. . . when God works in us, the will, being
changed and sweetly breathed on by the Spirit of God, desires and acts, not
from compulsion, but responsively, from pure willingness, inclination, and
accord; so that it cannot be turned another way by anything contrary, nor be
compelled or overcome even by the gates of hell; but it still goes on to
desire, crave after, and love that which is good; even as before, it desired,
craved after, and loved that which was evil. (pp 56, 57)
This
quote is a wonderful description of our will being led by the Holy Spirit as we
walk moment by moment in God’s way.
However, this quote is actually from a section of the book where Luther
describes God placing faith in us so that we become ‘willing believers’ by the
‘necessity’ that God has chosen and God has unilaterally put the faith in
us. With this context I take issue.
Martin
Luther was facing the many abuses within the Roman Catholic Church and
responded by allowing only a dichotomy to come under consideration as he talked
about ‘free will’ versus God’s sovereignty, predestination, and therefore ‘necessity’. This is really quite unfortunate since it
does not truly allow a clear look at the full topic under discussion because it
makes ‘willing belief’ part of ‘necessity’ and therefore part of predestination.
‘Free
will’ as Luther presents it allows a person to think s/he can get into God’s
presence and into heaven by their own efforts through such things as good
works, penance, sacraments, indulgences and obeying the Law since these are all
things Luther was fighting against since they suggest we can earn our way to
God and because they are ways for people in power to profit from the
helplessness of those under them without actually helping them in their
relationship with God. Luther rightfully
fought against the implications of such a ‘free will’.
Luther
would acknowledge only a God initiated grace that shows itself through predestination
that gives faith as a gift to the believer.
The difficulty in this picture is that a person’s faith is by ‘necessity’
rather than by ‘free will’ or by choice.
I can understand Luther’s hesitancy to allow any ‘free will’ in a
person’s life because the examples of human choices gone wrong show how really
wrong it can go. But I cannot really
comprehend his including the ‘willing belief’ of a person as part of God’s work
in predestination. I also understand
that putting ‘willing belief’ under ‘free will’ opens it up to all sorts of
abuses—as history has shown through the church at many different times but God
has always done things in such a dangerous way and our logic will not be able
to tame Him.
‘Willing
belief’ is an essential part of our walk with God. The problem with including ‘willing belief’
with predestination is that if God makes us believe willingly then the fall of
mankind was not necessary. The fall and
all the ensuing evil that has come our way is as a result of willing disbelief
and willing disobedience. That must be
countered by a people who choose Him willingly of their own choice. Willing people, made willing by the choice of
God, do not need to deal with the existence of evil and wrong choices because
God can make them ‘willing believers’ without any of that. This of course leads to the fact that they
will not need a Saviour since they are ‘willing believers’ whenever God wants
them to be ‘willing believers’ and so they can be ‘willing believers’ from
birth—no messiness required.
It
is true that ‘free will’ can never lead us to God because our sin nature will
prevent that. Therefore God must begin
the journey for us. He woos us and calls
us and loves us and draws us to the place where He gives us the choice: life or
death; relationship with Him or priority of self; trust-in-Him or do-it-alone. But that choice must be of our willing. He is an amazing God!
The Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass.) 2011
The Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass.) 2011
