Luther's Works

Welcome to Session Five of TLC's Web Bible Study!
By Reverend Jean Lebbert
Session 5, Beginning at Genesis 1:9

Genesis 1:9 And God said: Let the waters which are under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear.

Luther concludes from the beginning of this verse, "Therefore heaven, in the diction of the Sacred Scriptures, denotes the entire upper structure together with all the air and all the spheres. . . So, then, what in philosophical terminology we call air with all its spheres here has the name 'heaven'."

It seems a bit of a jump to me, like Luther is trying to be literal and yet find meaning outside of language. And is he trying to avoid all those ancient sacred stories that clearly tell of an above and a below? Maybe monks back in those days were cloistered from getting to know other sacred myths. We are fortunate today that we can investigate, compare, appreciate other faiths, other perspectives.

We start to see where the notion of heaven as being up in the sky comes from.

Luther definitely travels with the likes of St. Paul in thinking heaven so much better than earth, for he says, "By the term 'waters' he [Moses} means our waters, the seas and the rivers, which also come from that first and formless water and are the dregs which remained behind after the heaven had been made from it by the Word. I believe that the quality of this water is far below that of the upper waters. . ." He reasons they are inferior because they are thicker. They can be gathered, and in air, we can breathe, but in water, we cannot breathe.

My 21st century neck hairs are bristling. Water is amazing, just as air is amazing. Would you want to swim around in air if you were a whale or a jellyfish? I know I cannot fly in the air, but I have flown with sea turtles in water! Oh well,

At least Luther and I can agree on his next statement: "He calls the earth dry because the waters had been removed."

He concludes that in the beginning, then, the formless mass consisted of water and earth and that there was a mass of earth submerged by the waters. Luther says, "Otherwise why would He [God] say, 'Let there appear,' unless it was surrounded by the abyss and was completely covered by those first mistlike waters?"

Then Luther avers that it is "through divine power that the waters do not pass over us", that "until today and until the end of the world God performs for us the well-known miracle which He performed in the Red Sea for the people of Israel. . .We live and breathe just as the Children of Israel did in the midst of the Red Sea."

We do have the story in Noah of God letting go so that the entire earth was covered in water. I am charmed by the concept of God containing the waters, but it sure makes crossing God terrifying.

Genesis 1:10 And God saw that it was good.

Luther writes, "Here Moses adds this favorable comment in spite of the fact that nothing had been done beyond the separating of the waters and the bringing forth of the insignificant bit of earth."

Jean reacts, "Eegad, YOU try merely separating water from air and gathering water!"

But Luther is referring to the day before, when God creates heaven but doesn't say it's good. "Perhaps this is because God wanted to indicate to us that He was more concerned about our dwelling place than about His own, and thus to arouse our gratitude."

Luther concludes his discussion of this verse, "Thus He makes a superb beginning with the foundations and the roof of this house. Now let us see how He also adorns it."

Which brings us to the 11th verse, the start of Session 6.

Now that Holy Week is over, I hope to make the sessions shorter and more frequent.

I am thankful that I get to do this web-study, to visit with Martin Luther and his time. May all be blessed by this time together.






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