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

by 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.