Sermons on Exodus, Chapters 1–20 by Martin Luther

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sermons on Exodus, Chapters 1–20 by Martin Luther Mark Mattes Sermons on Exodus, Chapters 1–20. By Martin Luther. Luther's Works, volume 62. Edited by Benjamin T. G. Mayes. Translated by Kevin G. Walker. Saint Louis: Concordia, 2022. xxiii + 454 pp. This volume offers not only Luther's sermons on Exodus 1–20 (1524–25) but also two shorter writings, namely, his introduction to the sermons on Genesis (1523) and his preface to the first volume of his lectures on Genesis (1544). Arguably, Luther is at his best as a preacher. His preaching packages his Reformation theology by presenting the results of his exegesis for a popular audience. It focuses less on polemics, though his disagreements with others is not absent, and more on the care of souls. This volume is filled with numerous gems of Luther's understanding of the gospel. In the brief sermon and introduction to Genesis, Luther highlights his well-known conviction that God did not merely create the world at a point of time, but instead creates it daily (6), that God is "always making and creating" and that God continues to work on it (5). He affirms that as creator God "works everything in me," but that does not necessarily trigger gratitude and joy. For sinners, that truth can horrify since "our nature cannot bear to accept it" (6). Humans are not as autonomous as they think, since their agency exists only due to God's sustaining of it. Humans are not in control of their own lives. In his sermons on Exodus 1–20 Luther reminds us that God works to convert sinners to faith by means of an alien work, breaking down their self-centeredness before he accomplishes his proper work of giving mercy. God works paradoxically: "through foolishness He makes wisdom; through illness He makes strength and health; through nothing He makes everything" (95). Since Exodus [End Page 218] 1–20 deals significantly with God meting out wrath upon the Egyptians because they refused to liberate their Hebrew slaves. Luther raises the question of God's goodness. He touches upon the notion of God ex lege (outside of the law), suggesting that God is not equivalent to law, even eternal law, but instead transcends his own law: "no one ought to measure God or make a law for Him because God is entirely ex lex … By doing this measuring, however, you deprive yourself of your life and of our Lord God" (136). In a word, God is not to be measured by the law. That said, Luther's view of God outside the law is by no means arbitrary. God's goodness originates from within God himself and not from those works which express his goodness. "God is the doer and does not get the goodness from the work or Law. We get the goodness not from doing something good and being esteemed by people for it, but because the law is kept. So it must be fulfilled through the Holy Spirit; then we, too, are called good" (137). While usually commentators present Luther's view of Christ's benefits as primarily forgiveness, the Luther that emerges here focusses not only on forgiveness but also on empowerment. He admonishes his listeners to "eat" or absorb Christ in a spiritual eating: "He enters you, so that the two of you become one thing spiritually, having the same thoughts and mind, also the same will, wisdom, strength, and benefit, so that you become a new man, who daily thrives and grows, becoming big, sleek, and strong in the knowledge of the Lord Christ" (174). This volume contributes to greater knowledge of Luther in the English-speaking world and is a welcome addition to Luther's Works. Mark Mattes Grand View University Des Moines, Iowa Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.