Commentary on Genesis (Complete Edition). Martin Luther

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СКАЧАТЬ the image of God consists in these three qualities; which image, they say, is found in all men. And their argument is, that as in divine things the Word is begotten of the substance of the Father, and as the Holy Spirit is the complacency or good pleasure of the Father, so in man from the memory proceeds the word of the heart, which is the mind of the man; which word being uttered there is developed the will, which will the mind beholds and with which it is delighted.

      These divines affirm moreover that "the similitude," after which man was formed, stands in gratuitous gifts. For as a similitude is a certain perfectness of an image, so, they say, the created nature of man is perfected by grace. According to their views therefore the "similitude" of God in man consists in his memory being adorned with hope, his intellect with faith and his will with love. It is in this manner, they assert, that man is created in the image of God; that man has a mind, a memory and a will. Again they state the sacred matter thus: Man is created after the "similitude" of God; that is, his intellect is illuminated by faith, his memory is confirmed by hope and constancy, and his will is adorned with love.

      Fourthly. Divines give other divisions and definitions of the qualities of this "image" of God, in which man was originally created. They hold that memory is the image of the power of God, mind the image of his wisdom and will the image of his justice. It was after this manner that Augustine, and after him others, bent their minds on the discovery of certain trinities of natural qualities or endowments in man. For they thought that by this mode of explanation, the image of God in man would be the more clearly seen. These not unpleasing speculations do indeed argue faithful employment and great acuteness of mental ability, but they by no means aid the right explanation of this "image" of God.

      Wherefore though I do not altogether condemn and reprobate this diligence and these deep thoughts, by which divines desire to reduce all things to a kind of sacred trinity, yet I doubt whether such attempts are very useful, especially seeing that others may push them too far. For it is on these grounds that some rest their disputes in favor of free-will; which, they say, naturally follows from this "image of God." They argue thus: God is free. Since therefore man is created in the image of God, man also has a free memory, a free mind and a free will. Out of this kind of reasoning therefore many things fall, which are either spoken untruly at first, or are afterwards wrongly understood or wickedly perverted. It is from this source that the dangerous doctrine has arisen, according to which men affirm, that God so rules and governs men that he permits them to use their own mind and movement. By this sentiment and teaching many most objectionable opinions have been generated. From this same source has originated that pernicious saying, "God who made thee without thyself will not save thee without thyself." Such men conclude that free-will concurs with the grace and work of God, as a preceding and efficient cause of salvation. Not unlike this is the saying of Dionysius, which is more pernicious still: "Although devils and man fell, yet all their natural faculties remained whole and entire; their mind, their memory, their will," etc. If this be true therefore it will follow, that man by his own natural powers can save himself.

      These perilous opinions of some of the fathers are agitated in all churches and schools, and I do not really see what the fathers wished to effect by them. Therefore I advise that they be read with caution and judgment. They were often spoken in a mood and with a peculiar feeling, which we have not and cannot have, since we have not similar occasions. Inexperienced persons therefore seize them all, without any judgment, in their own sense, and not in the meaning the fathers had at the time they were uttered. But I leave this and return to our theme.

      I fear however that since this "image of God" has been lost by sin, we can never fully attain to the knowledge of what it was. Memory, mind and will we do most certainly possess, but wholly corrupted, most miserably weakened; nay, that I may speak with greater plainness, utterly leprous and unclean. If these natural endowments therefore constitute the image of God it will inevitably follow that Satan also was created in the image of God; for he possesses all these natural qualities, and to an extent and strength far beyond our own. For he has a memory and an intellect the most powerful and a will the most obstinate.

      The image of God therefore is something far different from all this. It is a peculiar work of God. If there be those however who are yet disposed to contend that the above natural endowments and powers do constitute the image of God, they must of necessity confess that they are all leprous and unclean. Even as we still call a leprous man a man, though all the parts of his leprous flesh be stupefied and dead, as it were, with disease, except that his whole nature is vehemently excited to lust.

      Wherefore that image of God created in Adam was a workmanship the most beautiful, the most excellent and the most noble, while as yet no leprosy of sin adhered either to his reason or to his will. Then all his senses, both internal and external, were the most perfect and pure. His intellect was most clear, his memory most complete and his will the most sincere, accompanied with the most charming security, without any fear of death and without any care or anxiety whatever. To these internal perfections of Adam was added a power of body and of all his limbs, so beautiful and so excellent that he surpassed all other animate natural creatures. For I fully believe that before his sin the eyes of Adam were so clear and their sight so acute that his powers of vision exceeded those of the lynx. Adam, I believe, being stronger than they, handled lions and bears, whose strength is so great, as we handle the young of any animal. I believe also that to Adam the sweetness and the virtue of the fruits which he ate were far beyond our enjoyment of them now.

      After the fall however death crept in like leprosy over all the senses. So that now we cannot comprehend this image of God by our intellect. Adam moreover in his innocency could not have known his wife Eve, but with the most pure and confident mind towards God; with a will the most obedient to God and a soul the most free from all impurity of thought. But now since the sin of the fall all know how great is the excitement of the flesh, which is not only furious in concupiscence, but also in disgust after it has satisfied its desire. In neither case therefore is the reason or the will sound or whole. Both are fallen and corrupt. And the fury of the desire is more brutish than human. Is not this our leprosy then grievous and destructive? But of all this Adam knew nothing before the sin of his fall. His only peculiarity then was that he had greater powers and more acute and exquisite senses than any other living creature. But now how far does the wild boar exceed man in the sense of hearing, the eagle in sight, and the lion in strength? No one therefore can now conceive, even in thought, how far the excellency of man when first created surpasses what he is now.

      Wherefore I for my part understand the image of God to be this: that Adam possessed it in its moral substance or nature; that he not only knew God and believed him to be good, but that he lived also a life truly divine; that is, free from the fear of death and of all dangers and happy in the favor of God. This is apparent in Eve, who we find talks with the serpent, devoid of all fear; just as we do with a lamb or a dog. Therefore God sets before Adam and Eve this, as a punishment, if they should transgress his command: "In the day that thou eatest of this tree thou shalt surely die the death." As if he had said, "Adam and Eve, ye now live in all security. Ye neither see nor fear death. This is my image in which ye now live. Ye live as God lives. But if ye sin ye shall lose this image; ye shall die."

      Hence we see and feel the mighty perils in which we now live; how many forms and threatenings of death this miserable nature of ours is doomed to experience and endure, in addition to that unclean concupiscence and those other ragings of sin and those inordinate emotions and affections, which are engendered in the minds of all men. We are never confident and happy in God, fear and dread in the highest are perpetually trying us. These and like evils are the image of the devil, who has impressed that image upon us. But Adam lived in the highest pleasure and in the most peaceful security. He feared not fire nor water, nor dreaded any of those other evils with which this life is filled and which we dread too much continually.

      Let those who are disposed to do so therefore extenuate original sin. It plainly appears, and with awful certainty, both in sins and in the punishment of them that original sin is great and terrible indeed. Look only at lust. Is it not most mighty, both in concupiscence and in disgust? And what shall we further СКАЧАТЬ