What, pray, can be said for grace against ‘free-will’ clearly and plainly, if Paul’s discourse here is not clear and plain? He exalts grace against ‘free-will’ in categorical terms; using the clearest and simplest words, he says that we are justified freely, and that grace is not grace if procured by works. With the greatest plainness he excludes all works in the matter of justification, and so sets up grace alone, and justification that is free. Yet in this light we still seek darkness, and because we cannot give ourselves great credit, yes, all the credit, for justification, we try to give ourselves some tiny little credit—solely in order that we may gain that point that justification by the grace of God is not free and without works! As though Paul’s denial that any of our greater works contributes to our justification were not much more a denial that our tiny little works do so! Especially when he has laid it down that we are justified only by God’s grace, without any works—indeed, without the law, in which all works, great, small, congruently or condignly meritorious, are contained. (Luther, Bondage of the Will)
What a powerful and virtually unanswerable statement by Luther. There are, however, some things that are between the lines or perhaps could be said to be an undercurrent that is the energy that carries what is on the surface along. What must be seen is that Luther asserts that justification is by grace alone apart from any and all works. The teaching of ‘free-will,’ even the slightest bit of it, is in direct opposition to the words of Paul and his teachings on grace alone. If the Gospel includes the fact that sinners are justified by grace alone, then the Gospel excludes any help from the ‘free-will’ in all cases and in all ways. This is to say that Luther believed that the Gospel of justification by grace alone could not be preached apart from the bondage of the human will and apart from the utter helplessness of human souls in sin. Another issue, seen from previous writings of Luther and postings on those writings, is that this grace is always sovereign grace. So when Luther speaks of Paul exalting grace against works, he is setting out the real issue which is the grace of a sovereign God which lacks nothing in Christ versus something a human being can add to it or merit.
When grace is exalted, it is the glory of God’s grace that is being exalted. We must look below the surface of the words to see what is going on. God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:5-6) and not based on any works or any single work of the human being. The grace of God is so glorious and so exalted that it must never have any human being contribute to the procurement of it. Luther is so clear that “grace is not grace if procured by works,” which comes from and is based on Romans 11:6. When Paul teaches that the soul is justified or saved by grace apart from works, he meant each and every work of the human soul. A soul that is saved by grace alone must be saved apart from one work and even a partial work in order for it to be by grace alone. The grace of God points back to the fact that salvation is entirely of God and man can do nothing to add to who god is. The grace of God points to the fact that salvation is entirely of the works of Christ which totally and in every way procures salvation for all those who are truly saved.
The word “procure” is a word that brings the teaching of ‘free-will’ out of the darkness and into the light so that it may shrivel into the nothingness that it is and any hope that a poor sinner has in it may die. To procure is the action of obtaining something. It is not just the purchase of something; it is also the actual acquiring of what was purchased. Can the ‘free-will’ actually purchase any part of its own redemption? Can the ‘free-will’ actually acquire what Christ has purchased? Now it can be seen what the ‘free-will’ must do if it is to do anything in the realm of salvation. In order for the ‘free-will’ to have a part in the salvation of the soul, it must at least have the ability to actually purchase part of its own salvation or to actually acquire and obtain the purchased salvation. It is precisely this which Paul and then Luther denied ever so strongly. But it is this point that the adherents of ‘free-will’ must defend if their teaching is going to mean anything meaningful at all.
As long as any person claims that ‘free-will’ has anything to do with salvation, that person must demonstrate where grace is lacking in either the purchase or the procurement (obtaining/acquiring) of that salvation. As Luther pointed out which he based on Romans 11:6, “grace is not grace if procured by works.” How many claim today that Christ has purchased the whole of salvation but that the actual obtaining of it depends on the act of the ‘free-will.’ What they are missing, however, is that Christ’s purchase included the procuring of salvation. The only way that salvation can be obtained or procured is by the Holy Spirit applying what Christ purchased and that is by grace alone. One cannot hold to ‘free-will’ and still hold to a Gospel of grace alone in truth.
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