I give you [Erasmus] hearty praise and commendation on this further account—that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with those extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences and such like—trifles, rather than issues—in respect of which almost all to date have sought my blood (though without success); you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot. For that I heartily thank you; for it is more gratifying to me to deal with this issue, insofar as time and leisure permit me to do so.” (Luther, Bondage of the Will)
The language that Luther uses to close his book gets at why he wrote the book in the first place, which is also why the Reformation had to happen. The issue of the enslaved will versus the ‘free-will’ gets at the real thing and it gets at the essential issue, which is the essence of an issue. The real issue of the Reformation (arguably) was over the doctrine of the will because of how it safeguarded the doctrine of grace alone which was what justification by faith alone was originally set out to do. But today we have people who think of faith as a mere act or decision of the will and so end up thinking that they have the Gospel when in fact they deny it while using the same words.
One reason that the doctrine of the enslaved will is so essential is that is uncovers what a person really believes about human depravity and about sovereign grace. It is so easy to affirm a creed that espouses total depravity, but it is far harder to deal with human beings as dead in sin when preaching to them or evangelizing them. It is one thing to preach sermons about depravity and just leave it there, but then to tell people that they cannot believe the Gospel or have faith unless God gives them life and faith is quite a different thing. It is one thing to tell them that if they believe God must have given them the faith, but it is quite a different thing to distinguish between a faith that came from a ‘free-will’ and one that comes as a gift of God in regeneration.
The Gospel of justification by faith alone is in the larger setting of the sovereign grace of God and cannot be set out in truth apart from the sovereign grace of God. The faith that is the instrument through which grace comes can only come to a regenerated and believing soul. This regeneration can only happen when God does it by grace alone and it is not based on anything that the human soul can do in terms of merit or worth. It is based on the character of God and the merit of Christ. When the grace of God meets the human soul, there has to be a true agreement between those two doctrines or there will be an adjustment made in both. To the degree that the soul is truly depraved (and by nature has an inability to believe) is the degree that the soul must have sovereign grace. But to the degree that depravity is backed off of and room for human ‘free-will’ left, then that is the same degree that people must deduct from grace. If at any point the grace of God is given based on an act of the human will, then that is something other than the sovereign grace of God and a grace that is not sovereign is not grace at all.
The hinge of the Gospel itself is the enslaved will. Apart from actually teaching the enslaved will one cannot actually teach the sovereign grace of God and so not an actual grace at all. Again, if sovereign grace is not taught then God as sovereign is also not taught and so we are left with the human will being sovereign rather than God. The battle over the enslaved will is also over who will be sovereign over the life of the person and over the salvation of each person. It is, in reality, much like the battle in the Garden of Eden. It was there that Eve was told that she could be like God, and it was there that she decided that is what she wanted to be. However, a true repentance is when people turn from being their own little gods and bow before the sovereign of the universe and ask Him for grace. The sovereign of the universe is obligated to give grace to no one and that is exactly what the repenting sinner needs to understand as s/he repents of his or her rights to dispose of self and look to God alone.
In a very real sense, then, until a person repents of his or her ‘free-will’ that person has not repented of his or her lordship and of playing God over self. People try to leave it to the decision of the ‘free-will’ in evangelism, but all that is doing is telling people to be lord over themselves and decide to do something so God will give them grace. Clearly, then, that is taking the throne of God and saying that grace comes when the human makes a choice and decides that s/he wants it. The act of ‘free-will’ to obtain grace, then, is the claim of a sovereign act of the human will. It is an act of dethroning God and doing it for self. It is the desire and claim to actually apply grace to self. In other words, it is not just a battle over some little something; it is a battle over who will be sovereign. It is a battle over who has the ultimate right over the creature and who is sovereign in giving grace. The battle over the ‘free-will’ is not just a small thing, but a battle over the Gospel and over the sovereignty of God. It is an essential issue.
Thus it should be easily seen that the doctrine of the enslaved will is an essential issue to the Gospel itself. It can be seen that it is at the heart of the battle over the sovereignty of God. It can easily be seen that it is at the heart over who is sovereign over man and also sovereign over man’s salvation. It is at the heart of how people preach and teach and how they approach the issues of evangelism. When the doctrine of the enslaved will is swept under the rug, most likely the Gospel of grace alone in reality will be swept there very soon if it does not go at the same time. When the doctrine of the enslaved will is simply ignored as a matter of convenience or in order to be gracious to those who differ from us, it will not be long until the Gospel itself is ignored as well. When the doctrine of the enslaved will is set aside, the sovereignty of God is in reality set aside as well. The doctrine of the enslaved will has been ignored, set aside, and certainly not stressed in our modern day. Is it any wonder that the churches are so weak and inept despite the great numbers that show up at some? Until the teaching of the enslaved will begins to be stressed once again, the true Gospel will continue to be ignored and forgotten as well. This is an essential issue and it is the hinge on which all else turns, though many don’t believe that any longer. A famine of the Word is upon us.