Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1: Luther on the Creation

by Martin Luther

It is instructive here to mark the gradual increase and progressive steps of sin, which goes on until it becomes, as Paul is wont to express it, "exceeding sinful," Rom. 7:13. For man first falls from his faith into unbelief and disobedience. Upon unbelief follow the dread and hatred of God and fleeing from him; and these are soon succeeded by despair and impenitence. For whither shall the heart flee when thus dreading the presence of God? Shall it flee unto the devil? That of course is vain, and is never expected to be the case; and yet to this it all comes. For this history shows that God created man and made him lord over all created things. And yet that same man now flees from him and considers nothing more hateful or intolerable than the presence of this same Creator. Were it not so he would not now thus turn away from his God nor flee from him in instant dread of the voice of his approach. For all this is not during the night, not under thunderings and lightnings as at the mount of Sinai, but in the bright light of "day" while a gentle breeze is breathing and the leaves of the trees softly rustling by its touch! There is nothing therefore more intolerable to endure, nothing filled with greater misery than a conscience alarmed by the law of God and by the sight of sins committed.

This it was that made Adam and Eve do the worst of all things they could do, namely, to shun their Creator and their God, and to flee to the truly vain refuge of fig leaves, in order to cover themselves from his sight and to hide themselves among the trees! And what could be more indescribably horrible, than thus to flee from God and to hide themselves from his sight?

Wherefore this affords a further view of alterations of the rectitude of the will and of the understanding after the sin of the fall. The very facts show that the will was corrupted and depraved. For Adam and Eve long for those very things which God had prohibited, and they so long for them as to become disobedient to God and obedient to Satan. Nor can we entertain any doubt of the corruption of the understanding also, when we see the counsel of covering themselves which Adam and Eve adopted, and by which they thought they were safe. Was it not, I pray you, the very extreme of folly, first to attempt impossibilities in trying to flee from God, whom no one can escape or avoid? And was it not in the next place greater folly still, to attempt that escape from the presence of God in so absurd a manner, as to believe themselves safe when hidden among the trees of the garden, when they must otherwise have known that no walls of iron nor mighty mountains of brass can save from the presence or the grasp of God?

All confidence in God being thus lost by sin, there now follows a horrible dread upon the will. And all wisdom and understanding being lost, those most beautiful gifts of God, there follows in their place the extremity of folly; such folly that men attempt impossibilities by means the most absurd. So inexhaustibly deep is the evil of original sin! And even all these calamities are but the prelude to that which is yet to come. For we are not yet brought to the judgment of God. Then follows:

V. 9. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Here we have a description of the judgment of God. When Adam, terrified by the consciousness of his sin, fled from the presence and sight of God he found not only paradise, but the whole world too narrow in which to find a corner where to hide himself from God in safety. But all his anxiety makes manifest the folly of his mind in seeking a remedy for his sin by fleeing from his God. But he had fled from him much too far already. For his very sin was, that he, departing from God at the first, needed not therefore to flee farther from him still. But so it is. That is the very nature of sin, the farther a man departs from God, the farther he wants to depart. And thus the man who has once departed and apostatized from God, goes on departing and departing to all eternity. Hence it is truly said concerning the punishments of hell, that its greatest punishment is that the wicked there are always wishing to flee from God, but feel that flee they cannot. Just in the same manner Adam, though found out and apprehended of God, yet ceases not to attempt to flee out of his hands.

When therefore Moses here says, "Jehovah God called unto Adam," we are to understand that the Lord called him to judgment. But a question is raised here concerning the person by means of whom Adam was called of God, and it is by no means out of the way to suppose that all these things were carried on by the ministration of angels, and that an angel here acted in the place of God, as God spoke all these things to Adam. Just as magistrates when they say or do anything, say and do it not in their own person, but in the person of God, as his representatives. Hence it is that the Scriptures call those judgments, which are exercised and administered by appointed men, the judgment of God. It by no means displeases me therefore that it should be considered that Adam was here called by an angel, and that it was shown him by that same angel that all flight was impossible.

It is here especially to be noticed moreover that Moses expressly tells us that it was Adam who was called; seeing that it was to Adam alone that the Word of God was spoken on the sixth day, concerning that tree of which they were both forbidden to eat. As therefore Adam alone heard the command, so he alone is first called to judgment. But as Eve herself also had sinned and departed from God, she also hears the judgment at the same time and becomes a partaker of the punishment.

The words, "Where art thou?" are the words of the law, spoken by God and reaching unto the conscience of Adam. For although all things are naked and open unto the eyes of God, as it is written, Heb. 4:13, yet he speaks unto our sense, feeling and understanding; for he sees us aiming at the one thing of fleeing away from him and attempting our escape from his sight and presence. When therefore God says, "Where art thou?" it is as if he had said, "Thinkest thou that I see thee not?" For he will have Adam to see and feel that though hidden he is not hidden from God! And that though he flees from God, from God he cannot flee. For this is the very nature of all sin; it causes us to attempt to flee from the wrath of God, from which wrath we find it impossible to flee. It is indeed the utmost folly to think that we shall find a remedy in fleeing from God, rather than in returning to him; yet it is the very nature of sin that the sinner cannot return to God. What then can we possibly conceive to have been the exceeding folly and state of mind in Adam? He had heard the voice of Jehovah, and yet he hoped that he could conceal himself from his presence; when lo! he was now standing before the tribunal of God and was demanded of God for punishment!

V. 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.