God Loves… Himself

That the protectors of ‘free-will’ deny Christ is proved, not by this Scripture only, but by their own lives. By this doctrine they have made Christ to be, no longer a sweet Mediator, but a dreadful Judge, whom they strive to placate by the intercessions of the Mother and the Saints, and by devising many works, rites, observances and vows, by which they aim to appease Christ so that He may give them grace. They do not believe that He intercedes before God and obtains grace for them by His blood, and ‘grace’ (as is here said) ‘for grace’. And as they believe, so it is unto them. Christ is in truth an inexorable judge to them, and deservedly so; for they abandon Him in His office as a Mediator and kindest Saviour, and account His blood and grace as of less worth than the efforts and endeavours ‘free-will’!  (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Some might argue that this paragraph (as well as many others) is really toward Roman Catholicism and not toward ‘free-will’ in and of itself. But Luther would argue, and I think correctly, that the ideas and distinctive doctrines of Roman Catholicism grew out of ‘free-will’ which shows one result of the main problem. If the state of justification comes as a result of one act of the ‘free-will’ as many Protestants claim, it would be hard to be consistent and argue against several acts of ‘free-will’ as necessary for justification. The doctrine of grace alone stands against all protectors and propagators of ‘free-will’ as being opposed to the Gospel of grace alone. The doctrine of grace alone along with Romans 4:16 both demand that faith alone stand in line with grace alone and as such a work of the human flesh that would be free of grace is simply against the Gospel of grace alone. What Luther says above against Rome specifically also falls upon all in a general way who uphold ‘free-will’ in their teaching.

What ways have Protestants devised to obtain grace in some way? Certainly it is clear that the basic teaching of ‘free-will’ stands firm on the fact that the sinner must perform one act of the will and God wills save him or her. What is that but doing one act of the flesh in order to obtain grace and salvation? But to go even deeper into this, many Protestants have made Bible study, prayer, evangelism, tithing; holiness, church membership and attendance as ways to obtain the grace of God. Sure enough it may not be phrased that way exactly, but that is what it means. People are promised the blessings of God if they do those things. Can God bless someone based on works or does He bless by grace alone? These things can be hidden underneath the concept of “means of grace”, but again just because something is a means of grace does not mean that God rewards something with grace. God is never under obligation and can never be put under obligation to show grace.

The means of grace must be understood in a way that makes room for grace to always be pure grace. While it is true that God does give grace through the means of grace, that does not mean that people are to think that they can obtain grace from God if they do those things. People should study the Scripture in complete dependence on God to give them insight into the Scriptures if He is pleased to do so. Studying the Scriptures is no guarantee that He will give grace, especially if the person thinks that s/he can obtain grace by simply studying the Scriptures. People should pray knowing that God gives grace through prayer, but grace cannot be obtained simply because people pray. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace, but grace is not given simply because a person takes the elements. The Word of God tells us with clarity that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. A truly humble person would never think that his or her actions would put any obligation on God to give grace. Even the presence of humility does not obligate God to show grace though humility is itself a work of grace in the soul. God will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and He gives grace in accordance with His pleasure and glory. A truly humble soul would not want grace other than by true grace in accordance with His pleasure and glory.

The result of seeking the grace of God by ‘free-will’ is that people abandon Christ as the only way to the Father by and for grace and trust in their ‘free-will’ and works to do so. In doing this, as Luther points out, they “account His blood and grace as of less worth than the efforts and endeavours ‘free-will’ and in doing that they trust in their own works to obtain grace rather than Christ to obtain grace by grace. For the lovers of free grace rather than ‘free-will’ this would be the point where their stomachs would be nauseated by ‘free-will’ or anything like it. While many may protest that it is not true, yet the position of ‘free-will’ demands that at the point that the will is free the will is not trusting in Christ for salvation and the grace only found in Him but in the act of the will to obtain grace. At that point the will does in fact account the power of the blood and grace of Christ to obtain grace as less than their own will. That is far, far from the Gospel of Christ alone and of grace alone. It is also not the Gospel of the glory of God alone. When the concept (there is no reality of it) of the ‘free-will’ of man is asserted into the Gospel, the will of man becomes what men trust in rather than Christ. Boiled down to its core, it is man trusting in himself to obtain grace from God rather than resting in Christ and His merits to obtain grace. It is a horrible teaching that attacks the truth of grace, of Christ, and the glory of God.

And I wish the guardians of ‘free-will’ would be taught by this passage [John 1:5, 10-13, 16] to recognize that when they assert ‘free-will’ they are denying Christ. For if I obtain the grace of God by my own endeavour, what need have I of the grace of Christ for the receiving of my grace? When I have the grace of God, what do I need besides? The Diatribe said, and all the Sophists say, that we obtain the grace of God by our own endeavour, and are thereby made ready to receive it, not, indeed, as of condignity, but as congruity. This is plainly to deny Christ. It is for His grace, the Baptist says, that we receive grace…Thus it is that the ungodly Sophists, together with the Diatribe, deny the Lord Christ, who bought us, more than ever the Pelagians or any heretics ever did! So utterly does grace refuse to allow any particle or power of ‘free-will’ to stand beside it! (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Luther makes the shocking claim that those who assert ‘free-will’ actually deny Christ. This is a bomb in the laps of those who hold to ‘free-will’ in our day as well, but it is also a bomb in the laps of many Reformed people today who say that while the Reformed truths are true the distinctions are not vital to Christianity. Yet Paul said that to add work to grace makes grace no longer to be grace (Rom 11:6). Paul did not specify or distinguish where it was okay to add grace and not okay to add grace, but at the least the implication is that if one adds to grace at any point it makes grace no longer to be grace. In John 1:16 we see that it is grace for grace.

If the sinner does obtain grace by his or her own endeavor, then what does that do to the biblical teaching of grace alone? It destroys it. It is easy for people to see that Roman Catholics do a lot in order to receive grace, but it is not so easy for them to see that ‘free-will’ teaches that it is necessary for the soul to do at least one work if not many in order to obtain grace. If the will is free, it is free of grace and so it is not grace that moves the will but rather it is the natural man that moves the will of his or her own flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). This should be driven home to every soul. If the soul of any human being who was born of the flesh is born again according to an act of that same flesh flesh, then that soul is not born of the Spirit but of the flesh. It is a soul obtaining grace by an act of the flesh. This is not biblical teaching.

Luther points out that if we have the ability to obtain grace of ourselves then we have no need of the grace of Christ in order to receive grace. If the soul is able to obtain grace by itself, then why does it need a continuing Mediator? It is not as if the ‘free-will’ stops working for grace as soon as it has obtained it the first time, but instead it is taught that grace is continually obtained by an act of the ‘free-will.’ We are always at the point of how grace is obtained by the soul. The soul either obtains it by an act that is free of grace and of depravity when it obtains saving grace or it is grace alone that gives the soul grace. The saved soul is to live by grace and so must receive grace in accord with how it first received grace. The soul that received grace by an act of the ‘free-will’ is bound to constantly receive grace by an act of the ‘free-will’ and as such it boils down to a system of grace received by works. But the biblical teaching is that the soul receives grace by grace and so the soul is always completely and utterly dependent on Christ alone for grace alone.

It can surely be easily and clearly seen that a system that starts off with an act of the ‘free-will’ is one that must continue based on acts of the ‘free-will’ as well. Roman Catholicism set up a whole system that made grace obtainable by acts of the ‘free-will’ though that is not what they would say about it. But boiled down their system makes grace available to the person who will do certain things. While there is a difference with ‘free-will’ Protestants, still the issue is that men and women are said to obtain grace by what they do. We have what some call “means of grace,” and that is not totally off base, but using the means of grace is not dependent on the ‘free-will’ but rather the grace of God. Indeed sinners are to use the means of grace, but in no way does that obligate God to give grace as any obligation on God’s part makes it something less than grace.

Luther puts it this way: “So utterly does grace refuse to allow any particle or power of ‘free-will’ to stand beside it!” This is very correct. The biblical doctrine of grace alone refuses any help from anything of anybody and that includes the slightest particle or power of the ‘free-will.’ Grace to be grace must be free of merit, ability, or sufficiency of the human soul at any point and of any kind. Grace must never be watered down as if it depends on the ‘free-will’ of a human being to act in order to receive it. That is simply to make grace to no longer be grace as it makes grace dependent on the fleshly act of the human soul.

‘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.

‘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 teaching of John regarding the new birth is a direct attack on any aspect of human ability, power, and works having anything to do with the new birth. This passage strips all real argument away from anything that the human soul can offer in terms of helping to any degree in the new birth. It is also at the point of the new birth that the human will must be free for there to be any reason to argue for a ‘free-will’ at the point of conversion. It is at the point of the new birth that human inability is seen in its contrast with the glorious ability of God and of free grace. It is always one or the other and not both. It is always the ability of God and not the ability of man. It is always either the ‘free-will’ of man or the free grace of God. The two cannot be mixed for the mixing of the two will leave either a will that is not free or a grace that is no longer grace (Rom 11:6).

No soul is going to be born again because of the blood or because of what one is by birth. This may be clear to many in our day, but then again it may not be. While most would agree that one is not a Christian because of one’s nationality, it is not as clear that one is not a Christian because one’s parents are Christian. The teaching of Scripture at this point is absolutely devastating to those who look to their nationality or parents for any reason that they are or will be born again. One is only born as a child of God by the will of God rather than according to anything that went before them in terms of nationality or parentage. Scripture specifically and clearly points to the will of God as the only cause in the matter of the new birth. There is little difference between the Jews who thought they were born into the kingdom because of their relation to Abraham and being a Jew and those who think they are born again because they are children of believers. The only because in the new birth is the will of God, though the grace of God could be included as well but that is not adding anything to the will of God.

No soul is going to be born again because of the will of any flesh. This has been taken to mean differing things, but regardless of how one interprets this passage it excludes all works of any will of any flesh. John 3:6, in the context of the new birth again, says this: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 6:63 sets out the flesh as opposed to the Spirit: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” But both are speaking of the actions of the physical or natural nature as opposed to the work of the Holy Spirit. No act of the will which is from the flesh or according to the flesh is free to be a causation of any kind in the new birth. It is by the will of God alone.

No act of any will of any man can aid or be a cause in the new birth. Once again, this is interpreted in various ways, but regardless of how it is interpreted it is quite clear in taking out any part of the human will in the new birth. A soul is born as a child of God because of the will of God Himself and not because of the will of any human soul whether it is the will of the soul needing the new birth or the will of the father or the will of a priest or minister. This text of Scripture not only ascribes the birth of a child of God as being totally because of the will of God, but it also shreds any hope in the human will and leaves no room for a ‘free-will’ at all. The Gospel of grace alone stands alone as the hope of the human soul and leaves no hope for a will that is free of grace in salvation and as such leaves no room for ‘free-will’ at all. If there is no room for the ‘free-will,’ then that leaves us with an enslaved will with no hope but grace alone. The Gospel is of grace alone to those who are enslaved in sin.

And take the case of Paul, when he was Saul—what did he do with all the power of his ‘free-will’? Certainly, if his state of mind be regarded, his heart was set on what was best and highest. But look at the endeavour whereby he found grace! Not only did he not seek grace, but he received it through his own mad fury against it! (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

The Gospel of grace alone means exactly that. It means that the Gospel which is the good news of what grace has done and what grace has done was planned by the Father alone, was accomplished by Christ alone, was and is applied by the Holy Spirit alone, and as such is always for the glory of God alone. Grace is not just an acronym (God’s riches at Christ’s expense), but instead is far more. Grace is an attribute of the one and only God who is triune. Grace is an attribute which in one sense and at certain points is at a pinnacle (so to speak) by which when one stands on top of one can see more of the grandeur of God’s glory and other attributes. Grace is the lenses by which the human soul is able to how God manifests His glory through. Grace can never be earned or merited in the slightest as that makes grace no longer to be grace.

It is when we see Saul or Paul not seeking grace but instead fighting against it that we see an aspect of grace shining in its brilliance. Grace seeks out sinners and saves them even when they are fighting against the glory of God in the Gospel. Paul did not seek God in any sense, but instead God sought Paul and saved him despite himself. The glory of grace is seen in such brilliance in the dark background of Paul’s venom and fury against it. There was nothing in Paul and his religious arrogance and hatred of truth that would move God to save him, but because grace finds all of its reasons to save in God he was saved to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. The grace that arrested Paul cannot be mistaken or confused with the slightest bit of ‘free-will’ as Paul was dead set in his fight against it. He was saved by God alone who of His good pleasure set His grace on Paul and brought him to faith. It was grace that regenerated his soul and gave him faith. It was grace because it was God alone who did all the seeking in accordance with His good pleasure. It was grace because it was God who was moved by Himself rather than what He found in Paul.

It is this grace of God that sinners are to trust in rather than anything in themselves including ‘free-will.’ For the soul to look to themselves for an act of the will is to look to something other than grace alone to be saved. But sinners are dead in sins and trespasses and cannot make themselves alive and so they have no way to do an act of life. No one can have an act of life (such as faith or an act of faith) until s/he is alive. A dead sinner must be made alive and only life can bring a dead sinner to life. The will of a dead person cannot make the dead person alive, and so the will of one that is dead spiritually cannot make a spiritual act to make itself alive. It is by grace alone that the Holy Spirit takes what Christ has purchased for the glory of God for that sinner and make a sinner alive. It is only after the soul has life can it then act like a live soul. The doctrine of ‘free-will’ is at odds with grace alone, the sovereignty of God, and of the total inability of man. As such it is at odds with the gospel of grace alone.

In the Gospel of grace alone sinners must be taught to look to the triune God for grace purchases and applied. Sinners need life from God and not just some act of the will by which they can think they are saved by. Sinners need to be taught where the life of grace truly comes from so they can look in complete dependence on grace alone rather than to look to themselves for some dead act that moves God to save them. Sinners must be taught not to look to themselves for anything but instead they are to look to Christ alone for all. Who is it that takes the sinner and yanks him or her from the kingdom (reign and rule) of darkness and puts that sinner into the kingdom of the Beloved Son? Colossians 1:13 tells us that it was God. Sinners do not assist God in that. Who is it that takes sinners and puts them into Christ? I Corinthians 1:30 says that “by His doing you are in Christ Jesus.” The Gospel if of grace alone and sinners must learn to look to God (not their own will) alone to do these things by grace alone.

Even after the sinner has been saved, what is that sinner supposed to look to? “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:13). Sinners are not only saved by grace alone, but their only hope for eternity is grace alone in Christ Jesus. Where is grace found for unsaved and saved sinners alike? 1 Corinthians 1:4 gives us the answer: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.” Grace is only found in Christ Jesus. One has to be in Christ to obtain grace. Only God can accomplish any and all of that.

And take the case of Paul, when he was Saul—what did he do with all the power of his ‘free-will’? Certainly, if his state of mind be regarded, his heart was set on what was best and highest. But look at the endeavour whereby he found grace! Not only did he not seek grace, but he received it through his own mad fury against it! (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

The doctrine of the enslaved will cannot be separated from the doctrine of biblical grace and especially sovereign grace. Apart from a sovereign grace there is no real grace at all, which is to say that a non-sovereign grace is a grace that makes grace a non-grace. It is the same as adding a work to grace which makes grace no longer to be grace (Rom 11:6). At what point did the will of Paul help him out in salvation? At what point did Paul decide that he would follow Jesus? Paul was persecuting the Church in his religious zeal which came from his depraved nature. God took him to the sand and shone his glory around him and then into his heart. Grace arrested Paul while he was in the midst of his fury against grace. Grace changed the heart of Paul so that he could pursue the true God and have a will that would choose God. Grace is only shown because God decides to show it rather than because a person makes a choice. This is seen with great clarity in the verses below.

1 Timothy 1:16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Why did Paul find mercy? Was it because he came to his senses and decided to make a choice? Not according to Paul who was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He received mercy so that the perfect patience of Christ could be manifested in Paul who was an example of all who would believe. What example do sinners have from this account of Paul? Do they see that they need to make a choice? Do they see that they need to work hard to come up with faith? Not at all, but rather they can see that sinners are saved for the sake of the glory of Christ. Notice that in the text Paul tells people why he found mercy. It was “so that” “Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience.” It was not because of anything good or of anything free in Paul. It was because of Christ alone.

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

In terms of causation, the verses above do not allow any room for a cause from a human will that is free. God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace and not because one human being made a choice from a will that was free from sin and grace to some or any degree. God saves by grace which has been freely bestowed (free of cause within the sinner) and given for the sake of Christ alone. God saves so that those who hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory and not the praise of the human will. God saves so that in the ages to come He might show the greatness of the riches of His grace toward those in Christ Jesus and not toward those who were smart enough or wise enough to make a choice of the will.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The soul that has been born in Adam and from Adam is dead. Not only is that sinner dead in sins and trespasses, but the sinner earns (wages) death by that sin. So sinners are by nature children of wrath and are dead in sins and trespasses, but not only that they have done nothing but earn death by that sin. Can a sinner just up and make a choice for Christ out of love for Christ? That is simply not possible. What it takes for a sinner to have his or her nature changed is to be raised from the dead and receive the gift of life. This gift is free, that is, free of cause within the sinner and so the will could not make a choice that God responds to. The sinner is spiritually dead and needs life in Christ instead of a choice of a spiritually dead will that loves nothing but sin and self and can do nothing but what is in accordance with the nature of a child of wrath. The cause of salvation is, without any question at all if we stick with Scripture, the grace of God and not the will of man. The motive of salvation is God’s love for His own glory and not some response He makes to the one who comes up with faith on his or her own. Oh how glorious grace is as opposed to a dead will that has no power and no being in the spiritual realm.

Again: since by the single offence of the one man, Adam, we all lie under sin and condemnation, how can we set our hand to anything that is not sinful and damnable? When he says ‘all’, he excepts none; not the power of ‘free-will’, nor any worker, whether he works and endeavours or not; he is of necessity included with the rest among the ‘all’. Neither should we sin or be condemned by reason of the single offence of Adam, if that offence were not our own;…Original sin itself, then, does not allow ‘free-will’ any power at all except to sin and incur condemnation. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

In this short paragraph Luther gets at the heart of one side of the issue of why ‘free-will’ is impossible for fallen men to have. Again, while men say that they are free to choose as they please; the soul always pleases to choose sin. Part of the bondage of sin is that men do choose what they please but that they are only pleased with sin. What people cannot see is that they choose sin because as sinners they are only pleased with sin. This shows us that men think they are free because they choose what they want, but instead it is what they want that they are in bondage to.

Romans 5 is quite clear that all have sinned in Adam and all are under condemnation. Ephesians 2 is equally clear that men are by nature children of wrath. In the context of sinners being by nature children of wrath, the text says that they are “indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” They also do these things because they are dead in sins and trespasses (Eph 2:1) and simply live “according to the course of the world” which is “according to the prince of the power of the air.” Not only that, but all of that is in line with the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. Romans 8:7 tells us that “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.”

Now, as Luther puts it, “how can we set our hand to anything that is not sinful and damnable?” Because of the fall human beings are born into sin and are by nature children of wrath and they are dead in their sins and trespasses. These people follow the course of the world which is according to the course of the world. These people have a spirit that is working in them and that working is to follow anything but the true ways of God. We then see that those who are dead in sin are fleshly and so their mind is set on the flesh and so they are hostile to God and have no ability (cannot) to subject themselves to God. Can a person like that do anything that is not sinful and damnable? It is one thing to think of the things in the previous paragraph as true of some other people, but then to apply it to self and to all men is difficult. Even more, it is to be fully applied. It is not just that some are born dead in sin and are by nature children of wrath, but all are born that way. It is not just that some follow the course of the world, but all follow the course of the world because they are flesh and nothing but flesh.

The doctrine of original sin and total depravity are at the heart of Christianity. While many will allow that all men are less than perfect, for we all know the universal truth is “to err is human,” it is harder to admit that all men are sinful in all they do and deserve damnation for their best works. Even their works of righteousness are as filthy rags as Isaiah sets out. To assert that man has a ‘free-will’ is to assert that man can do something that is not sinful and damnable. The will is not free from its bondage to sin, its death in sin and trespasses; its nature of wrath, its hostility to God and its inability to subject itself to the law of God. All of these things show that the sinner is not free but is in willful and loving bondage to sin. Can a person with a sinful nature who does nothing but sin do one thing that could please God? Clearly the answer is no, so just as clearly it is seen that the will is not free to do one act that is pleasing and acceptable to God.

If the doctrine of original sin is true (and assuredly it is), then the doctrine of ‘free-will’ must be rejected with abhorrence. There is no freedom or power of the will for sinners to do anything but to sin and incur condemnation. The will in that state is not free to do one act free from sin and so obtain salvation. The sinner that is dead in sins and trespasses needs Christ alone to make that sinner alive and that sinners needs Christ to do this by grace alone. Sinners that are by nature children of wrath do not need one bit of the will that is free to make a choice, but instead they need a completely new heart and new nature so that Christ will live in them. Sinners that have nothing but hostility toward God need a new heart and the indwelling love of God rather than just a bit of freedom to make a choice. Sinners that have no ability to keep the Law need Christ to give them His perfect righteousness and then live in them by His Spirit to keep the Law. No sinner can do one thing or even partially do one thing that is not worthy of the wrath and condemnation of God. Those sinners need grace and grace alone, not the act of a fallen will that can do nothing but sin. Oh how preachers need to preach grace alone.

Again: since the law is the strength of sin, displaying it without removing it, it makes the conscience guilty before God and threatens wrath. This is Paul’s meaning when he says; ‘the law worketh wrath’ (Rom 4:15). How then could righteousness be procured by the law? And if we get no help from the law, how can we get help from the power of our will alone? (Luther, Bondage of the Will)

What standard of righteousness does the human will have? Where does the human will get its power? The Law came in for the purpose of showing man his sin and even stirring up his sinful heart so that man would die to any hope of obtaining righteousness by himself and his own power. If the very purpose of the Law was so that transgression would increase, then its purpose is not to be a standard or way of obtaining righteousness. If the very purpose of the Law was to show the sin of the soul and therefore of the will, then it could not provide help or power to the human will to obtain righteousness.

Romans 5:20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

What must be seen in this great thought of Luther which is derived from Scripture is that the purpose and power of the Law are exactly opposite of what the ‘free-will’ tries to do with the Law and must do with the Law if it is going to be able to maintain its position. The Scriptures constantly point away from the power and ability of the human flesh to do anything good or anything that would please God, while those who maintain the ‘free-will’ have to constantly maintain their position against Scripture.

How does the Law help sinners procure their own righteousness? Its purpose was to reveal sin and the hostility of the human heart toward God. There is nothing in the Law that has anything that helps sinners procure the slightest bit of their own righteousness. God provides a perfect righteousness in Christ and allows for no other since there is no other perfect righteousness. The Law shows how imperfect human hearts and deeds are, so it can provide no help at all in procuring righteousness for the ‘free-will’. The Law was given as a tutor to teach people to go to Christ for their righteousness, so it could never do one thing to lead people away from Christ the only perfect righteousness available.

How does the Law provide help, power, or ability to the human will so it can make one good choice by itself apart from the power of grace in the soul? It was never given for that purpose and it has no power to do so. The Law was given to show human beings that they cannot (word of ability) keep the Law in and of themselves at any point and in any way. This is to say that the will has no power to do one good thing in and of its own power. It is Christ and His Spirit alone in the soul that can give the soul power to keep any commandment to any degree. The Law drives people to Christ and is the tutor to show people that they have no ability to keep the Law and that they have total inability as part of their total depravity.

So the Law provides no help at all to the human will to obtain righteousness in any way other than to show the will what it cannot do so it will bow in utter humility and its own inability and seek Christ in its helplessness. It is only when the human soul sees that it has no power or ability to obtain anything from God to any degree that it will look to grace and grace alone. Until the soul sees that it has no way or procuring righteousness, it will not look to Christ alone for a perfect righteousness. Until the soul sees that it has no power or ability of will to do anything to make God respond to it, then it will never look to grace alone to give it life and righteousness in Christ. The only place where there is life is in Christ and the only spiritual good and power must come from Christ as the Vine. Oh how terribly wrong and misleading people are when they do not teach people that they are unable to procure righteousness in any way and that their wills have no power to help with anything. It is misleading because until the soul arrives at that point in brokenness it will not arrive at the point of looking to Christ alone to be saved by grace alone.

Again: If God promised grace before the law, as Paul argues here and in Galatians, then it does not come by works or by law, else the promise would come to nothing; and faith also (by which Abraham was justified before the law was given) would come to nothing, should works avail. (Luther, Bondage of the Will )

The human soul can never be free to choose a third option. Souls are declared just by God on the basis of grace alone or by the law. Some try to intermingle those, but a grace that comes by law is not grace at all. This leaves all people with only two ways of salvation. It is either by grace alone or works to some degree, though Scripture is quite clear that if you want to have one work in salvation then you are obligated to keep the whole law. But the Gospel is about God’s promise to save and it is wholly based on His promise and so it all depends on grace alone. This is so important to keep in mind, for as Galatians 2:21 puts it, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” If the Gospel has one work which means one act of a ‘free-will’ that participates, then the grace of God is nullified and righteousness comes in a way that is not according to Christ alone and grace alone.

Again, this is so vital. God promised grace before He gave the law. This shows that the promise of God does not depend on the Law, but instead the fulfilling of the Law depends on His promise. God declares sinners just based on Christ alone and they are declared just totally and only because of Christ. Jesus Christ went to the cross because of the promise of God and not because sinners kept the Law in any way, but rather because they had broken the Law in all ways. Many people agree with what Christ has done on the cross and agree that there is no way for God’s justice for one sin or all sins to be satisfied other than by Christ. But how does a person obtain the righteousness needed to be declared righteous? The text above (Gal 2:21) says that “if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” In other words, the righteousness that a sinner needs does not come by the sinner keeping the Law, but instead that righteousness comes by Christ alone.

The point seems to be rather clear. God promised that He would justify sinners, but to do so He had to do two things. One, He had to take the sins of sinners away in a just way so that He could be both just and the Justifier of the one that has Christ (Rom 3:26). Two, He had to give a perfect righteousness to sinners in a just way or as a holy God of perfect truth He could not declare them just. But both the taking away the sins of sinners and granting to them a perfect righteousness is based on His promise rather than the sinner keeping of fulfilling the Law. If the salvation of the sinner depends on the sinner’s ‘free-will’ at any point, then salvation is not completely and totally of grace and of promise.

Abraham was declared just through faith before the Law was given and Galatians shows that all sinners that are declared just in the eyes of God are declared just based on grace rather than the Law. Abraham stands against all who would teach that sinners are justified by anything they do. He was justified through faith apart from any work of the Law at all because the Law was not given until close to 500 years later. Abraham looked to the promise of God alone and apart from the Law and He was declared just. All sinners must look to the promise of God alone apart from the Law as well. Looking to the promise of God alone is not looking to the ‘free-will’ to make a choice, but instead it is looking to God for new life. When the sinner is declared just by God, the sinner has Christ as his or her life and now has Christ as his or her life. When Christ is the life of the sinner, Christ is the true vine for that sinner and as such all righteousness continues to come from Christ.

The soul of each sinner either looks to Christ alone or to self alone or to Christ plus some degree of self. When a sinner looks to the ‘free-will’ to do something that is free from grace, that sinner is looking to a work of the flesh to do something in order to obtain something from God. But the only way to obtain grace from God is for God to decide to show grace and for it to come by promise rather than by anything that the sinner can do. The Law came in to increase the transgression, as Romans 5:20 teaches: “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase.” The Law was never given as a way of justification or as something to have any part of justification. The will was never given as a way to keep the Law in order to obtain any part of justification either. The whole Gospel depends on one thing and one thing alone and that is on God Himself and His promise of grace. The Gospel of grace alone is so glorious and so beautiful and must not be tarnished by adding an act of the will to it.

I here pass by arguments of great strength drawn from the purpose of grace, from the promise, from the power of the law, from original sin, and from God’s election; every one of which by itself could utterly overthrow ‘free-will’, thus: If the source of grace is the predestinating purpose of God, then it comes by necessity, and not by any effort or endeavour on our part… (Luther, Bondage of the Will)

In trying to bring the focus down to one thought it is hard to get people to take their focus off of their own ability, power, and choice. They cannot understand why the Gospel is all about the grace of God and not them. They cannot understand why it is not up to them and their own choice to be saved. Luther says this and puts it in such a way in one sentence that one would think that all would see the truth of it. The sentence is like this, though changed a bit from the wording of Luther: “If the source of grace is the predestinating purpose of God, then it is not by any effort or work of our will.” I put the sentence that way to show that if grace is part of God’s purpose and will, then it cannot be because of the choice and effort of man. If the ultimate reason that grace comes is because of God’s purpose, then it cannot be because of the purpose or will of man. It is one or the other and not a combination of the two. If the ultimate cause for grace is that God chooses, then the ultimate cause for grace is not man. Any focus on man’s choice would then be changed to man chooses because God chooses for man to choose. But in that case the will is not free.

What if we changed Luther’s sentence to say this: “If the source of God is the predestinating purpose of God, then it comes by His will and effort and not any effort or work on the part of man of his will.” There is no grace but that which is from God and is for the purposes of God. The reason for this is that grace is not just some abstract thought or power in the universe, but instead grace is when God gives Himself. God gives grace in sending Christ to die on the cross to purchase grace for sinners. This grace is applied in the soul by the Holy Spirit. But what is that grace that was purchased and applied? It is Christ being the life of the sinner. It is the Holy Spirit dwelling in the sinner. It is God making man a partaker of the divine life. So giving grace is not apart from God giving Himself, and dare anyone say that God Himself can be at the beck and call of the mere choice of a human will?

What power or ability is there in the human will that can purchase grace for itself? What power or ability is there in the human will to apply grace to itself? What power or ability is there in the human will to be able to cause God Himself to dwell in the human soul? What power or ability is there in the human will to be the source, cause, goal or anything else to do with grace? Since there is no power or ability in the human soul to do the slightest thing to earn, obtain, procure, or do anything toward getting grace; we must conclude that grace is at the sole pleasure of the will of God who shows grace to the glory of His grace. But again, if the source of grace is indeed God’s predestinating pleasure, then it cannot be by the will of man.

It has been argued that God is so sovereign that He is able to set Himself to the side and leave sinners to their own freedom. Quite simply and clearly, that is absurd. God is the one that ordains and moves all things according to His eternal plan. He cannot (as sovereign) stand aside and let things go according to the fallen reason of human beings, but instead He orders all things according to His perfect wisdom, plan, and glory. But even more, can God stand aside and put Himself in the hands of sinners to do with as they please? No, the wisdom, holiness, justice and sovereignty of God demand that all be done according to Him rather than be at the whim of sinners driven by whims, lusts, and passions. So God will not and cannot simply give Himself and His creation over to the hands of sinners to do with as they please.

To get even more nauseating, imagine that God gives Himself to sinners for them to apply to themselves as they please and to reject as they please is the height of absurdity. God will never share His glory with another and He can never hand over the reigns of the universe to anyone else. Grace, since it is really God Himself, can never be handed over to the whims and passions of sinful men. Men hate true grace before they are converted since they hate God. Men hate true grace and actually killed grace incarnate when they put Christ on the cross. Sinful men will only handle grace sinfully as well. But instead of men applying grace to themselves to be used as they please, it is God who must apply grace as He pleases in accordance with perfect wisdom. A grace that is not sovereign grace in the hands of God administered as He pleases is not grace at all. If at any moment God put grace in the hands of man to give to himself or anyone else as man pleased, at that moment it would cease to be grace. Grace is from God and His mere good pleasure which shows that it cannot be according to ‘free-will’ or anything else of man. Luther was right. The predestinating purpose of God in giving grace shows ‘free-will’ to be nothing more than man’s attempt to overthrow God and true grace and put grace in his own hands. When ‘free-will’ is seen in its true colors, it is a vile thing. It is nothing more than an attempt by man to be his own god and use the true God as man pleases.