Luther's Works

Welcome to Session Seven of TLC's Web Bible Study!
By Reverend Jean Lebbert


Session 7 - The Work of the Fourth Day

Genesis 1:14 And God said, "Let there be luminaries in the heaven, and let them divide the day and the night. And let them be signs and times and days and years."

To begin this discussion, Martin Luther poses the question: What happened to the light that was created on the first day?

Luther says, "I for my part indeed simply believe that the procedure of all the works of God is the same. Thus on the first day the crude heaven and the crude earth were created and then perfected and made elegant. . .I believe that the crude light of the first day was perfected by the addition of new creatures: the sun, the moon, the stars, etc.

Sort of a God the potter idea, perhaps. Start with a lump; make a work of art.

I have wondered lately what it looked like on the first day BEFORE the light was separated from the dark. Was it dark or light? What is the dark? I wonder in this volume if Luther will talk about that. (I have a brain that likes to wonder more than to know). But back to Luther.

He then nods to the science of astronomy, which was pretty much in its infancy in the 16th century, wasn't it?

Luther writes, "The astronomers assert that the stars are lighted by the sun. . . They also say that the moon derives its light from the sun" and concludes, "For me it is enough that in those bodies, which are so elegant and necessary for our life, we recognize both the goodness of God and His power, that He created such important objects and preserves them to the present day for our use. These are views which are proper to our profession; that is, they are theological, and they have power to instill confidence in our hearts."

In the discussion following, about these luminaries being for signs and times and days and year, Luther concedes that a "natural day" consists of twenty-four hours and the "artificial day" is that time during which "the sun is above the horizon" and "the moon is the sovereign of the night."

Regarding the function as signs, Luther discusses how some interpret the scripture to mean that these lights can be signs of weather. "The Gospel declares the red dawn to be a sign of rain, and, in contrast, a clear evening to be a sign of clear weather. Therefore so far as the claim is concerned that the rising of the Pleiades indicates rain and the like, I neither voice my utter disapproval nor express my direct agreement, because I see that these claims are not reliable in every instance.

Here's an interesting idea of Luther's, in his discussion of what Moses says of the sun, moon, and stars being blessed with ability to mark the times (rather, the seasons): "Thus at a certain time of the year houses are rented out, day laborers are hired, interests are collected, etc. All these are services which the sun and the moon render us, so that we divide the times according to the tasks and other conveniences."

Moses would be mighty put out by the light bulb, which introduced the inconvenience of being able to do all the above tasks at practically any time of the year and day, thus humans invented the 24/7 - turning the "natural day" into an "artificial day."

And I love this idea of Luther's: "We recall our early childhood to some extent; but we do not remember nursing at our mothers' breasts, although we did have life at that time. The reason is that we lacked the ability to count. This is also why beasts have no knowledge of time, just as infants have no knowledge of it either. Therefore counting indicates that man is an extraordinary creature of God."

Fantastic! Our ability to count makes us extraordinary! Now that is a glorious attitude. A little later, Luther says, "Here the immortality of the soul begins to unfold and reveal itself to us . . . A pig, a cow, and a dog are unable to measure the water they drink; but man measures the heaven and all the heavenly bodies. And so here there gleams a spark of eternal life, in that the human being busies himself by nature with this knowledge of nature. This concern indicates that men were not created to live permanently in this lowest part of the universe but to take poss4ession of heaven, because in this life they admire, and busy themselves with, th4e study of, and the concern about, heavenly things."

Luther does address astrology, but not, so to speak, in very good light, "I shall never be convinced that astrology should be numbered among the sciences. And I shall adhere to this opinion because astrology is entirely without proof. . . .The experts have taken note of and recorded only those instances which did not fail; but they took no note of the rest of the attempts, where they were wrong. . .Aristotle says that one swallow does not make a spring. . .Hunters have a similar saying: A hunt may be carried on every day, but the hunt is not successful every day."

Luther may not have much to do with astrology, but he makes a claim that mathematics is divinely revealed as a means to bring us to heaven. Enjoy Luther's logical progress to reach this claim:

The first human being was made from a clod by God. (I love that! Clod by God) Then the human race began to be propagated from the male and female semen, from which the embryo is gradually formed in the womb, limb by limb; and it grows, until at last, through birth, man is brought out into the light of day. Thereafter begins the life of sensation, and soon that of action and motion. When the body has gained strength, and mind and reason are fully developed in a sound body - only then does there come a gleam of the life of the intellect, which does not exist in other earthly creatures. With the support of the mathematical disciplines - which no one can deny were divinely revealed - the human being, in his mind, soars high above the earth; and leaving behind those things that are on the earth, he concerns himself with heavenly things and explores. Cows, pigs, and other beasts do not do this; it is man alone who does it. Therefore man is a creature created to inhabit the celestial regions and to live an eternal life which he has left the earth.

Saved by math! Well, although I wouldn't call getting to heaven Luther's definition of salvation.

I conclude this session with Luther's conclusion of the work of the fourth day:

From this fourth day our glory begins to be revealed: that God gives thought to making a creature which may understand the motion of the bodies created on the fourth day and may take delight in that knowledge as part of his nature. All these facts should stir us to an expression of thanks.

So, when you behold the sun and moon and stars today, send God a prayer of thanks for making the extraordinary lights of this world and for making you!






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