“The Scriptures are a manger in which Christ lies.” What does that mean?
Martin Luther uses a metaphor to describe the Holy Scriptures. They are, he says, the manger that holds Christ.
This has been a favorite metaphor of the Higher Critics, those who understand the Bible as a mixture of God’s truth and man’s fallen writing. “The Bible, like the manger, has crocked wood and splinters, but in it we find Christ.”
It this what Luther meant?
Let’s take a look at Luther’s words.
The most famous passage is in Luther’s introduction to the Old Testament (1523, edited 1545):
In order that those who are not more familiar with it may have instruction and guidance for reading the Old Testament with profit, I have prepared this preface to the best of the ability God has given me. I beg and really caution every pious Christian not to be offended by the simplicity of the language and stories frequently encountered there, but fully realize that, however simple they may seem, these are the very words, works, judgments, and deeds of the majesty, power, and wisdom of the most high God. For these are the Scriptures which make fools of all the wise and understanding, and are open only to the small and simple, as Christ says in Matthew 11[:25]. Therefore dismiss your own opinions and feelings, and think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored, in order that you may find that divine wisdom which God here lays before you in such simple guise as to quench all pride. Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds [Luke 2:12]. Simple and lowly are these swaddling cloths, but dear is the treasure, Christ, who lies in them.
LW 35:236
Rather than contrasting the humility of the manger with the glory of Christ, Luther contrasts the apparenty humility of the Scriptures with the reality of their holiness. The Scriptures, says Luther, might seem simple, but these “are the very words, works, judgments, and deeds of the majesty, power, and wisdom of the most high God.”
Luther continues by addressing the danger each one of us faces when we come to the text. Will we be led by our opinions and feelings, or will we “dismiss your own opinions and feelings, and think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored, in order that you may find that divine wisdom which God here lays before you in such simple guise as to quench all pride”?
The apparent humility of the Scriptures works to destroy our own pride! We are brought low as we, with the shepherds, kneel at the manger and adore the Christ Child.
This is a common theme for Luther.
Here is another example of his preaching regarding the humility (from his commentary on Genesis 26).
And it is true that God wanted to counteract this curiosity at the very beginning; for this is how He set forth His will and counsel: “I will reveal My foreknowledge and predestination to you in an extraordinary manner, but not by this way of reason and carnal wisdom, as you imagine. This is how I will do so: From an unrevealed God I will become a revealed God. Nevertheless, I will remain the same God. I will be made flesh, or send My Son. He shall die for your sins and shall rise again from the dead. And in this way I will fulfill your desire, in order that you may be able to know whether you are predestined or not. Behold, this is My Son; listen to Him (cf. Matt. 17:5). Look at Him as He lies in the manger and on the lap of His mother, as He hangs on the cross. Observe what He does and what He says. There you will surely take hold of Me.” For “He who sees Me,” says Christ, “also sees the Father Himself” (cf. John 14:9). If you listen to Him, are baptized in His name, and love His Word, then you are surely predestined and are certain of your salvation. But if you revile or despise the Word, then you are damned; for he who does not believe is condemned (Mark 16:16).
You must kill the other thoughts and the ways of reason or of the flesh, for God detests them. The only thing you have to do is to receive the Son, so that Christ is welcome in your heart in His birth, miracles, and cross. For here is the book of life in which you have been written. And this is the only and the most efficacious remedy for that horrible disease because of which human beings in their investigation of God want to proceed in a speculative manner and eventually rush into despair or contempt. If you want to escape despair, hatred, and blasphemy of God, give up your speculation about the hidden God, and cease to strive in vain to see the face of God. Otherwise you will have to remain perpetually in unbelief and damnation, and you will have to perish; for he who doubts does not believe, and he who does not believe is condemned (Mark 16:16).
LW 5:44-45
Luther warns constantly of the danger of speculation, of the exaltation of reason over the Scriptures, of trying to know more of God than what is revealed in Christ. We truly know God and see God in Christ, in the manger and on the cross.
Luther pushes us, constantly, away from theological speculation to the certianty of the life and death of Jesus. He pushes us constantly from spiritual curiosity to the words of the Scripture.
On of the great dangers of Higher Ciriticism is that it precisely uses reason against the truth and witness of the Scriptures.
We find Luther using the image of the Scriptures as the manger in A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels (1521). We read:
What a sin and shame it is that we Christians have come to be so neglectful of the gospel that we not only fail to understand it, but even have to be shown by other books and commentaries what to look for and what to expect in it. Now the gospels and epistles of the apostles were written for this very purpose. They want themselves to be our guides, to direct us to the writings of the prophets and of Moses in the Old Testament so that we might there read and see for ourselves how Christ is wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in the manger [Luke 2:7], that is, how he is comprehended [Vorfassett] in the writings of the prophets. It is there that people like us should read and study, drill ourselves, and see what Christ is, for what purpose he has been given, how he was promised, and how all Scripture tends toward him. For he himself says in John 5[:46], “If you believed Moses, you would also believe me, for he wrote of me.” Again [John 5:39], “Search and look up the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness to me.”
LW 35:122
The point here, a fantastic point, is that the Old Testament also is a book of Christ. Jesus is there, wrapped up in the preaching of Moses and the prophets.
We have noted often the danger of reading the Old Testament as a Christless text, as if it were all law. No, Jesus is there. He is there in truth (it is Jesus who walks in the Garden with Adam and Eve and talks from the burning bush to Moses, etc.), He is there in preaching (especially in the preaching of the sacrifice), and He is there in promise.
Far from diminishing the preaching of the prophets, Luther lifts then up. When we come to the manger of the prophetic preaching, and look to see what is wrapped in the swaddling clothes, we don’t see Moses or the Ten Commandment lying there, but Jesus.
In a final passage Luther preaches that the manger is a picture of the Christian church. Here’s part of a Christmas Eve sermon on Luke 2 (1521 or 1522):
[Jesus] lies in the manger. Look at this so that you may be certain that only Christ is to be preached in all the world. What else is the manger than the gathering of the Christian people in church to listen to the sermon? We are the animals that go with this manger. There Christ is placed before us, and with this food we are to feed our souls, that is, lead them to the sermon. He who goes to listen to a sermon, goes to this manger, but the sermons must deal with Christ. For not all mangers hold Christ and not all sermons teach the faith. Notice there was only one manger in Bethlehem in which this treasure lay, and it was, in addition, an unused, despised manger which at other times contained no fodder. Thus the preaching of the gospel is free of all other things; it has Christ and teaches only him. Should it, however, teach something else, then it has already ceased being Christ’s little manger, and has become the manger of cavalry horses, filled with the physical fodder of temporal teaching. But so that you can see how Christ wrapped up in the cloths signifies faith in the Old Testament, let me cite a few examples. …
LW 52:22-23
Luther goes on to mention Matthew 8:4 and the cleansing of the leper, the Sabbath Day, and Isaiah 7:14.
Luther preaches that the church is the stable, and Christ alone is placed in the manger as food for the animals, that is, the Christians. Luther understands this as instructive, that Jesus alone should be placed before the Christian to give us life.
Far from diminishing the truth and clarity of the Holy Scriptures, Luther understands that the Scriptures are presented to us in humility to humble us, and give us Jesus, our Savior.
-PrBW
