Luther’s Works, Volume 3
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
The Lectures on Genesis are remarkably extensive in their sweep and give conclusive proof of extraordinary diligence. Luther expounds Scripture in the light of Scripture. Furthermore, he couches his treatment of the Biblical text in a language of simplicity without compromising his forthright way of speaking that evidences profound learning. In the third volume of the American Edition of Luther's Works the great man of God deals with numerous happenings in the colorful and exciting career of Abraham, the father of the faithful. As he does so, he pays special attention to Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Lot, and others. He is always at pains to point to the guiding hand of God. Human beings often sin—either willfully or out of the weakness of the flesh—but God is always present to shape the course of events and to reveal abiding love as well as unflinching justice. The great master holds his readers spellbound as he discourses on the Biblical narrative and applies Scriptural truths to what happened in the past, to what is taking place in his own time, and to what is bound to occur in the future.
Top Highlights
“State clearly here what faith alone does, not with what virtues it is closely connected. Faith alone lays hold of the promise, believes God when He gives the promise, stretches out its hand when God offers something, and accepts what He offers. This is the characteristic function of faith alone. Love, hope, and patience are concerned with other matters; they have other bounds, and they stay within these bounds. For they do not lay hold of the promise; they carry out the commands. They hear God commanding and giving orders, but they do not hear God giving a promise; this is what faith does.” (Volume 3, Page 24)
“Learn, therefore, not to attribute righteousness to your love or to your works and merits; for they are always unclean, imperfect, and polluted. Consequently, they call for a confession of our unworthiness and for humbling ourselves with a prayer for forgiveness. But attribute your righteousness to mercy alone, to the promise concerning Christ alone, the promise which faith accepts and by means of which it protects and defends itself against conscience when God sits in judgment.” (Volume 3, Page 25)
“For this law concerning circumcision was imposed on the Jews, not in order that they might be justified by it—for then Christ would have been promised in vain—but in order that they might be a people separated from all other peoples, in order that it might be known from what people, from what part of the world, the Savior was to be born.” (Volume 3, Page 82)
“Readers who are experienced in spiritual matters know that no pattern is more in accordance with the truth and more common than that new perils and new disturbances always follow comforting events.” (Volume 3, Page 3)
- Title: Luther’s Works, Volume 3
- Authors: Helmut T. Lehmann, Martin Luther, Hilton C. Oswald, Jaroslav Pelikan
- Series: Luther’s Works
- Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
- Print Publication Date: 1961
- Logos Release Date: 2001
- Era: era:reformation
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible › Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History; Bible. O.T. Genesis › Commentaries; Lutheran Church; Theology › Early works to 1800
- Resource ID: LLS:42.110.103
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-10-07T22:15:45Z