79. The pope, however, carries away the real honors for piety and learning when he thunders from his high seat as follows: God made two great lights, the sun and the moon; the sun represents the authority of the pope, from which his imperial majesty borrows its light as the moon does from the sun. Away with such rash impudence and vicious ambition!
80. In a similar style the ark, of Noah's story, is compared to the Roman Catholic Church, in which is found the pope with his cardinals, bishops, and prelates, while the laymen are swimming in the sea. That is, the laymen are altogether given to earthly business and would not be saved did not those helmsmen of the ark, or Church, cast boards and ropes to the swimmers, drawing them into the ark by these means. Pictures of this nature were frequently painted by monks to represent the Church.
81. Origen shows more sanity than the papists, in that his allegories conform to moral standards, as a rule. Yet, he ought to have kept in view the rule laid down by Paul, who demands that prophesy is to be the guardian of faith; for faith is edifying and the proper sphere of the Church. Rules governing morals can be laid by even heathen philosophers who know nothing whatever concerning faith.
| B. | ALLEGORIES IN DETAIL [82-132]. | |||
| 1. | Allegory of the baptism of the Israelites under Moses; the ark and the flood [82ff]. | |||
| * | Points of likeness and unlikeness in the death of believers and unbelievers [84-86]. | |||
| * | In what way is death to be conquered [87]. | |||
| * | How all temptations are to be overcome and believers be preserved [88-90]. | |||
| 2. | Allegories of the ark's proportions [91-92]. | |||
| 3. | Allegories of the sun and moon [93]. | |||
| * | To what all allegories should point [94]. | |||
| 4. | Allegory of the cup [95-96]. | |||
| 5. | Allegory of the dove Noah sent out of the ark [97-99]. | |||
| 6. | Allegory of the raven Noah sent forth. | |||
| a. | Thoughts of the fathers on this point [100]. | |||
| b. | The correct allegory of the raven [101-116]. | |||
| * | The law and the teachings of the law [101-116]. | |||
| (1) | How illustrated by the raven [102-105]. | |||
| * | Luther's opponents falsely accuse him of forbidding good works [106-107]. | |||
| (2) | They are no better than the intelligent moralists among the heathen [108-110]. | |||
| (3) | They cannot quiet the conscience [111]. | |||
| * | The raven a perfect representative of the Papists [112-113]. | |||
| (4) | How the Papists make the unrighteous righteous and condemn the righteous [114-115]. | |||
| 7. | Allegories of the doves in detail [116-124]. | |||
| * | Characteristics of the dove [116]. | |||
| a. | First dove sent forth. | |||
| (1) | A figure of the office of grace [117]. | |||
| (2) | A figure of the Old Testament prophets [118-119]. | |||
| b. | Second dove returned with the olive leaf. | |||
| (1) | A figure of New Testament preachers [120-122]. | |||
| * | The fanatics and Anabaptists wait in vain for new revelations [121]. | |||
| * | Nature of true Gospel preachers [122]. | |||
| (2) | A figure of the New Testament [123]. | |||
| c. | Third dove did not return [124ff]. | |||
| 8. | Allegory of the seven days Noah waited after he sent forth the first dove [125]. | |||
| 9. | Allegory of the evening the dove returned [126-127]. | |||
| * | Several things to be remembered in this connection. | |||
| (1) | Allegories are not to have a world-wide treatment like the articles of faith [128]. | |||
| (2) | Defects in the allegories of the fathers [129-130]. | |||
| * | Lyra is to be preferred to all commentators [131]. | |||
| (3) | Right use of allegories [132]. | |||
B. ALLEGORIES IN DETAIL.
82. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul says (1 Cor 10, 2) that the Israelites "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." If you regard only the outward circumstance and the words, even Pharaoh was baptized, but he perished with his men, while Israel passed through safe and unharmed. Noah and his sons were saved in this baptism of the flood, while all the rest of the world, being outside of the ark, perished thereby. Such a way of speaking is appropriate and forcible. "Baptism" and "death" are interchangeable in Scripture. Paul says (Rom 6, 3): "All we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death," and Jesus says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" (Lk 12, 50). And to his disciples he said, "Ye shall ... be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with" (Mt 20, 23).
83. In this sense the Red Sea was a baptism indeed. It represented to Pharaoh death and God's anger. Yet though Israel was baptized with the same baptism, they passed through it unharmed. So the flood is truly death and the wrath of God, and yet, the faithful are saved in the midst of the flood. Death engulfs and swallows all mankind; for, the wrath of God smites both the good and the bad, the pious and the wicked, without distinction. The flood was sent upon Noah the same as upon the rest of the world. The Red Sea that engulfed Pharaoh was the same as that through which Israel passed unharmed. But in both cases the believers are saved while the wicked perish. That is the point of difference. The ark was Noah's salvation, and it was but an expression of the promise and Word of God. In these he had life, but the wicked, who believed not the Word, were left to perish.