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Monday, July 21, 2014

Luther's German Bible: Ich habe den Mann, den HERRn (Part 2)

This Part 2 continues from Part 1, my introductory blog post showing that almost all online versions of Luther's German Bible are faulty and even the English Bible translations do not follow Luther's translation, including the KJV.
Prof. Eduard Pardieck

To bolster the striking account of Luther's actual translation of Eve's pronouncement in Genesis 4:1, Prof. Eduard Pardieck wrote an extended essay in Lehre und Wehre in 1914, volume 60.  Prof. Pardieck is largely unknown among historians of Lutheranism in America, but I highly regard him, especially for this wonderful essay.  Here is a picture of him in the announcement of his passing in Der Lutheraner, 1926, page 107:   =====>>>>> (picture updated 2017-09-23, pg 12 here)
The dear professor was originally from Brownstown, Indiana, my home state.

A download copy of the 1-page DL article that Prof. Ludwig Fuerbringer wrote about him is ==>> here.  Franz Pieper's stirring eulogy for him in LuW, volume 72, pgs 121-122 is also available as text file here (updated Sept. 25, 2017).

So what did Prof. Pardieck have to write?  Here is the heading for his essay:=====>>>>>
His essay ran from August to September, 1914 – pages 337-347 and 406-412.  It is now available in Google Books. [Updated 8/4]  It can also be found in HathiTrust beginning here.
A German text file is available from me here. (This will be gradually corrected of its errors over time. Current corrections dated August 7, 2014)

Here is my (BTL) translation of this wonderful article.  Underlining follows author's emphasis, but highlighting is mine. Hyperlinks added for reference.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =   Part 2: Page 337   = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
On Luther's Translation of Genesis 4:1
[by Prof. Eduard Pardieck] 

It is well known that in our German Luther Bible, Genesis 4:1 [1 Moses 4,1] is rendered: "Ich habe den Mann, den HErrn" [I have the Man, the Lord].  The notion is that Eve pronounces then the thought that with this call of joy over the birth of her firstborn, that it was already equal to the promised seed of the woman, the serpent-treader who redeems them and should make up for the misery of the Fall of Man.  Thus, Eve showed that she had understood correctly the promise of Genesis 3:15, that the promised helper really should be a seed of the woman, a true man. That's why she called him  (אִישׁ) a man; He is man of her flesh and blood.  And at the same time that she had recognized and accepted that in the Promise the great work should be accomplished, she also recognized that he must be even more than man, that He must be a divine person; that is why she called Him .  Thus she confesses one person as God and man at the same time, as the  And because it applied to their redemption, the given promise was her only comfort and footing in her grief of sin, because her whole thinking and longing stood in the fulfillment of the promise, so then she welcomed the thought of the Messiah with a shout of joy: I have attained him, He has been brought, I have Him now and am happy to possess Him; and that is why she called his name Cain.  Her faith and understanding had been right, only in the person and time had she erred.  The person was wrong, as she would soon experience to her great heart break.  And the time was far from fulfilled that God should send forth his son, born of a woman.  Because there was still a long, anxious wait and a chorus of ardent cries that yet [He should] come which there should come, that the Help of Israel would still come out of Zion.
= = = = = = = =  cont'd in Part 3  = = = = = = = =

Dear God, I can't stop working on this wonderful essay!  Where are today's true Lutherans that they should defend Luther's true Bible?  Ah, but at least the old (German) Missouri Synod had a faithful servant who expounded the heart of THE Reformer.  How wonderful it is to read of Eve's confession of faith in the promised Messiah.  In the next Part 3...

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