So the words of the law are spoken, not to assert the power of the will, but to illuminate the blindness of reason, so that it may see that its own light is nothing, and the power of the will is nothing. ‘By the law is knowledge of sin,’ says Paul (Rom 3:20). He does not say: abolition, or avoidance, of sin. The entire design and power of the law is just to give knowledge, and that of nothing but of sin; not to display or confer any power. The knowledge is not power, nor does it bring power; but it teaches and displays that there is here no power, and great weakness….It is from this passage that I derive my answer to you; that by the words of the law man is admonished and taught, not what he can do, but what he ought to do; that is, that he may know his sin, not that he may believe that he has any strength. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
This concept that Luther sets out is just one of the many concepts concerning the will that is vital to understanding the Gospel of grace alone. It seems like human beings, apart from a close examination of Scripture and/or another person pointing it out; just assume that what God commands man has the will to do. But that statement, while seemingly innocent enough on the surface, is at the heart of Pelagianism. To some it is an Arminian thought, and so not as bad, but in reality it is a Pelagian concept. A.A. Hodge sets the heart of Pelagianism out like this:
(a.) Moral character can be predicated only of volitions. (b.) Ability is always the measure of responsibility. (c). Hence every man has always the plenary power to do all that it is his duty to do. (d). Hence the human will alone, to the exclusion of the interference of an internal influence from God, must decide human character and destiny.
Pelagianism, then, reads the commands of Scripture and believes that man must have the power to keep the commands. This is utterly vital. Whenever, then, we hear people saying and writing that man has the power to keep the commands because God commands, know that you are hearing Pelagianism. On the other hand, A.A. Hodge sets out what is Augustinian or Reformed:
(a.) Man is by nature so entirely depraved in his moral nature as to be totally unable to do any thing spiritually good, or in any degree to begin or dispose himself thereto. (b.) That even under the exciting and suasory influences of divine grace the will of man is totally unable to act aright in co-operation with grace, until after the will itself is by the energy of grace radically and permanently renewed. (c.) Even after the renewal of the will it ever continues dependent upon divine grace to prompt, direct, and enable it in the performance of every good work.
Notice the massive difference between the two and yet notice how the Reformed view is right in line with what Luther taught that Scripture taught. It is true that the Arminian and semi-Pelagian thinks that there is a middle position between the two, but that is nothing but an illusion. It is called “the semi-Pelagian” view and not “the semi-Reformed” view. The semi-Pelagian and the Arminian hold to the view that man is able to cooperate with grace because of the free-will to some degree. But the Reformed view is the biblical view and shows that man cannot do one good or spiritual thing apart from grace. The Law is brought to bear upon the conscience of the human soul and it is to show what sin is and the inability of the human soul to keep it. The Law, when brought to bear upon the conscience and the depths of the human soul, is a tutor that leads the soul to Christ. The semi-Pelagian and Arminian view that thinks that preaching the commands shows that man must be able to some degree to keep the Law does not lead man to grace alone but to grace plus human ability.
When some use the Law to show man his ability, they are using the Law in ways that it was not given for. Paul himself said that the Law was used to show him that he could not keep the Law.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
Paul’s teaching of the Law does not contradict what God used the Law to do to him. The Law was preached to and read by Paul, but when that happened he saw sin in his heart and he died. What he died to was his own efforts to keep the Law and righteousness as a result of the Law. Paul the Pharisee lost all hope in his own works and righteousness once he heard and understood the true nature of the Law. So the Law must be preached in its fullest extent so that men and women may know that they don’t have any power at all to keep it. Then they will look to Christ and to Christ alone.
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