Kitabı oku: «Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1: Luther on the Creation», sayfa 9

PART VI. GOD'S WORK ON THE SIXTH DAY

I. V. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, etc.

We have now seen created the heaven with all its hosts, the sun, the moon and the stars. We have seen the sea created, with its fishes and birds. For as the fishes swim in the water so do the birds swim as it were in the air. To the earth also we have seen added its ornaments of herbs, trees and fruits. And now, before man is introduced into this his dwelling place, as it were, beasts of the earth are added; and beasts of labor and burden; and also reptiles. After all these things man himself is also created!

Man however is not created that he might fly with the bird nor that he might swim with the fish. But man has a nature common to all other animals in this respect, that he is designed to live upon the earth. For the use of ships is artificial, in the construction and use of which man attempts to imitate the fishes and the birds. For the ship performs both movements. It flies in the air and swims on the water. We are not however here speaking of things artificial, but of things natural.

The Hebrews here make a distinction of names and appellations. They call BEHAMAH, those animals which we denominate "beasts of burden;" and they distinguish by the same appellation the lesser beasts of the wood; such as stags, goats, hares and whatever animals feed on food common to us, and live on herbs and the fruits of trees. But they term carnivorous beasts, such as wolves, lions and bears, etc., HAIESO EREZ; which is generally and correctly rendered, "beasts of the earth." But whether this distinction is uniformly observed I know not. It does not appear to me that the observance of it is uniform. One thing however is quite certain, that Moses here intended to comprehend all terrestrial animals, whether they feed on flesh or on herbs. Of all these he affirms that the earth is the mother, which brought them all forth from herself by the Word, as the sea also brought forth all fishes from herself by the same Word.

We have heard above however that God said to the water, "Let the water be moved," etc., in order that by this its motion the sea might be filled with fishes and the air with birds. And we have seen also that afterwards the blessing of generation was first added. But here in the creation of terrestrial animals, another word is used; and God says, "Let the earth bring forth." He does not say, "Let the earth be moved." For the earth is a quiescent body. Therefore in the creation work of the fourth day, God also says, "And let the earth bring forth grass," verse 11. For God wills that the earth should send forth both animals and herbs without any motion.

But whether these animals were formed after the similitude of the formation of man out of the "ground," or whether they burst forth on a sudden, the Scriptures define nothing on the subject; yet as Moses is here celebrating the formation of man as having been wrought by a peculiar design and contrivance of the mind of God; my own opinion is that all the other animals of the earth stood forth created in a moment, as the fishes were made on a sudden in the sea. The reason God did not here, Vs. 24 and 25, add his blessing is quite plain; because it embraces all the creatures mentioned in these verses, when it is afterwards pronounced on man, V. 28. It was sufficient therefore for Moses to say in this place, "And God saw that it was good," V. 25. But let us now approach the last and most glorious work of God: the creation of man!

II. V. 26a. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

Here again Moses adopts a new phraseology. The divine expression is not in this place, "Let the sea be moved," or "Let the earth bring forth grass" or "fruits." But the remarkable Word of God here is, "Let us make, or form, or fashion, or fabricate man." Wherefore this expression implies manifest deliberation and counsel; the like of which is found not in the creation of any former creatures. In those cases God says simply without any deliberation, counsel or particular design of mind, "Let the sea be moved;" "Let the earth bring forth," etc. But here where God wills to create man, he turns himself as it were to deep thought and enters into profound counsel and deliberation.

First of all then we have here indicated the signal difference between man and every other creature of God and his high exaltation above them all. Beasts do indeed greatly resemble man in many particulars. They live with him; they eat with him; they are brought up with him; they feed on many of the same things with him; they rest with him; they sleep with him, etc. If therefore you consider their food, their bringing up, their housing, their conservation, etc., there is a great similarity between man and beast.

Moses however here sets before us the striking difference between man and all the animals mentioned; when he affirms that man was created by the peculiar counsel and providence of God; whereby he signifies that man is a creature far excelling all other animals, which live a corporeal life; which excellence was more especially prominent while nature was as yet unfallen and uncorrupted. The opinion of Epicurus was that man was created only to eat and to drink. This was not separating man from beasts; for beasts have also their pleasures, and they pursue them with delight. Whereas the sacred text before us forcibly expresses the distinction and separation of man from beast, when it affirms that God took deep thought and certain counsel in forming man; which counsel was taken, not only to form man, but to form him "in the image and after the likeness of God." This image of God is a far different thing from the care of the belly and the indulgence of the appetite; for these things beasts well understand and eagerly crave.

Moses therefore in this place signifies to the spiritually minded that we were created unto a life far more excellent than, and high above, anything which this corporeal life could ever have been, even if nature had remained perfect and uncorrupted by sin. For godly teachers well affirm that if Adam had not fallen God would have translated him from an animal life to spiritual life after a certain number of saints had been perfected. For Adam was not designed by his creation to live without food, drink and procreation. But all these corporeal things would have ceased at an appointed time; after a number of saints had been completed; and Adam, together with his posterity, would have been translated to a life spiritual and eternal. These natural works of our corporeal life, eating, drinking, procreation, etc., would still have existed and would have been a service of gratitude to God; which service we should have performed without any of that corrupt concupiscence which cleaves to us since the sin of the fall and without any sin of our own or any fear of death. This would indeed have been a life of pleasure and of sweetness. Of such a life it is lawful for us to think; but such a life is not now possible for us to live. This however we have still left to us: We can believe and with all assurance look for a spiritual life after this present life; an end of this life in paradise; thought for us and destined for us by God through the merits of Christ.

Wherefore the portion of the sacred text before us claims our especial meditation in which the Holy Spirit so magnificently extols the human nature and so distinctly separates it from all the other creatures of God. For the mere corporeal or animal life of man was designed to resemble in a great measure the life of the beasts of the earth. Because as beasts require food, drink and sleep for the refreshment and restoration of their bodies, so Adam was designed also to use these even in his state of innocence. But that which Moses moreover affirms, that man was so created unto this animal life that he was also "made" in the "image" and "after the likeness" of God, this is a manifest indication of a life different from and far above a mere animal life.

Adam was endowed therefore with a twofold life: an animal and an immortal life. The latter however was not as yet plainly revealed, but held in hope. Had he not fallen by sin therefore, he would have eaten and drunk, worked and generated in all innocence, sinlessness and happiness. I have thought proper to make these admonitory observations upon that difference which God made by his deep counsel between us men and all other animals among which he permits us to live. I shall return to this subject hereafter and shall dilate upon it to a greater extent.

Secondly, I would remark upon this divine Word "Let us make," that it pertains to the mystery and confirmation of our faith; by which we believe that there is one God from all eternity and three distinct Persons in one divinity or divine essence, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Jews indeed attempt in various ways to elude this passage; but they can bring nothing solidly or effectually against it. For this passage plagues them to death, to use the expression of Occa. That author so describes all trying and tormenting questions, which he finds he cannot solve.

The Jews assert that God uses the same expression elsewhere, when he includes the angels with himself; and also where he includes with himself the earth and other creatures. But I would here ask in the first place, why God did not use this same expression before in the creation of the previous creatures? I would demand secondly what the creation of man had to do with angels or angels with it? And I would thirdly call attention to the fact, that God makes here no mention of angels whatever but simply says, "Let us." Wherefore God speaks here of makers or creators. This expression therefore could not design or imply angels. In the fourth place, it is quite certain that it was not, could not, and cannot, be said that we were created "in the image" of angels. And fifthly and lastly, we have the divine Word in both forms of expression in the plural and also in the singular number, "Let us make" and "God made." Moses therefore here most clearly and most forcibly indicates to us, that there is internally in the very divinity itself and in the very creative essence, an inseparable and eternal plurality. Suffer we not the gates of hell themselves to wrest this truth from the grasp of our faith!

And as to what the Jews say about God's joining the earth with himself when he speaks by the pronoun we or us, that is frivolous and absurd. For surely the earth is not our maker or creator. Why did not the adorable God rather join the sun with himself, when he spoke. For Aristotle affirms that man and the sun generate man. But neither would this invention succeed; because we are not made in the image of the earth but we are made "in the image" and "after the likeness" of those glorious makers and creators who here speak and say, "Let us make," etc. These makers are three distinct persons in one divine essence. It is in the image of these three divine and glorious Persons that we are created, as we shall hereafter further hear.

And again, it is extremely absurd for the Jews to assert with reference to this passage that God adopts, in the words he here uses, the custom of princes; who, for the sake of reverence and dignity, use the plural number when they speak. But the Holy Spirit does not imitate this distancing pomp of terms, if I may so term it; nor do the Scriptures know anything of such a manner of speech.

Wherefore most assuredly the Holy Trinity is here intended of God; that in the one divine essence there are three divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; so that the Deity is not separated here, even in this case of action or agency. For all three Persons here concur and speak unitedly when they say, "Let us make." For neither does the Father make any other man than the Son makes; nor does the Son make any other man than the Holy Ghost makes. But the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, the one same God, are the one same author of the one same work and are the one same creator.

Wherefore according to this scriptural argument and this holy statement of the truth, the Deity or Godhead cannot be separated objectively, as the object of divine worship, nor actively as the creative agent. For the Father is not known, but in the Son through the Holy Ghost. Hence as actively, so objectively, there is but one adorable God; who nevertheless is in and within himself, substantially or essentially Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three distinct persons in one Godhead or Deity.

These divine testimonies of this book of Genesis ought to be dear and delightful to us. For although both Jews and Turks deride us, because we believe that there is one God, but three Persons in the Godhead, yet unless they are prepared impudently to deny the authority of the Scriptures, they must be compelled by the present text as well as by the passages above cited to fall in with our doctrine. They may indeed attempt to elude and avoid these testimonies, nevertheless the sting of this passage still sticks fast in their hearts; they cannot get rid of the divine expression "Let us make." They can assign no other reason for it than we have here given. Nor can they otherwise explain why Moses uses the plural noun ELOHIM. The reflections and natural convictions arising from these divine expressions they cannot shut out from their hearts and consciences, notwithstanding all the various means which they adopt in order to do so. And if they deem it the height of their wisdom to elude and get rid of these testimonies, do they think that we are destitute of ability, and cannot find wisdom enough to defend them? But the authority of the Scriptures on our side is far mightier than all wisdom on theirs; especially since the New Testament reveals the whole divine matter more clearly still. For there the Son which is in the bosom of the Father teaches us all these things with a clearness far surpassing all other testimony; whom not to believe is the highest blasphemy and eternal death. Wherefore, bid we farewell to all these blind corrupters of divine doctrines until we meet them at the day of judgment!

But you will say perhaps that these testimonies are too obscure to be appealed to as proofs of so important an article of faith. I reply, these divine things were spoken at this time, thus obscurely, according to the counsel and purpose of God; and for this very reason, because they were all left to that Great Lord and Teacher, who was to come; until whose advent the restitution of all things was reserved; even the restitution of all knowledge and of all revelations. Those mysteries therefore which "in the beginning" were set before us thus obscurely, Christ when he came revealed, made known and commanded to be preached. Nevertheless the holy fathers were in possession of this knowledge by the Holy Spirit; though not so clearly as we possess it now, who hear in the New Testament the names of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost plainly declared. For when Christ came it was necessary that all those seals should be unloosed, and all those things openly preached, which "in the beginning" had been purposely delivered to us in obscure words in reverence to the Great Teacher who was to come. And had not the Holy Spirit deferred this clear knowledge to the time of the New Testament, Arians would have existed long before the birth of Christ. Wherefore the Holy Spirit willed that this sun of knowledge should be opposed to the devil in these "last times," that his eyes might be the more intolerably dazzled, that he might the more virulently envy men such a brightness of knowledge, and be thus the more terribly tormented.

Thirdly. A whole sea of questions is here agitated as to what that "image" of God was in which Moses here says man was formed. Augustine has dwelt largely on the explanation of this passage in his book "On the Trinity." Those divines in general, who retain the division and definition of Aristotle, follow Augustine. They consider the image of God to be those powers of soul, memory, mind or intellect and will. They affirm that the image of God consists in these three qualities; which image, they say, is found in all men. And their argument is, that as in divine things the Word is begotten of the substance of the Father, and as the Holy Spirit is the complacency or good pleasure of the Father, so in man from the memory proceeds the word of the heart, which is the mind of the man; which word being uttered there is developed the will, which will the mind beholds and with which it is delighted.

These divines affirm moreover that "the similitude," after which man was formed, stands in gratuitous gifts. For as a similitude is a certain perfectness of an image, so, they say, the created nature of man is perfected by grace. According to their views therefore the "similitude" of God in man consists in his memory being adorned with hope, his intellect with faith and his will with love. It is in this manner, they assert, that man is created in the image of God; that man has a mind, a memory and a will. Again they state the sacred matter thus: Man is created after the "similitude" of God; that is, his intellect is illuminated by faith, his memory is confirmed by hope and constancy, and his will is adorned with love.

Fourthly. Divines give other divisions and definitions of the qualities of this "image" of God, in which man was originally created. They hold that memory is the image of the power of God, mind the image of his wisdom and will the image of his justice. It was after this manner that Augustine, and after him others, bent their minds on the discovery of certain trinities of natural qualities or endowments in man. For they thought that by this mode of explanation, the image of God in man would be the more clearly seen. These not unpleasing speculations do indeed argue faithful employment and great acuteness of mental ability, but they by no means aid the right explanation of this "image" of God.

Wherefore though I do not altogether condemn and reprobate this diligence and these deep thoughts, by which divines desire to reduce all things to a kind of sacred trinity, yet I doubt whether such attempts are very useful, especially seeing that others may push them too far. For it is on these grounds that some rest their disputes in favor of free-will; which, they say, naturally follows from this "image of God." They argue thus: God is free. Since therefore man is created in the image of God, man also has a free memory, a free mind and a free will. Out of this kind of reasoning therefore many things fall, which are either spoken untruly at first, or are afterwards wrongly understood or wickedly perverted. It is from this source that the dangerous doctrine has arisen, according to which men affirm, that God so rules and governs men that he permits them to use their own mind and movement. By this sentiment and teaching many most objectionable opinions have been generated. From this same source has originated that pernicious saying, "God who made thee without thyself will not save thee without thyself." Such men conclude that free-will concurs with the grace and work of God, as a preceding and efficient cause of salvation. Not unlike this is the saying of Dionysius, which is more pernicious still: "Although devils and man fell, yet all their natural faculties remained whole and entire; their mind, their memory, their will," etc. If this be true therefore it will follow, that man by his own natural powers can save himself.

These perilous opinions of some of the fathers are agitated in all churches and schools, and I do not really see what the fathers wished to effect by them. Therefore I advise that they be read with caution and judgment. They were often spoken in a mood and with a peculiar feeling, which we have not and cannot have, since we have not similar occasions. Inexperienced persons therefore seize them all, without any judgment, in their own sense, and not in the meaning the fathers had at the time they were uttered. But I leave this and return to our theme.

I fear however that since this "image of God" has been lost by sin, we can never fully attain to the knowledge of what it was. Memory, mind and will we do most certainly possess, but wholly corrupted, most miserably weakened; nay, that I may speak with greater plainness, utterly leprous and unclean. If these natural endowments therefore constitute the image of God it will inevitably follow that Satan also was created in the image of God; for he possesses all these natural qualities, and to an extent and strength far beyond our own. For he has a memory and an intellect the most powerful and a will the most obstinate.

The image of God therefore is something far different from all this. It is a peculiar work of God. If there be those however who are yet disposed to contend that the above natural endowments and powers do constitute the image of God, they must of necessity confess that they are all leprous and unclean. Even as we still call a leprous man a man, though all the parts of his leprous flesh be stupefied and dead, as it were, with disease, except that his whole nature is vehemently excited to lust.

Wherefore that image of God created in Adam was a workmanship the most beautiful, the most excellent and the most noble, while as yet no leprosy of sin adhered either to his reason or to his will. Then all his senses, both internal and external, were the most perfect and pure. His intellect was most clear, his memory most complete and his will the most sincere, accompanied with the most charming security, without any fear of death and without any care or anxiety whatever. To these internal perfections of Adam was added a power of body and of all his limbs, so beautiful and so excellent that he surpassed all other animate natural creatures. For I fully believe that before his sin the eyes of Adam were so clear and their sight so acute that his powers of vision exceeded those of the lynx. Adam, I believe, being stronger than they, handled lions and bears, whose strength is so great, as we handle the young of any animal. I believe also that to Adam the sweetness and the virtue of the fruits which he ate were far beyond our enjoyment of them now.

After the fall however death crept in like leprosy over all the senses. So that now we cannot comprehend this image of God by our intellect. Adam moreover in his innocency could not have known his wife Eve, but with the most pure and confident mind towards God; with a will the most obedient to God and a soul the most free from all impurity of thought. But now since the sin of the fall all know how great is the excitement of the flesh, which is not only furious in concupiscence, but also in disgust after it has satisfied its desire. In neither case therefore is the reason or the will sound or whole. Both are fallen and corrupt. And the fury of the desire is more brutish than human. Is not this our leprosy then grievous and destructive? But of all this Adam knew nothing before the sin of his fall. His only peculiarity then was that he had greater powers and more acute and exquisite senses than any other living creature. But now how far does the wild boar exceed man in the sense of hearing, the eagle in sight, and the lion in strength? No one therefore can now conceive, even in thought, how far the excellency of man when first created surpasses what he is now.

Wherefore I for my part understand the image of God to be this: that Adam possessed it in its moral substance or nature; that he not only knew God and believed him to be good, but that he lived also a life truly divine; that is, free from the fear of death and of all dangers and happy in the favor of God. This is apparent in Eve, who we find talks with the serpent, devoid of all fear; just as we do with a lamb or a dog. Therefore God sets before Adam and Eve this, as a punishment, if they should transgress his command: "In the day that thou eatest of this tree thou shalt surely die the death." As if he had said, "Adam and Eve, ye now live in all security. Ye neither see nor fear death. This is my image in which ye now live. Ye live as God lives. But if ye sin ye shall lose this image; ye shall die."

Hence we see and feel the mighty perils in which we now live; how many forms and threatenings of death this miserable nature of ours is doomed to experience and endure, in addition to that unclean concupiscence and those other ragings of sin and those inordinate emotions and affections, which are engendered in the minds of all men. We are never confident and happy in God, fear and dread in the highest are perpetually trying us. These and like evils are the image of the devil, who has impressed that image upon us. But Adam lived in the highest pleasure and in the most peaceful security. He feared not fire nor water, nor dreaded any of those other evils with which this life is filled and which we dread too much continually.

Let those who are disposed to do so therefore extenuate original sin. It plainly appears, and with awful certainty, both in sins and in the punishment of them that original sin is great and terrible indeed. Look only at lust. Is it not most mighty, both in concupiscence and in disgust? And what shall we further say of hatred toward God and blasphemies of all kinds? These are sad evidences of the fall, which do indeed prove that the image of God in us is lost.

Wherefore when we now attempt to speak of that image we speak of a thing unknown, an image which we not only have never experienced, but the contrary to which we have experienced all our lives and experience still. Of this image therefore all we now possess are the mere terms, "the image of God!" These naked words are all we now hear and all we know. But there was in Adam an illumined reason, a true knowledge of God, and a will the most upright to love both God and his neighbor. Hence Adam embraced his Eve, and immediately knew his own flesh. To all these endowments were added others of less excellency, but surpassingly excellent if compared with our present weakness. Adam had a perfect knowledge of all nature, of animals, of herbs, of trees, of fruits and of all other creatures.

When all these endowments are put together they do not compose a man in whom you can at once behold the image of God shining forth, and more especially so when to all these endowments you add "dominion" over the whole creation. For as Adam and Eve acknowledged God to be Lord, so afterwards they themselves held dominion over all creatures in the air, on the earth and in the sea. Who can express in words the excellency and majesty of this "dominion?" For my belief is that Adam could by one word command the lion as we command a favorite dog. He possessed a freedom of will and pleasure to cultivate the earth, that it might bring forth whatever he wished. For the following chapters of this book prove that there were at the time of which we are now speaking neither thorns nor thistles, Chap. 3:18. Neither do I believe that wild beasts were so savage and fierce as they are now.

But all these thorns and thistles, and this ferocity of beasts, are the consequences of original sin, by which all the rest of the creation contracted a corruption and a loss of its original excellency. Hence it is my belief also that before the sin of Adam, the sun was more bright, the water more pure, the trees more fruitful and the earth more productive than since he fell. But through that dreadful sin and that horrible fall, not only are the soul and the body deformed by the leprosy of sin, but all things we use in this life are corrupted; as we shall more plainly show hereafter.

Now the very intent of the gospel is to restore this image of God. Man's intellect and will have indeed remained, but wholly corrupted. The divine object of the gospel is that we might be restored to that original and indeed better and higher image; an image, in which we are born again unto eternal life, or rather unto the hope of eternal life by faith, in order that we might live in God and with God and might be "one" with him, as Christ so beautifully and largely sets it forth in the seventeenth chapter of St. John.

Nor are we born again unto life only, but unto righteousness also, because faith lays hold of the merit of Christ and sets us free through the death of Christ. Hence arises another righteousness in us; namely, that "newness of life," in which we study to obey God as taught by the Word and helped by the Holy Spirit. This righteousness however begins only in this life and can never be perfected in the flesh. Nevertheless this newness of righteousness pleases God, not as being perfect in itself nor as being any price for our sins, but because it proceedeth from the heart and rests on a confidence in the mercy of God through Christ. And further, through the Gospel comes unto us this other blessing also conferred upon us through the Holy Spirit, who resists in us unbelief, envy and other sins and corruptions, to the intent that we may solemnly desire to adorn the name of the Lord and his holy Word.

In this manner does the image of God begin to be restored in us through the Gospel by this new creation in this life. But in this life it is not perfected. When however it is perfected in the kingdom of the Father, then will our will be truly free and good, our mind truly illuminated and our memory constant and perfect. Then will it come to pass also that all creatures shall be more subject unto us than ever they were unto Adam in paradise.

Until all this shall be fulfilled in us, we shall never be able fully to understand what that image of God was, which was lost by Adam in paradise. This however which we now utter concerning it, faith and the Word teach us, which discover unto us at a distance as it were the glory of this image of God. But as the heaven and the earth "in the beginning," were of rude unformed bodies, as we have shown before the created light was added to them; so the godly possess within themselves that unformed and imperfect image of God, which God will perfect at the last day in those who believe his Word.