What need now of Christ? What need now of the Spirit? We have now found a passage which stops the mouths of all; not only does it clearly assert the freedom of the will, but it clearly teaches also that keeping the commandments is easy! What a fool was Christ, who shed His blood to purchase for us the Spirit, Whom we do not need, in order that we might be able to keep the commandments with ease, when we are so already by nature! (Luther, Bondage of the Will )
Luther, despite his sarcasm, or perhaps even more through the use of it, makes a very powerful point. This point deserves to be declared and proclaimed from the rooftops. It is not as if ‘free-will’ is a rather small and innocuous teaching that can go along with the biblical teaching of grace, but it is opposed to the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. ‘Free-will’ stands opposed to the biblical teaching of justification by grace alone and sanctification by grace as well. In fact, it cuts at the very heart of who God is and who man is. While Scripture tells us that “it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom 9:16), the teaching of ‘free-will’ teaches that in some way it does depend on the man who wills.
What does the sinner need Christ for? To supply some things so that man can apply it to himself? Does the sinner need Christ for a few things, many things, and perhaps most things; or does the sinner need Christ alone? The teaching of ‘free-will,’ though perhaps not all who hold to it see where it leads, leads to the insufficiency of the work of Christ. How many of the sins of man can man pay for Himself? None, absolutely none and so man is cast utterly upon Christ for the payment of sin so that God will be propitiated. Man is not free to pay for one sin and his vaunted ‘free-will’ is utterly powerless in this case. How much righteousness can man contribute to his own salvation? None again, so man and his much ballyhooed ‘free—will’ is utterly powerless in this situation as well. What can man’s ‘free-will’ do to obtain the Holy Spirit? Nothing at all because the Spirit was purchased for sinners by Christ Himself and so there is absolutely nothing left for man to do even if he could.
What can the so-called ‘free-will’ of man do to break the power of the bondage of sin and of the devil? Puny little man is helpless in the bondage of his sin until the omnipotent power of God breaks that bondage and sets man free from it. Can the ‘free-will’ of man give himself an understanding of spiritual things? Of course not since the Scripture is utterly clear that the “natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (I Cor 2:14). Can the ‘free-will’ of man give himself a view of the glory of God? Can the ‘free-will’ of man shine the light of this glory in his own heart? Of course not because it is God alone who can do this: “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor 4:6). Can this mighty will of man procure salvation for himself or any part of it? Oh no, it is Christ alone who can do this. Salvation comes to sinners apart from what sinners can do and apart from any merit or work they can do. Salvation is by grace and grace alone. ‘Free-will,’ in terms of what it is, stands opposed to that. ‘Free-will’ is not just some harmless deviation from the truth of grace alone, but is opposed to it at all points.
What does it mean to have ‘free-will’ in light of the work of Christ? Did Christ die to save men who can do part of the work by their ‘free-wills’ or did He die to deliver men from their complete bondage to sin? We can argue this in a philosophical way, but we must see this from a Christ-centered and biblical way. Christ died to completely save sinners and not just provide them some, or even a lot, assistance. The Gospel is from beginning to end of grace and grace alone. It does not good for sinners to give lip-service to that and then go out saying that teachings (like ‘free-will’) that contradict it are not that big of a deal. Man cannot look to ‘free-will’ in the slightest if man is going to look to Christ alone and grace alone to save. One cannot have it both ways. It is not Christ alone and also mostly Christ and a little of my will. It is not Christ alone and virtually all of Christ plus a little of my will. It is either Christ alone or it is not Christ alone. No matter how little man tries to add to Christ alone it is still an addition which denies Christ alone. That makes it a different gospel.
In his day God moved in the heart of Luther and the gloves came off and Luther punched away with bare knuckles at all systems of thought that were opposed to Christ alone. God raised Luther up and then used that pure Gospel to shine forth His glory and bring about a true revival. We cannot be gracious and nice (in the modern sense) about these things and expect a revival to come. Being gracious in these things is to be opposed to true grace.
God Loves... Himself 
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