eaning. My spirit,
they say, shall not be held back as in a sheath. They mean the spirit
of man contained in the body as in a sheath. I shall not leave it in a
sheath, they say, but I shall remove him and destroy the sheath. Such
absurdities originate in the stale grammatical rules, whereas usage
rather should be considered; it is that which trains the grammarian.

49. But I recite all this at length, in order to admonish you, when
you come upon such silly commentators, not to follow them and admire
such singular wisdom. For great men even have found delight in the
folly of the rabbis. They are not unlike the Sacramentarians, who do
not deny the words of Christ, This is my body, this is my blood; but
explain it thus: Bread is bread, and yet the body of Christ, namely,
his creature; this is my blood, namely my wine. This passion of
distorting texts no sane man tolerates in the exposition of the fables
of Terence, or of the eclogues of Virgil, and, forsooth, we should
tolerate it in the Church!

50. We need the Holy Spirit to understand the Holy Scriptures. For we
know that the same Spirit shall exist to the end of the world who
existed before all things. We glory in possessing this Spirit through
the grace of God, and, through him, we have faith, a moderate
knowledge of Scripture and an understanding of the other things
necessary to godliness. Hence we do not invent a new interpretation;
we are guided not only by an analogy of Holy Scripture but also by
faith.

51. Through the Holy Scriptures in its entirety, the verb judge,
_dun_, signifies almost invariably a public office in the Church, or
the office of the ministry, through which we are corrected, reproved,
instructed and enabled to distinguish the evil from the good, etc.
Thus, Psalm 110, 6: _Jadin bagojim_, "He will judge among the
nations;" which means: He will preach among the nations. The word
found in this passage is evidently the same. And in the New Testament
this phrase, originally Hebrew, is very much in vogue, especially in
Paul's writings, who uses the Hebrew idiom more than the others.

52. I understand this passage therefore as words spoken by Lamech or
Noah as a new message to the whole world. For it was a public message
proclaimed at some public assembly. When Methuselah, Lamech and Noah
saw that the world was hastening straight to destruction by its sins,
they resorted to this proclamation: My Spirit shall no longer preach
among men. That means: