body." For in point of physical life there is no difference or very little difference between us and the animals. They have bodies just as we do, bodies that perform the same natural functions that our body performs. They, too, live in accordance with their five senses; the only difference is that they have no reason.
Such a natural, or animal, body, which sustains itself, digests its food, expels the remnant, and is, moreover, corruptible, wretched, and weak, is now sown, as St. Paul says, when it dies and is buried, to the end that a new, spiritual body might emerge from it, which will not live for this natural life, require neither food nor cover, have neither wife nor child, nor satisfy any physical wants. And yet it will be the same physical body. When it is called a spiritual body, this does not imply that it no longer has physical life or flesh and blood. No, then it could not be called a true body. But when it is called a spiritual body, this means that it will have life and yet not be a body that eats, sleeps, digests, but a body that is nourished and preserved spiritually by God and has life entirely in Him. And then, when the body thus lives spiritually in God, it will sally forth into heaven and earth, play with 57 The Weimar editor suggests Ecclus. 31:12 ff.
[W, XXXVI, 660—662] sun and moon and all the other creatures, and also be delighted by this.
It will find such content and bliss in this that it will never think of eat¬ ing and drinking. It will be a completely spiritual existence, or life, of the whole person, covering both body and soul. It will issue from the Spirit and will come immediately from or through God, so that we will be illumined by Him and know Him not only with regard to the soul, but our whole body will be pervaded. It will be as clear and as light as the air; it will see and hear sharply to the ends of the world.
We will need nothing else for life or the preservation of life. And yet we will have a true body. This is comparable to the stars that are now in the heavens; they are so constituted that they need nothing for their existence, and yet they are physical creatures. To be sure, they have no terrestrial body but a celestial body.58
Thus St. Paul wants to banish all pagan ideas and the offensive pic¬ ture that inspires these, portraying man as an abject and impotent being. This views a Christian merely in his external aspects; it sees him dying like a cow or a pig. No one was ever wise and learned enough to differentiate in that point between man and any animal.
"And it is true," St. Paul says, "I myself see this and am well acquainted with that wisdom which you present from your pagan reason. Indeed, there is not a cow which cannot see it. And if mocking this article makes a person smart and erudite, I am a doctor already, or will soon become one." But a Christian must be acquainted with a wisdom dif¬ ferent from this swinish wisdom, so that he does not judge and believe as matters appear to the eye and as every cow understands them. He must believe what God's Word teaches about those things which he now neither sees nor feels. A Christian no longer says that man departs this life and dies to perish, that man is nothing but a frail, corruptible, and foul being. No, according to true, divine understanding and in celestial language he says: The corruptible, dishonorable, and weak is sown that it might arise incorruptible and in glory and power, and that the animal, terrestrial body might become a spiritual, celestial body.
Therefore we must learn to impress this upon our minds to be con¬ firmed in our belief and not doubt this, because we are called by God through Baptism and the Gospel to Christ and possess the promise of eternal life, since we believe that the Savior arose from the dead for the purpose of raising us, too, on the Last Day and presenting us as 08 The fourteenth sermon, preached Jan. 19, 1533, the Second Sunday After [W, XXXVI, 662—664] glorious and resplendent as He Himself is. In this way we can comfort, sustain, and fortify our hearts. We can already toy with such thoughts and find joy in the prospect of the beautiful, glorious life which we will receive there. For this serves to warm our hearts to the idea and to forget the temporal life, lest we cling to it as though we want to remain here forever, as the world does. Then we will find our comfort and our reliance in something loftier than in this life and transitory goods, which are, after all, uncertain from hour to hour. We must rather get used to comforting and delighting ourselves with the lofty and inexpressible treasure which we shall receive.
44-45. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written: The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
To confirm what he said about the natural and the spiritual body, St. Paul here quotes a verse from Scripture. With regard to man's crea¬ tion, Gen. 2:7 records: "The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man be¬ came a living soul." St. Paul translated the Hebrew term "living soul" with the Greek word xjrcxixog, "natural body." But as I said earlier, the word "soul" does not convey the proper meaning for us Germans.
However, we must show the Hebrew tongue the honor to adopt its mode of expression occasionally, because we cannot reproduce it bet¬ ter. Thus what Moses calls a living soul and St. Paul here terms a natu¬ ral life or a natural man are one and the same thing. Earlier I showed that the Hebrew word for soul really signifies what we call the life of the body or a living body, that is, a human being or an animal which pants and breathes.
Accordingly, later in Moses we often find the term "every living soul," that is, every kind of animal with a living body. He also says of Jacob (Gen. 46:25-27) that he moved to Egypt with all souls who were in his house. That means nothing else than as many living bodies as were with him. We also find the same in the New Testament, for instance, in Rev. 18:11-13. This passage prophesies of Babylon that no one will any longer buy of her or sell to her human bodies or souls, that is, living persons, or slaves. Moses, too, only wishes to state that God infused the five senses into man and provided that he eat and drink, digest and do whatever else the body requires. Taking it from the Hebrew, St. Paul calls all of this r|a>xix6g, animalis homo.
Now St. Paul draws an antithesis or relationship from this text, say¬ ing: "When Moses declares that man was created, first, to have a natural body, or to live a natural life, he implies another body, or life, which is not natural but spiritual." These St. Paul contraposes and in¬ fers the following per antithesin: "If a person has a physical body, he must also have a spiritual body." So he distinguishes two kinds of life, the one for which Adam was first created, which is called natural, and the other spiritual, which will come into being later. For Adam was first created for natural life. But as this life will cease and another life will follow, so that man will live anew, the latter cannot again be a natural life but must be a spiritual life. Christ makes the same dis¬ tinction in John 3:6, where He says: "That which is bom of the flesh is flesh, and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit, etc." He applies the word flesh to the whole human being born of flesh, encompassing body and soul, reason and senses. If he remains nothing but that, he does not belong in heaven. If he is to get to heaven, he must be bom of the Spirit and become completely spiritual, both as to body and soul. This constitutes a life far different from the present natural one.
And yet it remains the same body, or person.
Therefore Paul now poses two different Adams, or two persons, making the first Adam an example or image of the other. The first
Adam, he says, is created for natural life. From him we inherit this natural life. Father and mother cannot impart more to us than that, or God through them. The other Adam, however, will have and will bestow another life. As you bear the first Adam and feel and touch as he did, by means of which you live the natural life, let me tell you that you will also have the other, the spiritual Adam, when the former ceases to exist.
Thus you must learn to understand the words "natural" and "spir¬ itual" correctly and distinguish in accordance with their usage in Scripture. Here the body is not to be distinguished from the soul, as we customarily do when we hear the words spirit or spiritual. No, we must understand this to mean that the body, too, must become spirit, or live spiritually. We have already begun to do that through Baptism, by virtue of which we live spiritually with regard to the soul and God also views and regards the body as spiritual. It is only that the body must first depart from this temporal life before it becomes completely new and spiritual and lives solely of and by the Spirit. Thus our Lord Christ, the other Adam, was transported into the spiritual
[W, XXXVI, 665—667] life through the resurrection, no longer living for bodily wants as He did during His sojourn on earth. And yet He has a true and genuine body with flesh and blood, such as He had when He showed Himself to His disciples. For His person He has achieved the celestial, spiritual life, so that He might also initiate this in us and complete this fully on that Day, as St. Paul will demonstrate further.
46-47. But it is net the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second Man is from heaven.
Here you note that St. Paul always juxtaposes the two expressions "natural body" and "spiritual body." He does this lest someone under¬ stand this to mean — as some heretics do on the basis of the words that follow later (v. 50): "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" — that only the spirit, or the soul, will rise and be saved on the Last Day and that the body will remain in the ground. They began to say that already at St. Paul's time. They interpreted this as referring only to a spiritual resurrection. They said that when man is baptized, he has already been resurrected; that this does not at all pertain to the body. "That is not the way it is," Paul wants to say; "for I am declaring plainly that it is to be a spiritual body, the very same body that was previously a natural, or animal, being and led a natural, or animal, life.
If it were true that the soul alone is saved, this would create a fine muddle. Then we could blame Baptism that we are sinners and that the body remains condemned to bear its punishment. In accordance with that we could say that it is not the soul but only the body which sins, and that, despite this, the soul could not be saved since the body is still present. But there is nothing to that. For we are baptized not only with regard to the soul; no, the body is also baptized. So the Gospel is also preached to us, and we are blessed thereby, not only so far as the soul is concerned but also in regard to the whole person, also the body. Likewise, not only the soul but also the body receives the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood. Thus the body accompanies the soul through Baptism and the Sacrament, and on the Last Day it will abide where the soul abides.
Therefore we adhere to the clear words of St. Paul which state that it will become a spiritual body but that it was a natural body pre¬ viously. Of course, we should like to see — as St. Paul declares else¬ where, namely, in 2 Cor. 5:4 —''also the body become perfectly holy
[W, XXXVI, 667, 668] and pure at once when we are baptized, when we hear the Gospel, and when we partake of the Food, so that we would no longer be cumbered with this filthy bag around our necks. But that cannot come to pass before that Day, when a completely new essence comes into being all of a sudden, not only in us human beings but also in all other creatures.
In the meantime we must put up with the animal body. And during this time we will not become so spiritual that we can feel it and lay hold of it, but we must apprehend this solely by faith. For God, who has promised us this, is surely adequate guarantee that He will not let us believe and hope in vain.
St. Paul says: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second Man is from heaven." That is to say that we are, beginning with the birth of the first man Adam, nothing but flesh and blood and entirely earthly; for as Scripture says (Gen. 2:7), he was "formed of dust from the ground." Paul here refers to that statement. If you have read that in Scripture and are able to believe such a miracle, that God made that Adam from and of earth, then you can surely also believe that He will make a celestial body from the other, the heavenly Adam.
Just place a clod of earth next to a living human being. Then ask your¬ self what comparison there is between that clod of dirt and that beau¬ tiful living picture which is Adam? Yet the latter is nothing more than that same clod of dirt converted into blood, flesh, veins, bone, eyes, ears, head, etc. If God can make a living person with all his members and powers from this dirt, should He not also be able to form a spir¬ itual, celestial body from the present natural body, which already possesses the nature or the essence of the body?
Furthermore, where did our first mother, Eve, come from when God formed her from a bone of Adam? What a beautiful picture she presented at that time prior to the Fall as compared to the bare bone or rib? Indeed, if we were to figure out how all people derive from father and mother, who could believe such a genesis possible if expe¬ rience would not convince us of that? Should God, then, not be able to produce that same body again from the grave and make it more beautiful than before, since He applied His Word, Spirit, and work to it? Therefore I may well say to man now as God Himself says to Adam: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19). All men are from the earth and must return under the earth. However, they shall not remain earth. But as God once formed a beautiful per¬ son with body and soul of earth, He will make him far more glorious
[W, XXXVI, 668—670] and beautiful the second time. Now God lets man decompose in the ground to have the terrestrial essence vanish as something merely ephemeral and corruptible, also weak and impure by nature, and to become a new man of heaven, who. is no longer terrestrial but com¬ pletely celestial.
Thus St. Paul again resorts to God's Word and work to oppose the mockery of smart spirits who ask how anything might be made of the dead, impotent, and decomposed body. He says: "I will indeed pro¬ pound a more difficult question than yours. What was Adam in the beginning but a clod of dirt? He was far more unlike a human being than we will be when we are lying in the grave and are to rise again.
Furthermore, how totally unlike each other are a rib, or bone, and a beautiful live woman? And how unlike are a little drop of blood and a living person who will become a great and famous king on earth or a great and holy apostle, prophet, and martyr in heaven? And yet also
Scripture does not title such otherwise than Abraham's and David's seed. Even Christ is called thus, only that He was not begotten by a man. If this reflected any wisdom, I suppose that I, too, could ridi¬ cule and mock this most expertly. I could say just as absurdly as some crude philosophers: "My dear man, let them preach what they will; but don't ever believe that flesh and blood will get to heaven. See for yourself where you come from, etc." Yet I have to confess that the difference is far greater here where I need not believe but where I see before my eyes and feel the work God does on man when He creates him for this life. Moreover, the sun would have to shine long and all the forests be collected and ignited and all creatures melt away, before it were possible to make a man from a clod of dirt. Therefore it should not be so difficult to accept also this article, since it is far easier to make a celestial body from what was previously a terrestrial body.
48-49. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the Man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven.
Note how the apostle emphasizes this article and enlarges on it with many words. He wishes to anticipate those shameful preachers who were already at that time beginning to be heard. Again he juxta¬ poses the two men, Adam and Christ, as he did elsewhere earlier. He calls Adam the first terrestrial man but Christ the first celestial Man.
He makes them both our prototypes and concludes that we must all become like the celestial Man, Christ, as we are now like the first terrestrial man, etc. But the words "as was the man of dust" and "as is the Man of heaven" must not be understood as referring to the sin of the first man, Adam, which we inherited from him — as several have interpreted this — nor to the righteousness which Christ possesses and which we receive from Him. No, we will remain with the meaning with which Paul began to speak here. For here he does not treat of our relationship over against God by reason of our sins or our piety, but solely of the natural and the spiritual life of the body.
Therefore this is in brief the opinion: Just as Adam lived the natural life with the five senses and all sorts of natural functions of the body, so all of his children from the beginning of the world to its end live, one just like the other. For the words "the image of the man of dust" mean that we all bear with us the same form and essence and live and do in every respect as Adam and Eve lived and did. They led the same kind of life, they ate, drank, digested, eliminated, froze, wore clothes, etc., as we do. Therefore, in external aspects there was no observable difference between them and us. Later, however, we shall divest our¬ selves of that image and essence and receive another's, namely, the celestial Christ's. Then we shall have the same form and essence which He now has since His resurrection. Then we need no longer eat, drink, sleep, walk, stand, etc., but will live without any creatural necessities.
The entire body will be as pure and bright as the sun and as light as the air, and, finally, so healthy, so blissful, and filled with such heav¬ enly, eternal joy in God that it will never hunger, thirst, grow weary, or decline.
That will indeed be a far different and an immeasurably more glo¬ rious image than the present one. And what we bear there will be far different from what we bear here. There will be no dissatisfaction, no annoyances, no hardships to bear, such as we have in this lazy, lame image, where we must bear and drag this heavy, indolent paunch about with us, lift it, and have it led. No, there it will swish through all the heavens as swiftly and lightly as lightning and soar over the clouds among the dear angels. St. Paul was intent on impressing these thoughts on us so that we might accustom ourselves already to rising into that life by faith and remember what we are hoping and wishing and praying for when we recite the article: I believe in the resurrec¬ tion, not only of the spirit — as the heretics said — but also of that very
[W, XXXVI, 671, 672] flesh, or body, which we bear on our necks. We believe that it, too, will become a celestial, spiritual body. For what St. Paul discusses in this entire chapter with so many words is only an explanation of this article.
He teaches nothing but what these two words contain and convey:
"resurrection of the flesh."
50. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
St. Paul has almost finished his sermon now. He has said enough about this article. However, he adds another item, by way of supple¬ ment as it were. He wants to confide a secret to them, revealing how things will be on the Last Day when we are to rise. But he prefaces this with a brief warning, as though he were to say: "You heard the wiseacres and factious spirits preach against this article and ask de¬ risively: 'How will this take place?'What sort of bodies will we have?'
Therefore I counsel and warn you faithfully to be on your guard against flesh and blood and whatever human wisdom and ideas may suggest. Do not suppose that you will obtain or retain this article in that way. For it is not recognized otherwise than from heaven by faith, which the Holy Spirit must bestow. In short, be governed by that, lest you think and live as flesh and blood does, which believes nothing at all and lives as though we would remain here forever. Strive to obtain the resurrection. For such carnal, worldly ways and thoughts do not belong in heaven; they must all cease and vanish."
For as I said earlier and have often said elsewhere, Scripture ap¬ plies the term "flesh and blood" to man with his whole being, as it is inherited from Adam and develops in accordance with reason, if it is not renewed through Christ and faith. A person who lives thus and remains in the old Adam knows and understands nothing of God, but invents a god and portrays him in accordance with his own ideas, missing the mark entirely. That is the way the monks picture their god. He is seated above and pays heed to their cowls and orders.
Therefore such a person cannot comprehend this article either. The smarter he is with regard to reason, the less he esteems it. Therefore be on your guard against such people; for when they would be smart¬ est, they are nothing but flesh and blood, and flesh and blood does not belong in heaven, nor can it enter God's kingdom, but it must perish completely and decay until an entirely new man develops from this.
That is, in short, the correct meaning of this text. If someone were [W, XXXVI, 672, 673] to say in view of St. Paul's declaration that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," that only the soul, or the spirit, and not the body will arise, as a number of heretics concluded, he is directly contradicting St. Paul's doctrine throughout this whole chapter. For Paul does not say that the body will not rise, but that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And behold what asses and im¬ prudent fools they are who arrive at this strained interpretation. The text clearly states that it "cannot inherit the kingdom of God." They flit over this and see only the words "flesh and blood" and no more.
Then they add their own ideas and say that flesh and blood will not rise. St. Paul never intended to say that nor could he say that, because he stated so plainly and clearly in the text immediately preceding this one that a true spiritual body will rise. No, he says that flesh and blood does not belong in God's kingdom. Christ Himself says that too in It is one thing to rise physically or with flesh and blood and a far different thing to enter God's kingdom, or heaven. For also Judas,
Caiaphas, and all the damned will rise physically, but they will not enter God's kingdom. And what could be clearer than St. Paul's words, which state that flesh and blood, which is sinful now, cannot come into heaven? As Christ also says (John3:3, 6): "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God," for "that which is bom of the flesh is flesh." But the flesh and blood which is baptized in Christ, even though it once was flesh and blood, is now never called flesh and blood, for it is born anew of the Spirit. In a natural way it is flesh and blood, but not spiritually, because it has been purified by Christ in Baptism and received into God's kingdom. Therefore it can no longer simply be called flesh and blood, except in an external and physical sense. For the term flesh and blood really applies to the old man in accordance with reason, as descended from flesh and blood, who no longer knows or understands anything, who is without faith and God's Word and without Christ. Thus Christ says to Peter in Matt. 16:17: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, etc."
Therefore it does not belong into the kingdom of God. But it does not follow by any means, nor can we conclude from this, that flesh and blood will not arise on the Last Day. The reverse must rather be deduced from this. For precisely because flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God, it must end, die, and decay and rise in a new spiritual essence, so that it may enter heaven. Therefore St. Paul
[W, XXXVI, 673—675] admonishes them as Christians to be such new men, lest they be found to be flesh and blood on that Day.
I am saying this that one might note how such spirits, who every¬ where presume to be masters of Scripture, stray so precariously and stagger. When they spy a word, they gape at it with open mouth and eyes and see or hear nothing but it. So the Anabaptist faction sees no more in Baptism today with their mouths, eyes, and ears than mere water, and then they gush and say: "Water is water. How could water benefit the soul?" They can see water as a part of Baptism; to be sure, a cow can also see that. They suppose that they are displaying great wisdom when they are able to say: "Water is water." But the other, the chief part, they cannot see with open eyes, namely, the words:
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). They have filled their mouth and eyes so completely with water that they are unable to behold both water and words. And it serves them right that they disgrace themselves with that and are struck on their heads with their own swords.
51-53. Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perish¬ able nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal na¬ ture must put on immortality.
That is the last part; in it St. Paul wants to impart a secret to them.
For he is a godly apostle and has their welfare at heart. He would like to see them understand this article well, remember it, and not be led astray by any loose talk. Therefore he confides something special to their ear, something not recorded anywhere else, namely, how things will go on the Last Day. For since he said that no one can enter heaven with this perishable animal body and that a new spiritual body will have to come from this natural body, someone might fret and ask what will happen to those still living on the Last Day. Will they remain thus, or will they also rise, though they are not buried and do not decay as the others who died previously?
Paul reveals this secret by way of reply. He says that this is the way things will happen: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, etc." That sounds as though not all of us will die. In fact, some people did juggle the words to mean this. However, St. Paul's
[W, XXXVI, 675, 676] meaning is this, that the Last Day will come as suddenly as a snare — as he said elsewhere (Luke 21:35) — before anyone is aware of it and when the whole world feels secure. Then all will be changed in a moment. That does not negate that we must all die. No, Paul says that we shall not all sleep. That is to say that those who are struck in the final hour will not depart this life as a person does otherwise on his deathbed, nor will they be placed in a grave or buried under the soil.
For Scripture applies the term "sleep" to those who are placed into coffin and grave. These people, however, will pass from this life into yonder life without being buried in a grave. They will simply be transformed, or changed.
The Greek word found here means chiefly to change so as to be moved from one place to another, for instance, from the water to dry land, from the earth into the air. Similarly, then we, too, will be found elsewhere and in a different condition in the twinkling of an eye. The very hour before we were here on earth in a house or on a field. Sud¬ denly we are removed from table or bed or from our work, as we hap¬ pen to be walking, standing, sitting, or lying, so that we are dead and alive again in a moment, changed in every way, and soaring up in the clouds. Those ^re the changes Paul has in mind here. To be sure, he encompasses also the other changes qualitatis, of the form. Of these he already remarked earlier that the body will put on a different dress, that is, that it will be glorified and bright, much more resplen¬ dent and beautiful than the sun. But that will not happen while the body is still sojourning in this inn and garbed in this dress. No, it will first be divested of everything and become naked in the same moment and be burned to powder and be carried away.
Paul explains this himself in greater detail in 1 Thess. 4:15-17, where he says: "We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, etc." There he points out that everything will happen together and in the twinkling of an eye. The dead will be removed from their graves, and we will be carried away with them, however or wherever we may be found. We will be torn from this mortal life and existence, and all will be glorified together. That is what Paul means when he says:
"We shall not all sleep." It cannot and will not happen so slowly, with [W, XXXVI, 676, 677] one always burying another until we all die, one after another. No, we will all be gathered together at one time, and all will be changed together; but this will not happen without the agency of death. Still,
God will manifest His omnipotent might and majesty. All that is on earth will be consumed in a moment. The whole world will lie in ruins and be changed. We will be near and with Christ forever. The others, however, who did not believe will be thrust into eternal torment. And this God will do, Paul says, through the last trumpet. For prior to this,
"the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command," as 1 Thess. 4:16 declares, and He will bid the archangel blow the trum¬ pet, which will resound through heaven and earth. This will cause everything to fall into ruin and all the dead to be awakened.
This is the secret and hidden fact which Paul confides solely to his Christians. For the worldly-wise can and shall not understand it, but they must make would-be-wise remarks about it and deride it. The Christians alone shall know and comprehend this. To be sure, God will not carry this out on the Last Day in a manner that might be intel¬ ligible to you now. In fact, there is no other article of faith either which can be understood or comprehended by reason. We cannot even understand our own nature in body and soul, which we see be¬ fore our eyes and feel. We cannot understand how it happens that we see, hear, talk, think, grow, etc. What, then, might we understand of such lofty things which we cannot see or feel, things that we must apprehend solely by faith?
Paul continues: "For this perishable nature must put on the im¬ perishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality." He stays with this theme until he arrives at the beautiful text with which he will close. He wants to say that we will not only be enraptured and be carried heavenward and leave all that pertains to the necessities of this life behind, house and home, clothing, shoes, etc., and see all that is on earth perish and burn to ashes, but we shall also put off all that is inborn of the perishable essence, eating, drinking, sleeping, so that we need no longer toil or labor. All of that must be cast off in a moment and be renewed to eternal glory and splendor. We will be changed, not only with regard to place but also with regard to our body, which will then remain unchangeable and imperishable.''9
54-55. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is
50 The fifteenth sermon, preached Saturday, Feb. 1, 1533, ends here.
[W, XXXVI, 677—679] written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" is a common saying.00 St. Paul is able to speak about this article at such length because his heart is filled with it and he is so convinced of it that he regards all else as nothing by comparison. If his heart were not filled to overflowing with such thoughts, these words would never occur to him. Therefore they sound so hazy and strange and incomprehensi¬ ble to others who do not occupy themselves with such thoughts. But whoever concerns himself with these matters and reflects on another life will, I am sure, comprehend and understand them; for Paul speaks of this subject as though he were already face to face with it. And because Christ is risen and gives us His resurrection against our sin, death, and hell, we must advance to where we also learn to say: "O death, where is thy sting? etc.," although we at present see only the reverse, namely, that we have nothing but the perishable hanging about our neck, that we lead a wretched filthy life, that we are subject to all sorts of distress and danger, and that nothing but death awaits us in the end.
But the faith that clings to Christ is able to engender far different thoughts. It can envisage a new existence. It can form an image and gain sight of a condition where this perishable, wretched form is erased entirely and replaced by a pure and celestial essence. For since faith is certain of this doctrine that Christ's resurrection is our resurrection, it must follow that this resurrection is just as effective in us as it was for Him — except that He is a different person, namely, true God. And faith must bring it about that this body's frail and mortal being is dis¬ carded and removed and a different, immortal being is put on, with a body that can no longer be touched by filth, sickness, mishap, misery, or death but is perfectly pure, healthy, strong, and beautiful, so that not even the point of a needle can injure it. That will be the power and the effect, or, as St. Pauls says here, the victory gained by Christ, which will completely do away with and purge our sin and death with its attendant frailties, perils, and sufferings of the body.
Note how St. Paul speaks about this life and existence. He views it not as man himself but as a dress that he must wear now but dis¬ cards later and replaces with another. He makes no more of death and grave than he does of taking off an old torn garment and casting it eo Cf. Matt. 12:34.
[W, XXXVI, 679—681] away. To him the resurrection is like putting on a beautiful new gar¬ ment called immortalitas, incorruptibility or immortality. It is spun and woven by Christ's victory. For the victory of Christ, who over¬ came all in Himself, was wrought for the purpose of clothing you with it and of cleansing you from your sin and death, so that nothing of your corruptible body remains or of anything that the devil infused in you or that derives from him, all sorts of misfortunes and frailties, error and folly, everything except your natural and true body as created by God. For God did not create man that he should sin and die, but that he should live. But the devil inflicted so much shameful filth and so many blemishes on nature that man must bear so much sickness, stench, and misfortune about his neck because he sinned. But now that sin is removed through Christ, we shall be rid of all of that too. All will be pure, and nothing that is evil or loathsome will be felt any longer on earth. However, this is not brought about in any other way than that we first shed this old, evil garment through death. We must be divested of it entirely, and it must turn into dust.
When that comes to pass, Paul says, this will be fulfilled; now we say: Scriptum est, but then we shall say: Factum est. The time will come when that which is now always preached and spoken about will actually happen and be carried out. And what is that? It is the fact recorded in the words: "Death is swallowed up in victory." St. Paul states that these words are found in Scripture; I really do not know where in Scripture. They seem to be taken from the prophet Hosea, chapter 13:14, where we read: "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, I will be your poison. O Sheol, I will be your plague (or pestilence)." That is to say:
"I will kill you and do away with you." For in Scripture poison and pestilence are regarded as a deadly evil, which quickly destroys and kills a person, for instance, when he is stung by the most venomous adders or when he gets a high, virulent fever or contracts the pesti¬ lence. It is natural also for the bite of a snake to bring about a fever.
St. Paul may have had that in mind and paraphrased it with a few words.
However, I believe that St. Paul's eyes ranged further and that he wished to include, in addition to Hosea's statement, all similar ones contained in Scripture; for instance, above all the chief verse from which many others are derived, Gen. 3:15, where God says to the ser¬ pent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between [W, XXXVI, 681, 6821 your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." In the Hebrew we find the same word for both zertreten and stechen.G1 That word really means to bite as a serpent bites as it shoots the venom in. It means to say that the serpent will bite Christ's heel, but He, in turn, will bite its head, that He will be a mortal venom and a pestilence for it, as Hosea interprets from this text. And this verse now prompts this proclamation of St. Paul: "Death is swallowed up in victory." For our Lord Christ brought it about that the venom and the bites of the devil were deadened and completely swallowed up by Him, who crushed his head, that is, who stripped him of all his might and power. In this way we can relate all similar verses found throughout the prophets to this one. They all flow from this one and into this one, so that all of them comprise but one text.
For according to His rich Spirit He melts many verses into one and molds a text from these which is supplied by all of Scripture and ex¬ presses the meaning of all of Scripture.
Thus Paul now wants to say: "After Christ has accomplished the purpose of His resurrection, then all that is recorded of the victory will be fulfilled, namely, that by means of it both death and hell will be swallowed up and exist no longer." Then one may say: "Death, where is your sting? Hell, where is your spear?" Then this will no longer be proclaimed or heard and believed, but we ourselves will feel and experience it. Then the word will no longer be Fiat but Fac¬ tum est. Then we will be face to face with what is now presented to us in words. In the meantime we must cling to this verse and know that what it says will surely come to pass.
Now note these words. Note how forcefully he speaks of death on the basis of Scripture. He pictures him as entirely swallowed up and devoured, with nothing remaining of him who himself devoured and swallowed up all men on earth. We hear furthermore that He Himself will be a poison to death and a pestilence to hell, which will consume all the poison with which the devil killed and destroyed people. For this poison is nothing else than the curse which has passed on to the whole world. It was blown and beaten into us by the devil, and we must all die from it. That is the drink he offered Adam and we all par¬ took of with Adam when we were born. It has coursed through our body and all its members, and it also manifests itself externally by C1 Luther's German Bible renders the Hebrew word rptti with these two words, which mean respectively "crush" and "sting," or "bite."
[W, XXXVI, 682, 683] means of all sorts of distress and sorrow. However, Scripture discloses a salutary medicine and a precious antidote, given us by God in the Word, in which He assures us that He will kill death in return and that He also gives the devil a drink with which he will have to drink himself to death forever. He himself will have to devour his poison, curse, sin, hell, and death which he attached to nature, while we will be saved from these eternally by believing and adhering to the Seed.
"I Myself will do that," He says; "I will be your death and your pestilence." He applies these ugly words, death and pestilence, to Himself; and yet they are so immeasurably comforting. For note what and whom He refers to with these words. He is not a foe of nature.
No, He shows that He wishes to help nature and subdue its enemy, death and devil. He has compassion with our misery, for He sees that we are now drowned by the devil's poison and by death and are so submerged in it that we cannot extricate ourselves. He wants to wreak vengeance on him as on His own foe, who poisoned and spoiled His work. Therefore this is a real divine antidote, not taken from a physi¬ cian's pharmacy but prepared by heaven and given to us through Christ's resurrection. It will be harmless for us, but it will kill and ruin only him who gave and served us this poison. And now, when we begin to believe the article of Christ, the potion is already mixed and drunk which eliminates the poison that he injected into my heart and conscience and also into my body. Now we are saved from the curse, and the same poison which we have in us is now poured out for the devil, so that he has to eat death by us. Thus we have drunk a sal¬ utary medicine in Baptism and the Sacrament, which expels and re¬ moves our poison. This does not kill me but the very enemy who intended to kill me with it. You see, that is why God employs such figurative language and calls Himself a poison, not a poison for us poor people who once were cumbered with death and pestilence, but a poison against the poison of death and hell. Now we who feel such poison and plague can take comfort from that, assured that God be¬ friends us so greatly that He completely removes these from our body and soul and feeds these to devil and death, that his belly is rent by them.
Poison and pestilence are a death which does not kill suddenly and abruptly; but it kills nevertheless. It gradually makes its way through the whole body until it reaches the heart. That is the way God also treats us. He does not want to carry out the victory over death and [W, XXXVI, 683—686] devil all of a sudden, but He has this proclaimed for a while for the sake of the elect who are yet to be born. So He begins to mix and pre¬ pare the potion to be a purgatio or a medication for us, to refresh and to invigorate us but to be poison and death for the devil. This is comparable to a potion prescribed by a physician. This is conducive to a patient's health, but it is poison to a fever. Thus He could well call His medicine or antidote a poison or a pestilence. Here, too, it is true that one poison expels another, that one pestilence kills the other.
This also applies to Christendom now, when Word, Baptism, and the Sacrament are administered and nothing is proclaimed but that Christ died and rose again. That is the only prescription or purgatio for our sin and death. That we must take daily and let it work, in order to drive the poison from our heart and take us from death and hell to eternal life. He promised us that; and He commanded us to proclaim it and to believe it. Thereby He brings it about in us daily that it penetrates like a leaven (as Christ says in Matt. 13:33). Then the heart grows and grows in faith and learns to despise and overcome this life and its hardships.62
That is the victory by which death is to be swallowed up, so that we need fear death no longer or remain in it. For the heart is already saturated by the Gospel, which shall be poison and pestilence to death.
It weakens death from day to day and deprives him of his strength, until he is submerged entirely and disappears. For although he is not yet entirely swallowed up in us, the victory gained by Christ is already present, and through Gospel, Baptism, and faith it has be¬ come our victory. On the Last Day, when we have taken off the old, terrestrial, perishable garment and put on a new celestial one, we can destroy him completely with this victory. Then we will remain in life forever; then we will behold and perceive life as we now behold and feel the reverse, namely, that death is in us and that we are stuck in death. The victory appears to be his alone, as he as the lord of the world devours and consumes one person after another up to the Last
Day. But nevertheless we know from Scripture that victory was wrested from him by Christ, who began to swallow him up in Himself.
And through Him we, too, are spiritually victorious over him. Later we will bury death also physically and do away with him entirely, so 62 The sixteenth sermon, preached in the afternoon of April 14, 1533, Easter
[W, XXXVI, 686, 687] that nothing will be seen or known of him any longer. Instead, we will have nothing but life and bliss.
Then we will really begin to glory joyfully and defiantly and say and sing: "O death, where is thy sting? O hell, where is thy victory?"
That is really snapping one's fingers at death and hell and saying:
"Dear death, do not bite me, but show your anger with me and kill me.
I defy death and hell and challenge them to touch a hair on my head! 03
Where are you now, you vile man-eaters?" Then there will be naught but making game of death, hell, and devil. And as they now baast and jeer at the whole world, saying, "We defy you to escape us!" tables will then be turned. Then we can vent our anger on them and defy them forever and say: "Now let us see what you are able to kill!
Of course, you have been enjoined from killing. Now it is your turn to lie there ignominiously and be ridiculed in the bargain." This has already begun through Christ on His own body. He sings this song of defiance against death and hell uninterruptedly: "Dear death, once upon a time you crucified and buried Me too; and you trampled Me underfoot. You assumed that you had gained the victory and had devoured Me. But where are you now? I defy you to pursue Me further!" For death has already been drowned and swallowed up entirely on His body, with not as much as a speck of death's dust re¬ maining on Him. Now we who believe in Him share in this when the hour comes in which we see and feel how death and hell are entirely swallowed up and exterminated. At present, however, we await the hour, assured that this will surely come to pass and that we can already defiantly rely on Christ by faith over against sin, death, and hell.
56-57. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
St. Paul places these words at the end to explain by the way, as it were, what sort of a sting he has in mind and what kind of a victory it is that swallows up death. He concludes his chapter as he began it, with a brief sermon on the power of Christ's resurrection. He por¬ trays death with a spear with which he slays people. This sting, or spear, he calls sin, and the sharpness or power of sin he calls the Law.
These are obscure and odd expressions for us, too. But that is proper 03 Cf. p. 109, n. 26, above.
[W, XXXVI, 687—689] for those who strive and hope for another life. For the others, the great mass of people, neither feel nor heed what sin or death is but go their way unconcernedly until they go to hell suddenly and before they are aware of it; in the same way they also fail to understand this language. The Christians, however, must learn this language on themselves as people who daily feel what sin and death are and what power they possess.
Thus St. Paul now calls sin death's spear or weapon, as though he were to say: "If it were not for sin, death would surely have to desist from slaying. But the fact that he does slay us is due to sin.
Therefore, whoever is to slay death must do more than merely slay him, namely, first of all slay that which brings about death, and that is sin. It follows that sin is death's weapon and spear, or sword. For as long as a person goes his way and neither feels nor heeds sin, he does not feel and fear death either. But when the hour strikes that man must fidget and die, sin soon appears on the scene and tells him:
"Alas! What did you do! How you angered God!" When that really strikes the heart, man cannot endure it, he must despair. And further¬ more, if this condition lasts long, he must die in despair. For it is im¬ possible for man to endure a bad conscience when it really lays hold of him and he begins to feel God's wrath. Thus we see some people dying suddenly or committing suicide because of such terror and despair. For this is a sting or a spear that penetrates the heart, so that soul and body have to part over it.
This is what St. Paul means when he speaks of sin, namely, not just an act that is done or committed is real sin, but the sin which is alive and strikes terror to heart and conscience. For while sin lies dormant and neither bites nor plagues us, it is no real sin. But when it is aroused and agitates the heart, it cuts and pierces, so that no man can endure the sting, even though it issues from a slight transgression, unless he is comforted and again healed by the Gospel. If you ask:
"Where does death come from?" or: "How does death frighten people so easily and kill them?" you are told here that nothing else but sin does that. Sin is nothing but spear and cannonball, indeed death's thunder and lightning, through which he carries out his work.
But where does sin come from? Or how does it happen that it is so very strong and able to kill and slay? St. Paul says: "I shall tell you: 'The power of sin is the Law.'" Who has ever heard that said about God's commandment and law, which, after all, was given and [W, XXXVI, 689, 690] instituted as holy and good by God? And still St. Paul can say that sin would be feeble and dead and could effect nothing if it were not for the Law. The Law renders sin alert and strong and prompts it to cut and to pierce. If it depended on us, sin would very likely remain dormant forever. But God is able to awaken it effectively through the Law. When the hour comes for sin to sting and to strike, it grows un¬ endurable in a moment. For the Law dins this into your ears and holds the register of your sins before your nose: "Do you hear? You com¬ mitted this and you committed that in violation of God's command¬ ments, and you spent your whole life in sin. Your own conscience must attest and affirm that." In that way sin already shows its power.
It frightens you so that the whole world becomes too confining for you. It agitates and strikes until you must needs despair. And there is neither escape nor defense here. For the Law is too strong, and your own heart abets it, which itself denounces you and condemns you to hell. Therefore sin requires nothing else than God's law. Where that enters the heart, sin is already alive and able to kill man if it wants to, unless he lays hold of this victory, which is Christ, our Lord.
If the Law has such bad results, why, then, did God issue it?
Would it not be far better if there were no Law? To be sure, it would be better for us. And yet it cannot be dispensed with. For it is in¬ compatible with God that He should be pleased to let us have our way and do as we wish. It is true that He is longsuffering with us all before He manifests His wrath. He permits many people to follow their own course, who never feel the Law and sin or ever think of God's wrath, but, instead, disdain the Law and sin and, moreover, deride them, no matter how one threatens them with death and hell.
But finally God is constrained to show them what both the Law and sin are able to do, to deter them from making sport of it. To be sure,
God may wink at this for a while, but when the hour comes in which the Law really raps at your door to find you at home and demands an accounting, it will not be so easy to ignore it. Then one begins to lament and wail: "Alas! What did I do? What will become of me now?" Then we observe the meaning of the words: "The Law is the power of sin." That is why St. Paul elsewhere 64 also calls it a law of death and an office of death, which proclaims death and is the cause of death. Even if there were no other sermon or rule, the entire world could be preached to death solely with this.
64 Cf. Rom. 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:7.
For the one follows the other: When the Law shines into one's heart and reveals sin, the latter imediately becomes alive and strong; and sin brings death with it. Therefore it is pertinent to say that sin is the sting of death, that sin alone, and no one else, kills. But sin comes from nothing else than the Law. This does not mean that the Law first creates and makes sin. No, sin is existent already before the Law appears, and it remains with us, because it is born with us and we are conceived in sin. It means that sin is not properly recognized and felt unless this light is kindled in the heart; nor can sin attain its power unless it is awakened by the Law. But when the Law appears, it shows us that we are completely steeped in sin and lying in God's wrath, so that we must say, as St. Bernard says of himself: "I thought
I was sitting in a rose garden, and am not aware that I am sitting among murderers.65 But it becomes unbearable when the heart feels this; for it beholds and feels nothing but spears aimed and hurled at it, so that it must die. That teaches us effectually that works do not avail to atone for sin or to silence the Law. For it holds man in its meshes, from which he is unable to extricate himself. He can neither ward it off nor render it satisfaction, no matter how he may run hither and yon and do what he will. The more he torments himself with works, the worse it becomes.
St. Paul's words, however, point out how this is accomplished:
"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" That sermon is different from that of Moses, for it reveals the Christians' consolation against death's sting and sin's power. It is true and necessary and right that the Law reveals your sin and ac¬ cuses you; and sin, in turn, has the right to kill you and death to devour you. That is beyond dispute and argument. For both your own testimony and God's Word are against you there. However, there is help in the fact that the Man Jesus Christ has come and has as¬ sumed and borne our sin and death, which we had justly deserved, and that He now steps forth in our behalf, confronts the Law, sin, and death, and says: "I am of the same flesh and blood; these are My brothers and sisters. What they did I did; and I paid for it. Law, if you want to condemn them, condemn Me. Sin, if you want to bite and kill them, bite Me. Death, if you want to consume and devour, devour Me." That is what happened when He stood before the judge,
Pilate. There He was accused and sentenced to death as a sinner.
05 The reference is probably to Meditationes devotissimae, ch. 14: Inimici mei animam meam circumdederunt: corpus, mundus, et diabolus.
Therefore He also calls Himself a sinner in Scripture. In Ps. 41:4:
"O Lord, be gracious to Me; heal Me, for I have sinned against Thee."
Also in Ps. 69:9: "The insults of those who insult Thee have fallen on Me," that is, "Whatever they did against You to deserve death, that I did." Therefore also the Law attached itself to Him and condemned
Him, sin crucified Him and pierced Him to death, and death carried Him under the sod. They did everything to Him, everything they were capable of. For God "did not spare His own Son," St. Paul de¬ clares in Rom. 8:32, "but gave Him up for us all." They all tested their might on Him.
But thereby they failed by far to accomplish what they had in¬ tended to do. For through the very event by which they expected to exterminate Him and to win the victory He emerged again and said to the Law, sin, and death: "Do you not know that I am your Lord and God? What right do you have to accuse and to slay your Lord?
Therefore you shall do this no more; but, rather, I will accuse and condemn you and dispatch you so thoroughly that you will hence¬ forth have no claim on anyone who believes in Me. For what I did,
I did for their sake." For His own person this would not have been necessary, and they would have been obliged to let Him go unharmed.
But now He has stepped into our place, and in our behalf He has let the Law, sin, and death pounce on Him. He has not only removed these from us, but He has also vanquished them completely and cast them at His feet. Now they are overcome for us and no longer have any right to or power over us. In that way we have a complete victory in Christ, now spiritually by faith but later also physically and visibly.
Now a Christian must learn to apprehend this and to avail him¬ self of it when the battle is joined and the Law attacks him and tries to accuse him, when sin wants to slay him and thrust him into the jaws of hell, and when his own conscience tells him: "You have done this, and you have done that; you are a sinner and are deserving of death, etc." Then the Christian should answer confidently: "It is un¬ fortunately true that I am a sinner and that I have surely deserved death. So far you are right. But still you shall not condemn and slay me. Another, who is named my Lord Christ, shall stay your hand.
You accused and you murdered Him innocently. But do you remem¬ ber how you vainly dashed full tilt against Him and burned yourself and thereby forfeited all your rights to me and to all Christians? For 212 LUTHER'S WORKS 15:56-57
He both bore and overcame sin and death not for Himself but for me.
Therefore I concede you no rightful accusation against me. I can, rather, justly assert my rights against you for trying to attack me with¬ out cause and despite the fact that you were already condemned and overcome by Him, which deprived you of any right to assail and ac¬ cuse me. And although you may now attack and devour me accord¬ ing to the flesh, you shall not accomplish or gain anything by this.
You must eat your own sting and choke to death on it. For I am no longer the man you are looking for; I am no longer a child of man, but a child of God, for I am baptized in His blood and on His victory, and I am vested with all His possessions.
You see, in this way Christians must fortify themselves with this victory of Christ. With it they must repel the devil. They must not give way to him in a dispute, but say: "How dare you accuse and harass a Christian? Do you not know who my Lord is and what He is able to do?" There is nothing better — for anyone who can do it — than to deride and defy him and say cheerfully: "If you want to be a villain, go ahead, but take heed and do not bother me! and do not expect any thanks for this either.00 If you are so eager to sting and to strike, go up to Him who is seated above and do battle with Him.
If you have any designs on me, lodge your accusation there, before your Judge and mine, and let us see what you will accomplish." But he does not want to go there, for he is well aware that he has lost out there and that he is already sentenced and slain by Him. Therefore he avoids going there as he avoids the cross. Nor does he go to the impudent, wild, and coarse people who are unconcerned about sin and death, for he already owns these. No, he wants to attack only us who seek Christ and who would fain be rid of sin and death. He is intent on tearing Christ from our heart and on frightening and oppressing us with sin and death, so that we might despair and surrender to him completely. Therefore we must again rebuff him and point him to the victory which is ours in Christ. In that way we must embrace Christ and hold to Him, so that the devil cannot approach us; for he knows very well that he is unable to accomplish anything if we but cling steadily and firmly to this by faith.
This is the beautiful sermon for Christians which shows us how we, through Christ's victory, rid ourselves of sin's sting, which kills us, and of the power of the Law, which drives this sting into us. And it
U(i Cf. p. 88, n. 15, above.
[W, XXXVI, 695, 696] shows us that in the end this sting will be completely destroyed in us.
And now St. Paul appropriately concludes with a song which he sings:
"Thanks and praise be to God, who gave us such a victory!" We can join in that song and in that way always celebrate Easter, praising and extolling God for a victory that was not won or achieved in battle by us — it is far too sublime and great for that — but was presented and given to us by the mercy of God. He had compassion with our misery, from which no one could rescue us, and He sent His Son and let Him enter the battle. He laid these enemies, sin, death, and hell, low and retained the victory. He transferred this victory to us, so that we may say it is our victory. It is just as if it had been gained by us.
The only condition is that we must accept this sincerely and not give God the lie, as they do who presume to overcome their sin and death by themselves. Nor dare we be found ungrateful for this, as vulgar, false Christians do, but we must keep this in our heart in firm faith and confirm ourselves in this and always be engrossed in such a mes¬ sage of thanks and sing of this victory in Christ. And in faith in this we must cheerfully depart this life, until we experience this victory also in our own body. May God help us to that end through the same dear Son. To Him be glory and honor forever.67
67 The seventeenth sermon, preached April 27, 1533, Misericordias Domini Sunday, ends here and concludes the series.