Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  But look at the judgment of God in this matter. Cain could truly and justly boast in the highest of all nobility, for he was the first-born of all mankind. But the greater and more glorious his origin was, by so much the more horribly did he fall. Hence general experience has also given place to the well-known proverb, which says, “The sons of the great are great evils.”

  Nor are these evils peculiar to private families only, mighty empires suffer the same. The nation of the Greeks was most glorious. They excelled all other nations in their learning and in the greatness of their illustrious deeds. But into what extremes of turpitude did they fall? And how miserably was their nation destroyed at last? And you may see the very same things fulfilled in all nations. Good therefore was God in permitting Cain thus to fall, that he might be an example to the whole world, that no one might ever glory in the nobleness of his blood, as the Jews boasted of their father Abraham and as the Greeks boasted of their wisdom. For God will have himself to be feared and us to be humbled. But this his will, though known to us, is for the most part known to us in vain. For we are not moved by all these terrible instances of his wrath nor by the perditions and destructions of the first men and the first nations.

  Universal experience therefore testifies, that the sentiment of the Virgin Mary is true, “He hath put down the mighty from their seats,” Luke 1:52. For those things which are the first and the best become the most damnable, not from anything in themselves that is evil, but on account of the diabolical presumption and pride of men. This sad result the Gentiles also saw, as the well-known saying of one of their philosophers testifies, who being asked what God was doing replied, “Exalting the humble, and humbling the exalted.” But the heathen philosophers saw not the cause of all these things.

  Thus also the flesh judges it to be great glory to be born a male, and not a female. We see however that God has taken especial care that man, so great, should not be born of man, and so also Christ would have himself to be called “the Seed of the woman,” not the “Seed of the man.” O what would have been the pride of men had God willed Christ to be born of a man! No! all this glory is transferred from the men to the women, subject to the rule of the men. And all this was done that men might not glory in themselves, but be humbled. Nay, since the woman cannot bring forth without the man, God has therefore especially ordained that the men also should not bring forth of themselves without the woman. For such is human nature, that man cannot rightly use his glory, but ever abuses it with pride and rises up against him from whom he receives such gifts. It was for this reason therefore that Cain so awfully fell and lost the right of his first birthship, that we might be thereby taught to fear God and to give him thanks, and might be warned against abusing his gifts in arrogance and pride.

  Vs. 4b, 5a. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect.

  This is an important portion of Scripture, and therefore it is to be most carefully observed and most strongly enforced. For it would be sufficient for all doctrine if under the New Testament trust in the mercy of God were set before men against all trust in works with so clear a testimony and in such plain words as it was thus set forth at the very beginning of the world. For when Moses says that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect, does he not clearly show that God ever respects the person before the work, and that he first looks at the person who performs the work? And does not the sacred historian make it perfectly plain, that if the person be good, his work also pleaseth God; but that, if the person be evil, the work also of such an one does not please God?

  Now this is the sum of our doctrine, which we profess and teach, that the person is accepted of God before the work! And that the person is not made righteous by the righteous work, but on the contrary that the work is rendered righteous and good by the good and righteous person, as the text now before us clearly proves. For because God, as here shown, had respect unto the person of Abel, he had respect also unto his offering. But on the other hand, because God had not respect unto the person of Cain, therefore unto his offering also he had not respect. This doctrine the text before us plainly proves, nor can our adversaries deny it. From the words of that text therefore follows this most clear and most evident consequence: that Abel was “righteous” before the work of his “offering,” and that his work pleased God, because of his person; not his person, because of his work. Yet it is for the latter doctrine that our adversaries contend, who teach that the man is justified by his works, and not by his faith alone.

  And it is in this manner that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews looks at this text with clear and pure eyes, when he says, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh,” Heb. 11:4. Cain also offered, and also before Abel brought his offering; but the former offered, inflated with the glory of his birth, expecting that his gift would please God, because it was offered by the first-born. Cain therefore comes to offer without faith, without the confession of sin, without imploring the grace of God, without trust in the mercy of God, and without prayer for the remission of sins, having no other ground for his hope that he shall please God, than because he was the first-born; and this is what all self-justifiers do at this day. They look intently on their works alone and hope that they shall please God on account of their works. They trust not in the mercy of God only, nor hope in God that he will pardon their sins for Christ’s sake. And such was Cain. But it would have been impossible for him to have displeased God, if he had possessed faith.

  Abel, on the contrary, acknowledged himself to be an unworthy and miserable sinner; and therefore he fled unto the mercy of God and believed that God was favorable unto him, and that he was willing to have mercy upon him. God therefore who looks into the heart judged between the two brothers, who alike brought their offering. He condemned Cain, not on account of the offerings themselves, as if they were less good than those of Abel, for if he had offered even a nutshell in faith, it would have been accepted of God, but because his person was evil, without faith and filled with pride and arrogance. While, on the contrary, God had respect unto the offering of Abel, because his person pleased him. Hence it is that the text so clearly and particularly expresses it, that the Lord had respect first to Abel, and afterwards to his offering. For, when the person first pleases you, then also the things which that person does please you. But, on the contrary, all things are unpleasing to you, which that person does whom you hate.

  The passage before us therefore is remarkable and important; for it is thereby clearly proved that God regards neither the magnitude, nor the multitude, nor even the price of the works done; but simply and only the faith of the person who does them. And that God despises neither the fewness, nor the meanness, nor the worthlessness of the works done, but the absence of faith only, in the person who does them.

  Of what avail is it therefore that the Jews glory and exclaim, “The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!” Jer. 7:4. What avails it that the Papists boast of their masses, their sackcloth, their horse-hair blankets, their hard labors, their sweats, and the magnitude, the multitude and even the price of their works? For God regardeth not works, not even those commanded by himself, when they are not done as the passage of Jeremiah just mentioned shows. Much less does God regard those works which are invented of men without his Word. He regards faith alone; that is, a trust in his mercy through Christ. It is by this faith and this trust that the persons begin to please God; then after this their works also please him. Hence it was that the offering of Cain did not please God, because Cain having no faith did not please him. On the contrary, the offering of Abel did please God and that because of his faith; because he trusted neither in his dignity, nor in his sacrifices themselves, nor in the work which he performed; but trusted alone in the promise given of God concerning the Seed of
the woman.

  The text before us therefore exactly applies to our doctrine concerning justification, that a man must be righteous before all works and be accepted of God without any works, through that grace alone which his faith believes and apprehends. Nor does even faith justify, as a work, but because it apprehends the mercy shown forth in Christ. It is in this trust in the mercy of God that the true Church walks, with a humble confession of her sins and unworthiness, while she believes that God will pardon her through Christ.

  And now the works which follow upon this trust in God’s mercy are as it were evidences and testimonies of the man’s faith; and they please God, not on account of themselves, but on account of the faith of the person who offers them; or because he believes in the mercy of God toward him. This faith the other church, the Cainite church, not only has not, but ever persecutes it where she finds it. For she on the contrary, like Cain, sets it down for a certainty that she shall please God on account of her works. But God hates this pride; for he can not endure such contempt of his grace and mercy, etc. This passage of Scripture therefore is worthy our most careful consideration.

  PART III. CAIN’S CONDUCT UPON THE REJECTION OF HIS OFFERING AND HIS PUNISHMENT.

  I. V. 5B. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

  This and the few following clauses will give us a little grammatical trouble. But I hope we shall make our way out of the difficulty successfully. We have heard that Cain was disappointed in his hope. He had despised his brother in comparison with himself, and had judged that on account of the right of his primogeniture he should hold the first place with God as he had done with his parents. The judgment of God however was quite different from that of men. He showed that he approved Abel, but rejected Cain.

  The result was therefore that Cain was violently enraged against his brother. For he could not endure with any patience that he should be thus rejected and excommunicated, and deprived also at the same time of his rule and priesthood. Just in the same manner also we see kings and princes to be utterly impatient of the judgment of the Church. For they are not satisfied with being kings and princes, they want to be accounted also righteous and saints before God; and they will take to themselves the name of “the Church.” Exactly like these, Cain was filled with indignation when he saw that the honor of righteousness and grace before God was taken from him. For what else was this than being cast out of the Church and excommunicated? And his indignation at this dishonor was the greater in proportion to the measure in which he judged himself degraded beneath his brother. For his thoughts were these: “My brother will assuredly aspire to the headship and rule, since he sees me thus despised and disregarded of God.” And hence it is that Moses uses the adverb “very wroth,” by which form of expression he would signify that Cain was vehemently offended because he was thus ignominiously confounded in public before his whole family; whereas he had always wished to appear the first among them.

  This Cain-like wrath is just that rage which we see also in the Cain-like Church of the pope. For what is there which gives the pope, the cardinals, the kings and the princes greater offense than that I, a poor beggar, set the authority of God above the authority of them all, and that I condemn in the name of the Lord all those things which are worthy such condemnation. They themselves also acknowledge that there are many things which need rigid reformation. But that I, a poor, obscure person, coming into public out of some obscure corner, should presume to do this, is a thing which they consider to be beyond all endurance. And therefore they put forth all their authority against me and by the weight of that authority they attempt to crush us.

  And most certainly there is not in the whole world a wrath more cruel than that of this Church of hypocrisy and blood. For in all political or civil rage there is some degree of humanity still left. No assassin is led to execution, however savage his nature may be, with pity for whom men are not in some measure touched. But when that false and blood-thirsting Church falls upon a poor son of the true Church, she is not satisfied with shedding his blood; she loads him also with her curses and execrations, and devotes him to every ignominy and insult, and even vents her rage upon his miserable, breathless corpse. Just like the Jews, who were not content with having nailed Christ to the cross, with the full purpose of not taking him down till he was dead, but even while he was breathing out the last breath of his soul they gave him in his thirst vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Such fury as this is never found in political wrath!

  The wrath therefore and the pharasaic fury of the false Church is a fury in its very nature diabolical. This wrath began in Cain, and it continues in all Cainites to this very day. And we can most truly glory that we also have to endure with godly Abel, just such wrath as this in our day. For who entertains a doubt, that if our bishops and certain furious princes could do it, they would slaughter us all in one moment? Who doubts that, if according to the prayers of the notorious Roman emperor, we all together had but one neck, they would with the greatest delight rush upon us sword in hand and cut off our head? Only look at the councils of these later years and their designs, and you will say that my testimony is true.

  That which Moses adds, “And his countenance (vultus) ‘appearances,’ ‘looks,’ ‘whole aspect,’ fell,” is a Hebrew expression; an expression which not only represents the deed done, or the fact, but also implies that the mind also was in such a state of commotion that it could not rest; and that although Cain could do no further harm, yet his wrathful will to do so was manifested by his countenance. He did not lift up his fallen brow nor speak in a friendly voice to his parents as before. And every answer he made them was rather a sullen murmur than a natural utterance. He was struck pale at the first sight of his brother after his offering, which God had accepted. And he showed by the threatening looks of his eyes that his mind was burning with the desire of revenge.

  Moses expresses all this, when he says, “And his countenance fell;” for he does not mean his countenance or visage only, nor merely one part of his countenance; but he intends all his appearances, his whole appearance; his every look, gesture and motion; in the same manner as the apostle uses a Hebrew expression, when he says concerning charity that it “doth not behave itself unseemly;” that is, doth not carry an unseemly countenance, doth not contract its brow, doth not look with anger or disdain, doth not wear a threatening aspect; but is of a free and open visage, expressing with its eyes kindness and affection. For the latter are becoming, but the former are unbecoming and indicative of vice within. This clause therefore, “And his countenance fell,” contains a particular description of the anger and hypocrisy of Cain. He could neither look at his brother Abel, nor hear his voice, nor speak to him, nor eat nor drink with him in rest or quietude of mind.

  If any one desires to witness an example of this Cain-like wrath, let him put himself in the presence of some Papist, who is seeking distinguished praise for doctrine or piety in his day and generation; and he will find that such an one is the subject of a rage against the truth, perfectly diabolical; to which fury, if you compare the anger of a judge, the latter will appear in comparison to be the greatest kindness, mercy and open candor. For in the judge anger is merely a duty; he is not angry with the person of the prisoner, but with his crime. But the Cainite wrath fires and distorts the eyes, scowls the brow, swells the cheeks with rage, and arms the hands. In a word, it is evident in every part of the body and in its every gesture, and that unceasingly. For it does not die away by time, as political or domestic wrath does.

  Next follows the fatherly and most grave admonition of Adam, who would willingly have healed and saved his son if he could have done so. But this wrath knows no medicine or cure. Neither Cain nor any Cainite will hear either father or mother, or God Himself!

  V. 6. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?

  All these circumstances plainly prove that the present was not the first time that Cain had been confounded in this offering of his sacr
ifice; but that from the hour of this sacrifice he had gone in perturbation of mind, filled with sadness and gnashing his teeth; and looking neither upon his father nor upon his mother without an evil eye; affected just as we have already said that pharasaic rage affects the whole man, and changes the whole visage and gesture. For Cain considered it to be a great indignity that at a public sacrifice, and in the midst of divine worship, and before the eyes of his father and his mother, Abel whom he had always despised and whom even his parents themselves had accounted a child of naught, should be preferred of God to himself; and thus pronounced of God worthy the glory of the kingship and the priesthood.

  II. As soon therefore as he had fully shown that he was of a hostile mind towards his brother, he receives from his father Adam the admonition in our text. For my belief is, that these words are spoken by Adam himself, and that Moses says they were spoken “by the Lord,” because Adam had now been justified and had been gifted with the Holy Spirit; and therefore those things which he now spoke by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God are rightly said by Moses to have been spoken by God himself. Just as at the present day those who preach the Gospel are not in reality themselves the preachers and teachers, but Christ, who speaks and teaches in them and by them. And most certainly these words are spoken by Adam with peculiar gravity and intent; for he saw that his son could not patiently endure the indignity put upon him; he saw him grieve over his lost superiority; and he felt what havoc the Tempter might make in the corrupt nature of his son, who had done such evil to himself and Eve, when in a state of innocency and perfection. Adam therefore was filled with deep anxiety and addressed his son with that solemn gravity of language, which Moses records in the text. And although no one of the fathers has explained that speech of Adam to his son Cain in a manner worthy its gravity and importance; because perhaps none of them had sufficient leisure from their ecclesiastical engagements; yet I will attempt to move this stone of difficulty out of the way; and, as I hope and think, not without some advantage to the truth.