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The Ethical Use of the Old Testament in Luther and Calvin: A Comparison

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

David Wright
David Wright
Affiliation:
New College, Edinburgh EH1 2LX
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Extract

‘The Holy Scriptures teach ethics, or the theory of duties, far better than any Ciceros or Aristotles’, claimed Luther, comparing the Bible with the standard ethical handbooks of antiquity, both Latin (Cicero's De Officiis) and Greek (Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics). Luther had in fact lectured on Aristotle's Ethics in 1508/9, a few years before he received the degree of ‘Doctor in Biblia’. It was as a Professor of Bible, mainly of the OT, that Luther earned his living for over thirty years, and Calvin too expended a large proportion of his efforts as preacher, commentator and lecturer on the OT. Comparisons of their use of the OT have tended to concentrate on the law and to a lesser extent on Christological (Christocentric) hermeneutics. This essay will endeavour to cast the net more widely and to broach the question of the law as it arises within a broader context.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , November 1983 , pp. 463 - 485
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1983

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References

1 Lectures on Genesis (hereafter Genesis) 12.11–13 (WA 42, 478; LW 2, 303). Luther began these lectures in June 1535 and resumed them at Gen. 3.15 after a break in January 1536.

2 cf. Bornkamm, H., Luther and the Old Testament (Philadelphia, 1969), pp. 11ffGoogle Scholar. ‘It is difficult to believe in God without an example’, Lectures on Psalms 45.13(12) (WA 4011, 595; LW 12, 289).

3 WA Deutsche Bibel 8, 12–15; LW 35, 236–9.

4 Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved (1526), WA 19, 627–8; LW 46, 97f.

5 WA 11, 255–6; LW 45, 96ff.

6 cf. How Christians Should Regard Moses, WA 16, 376–8, LW 35, 166–7; Lectures on Deuteronomy 15.1ff., WA 14, 655; LW 9, 144 (hereafter Deuteronomy).

7 An Answer to Several Questions on Monastic Vows (1526), WA 19, 287; LW 46, 146.

8 That Parents Should Neither Compel nor Hinder the Marriage of their Children, and that Children should not become Engaged without their Parents' Consent (1524), WA 15, 167–9; LW 45, 390–2.

9 Genesis 19.9 (WA 43, 61; LW 3, 259f.).

10 cf. Bainton, R. H., ‘The Immoralities of the Patriarchs according to the Exegesis of the Late Middle Ages and of the Reformation’, Harv. Theol. Rev. 23 (1930), pp. 39–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Genesis 12.11ff. (WA 42, 472–3; LW 2, 293–6).

12 Genesis 27.5–10 (WA 43, 504–8; LW 5, 110–16).

13 Genesis 19.9 (WA 42, 62–3; LW 3, 261–2).

14 Genesis 30.40–3 (WA1 43, 694–5; LW 5, 385–6).

15 Commentary on Genesis (hereafter Genesis) 12.11 (CO 23, 184; CTS 1, 359–60).

16 Genesis 16.1, 20.2 (CO 23, 222–3, 286–7; CTS 1, 423–4, 521–2).

17 Genesis 27.1ff (CO 23, 373–4; CTS 2, 82–5).

18 Luther, Genesis 19.9 (WA 43, 61; LW 3, 259).

19 Calvin, Genesis 19.8 (CO 23, 269–70; CTS 1, 499–500).

20 Genesis 30.37, 31.7–9 (CO 23, 417, 423; CTS 2, 155, 165).

21 Bornkamm, op. cit., p. 25. But Luther does find cause to commend to wives the example of Sarah's unquestioning compliance with her husband's stratagem in Gen. 12.11ff. (WA 42, 473; LW 2, 296).

22 Lectures on Jonah 1.7 (CO 43, 218–220; CTS Minor Prophets 3,47–8).

23 Lectures on Jonah 1.7 (German, 1526), WA 19, 212–4; LW 19, 60–2.

24 Lectures on Jonah 1.7 (Latin, 1525), WA 13, 247; LW 19, 12–13. Cf. Althaus, P., The Ethics of Martin Luther (Philadelphia, 1972), pp. 6ff.Google Scholar

25 Luther and Lutheranism followed the arrangement of the Decalogue widely observed since Peter Lombard, which subsumed the ban on images under the First Commandment (or omitted it, in intention or in effect), and split the prohibition of covetousness into two, the Ninth dealing only with coveting one's neighbour's house. Cf. Calvin's criticism, Institute 2.8.12. In this study the two different enumerations are followed in dealing respectively with the two Reformers.

26 Deuteronomy 6.6 (WA 14, 611; LW 9, 70). Cf. Genesis 27.5–10 (WA 43, 507; LW 5, 114), where the ET in LW (‘For the First Table embraces obedience to parents, brotherhood and love’) is inferior to that in Bornkamm, op. cit., p. 24 — ‘parental obedience, the fellowship of brothers and love were subjected to the first table of the law’, which is a literal rendering of the Latin…. primae tabulae subiecta sunt.

27 Lectures on Psalms 45.11(10); WA 4011, 572, 576, 578; LW 12, 272, 275f. Cf. Deuteronomy 24.1ff. (WA 14, 714, LW 9, 241): ‘If faith toward God demands it, charity is to be denied to one's neighbour’.

28 WA Deutsche Bibel 8, 18–19; LW 35, 240. Cf. Bornkamm, op. cit., p. 132.

29 Deuteronomy 15.1ff. (WA 14, 656; LW 9, 145f). Cf. The Jews and Their Lies, WA 53, 525; LW 47, 271; Bornkamm, op. cit., pp. 4ff.

30 Preface to the Old Testament, WA Deutsche Bibel 8, 28–9; LW 35, 246f.

31 How Christians Should Regard Moses, WA 16, 380, 390; LW 35, 168, 172f. Against the Sabbatarians, WA 50, 330f; LW 47,89f. Cf. Althaus, op. cit., pp. 27–8; Bornkamm, op. cit., p. 132, citing Lectures on Psalms 2.7 (WA 4011, 246–7; LW 12,44), where however Luther's praise of the Decalogue is confined to the First Table.

32 Against the Sabbatarians, WA 50, 323; LW 47, 79.

33 How Christians Should Regard Moses, WA 16, 371–5; LW 35, 164–6.

34 Theses [on Faith and Law] 52–4 (WA 391, 47; LW 34, 112–13). Cf. Althaus, op. cit., pp. 31f; Watson, P. S., Let God be God (London, 1947), p. 111.Google Scholar

35 WA 301, 244–5, 247, 244; ET in The Book of Concord, ed. Tappert, T. G. (Philadelphia, 1959), pp. 343, 342.Google Scholar

36 WA 301, 143–4; Tappert, pp. 375–6.

37 WA 301, 174; Tappert, p. 404. The Tenth Commandment presupposes that man-servants and maid-servants were not free to seek employment according to choice, which had obtained among the Jews but did not in his day.

38 WA 301, 151, 178–9; Tappert, pp. 383, 407–8; ‘social order’ translates ‘stende’ (modern ‘Stand’) which has a wide range of meaning centred on ‘position, situation’. It is Luther's term for our God-given ‘stations’ in life; cf. Althaus, op. cit., pp. 36ff.

39 WA 301, 160–1; Tappert, pp. 392–3.

40 op. cit., pp. 31f.

41 Only very rarely does Luther say explicitly, ‘Where one has love, no law is necessary’, Sermons on the Ten Commandments of 1518, WA 1,436.

42 cf. Lobstein, P., Die Ethik Calvins in ihren Grundzügen Entworfen (Strasbourg, 1877)Google Scholar, ch. 4, entitled ‘Die Norm des neues Lebens oder der Decalog’, especially p. 46, ‘Unter allen Reformation ist Calvin derjenige welcher seine Ethik am strengsten an den Decalog anschliesst’.

43 Commentary on Galatians 4.3, 3.19 (WA 401, 554, 486; ET ed. P. S. Watson, 1953. PP. 350, 302).

44 Institute 4.10.7, 4.13.1, 13. Cf. Lobstein, op. cit., pp. 52–6.

45 cf. Lobstein, op. cit., p. 48, 50.

46 WA 301, 155; Tappert, p. 387.

47 Large Catechism, WA 301, 163–8; Tappert pp. 395–99.

48 Commentary on a Harmony of the Last Four Books of Moses (hereafter Harmony), CO 24, 209–60, CTS 1, 338–417.

49 Harmony, pref., CO 24, 7–8, CTS 1, xvif.

50 Harmony, CO 24, 725–8, CTS 3, 196–201, and CO 25, 5–58, CTS 3, 201–89.

51 Harmony, CO 24, 588–96, CTS 2, 450–64.

52 Harmony, CO 24, 605–12, CTS 3, 12–19.

53 Harmony, CO 24, 670–88, CTS 3, 111–39.

54 Harmony, CO 24, 687–712, CTS 3, 140–79.

55 Harmony, pref., CO 24, 7–8, CTS 1, xvi, xvii.

56 But Gen. 9.5–6 fixes an invariable political law, which must issue in a civil penalty death for murderers (Genesis 9.6; CO 23, 146–7; CTS 1, 295).

57 Harmony, CO 24, 684–5, CTS 3, 135–6, and CO 24, 679–83, CTS 3, 125–33.

58 Harmony, CO 24, 671, 672, CTS 3, 114, 115.

59 Harmony, CO 24, 680, CTS 3, 127–8.

60 Harmony, CO 24, 697, CTS 3, 154.

61 The ‘political supplements’ begin with Lev. 24.17 ‘because it directly corresponds with the Sixth Commandment’. This was not true of all the political laws, for ‘God did not carry out to absolute perfection the laws which he enacted’. This is exemplified in Exod. 21.18–19, where Calvin regards the penalty as provocatively lenient (‘Who would not willingly enjoy the pleasure of knocking down his enemies on this condition, that he provide for their subsistence whilst they lay in bed?’). This ‘indulgent provision’ illustrates God's consideration for hardened hearts, which explains why ‘God did not carry out the political laws to their perfection’ (Harmony, CO 24, 621, 623–4, CTS 3, 35, 39–40.).

62 Among the factors to be monitored would be the principle of ‘equity’ (cf. Sermons on Deuteronomy 134, CO 28, 115), the occurrence of parallel provisions in pagan law codes and relaxation for ‘hardness of heart’, which qualified for relegation to the ‘supplements’. See the previous note and Calvin's comments on Exod. 21.4, where ‘the tie of slavery could only be loosed by divorce … the sanctity of marriage gave way in this case to private right’ (Harmony, CO 24, 700–1, CTS 3, 159–60).

63 Harmony, CO 24, 699, CTS 3, 157. Likewise Sermons on Deuteronomy 93 (15.1–6), CO 28, 321ff.

64 Deuteronomy 23.19 (WA 14, 710; LW 9, 234).

65 WA 6, 36, 41–2, 47; LW 45, 273, 280–1, 289.

66 Harmony, CO 24, 680–3, CTS 3, 127–33. Cf. Sermons on Deuteronomy 134, CO 28, 115–23 for a fuller discussion.

67 Lectures on Ezekiel 18.8 (CO 40, 429–32; CTS 2, 225–8).

68 cf. Calvin's interpretation of Exod. 21.22–3, the only OT text to touch on abortion. The Hebrew ‚sûn is rendered as ‘death’ (mors) by Calvin (AV ‘mischief’, RSV ‘harm’, NIV ‘serious injury’), which allows him to raise the question, ‘Whose death — the mother's or the foetus'?’. For if only the mother's death is intended ‘it would not have been a capital crime to put an end to the foetus, which would be a great absurdity’. So he concludes that ‘if death should follow’ applies to the foetus as well as to the mother. For the foetus is already homo (Harmony, CO 24, 625, CTS 3, 41–2).

69 Lectures on Zechariah 7.10 (CO 44, 226–7; CTS Minor Prophets 5, 179).

70 Lectures on Zechariah 7.10 (WA 23, 595–6; LW 20, 265–7).

71 Lectures on Zechariah 8.5 (CO 44, 237; CTS Minor Prophets 5, 196).

72 Lectures on Zechariah 8.5 (WA 23, 599–600; LW 20, 271–2).

73 Lectures on Habakkuk 1.4 (CO 43, 497; CTS Minor Prophets 4, 21–2).

74 Lectures on Habakkuk 1.4, WA 19, 361–2; LW 19, 164.