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)
While it is unusual for the modern mind to think of there being a problem putting ‘free-will’ together with free-grace, Luther shows how the two cannot fit together in reality. The real issue at hand, then, is for people to come to grips with a true understanding of ‘free-will’ and free-grace. Luther says that Paul “exalts grace against ‘free-will’ in categorical terms.” What does that mean in a practical sense? It means that Paul exalts grace against ‘free-will’ in all manners, in all ways, and at all times. If grace is exalted in categorical terms, then there is no room for ‘free-will’ in the matter of justification specifically and salvation in general. Another way to look at this would be to say that wherever grace is exalted in truth, ‘free-will’ is denied and trampled on in truth. Grace and ‘free-will’ are two opposing streams of thought and cannot be reconciled. Again, whatever is of grace cannot be by works in any way. Whatever is of grace cannot be by the work of a ‘free-will’ because a will that is truly free is one that is free from sin and grace and so it cannot be by grace alone. By definition these things cannot go together, so when Paul exalts free-grace in categorical terms he is categorically denying ‘free-will’ in terms of its ability to procure grace.
Romans 11:6 sets out this teaching very plainly by saying that “if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” This is a categorical denial of any power to anything but that of grace. If the Gospel is of grace alone apart from works, then the Gospel is of grace alone apart from ‘free-will’ too. Any denial of a work or works in the context of the Gospel of grace alone is a denial of the ‘free-will’ since it is the will that does a work. As Luther notes, this categorical use of grace denies any hope or any trust in then will and its choices and works. When one peels back the blindness about grace in the sense that it denies that grace simply finishes what human beings lack, it is seen that ‘free-will’ and the works of that will is not just inconsistent with free-grace, but contradicts free-grace.
Another place where Paul exalts free-grace in a categorical way is Romans 3:24 where he says that sinners are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” This is a passage which has been dealt with in previous posts, but it makes the point again. If we interpreted this passage literally it would read something like “being justified without cause by His grace.” This tells us that there is no cause within the sinner that justifies the sinner and the only cause of salvation is grace alone. The teaching of ‘free-will’ declares that there is a cause found in the sinner and that is the one little work of the choice or decision of the ‘free-will.’ But if the teaching of ‘free-will’ is correct, then Paul could not have asserted that there is no cause but grace in justification. God does not wait for the sinner to make a choice of the will in order to declare the sinner just, but God changes the heart of the sinner and unites that sinner to Christ apart from any cause in the sinner to do so.
Another way to approach this glorious teaching of the Gospel of free-grace is to look at the nature of grace in the sense that grace is not just some power operating in the universe, but grace is an attribute of God. When grace is shown, it is God showing Himself. When grace is exerted, it is God that is exerting Himself. So when it is said that the Gospel is a Gospel of free-grace, what is really being said (if one understands it) is that the Gospel is all of God and is in accordance with the grace of God who is gracious to whom He will be gracious. When the Scriptures teach that sinners are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,” they are exalting the beauty and glory of God who saves sinners according to Himself. To assert grace alone, then, is to assert that the Gospel is all about what God as triune has planned and accomplished and what God as triune applies. The weak and miserable action of a choice of the ‘free-will’ not only is not needed, but it is also enmity against God.
God Loves... Himself 
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