‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:12-13). By this exhaustive division he rejects from the kingdom of Christ ‘blood’, ‘the will of the flesh’, and ‘the will of man’. ‘Blood’ means, I think, the Jews; that is, those who expected to be the children of the kingdom because they were the children of Abraham and the fathers, and so gloried in their ‘blood’. ‘The will of the flesh’ I understand as the efforts which the people exerted in the works of the law for ‘flesh’ here means carnal men without the Spirit, who were certainly possessed of will and endeavour, but who, because the Spirit was not in them, possessed them in a carnal manner only. ‘The will of man’ I understand in a general sense, of all the efforts of all men, that is, the nations, or any man whatsoever, whether in the law or without the law. So the sense is; the sons of God become such, not by carnal birth, nor by zeal for the law, nor by any other human effort, but only by being born of God. Now, if they are not born of the flesh, nor trained by the law, nor prepared by any human discipline, but are born again of God, it is apparent that ‘free-will’ avails nothing here. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
The Gospel of grace alone leaves any hope in human will dead as the will is in any corpse. The Gospel of grace alone is about life and very life of God in the human soul. No will of a corpse can give life to its own self. No corpse can make itself alive and no corpse can will itself alive. No corpse has any hope in itself or its own dead will, and as such should not have any hope in itself and its own ability to do one thing that requires life in order to be able to do it. Live alone can bring life to a dead soul and a living soul that is spiritual is the only soul that can make a spiritual act of faith. If justification is by faith alone, then that faith is by a soul that has been given life by grace alone. If justification is by faith alone, then it is a spiritual faith and so came totally by the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of grace alone not only needs no help, but will not have any help either. It is only sinners that Jesus came to save, and it is only dead and helpless sinners that love to hear of grace. Sinners who do not understand their deadness and inability still hope in themselves to some degree and do not love to hear of a sovereign God who saves by grace and grace alone. Sinners who have no hope in themselves love to hear of a sovereign God who saves to the praise of the glory of His grace. Sinners who see that they are really dead in sins and trespasses love to hear of a God who has no need of anything from them to raise them from the dead, but instead does this by grace alone. Sinners who realize that they are by nature children of wrath love to see that it is by grace alone that God changes their hearts and makes them children of God.
The will of men and the efforts of man amount to something less than zero in terms of righteousness or merit, so those who trust in their own wills or efforts are trusting in that which is less than nothing while those who look to grace alone in Christ alone bow truly rest in a perfect and infinite righteousness. Oh how those who will not give up their rights and their ‘free-wills’ are resting in less than nothing and which has no power to save. Those who are trusting in their own act or choice are trusting in that which has no power to save and no power to bring life. God alone can bring life to the soul so the soul can have a true and living faith. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, so clearly it takes a soul born of the Spirit to be a spiritual soul and there cannot be a soul that is born mostly of the Spirit and partially of the flesh. The only power in the universe that can bring life to dead souls is the power of the living God who created the soul and can do with it as He pleases.
The Scriptures (specifically John 1:12-13) has said that the new birth is not of the will of man. The text does not say that the new birth is mostly of the will of God and partially of the will of man, nor does it say that the new birth is 99.9% of the will of God and .01% of the will of man. When the text is so clear on this issue we can safely conclude that ‘free-will’ has nothing to do with the new birth and as such should not even be in the conversation. God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace alone and the will of man must not be allowed to share with Him in the glory of it at all. Sinners are freed from the bondage of the sin of their wills by the Holy Spirit in applying the work of Christ to them rather than their wills having a part in saving themselves. Oh how men and women need to hear the freeness of the grace of God who alone can save them from bondage rather than hearing of their ‘free-will’ which is part of their bondage. Oh how men and women need to be delivered from their trust in themselves as they trust in their ‘free-will’ to do something so that they can rest in Christ alone by His grace alone. How glorious the Gospel is when the ‘free-will’ is kept out of it and grace alone is set forth.
God Loves... Himself 
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