The Bondage of the Will
Theological Book Reviews
Men are depraved. They are bound in
sin and in bondage to the unregenerate state. Here we find one of the
greatest, if not the great, work on the study of man's sin nature in
bondage to sin.
The Bondage of the Will
by
Martin Luther
Fleming H. Revell Company Publishers, Old Tappan, NJ: 1957.
322 Pages, Paperback
As the title states,
this book is “The Master work of the Great Reformer;”
this is no doubt the case. What
is at the heart of Luther’s theology and of the doctrine of
justification which struck his soul with a bolt of divine lightning?
It is the original depravity and sinfulness in man – that which
he knew well as an ascetic monk in the Augustinian order.
How much more qualified must the Reformer be to write an elenctic
treatise on the subject of wickedness and depravity?
Translated into English
by J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston this work is divided into 8 sections
and treats the subject of the “bondage” of the human “will” to
sin and wickedness as a result of inherent sin.
Erasmus denied this, and Luther set the record straight.
Luther’s work is written against Erasmus of Rotterdam who wrote
his famous “Diatribe” on the will which was a carnal work of the
flesh according to Luther. Luther
counters this diatribe by setting forth the biblical doctrine of
original sin.
Luther’s style is
that of the era he lived in (the 1500’s).
It is filled with sarcasm, blunt ad hominems, innuendo and
language that no scholarly writer would ever use today – that what
makes this so refreshing, Luther defends the bondage of the will against
the notion that men are all free to choose good or evil even in a
depraved state. It was
common for writers at that time to call each other “dogs” or “stupid” and the
like, as Luther does Erasmus. He
accuses him of many sins, and many wicked deeds as a result of his
writing such an offense as the Diatribe was against Holy
Scripture; even accusing him of never having read the Word of God well
(and Erasmus translated the NT into Greek.)
No doubt this is a
cornerstone work for the Reformation and for the truth.
Luther thought that of everything he wrote, this was his best and
most useful work. Every
Christian should read this work. If
we do not understand how our wills work, who we are before God, and how
we ought to continually view our standing before Him as a result of
Christ’s work, then we can never understand salvation.
Without knowing about the bad news (sin) we cannot every know
about the good news (freedom in Christ from sin and the ability to
glorify God). Men are in
bondage to sin and without being released from that bondage through the
cross of Christ our wills shall always be captive to wickedness and
evil.
Some Quotes:
“I know that to many
people a great deal remains obscure; but that is due, not to any lack of
clarity in Scripture, but to their own blindness and dullness, in that
they make no effort to see truth which, in itself, could not be plainer.
As Paul said of the Jews in 2 Cor. 4: “The veil remains on
their heart” (2 Cor. 3:15); and again, “If our Gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost, whose heart the god of this world has blinded
(2 Cor. 4:3-4).”
“In the NT, the
Gospel is preached and this is just the word that offers the Spirit and
grace for the remission of sins which was procured for us by Christ
crucified. It is all
entirely free, given by the mercy of God the Father alone as he shows
His favour towards us, who are unworthy, and who deserve condemnation
rather than anything else.”
“The Diatribe is
deceived by its own ignorance in that it makes no distinction between
God preach and God hidden, that is, between the Word of God and God
Himself.”
“For
once it is granted and settled that “free-will” has lost its
freedom, and is bound in the service of sin, and can will no good, I can
gather nothing from these words but that “free-will” is an empty
term whose reality is lost.” |
