God Loves… Himself

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.
(Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Luther wrote this classic work defending the Gospel of grace alone which comes to the sinner through faith alone. This book set out the heart of the Gospel and was the heart of the Gospel proclaimed during the Reformation. It was the Gospel that turned the world upside down. Luther was sure and loud about the utter necessity of the soul being humbled and broken before the soul would and could come to the point of experientially understanding that it was beyond hope in and of itself. The soul must arrive to the point that from the deepest part of the soul it is thoroughly persuaded that it cannot make contribute anything to its own salvation and that includes faith. That position is necessary for the soul to even understand what grace is and to rest in sovereign grace alone. What happens when people, even those who speak of total depravity and sovereign grace, do not teach that the soul must be humbled and broken to that degree? In the 1700’s Solomon Stoddard addressed that when he wrote this:

There are some who deny any necessity of the preparatory work of the Spirit of God in order to a closing with Christ. This is a very dark cloud, both as it is an evidence that men do not have the experience of that work in their own souls, and as it is a sight that such men are utterly unskillful in guiding others who are under this work. If this opinion should prevail in the land, it would give a deadly wound to religion. It would expose men to think of themselves as converted when they are not (A Guide to Christ).

It is not that this humbling of the soul is just something that a few people must go through, but it is what all souls must go through if they are to be converted. God does not just write a few things down in a book and try to get people to agree that they are true or say that they believe those things are true, but He works these things into the depths of their soul and so the belief of the soul actually mirrors what is going on in the soul. God does not just promise grace and expect people to stand back and believe that they have it, but instead He works this grace in their souls. So the humbled soul must not just believe a few things, but instead it is to actually be broken from itself and its pride and so be brought to its face in utter emptiness of self before it will receive grace in reality.

Faith is not just a belief that the brain has, but it is the core and deepest controlling belief of the soul. Until a soul is broken from pride and self-love, it will always trust in itself to believe a few things revealed about God. The biblical doctrine of grace demands nothing less from the soul than to be utterly broken with no help or hope in or from self. Can really have true faith unless it “depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone” and nothing of self? What does it mean to believe on Christ apart from depending absolutely on Christ for the will, counsel, pleasure, and work of God to save it? But in our degenerate and frighteningly shallow age that is under the spiritual judgment of God we accept as true that all a soul must do is to believe some facts with the brain. The Bible is quite clear that a person must be born from above and become a new creature in Christ Jesus in order to be saved. Oh how religion has received its deadly wound by those who deny that the soul must be thoroughly humbled by grace before it can receive grace. We have little more than a religion of self in our day. What else can it be when the soul doesn’t have to be truly broken and humbled from self?

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.
(Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Luther does not leave us any room for doubt what he meant by those that the promise of grace was to. We can repeat the words of Scripture that God gives His grace to the humble, but we can believe something far different about what the Bible means by humble. It would appear that in our day not many believe that a person must be truly humbled in order to be saved. Luther says that a person that is humbled is one that mourns over and despairs of himself. That does not go across well in our day. We want people to just believe some facts about Jesus rather than to be humbled to the point of mourning and despairing of self so that one can actually rest alone on and in Christ with the soul. It is easier on self and easier on those we know to do this. These are things that are impossible for us to do in our own strength and so we shy away from them. The heart of proud and sinful man wants to have facts he can believe or a prayer to pray rather than bow in utter submission to God. Sinful man always wants to leave himself some hope in self rather than to look to God alone. Clearly, this is nothing but pride.

In the modern day many of those who call themselves Reformed have also fallen away from this teaching of Luther and Scripture. They will retain his words of justification by faith alone, but they do not mean the same thing by them. Instead they have fallen into the heart of Arminianism and perhaps even of Pelagianism in simply having men to pray or say they believe. But a person must do more than say a prayer and convince him or herself to believe, that person must have a changed heart in order to have a believing heart. The believing heart is a heart that must be constantly receiving from Christ His grace because the believing heart lives by grace received. So the heart must be thoroughly broken because pride will never receive grace. But that is precisely the evangelism that is practiced by so many. They think that a person that prays a prayer or says that s/he believes is saved apart from being humbled and broken in reality and experience.

This brings us to a thought that is hated even more. In the 1700’s Solomon Stoddard wrote this:

There are some who deny any necessity of the preparatory work of the Spirit of God in order to a closing with Christ. This is a very dark cloud, both as it is an evidence that men do not have the experience of that work in their own souls, and as it is a sight that such men are utterly unskillful in guiding others who are under this work. If this opinion should prevail in the land, it would give a deadly wound to religion. It would expose men to think of themselves as converted when they are not (A Guide to Christ).

Stoddard held to the essence of what Luther taught about the soul needing to be humbled in order to be saved which was the Puritan way of evangelism too. His grandson, Jonathan Edwards, also taught that the soul needed to be deeply humbled and broken before a person could be saved by Christ alone. But this points out a sober truth as to where we are today. Virtually all deny any real necessity of the preparatory work of the Spirit. If they don’t deny it in words, they deny it in practice. But since so many deny that today, what are we to make of what Stoddard says just after that? “It is an evidence that men do not have the experience of that work in their own souls.” If men don’t think that this is necessary, and they were not thoroughly humbled themselves, then they resist this because it did not happen to them. They try to deny it because they rest their hope of salvation on the fact that it does not need to be done. But that simply means that both the minister and those he is “ministering” to are unconverted. When those who are leading the blind are blind, both will fall into a ditch. When those who have no peace are calling out that there is peace when there is no peace, a deadly wound has been given to religion. Ministers and non-ministers alike all think they are saved because they prayed a prayer, believed some facts, had some form of moral reformation, or perhaps have become very religious. But all the religious things they are doing come from a proud heart because they have never been truly humbled. We live in a day of great darkness regarding truly spiritual things.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the
first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realises that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.
(Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

This is one of the most powerful arguments presented by Luther and which shatters the thought that travels through much of modern preaching and evangelism. For Luther free-will was not only something that should not be preached in the Gospel, but the opposite must be preached in order for men to be saved. In Luther’s way of thinking the enslaved will must be taught so that men could be humbled from their pride and then they could comprehend the grace of God. So apart from teaching the enslavement of the will and men’s utter helplessness in sin men will not be humbled from their pride and so will not rest in sovereign grace alone.

If Luther was and is correct about this, the ramifications for the modern day are beyond enormous. Across America there seems to be but very few who teach what Luther said was utterly necessary. Pelagianism and Arminianism make up the vast majority, but those who claim to be Reformed are just like the Arminians when it comes to preaching and evangelism. It seems as if the vast majority of the professing Reformed will even argue against telling people that they are dead in their sins in evangelism. It is not enough to just tell a person that s/he is dead in sins and trespasses as information alone is not enough. It is not enough for a person just to be able to repeat that s/he is dead in sins and trespasses. The person must come to an experiential understanding of what that means and from the depths of the heart bow before the one and only sovereign God as dead and utterly helpless before Him. It is not enough for a person to hear or even believe that s/he is proud in heart, but a person must come to the experiential understanding of that. A person must feel the weight of pride in the heart and come to hate that pride in his or her own heart. It is only then that a person can really be turned from pride.

The promises of God are only to the humble. The proud soul, then, must be humbled to obtain the promises of God. Yet this is denied when people say that all a person must do is believe. It is true that a person must believe, but a proud person cannot believe. Only the humble truly believe in and on Christ. It is the humble and contrite that God is said to dwell with (Isa 57:15) and to look on with favor (Isa 66:2). Jesus called those who were weary and heavy-laden to Himself (Mat 11:25-30). He said that only those who were turned and become like children would enter the kingdom (Mat 18:1-3). There are not promises to the proud and that includes those who believe in some way in Christ and yet have not repented of a proud heart. Pride kills true faith (Hab 2:4) while it breeds many kinds and types of faith that deceives hearts that are full of pride even if that pride is covered in a false humility with acts of false love. The heart is wicked and deceptive and only God can open it to where the truth of it can be seen.

Grace is promised to the humble alone. The proud will not and cannot receive grace. The proud will stand upon their own faith, their own love, and their own humility and ways. The proud will stand on their own doctrine whether it is Pelagian, Arminian, or Reformed. It is their doctrine and it is their way. But the inward work of sovereign grace is not truly loved by the proud regardless of the doctrinal stance. The professing Calvinist can hate the sovereignty of God in truth while professing love for it at conferences and in public. A person must be saved by the inward working of grace and not just profess to believe certain things about it. Only the humble do that.

You say that a flood-gate of iniquity is opened by our doctrines. So be it. Ungodly men are part of that evil leprosy aforementioned, which we must endure. Nevertheless, these are the very doctrines which throw open to the elect, who fear God, a gateway of righteousness, an entrance into heaven, and a road to God! If, as you advise, we should keep off these doctrines and hide the word of God from men, and leave them all to labour under a false assurance of salvation, never learning the fear of God and true humiliation, and so never coming through that fear to true, saving grace and love—why, then we should have shut our flood-gate to some purpose; for in its place we should set open before ourselves and everyone else broad gates, yes, gaping chasms and raging whirlpools, to take us down not only into sin, but into the very depths of hell! Thus we too should fail to enter heaven ourselves, and hinder others who were entering (cf. Matt. 23:13). (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).

The above quote by Luther should open minds to reality. Parts of the modern professing Church has eschewed the so-called seeker oriented part in theory, but have swallowed some of its practices. We are being taught to be gracious and winsome rather than to teach the truth. The truth of God will always be hated by people in this world. The truth of God will always have its rough edges when applied to the hearts of those who hate Him. The Law of God, when spiritually applied to the consciences of sinners, will evoke unpleasant responses. We cannot expect to have peace in this world unless we are enough like it to pare the rough edges of biblical truth down to where men will not be offended at it. To achieve peace within denominations, churches, and with other people we attempt to pare down the Word of God and make it palatable. But this is to hide the truth from people. Professing Calvinists want to be accepted and have honor among their denominations as well, so they take the rough edges off their teaching which is to make it just like the others at the heart of it. But this is to hide the truth from people for the sake of our comfort and ease and so we can have honor in our denominations. This is idolatry (John 5:44).

The preacher of the Gospel must constantly keep God as the focus and not humans. There is no true love for human souls or good done to human souls apart from the glory of God being the true focus. When human beings focus on sinners and they know that they are the focus then the idea is left with the sinner that God is focused on him or her. That is the heart of idolatry. Sinners must repent of their self-centeredness and of their very selves and become God-centered in order to be converted. If that is correct, and certainly Jesus said that we must deny self in order to follow Him, then a focus on the sinner and giving the impression that God is focused on the center is to communicate that which is opposite of the Gospel. When the doctrines and teachings of the Gospel are watered down in order to make them palatable to man and so we can be more gracious, what we have done is to think our graciousness is stronger and better than the grace of God. It is also to hide the truth about God and His Word from men and to leave them in their self-centeredness. It is a very self-centered thing to do on our part. It is also an idolatrous thing to do on our part as we would rather have men like and honor us than to hear the truth of God.

The love of men is a massive cause for stumbling in our day. Our society and culture is awash with niceness and politeness rather than love. So the professing Church has been filled with the same thing as well. This means that preachers are fired for teaching the truth, but violating what many think of as love. But in fact the brutal truth of it all is that man is man-centered rather than God-centered and has been washed off the biblical rock with humanism. The Gospel of grace alone must be preached or we are not preaching the Gospel. The doctrines of man’s utter helplessness in sin and of sovereign grace must be preached or the Gospel is not being preached. Oh how so many want to hide these necessary truths under a biblical cloak these days, but the reality of it is that if the Gospel is to be preached these cannot be hidden. Oh how deceitful our hearts are to try and hide the truth from men while making religious excuses for it. It is the Pelagian heart that is ashamed of these things and wants to hide them. It is the Pelagian heart (even if wrapped in Reformed clothing) that thinks these things can be hidden from souls and then spring it on them later after they are more mature. The Gospel is offensive when it is preached in truth!

Those who love the honor and praise of men rather than God should wake up and realize that they are idolaters and not preachers of truth. In order to be a true preacher of the Gospel a person must preach the truth of God and about God. It is actually hatred for souls if we are willing to try to please them rather than God. Indeed when we try to hide the truth of these things from people we are shutting the door to the truth to them and to ourselves. That is precisely what lovers of self do, even if they have the form of truth and orthodoxy. It is, after all, just a form.

You say that a flood-gate of iniquity is opened by our doctrines. So be it. Ungodly men are part of that evil leprosy aforementioned, which we must endure. Nevertheless, these are the very doctrines which throw open to the elect, who fear God, a gateway of righteousness, an entrance into heaven, and a road to God! If, as you advise, we should keep off these doctrines and hide the word of God from men, and leave them all to labour under a false assurance of salvation, never learning the fear of God and true humiliation, and so never coming through that fear to true, saving grace and love—why, then we should have shut our flood-gate to some purpose; for in its place we should set open before ourselves and everyone else broad gates, yes, gaping chasms and raging whirlpools, to take us down not only into sin, but into the very depths of hell! Thus we too should fail to enter heaven ourselves, and hinder others who were entering (cf. Matt. 23:13). (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).

Erasmus was fearful that if the doctrines of grace and of the enslaved will were taught a lot of sin would result. Luther did not see that as a problem as such, but that these are the doctrines who throw open the Gospel to the elect and show the road to God. Luther did not see it as a problem at all to boldly teach the enslaved will of man and the grace of God because that taught men the truth. It stripped some of their false assurance of salvation whereas the method of Erasmus hid the word of God from men and left them in their false assurance of salvation. Not only that, they would never learn the true humiliation of the soul and so never coming to the point of really understanding and bowing to saving grace and love.

Luther believed that a soul must be thoroughly humbled before it could be saved. It must be emptied of all hope in self and to despair of any hope that self could contribute one thing to salvation. In many ways coming to the experiential part of that is what total depravity applied to the soul really is. It is relatively easy for souls to come to an understanding of what total depravity means, but it is impossible for the soul to come to the point of utter helplessness in itself and looking to grace alone apart from grace doing the work in the soul. The soul must be emptied of self so that it can be filled with Christ. As long as we do not teach the truth about the enslaved will we will not be preaching to souls what they need to experientially understand in the depths of their souls about themselves and then learn of true grace and love.

It may be the case that some people will misunderstand and misapply what it means to have an enslaved will and what it means to be saved and sanctified by grace alone. But that cannot mean that the truth should be withheld or hidden from people. The truth must be preached for the Gospel to be preached. The Gospel will always be ridiculed and made fun of. But the Gospel of grace alone must be preached because that is the only Gospel that there is and the one and only God is the One that shines forth His glory in the Gospel. People who hate the truth will be hardened to it, but that says nothing evil about the truth itself. The position of Erasmus was that of a moralist who believed that external morality was what was good. But in Scripture the Pharisees were external moralists and they were lost. Jesus was accused of many things as well, but He kept on preaching the truth. Indeed the truth will harden people and God will blind many to the truth, but the truth must be preached. When man pares down the truth of the Gospel to make it more palatable to the ungodly, the truth and glory of the Gospel is gone.

Whenever the truth of God is hidden from people in order to produce an external morality, a false way of salvation is presented to souls. That means that the fallen hearts of human beings will find refuge in false gospels and error. It is, to use the thought of Luther, to shut the gates to some immorality but it is also to open the gates wide to hell. It would be to hide the truth of the Gospel and of true morality and leave men in a religious morality which is a form of morality that God hates. What happens, then, is that a gate to a form of immorality is shut but it opens other gates that are far worse. Man’s way always does that. Another problem is that not only does it shut the door to heaven (so to speak) for others, but it also means that the preachers are preaching a false gospel and are shutting the door on themselves as well. Hiding this truth has massive ramifications for eternal souls and His glory.

There is no good reason to hide the truth of God from human souls. Those who hide the truth of the enslaved will from others are guilty of hiding a very important truth that is necessary to understand the Gospel of Christ alone and of grace alone. Sure some think that this is going too far, but according to Scripture souls are saved by grace and grace alone. Anything necessary to that is a necessary teaching. We had best not hide it from people.

In the last BLOG we looked at how the biblical use of the word “faith” is really shorthand for Christ. This shows us that salvation is by Christ alone and those who focus on faith as if it moves God to save or allow for man to trust in himself to come up with faith are really misleading people as to the true nature of the Gospel. While there are several today who will at least agree that God is sovereign and that faith is His gift, they don’t think this is important enough to talk about in evangelism. It is almost as if they think this is a truth that needs to be seated in the corner while important doctrines take center stage.

Here, I see, you are taking the view that the truth and usefulness of Scripture should be measured and decided according to the feeling of men—to be precise, of the ungodliest of men; so that nothing henceforth will be true, Divine and wholesome but what these persons find pleasing and acceptable; and what is not so will at once become useless, untrue and harmful. What else do you here plead for, but that the words of God may thus depend on, and stand or fall by, the will and authority of men? (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will).

When men decide to hold back truths that are very vital to the Gospel of grace alone as the enslaved will is, they are being just like Erasmus. While they will not admit that they are like Erasmus, they are. They are afraid of offending ungodly men while they are not afraid of offending a thrice holy God. Scripture is quite clear that men are dead in sins and trespasses and cannot contribute one thing to salvation. Dead men have nothing to contribute. Scripture is quite clear that the will of man cannot contribute one thing in salvation.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

Scripture is explicit that man’s will cannot save, but only the will of God can. It goes to pains in these verses to show that it is not the man who wills that is saved. It is the will of God that saves man. It is the compassion and mercy of God that saves man. When we focus on the will of man we take our eyes off of the grace of God who will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. The conclusion Paul draws in Romans 9:16 is taken from Romans 9:15. He is quite unconcerned about offending the ungodly by these verses. Instead, He takes the passage from Exodus 33 and makes a startling conclusion. Because God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion, it does not depend on the man who wills. We must let Paul’s premises and conclusion settle into our minds and hearts and have our thinking developed by Scripture rather than the fear of offending ungodly men who have the breath of life in their nostrils rather than the power of life itself.

Because God will save by grace alone rather than any other way, salvation does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but instead on God who is the One who shows mercy. If the Gospel of grace alone depends on our teaching a salvation that is of grace alone and it is God who shows this grace to whom He pleases, then we must not teach a gospel that is dependent on the will of man in any way. If the apostle Paul teaches us with clarity and power that because God shows mercy to whom He will that the will of man (free-will) has nothing to do with his own salvation, then we must teach the same thing if we are going to preach the Gospel of grace alone as Paul did. If we are going to preach a Gospel that is truly all of grace alone, then we must preach a Gospel that is of Christ alone. Yet if we follow John and Paul on this matter, we can see that we cannot preach the Gospel of Christ alone and grace alone unless we teach that man’s will cannot contribute one thing to salvation. If we teach that, it will involve teaching the utter helplessness of man in sin so that the sovereign grace of God can be declared.

It is true that if we preach this way and evangelize this way we will offend the ungodly whether they claim to be Christians or not. But we cannot preach the true Gospel of grace alone as Paul did without offending the ungodly. So if our goal is not to offend the ungodly, we should realize that the real problem is that we are unwilling to suffer for the Gospel of grace alone. The real issue of offending others is that we want to be liked and honored. But as Jesus said, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (John 5:44). If we are more concerned about running people off than seeking the presence of God, He is gone already and most likely we are not preaching the Gospel of grace alone in truth. What this teaches us is that there are many ministers who need to repent and believe the Gospel before they can preach it. This is not limited to Arminians and Pelagians, but to those who profess to be Reformed as well.

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.