Luther's Works

Welcome to Session Four of TLC's Web Bible Study!
By Reverend Jean Lebbert
Session Four: Beginning at Genesis 1:6

6. And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7. So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Luther begins his discussion on this verse: "Here it must be noted that the Jews begin their day in a way different from ours. For them the day began in the evening with the setting of the sun." He follows this observation with a word study of the Hebrew word for 'evening' the root of which he observes means "to mix or confuse."

His Hebrew dictionary differs from my 20th century one in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. The root for 'evening' in my dictionary means "to cover, become dusky" however, it is identical with another root which means "to braid or intermix" and there is something akin to confusion in braiding and intermixing.

I LOVE the idea, however, of starting off with confusion and dusky darkness and moving into the light, which allows for identification and organization. The marking of time as a revelation of the Creator and Creation!

Genesis 1:6 "God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide waters from waters."

Luther begins his discussion on this verse with a page about the fall of evil angels. "Here," he writes, "Moses seems to be forgetting himself, because he does not deal at all with two very important matters, namely, the creation and the fall of the angels, and relates only the state of affairs of physical things, although there is no doubt that the angels were created."

There must have been lots of ideas about the fallen angels that were an issue in Luther's day. He mentions some, "Since people were without definite information, the result was that they invented something, namely, that there were nine choirs of angels and that they fell for nine entire days. They also invented an account of a very great battle and how the good angels withstood the evil ones. This idea, I think, is patterned after the battle of the church; as pious teachers battle the wicked and the fanatics, so they also dream that there was a battle against the wicked angels, who wanted to claim deity for themselves."

Luther wasn't much plagued with subtlety, was he.

He concludes his angel discussion, "Let us now return to Moses." It seems to me that in this statement, Luther is closing the door on doctrines that don't have much basis in Scripture.

Here Luther gives us an explanation of what happened in the creation of heaven in the midst of waters: "The unformed mass of mist, which was created on the first day out of nothing, God seizes with the Word and gives the command that it should extend itself outward in the manner of a sphere. . . The heaven was made in this manner, that the unformed mass extended itself outward as the bladder of a pig extends itself outward in circular form when it is inflated - if I may be permitted to make use of a coarse comparison in order to make the process clear."

Permitted? Where can I obtain a pig's bladder? This would make a great children's sermon!

From here, Luther reflects more on the creative process, maybe throwing out all the ideas to see which will provide a feeling of understanding what is ultimately beyond comprehension. He brings up the influences of his university teachers, philosophies, Aristotle, mathematicians, a Moslem expositor Ibn Rushd (1126-98).

He draws a conclusion for us, "We Christians must, therefore, be different from the philosophers in the way we think about the causes of these things. And if some are beyond our comprehension, we must believe them and admit our lack of knowledge rather than either wickedly deny them or presumptuously interpret them in conformity with our understanding."

What a grace-filled conclusion - permission to believe without understanding.

I remember one time when I had said, "I don't know" in response to somebody asking me something (I don't remember what it was they were asking), they said, "You don't know! But you're a pastor; you're supposed to know." That was a heavy trip. Just like the time somebody asked me to promise that I would never make another mistake, and when I could not make that promise, they left the church!

Granted, understanding is a good feeling. Equally good is the feeling that it's okay to not understand. I don't think we can credit Luther with originating this concept, but he was certainly a proponent.

Well, we are up to page 33 in Luther's Works, Vol. 1.

Thank you and bless you for doing this journey with me. It is good to dwell in the Scriptures for a while. So often, we whisk through it, being driven by the time it tells us God created for us to live in. It is good to take time when we find that it is taking us.

Until Session 5 then.




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