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)
Luther sets out that Paul exalted grace against ‘free-will’ in categorical terms, which is to say that he exalted grace in all ways and at all times over and against ‘free-will.’ In that context, then, we can see that Luther believed that Paul set out that sinners are justified freely and by that meant that sinners are justified by grace apart from any cause in the sinner contributing to justification or to the procuring of salvation. For a sinner to be declared just by God there must be a basis in pure and holy justice for that declaration. Sinners are declared just by God on the basis of one of three possibilities:
1. Sinners are declared just on the basis of works.
2. Sinners are declared just on the basis of grace apart from works (grace alone).
3. Sinners are declared just on the basis of a mixture of grace and works, or perhaps grace plus one work.
The doctrine of the Reformation that justification was by grace apart from works (grace alone) was built or came from many passages of Scripture. As seen in previous posts on this subject, Romans 3:24; 4:16, and 11:6 play a large part in this teaching. From Romans 3:24 it is seen that justification is a gift by His grace, which really means that the sinner is declared just apart from any cause found within himself. That is a vitally important passage. From Romans 4:16 it is seen that the reason that sinners are justified by faith is so that justification can be by grace. It is so clear that if faith is a work of the ‘free-will’ then salvation cannot be by grace alone and so faith would defeat its very own purpose. From Romans 11:6 it is seen that any work added to grace makes grace no longer to be grace. So if faith is the work of a ‘free-will’ it means that salvation is not only no longer by grace alone, but it is not by grace at all.
As we look at a few parts of justification we can see that the wrath of God on sinners for their sin must be propitiated by Christ or there is no way that the wrath of God can be removed. Romans 3:24-25 declares that Christ is the propitiation set out by God and that it is by the blood of Christ. Does the act of the ‘free-will’ have any way of removing all of its sin or even the smallest part of one sin? No, it is apart from the human will and it is an act of God in Christ and as such it is all by grace and grace alone. If not by grace alone, it is not by grace at all.
In moving to Romans 4 we see that the imputation or reckoning of God’s righteousness to sinners. In Romans 3 we have seen that Christ is the only way to remove the wrath of God in His propitiatory work on the cross. Now we see that sinners must have a perfect righteousness in order to be declared just by God, but that must come by grace alone as well. For example, in Romans 4:4-4 we see this: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” To the person that works, that person does not receive grace but as what the person earns. So if the ‘free-will’ must come up with faith or a choice on its own, then that act of faith or choice actually does something to obtain righteousness in a way that is not by grace alone.
Romans 4:5 (see previous paragraph) is perhaps even more clear. It is to the person that does not work that faith is credited as righteousness. The text does not say that it is to the person that does not work totally for grace, but it simply says that it is the person that does not work. The clear implication is that it is to the person that does not work at all. But of course the person with the ‘free-will’ would be a person that had at least one work, but to go beyond that if the will is still free after justification then what does that will do during sanctification? It would still be working. So the will that is free enough to make one choice (because God must have men be that free, they say) must still be free for all other choices as well. This leaves a justification and a sanctification that is littered with the works of men and simply and clearly does away with any real meaning of grace alone.
For a sinner to be justified the sinner must have the wrath of God taken away and must be given a perfect righteousness. These must happen on the basis of works, the basis of grace alone, or on a mixture of the two. If any one work (as in Romans 11:6) mixed with grace makes grace no longer to be grace, then any mixture of the two destroys any teaching of grace alone. That leaves us with a system of works or a system of grace alone. The teaching of ‘free-will’ is part of a system of works and cannot be torn from the grasp of works. Therefore, anyone who wants to believe and proclaim a true Gospel of grace alone must deny that ‘free-will’ has any part of salvation at all. Grace alone means that it is really God alone and He will not share His glory with anyone. That means that He will not share the slightest bit with the ‘free-will’ of man. It is no wonder that John Owen referred to ‘free-will’ as an idol. It leaves men trusting in the idol of self rather than completely dependent on God alone.
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