Since, therefore, we have lost the meaning and the real reference of this glorious term, or, rather, have never grasped them (as was claimed by the Pelagians, who themselves mistook the phrase) why do we cling so tenaciously to an empty word, and endanger and delude faithful people in consequence?… But this false idea of ‘free-will’ is a real threat to salvation, and a delusion fraught with the most perilous consequences…If we do not want to drop this term altogether—which would really be the safest and most Christian thing to do—we may still in good faith teach people to use it to credit man with ‘free-will’ in respect, not of what is above him, but of what is below him. That is to say, man should realize that in regard to his money and possessions he has a right to use them, to do or to leave undone, according to his own ‘free-will’—though that very ‘free-will’ is overruled by the free-will of God alone, according to His own pleasure. However, with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, he has no ‘free-will’, but is a captive, prisoner and bondslave, either to the will of God, or to the will of Satan.
Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
Martin Luther thought that his book The Bondage of the Will was his most important work. This is the book that set out his thinking on what was the most important issue or a necessary teaching in what was vital to the Reformation. He was so clear that the denial of ‘free-will’ was vital for the Gospel. The denial of ‘free-will’ was vital to understand the nature and ability of human beings and then of the sovereignty of God. Yet in our day this great and glorious truth, along with the corresponding truths of the utter inability of human souls and of the absolute sovereignty of God, are being denied. They are being denied by those who clearly and without equivocation deny them as true and they are being denied by those who give lip-service to the words of the teaching as true but deny them in reality.
In the quote from Luther above it is crystal clear that Luther thought of the teaching and application of ‘free-will’ as dangerous to everyone and contrary to the Gospel itself. He considered the doctrine of the enslaved will as vital to the Gospel itself. Galatians 1 is clear that there is no other Gospel and anyone who teaches a Gospel contrary to what Paul taught was to be anathema (eternally cursed). So we can be quite confident and state that what Luther taught was either in accordance with the teaching of Paul and Scripture or it was not. It seems clear that Luther put such a stress on the issue of the enslaved will that he thought it was vital to the Gospel. In fact, he thought that a person must deny his or her ‘free-will’ in order to be saved. A person cannot trust in his or her will and in Christ alone at the same time. A person cannot trust in the power (even if it is just a little) of his or her will and trust in the power of God in Christ alone at the same time. A person cannot trust in his own ability and the ability of God alone at the same time. A person cannot trust in his own work of the will and in grace alone at the same time. A person cannot trust in his own ability to believe and in the work of grace to give faith at the same time.
In the modern day it is thought that to be gracious is more important than to hold to grace alone. It is thought that we must work with all who hold to some basic teachings of Jesus Christ rather than be like Luther who believed that the ‘free-will’ must be denied in order to hold to Christ alone. In the modern day it is thought that we must work together with people who differ with us in the areas of the will and sovereign grace in order to have unity and see the kingdom progress. Yet with Luther he thought it was important to deny ‘free-will’ and assert sovereign grace in order that the Gospel would be preached. Luther thought that we must not work with those who deny the Gospel. Yet we must continue to face the question of whether Luther taught what Paul taught and the fact that the modern day does not teach what Luther taught.
So we must continue to face the question of whether the Gospel in its purity was set forth by God in the Reformation or not. If the pure Gospel was preached by Luther and Calvin in the Reformation, then it was the same Gospel that Paul preached. If Luther did not preach the Gospel that Paul preached, then he preached another gospel which is no Gospel at all. If Luther preached that the enslaved will was necessary to the teaching of sovereign grace (which is the only kind of grace there is), then if we don’t preach and teach it then we are not teaching the Gospel of grace alone. Paul preached a Gospel of grace alone. Did Luther? Modern people should realize that they have to think of Luther as preaching the pure Gospel or a false one. We cannot have it both ways. Yet if we want to hold that the Reformation was true, then what if we don’t preach what Luther did? The conclusion should be obvious, even if we don’t like it. The Gospel is rarely preached in our day.
God Loves... Himself 
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