Luther's Works

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

Tackling Genesis 1:3

And God said: Let there be light, and there was light.

Martin Luther gives a lengthy discussion about God speaking and the Word coming into existence, about word as verb vs. word as noun. He wrestles with how Creator differs from Word/Savior and when God spoke, did the Word come into being at the same time or was it with Creator before time. And believe me, it is beyond my skill to condense Luther's discussion, so I am going to just pick out some highlights.

First about God speaking. Isn't that putting God into human terms-like, incarnation in the beginning?

During Luther's time, there was a sect called "Audians" who were accused and condemned by the Pope of teaching a gross form of anthropomorphism. But Luther writes, "The condemnation is unjust. Indeed, how could men speak otherwise of God among men?" (Just as still exists in much writing today, "men" is supposed to be inclusive-but that's another subject for another day-back to Luther) "If it is heresy to think of God in this manner, then a verdict has been rendered concerning the salvation of all children, who think and speak of God in this childlike fashion. But even apart from the children: give me the most learned doctor - how else will he teach and speak about God?

I have to agree. I try hard to talk about God in non-human terms, in terms like The Divine, The Source of Life, Power Most High, but when I really get into storytelling, it is just way so much easier to be anthropomorphic about the Divine. I understand that Power Most High is not a more-than-human person dwelling in the sky, but when my heart wants to get to the story, it gets tired of my tongue trying to be flawlessly generic and inclusive. The point is, Creation came from The Source of Life. How did it come? Well, um, er, "God said. . ." The trouble with putting God in human terms is that it becomes practice to use the pronoun "He", which, over time, cements the image of God as male and any Goddess images as heresy.

Nevertheless, back to Luther's Works: "It seems to us that He begins to speak because we cannot go beyond the beginning of time. But because John and Moses say that the Word was in the beginning and before all creatures, it necessarily follows that He always was in the Creator. . . This Word is God; it is the omnipotent Word, uttered in the divine essence. . . And when it was spoken, light was brought into existence, not out of the matter of the Word or from the nature of Him who spoke but out of the darkness itself. Thus the Father spoke inwardly, and outwardly light was made."

My goodness, I am thankful that people have wrestled and wrestled over every detail. This is the first time I have paused for such a long time simply over "God said".

And I am understanding why every pastor I've ever met who has a set of Luther's Works has hardly read any of the volumnes.

Let's get on to the conclusion of Luther's discussion of Genesis 1:3.

Luther writes, "Here a famous question is raised: "Of what sort, then, was that light by which the unformed mass of heaven and earth was illuminated? Although neither sun nor stars had been created, the text makes it clear that this light was true and physical."

Apparently lots of folks asked this famous question, and lots of guesses proliferated. One guess that Luther alludes to was that the light was an angelic creature and when God separated the light from the dark (Genesis 1:4-yay! We've moved onto the next verse), it meant that God was separating the good angels from the bad. (Although God called the Light "good", God didn't call the Darkness "bad").

I love this next thing Luther says, "But this is toying with ill-timed allegories (for Moses is relating history); it is not interpreting Scripture."

Why, Luther, why? You would be accusing the church of heresy were you to return to earth today!

If you are still with me, here's a quote from a newspaper clipping that I have tucked in the beginning of Genesis in my study Bible. It says (but not literally talking), "Physicists have taken some of the most precise measurements so far of the behavior of matter and antimatter, and their findings could help explain why the universe is filled with something rather than nothing. Researchers have long known that during the Big Bang 13 billion years ago, equal amounts of matter and antimatter (noun and verb) were created. And researchers also know that when these two forms of matter collide, they annihilate each other. But there is almost no antimatter in the universe today. This raises a question that has fascinated and perplexed physicists: Why is the universe still filled with matter - stars, planets and people? Why isn't the cosmos a complete void?"

In other words, how come matter matters more than nothing matters?

Theologians aren't the only ones who can obsess.

Here's the scary conclusion designed to bring you back for session 4: Will our next President be a fundamentalist who actually believes that creation took place merely 10,000 years ago? Tune in next time when God separates heaven from earth.




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