That is, such affliction is not unjust, for thereby my old Adam must be cleansed of his sin and be put to death.
I am sorry for my sin.
That is, as is written in the fourth, the next of these psalms (51:3): "My sin is ever before me, and my sin I will confess." That has the same meaning as this verse. The wise, righteous, and proud saints are prone to accept peace and rest, comfort and honor; they see nothing to cause them sorrow and pain.
They are always pleased and satisfied with themselves; for they hide their sin and do not publish it, do not even think of it, but think only of their own piety and the sins of others, as the following verse says.
A really sincere person, on the other hand, is altogether different, as the holy apostle Paul says in Rom.
7:8, that sin dwells in him and in sin he lies captive, although outwardly he has done no evil but much good. Also Christ commands His own to hate their souls (John 12:25). Now there is nothing to hate but sin. And how do sins come into the pious that they should hate them? For He does not say that they should hate only past sins which are forgiven and atoned for, but the soul and life which evidently is still in them. This sin the proud righteous do not take into account at all; they go on smugly and say that these are daily sins and not against God's command.10 If this were true, why does He say they should be hated? And why does the apostle complain that he is their prisoner (Rom. 7:23)? They claim that against daily sins there is no command and that these do not ensnare anyone.
19. But my foes live and are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
That is, I suffer much and am troubled, as Jer. 12 and Hab. 1 describe it; for here "live" means to have good clays and live well. They are mighty and strong, but I am continually oppressed. They are honored, I am dishonored; they have peace, I have discord. They increase and have many who are friendly to them, praise them, and side with them. I alone am forsaken, and no one stays with me or is friendly toward me. Thus the really true saint is entirely different and widely separated from the apparent and the false, deceived saints.
20. Those who render me evil for good are my adversaries because I follow after good.
Those who think themselves wise and righteous cannot help but repay evil for good. For they persecute and repay with hatred and torture the true doctrine that one teaches them and by which, as it should be, one tells them that which is best and most useful. Besides, they slander and malign all who seek that good thing and follow after it. That is because this very good is not apparent but is under the cross, lowly, and hidden in God. But they refuse to become lowly in their life and appearance. They want to be somebody or want to rage and create havoc, and yet they think they do well. But it is real evil, and they destroy themselves. This the child of God avoids. Therefore they speak evil against him.
21. Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me!
"I am lonely, forsaken by all and despised. Do Thou receive me, and do not forsake me." It is God's nature to make something out of nothing; hence one who is not yet nothing, out of him God cannot make anything. Man, however, makes something else out of that which exists; but this has no value whatever.
Therefore God accepts only the forsaken, cures only the sick, gives sight only to the blind, restores life only to the dead, sanctifies only the sinners, gives wisdom only to the unwise. In short, He has mercy only on those who are wretched, and gives grace only to those who are not in grace. Therefore no proud saint, no wise or righteous person, can become God's material, and God's purpose cannot be fulfilled in him. He remains in his own work and makes a fictitious, pretended, false, painted saint of himself, that is, a hypocrite.
22. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my Salvation!
Make haste to help me, for all others hasten to destroy reel For God's help is not where man's help is, nor even where there is no persecution of man, nor where man is not against himself. For God is not a Father of the rich but of the poor, widows, and orphans. The rich He has left alone (Luke 1:53). "O God of my salvation," that is, that I seek no help or salvation either in myself or in anyone else, but only in Thee. Thus also Ps. 4:1: "The God of my righteousness has heard me," that is, He is the one who gives help. The proud in spirit have their salvation, help, and satisfaction in themselves. Their help is not the help of God. They have devised it for themselves so that they may not be damned, and they refuse to admit that they are damned.
THE FOURTH PENITENTIAL PSALM 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy steadfast love; according to Thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified in Thy sentence and blameless in Thy judgment.
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6. Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice.
9. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
12. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will return to Thee.
14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of 15. O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.
16. For Thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, Thou wouldst not be pleased.
17. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
18. Do good to Zion in Thy good pleasure; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19. Then wilt Thou delight in sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Thy altar.
1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy steadfast love.
ATRUE and penitent heart sees nothing but its sin and misery of conscience. He who still finds any counsel and help in himself cannot in all earnestness speak these words; for he is not yet altogether miserable but feels some comfort in himself, apart from God's mercy. The sense, then, is this: "O God, no man or creature can help or comfort me, so great is my misery; for my affliction is not bodily or temporal. Thou alone, therefore, who art God and eternal, canst help me. Have mercy on me, for without Thy mercy all things are terrible and bitter to me."
According to Thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
These are all words of a true repentance which magnifies and multiplies the grace of God by magnifying and multiplying sin. The apostle says (Rom. 5:20): "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Therefore the proud have no taste for grace, because their sins do not yet taste bitter to them.
2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
Before this he began, after the manner of men, to pray for grace, for remission of sins which had been committed, and for the beginning of a new life. Now he prays almost until the end of the psalm in increasing measure that he be washed and cleansed more and more. For first grace is a beginning of washing and cleansing.11 Anyone who looks upon sin as something outward only cannot remain in this grace but must slide backwards and thus remain without grace and become worse than before, although he does not see or realize it. Now with us the situation is that Adam must get out and Christ come in,
Adam become as nothing, and Christ alone remain and rule. For this reason there is no end of washing and cleansing in this life. For the old Adam, with which we are born, makes sinful and nullifies also the good works, in which we make a start and some progress, if God did not look upon the grace and cleansing which has begun.
3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
The difference between the true saints and the sham saints is this: the former see their transgressions and realize that they are not what they should be and want to be. Therefore they judge themselves and are not concerned about others. The others, however, do not perceive their own wickedness; they imagine they are as they should be. They always forget about themselves and sit in judgment on the wickedness of others. They pervert this psalm and say: "I perceive the sins of others, and the sins of - 74 others are always before me." This is because they have their own sins on their back and a log in their eyes (Matt. 7:3–5).
4. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in Thy sight.
This is the verse from which we learn thoroughly to disregard our outward good works and to put no faith in the praise and honor of them by others. They are done in uncleanness and weakness, and are not counted good in God's sight unless we confess them as such. Hence the interpretation which takes this verse to mean outward sins is far from right.12 For without question we sin and do evil also by outward sins, not only before God but before men as well.
So that Thou art justified in Thy sentence and blameless in Thy judgment.
What is this? Can God not be justified unless we are sinners? Or who will judge God? It is obvious that God in Himself and in His nature is not judged or justified by anyone. He is the eternal, constant, essential, and never-changing Justice itself and the supreme Judge of all things. But in His words and works He is constantly resisted, opposed, judged, and condemned by self-righteous and self-satisfied men. There is a constant legal war between Him and them over His words and works. To say that you are justified in your words is, therefore, the same as saying that your words are justified and found and acknowledged to be true. Now here we cannot enumerate all the words that are subject to the contradiction of the proud. We shall put them all in one heap and say: All Scripture and the Word of God point to the suffering of Christ, as He Himself declares in the last chapter of Luke (24:46–47) that Scripture contains nothing else than the promised grace and forgiveness of sin through the suffering of Christ, that whoever believes in Him, and none other, shall be saved. This truth and Christs suffering and faith are resisted by all those who refuse to be sinners, especially those who have just begun to live.13 They do not want to admit that they are sinners, and they do not sigh for Christ, although God has promised in all His words that Christ should die because of sin. Therefore anyone who will not consider himself, or be considered, a sinner, tries to make God a liar and himself the truth. This is the most grievous sin and idolatry of all idolatries. Therefore the apostle John says (1 John 1:8): "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And again (1 John 1:10): "If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." Hence the prophet says here: "In order that this terrible sin of pride may not infect me, I confess that I am a sinner before Thee and do no good, so that Thou mightest remain in truth and prevail, and also overcome all who contend with Thee, justify themselves, and judge Thee in Thy words. For in the end God will prevail and gain the victory, either here by His goodness or hereafter by His severity. It will do no good to be justified before men or in our own eyes, for we must ignore this and wait with fear to learn what God thinks about it.
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, it is so true that before Thee I am a sinner that even my nature, my very beginning, my conception, is sin, to say nothing of the words, works, thoughts, and life which follow. How could I be without sin if I was made in sin and sin is my nature and manner? I am an evil tree and by nature a child of wrath and sin. Therefore as long as this same nature and essence remains with us, we will be sinners and must say: "Forgive us our trespasses" until the body dies and is destroyed. Adam must die and decay before Christ can arise completely, and this begins with a penitent life and is completed through death. Hence death is a wholesome thing to all who believe in Christ; for it does nothing else than destroy and reduce to powder everything born of Adam, so that Christ alone may be in us.
6. Behold, Thou desirest truth.
That is, the outward righteousness and apparent piety is pure deception, without foundation and without truth, because it covers the sin within and is only a type of the real and true righteousness. This type is hateful to Thee, but man loves it. Therefore Thou lovest the inner truth, but they the outer falsehood; Thou the real, they the apparent. Hence they do not say: "I am a sinner before Thee."
Thou teachest me the wisdom which is hidden away.
The wisdom of God is revealed to the proud only in its outward appearance, but it is revealed to the humble in its inner truth and hidden foundation. Now the outward appearance of this wisdom consists in this, that man believes he serves God with many words, thoughts, and works, and measures up to God's standard. It is all an outward show, which is apparent and possible to anyone, as there are many ways and means of doing this. In all this men seek God, but entirely in reverse and outwardly. Inwardly they
- 75 know Him less than all others, because they seek themselves, and under the pretext of studying and learning about God!
The inner and hidden part of this wisdom is nothing else than knowing oneself thoroughly, and therefore hating oneself. It is seeking all righteousness not in self but in God, always dissatisfied with oneself and yearning for God, that is, humbly loving God and looking away from self. This inner, unknown righteousness is revealed in all kinds of outward behavior, manner, words, and works, in which the proud remain and harden themselves. Therefore God, who loves reality and truth, hates them, because they love the outward appearance and hypocrisy.
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
Here he supports, as it were with an example, what he has said before. It is as if he were saying:
"When Moses and the priest of the Law sprinkled themselves and the people with hyssop dipped in the blood of a goat (Num. 19:18 ff.) and considered themselves clean—on which the hypocrites depend, just as they do in all other outward sanctification under the Law—this was only an outward sign and type of the real thing which Thou hast in mind and which Thou considerest highly. Nor was it the inner truth which Thou hast revealed to me. Sprinkle me, therefore, with the true goat's blood of Jesus Christ. Then
I will be truly and thoroughly cleansed, without all my works and efforts."
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
That is, the outward washing of hands and feet according to the Law does not make me white; but with its outward appearance it misleads those who do not recognize the inner value, the true and real wisdom which it only signifies. Now as the outward sprinkling with hyssop and the washing with water in no way aids the inner washing and sprinkling but is only a figure and an empty sign, so all other outward means and gestures have no other purpose than that God should thus inwardly sprinkle, wash, work, speak, serve, etc., with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus the old beloved fathers looked upon the type in the Old Testament, and in it they understood the inward and hidden things of the true meaning and wisdom of God.
8. Let me hear joy and gladness.
That is, all outward righteousness, behavior, and actions cannot bring comfort to my conscience and take away sin. In spite of all efforts and good works the timid, frightened, and terrified conscience remains until Thou sprinklest and washest me with grace and thus createst in me a good conscience, so that I hear that mysterious prompting: "Your sins are forgiven" (Matt. 9:2). No one notices, sees, or understands this except him who hears it. It can be heard, and the hearing produces a calm and joyful conscience, and confidence in God.
Let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice.
The bones which are weary and crushed, as it were, because of the sinful conscience rejoice and are revived when the conscience hears the joy of absolution. Sin is a heavy, grievous, and terrifying burden; yet it cannot be taken away through the outward works of man, but only through the inner work of God.
9. Hide Thy face from my sins.
That is: "Do not take strict notice of my works, for they are all sin if Thou shouldst set them before Thy face and judgment." Therefore he does not say: "Turn my sin from Thy face," as though there were some works pleasing in God's sight, so that He would turn away only the sin and let the good remain.
He must turn His face away, so that the works and we ourselves can exist and remain; that is, by grace He does not impute what in reality is sin, as we read in Ps. 32:1: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven."
And blot out all ray iniquities.
That is: "Whatever is lacking of righteousness, forgive, just as I have prayed Thee to turn Thy face from the evil that is still present." For, as already said, before God all our works have what they should not have; that is, they are done in sin, in which we are born. They do not have what they should have, namely, complete purity; for of this we have been deprived by the sin of Adam.14
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
It is easy to give the appearance of clean hands and noble words. This is within the power of man.
But a clean heart, devoid of all love of things, is the work of the Creator and His divine power. Scripture says that no one has a clean heart.15 Hence all are sinners before God, to whom the heart is as open as - 76 hand and work are open to man. The truth which God loves is in the heart. Inner righteousness, however, is never attained completely in this life but must always be pursued.
And put a new and right spirit within me.
The spirit of the flesh and of Adam is a crooked spirit. It turns its attention toward itself and seeks its own. We are born with it. The upright spirit is the good will directed straight to God, seeking God alone.
This will must be made anew and poured into the innermost part of our heart by God, so that there may be no deceit in our spirit, but that we may love the will of God from the bottom of our heart.
11. Cast me not away from Thy presence.
This happens to all those who do not reject themselves in their own eyes and at the same time are not concerned that they are rejected in God's sight. In fact, they set themselves up in God's presence and exalt themselves. Therefore they will be abased and cast away. For they imagine they are clean, righteous, and enlightened, and therefore cannot be rejected. The others, however, feel and know that they are justly cast away on account of their sins. Therefore they come forward with fear and humbly pray for what the self-righteous think they have already gained with their holiness.
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
For of myself I am depraved. The Holy Spirit must make me holy and sustain me. Furthermore, without the Holy Spirit Himself there is no gift or grace satisfactory to God.
12. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation.
For through Adam and our sin this is lost to us all and must be restored by grace. It means: "Give me again a conscience happy and secure in Thy salvation,"
And uphold me with a willing spirit.
That is, with the Holy Spirit; He makes free and willing men, who do not serve God out of painful fear or improper love. For all who serve out of fear are not firmly established as long as the fear lasts. In fact, they are forced; they serve with resentment. If there were no hell and punishment, they would not serve at all. Even those who serve God out of love of reward or some good thing are not firmly established. For if they know of no reward or if the good thing does not materialize, they stop. All these have no joy in God's salvation. Nor do they have a clean heart or a right Spirit. They are levers of themselves more than of God. Those, however, who serve God with a good and honest will are firm in their service of God, whether things go this way or that way, are sweet or sour. They are established and made firm by God with a noble, free, princely, and unconstrained will. In Hebrew the little word "free
Spirit" also means "free," "willing," or "unconstrained." What is done because of force does not last, but what is done willingly remains firm.
13. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will return to Thee.
That is, I will never again teach the righteousness and ways of man, as the proud do, but the way of grace and Thy righteousness. Thus sinners will come to Thee and be truly converted. For by the righteousness of man men are turned away from God because of pride, which must be present where there is no grace.
14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation.
Bloodguiltiness means that one has deserved death and, according to the Law, is guilty of death before God, on account of all kinds of sin (Rom. 2; Deut. 27:15 ff.). Here David refers especially to the sin committed with Bathsheba and against Uriah, because of which he deserved death.
And my tongue will sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
That is, I will never preach about man's righteousness or praise his works, but only Thy work, that nothing is greater than Thy righteousness, by which all the righteous are justified and without which all others are sinners. For if Thou dost not justify, no one will be righteous by his own works. It is called
Thy righteousness because Thou grantest it out of grace, and we do not receive it by works. Therefore, 15. O Lord, open Thou my lips.
That is, give me strength and courage that I may preach this freely and courageously against the godless and the hypocrites.
And my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.
That is, let me be bold through Thy strength to admonish and convince all men that they are sinners and that nothing in them is worthy of honor and praise, but that they have deserved only shame and punishment, in order that they might realize that honor and praise are Thine alone because Thine alone