Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1: Luther on the CreationLuther, Martin
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Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1: Luther on the Creation
Luther, Martin
Bible. Genesis -- Commentaries
Here cavillers raise a question of this nature: Moses says that God
"rested on the seventh day from the work he had made;" that is, that
he ceased on the seventh day to work: while Christ says on the other
hand, John 5:17, "My Father worketh hitherto, or until now, and I
work." The passage contained in Heb. 4:3, helps to explain the present
text, where it is written, "If they shall enter into My rest," not
indeed into the land of promise, but into "My rest."
My simple and plain reply to the above question is, that a solution of
any difficulty that may be raised is furnished by the present text
itself, when it says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished."
The Sabbath or rest of the Sabbath here signifies that God so rested,
as not to have any further design of creating any other heaven and
earth. It does not signify that God ceased to preserve and govern the
heaven and the earth, which he had now created and finished.
Concerning the manner of the creation Moses gives us the fullest
information in the preceding chapter, that God created all things by
the Word! "Let the sea bring forth fishes;" "Let the earth bring forth
the green herb, the beast," etc., etc. And by the same Word, God also
said, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." Now all
these words of God remain unto this present day. And therefore it is
that we see the multiplication of all these creatures go on without
cessation or end. Wherefore if the world were to last for a number of
years endless and infinite, the power and efficacy of these words
would never cease, but there would still be continued a multiplication
of all these creatures perpetual and endless by the mere infinite
power of this Word of God; this Word of the first creation and
foundation of all things, if I may so express the original and
originating Word.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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