So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth…That God’s mercy works everything, and our will works nothing, but is rather the object of Divine working, else all will not be ascribed to God. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)
Clearly Luther thought it was of vital importance to know what ability the will has and what it can do with that ability. The will either has some ability and that ability is in certain areas. If we assign the will to such an important area as salvation, then we need to know the extent of its ability. We don’t assign ability in the human will to fly without mechanical aid or many other things. So if we are going to assign it an act and power or ability in the realm of salvation, we need to know much more about it. If the Bible addresses this subject, then we need to know that the Bible says about it and not just assume that the will has ability.
What Luther attempts to show is that the Bible teaches that salvation is of the power and grace of God. Faith is part of that salvation and comes to the sinner by the power and grace of God. Here is a quote from R.C. Sproul that gets to the heart of the situation:
When we speak of justification by or through faith, we mean that faith is the instrumental cause of justification, not its ground. Justification is per fidem (by or through faith) but never propter fidem (in account of or on the ground of faith). Again we view justification as being propter Christum (on account of Christ). Sola fide (justification by faith alone) is theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone….The faith that links us to Christ is not a meritorious work. Indeed, saving faith is itself a gift of God wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.
The enslaved will cannot look to itself to do anything in the area of salvation since it has no ability or power to do anything as free and in the area of salvation. The will is in bondage, dead, and can do nothing in the spiritual realm. When people look to the will as free and trust in that will to believe on Christ, they are looking to self to do something that it cannot do and the will of self is not free to do. The will can do nothing spiritual unless it is the object of Divine grace working through it. Faith is the instrument of God in salvation and not the instrument of the will of human souls. This must be made clear or we will not understand the Gospel of grace alone. Grace works faith in the soul as the instrument by which God uses to save the soul. A person can believe in something called justification by faith alone and be closer to Roman Catholicism than the Reformation and Scripture.
Sproul’s quote from above gets at the heart of what Luther was trying to say. We can know in some way that we must have faith to be saved, but we must not look to ourselves for faith or to perform as act of faith. As long as sinners think that their will is free and that faith is up to them, they have not been broken from their pride and self-reliance. They will continue to look to themselves to carry out their duty. What they must see is that justification comes through faith, but it does not come because of faith. Salvation comes to the soul because of Jesus Christ alone. It comes to the soul because of grace alone. Faith comes to the soul by grace alone. Salvation comes to the soul through faith alone because it comes to the soul by grace because of Christ alone.
If human beings ascribe to the soul the ability to do what God alone can do, then they give to themselves some of the glory of salvation which is an act of idolatry. The soul that takes to itself the power to do something that God alone can do is trying to be God to itself. The soul that takes to itself the glory of what God alone should have is a thief and is seeking its own honor which is also an act of idolatry. For a human being to adhere to free-will in the area of salvation is for that human being to be an idolater. It is, therefore, necessary to teach the great truth of faith alone in the context of grace alone because of Christ alone. We are not saved because of our free-will, but because of Christ alone. This comes to the soul because of grace alone. Faith is a gift of God that it may be the instrument of God in salvation so that all of the glory will be His. We must not dare to try to steal His glory. As Luther said, it is “in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether or not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation.” To the degree grace is important in salvation is the degree we must make sure that people understand how the grace of God works on the will. A grace that is all of grace must be declared in the Gospel. If we leave one work for the human soul to do apart from grace, we no longer have grace alone.
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