Bondage
of the Will
|
As long as we
are here in this world we have to sin. This life is not a dwelling
place of righteousness
|
Martin Luther
|
The humanist Erasmus
of Rotterdam (1469
– 1536) had written a book on
free will. Martin
Luther, the
runaway Augustinian monk, published a rebuttal, in powerful Latin and
very much
in the spirit of Saint Augustine himself. In De Servo Arbitrio - “Concerning the Bondage of Will” -
Luther made it
crystal clear that it is "essentially
necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing by contingency,
but that He
foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable,
eternal,
and infallible will. By this thunderbolt, 'Free-will' is thrown
prostrate, and
utterly dashed to pieces. Those, therefore, who would assert
'Free-will,' must
either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to see it, or push it from
them."
So if we believe …
“… it to be true, that
God fore-knows
and fore-ordains all things; that He can be neither deceived nor
hindered in His
Prescience and Predestination; and that nothing can take place but
according to
His Will, (which reason herself is compelled to confess;) then, even
according
to the testimony of reason herself, there can be no "Free-will" - in
man, - in angel, - or in any creature!”
“If we believe that
Satan is the
prince of this world, ever ensnaring and fighting against the kingdom
of Christ
with all his powers; and that he does not let go his captives without
being
forced by the Divine Power of the Spirit; it is manifest, that there
can be no
such thing as "Free-will!”
“If we believe that
original sin has
so destroyed us, that even in the godly who are led by the Spirit, it
causes
the utmost molestation by striving against that which is good; it is
manifest,
that there can be nothing left in a man devoid of the Spirit, which can
turn
itself towards good, but which must turn towards evil!”
“If the Jews, who
followed after
righteousness with all their powers, ran rather into unrighteousness,
while the
Gentiles who followed after unrighteousness attained unto a free
righteousness
which they never hoped for; it is equally manifest, from their very
works, and
from experience, that man, without grace, can do nothing but will evil!”
“Finally: If we believe
that Christ
redeemed men by His blood, we are compelled to confess, that the whole
man was
lost: otherwise, we shall make Christ superfluous, or a Redeemer of the
grossest part of man only, - which is blasphemy and sacrilege!”
So far not the statement of a raving
fanatic, this is
Christian doctrine pure and simple, and as far as I know, there is
nothing in
it that contradicts the Catholic statement of faith. Jesus himself said
that
the "very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Mt. 10:30; also see Mt. 22:1-14). "Many
are called but few are chosen;" (Mk. 10:17-27; Mt. 5:10-12, 5:14-15;). But the zeal with which he spoke, was
all Luther’s
own, and it has a certain logic:
“Here then, I see, you
suppose that
the truth and the utility of the Scripture are to be weighed and judged
of
according to the opinion of men, so that, what pleases or seems
bearable,
should be deemed true, divine, and wholesome: and what has the contrary
effect,
should at once be deemed useless, false, and pernicious. What else can you
mean by all this,
than that the words of God should depend on, stand on, and fall by, the
will
and authority of men?”
This is true! Whosoever is
accepting the concept of
“scripture” must also accept that “scripture” not always complies with
our
wishes and pet-ideas. Therefore:
“This is the highest
degree of faith
- to believe that He is merciful, who saves so few and damns so many;
to
believe Him just, who makes us necessarily damnable, that He may seem
to
delight in the torments of the miserable, and to be an object of hatred
rather
than of love. If, therefore, I could by any means comprehend how that
same God
can be merciful and just, who carries the appearance of so much wrath
and
iniquity, there would be no need of faith. But since that cannot be
comprehended, there is room for exercising faith, while God kills and
the faith
of life is exercised in death” (Luther).
If you ask me, a rather desperate “faith,”
only a
hair’s breadth away from admitting the hollow nihilism sloshing in the
foundations, like water after a rainfall.
© - 1/9/2007 - by
michael sympson, 750 words, all rights
reserved
