Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 · Martin Luther
PART II. OFFERINGS IN GENERAL, OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, AND OF CAIN AND ABEL.
I. Now this is the first passage of the Scripture in which mention is made of MINCHA, _or_ "an offering," from which it plainly appears that the custom of sacrificing and offering victims is no recent thing, but a practice which has existed from the beginning of the world. It is no wonder therefore that the offering of sacrifices, which had been a custom handed down from Adam to Moses, as from hand to hand, should at length have been reduced by Moses into its own peculiar forms and into a certain order; all those things being rejected and repudiated, doubtless many, which the vain superstition of men had added to the original manner of sacrificing. Such additions are seen in the examples furnished by the heathen sacrifices, contained in Homer and Virgil, which sacrifices the heathen nations no doubt received from the primeval fathers, but which they multiplied and encumbered with many things through their superstition. And while I am dwelling on the present passage, let the reader first of all consider with me that Adam and Eve are not parents only, nor is it their sole care to feed their children and to rear them for this present life. They hold the offices and perform the duties of priests also. And because they are filled with the Holy Ghost and illuminated with the knowledge of Christ who was to come, they set this great hope of their future deliverance before their children also, and exhort them to show forth their gratitude to the God of such infinite mercy. For it is to be received as a sure fact, that the end of all the sacrifices which have been handed down to us from the beginning was none other than to set forth this _great hope!_
And now consider with me next, what kind of hearers there were to listen to this good and holy doctrine from the lips of Adam and Eve. These hearers and scholars were two. Cain, the first-born who appeared as a saint and was believed to be the lord of all, was a wicked man and believed not the divine promise. On the other hand, Abel, whose authority was as nothing and was thrust aside to take care of the cattle, was a godly man and believed the promise. And yet the ungodly Cain so concealed his ungodliness, that he heard his parents when teaching him and his brother, as if he solemnly reverenced the Word; and he also brought his offering, as his godly brother did. Here we have an example of the twofold church; the true Church and the hypocritical church, as we shall more fully explain hereafter. For although, in the passage now before us, mention is made of the sacrifice offered only, and not of preaching also, yet we are to rest fully assured that Cain and Abel did not bring their offerings without the preaching of the Word. For God is not worshipped with a mere dumb work. Here must also be the Word, sounding both in the hearts of men and in the ears of God. And in the same way also calling upon the name of the Lord was added to this original sacrifice.
Some may here inquire, whether Cain and Abel had any word or command of God for offering their sacrifice. My answer is, as all sacred histories confirm, that the great and merciful God of his superabounding grace always appointed together with his Word some certain and visible sign of his grace; in order that men being admonished and kept in remembrance by means of the certain signs or works of the sacraments may the more surely believe that God is favorable and merciful unto them. In the same manner after the Flood, God set his bow in the heavens, that it might be a sure sign and proof that he would not again visit the world with a like punishment. After the same manner also, circumcision was given unto Abraham, as we shall hear in order that he might hold fast the assurance that God would be to him a God, and that he would give him a Seed in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. To us under the New Testament are given Baptism and the Supper of our Lord, as ordained visible signs of grace, that we might be the more fully assured that our sins are all taken away by the suffering of Christ for us and that we are redeemed by his death. Hence the Church was never left so destitute of external signs, that men were suffered to remain in ignorance as to where God might be found without fail.
And although the world for the most part follows in the steps of Cain and abuses those external signs of the grace of God, turning them into hypocrisy, it is nevertheless evidently an unspeakable mercy that God represents himself unto us in so many ways. And this very great gift of God is that which is intended to be lauded by those high commendations contained in Proverbs, "I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in his habitable earth," Prov. 8:30, 31. But the Hebrew word SACHAK is not translated into German, "to play;" for wisdom here declares that her regard was always directed toward men, to the intent that she might reveal herself to men. The meaning is, as if God had said, "I have always so walked before the eyes and in the hearing of men, that they may always understand me to be present in their sacrifices, in circumcision, in their offering of incense, in the cloud by day, in the Red Sea, in the manna, in the brazen serpent, in the tabernacle of Moses, in the temple of Solomon, and in the cloud over the mercy-seat, and all these things were my delight; that by means of them I might present myself before the eyes of the sons of men and reveal myself unto them."
And it was also a great consolation to Adam, that after paradise had been lost and the tree of life also, and those other blessings of paradise which had been outward signs of the grace of God, God gave unto him another sign of his grace; namely, that of offering sacrifices; in order that by this given sign he might understand that he was not cast off by God, but was still the care of his maker, and the concern of his Creator. And this is what God intended to be understood by Adam, when he had lighted his sacrifices and oblations with the heavenly fire, and when the flame which consumed them ascended to heaven; as we read concerning the sacrifices of Moses and of Elijah. For all these sacrifices were true symbols and representations of the divine mercy; of all these signs, miserable men had need, that they might not be without some continual light and indication of the grace of God. In the same manner also the Word itself Baptism and the Lord's Supper are our morning stars, upon which we look as sure indications and representations of the Sun of grace. For we can definitely affirm, that where the Lord's Supper, Baptism and the Word are, there is Christ, the remission of sins and eternal life. On the contrary, where these signs of grace are not, or where they are despised by men, there, not only is there not grace, but also foul errors abound: so much so that men make to themselves other signs and appoint other modes of worship. Thus the Greeks worshipped their Apollo, and other heathen nations their demons. The Egyptians worshipped their Anubis, their Serapis, and crocodiles, garlic, onions, etc., etc. The Romans adored as their gods Jupiter Quirinus, and the abominable statues of Priapus, Venus, etc.
The very same thing has occurred also in the papacy. For after those true signs of grace began to sink in men's esteem and to be despised, superstition could not remain quiet. It sought out for itself other signs, such as vows, orders of monks, pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints, intercessions of the saints, and other superstitions. All these things are full of errors, and joined with ungodliness; and yet miserable mortals embrace them as certain signs of divine grace. And amidst all this you hear of no bishop who condemns, no school which exclaims against such blasphemies as these, nor which teaches sounder things. For where the light of the Word is lost and these signs of grace also, which God has given unto men, people necessarily run after the desires of their own hearts. So also the Jews, when they had despised the tabernacle and the temple, sacrificed under trees and in groves, even until parents became so cruel as to sacrifice their own children.
All this idolatry, so various and so widely wandering out of the way, plainly shows how great a gift of God it is to possess the Word and those signs of divine grace, which God himself set forth and commanded. And if the Gentiles had been willing to follow in the footsteps of the Jews, they would never have fallen away into those monstrous idolatries under which they were sunk. And so also with respect to ourselves; had we held Baptism and the holy Supper of our Lord in that esteem in which we ought to have held them, we should never have become monks. Nothing concerning purgatory, nothing concerning the sacrifice of the mass, nothing about those other like iniquities, would ever have been taught and handed down to us in the Church. But after the light of the Word had been put out by the wicked Popes, it was easy enough to thrust upon men all these abominations.
Unspeakable therefore is this gift, that God not only condescended to speak unto men by his Word, but added also to the Word these visible signs of his grace; as in the New Testament, Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. Are not those therefore who use these signs in a manner beneath their dignity, or who treat them with contempt, worthy of being left as they are to purchase the Pope's dung, as the richest balsam, and to worship it, and to pray to it? For why dared they despise such goodness of the divine majesty? They might have had, if they pleased, these sure signs of the grace of God at their own houses without any expense and without any labor. But despising these, they travel to Rome and to Compostella, etc.; and thus spend their money and afflict their bodies, and at length most justly lose their souls. God be blessed forevermore, that he has in this our day recalled us by his Word from these mighty errors and idolatries, and has so enriched us with the signs of his divine grace, that we may have them before our doors and in our home and even on our beds.
It was in this manner that God at first and from the very beginning of the world, in order to confirm his promise concerning our salvation, took this care that men might always have signs by which they might comfort themselves under their sins, and might lift up their heads by a confidence in the divine grace. For it is not the dignity of the work or act itself, but the mercy of God and the efficacy of the divine promise in the sacrifice, which are availing unto the worshipper. It is because God hath ordained these acts of worship, and because he hath promised that they shall be well-pleasing unto him, that Baptism and the Supper of our Lord are to us, what the sacrifice and offering after the promise were to Adam. For God in those sacrifices revealed his grace; and he approved those same sacrifices by himself igniting them and consuming them by fire from heaven. II. And it was to these acts of worship that the first father brought up his sons; that they might in this manner render their thanks unto God, might bless God, and might conceive a sure hope in the mercy of God. But the wicked Cain, inflated with the dignity of his first birth-right, despised all these most blessed preachings of his parent. He brought his offering indeed as his father had commanded him; but, puffed up with the high opinion of his own sanctity, he imagined that God would approve the act of the worship itself, because of the dignity of the person, the worshipper. And Abel, who, according to the name given him, was nothing in his own eyes, also brought his offering; but he worships God thereby through faith in the divine promise; as it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. 11:4.
V. 4a. _And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof._ Here, if you look at the acts of their worship themselves, you can see no reason for preferring Abel to Cain. For the Jews expose their absurdity by their dreams when they say that Cain did not offer chosen wheat, but chaff only; and that was the reason why he was rejected of God. But the Jews are self-righteous worshippers and cleave unto the works themselves. The judgment of the Epistle to the Hebrews however is quite different; the testimony of which is, that it was "By faith that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb. 11:4. The fault of the offering therefore did not lie in the things which were offered, but in the person who offered them. And it was the faith of the person and its weight, which gave the value to the offering made by Abel! But Cain, by the state of his person, rendered the offering which he made of no avail. Abel believed that God was good and merciful, and it was this faith that rendered his offering acceptable to God. Cain on the contrary trusted in the dignity of his first birth-right and despised his brother as a man of naught in comparison with himself. What therefore in the end was proved to be the judgment of God? God made the first-born to be as the after-born, and the after-born to be as the first-born. For he had respect unto the offering of Abel, and showed that the offering of this priest was acceptable unto himself; and, on the other hand, he declared that Cain was not acceptable to him and that he was not a true priest in his sight.
The Hebrew expression, SCHAAH, has a very wide signification; and I have carefully explained its full meaning in my paper against Latomus; and also, its like signification, as found in the prophet Isaiah. "In that day shall men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel; and they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands," Is. 17:7, 8, and likewise, Is. 66:12, "And ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees." The full meaning of the original expression therefore and its allusion are, that when a mother cherishes her babe in her bosom and looks upon it, she views it with a glad and delighted eye. This is the meaning, the allusion and the figure, which the original expression conveys. Its signification therefore is much more extensive than that of the common verb, "to see," or "to behold." For when a mother looks at her babe, she smiles upon it with delight and carries in her countenance a peculiar expression of love. The modern expressions of our language do not contain a term by which the full import of this original word can be conveyed; nor does the Latin language, as far as I know, contain any expression adequate to its satisfactory translation.
Quite similar is that which Moses says in Exodus 33:15, "If thy presence (_facies tuae_) go not with me, carry us not up hence," that is, grant that we may ever have thy signs with us in our midst, by which thou appearest always before us, and makest manifest thy presence with us and thy favor unto us. And these signs, as I have said, were the pillar of fire and the cloud, etc. And though Moses does not, in this portion of the divine history explain what that sign was, by which God showed that the offerings of Abel were acceptable unto him; yet it is very probable that his acceptance and pleasure were manifested by fire sent down from heaven, by which the offering and the victim were ignited and consumed before the eyes of all present, by which it was plainly shown that God was delighted with the sacrifice Abel offered. For by this divine manifestation God showed that he judgeth the heart and the reins; because, in these two offerings, he "had not respect" unto the glory of the first birth-right of Cain; but, on the other hand, he "had respect" unto the mind of the despised Abel.
And here the whole Church first begins to be divided into that church, which is "the church" in name only, but which in reality is the church of hypocrisy and the church of blood; and into that other church, which is barren and desolate in appearance, and subject to sufferings and to the cross, and which, before the world and in the estimation of that church of hypocrisy, is really the Abel; that is, vanity and nothing. But Christ himself, who also makes this division and difference, calls Abel the "righteous" one and makes him the beginning of the Church of the godly, which shall continue even unto the end of the world. While Cain is the beginning of that church of enmity and blood, which also shall continue unto the end of the world; as Augustine also setteth forth this history in his book, "The City of God."
A great doctrine therefore and a great consolation are set before us, while we trace both these churches to these their original fountains, as it were, and when we mark that wonderful counsel, with which God has ever ruled and overruled these things; ordaining that the true Church should at one time be greater and at another time less; yet, so that the hypocritical and the bloody church should always have the glory before the world and should crucify the true Church, which is the beloved of her God. For even thus at the beginning did commence the practical fulfilment of that divine prediction, that the seed of the serpent should bite the heel of the blessed Seed. And this same enmity and biting we experience to this very day. Therefore we ought not to be affrighted by this our appointed lot. It ought rather to be unto us a great consolation that we learn by our own experience to suffer those very things at the hands of our enemies, which the bloody Cain inflicted on the "righteous" Abel.
For it is not now the first time that the name of the Church is torn from us, and that we are called heretics, and that those who kill us glory that they are the only true Church, and maintain that assumed name by fire and sword, and by every kind of cruelty. The same thing befell righteous Abel. The same thing befell Christ our Lord, who was not a priest nor a king of Jerusalem before the people; and yet he was dragged by the priests and by the kings to the cross! And we all, as the apostle says, must be made conformable to Christ. And thus it is that the true Church is ever hidden and unknown, and is cast out, and its members held as heretics, and slain; while Cain alone has the glorious name and is held in estimation, and alone possesses the hope of doing great things; and therefore it is that he rushes on his brother with hostile enmity of mind and slays him. Now these things were not political nor domestic, but truly ecclesiastical in the highest degree. Abel was not slain on any political or domestic account, but alone on account of the worship of God. For it was not enough for Cain that he was the lord of the family, he wishes to be the son of God; he will be the pope and father of the church. And therefore he takes upon himself the judgment of sacrifices, and condemns and slays his brother as a heretic.
Hence is the prophecy of Christ that the Church should be subject to various perils and that the time should come when those who should slay the godly should think that they were thereby worshipping God and doing him service. Therefore those who will consider themselves the most righteous among us, these are the pestilences and the persecutors of the Church. On the other hand, the true Church is that church which is never judged to be "the Church." But she is, according to her name, the Abel who was not only a figure of the true Church but the very beginning of it; that is, she is accounted as naught, so that when she is slain, her slayers think that God will care nothing about her, because Cain, they think, as being lord of all and king, may do and is able to do anything. Now this is the offense of the cross, against which we have ever to fight by faith. For we are not to think that we are not the Church, because our adversaries condemn us and persecute us with every kind of cruelty thus securely. But, on the contrary, we are ever to consider that this cross and these judgments of the wicked are the sure and infallible signs of the true Church, as the tenth Psalm shows, also Psalm 72:14, "And precious shall their blood be in his sight;" and Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." In these Psalms therefore you hear that those who are slaughtered in this manner by the Cainites are so far from being from the care of God that their death is precious in his sight. Those therefore who are thus the care of God are the true people of God.
Wherefore, let us endure the cruelty of our adversaries and let us joyfully give thanks unto God that we are not in the number of those who are the slayers; and who, because of their name and title, persecute "the Church," seize upon the property of others, and rush with cruelty and violence upon their bodies also. And indeed the histories of all ages and times testify that the true Church was ever a suffering Church, that the false Church was ever an evil and violent Church; and that the true Church was ever condemned by the church of hypocrisy and blood. Hence there can be no doubt among us of the present day that the Church of the Pope is the Cainite Church, and that we are the true, the Abel Church; and as Abel harmed not Cain, so we not only do no harm to the Church of the Pope, but suffer ourselves to be harassed, condemned and slaughtered by them.
Nor do we record these things falsely. It is well known to the whole world how often we are subjected to anathemas, distressed by subscriptions, and condemned by various denunciations. Nor have there ever ceased to be found men in almost every corner or Europe ready to offer themselves as the fierce executors of cruelest decrees. Neither Spain, nor France, nor England, nor Belgium, nor Bohemia, nor Poland, nor Hungary, nor Austria, nor Bavaria, has been free from witnessing this unjust cruelty and savage rage. And yet, what were they persecuting all the while? What, but godly doctrine, a doctrine perfectly agreeing with the writings of the apostles and prophets? Can there be any doubt or obscurity then in forming a judgment concerning the true Church? For can you possibly judge that to be the true Church where nothing sound is taught, where unjust tyranny is practiced, and where the highest power is joined with the greatest wealth? Is not that rather the true Church where there is sound and holy doctrine, healing to afflicted consciences? And where, for the sake of that doctrine, there are endured the cross, contempt, poverty, ignominy, and all those things of the same kind which the poor little helpless flock of Christ is recorded ever and everywhere to have suffered?
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.