PSALM SIXTY-NINE

So it is also with the depth of the sea, that is, the pride of life which is in the world, for the sea is the world. And this is a threefold rope, which is so hard to tear that it will not be torn except by the Son, who was torn on the cross.
In Scripture the word standing (substantia) is used metaphorically both in a grammatical and in a physical sense. And it must properly be so taken here, not as the philosophers talk about it, but in the sense of a foothold or settled ground, on which a man can stand with his feet, so that they do not slip into the deep and are submerged. And thus Christ did not have such a foothold on life that would keep Him from falling altogether into death. But if He had only suffered without going into death all the way, He would assuredly have had a place on which to stand firmly…So, then, Christ is “stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing.”
He is “stuck in the mire of the deep.” For those who have fallen into the luxury of the flesh tightly enough and are stuck in it are bound by the devil. Now the devil is satisfied, not when they have fallen, but when they persevere in the sins of the flesh.
He says, “I have come into the depth of the sea,” that is, into the midst of the world’s pomp and glory (the pride of life). –Martin Luther