Part 24 (2/2)
126. Does not Mary earnestly declaim in her song against princes, Luke 1, 51-53: ”He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down princes from their thrones, and hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry he hath filled with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away”? If we believe this to be true, who would wish to be found among authorities, for whom so certain perdition is prepared and imminent? Who would not prefer to live on a lowly plane and suffer hunger? The second psalm accuses the authorities of the gravest crime when it says that they place themselves with united strength and efforts in opposition to G.o.d and his anointed and render violence to his kingdom. ”Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin,” Is 25, 2. The whole Bible abounds with like sentiments.
127. Thus, the Bible does not honor the authorities, but threatens them with danger, and drags them into manifest contempt; and still with consummate care it commands us to reverence and fear them, and to render them all manner of service. Why is this? Surely because G.o.d himself desires to punish them, and has reserved vengeance for himself instead of surrendering it to their subjects. Jeremiah argues in chapter 12, 1, concerning the prosperity of the way of the unG.o.dly, and yet the Lord is righteous. But he concludes: ”Thou, O Lord, fattenest them and preparest them for the sacrifice.”
128. So might it be said that the authorities are G.o.d's swine, as it were; he fattens them, gives them wealth, power, fame and the obedience of their subjects. They are not pursued, while they themselves pursue and oppress others; they suffer no injury, but they inflict it upon others; they do not give to others, but rob them until the hour comes when, like fattened swine, they are slaughtered. Hence the German proverb: A prince is a rare bird in the kingdom of heaven or, princes are wild game in heaven.
129. Accordingly, those whom Moses calls here ”_Nephilim_,” which is an odious and disgraceful name, were without doubt the lawful administrators of Church and State. But because they did not use their office as they should, G.o.d marks and brands them with this opprobious name. As we, in this corrupt state of nature, are unable to use the least gift without pride, so G.o.d, most intolerant of pride, thrusts the mighty from their throne, and leaves the rich empty.
130. I accept, then, the word ”_Nephilim_” as having an active signification, being equivalent to tyrants, oppressors, revelers. I believe, furthermore, as has been the case with other languages also, that Moses has transferred the usage of this word from his own times to those before the deluge, after changing somewhat its meaning, inasmuch as these degenerate descendants of the sons of G.o.d abused their power and position for the oppression of the good, just as those Anakim were tyrants relying upon bodily strength, and so Moses will presently show.
V. 4b. _And also after that, when the sons of G.o.d came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them; the same were the men that were of old, the men of renown._
131. Jerome[1] renders: _Isti sunt potentes a seculo_ (these are mighty men from the beginning). But the word _seculum_ (olam) does not here signify duration of time, nor does it predicate extent. These giants did not exist from the beginning, they were not born until the sons of G.o.d had degenerated. But _seculum_ (olam) connotes a second predicate, that of substance, so that Moses explains the nature of the power in which they trusted to have been secular or worldly. They despised the ministry of the Word as a vile office; therefore they seized upon another office, a secular one. The very same thing our Papists have done. It has pleased them better to hold ample revenues and worldly kingdoms than to be hated of all men for the sake of the Gospel.
[Footnote 1: So also the A. V. and the R. V., while Luther has by no means the philological science against him. Mundus, seculum, aion, and olam are used to express the same conception. Translator.]
132. As far as Moses is concerned, the noun _olam_ designates the world itself, and also age or time. Hence it is to be carefully noted when _olam_ (_seculum_) signifies duration of time, and when it signifies ”world” in the Scriptures. Here it signifies of necessity ”world,” for they did not exist from the beginning.
133. This clause, then, aptly describes the power they had received, not from the Church, nor from the Holy Spirit, but from the devil and the world. It is, as it were, the counterpart of what Christ says before Pontius Pilate, John 18, 36: ”My kingdom is not of this world.”
The servants of the Word struggle with hunger, and they labor under the hate of all cla.s.ses. In consequence, they cannot exercise tyranny; but those who possess kingdoms, who govern states, who possess castles and domains, are equipped for exercising tyranny.
134. This clause contains also a suggestive reference to the small Church with her few souls. These are cross-bearers without wealth; but they possess the Word. Their only wealth is what the world despises and persecutes. The Nephilim, on the other hand, or giants, usurp as the descendants of the patriarchs the splendid name of the Church, and possess also kingdoms. They exercise dominion, and pursue the miserable Church in their power. In accordance therewith Moses calls them mighty before, or in, the world; or worldlings and temporal potentates.
135. What Jerome renders _viri famosi_ (famous men) is, in Hebrew, ”men of name,” that is, renowned or famous in the world. Moses touches here also upon the sin of the Cyclopeans, who, possessing everything in the world, possessed also a famous name and were renowned throughout the world; while, on the contrary, the true sons of G.o.d, namely Noah and his sons, were held in the greatest scorn and regarded as heretics, as sons of the devil, as a blot upon the grandeur of Church and State. So is it now with us. Christ testifies in Matthew 24, 37, that the last times resemble the times of Noah.
136. Moses had before testified that the Holy Spirit would be taken from the wicked and they would be sent in the ways of their own desire. They were, accordingly, such rascals as the pope today with his cardinals and bishops, who are not only styled princes and possess kingdoms, but also take to themselves the name of Church, so as to subject us as heretics to the ban, and securely to condemn us. They do not permit themselves to be called tyrants, nor wicked, nor temple-robbers. They wish to be styled most kind, holy and reverend gentlemen.
137. The meaning, therefore, is not that which Lyra follows when he understands ”famous” as ”notorious.” As the world does not call the pope Antichrist, but ascribes to him the name of the greatest saint and admires him as if he and his carnal creatures were filled with the Holy Spirit and incapable of error, and therefore humbly wors.h.i.+ps whatever he commands or advises--exactly so those giants had a n.o.ble name and were held in admiration by the whole world. On the contrary, Noah with his followers was condemned as a rebel, as a heretic, as a traducer of the dignity of State and Church. So today do bishops regard us who profess the Gospel.
D. THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT.
138. This pa.s.sage furnishes a description of the sins with which that age was burdened: Men were averse to the Word; they were given over to their own l.u.s.ts and reprobate minds; they sinned against the Holy Spirit by persistent impenitence, by defending their unG.o.dly behavior and by warring upon the recognized truth. Yet with all these blasphemies they retained the name and authority, not only of the State, but also of the Church, as if G.o.d had exalted them to the place of the angels. When this was the state of things, and Noah and Lamech with their pious ancestor Methuselah taught in vain, G.o.d turned them over to the desires of their hearts (Ps 81, 12) and maintained silence until they should experience the flood, the prophecy of which they refused to believe.
139. This is falling away from G.o.d and Church and entering upon illicit marriage. One sin, unless corrected at once, will lead to another, and so on indefinitely until the state is reached which Solomon describes in Proverbs 18, 3, ”When the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, and with ignominy Cometh reproach.” They who thus sin, even if afterward rebuked, do not heed. They imagine they stand in need of no instructor, and think they represent a just cause.
They do not believe in a life after this, or even hope for salvation, while living in open sin. Notwithstanding, scorn and shame shall overwhelm them. It was this persistent impenitence and consummate contempt for the Word that impelled G.o.d to visit all flesh with a universal flood.
IV. G.o.d'S REPENTANCE AND GRIEF THAT HE MADE MAN.
A. THE REPENTANCE OF G.o.d.
1. The Words, ”The wickedness of man was great.”
a. How Luther used these words against the doctrine of free will; how the advocates of free will falsely interpreted them, and how they are refuted 140-141.
* Concerning free will.
(1) Augustine's doctrine of free will misinterpreted by the schools 140.
(2) The schools unreasonably defend it 141.
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