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Chapter VI. Part IV B · Commentary on Genesis, Sin, and the Flood

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  Section nineteen off Commentary on Genesis, Volume two Luther on Sin and the Flood
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  by Martin Luther, translated by John Nicholas Linker, Conrad Bruno, Godis,
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  and others. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Jillian
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  Henry, Chapter six, Part four, The repentance and Grief of God because
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  he had made man b the grief of God verse six B. And it
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  grieved him at his heart one hundred and seventy eight. Such was the regret
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  of God that he was pained in his heart. The word here is ad
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  zip, which was used before when he said Genesis chapter three, verse sixteen,
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  quote in pain, shalt thou bring forth children d. Quote. Also
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  in Sam one hundred and twenty seven, verse two, quote the bread of
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  toil d quote. This expression must be understood according to the usage of scripture.
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  We must does not think that God has a heart or that he can
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  suffer pain. But when the spirit of Noah, Lamichh or Methuselah is grieved,
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  God himself is said to be grieved, we may understand such grief not
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  of his divine nature, but of his conduct. Noah, with his father
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  and grandfather, feels in his heart through a revelation of the Holy Spirit.
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  But God hates the world because of sin and desires its destruction. Therefore they
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  are grieved by this impenitence one hundred and seventy nine. This is the simple
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  and true meaning. If you refer these words to the will of the Divine
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  Essence and hold that God has resolved this from eternity, a perilous argument is
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  employed, to which are equal only men who are spiritual and tested by trial,
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  like Paul, for instance, who has ventured to argue concerning predestination.
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  Let Us take our stand on a humbler plane, one less open to danger,
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  and hold that Noah and the other fathers were most grievously penned when the
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  Spirit disclosed to them such wrath. These inexpressible groanings of the best of men
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  are accordingly attributed to God himself, because they emanate from his spirit one hundred
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  and eighty. An example of such groanings we see later in the case of
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  Abraham, who interposed himself like a wall in behalf of the safety of the
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  Sodomites, and did not abandon the cause until they came down to five righteous
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  ones without a doubt, the Holy Spirit filled the breast of Abraham with infinite
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  and frequent groanings in his attempts to effect the salvation of the wretched. Likewise,
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  Samuel, what does he not do for Saul? He cries and implores
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  with such vehemence that God is compelled to restrain him. Quote how long wilt
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  thou mourn for Saul, saying I have rejected him from being king over Israel?
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  Midquote for Samuel, chapter sixteen, persh one. So Christ, for
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  saying the destruction of Jerusalem within a few years by reason of its sins,
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  is most violently moved and pained in his soul one hundred and eighty one.
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  Such promptings the spirit of prayer arouses in pious souls present everywhere. He is
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  moved by the adversities of others, teaches, informs spiritual pains, praise,
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  complains groans. Thus, Mosies and Paul are willing to be accursed for the
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  sake of their people one hundred and eighty two. In this manner, Noah,
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  the most Holy Man, and his father and grandfather are consumed with pain
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  at the sight of such terrible wrath of God. He is not delighted at
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  this overthrow of the whole human race, but is filled with anxiety and the
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  most grievous pain, while at the same time the sons of men live in
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  the greatest security, walking, boasting, and taunting. Thus Sam one hundred
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  and nine, verse four quote for my love, they are my adversaries.
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  But I give myself and to prayer. And thus Paul quote I tell you
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  even weeping end quote Philippians, chapter three, verse eighteen. And what else
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  could holy men do but weep when the world would in no wise permit itself
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  to be corrected one hundred and eighty three. It is always the appearance of
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  the true Church that she not only suffers, not only is humiliated and trampled
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  under foot, but also prays for her tormentors, is seriously disturbed by their
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  dangers. On the contrary, others play and frolic in proportion as they approach
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  their doom. But when the hour of judgment comes, God in turn closes
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  his ears so completely that he does not even hear his own beloved children as
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  they pray and intercede for the wicked. So Ezekiel laments that no one is
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  found who will stand for Israel as a protecting wall, saying that this is
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  the office of the prophets. Ezekiel, Chapter thirteen, verse five, one
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  hundred and eighty four. It is impossible for the ungodly to pray. Let
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  no one therefore entertain the hope concerning the papists our adversaries. That they pray,
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  we pray for them, and plant ourselves like a wall against the wrath
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  of God. And without doubt it is by our tears and groanings that they
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  are saved, if perchance they will repent one hundred and eighty five. It
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  is a terrible example that God has spared not the first world, for which
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  Noah, Lamichh and Methuselah set themselves like a wall, What then shall we
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  expect where such walls do not exist, where there is no church at all.
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  The church is always a wall against the wrath of God. She feels
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  pain, is tormented in her soul, prays, intercedes, instructs, teaches,
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  exhorts as long as the judgment Our is not here but coming. When
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  she sees these ministrations to be unavailing, what else can she do but feel
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  grievous pain at the destruction of the impenitent, The pain of the godly fathers
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  was augmented by the sight of so many relatives and kindred at one time going
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  to destruction one hundred and eighty six. This pen Moses could not express in
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  a better and more graphic description than to say that God repented of having made
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  man. Before when he describes man's nature as having been formed in God's image,
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  he says that God beheld all that he had made, and it was
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  very good. God then is delighted with his creatures and has joy in them.
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  Here he absolutely alters that statement by one altogether at variance with it,
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  that God is grieved at heart and even repents of having created man one hundred
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  and eighty seven. It was No and the other fathers who felt this through
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  the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise they would have shared those thoughts of
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  joy, and would have judged, according to the earlier prophecy, that God
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  had delight in all his works. Never would they have thought that the wrath
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  of God was such as to destroy not only the whole human race, but
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  also all living flesh of sky and earth, which surely had not offended yea
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  the very earth. Also for the earth, because of man's sin, had
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  not retained after the flood its pristine excellence. Some have written, as Lyra
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  reminds us that by the flood the surface of the earth was washed away three
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  hands deep. Certain it is that Paradise has been utterly destroyed through the flood.
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  Therefore we possessed today an earth more deeply cursed than before the flood and
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  after the fall of Adam. Though the state of the earth after the fall
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  could not compare with the grandeur of its primeval state before sin one hundred and
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  eighty eight. These disasters, therefore the Holy Fathers saw through the revelation of
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  the Holy Spirit a hundred and twenty years before. But such was the wickedness
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  of the world that it put the Holy Spirit to silence. Noah could not
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  venture to reveal such threats without risk of the gravest dangers. With his father
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  and grandfather, with his children and wife, he would discuss this great wrath
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  of God. The sons of men, however, had no more inclination to
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  hear these things than the papists today have to hear themselves called the Church of
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  Satan and not of Christ. Accordingly, they would want their ancestors and over
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  against nose proclamations, they would plead the promise of the seat, believing it
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  to be impossible for God in this manner to destroy all mankind one hundred and
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  eighty nine. For the same reason, the Jews did not believe the prophets,
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  nor even Christ himself when called to repentance, but maintained that they were
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  the people of God inasmuch as they had the temple and worship. The Turks
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  today are inflated with victories, which they believed to be the reward for their
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  faith and religion because they believe in one God. We, however, are
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  viewed as heathen and reputed to believe in three Gods. Would not give us
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  such victories and dominions, they say, if He did not favor us and
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  approve our religion. This same reasoning blinds also the Papists, occupying an exalted
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  position. They maintain they are the Church, and hence they have no fear
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  of divine punishment divilish. Therefore is that argument whereby men take the name of
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  God to palliate their sins one hundred and ninety. But if God did not
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  spare the first world, the generation of the Holy Patriarchs, which had the
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  promise of the seed as its very own. If he saved only a very
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  small remnant, the Turks, Jews, and Papists shall boast in vain of
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  the name of God. According to Micah, Chapter two, verse seven,
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  the word of God promises blessings to those who walk in uprightness, but those
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  who do not walk in uprightness are cursed. Those he threatens, those he
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  destroys. Neither does he take account of the name church, nor of their
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  number, whereas he saves the remnant which walks in uprightness. But never will
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  you convince the world of this one hundred and ninety one in all probability.
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  The descendants of the patriarchs who perished in the flood abused quite shamefully the argument
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  of the dignity of the Church, and condemned Noah for blasphemy and falsehood.
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  To say they argued that God was about to destroy the whole world by a
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  flood is equal to saying that God is not merciful nor a father, but
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  a cruel tyrant. You proclaim the wrath of God, Oh Noah, then
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  God is not such a being as to promise deliverance from sin and death through
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  the seed of woman. The wrath of God therefore will not swallow the whole
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  earth. We are the people of God. We have from God magnificent gifts.
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  Never would God have given these to us if he had resolved to act
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  against us with such hostility In this fashion, the wicked are in the habit
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  of applying to themselves the promises and trusting to the same all warnings, however
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  they neglect and arite one hundred and ninety two. It is profitable to contemplate
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  this diligently, so that we may be safeguardied against such vicious heedlessness of the
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  wicked. For what happened to Mosy's now happens also to us. Our adversaries
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  ascribe to themselves the name of God's people, true worship, grace, and
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  everything holy. To us everything divilish. Now, when we reprove them for
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  blasphemy and say that they are the Church of Satan, they rage against us
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  with every kind of cruelty. Hence we mourn with Noah and commend the cause
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  of God as Christ did on the cross. What else could we do?
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  And wait till God shall judge the earth and show that He loves the remnant
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  of those that fear him, and that he hates the multitude of impenitent sinners,
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  in spite of their boast of being the Church, of having the promises
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  of having the worship of God. When God destroyed the whole original world,
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  he manifested the promise of the seat to that wretched and tiny remnant Noah and
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  his sons. End of section nineteen