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

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Sixtion twenty off Commentary on Genesis, Volume two Luther on Sin and the Flood
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by Martin Luther, translated by John Nicholaslinker, Conrad Bruno, Godis, and
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others. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Jillian Henjy,
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Chapter six, Part five, How Noah alone was found righteous, and
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how the whole world was destroyed A Noah alone was found righteous verse eight.
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But Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah one hundred and ninety three.
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These are the words through which Noah was lifted up and quickened again, For
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such wrath of the Divine Majesty would have killed him had not God added the
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promise of saving him. It is likely, however, that his faith had
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a struggle and was weak. We cannot imagine how such contemplation of God's wrath
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weakens courage one hundred and ninety four. This novel expression of the Holy Spirit.
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The Heavenly Messenger Gabriel also uses when speaking to the blessed Virgin Luke chapter
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one, verse thirty, quote thou hast found favor grace with God, and
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quote the expression most palpably excludes merit and commends faith, through which alone we
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are justified before God, made acceptable and well pleasing in his sight. Verse
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nine. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and
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perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God one hundred and ninety five.
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With this passage, the Jews commence not only a new chapter, but also
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a new lesson. This is a very brief history, but it greatly extalls
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our patriarch Noah. He alone remained just and upright, while the other sons
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of God degenerated. One hundred and ninety six. Let us remember many most
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excellent men where among the sons of God, of whom some lived with Noah
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well nigh five hundred years. Man in that age before the flood was very
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long lived, not only the sons of God, but also the sons of
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men. A very wide and rich experience had been gathered by these people during
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so many years. Much they learned from their progenitors, and much they saw
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and experienced. One hundred and ninety seven. Amid the corruption of all these
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stands Noah, a truly marvelous man. He sweers neither to the left nor
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to the right. He retains the true worship of God. He retains the
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pure doctrine and lives in the fear of God. There is no doubt that
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a depraved generation hated him inordinately, tantalized him in various ways, and thus
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insulted him. Quote art, thou alone, wise, dost thou alone?
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Please? God? Are the rest of us all in error? Shall we
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all be damned? Thou alone dost not err? Thou alone shalt not be
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conduct? And thus the just and Holy Man must have concluded in his mind
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that all others were in error and about to be condemned, while he and
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his offspring alone were to be saved. Although his conviction was right in the
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matter, his lot was a hard one. The Holy Man was in various
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ways troubled by such reflections one hundred and ninety eight. The riched papists press
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us today with this one argument, Do you believe that all the fathers have
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been in error? It seems hard so to believe, especially of the worthier
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ones such as Augustine Ambrose Bernard, and that whole throng of the best men
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who have governed churches with the Word and have been adorned with the august name
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of the church. The labors of such we both loud and admire one hundred
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and ninety nine. But surely no less a difficulty confronted Noah himself, who
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alone is called just and upright. At a time when the very sons of
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men paraded the name of the church, when the sons of the fathers allied
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themselves with these, they forsooth believed that Noah with his people raved, because
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he followed another doctrine and another worship two hundred. Today our life is very
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brief. Still to what lengths human nature will go is sufficiently in evidence.
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What may we imagine the condition to have been in such a long existence in
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which the bitterness and vehemence of human nature were even stronger? Today we are
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naturally much more dull and stupid, And yet men singularly gifted rush into wickedness.
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It is afterwards said that all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
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Only Noah was just and upright two hundred and one. From these two
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words we may gather the thoughts that Noah is held to be just as he
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honored the first table, and upright as he honored the second just. It's
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called because of his faith in God, because he first believed the general promise
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with respect to the seed of women, and then also the particular one respecting
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the destruction of the world through the flood and the salvation of his own offspring.
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On the other hand, he is called upright because he walked in the
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fear of God and conscientiously avoided murder and other sins with which the wicked polluted
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themselves in defiance of conscience. Nor did he permit himself to be moved by
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the frequent of fancies of men most illustrious, wise, and apparently holy two
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hundred and two great was his courage. Today, it appears to us impossible
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that one man should oppose himself to all mankind, condemning them as evil while
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they vaunt the Church and God's word and worship, and to maintain that he
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alone is a son of God and acceptable before him. Noah, accordingly,
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is a marvelous man, and Moses commends this same greatness of mind when he
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plainly adds in his generation or in his age, as if he desired to
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say that his age was indeed the most wicked and corrupt two hundred and three.
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Above, in the history of Enoch we explained what it means to walk
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with God, namely to advocate the cause of God in public. To be
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just and upright who speaks private virtue, but to walk with God is something
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public. To advocate the cause of God before the world, to wield his
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word, to teach his worship. Noah was not simply just and holy for
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himself, but he was also a confessor. He taught others the promises and
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threats of God, and performed and suffered all that behooves a public personage in
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an age so exceedingly wicked and corrupt two hundred and four. If it were
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I who had seen that so great men in the generation of the ungodly were
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opposed to me, I surely inspiration should have cast aside my ministry. For
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one cannot conceive how difficult it is for one man to oppose himself alone to
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the unanimity of all churches, to impune the judgment of the best and most
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amicable of men, to condemn them, to teach, to live, and
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to do everything in opposition to them. This is what Noah did. He
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was inspired with admirable constancy of purpose, inasmuch as he innocent before men,
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not only regarded the cause of God, but most earnestly pressed it among the
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most nefarious men until he was told, quote, my spirit shall not further
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strive with man end quote. And the word strive finally portrays the spirit with
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which the ungodly heard Noah instruct them two hundred and five. Peter also beautifully
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sets forth what it means to walk with God when he calls Noah a preacher
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not of the righteousness of man, but of God, that is, that
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of faith in the promised Seede. But what reward Noah received from the ungodly
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for his message? Moses does not indicate. The statement is sufficient that he
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preached righteousness, that he taught the true worship of God, while the whole
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earth opposed him. That means the best, most religious, and wisest of
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men were against him. More than one miracle in consequence was necessary to prevent
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his being waylaid and killed by the ungodly. We see today how much wrath,
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hate, and envy one sermon to the people may create. What shall
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we believe Noah may have suffered, who taught not one hundred, not two
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hundred, but even more years down to the last century, when God did
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not desire the wicked to receive instruction any longer, lest they become still fairsher
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and more depraved two hundred and six. Therefore we may conjecture from the condition
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and nature of the world itself and of the devil, from the experience of
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the apostles and the prophets, and likewise from our own, what a noble
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example of patience and other virtues Noah has been, who was just and irreproachable
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in that ungodly generation, and walked with God, that is, governed the
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churches with the word, and who, when the one hundred and twenty years
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were determined upon, after the lapse of which the world was to be destroyed
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by a flood, in face of such a terrible threat, entered into matrimony
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and begot children two hundred and seven. It is very probable that he traveled
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up and down the earth, that he taught everywhere, that everywhere he exhorted
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to worship God in truth, that he hindered by many labors, refrained from
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matrimony on account of abundance of tribulations and in the expectation of the advent of
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a better and more religious age. But when he recognized this hope as unfounded,
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and by a voice Divine was warned that a time had been set for
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the world's destruction. Then and not before, prompted by the Spirit, did
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he make up his mind to marry in order to transmit to the new age
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seed out of himself. And thus the Holy Man preserved the human race not
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only spiritually in the True Word and worship, but also bodily by begetting children
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two hundred and eight. As in Paradise, a new church had its beginning
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before the flood through Adam and Eve's faith in the promise, so also here
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a new world and a new church arise from the marriage of Noah, an
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nursery of that world which shall endure to the end. Two hundred and nine.
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I stated above section eighty eight that this marriage was an occasion of great
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offense to the ungodly, and that they made the most extraordinary sport of it,
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how inconsistent that the world is to perish so soon. When Noah,
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one hundred years old, becomes a father, they deemed his act the surest
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evidence that the world was not to perish by a flood. Hence they began
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to live even more licentiously and in the greatest security, to despise all threats.
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Christ says in Matthew chapter twenty four, verse thirty eight that in the
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days of Noah, they ate, they drank, and so on. The
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world does not understand the plans of God two hundred and ten. Concerning the
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order of the sons of Noah, I said above that Jaffith was first,
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that Shem was born two years afterward, when Noah commenced to build the ark
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and Ham two years later. This has not been clearly explained by Mosi's but
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still it has been carefully noted b destruction of the whole world verse eleven.
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And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence
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two hundred and eleven. Lyra, perhaps under the influence of rabbinic interpretation,
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contends here that even the birds and other animals pursue their nature and mixed with
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those of another species. But I do not believe it, for the creation
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or nature of animals remains as it was fashioned. They have not fallen through
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sin like man, but are, on the contrary, fashioned for this bodily
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life alone. In consequence, they neither hear the word, nor does the
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word concern them. They are absolutely without the law of the First and the
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second Tables. Accordingly, this passage refers only to man two hundred and twelve,
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but that the beasts bore the penalty of sin and perished at the same
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time with man through the flood was the result of God's purpose to destroy man
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altogether, not alone in body and soul, but with the possessions and dominion
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which were his at creation. Instances of similar retribution occur in the Old Testament.
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In the sixth chapter of Daniel, we see the enemies of Daniel cast
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into the lines den together with their wives, children, and whole families.
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In the sixteenth chapter of Numbers, a like incident is narrated in connection with
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the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abina. Similar is also an instance
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spoken of by Christ when the king commands to sell the servant together with wife,
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children, and all his substance two hundred and thirteen. In this manner,
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evidently not only men but all their goods were destroyed so that punishment might
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be full and complete. Beasts, fields, and the birds of heaven were
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created for man. They are man's property and chattels. Therefore, the animals
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perished not because they had sinned, but because God wanted man to perish amid
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all his earthly possessions two hundred and fourteen. In this passage, Mosey's specific
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statement that the earth was corrupt before God is made to show that Noel was
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treated and esteemed in the eye of his age as a stupid and good for
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nothing character. The world, on the contrary, appeared in its own eyes
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perfectly holy and righteous, believing it had just cause for the persecution of Noah,
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especially in regard to the First Table of the Law and the worship of
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God. The second Table is not without its disguise of hypocrisy, but in
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this respect it bears no comparison to the former. The adulterer, the thief,
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the murderer can remain hidden for a while, though not forever, but
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the sins of the first table generally remain hidden under the cloak of sanctity until
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God brings them to light. Godlessness never wishes to be godlessness, but chases
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after a reputation for piety and religion, and trims its cult so finely that
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in comparison with it, the true cult and the true religion appear course two
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hundred and fifteen. The verm she hid is very frequent and conspicuous in Holy
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Scripture. Modes uses it in the thirty first chapter of Deuteronomy, verse twenty
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nine. Quote for I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves
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and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you end quote, and
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David says, quote they are all gone aside. They are together become fialthy
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end quote Sam fourteen, verse three. Both passages speak particularly of the sins
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against the first table, that is, they accused the apparently devoutest sense of
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false worship and false doctrine, for it is impossible for a righteous life to
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follow teaching at is false two hundred and sixteen. When Mosie says the earth
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was corrupt before God, he clearly points out the contrast. The hypocrites and
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oppressors judged Noah's teaching and practice as wholly wrong, and their own as altogether
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wholly The reverse, Mosie says, was true. Mankind was assuredly corrupt.
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Measured by the first table, they lacked the true word and the true worship.
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This distinction between the first and the second tables commends itself strongly to my
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judgment, and was doubtless suggested by the Holy Spirit. Two hundred and seventeen.
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The additional statement and the earth was filled with violence points to this unfailing
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sequence with the word lost with faith, extinct with traditions, and will worship.
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To use Saint Paul's for idology Colossians chapter two, verse eight. Having
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replaced the true cult, there results violence and shameful living two hundred and eighteen.
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The correct significance of the word ramas is violence, force, wrong,
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with the suspension of all law and equity, a condition where pleasure is law,
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and everything is done not by right but by might. But if such
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was their life, you may say, how could they maintain the appearance and
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reputation of holiness and righteousness, as if we did not really have similar instances
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before our eyes to day? As the world ever seen anything more cruel than
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the Turks, and they adorn all their fierceness with the name of God and
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religion two hundred and nineteen. The popes have not only seized for themselves the
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riches of the earth, but have filled the Church itself with stupendous errors and
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blasphemous doctrines. They live in shocking licentiousness. They alienate at pleasure the hearts
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of kings. Much is done by them to bring on bloodshed and war.
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And yet with all such blasphemies and outrages they arrogate to themselves the name and
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title of the greatest saints, and boast of being vicars of Christ and successors
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of Peter two hundred and twenty. Thus the greatest strong is allied to the
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names of Church and true religion. Should anyone offer objection, immediately as he
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put under the ban and condemned as a and an enemy of God and man.
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Barring the Romans and their accomplices, there is no people which plumes itself
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more upon religion and righteousness than the Turks. The Christians they despise as idolaters.
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Themselves they esteem as most holy and wise, notwithstanding what is their life
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and religion but incessant murder, robbery, rapine, and other horrible outragees two
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hundred and twenty one. The present times therefore illustrate how those two incompatible things
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may be found in union, the greatest religiousness with abominations, the greatest wrong
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with a show of right. And this is the very cause for men becoming
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hardened and secure, without apprehending the punishment they merit by their sins Verse twelve,
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and God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for
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all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth two hundred and twenty. Inasmuch
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as the wrath of God is appalling and destruction is imminent for all flesh except
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eight souls, Rosy's is somewhat redundant in this passage, and jusies repetitions which
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are not superfluous, but express an emphasis of their own. Above he said
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the earth was corrupt. Now he says that God, as if following the
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customary judicial method, saw this and meditated punishment. In this manner he pictures,
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as it were, the order in which God proceeds two hundred and twenty
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three. The judgment of spiritual people concerning the Pope at the present day is
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that he is the Antichrist, raging against the Word and the Kingdom of Christ.
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But they who censure it are unable to correct this wickedness. Wickedness is
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growing daily, and contempt for Godliness is becoming greater every day. Now comes
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the thought, what is God doing? Why does he not punish his enemy?
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Does he sleep and care no longer for human affairs? The delay of
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judgment causes the righteous anguish, they themselves cannot come to the succor of a
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stricken religion, and they see God who could help connive at the fury of
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the popes who securely sin against the first and the second tables of the Law
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two hundred and twenty four. Just so Noah sees the earth filled with wrongs.
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Therefore he groans and sighs to heaven in order to arouse God from the
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highest heaven to judgment. Such voices occur here and there in the Psalms Chapter
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ten, verse one, quote why standest thou afar off? End quote?
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Chapter thirteen, verse one quote how long o Jehovah? End quote. Chapter
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nine, verse thirteen, quote have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, consider
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my trouble end quote. Chapter seven, verses six to nine. Quote arise
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judge my cause? End quote. And so on. Two hundred and twenty
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five. What Mosies here describes comes at length to pass that God also sees
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these things and hears the cry of the righteous, who are able to judge
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the world. For they who are spiritual judge all things. First Corinthians,
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Chapter two, verse fifteen. Though they cannot alter anything, wickedness is incorrigible
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when adorned with a show of piety, and so is oppression when it assumes
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the disguise of justice and foresight. It is nothing new that they who sees
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the wives, daughters, houses, lands, and goods of others desire to
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be just and holy, as we showed above in respect of the papacy two
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hundred and twenty six. This is the second stage. Then, when the
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sense have seen and judged the wickedness of the world, God also sees it.
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He says of the Sodomites, quote the cry of them is waxed great
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before Jehovah. And quote Genesis chapter nineteen, verse and above, chapter four,
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verse ten. Quote the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me.
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Quote but always before the Lord takes note the sobs and groans of the righteous
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precede, arousing as it were, the Lord from slumber. What Mozzi's desires
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to show in this passage through the Word Saw is that God finally perceived the
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afflictions and heard the cries of the righteous, filling at last all heaven.
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He who hitherto had winked at everything and seemed to favor the success of the
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wicked, was awakened as from slumber. The fact is he saw everything much
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sooner than Noah, for he is the searcher of hearts and cannot be deceived
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by simulated piety as we can. But not until now, when he meditates
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punishment does Noah perceive that he sees two hundred and twenty seven. Thus we
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are afflicted today by extreme and unheard off wickedness, for our adversary condemn from
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sheer caprice the truth they know and profess. They try to get at our
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throats and shed the blood of the righteous with a satanic fury. Such blasphemous,
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sacrilegious, and parricidal doings against the kingdom and name of God manifest as
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such beyond possibility of denial. They defend as the actme of justice. While
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contending for the maintenance of their tyrannical position, they go so far as to
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arrogate to themselves the name of the Church. What else can we do here
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but cry to Jehovah to make his name sacred, and not to permit the
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overthrow of his kingdom nor resistance to his paternal will two hundred and twenty eight.
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But so far the Lord sleeps, He apparently does not observe such wickedness,
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because he gives no sign as yet of observing it. Rather, he
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permits us to be tormented by such woeful sights. We are therefore thus far
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in the first stage, and this verse stating that the whole earth is corrupt
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applies to our age. But at the proper time the second stage will be
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reached when we can declare uncertainty of faith, that not only we but God
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also sees and hates such wickedness. Though God, in his long suffering has
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continued to wink at many things, he shall retain the name of one who
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in righteousness shall judge the earth two hundred and twenty nine. How bitter and
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hard such delay is for the righteous. The lamentations of Jeremiah in Jeremiah Chapter
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twelve, verse one and following and chapter twenty, verse seven and following show
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there the Holy Man almost vergies on blasphemy until he is told that the Babylonian
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King should come and inflict punishment upon the unbelievings Goofphers. Thereupon Jeremiah recognizes that
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God looks down on the earth and is judge upon the earth two hundred and
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thirty. The universe. Rtial judgment which follows is terrible in the extreme,
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namely that all flesh upon the earth had corrupted its way, and that God,
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when he had begun to examine the sons of men, did not from
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the oldest to the youngest of the fathers find any he could save from destruction.
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This strikes our ears as still more awful when we take into consideration the
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condition of the primitive world, not judging by the miserable fragments we have to
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day, as the physical condition of the world at that time was infinitely ahead
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of this age. So we may conclude that the majesty and pomp of our
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rulers, and the show of sanctity and wisdom on the part of the popes,
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are not to be compared to the show of religion, righteousness, and
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wisdom found among those renowned men of the primitive world. And yet the text
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says that all flesh had corrupted its way save Noah and his offspring. That
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means all men were wicked, lived in idolatry and false religion, and hated
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the true worship of God. They despised the promise of the seat, and
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persecuted Noah, who proclaimed forgiveness through the seat and threatened to those who should
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fail to believe his forgiveness eternal doom. End of Section twenty