Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  Although there had been none of these new or altered things after the creation, our sceptic objectors can surely believe that there was one glorious and marvellous “new thing,” Is. 7:14, “that a virgin should bring forth a Son, the Son of God!” God therefore did not in the seventh day cease to work in every sense, but he works still, not only in preserving his whole creation, but also in altering and new-forming the creature; wherefore that which we said above, that God ceased on the seventh day from creating new orders of things is not to be understood as true absolutely and in every sense.

  But we further reply to our cavillers that Moses is here speaking of nature in its yet uncorrupted state. If therefore man had stood unfallen in the innocency in which he was first created, no thorns nor thistles would have existed, no disease would have been known nor any violence of beasts feared. This is manifest from the case of Eve; she talks with the serpent without any fear whatever, and as we should do with an innocent little bird or with a favorite little dog. Nor have I any doubt that the serpent was an exquisitely beautiful creature and gifted with the peculiar excellency of having the highest praise for marvellous cunning, though then innocent cunning, even as foxes and weazels have that name among us now.

  Wherefore when Adam was as yet holy and innocent, all the animals of the creation dwelt and associated with him in the highest pleasure, being prepared to render him every kind of service gladly. Nor would there have ever been known, if Adam had thus continued sinless, any fear of a flood, nor would there consequently have ever existed a rainbow in the heavens. But sin caused God to alter many things and otherwise order them. And at the last day there will be an alteration and a renewal far greater still of that whole creation, which as Paul says is now by reason of sin, “subject to vanity,” Rom. 8:20.

  Finally therefore, when Moses here says that “God rested on the seventh day,” he is speaking with reference to the condition of the world, as originally created; meaning that while as yet there was no sin nothing new was created, that there were no thorns nor thistles, no serpents nor toads, and if there were such they possessed no venomous properties nor any inclination to harm. Moses speaks in this manner concerning the creation of the world, while yet in its state of perfection, unpolluted and unmarred by sin. It was then a world innocent and pure, because man was innocent and pure. But now, as man is no longer the same being, so the world is no longer the same world. Upon the fall of man followed corruption and upon this corruption the curse of the now corrupt creation. “Cursed is the ground,” said God to Adam, “for thy sake! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee!” Gen. 3:17, 18. Thus on account of one accursed Cain — sin, is the whole earth accursed! So that now even when tilled it does not put forth its original virtue. After this upon the sins of the whole world is poured the flood over the whole earth, and the human race throughout the whole world is destroyed, a few righteous persons only being saved lest the promise concerning Christ should fail of being fulfilled. And as it is manifest to us all that the earth is thus deformed by sin, so my belief is, as I have before said, that the light of the sun, when first created, and before the sin of Adam, was far more pure and more bright than it is now.

  It is a common saying of divines in all theological schools, “Clearly distinguish times and you will harmonize all the Scriptures.” Wherefore we must speak far otherwise concerning the world, under its present wretched corruption, by which it has been marred through the sin of Adam, than concerning the world when as yet it was in its state of original purity and perfection. Let us take an example still in our sight and knowledge. Those who have visited the “land of promise” in our day affirm, that there is nothing in it like unto that commendation of it which we have in the holy Scriptures. In confirmation of these statements a citizen of Stolberg, after having visited Palestine and surveyed with all possible diligence of observation, declared that he considered his own field in Germany a far more delightful spot. For on account of the sin, wickedness and ungodliness of men it is reduced to a positive pickle-tub, to “a salt land not inhabited;” so actually is the very essence of the curse of God upon it fulfilled, as it is said, Gen. 3:17, 18; Ps. 107:34. Thus Sodom also before it was destroyed by fire from heaven was a certain paradise, a garden of the Lord, Gen. 13:10. Thus does the curse of God generally follow sin, and that curse so changes things, that from the best they become the worst. Moses therefore, we repeat, is here speaking concerning the state of all creatures in their original perfection; as they were before the sin of man. For if man had not sinned, all beasts and every other creature would have remained in obedience to him until God should have translated him from paradise, or from earth to heaven. But after his sin, all things were changed for the worse.

  According to these expressions therefore the solution given by us above to all sceptics, cavillers and objectors stands good, that God in six days finished his work, and that on the “seventh day” he rested from all his work which he had made; that is, that he ceased from ordaining the certain orders of things, and that then, whatsoever he willed afterwards to work, he did work. But God did not say afterwards, “Let there be a new earth;” “Let there be a new sea,” etc. With respect to that wonderful “new thing;” that, after the creation was finished, the virgin Mary brought forth the Son of God, it is indeed manifest that God made our calamity, into which we had fallen by sin, the cause of this marvellous blessing. But God so wrought even this mighty work that he showed beforehand that he would, by his Word, do this glorious work also; even as he has also signified in his Word, that he will by the same Word do other marvelous things.

  Thus have we replied then to these questions of all cavilling objectors concerning God’s having finished the heavens and the earth and concerning his having made other things new afterwards. We must continue this explanation to learn what this Sabbath or rest of God is, and also in what manner God sanctified the Sabbath, as the sacred text declares.

  II. V. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

  Christ says, Mark 2:27, that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” But Moses says nothing here about man. He does not even say positively that any commandment concerning the Sabbath was given to man. But what Moses here says is that God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to himself. It is moreover to be remarked that God did this to no other creature. God did not sanctify to himself the heaven nor the earth nor any other creature. But God did sanctify to himself the seventh day. This was especially designed of God, to cause us to understand that the “seventh day” is to be especially devoted to divine worship. For that which is appropriated to God and exclusively separated from all profane uses is sanctified or holy. Hence the expression “to sanctify,” “to choose for divine uses or for the worship of God,” is often applied by Moses to the sacred vessels of the sanctuary.

  It follows therefore from this passage, that if Adam had stood in his innocence and had not fallen he would yet have observed the “seventh day” as sanctified, holy and sacred; that is, he would have taught his children and posterity on that day concerning the will and worship of God; he would have praised God, he would have given him thanks, and would have brought to him his offerings, etc., etc. On the other days he would have tilled his land and attended to his cattle. Nay, even after the fall he held the “seventh day” sacred; that is, he taught on that day his own family. This is testified by the offerings made by his two sons, Cain and Abel. The Sabbath therefore has, from the beginning of the world, been set apart for the worship of God. In this manner nature in its innocency, had it continued unfallen, would have proclaimed the glory and blessings of God. Men would have talked together on the Sabbath day concerning the goodness of their Creator, would have prayed to him, and would have brought to him their offerings, etc. For all these things are implied and signified in the expression “sanctified.”

  Moreover in this same sanctification of the Sabbath
is included and implied the immortality of the human race. Hence the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks most beautifully concerning the rest of God, from the 95th Ps.: “If they shall enter into my rest.” For the rest of God is an eternal rest. Adam therefore, had he not fallen, would have lived a certain time in paradise, according to the length of time which God pleased; and afterwards he would have been carried away into that rest of God, which rest God willed not only to intimate unto man, but highly to commend unto him by this sanctification of the Sabbath. Thus had Adam not fallen his life would have been both animal and happy, and spiritual and eternal. But now we miserable men have lost all this felicity of the animal life by sin; and while we do live, we live in the midst of death. Yet since this command of God concerning the Sabbath is left to the Church, God signifies thereby that even that spiritual life shall be restored to us through Christ. Hence the prophets have all diligently searched into these passages, in which Moses obscurely indicates also the resurrection of the flesh and the life immortal.

  Further by this sanctification of the Sabbath it is also plainly shown that man was especially created for the knowledge and worship of God. For the Sabbath was not instituted on account of sheep or oxen, but for the sake of men, that the knowledge of God might be exercised and increased by them on that sacred day. Although therefore man lost the knowledge of God by sin, yet God willed that his command concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day both the Word should be preached, and also those other parts of his worship performed, which he himself instituted; to the end that by these appointed means we should first of all think solemnly on our condition in the world as men; that this nature of ours was created at first expressly for the knowledge and the glorifying of God; and also that by these same sacred means we might hold fast in our minds the sure hope of a future and eternal life.

  Indeed all things which God willed to be done on the Sabbath are evident signs of another life after this present life. For what need would there be of God’s speaking to us by his Word, if we were not designed to live another and eternal life after this life? And if no future life is to be hoped for by us, why do we not live as those other creatures with whom God talketh not and who have no knowledge of God? But as the divine Majesty talketh with man alone, and he alone acknowledges and apprehends God, it necessarily follows that there is for us another life after this life, to which it is our great business to attain by the Word and the knowledge of God. For as to this temporal and present life it is a mere animal life as all the beasts live, which know not God nor the Word.

  This then is the meaning of the Sabbath or the “rest” of God. It is a sanctified day of rest, on which God speaks to or talks with us, and we in turn speak to and talk with him in prayer and by faith. The beasts indeed learn to hear and also to understand the voice of man, as dogs, horses, sheep, oxen; and they are also preserved and fed by man. But our condition as men is far better and higher; for we both hear God and know his will, and are called to a sure hope of immortality. This is testified by those most manifest promises concerning the life eternal, which God has plainly revealed to us by his Word, since he gave to the world the obscure significations contained in this divine Book; such as this rest of God and this sanctification of the Sabbath. However these indications concerning the Sabbath are not obscure but evident and plain. For only suppose for a moment that there were no eternal life after this. Would it not immediately follow that we should have no need either of God or his Word? For that which we merely require or do in this life we can have and do without the Word of God. Even as beasts feed, live and grow fat without the Word. For what need is there of the Word to procure meat and drink, thus created for us beforehand?

  As God therefore thus giveth us the Word, as he thus commands the preaching and exercising of the Word, as he thus commands the sanctifying of the Sabbath in the worship of himself, all these things prove that there remaineth another life after this life, and that man is created not to a corporeal life only, as the beasts are, but to a life eternal, even as God, who commands and institutes these things, is himself eternal.

  But here another inquiry may arise concerning the fall of Adam itself, upon which indeed we have already touched: On what day Adam fell, whether on the seventh or on some other day? Although nothing indeed can be said as certain on this matter, my free and full opinion is that his fall was on the seventh day. It was on the sixth day that he was created. And Eve was created about the evening or close of the sixth day, while Adam was asleep. On the seventh day, which by the Lord had been sanctified, God talks with Adam, gives him commandment concerning his worship, and forbids him to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For this indeed was the appropriate work or duty of the seventh day: the preaching and the hearing of the Word of God. Hence both from the Scriptures and from universal practice, hath remained the custom of appointing the morning as the time for prayer and sermons; as we have it also in the Psalms: “In the morning will I stand before Thee, and will look up,” Ps. 5:3.

  On the seventh day therefore, in the morning, Adam appears to have heard the Lord giving commandment concerning his domestic and national duty, the private and public worship of God, together with the prohibition concerning the fruit of the tree. Satan therefore unable to endure this most beautiful creation of man and this holy appointment of the Sabbath, and envying him so much felicity, and moreover seeing all things so abundantly provided for him on earth, and finding him in the possession of the hope of enjoying, after so happy a corporeal life, an eternal life, which he himself had lost, Satan seeing all this about the twelfth hour, perhaps after God’s sermon to Adam and Eve, himself preaches to Eve. Just as he has always done to this day. Wherever the Word of God is, there he attempts also to sow lies and heresies. For it agonizes him that we by the Word become as Adam did in paradise, citizens of heaven. So Satan on this occasion tempts Eve to sin, and gains the victory over her. The sacred text before us moreover declares that when the heat of the day had subsided, the Lord came into the garden and condemned Adam with all his posterity to death. I am myself quite persuaded that all these things took place on the very day of the Sabbath, which one day only, and that not for the whole day, Adam lived in paradise, and enjoyed himself in eating its fruits.

  By sin therefore did man lose all this felicity. Nor would Adam, had he remained in paradise in all his original innocence, have lived a life of idleness. He would have taught his children on the Sabbath day, he would have magnified God with worthy high-praises by public preaching, and he would have stirred up himself and others to offerings of thanks, by a contemplation of God’s great and glorious works. On all other days he would have worked by tilling his ground and attending to his beasts, etc. But in a manner and from motives now wholly unknown to man. For all our labor is annoyance, but all Adam’s labor was the highest pleasure, a pleasure far exceeding all the ease that is now known. Hence as all the other calamities of life remind us of sin and the wrath of God, so our labor and all our difficulty in procuring food ought to remind us of sin also and to drive us to repentance.

  Moses now proceeds to describe man more particularly, repeating first of all what he had said concerning his creation in the first chapter. And though the recapitulations may seem superfluous, yet as the divine historian wishes to maintain a continuation of his history, with all due convenience and order, the repetition is by no means useless.

  V. 4, 5a. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven. And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up.

  “In the day” is here to be taken for an indefinite time, as if Moses had said, At that time the state of all things was most beautiful; but now I must describe a condition of things far different. We need not here inquire however in a superstitious manner, why Moses chose to use these rustic forms of expression concerning “the plants of the field” and “
herbs of the field.” For his object now is to describe the creation of man in its more circumstantial particulars.

  V. 5b, 6. For Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground; but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

  There was not as yet any rain, Moses says, to water the earth; but a certain mist went up and watered the whole face of the earth, to cause it to bring forth more abundantly afterwards. Now these things belong properly to the third day.

  III. V. 7. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

  Moses here returns to the work of the sixth day and shows whence this cultivator of the earth came; namely, that God formed him out of the ground, as the potter forms in his hand the vessel out of clay. Hence Moses does not represent Jehovah God as saying in this case as in that of all the other creatures, “Let the earth bring forth man;” but “Let Us make man.” He describes God as thus speaking in this case in order that he might set forth the excellency of the human race, and that he might make manifest that peculiar counsel to which God had recourse in creating or making man. However after his creation man grew and multiplied as all the other animals and beasts of the earth multiply. For the seed of all animals coagulates in the womb and is formed in the same manner in them all. In this case of generation there is no difference between the foetus formed in the cow and that formed in the woman. But with reference to their first creation Moses testifies that there was the greatest possible difference. For he shows in this divine record that the human nature was created by a peculiarity of divine counsel and wisdom, and formed by the very finger of God.