What is excluded from that which is ascribed to ‘free-will’? What need is there of the Spirit, or Christ, or God if ‘free-will’ can overcome the motions of the mind to evil? Again, where is that ‘probable view’ which says that ‘free-will’ cannot even will good? Victory over evil is here ascribed to that which neither wills nor desires good! Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
Luther, who earlier in this work on the enslaved will, has set out why this teaching is so important. It is necessary to teach the enslavement of the will so that men can see the depths of their sin and of the necessity of sovereign grace. The Arminians and the Pelagians have to ascribe some freedom to the will, but when they do so they are left in the uncomfortable position of being forced to the position that to the degree the will is free is the degree that there is no need of the Spirit and of Christ. This so-called freedom leaves them in the position of saying that their ‘free-will’ can overcome the power of evil in the mind and heart. This refusal of men to give up their ‘free-will’ is a resisting of the humiliation of soul that is necessary to be saved according to Luther.
So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.
The teaching of the enslaved will gets to the heart of man’s depravity and why he needs a sovereign grace to do it all rather than just a supply of grace he can get the hands of his own will on. Part of the work of grace in the elect is to bring them to a deep sense of their sinfulness and helplessness and then to look to grace alone. As long as men and women leave themselves a ‘free-will’ they are leaving themselves some little something that they can do for themselves. This is nothing less than idolatry because it puts the dispensing of grace in the hands of weak and fallible men rather than the hands of the one and only sovereign God.
God saves to the glory of His grace and that glory He will not share with another. When men reserve any little piece of the will to themselves they are asserting, whether they intend to or not, that grace is not enough and that they must do something to save themselves. Imagine the arrogance and pride of man that things s/he can overcome the power of the evil one by himself and apply grace to himself. While the vast majority of people adhere to ‘free-will’ today, and would perhaps deny the previous assertion as to what it does, nevertheless that is what the position entails. So we have Luther going after the heart of the Arminian and Pelagian position because that position is so opposed to grace alone which is a sovereign grace. After all, there is no other kind of grace in reality other than sovereign grace. When people leave room for their own supposed ‘free-will’ they are actually denying the truth of the only kind of grace there is (sovereign grace).
The adherence to ‘free-will’ is, then, an act of hostility to God. In the words of John Owen, it is the idol of the Arminian. The Arminian and the Pelagian do not want God to be sovereign and so they leave a little room for their own ‘free-will.’ This is hostility and enmity to God. God saves sinners by grace alone according to His good pleasure and sinners want to apply grace to themselves according to their good pleasure. Surely this is an abomination and is a false Gospel. If people are not willing to stand up and call the teaching of ‘free-will’ for what it really is, then they are not contending for the true faith of Scripture. There are so many today who are like Erasmus and want peace within the ranks and denominations at all costs. But we are to stand for the Gospel at all costs even if the world would burn around us as a result. We are to contend for the glory of God and not bow to the honor of men. When we preach and teach the Gospel we are to be more concerned with the glory of God than talking some human being into making a decision that comes from their vaunted ‘free-will.’ If we will not tell men and women that they are totally dependent on the grace of God to save them, we are not preaching the Gospel that Paul preached. There is only one Gospel and it is the Gospel of the grace of God. He is sovereign and all grace is sovereign. If we are ashamed of that and will not preach that, then we are ashamed of God and of the Gospel. We would then be ascribing to ‘free-will’ what grace alone can do. That is idolatry in any court.
God Loves... Himself 
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