Luther’s Works Volume 4: Lectures on Genesis Chapters 21-25

Luther’s Works: The American Edition, published by Concordia and Fortress Press between 1955 and 1986, comprises fifty-five volumes. These are a selection representing only about a third of Luther’s works in the Latin and German of the standard Weimar Edition, not including the German Bible.

In this volume, Luther ends his biography of Abraham (begun in Volume 2) and begins his focus on the later patriarchal narratives. Written, it is believed, during an outbreak of the plague in 1539, this section of the Genesis lectures (Genesis 21—25) includes Luther’s moving study of the Abraham and Isaac story in which he compares Isaac’s obedience to that of Christ.