To accept the principles which Martin Luther vindicates in The Bondage of the Will would certainly involve a mental and spiritual revolution for many Christians at the present time. It would involve a radically different approach to preaching and the practice of evangelism, and to most other departments of theology and pastoral work as well. God centered thinking is out of fashion to-day, and it recovery will involve something of a Copernican revolution in our outlook on many matters. But ought we to shrink from this? Do we not stand in urgent need of such teaching as Luther here gives us—teaching which humbles man, strengthens faith, and glorifies God—and is not the contemporary Church weak for the lack of it? The issue is clear. We are compelled to ask ourselves: If the Almighty God of the Bible is to be our God, if the New Testament gospel is to be our message, if Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever—is any other position than Luther’s possible? Are we not in all honesty bound to stand with him in ascribing all might, and majesty, and dominion, and power, and all the glory of our salvation to God alone? Surely no more important or far-reaching question confronts the Church to-day (Johnson and Packer’s introduction to Luther’s Bondage of the Will).
The principles which Luther sets out, vindicates, and powerfully argues for in The Bondage of the Will would demand a change in the modern Church. They do not demand a minor change, not do they simply demand a lot of change. They demand a radical change. It would be a change so radical that it would require a repentance from man-centered thinking and practices to those of God. While the externals are different from the Reformation that God sent in the sixteenth century, the heart of the matter is not. The core problem with Roman Catholicism in Luther’s day was a denial of the Gospel of grace alone through faith alone. When the true Gospel that is centered and focused upon God is not the focus of a professing church, then the focus becomes on man and on ways for man to obtain salvation or ways to obtain the favor of God. That is the state of the professing Church today.
It is hard for people to hear and apparently extremely hard for ministers to hear, but the version of Christianity of modern America is not what thundered forth during the time of the Reformation. Indeed we have some that hold to the creeds and writings that came forth from Luther, Calvin and others, but some basic things have changed. When one removes God from the center of those creeds and writings (at least in practice if not in theory), then the very heart of those creeds and writings has been changed. To really go back to the principles of Martin Luther is to take to heart the core beliefs that he had and not just pick some of the things we like. This is not to say that Luther was inerrant or perfect, because he was not. It is to say, however, that the core of his teaching is the core of true Christianity. We are impoverished the more we stray from those things.
The very core of Luther’s teachings can be adhered to in the externals while denying the very heart of them. The deepest core belief of Luther seemed to revolve around his teaching that all is to be done to the glory of God. While this sounds good to many on the surface (and most professing believers would intellectually agree to the statement), that is far different than having that as the cherished belief and love of the heart. If all things are for the glory of God, then that means that we must take God at His Word concerning the depravity of man’s heart and his utter inability to do spiritual things of himself. That would also mean that we would have to take the sovereignty of God out of our creeds and truly apply them to whatever we think and do. It is easy to give lip-service to a statement that God is sovereign, but it is far harder to really grapple with that fact in all of life. It is easier to give lip-service to God’s sovereignty than it is to bow to it. It is easier to give lip-service to God’s sovereignty and preach about it in sermons than it is to apply it to all of life. It is easier to speak nice words about God than it is to declare His absolute sovereignty over all of human life. We would rather think of God and His sovereignty as being focused on us and helping us fulfill our plans. But God and His sovereignty are God-centered. He is focused on Himself and His glory. We are to bow in humility before Him and seek His plans and His glory in His way.
Are ministers today really ready for the radical change and revolution that is needed today? Oh, many will talk about revival and this or that. Many will talk about the need for Reformed teaching and this or that. But do we really want to step off of our own thrones and bow in submission to God? Are we really ready to step out of the pulpits of the land in order to die to self and have the life of Christ preach in and through us? Are we really ready to die to the honor of men that Christ would be honored? In all honesty, I don’t see that as something men are ready to do. There are too many like the Pharisees who liked their positions of honor and power more than Christ.
God Loves... Himself 
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