Then, in the second place, this hypocrisy of theirs results in their valuing and seeking to purchase the grace of God at a much cheaper rate than the Pelagians. The latter assert that it is not by a feeble something within us that we obtain grace, but by efforts and works that are complete, entire, perfect, many and mighty; but our friends here tell us that it is by something very small, almost nothing, that we merit grace.
Now, if there must be error, those who say that the grace of God is priced high, and account it dear and costly, err less shamefully and presumptuously than those who teach that its price is a tiny trifle, and account it cheap and contemptible. Paul, however pounds both errors to a single pulp with one word when he says that all are justified freely, without the law, and without the works of the law. The assertion that justification is free to all that are justified leaves none to work, merit or prepare themselves, and leaves no work that can be said to carry either congruent or condign merit. By the one cast of this thunderbolt, Paul shatters both the Pelagians with their total merit and the Sophists with their tiny merit. Free justification does not permit you to set men working for it, for free donation and preparation by working are manifestly incompatible. Furthermore, justification by grace does not permit you to regard the worthiness of any person, as Paul later says in the eleventh chapter: ‘if by grace, then it is no more or works; otherwise, grace is not grace’ (v. 6). So, too, he says in the fourth chapter: ‘Now to him that worketh the reward is reckoned, not of grace, but of debt’ (v. 4). And so my good Paul, the scourge of ‘free-will’, stands undefeated! He lays low two armies with a single word! For if we are justified without works, all works are condemned, whether small or great; Paul exempts none, but thunders impartially against all. (Luther, Bondage of the Will)
We are still in the broader context of Luther’s assertion that Arminianism (though he did not use that word as Arminius was later) is perhaps worse than Pelagianism. Luther’s points are powerful and very edged. The full Pelagian just admits that you have to do something to merit salvation and so sets out to work for it. However, the Arminian (semi-Pelagian) has just one tiny work to do and that is an act of the will called faith. This is what Erasmus was teaching and it is basically the position of Arminians today. If the will is indeed free, even if not completely free as Erasmus taught, then there is some little something that the will is able to do that merits salvation or moves God to save the soul. It is clear that Erasmus did not want to admit that and it is just as clear that Arminians today don’t want to admit this either. But that one act of the ‘free-will’ regardless of how little the act is and regardless of how much the will is assisted is an act that is needed for salvation and as such makes the salvation of the sinner out to be something less than grace alone.
Luther is convinced that the full Pelagian values salvation more than the Arminian as it works harder to merit it. But the Arminian position thinks that salvation can be had with almost no effort or merit at all. It just needs this one tiny act of the will to accomplish salvation. It is as if God cannot quite accomplish it all and is waiting on man to do this one tiny little thing so that He can finish the work and save the soul. The deception of the Arminian position is quite clear in that the Arminian will still assert that it is grace alone that saves the soul, yet will grow quite angry when it is pointed out that the act of the so-called ‘free-will’ is not consistent with grace alone.
When Paul set out that God justifies sinners freely by His grace (Rom 3:24), he is quite clear that there is no point at which works have merit or a place in the Gospel. Paul goes on to say that men are justified by faith apart from the works of the Law (v. 28), and when he does that he means all works. He did not say that sinners are justified 99.99999999999 percent by faith and that little act of the ‘free-will,’ but that sinners are justified apart from works of the Law. In other words, no work of fallen man has a place in the salvation of the sinner. The Gospel of grace alone comes to the sinner by grace alone and it is to the glory of God alone. The Gospel of grace alone that is to the glory of God alone is received by faith alone and that must be a faith that is by grace or it is a work that contributes something to salvation and destroys the teaching of Scripture of grace alone. If salvation of grace alone is mixed with the work of man then there is some little something that man can boast of and yet Scripture is so clear that man has nothing to boast about (Rom 3:27). All boasting of self is excluded which means that all of salvation is by grace and men are left to boast in nothing but the cross of Christ alone. That one little act of the so-called ‘free-will’ is not so little at all but instead opposes the glory of God in the Gospel of grace alone. It is so tiny and it makes so much sense to the fallen mind, but that is why it is more dangerous than open Pelagianism. Luther points this out and how we should be thankful that the Lord opened his eyes to this.
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