God Loves… Himself

Samuel Richardson, in his 1647 work on Justification by Christ Alone, sets out some important points about the distinction between whether Christ or faith justifies. It sets out why faith must be the gift of God and not an act of the will which is what the pioneer Reformers strenuously worked to show. Justification by faith alone as the Bible teaches and the Reformers taught demands that man be utterly helpless in salvation and that the grace that saves be a sovereign grace. The teaching of the enslaved will is vital to the Gospel and is not something we can hide.

Read and Consider Justification By Christ Alone

Search the Scriptures whether these things be so or no. If any thing I have written be not according to them, then let that go. My whole scope and aim in these few lines, is to prove that we are justified by Christ alone. He is our justification. And that we are not justified by any thing that is in us.
Faith Is Not The Cause

That faith or any thing in us is not a cause, means, or condition, required to partake of the Covenant of Grace, justification or salvation, but only fruits and effects of the Covenant.
In The Scriptures What Is Proper To Christ Only Is Often Attributed To Faith As Well To Show Our Union With Him In His Faith Which Becomes Our Saving Faith So the Scriptures do oft give that to faith which is proper to Christ, as

 “we live by faith:” Gal. 2:20; “by Christ,” John 6:57.

 “We have remission of sins by faith,” Acts 13:38, 39; “by Christ,” Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14.

“We are justified by faith,” Rom. 3:28, Gal. 3:24; “by Christ,” Isa. 53:11, Rom. 5:9.

“We have peace with God by faith,” Rom. 5:1,2; “by Christ,” Eph. 2:3 and 3:12.

“We are sanctified by faith,” Acts 15:9; “by Christ,” Heb. 10:14, 1 Cor. 1:30.

“We overcome the world by faith,” 1 John 5:4,5; “by Christ,” John 16:33, 1 Cor. 15:57.

 “We are the sons of God by faith,” Gal. 3:26; “by Christ,” Eph. 1:5.

We “have an heavenly inheritance by faith,” Acts 26:18; “by Christ,” Gal. 4:7.

“We have eternal life by faith,” John 3:16 and 5:24 and 6:47; “by Christ,” 1 John 5:11,12. “We are saved by faith,” Eph. 2:8; “by Christ,” Matt. 3:21, John 3:17.
These things are not proper to faith, but only to Jesus Christ alone. Also the Scripture says, it’s “God that justifieth:” Rom. 8:33 with 3:24. “Christ is said to justify:” Isa. 45:25 and 53:11, that we “are justified by his blood,” Rom. 5:9 with Rom. 8:34,35. The Spirit of God is said to justify, 1 Cor. 6:11. “These three are one,” 1 John 5:8. The question then is, by which of these we are justified before God? We conceive that is only by Jesus Christ.
Justification By Christ Alone Our Reasons why we ascribe it to Christ alone are:
1. Because it promised of Christ, that He should justify many, Isa. 45:25 and 53:11.
2. Because when the Scripture expressions seem to contradict one another, those expressions that ascribe most to Christ are the clearest and nearest the center. The rest are to follow that point, and be interpreted by them. For the Scriptures are to be interpreted for Christ, and not against Him.
3. Because the whole voice of the Scripture being laid together, does wholly drive to set up, and exalt Jesus Christ alone, to acknowledge Him to be as He is all in all, Col. 3:11. Therefore, He is called, “The Author of salvation,” Heb. 5:9, and the means of our salvation through His blood, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14; and Salvation itself, Isa. 49:6. If we should not ascribe our justification to God, to Christ alone, God could not be all in all, 1 Cor. 15:28; Col. 3:11.
4. Because all things else besides God are but means of our knowing and enjoying him that is the substance.
5. Because all that faith can do, is only to receive remission of sins, Acts 26:18. It cannot give remission of sins. Faith cannot satisfy justice nor merit pardon for the least sin, etc.
6. Because the Scripture says, “We are justified by his blood:” Rom. 5:9, etc. These and the like Reasons cause us to conceive that we are justified only by Christ alone.
Therefore, when the Scripture says we are justified by faith, by faith, we are to understand Christ: or else to understand it not properly, But in a large sense, not as if faith did justify us, but only Christ.

You make it clear that this carnal peace and quiet seems to you far more important than faith, conscience, salvation, the Word of God, the glory of Christ, and God himself. Let me tell you, therefore—and I beg you to let this sink deep into your mind—I hold that a solemn and vital truth, of eternal consequence, is at stake in this discussion; one so crucial and fundamental that it ought to be maintained and defended even at the cost of life, though as a result the whole world should be, not just thrown into turmoil and uproar, but shattered in chaos and reduced to nothingness If you do not grasp that, if it leaves you unmoved, then mind your own business, and leave those to grasp it and be moved by it to whom it is given of God!” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).

Does Luther describe the modern leaders in denominations and churches when he says “that carnal peace and quiet seems to you far more important than faith, conscience, salvation, the Word of God, the glory of Christ, and God himself”? Why is it that the approval of men is so important to people in these days? What is it about peace and quiet that is more important than faith, the glory of Christ, and God Himself? Will people admit that to others and perhaps even themselves? For some reason people think that not having open strife is better than the truth of Christ. Sure it might make them feel better for the moment and it is certainly easier in a sense, but that is also idolatry. It is idolatry to desire peace and comfort for my own sake and feeling rather than the glory of God. Okay, it is true that the words “glory of God” can be tacked on to about anything to give us a religious sense of things and comfort our consciences. But the words are simply words unless they are the reality of the heart expressed. It is so easy to say we want peace because that is what glorifies God when we are really using that as a religious excuse to make us feel better and to make us appear righteous in the eyes of others.

Just because we think something will make God look good does not mean that it really in fact does express His glory. God is the One who alone can manifest His glory through human beings. Getting people to pray prayers and come to church is not that which glorifies Him. It is His sovereign grace manifested in saving souls that manifests His glory in the Gospel and the application of it. It is also His sovereign grace manifested in and through His people that manifests His glory. Human beings, however, doing what they think makes God look good is not how His glory is manifested. God’s glory is only manifested by grace and that is up to Him to do that. Even more, it does not glorify God when people unite with those who don’t hold to the truths of the Gospel of grace alone and say they are doing so in order to glorify Him. This is seeking a carnal peace and quiet within a church or denomination at the expense of the glory of God rather than being something that actually glorifies Him.

Erasmus sought a carnal peace in order to keep Roman Catholicism from fracturing. Luther, while he did not start off with intent to break from it, eventually recognized that the Gospel itself was not taught by Rome and that he had to stand firm for the Gospel. A peace with Rome where he could not preach the Gospel would have been a betrayal of the Gospel and of God Himself. Erasmus was a brilliant man and one of the top scholars of his day, but he was an instrument being used in the effort to get Luther to be quiet about the Gospel (and other things) so that there would be peace within Roman Catholicism.

The same thing may be true today. It seems that the money, power, and pull of denominations are things that keep the mouths of some shut. But the Gospel must never be compromised in the slightest for any reason. Perhaps those are some of the reasons that the Gospel preached by Paul and then Luther is not heard today. The world or some honor or glory of the flesh comes along and its allure is quite powerful to the heart ruled by self. The fleshly mind can be taken captive by fleshly things, even though those captured by them will come up with good reasons and even spiritual reasons. Despite all the opportunities, the money, the honor, the glory, and the influence that one deceives self into thinking that it is good for the kingdom, the reality of it is a lot different. The reality of it is “that this carnal peace and quiet seems to you far more important than faith, conscience, salvation, the Word of God, the glory of Christ, and God himself.” People choose themselves over God when they give strive for peace rather than the Gospel. Until the reality of the situation grips the soul like that of Luther, one will be deceived by comfort and honors of men thinking that the influence makes it right. Yet, as Luther said, the doctrine of the bondage of the will is utterly vital to the Gospel. It is such “a solemn and vital truth, of eternal consequence, is at stake in this discussion; one so crucial and fundamental that it ought to be maintained and defended even at the cost of life.”

You make it clear that this carnal peace and quiet seems to you far more important than faith, conscience, salvation, the Word of God, the glory of Christ, and God himself. Let me tell you, therefore—and I beg you to let this sink deep into your mind—I hold that a solemn and vital truth, of eternal consequence, is at stake in this discussion; one so crucial and fundamental that it ought to be maintained and defended even at the cost of life, though as a result the whole world should be, not just thrown into turmoil and uproar, but shattered in chaos and reduced to nothingness If you do not grasp that, if it leaves you unmoved, then mind your own business, and leave those to grasp it and be moved by it to whom it is given of God!” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).

We live in a day where it seems to be more important to be gracious and winsome than it does to preach the truth. We have people crying for peace in denominations where the truth of the Gospel has been absent for some time. We have people who profess to be Reformed joining ranks with those who are essentially Pelagians though they call themselves Arminians. It is the same now as it was with Erasmus. It is thought that if we are united with those who are not quite the same as us but fairly close that we can reach more people and do more good. Luther put that to rest if anyone would care to read it. But at the very minimum people should at least realize how important the doctrine of the will was to Luther and the pioneer Reformers. This is not just some minor issue that rises here and there to catch the attention of those who are more precise than others, but instead this is at the very heart of the Gospel. If we listen to Luther, we will hear him tell us that this is a vital truth and we should die rather than give it up. We should hold to this truth even if holding to it means that the whole world would be shattered.

This might sound like it is from Luther’s bombastic methods or perhaps some his hyperbole. But it is not. It is the blunt honesty of a man gripped with the grace and glory of God. It is a man who sees what is utterly vital and will not let it go. Luther wanted Erasmus to wake up and see how important this issue was to the Gospel. The doctrine of the will was to Luther, even the bondage of the will, crucial and fundamental to the faith and to the Gospel. We will never understand Luther or the Gospel he wrote about and preached unless we grasp that point. Today, once again, despite the Gospel of grace that thundered forth in Germany and spread to many parts of the world, it seems that the vast majority have no idea of the importance of the doctrine of the will. People speak of and write books on justification by faith alone, but apart from an understanding of what Luther wrote on the will there will be no preaching and teaching of the doctrine of justification by faith alone as he preached and wrote about it.

It was said about Paul that he and his followers had upset the world (Acts 17:6). This was because they went out and preached the Gospel. Luther and the pioneer Reformers also upset the world when they preached the Gospel. But today, as with Erasmus, men want to get along with people and not teach what is necessary for men to come to Christ and for men to understand what justification by faith alone really means. Men get mad when they hear the truth of the Gospel, but they do not get mad when a modern version of justification by faith alone is preached. It is hard for denominations to get the funds needed to keep the machinery going and it is hard for churches to grow when people get mad and leave. So ways to dismiss the true Gospel are found and people are kept happy by preaching that does not reach the depths of their hearts, but it is nothing but preaching that tickles their ears.

Until people are awakened to the truth that the Gospel is truly offensive but that does not mean that we are to water it down, we will continue on in our blindness. Until men and women are willing to be ridiculed, mocked, and to receive the anger of others the Gospel will not be preached in our land. But it is not until either the world or our nation is upset or turned upside down with the Gospel that anything will really change. Until then those who want peace on all sides will have the absence of turmoil with others but the Gospel will not be preached. Preaching the Gospel as Paul and Luther preached will bring a disturbance and it will upset religious people as well. Denominational leaders will plead for more money to get the easy gospel out and religious people will give it, but no true Gospel will be preached. Pastors across the land including the professing Reformed will continue to preach what they call the Gospel apart from the truths that Luther and the pioneer Reformers preached and they will keep their jobs as they keep the peace, but that is a peace in which there is no peace. Luther said that this truth was so crucial and fundamental that it ought to be maintained and defended at the cost of life. The Gospel Paul preached caused turmoil wherever he went and eventually cost him his life. Luther’s words ring true. Meanwhile, the lovers of peace which is no peace will continue preaching a gospel that does not disturb. It is easier that way, but still damning. It is also more deceptive to the hearers and the preachers.

So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth…That God’s mercy works everything, and our will works nothing, but is rather the object of Divine working, else all will not be ascribed to God. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

Here is a quote from R.C. Sproul that gets to the heart of the Reformers teaching on justification:

When we speak of justification by or through faith, we mean that faith is the instrumental cause of justification, not its ground. Justification is per fidem (by or through faith) but never propter fidem (on account of or on the ground of faith). Again we view justification as being propter Christum (on account of Christ). Sola fide (justification by faith alone) is theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone…The faith that links us to Christ is not a meritorious work. Indeed, saving faith is itself a gift of God wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.

In The Gospel and the Enslaved Will 44 the issue of what an instrumental cause was dealt with. In this section the connection between the enslaved will and faith as an instrumental cause will be looked at. Just to be clear, the reason that the teaching on the enslaved will was so important during the Reformation was its necessary connection to justification by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. To the degree that salvation is by grace alone is the degree that the will is enslaved. If we back off of the teaching that the will is wholly helpless in sin apart from grace and leave room for a free-will, then we no longer have a salvation that is by grace alone. “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom 11:6).
Whatever actions or choices the soul does or takes that are not of grace are works of the flesh. Yet the slightest work the soul does in salvation denies that grace is totally grace in salvation.

The enslaved will is a necessary teaching to understand what the real issue is. The enslaved will cannot believe and has no ability to believe on its own. It must have grace to save it from itself and its own slavery to unbelief. This is a point that must be understood and rested in. If we hold that the will is free then in some way justification comes to the soul based on faith in the sense that the soul is saved on account of or because of faith. If the will is free, then by definition it is free from the internal working of God on that soul and God only works on souls to salvation by grace alone. So the will has to be free of grace if it is to be truly free. So a free-will is necessarily driven to the position of having salvation come to it on account of faith that comes to it apart from grace. That leaves us with a salvation that is not of grace alone and the slightest work makes grace to be something other than grace.

The faith that saves in accordance with grace is a faith that is an instrument. In other words, grace does not come to the soul because of grace. We can think of an instrument as something that a person uses to accomplish a purpose. Faith is the instrument that God uses to bring grace to the soul. If salvation is totally and wholly of grace, then salvation must not only be purchased by grace but it must be applied by grace as well. When faith is understood as a gift from God and comes to the soul by grace as well, then the picture of what it is and what it does becomes clearer. As Romans 4:16 states so clearly, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants.” Salvation is by faith in order that it may be of grace and so that the promise of it is guaranteed to the descendants of Abraham to whom the promise was made.

Salvation is given to the soul by faith in order that it may be totally and wholly of grace. It is not given by faith in order that it may be possible for anyone who can work up something called faith can have. But instead it is in such a way that the promise of God to Abraham can be fulfilled. Faith, rather than being from a so-called free-will, is rather from God and is an instrument in the hand of God to give salvation by grace alone. In Ephesians 2:4-5 God makes sinners alive by nothing but His mercy, love, and grace. A soul that has been raised from the spiritual dead and has spiritual life is a soul that has faith. But the text knows nothing of a free-will in man, but only the freedom of God in His sovereign grace. It then goes on teach us that it is “by grace what you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). Grace saves through faith and a faith that is the gift of God. It is God’s gift that He uses as an instrument to, shall we say, pour grace through. It is not something a soul is able to come up with because true faith must come from a believing heart. The soul is declared just by God based on Christ alone and not on Christ and faith. The soul is justified by Christ alone when God unites the soul to Christ by grace and yet uses faith as His instrument to do so. True faith receives grace and does not earn it in any way. It is an instrument in the hands of God rather than the so-called free-will of man. That way salvation is wholly because of grace.

So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth…That God’s mercy works everything, and our will works nothing, but is rather the object of Divine working, else all will not be ascribed to God. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

As we are working through some of the thoughts of Luther’s magisterial The Bondage of the Will we can see how it collides with a lot of modern thinking on justification and the way of salvation. That should not surprise us at all. The Reformation had a lot of religious tradition to break away from and much of that was the use of words and concepts that surrounded and blinded people to the truth. The same thing is true today. People use the same words as the pioneer Reformers did and yet those are being used to blind people to what the Reformers really taught. We must hasten to add that as the Reformers looked back to Augustine so we look back to the Reformers. They are used to help us look at what Scripture actually teaches. In Luther’s book he uses Scripture after Scripture to get at his points. Many of those will be looked at later on, but for the moment we are setting out some of the vital issues. Sometimes it is helpful to set out helpful issues that have arisen in history over how to look at what Scripture says on certain teachings. The battle for the Gospel was not over at the Reformation, but it has to be fought for several times each generation. The Gospel is virtually lost in America if the Gospel spoken of is what the pioneer Reformers actually taught and preached during the Reformation. That is a shocking statement, but it should not surprise anyone when a nation is spiraling downward at a rapid pace to think that the gospel (majority) that has been taught in it for decades and even close to two centuries has been removed from what the Reformation taught.

The difference between a faith that a so-called “free-will” comes up with versus the faith that God gives and then uses to save sinners is quite different. We are no friends to sinners if we do not teach them to look to God for faith rather than themselves. We are no friends to sinners if we do not teach them to look to grace rather than what their own wills can do. We are no friends to God if we teach people a way of salvation that is apart from His work of grace alone. We are no friends of God if we teach that his instrument of salvation (faith) is actually what human beings should use to apply grace to themselves. It is a different gospel. This point is at the heart of Luther’s book and the Gospel of the Reformation. It is also at the heart of the biblical Gospel which is what is truly important. The Gospel as preached by the Reformers is only important to the degree it is biblical.

Romans 8 is crystal clear that there is nothing a fleshly person can do to please God: “Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Can language be any clearer” In light of Romans 8:7-8 and then the Gospel and the enslaved will, can a fleshly will that is free (free from the grace of God) make a choice that God responds by saving it? Isn’t that the claim of the Pelagian which says that we can will good that comes from ourselves and is not from the internal work of God? This is a tough issues, but we cannot get away from Pelagian teaching of the will no matter what we do as long as we try to hang on to the un-biblical teaching of free-will.

We could even go a step down the road and say that there are only two views of the Gospel. There is the view of the enslaved will as taught by Scripture and the Reformers that must have the soul and the will saved by a grace procured and a grace applied by grace. The other view, regardless of what people call it, is simply a version of Pelagianism which teaches that the will is free and can make choices that are pleasing to God in some way. This is what Arminianism teaches which is why some refer to Arminianism as semi-Pelagianism. But even more frightening, many professing Reformed people seem to hold that view or at least are quite willing to hold hands as if there is no real difference with those who do hold that view. Machen wrote his book in the 1920’s or 30’s on Christianity and Liberalism to show that liberalism was not Christianity. Perhaps a book needs to be written today on other things that are not Christian. If Luther was right about the importance of this teaching on the will, that should be at the top of the list. The teaching of Scripture and Luther on the enslaved will and the Gospel of grace alone hits hard. Let us not water it down and make the gate wider than Christ said it was and is.

So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth…That God’s mercy works everything, and our will works nothing, but is rather the object of Divine working, else all will not be ascribed to God. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

The above quote shows the value of knowing what ability the so-called free-will has. He calls it a “crucial issue.” Yet today, as with Erasmus of old, people do not think that this is an important issue. They are satisfied to think of souls being saved by faith in some way without understanding the situation. However, that is incredibly dangerous. In many ways the Reformation was over this very issue. It is so crucial that it divides what justification by faith alone really means versus a justification by faith alone that is very close to what Roman Catholicism teaches. If the will is moved by itself apart from the grace of God alone, then at the heart of it there is little difference between that and what Rome teaches. It is when it is taught that the enslaved will cannot believe and cannot receive Christ that people get upset. It is when it is taught that the will must be acted upon by God for the soul to have faith that people get upset. But this is at the very heart and hinge of the Gospel.

Here is a quote from R.C. Sproul that gets to the heart of the situation:

When we speak of justification by or through faith, we mean that faith is the instrumental cause of justification, not its ground. Justification is per fidem (by or through faith) but never propter fidem (on account of or on the ground of faith). Again we view justification as being propter Christum (on account of Christ). Sola fide (justification by faith alone) is theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone…The faith that links us to Christ is not a meritorious work. Indeed, saving faith is itself a gift of God wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.

When the Reformers spoke of faith as being an instrumental cause, they were using the categories of Aristotle. These are very helpful categories. In his book Faith Alone R.C Sproul gives an excellent analogy of that. We can imagine a sculptor making a statue. There is the material cause (that which something is made of; in this case the stone), the formal cause (the design or idea followed; in this case a sketch for the sculptor), the final cause (the purpose for which something is made; in this case the reason the sculptor acts), the efficient cause (the chief agent doing the work; in this case the sculptor), and then there is the instrumental cause (the means or instrument used to make the sculpture, or the sculptor’s chisel in this case). It helps to take a moment and closely reflect on what happens when someone tries to sculpt a statue. In an effort at clarity, let us put this in a different way. 1) There is a rock that one starts with. That is the material cause. 2) There is a design or an idea that one has that will guide the process. That is the formal cause. 3) There is the purpose for which one has for the item made. That is the final cause. 4) There is the person doing the work or sculpting the stone. That is the efficient cause. 5) Lastly, there is the instrument of tool which the sculptor will use to form the stone. That is the instrumental cause.

Faith is the instrumental cause of salvation which is what the efficient cause (God Himself in salvation) uses for the final cause (the purpose for which something is made, and in salvation it is the glory of God). The soul that is saved, which includes the will, is the material cause. The soul is that which something is made of. The analogy stops at some point because God makes His people willing in the day of His power. But in the day of His power He gives faith and uses it as His instrument to save a soul. There is no power in faith itself and there is no power in the soul to use faith itself. There is no ability in faith or in the soul to use faith by itself. God, the only efficient cause, uses faith as His instrument to make in accordance to His own design and for His own purposes a saved soul that has been renewed in the image of Christ. No soul has the ability or freeness of will to do that. God alone can do that and He only does that by His grace because of Christ. The instrument that He uses (not the human) is faith.

The illustration above is certainly limited as are all illustrations and analogies. But when we think of how Scripture speaks of depraved human beings having hearts of stone, the analogy fits quite well. God must use an instrument to break those hard hearts and then something to mold them as He pleases. He uses instruments to do those things and those things do not work on themselves. In the modern day Arminians and professing Reformed folks want faith or the will to be the efficient cause that does the work and for faith to be the instrument in the hands of man. But the Gospel cannot be twisted to allow for such things. John 1:12-13 tells us that the believing soul has been born of the will of God and specifically not of the will of any man. If God is the efficient cause and not man himself, then assuredly faith is the instrument of God to save and not the instrument of man. This shows us the beauty and glory of the Gospel of grace which not only provides grace, but applies it as well. That is because God does it all.

So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth…That God’s mercy works everything, and our will works nothing, but is rather the object of Divine working, else all will not be ascribed to God. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

Clearly Luther thought it was of vital importance to know what ability the will has and what it can do with that ability. The will either has some ability and that ability is in certain areas. If we assign the will to such an important area as salvation, then we need to know the extent of its ability. We don’t assign ability in the human will to fly without mechanical aid or many other things. So if we are going to assign it an act and power or ability in the realm of salvation, we need to know much more about it. If the Bible addresses this subject, then we need to know that the Bible says about it and not just assume that the will has ability.

What Luther attempts to show is that the Bible teaches that salvation is of the power and grace of God. Faith is part of that salvation and comes to the sinner by the power and grace of God. Here is a quote from R.C. Sproul that gets to the heart of the situation:

When we speak of justification by or through faith, we mean that faith is the instrumental cause of justification, not its ground. Justification is per fidem (by or through faith) but never propter fidem (in account of or on the ground of faith). Again we view justification as being propter Christum (on account of Christ). Sola fide (justification by faith alone) is theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone….The faith that links us to Christ is not a meritorious work. Indeed, saving faith is itself a gift of God wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.

The enslaved will cannot look to itself to do anything in the area of salvation since it has no ability or power to do anything as free and in the area of salvation. The will is in bondage, dead, and can do nothing in the spiritual realm. When people look to the will as free and trust in that will to believe on Christ, they are looking to self to do something that it cannot do and the will of self is not free to do. The will can do nothing spiritual unless it is the object of Divine grace working through it. Faith is the instrument of God in salvation and not the instrument of the will of human souls. This must be made clear or we will not understand the Gospel of grace alone. Grace works faith in the soul as the instrument by which God uses to save the soul. A person can believe in something called justification by faith alone and be closer to Roman Catholicism than the Reformation and Scripture.

Sproul’s quote from above gets at the heart of what Luther was trying to say. We can know in some way that we must have faith to be saved, but we must not look to ourselves for faith or to perform as act of faith. As long as sinners think that their will is free and that faith is up to them, they have not been broken from their pride and self-reliance. They will continue to look to themselves to carry out their duty. What they must see is that justification comes through faith, but it does not come because of faith. Salvation comes to the soul because of Jesus Christ alone. It comes to the soul because of grace alone. Faith comes to the soul by grace alone. Salvation comes to the soul through faith alone because it comes to the soul by grace because of Christ alone.

If human beings ascribe to the soul the ability to do what God alone can do, then they give to themselves some of the glory of salvation which is an act of idolatry. The soul that takes to itself the power to do something that God alone can do is trying to be God to itself. The soul that takes to itself the glory of what God alone should have is a thief and is seeking its own honor which is also an act of idolatry. For a human being to adhere to free-will in the area of salvation is for that human being to be an idolater. It is, therefore, necessary to teach the great truth of faith alone in the context of grace alone because of Christ alone. We are not saved because of our free-will, but because of Christ alone. This comes to the soul because of grace alone. Faith is a gift of God that it may be the instrument of God in salvation so that all of the glory will be His. We must not dare to try to steal His glory. As Luther said, it is “in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether or not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation.” To the degree grace is important in salvation is the degree we must make sure that people understand how the grace of God works on the will. A grace that is all of grace must be declared in the Gospel. If we leave one work for the human soul to do apart from grace, we no longer have grace alone.

Anyway, this is what your words assert; that there is strength within us; there is such a thing as striving with all one’s strength; there is mercy in God; there are ways of compassing that mercy…But if one does not know what this ‘strength’ is—what men can do, and what is done to them—what this ‘striving’ is, what men can do, and what is done to them—then what should he do? What will you tell him to do?…For as long as they do not know the limits of their ability, they will not know what they should do; and as long as they do not know what they should do, they cannot repent when they err; and impenitence is the unpardonable sin…So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

Luther points out a key issue here that is widely ignored today. Just what power does the will have? Questions must be raised to those who hold to a so-called free-will. What power does the free-will have? What can a free-will do? What is the will free from? Is it free from God and is it free from grace? A will that is free from grace is doing something apart from grace and so it is a work of the flesh. Romans 8 tells us that the fleshly person cannot please God. So a will that is free from grace is not able to please God in any way. Jesus also said that apart from Him we could do nothing (spiritual). Does the will have the power to apply the grace of God to itself? Once we begin to see things in this light, we can begin to see that the desire to retain a free-will is a desire to be sufficient to apply salvation to our own souls. We may use the language of grace, but we do not really have a biblical grace at that point. This point must be driven home since the Gospel is of grace and grace alone.

Does God act upon human wills and can we say that He acts upon free wills? The soul that is drawn by grace alone is not a free-will as in free from internal influences. It has grace working on and in it. It is not free from the grace and power of God. In fact, it is only to the degree that we accept that the soul is enslaved to sin and is not free that we can believe in grace alone. It should be remembered at all times that the slightest work makes grace to be no grace at all (Rom 11:6). A will that is free from the internal grace of God is a will that is operating according to the flesh and to works. This shows us that Luther’s teaching has a lot of truth to it that a person must deny his or her own free-will in order to rest in grace alone for salvation or for one good work. If by definition a will that is free is free from the internal workings of God, then that will is free from the grace of God as well. So how can a person assert that the will is free from grace and then try to hold to a salvation that is by grace alone? It cannot be done in a consistent way. We must deny our so-called free-wills in order to receive the real free grace of God.

Those whom God calls will come. This is not to say that He drags them kicking and screaming against their will, but that He changes their desires and their loves in order to want to come. But it is His grace drawing them and not the will free of grace that is coming in its own power. This is what Luther would have Erasmus see and what he would want to have us see today as well. This is the heart of the Bible in terms of salvation which is by grace alone. The sinner that is dead in sins and trespasses needs to be made alive in the spiritual realm and so has no freedom in the spiritual realm. The sinner is dead and has no freedom at all in any realm but the realm of death and sin. It must be grace alone that would raise that sinner from the dead and all the glory of it is God’s. This is precisely what Ephesians 2:1-8 sets out. Sinners are not only dead in sin, but they are by nature children of wrath. Before they can do anything in the spiritual realm they must be made alive and have the Spirit. The sinner is not free to make self alive in order to apply grace to self and is not free to bring the Spirit into his or her soul.

What kind of power does a dead person have? Clearly and without question that person has no power at all. What kind of power to act and operate does a person have in the spiritual realm that is dead to the spiritual realm? That person has no power to act and operate in the spiritual realm. What kind of power does anyone have to apply grace to him or herself? No one has any power to apply grace to self or anyone else. Grace must come from God based on Himself and His own glory or it is not grace at all. The teaching of the enslaved will is utterly vital to the Gospel of grace alone. Unless we teach and apply it to the hearts of sinners, we will not teach grace alone in truth.

Anyway, this is what your words assert; that there is strength within us; there is such a thing as striving with all one’s strength; there is mercy in God; there are ways of compassing that mercy…But if one does not know what this ‘strength’ is—what men can do, and what is done to them—what this ‘striving’ is, what men can do, and what is done to them—then what should he do? What will you tell him to do?…For as long as they do not know the limits of their ability, they will not know what they should do; and as long as they do not know what they should do, they cannot repent when they err; and impenitence is the unpardonable sin…So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

Luther the Reformer told Erasmus the Roman Catholic that the crucial issue between them was the ability of free-will and what “respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God.” Here Luther sets out three vital points in the issue: 1) The ability that ‘free-will’ has. 2) In what respect the will is the subject of Divine action. 3) How the will stands in relation to the grace of God. These are still the main issues of the day. True enough it is no longer between the pioneer Reformers and the Roman Catholics, but regardless of the names used these are vital issues in relation to the Gospel. This is also why some Reformed people think of Arminians as having given up the essence of the Gospel that shone so brightly during the Reformation and have in essence returned to Rome. Below is a quote from Wilhelmus a Brakel.

There is an infinite difference between the corrupt intellect of man—that is, the Arminians and other proponents of free will—and the Holy Scriptures. The question is: Does the obtaining salvation proceed from man? Is he the only and essential cause of his salvation, or is God the only essential cause and can man, being absolutely incapable, do nothing to obtain salvation? The Arminians will readily admit that God has prepared and accomplished salvation and that God has given and revealed Christ the Mediator. However, they attribute this acceptance and entering in upon that way to the good will and power of man. This could be likened to what transpires on a race track. The government has put the prize on display and has prepared the track. The acquisition of the prize, however, is contingent upon the runners themselves.

In order to protect the idol of man’s own ability and of his good will as being the cause of his own salvation, the Arminians would prefer to do away with the distinction between the external and internal call, between the noneffectual and the effectual call. They would view them as being the same, and thus recognize only one calling. The effect would then not be due to the efficacious operation of God working more in one person than in another. Instead, it would be related to the outcome; namely, that the one person obeys the call by his free will (which enables him either to respond or to reject this call) and thus be saved. Another person will despise and reject this call by the same neutral free will. Scripture, however, rebukes and refutes such foolish thoughts and demonstrates first of all that the calling is effectual unto salvation as a result of God’s purpose, “…who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28); “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom 11:29). The actual exercise of faith in those who are called proceeds from this purpose. “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

A Brakel refers to the Arminian idea of free will and ability as an idol. This sounds harsh to modern ears that are raised on gracious words that call out peace, peace when there is no peace. However, the Arminian idea of the will has the will free from God and His grace. That idea of the will that is free from God at that point has the will with power that only God has and doing things that only God can do. Assigning to something other than God that power and ability is an act of idolatry. The idea of the will being free from God and applying the grace of God to itself is a hideous notion that is truly nothing short of idolatry. If we think of salvation as being obtained by Christ but now needing to be applied, it is either applied by God or by the man himself. If we say it is the man we are saying that it is a free-will doing the application rather than God. That is idolatry at a high level.

Anyway, this is what your words assert; that there is strength within us; there is such a thing as striving with all one’s strength; there is mercy in God; there are ways of compassing that mercy…But if one does not know what this ‘strength’ is—what men can do, and what is done to them—what this ‘striving’ is, what men can do, and what is done to them—then what should he do? What will you tell him to do?…For as long as they do not know the limits of their ability, they will not know what they should do; and as long as they do not know what they should do, they cannot repent when they err; and impenitence is the unpardonable sin…So it is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether of not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability ‘free-will’ has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on earth. (The Bondage of the Will, Luther’s Reply to Erasmus)

In hearing evangelistic appeals from pulpits and television screens, the appeal is virtually always for people to make a choice or to make a commitment or simply make an act of the will toward Jesus. For Pelagians and Arminians that is quite understandable, but for professing Reformed people to buy into that is simply inexcusable. Jesus said very clearly, in John 6:44, that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” The word “can” is the word for ability. In the Greek it is dunamai which is a word for ability or power. In other words, Jesus tells the people and us that no one has the ability or power to come to Christ unless the Father draws them. Indeed men are commanded to come to Christ, but the command does not presuppose the power to obey any more than the command to love God with all of our being presupposes that we have the power of love to obey that command in us.

This is a matter of great importance, though indeed Erasmus did not see it as anything more than a minor issue and people are rather clueless about the importance of it today. The older confessions and catechisms spoke of effectual calling which means that God is the one that brings the sinner to Himself rather than the sinner being able to come. The word “effectual” has the idea of enough power. The internal calling of God has enough power to overcome the sinners internal resistance and make them willing in the day of His power. Sinners come to Christ because of the power of an irresistible grace rather than the power of their own will. If the will is indeed free, then it would be free of the internal grace and power of God so it would not be God bringing the sinner to Christ.

The heart of this matter has to do with whose power it is that brings the sinner to God through Christ. The Arminians and the Pelagians think of it as the power of man that brings man to God, though some would assign differing amounts of power to the grace of God in this. The pioneer Reformers said it was God by grace alone that brought man to salvation. The issue over the will and the power of the will is right at the heart of the Gospel of grace alone. When it is said or thought to be a minor issue; that simply means that a person does not understand the importance of this to the Gospel.

Read the words of Luther again: “If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity.” If we think this is a minor issue hardly worth talking about, then it simply shows that most likely we don’t really understand the Gospel of grace alone. A person must understand that s/he is impotent in matters of vital importance and that s/he either will come to Christ in his or her own power or will come to Christ by the grace of God. The Gospel of grace alone has to do with how people come to Christ and how Christ is applied to their souls. It does not just stop at what Christ has accomplished on the cross; it is also how people come to Christ in our day as well. As long as we refuse to tell people of their inability to come we have not explained to them the nature of their depravity or the nature of the grace of God in salvation. If we don’t tell people that God must grant them repentance, we have not explained to them the nature of sinful hearts or the truth of repentance. If we have not explained to them the nature of repentance in the sense that it is God who works it in their hearts, then we have not told them how to repent. It is to be feared that we tell people to repent and they simply think it is in their own power to do so. As long as people think that it is in their own power to repent, they will never truly repent. Teaching people the nature of the will is utterly vital to the Gospel.