# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1864_S359
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Proposal and Specimen for the Preparation of a Bible Commentary, etc. 359

ven and earth — that he does not say: In the beginning they made, as though many, but rather created and made as one, in the singular, he shows clearly that there is no more than a single God and Creator. But that he says: the gods, he shows thereby that in that one selfsame divine being there is a number which one calls several, or more than one, and thereby he guards our faith, so that we should believe in no other God than the one eternal God, and yet should also learn that this same one Godhead is more than one Person. From that point on, throughout the whole of Scripture, God is called Elohim, that is, gods."

Genesis 1:1. W. A. 22, 216. "Before a person truly learns to understand the very first little word in Moses — In the beginning God created heaven and earth — he will be dead; even if he lived a thousand years, he would still not finish learning it."

(The total of all the passages cited here is 60.)

Appendix B.
Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. Chapter 1, verses 1-6, from the writings of Dr. Luther and the symbolical books.

Preface by Dr. Luther (14, 135).

Verse 1.

Paul, an apostle ªof Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus.

a) That St. Paul holds his calling and office so high and praises it so gloriously, he does this not as an ambitious man boasting of his own person, as some suppose, but rather praises and extols only his office, which is indeed a necessary and holy pride and glorying; and moreover, in doing so he also has good and necessary reasons, namely, that he might give himself standing among those to whom he preaches, so that they might hear him all the more diligently and gladly, and accept and grasp his teaching all the better; for they do not hear there the plain, foolish, simple man called Paul, but rather hear, in the person of Paul, him who sent him, that is, Christ and God the Father himself. (8, 1573ff.)

Verse 2.

Grace be to you and peace ªfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ᵇ(that is: he wishes them a divine and heavenly peace). (8, 1596.)

a) This is a greeting which the apostles were accustomed, by a particular custom of their own, to use, one almost entirely foreign to the world and never before heard, prior to the preaching of the Gospel having begun; and in these two short little words, grace and peace, the sum and content of the whole of Christian doctrine and being is comprehended. Grace forgives sin, and so peace helps the conscience to rest; for there are two devils that plague us very sorely, sin and the conscience. These two horrible and dreadful tyrants Christ has overcome and trodden under his feet, in this present world and in the world to come. For this reason it is St. Paul's custom always, in the greeting of his epistles, to wish grace and peace, so that one may stand firm against sin and an evil conscience. (8, 1593ff.)

b) By this, that he wishes grace and peace not from God the Father alone, but also from our Lord Jesus Christ, he means to indicate that we