Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  Other animals however have no necessity of this kind. Therefore they as a rule come together once in the year only, and are contented with that intercourse, as if by this fact they said, “We come together as a duty to God!” But it is far different with men. They are compelled to have recourse to their union with wives in matrimony to avoid sin. Hence we generate and are born in the midst of sins on both sides. For our parents do not come together as a pure duty to God, but as a remedy also, for the sake of avoiding sin.

  And yet it is by means of this very remedy and by this very miserable state of things, that God fulfils his original blessing pronounced upon male and female when he created them. And thus men, though in sin and with sin, generate and are generated. But this would not have been the case in paradise, had man continued in the innocency of his original creation. Generation in that state would have been a most holy yielding of obedience to God, utterly free from that impure lust which now exists. And children would have been born in original righteousness and rectitude. They would have known God immediately at their birth, without any instruction or admonition. They would have spoken of his holy name, praised him and given him thanks.

  But all these glorious things are now lost. Yet it is profitable to us to think upon them deeply, that we may hold fast some sense of the real state in which we now are; namely, under all the effects of original sin; and that we may rightly contemplate also the original condition of Adam, a state of perfect righteousness, which state we hope again to enjoy in all its blessedness at the “restitution of all things,” Acts 3:21.

  With respect to the divine expression, “Let us make,” I have already observed that Eve was created, as well as Adam, by a peculiar counsel of God, in order that it might be manifest that she was a partaker with him of a better and an immortal life; a hope not possessed by any of the other living creatures, who live a natural life only without any hope of an eternal life.

  That which the Latin renders “like him” in this passage, is in the Hebrew, “which may be before him.” God, by this expression also, distinguishes the human female from the females of all other living creatures, which are not always “before” their mates. But woman was expressly created that she might be “before” her husband always and everywhere. Even as the emperor also calls the life of married persons “an individual life.” Whereas the brute female requires her mate only once in the whole year, and after she has conceived she returns to her own kind and takes care of herself. Of her young, which were brought forth at any previous time, she takes no care whatever. She does not cohabit with her mate always.

  The nature of marriage among mankind however is utterly different. There the woman is married by the man that she may be “before him” always and may cohabit with him as one flesh. And if Adam had remained in his state of innocency, this individual life or cohabitation of man and wife would have been most sweet and delightful. The embrace itself also would have been most holy and reverential, and worshipful of God. There would have existed none of that impurity and shame arising from sin, which now exists.

  Is not this fallen state of man most awful to contemplate! For in its holy reality there was nothing more excellent, nothing more admirable in all nature, than the fulfilment of the divine law of generation. It was an act of obedience to God, the highest which man could perform next to praising and lauding his glorious name, which obedience Adam and Eve rendered unto God in as much holiness and freedom from all sin as when they were engaged in acts of praise and adoration. The fulfilment of this law of nature and of God indeed still continues. But how wretched are these present remnants of the original innocency! How horribly deformed by sin, pollution and baseness of every description. All these things are deplorable evidences of nature’s original sin.

  For the great and glorious ends of creation there was need of the woman as a helpmeet for man. For man alone could not generate; nor could the woman generate alone. As the apostle says, neither the man nor the woman “had power over their own bodies” for that high end. Hence the loftiest praises of each sex are, that the male is the father and the woman the mother of the generation of mankind. The wife in this high sense also is that helpmeet of the husband. But, as we have repeatedly said, if we look at the state of originally-created innocency, the generation of man has lost all its excellency, its pure delight, its holiness and its worshipful obedience to God.

  Moreover in this age and at this day, you may find many who wish that they had no children at all born to them. And this far more than barbarous inhumanity and enormity is found more particularly among princes and nobles, who frequently abstain from marriage for the sole reason that they may have no posterity. Still more base is the practice found in those princes, who suffer themselves to be counselled and persuaded not to marry, lest their families should become too large for civil purposes. Such men are indeed worthy of having their names blotted out from the land of the living, as the punishment of their contempt of the laws and intents of God. Who is there that would not execrate such swine-like monsters as these? These inhuman beings however still further manifest in many base particulars the nature and depth of original sin. Were it not for the consequences of this mighty sin, we should all admire the fulfilment of the law of God in generation, as one of the highest acts of the obedience and worship of God. And we should extol it as one of the greatest gifts of God with its due praise and admiration.

  From the above inhuman abuse and contempt of marriage have arisen those numerous reproaches of the female sex, which celibacy has greatly augmented. Whereas it is one of the greatest of his blessings that God has preserved for us women, even against the wishes and the wills of such inhuman beings, both as a divine means of generation and as a remedy also against the sin of fornication. In paradise woman would have been indeed a helper in our duty and obedience to God, and in our fulfilment of his command “to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish the earth,” Gen. 1:28. But now woman is in a very great measure a medicine and remedy for sin. So that in truth we can now scarcely mention the name of woman without shame; most certainly we cannot unite ourselves to her without some sense and blush of that shame. The mighty cause of all this is original sin. For in paradise the union of man and woman would have been wholly free from the thought of shame or impurity. The whole union would have been looked upon and felt, as a duty of obedience to God, ordained by himself and sanctified by the blessings he pronounced upon it.

  The same calamitous state on account of sin rests upon us also, even in the midst of all our spiritual gifts. For although we may have faith and live in faith, yet we cannot be free from doubt, fear and the sensible awe of death. These just punishments of original sin, our holy fathers in the faith deeply saw and felt. That which now follows is as it were a repetition of what has preceded, concerning the creation of Adam, by which repetition Moses would more conveniently arrive at his intended description of the manner in which woman was created. In reading what follows, therefore, we must consider Adam to have been already created.

  V. 19a. And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them.

  As if Moses had said, “God now willed by a certain deep and deliberate counsel to create woman. For he saw that every other living creature had a helpmeet for generation. Adam alone had none. God therefore now brought all the living creatures of the earth and of the air to Adam, to see what he would call them. And when Adam had given to each one its appropriate name, he found no living creature like unto himself as an helpmeet for him.”

  And here we are again struck with the wonderful knowledge and wisdom which Adam possessed. Created as he was in innocency, righteousness and knowledge, he beholds all living creatures stand before him; and without any new illumination for the purpose, but by the pure properties and excellency of his nature alone, he so discerns in a moment the characteristic nature of each creature, that he gives it a name exactly descriptive of its cr
eated peculiarities. Well indeed might the “dominion” over all living creatures have been added of God to man, to whom he had given such intellectual light as this! And this “dominion” which God had conferred on Adam, he now ratifies anew by bringing to him all creatures to be named according to his judgment. By all this it is further manifest that Adam could by one single word compel lions, bears, boars, tigers and any other of the noble animals to do any thing he wishes, according to their natural properties and powers; all which properties he thoroughly understood at a moment’s glance when he gave them their names. But all these original endowments of man are utterly lost by sin.

  No wonder therefore that we have no knowledge of the adorable God, when we know nothing as Adam did of the natures, powers and properties even of the beasts of the earth. There exist indeed very many books, which describe the natures of the beasts and of plants. But what a length of time, what an extent of observation and of experience were necessary to collect the contents of all these volumes! In Adam however there was a marvelously different illumination and intellect. He discovered by a moment’s glance at each living creature its whole nature and all its separate faculties and created endowments; and that too with a perfection far above that to which we can ever attain by a whole life of devoted study and research in natural history. And as this knowledge in Adam was a peculiar and eminent gift of God, so was it greatly pleasing and delightful to God. And on account of this pleasure God brought the living creatures to Adam and commanded him to use the knowledge he had thus given him in assigning to each living creature its appropriate name.

  Vs. 19b, 20. And whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a helpmeet for him (to be before him).

  What an ocean of knowledge and wisdom there was in this one man! And although Adam lost much of this knowledge by sin, yet my full belief is that the whole contents of the books of all the wise, which have ever been written throughout all ages since letters first had birth, have not to this day equalled that wisdom which Adam possessed, even after his sin and fall. But all has become obscured by degrees in his posterity and is well nigh extinct altogether.

  But we must here again note that Moses is still engaged describing the creation-work and the divine transactions of the sixth day. For that which he had briefly said in the divine expression, “Let us make man,” Gen. 1:26, he now more fully explains in this second chapter, in order that he might distinguish man from all other living creatures by more than one recorded testimony. Wherefore he devotes this whole second chapter to a more particular explanation of the creation of man.

  With reference to the man Moses has already said that he was made of the dust of the ground, and that the breath of life was breathed of God into his nostrils. He has also stated that the whole multitude of living creatures was brought before Adam. When Adam had seen among them all no helpmeet for him, woman was made to be his companion in the generation and preservation of the human species. For God did not will that the posterity of Adam should be made out of the ground, as he himself was, but that it should be propagated as the other animals. As to our bodily life we eat and drink, generate and are generated just like all animals. However Moses is greatly concerned in his thought to separate and distinguish man from all the animal creatures, because in this way the end is reached that after this earthly life man should become a partaker of the spiritual and eternal life. Now all these things pertain, as we have just observed, unto the creation work of the sixth day. For as God had said, “Be fruitful and multiply,” the explanation of the manner in which the woman was created and brought to Adam became a necessary part of the sacred narrative.

  All this is moreover intended to lead us into the firm belief and satisfaction of mind that six days were really occupied by God in his creation of all things, contrary to the opinion of Augustine and Hilary, who think that all things were created in a moment. To such an extent do they depart from the history of facts and follow allegories and indulge in I know not what kind of dreamy speculations. Nor do I speak these things by way of reproach to the holy fathers, whose labors we ought to venerate. I make these statements for the confirmation of the truth and for our own consolation. The fathers were great men. Yet they were men; men who had fallen and still liable to fall. So that we have no ground for exalting ourselves like the monks, who worship all things belonging to themselves as if they were not liable to fall. Whereas for my part, it is rather a great consolation to me than otherwise, that the fathers are discovered to have erred and fallen at times also. Because my thoughts run thus: If God pardoned sins and errors in them why should I despair of pardon from him? On the other hand, despair immediately comes on if you begin to think that the fathers did not experience the same things which you feel and suffer. It is at the same time quite certain that there was a mighty difference between the call of the apostles and the call of the fathers. On what grounds therefore can we esteem the writings of the fathers equal to the writings of the apostles?

  But with special reference to the sacred passage of Moses before us, how, I pray you, is it possible that six days should be either a moment or an hour? Neither faith, which rests wholly in the Word, nor reason itself, can admit this. Wherefore let us be assured, that there were between the divine acts of the creation certain intervals. Thus, Adam is first created alone. Then there are brought unto him all the animals, not only that he might name them, but that he might be tried, by seeing whether he could find in all this collection of creatures a meet companion. After this, Eve is created. Lastly, these words are spoken by the Lord, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,” etc., which words struck the ears of Adam. All these things carry with them a proof that they occurred at certain intervals of time, unless indeed you would turn away like Origen from such plain and positive historical facts to the most absurd allegories. For Moses is not here giving us a record of God himself, in whose sight all things past, present, and future are ever present in the same moment; but he is recording a history of Adam, a creature of time, who was made and who lived; and with whom as a creature there is a difference between the present and the future. I have deemed it right to bring these things to your recollection by this repetition. Now let us proceed with Moses.

  V. 21. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

  Here again not faith only, but reason and fact also, prove that the time of Adam’s being awake was one space of time and the time of his being asleep another. These spaces have evidently their intervals. As therefore Adam was created in the sixth day, and all the animals were brought to him on that day; as he heard the command of God concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; as God sent upon him sleep, it is manifest beyond dispute; that all these facts have reference to time and to this animal life. And it is equally evident that the days mentioned in the sacred record must be understood to have been true and real days, contrary to the opinion of the holy fathers. Whenever therefore we find the opinions of the fathers to disagree with the Scriptures, we tolerate them with reverence and acknowledge them to be our elders in the Church; but we do not for their sakes depart from the authority of the Scriptures.

  Elegant and true is that sentiment of Aristotle, in the First Book of his “Ethics,” “Where both friends and truth are near to us, it is our sacred duty to give the higher honor to the truth.” The philosopher of old here plainly affirms that it is better to stand by the truth than to show too much favor to those who may be our friends or even our relations. Such a sentiment is nobly becoming a philosopher. If, therefore, a natural man and a heathen holds that such a principle should be maintained in moral, human and civil disputations, with how much greater firmness should it be held in the discussion of those things which stand on the manifest testimony of the Scriptures! How jealous
should we be of setting the authority of men above that of the Word! Men may be deceived, but the Word of God itself is the wisdom of God and infallible truth.

  But with respect to this portion, namely, the divine history itself, what I pray you, could be recorded more fabulous in the estimation of human reason, if you wish to follow that? For could any one be found who would believe this fact concerning the creation of Eve, if it were not thus openly declared? For here all the other creatures stand as plain examples to the contrary. Every other living creature is generated from male and female, and is so generated that it is the female that brings it into the light. But here the female herself is created from the male; and that too with a no less wonderful creation than that by which Adam himself was made a living soul, from the dust of the ground. These facts are mere monstrosities and outrageous absurdities, if you set aside the authority of the Holy Scriptures and follow the judgment of reason. Hence it is that Aristotle affirms that neither the first man nor the last man can be given as the foundation of an argument. And reason would force us to affirm the same of her naked self, without this text before us. For if it be received as a truth, a truth which the uniform law of the whole creation testifies, that nothing is born alive but from male and female, it is a true conclusion that the first man cannot be accounted for in that way.

  The same conclusion may also be declared to be correct by human reason concerning the creation of the world, which the philosophers of old therefore concluded to be eternal. For although reasons are put together by reason, by which is proved that the world is not eternal; yet reason herself, all the while, settles down with all her powers upon this basis of conclusion. For what beginning will reason find in nothing? And again, if you say that the world had a beginning and that there was a time in which the world had no existence it will immediately follow close upon your heels that, before the world there was nothing at all. Other absurdities will follow in an infinite series; by the multitude of which philosophers being struck plunged at once into the conclusion that the world was eternal.