Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  DISCUSSION: THIRD PART.

  WE ARE NOW arrived at the LAST PART OF THIS DISCUSSION. Wherein I am, as I proposed, to bring forward my forces against “Free-will.” But I shall not produce them all, for who could do that within the limited of this small book, when the whole Scripture, in every letter and iota, stands on my side? Nor is there any necessity for so doing; seeing that, “Free-will” already lies vanquished and prostrate under a two-fold overthrow. - The one where I have proved, that all those things, which it imagined made for itself, make directly against itself. - The other, where I have made it manifest, that those Scriptures which it attempted to refute, still remain invincible. - If, therefore, it had not been vanquished by the former, it is enough if it be laid prostrate by the one weapon or the other. And now, what need is there that the enemy, already dispatched by the one weapon or the other, should have his dead body stabbed with a number of weapons more? In this part, therefore, I shall be as brief as the subject will allow: and from such numerous armies, I shall produce only two champion-generals with a few of their legions - Paul, and John the Evangelist!

  Sect. CXXXV. - PAUL, writing to the Romans, thus enters upon his argument, against Free-will, and for the grace of God. “The wrath of God (saith he) is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Rom. i. 18) -

  Dost thou hear this general sentence “against all men,” - that they are all under the wrath of God? And what is this but declaring, that they all merit wrath and punishment? For he assigns the cause of the wrath against them - they do nothing but that which merits wrath; because they are all ungodly and unrighteous, and hold the truth in unrighteousness. Where is now the power of “Freewill” which can endeavour any thing good? Paul makes it to merit the wrath of God, and pronounces it ungodly and unrighteous. That, therefore, which merits wrath and is ungodly, only endeavours and avails against grace, not for grace.

  But some one will here laugh at the yawning inconsiderateness of Luther, for not looking fully into the intention of Paul. Some one will say, that Paul does not here speak of all men, nor of all their doings; but of those only who are ungodly and unrighteous, and who, as the words themselves describe them, “hold the truth in unrighteousness;” but that, it does not hence follow, that all men are the same.

  Here I observe, that in this passage of Paul, the words “against all ungodliness of men” are of the same import, as if you should say, - against the ungodliness of all men. For Paul, in almost all these instances, uses a Hebraism: so that, the sense is, - all men are ungodly and unrighteous, and hold the truth in unrighteousness; and therefore, all merit wrath. Hence, in the Greek, there is no relative which might be rendered ‘of those who,’ but an article, causing the sense to run thus, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteousness.” So that this may be taken as an epithet, as it were, applicable to all men as “holding the truth in unrighteousness:” even as it is an epithet where it is said, “Our Father which art in heaven:” which might in other words be expressed thus: Our heavenly Father, or Our Father in heaven. For it is so expressed to distinguish those who believe and fear God.

  But these things might appear frivolous and vain, did not the very train of Paul’s argument require them to be so understood, and prove them to be true. For he had said just before, “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. i. 16). These words are surely neither obscure or ambiguous, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek:” that is, the Gospel of the power of God is necessary unto all men, that, believing in it, they might be saved from the wrath of God revealed. Does he not then, I pray you, who declares, that the Jews who excelled in righteousness, in the law of God, and in the power of “Free-will,” are, without difference, destitute and in need of the power of God, by which they might be saved, and who makes that power necessary unto them, consider that they are all under wrath? What men then will you pretend to say are not under the wrath of God, when you are thus compelled to believe, that the most excellent men in the world, the Jews and Greeks, were so?

  And further, whom among those Jews and Greeks themselves will you except, when Paul subjects all of them, included in the same word, without difference, to the same sentence? And are we to suppose that there were no men, out of these two most exalted nations, who ‘aspired to what was meritoriously good?’ Were there none among them who thus aspired with all the powers of their “Free-will?” Yet Paul makes no distinction on this account, he includes them all under wrath, and declares them all to be ungodly and unrighteous. And are we not to believe that all the other Apostles each one according to the work he had to do, included all other nations under this wrath, in the same way of declaration?

  Sect. CXXXVI. - THIS passage of Paul, therefore, stands firmly and forcibly urging - that “Freewill,” even in its most exalted state, in the most exalted men, who were endowed with the law, righteousness, wisdom, and all the virtues, was ungodly and unrighteous, and merited the wrath of God; or the argument of Paul amounts to nothing. And if it stand good, his division leaves no medium: for he makes those who believe the Gospel to be under the salvation, and all the rest to be under the wrath of God: he makes the believing to be righteous, and the unbelieving to be ungodly, unrighteous, and under wrath. For the whole that he means to say is this: - The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel, that it might be by faith. But God would be wanting in wisdom, if He should reveal righteousness unto men, when they either knew it already or had ‘some seeds’ of it themselves. Since, however, He is not wanting in wisdom, and yet reveals unto men the righteousness of salvation, it is manifest, that “Free-will” even in the most exalted of men, not only has wrought, and can work no righteousness, but does not even know what is righteous before God. - Unless you mean to say, that the righteousness of God is not revealed unto these most exalted of men, but to the most vile! - But the boasting of Paul is quite the contrary - that he is a debtor, both to the Jews and to the Greeks, to the wise and to the unwise, to the Greeks and to the barbarians.

  Wherefore Paul, comprehending, in this passage, all men together in one mass, concludes that they are all ungodly, unrighteous, and ignorant of the righteousness of faith: so far is it from possibility, that they can will or do any thing good. And this conclusion is moreover confirmed from this: - that God reveals the righteousness of faith to them, as being ignorant and sitting in darkness: therefore, of themselves, they know it not. And if they be ignorant of the righteousness of salvation, they are certainly under wrath and damnation: nor can they extricate themselves therefrom, nor endeavour to extricate themselves: for how can you endeavour, if you know neither what you are to endeavour after, nor in what way, nor to what extent, you are to endeavour?

  Sect: CXXXVII. - WITH this conclusion both the thing itself and experience agree. For shew me one of the whole race of mankind, be he the most holy and most just of all men, into whose mind it ever came, that the way unto righteousness and salvation, was to believe in Him who is both God and man, who died for the sins of men and rose again, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, that He might still that wrath of God the Father which Paul here says is revealed from heaven?

  Look at the most eminent philosophers! What ideas had they of God! What have they left behind them in their writings concerning the wrath to come! Look at the Jews instructed by so many wonders and so many successive Prophets! What did they think of this way of righteousness? They not only did not receive it, but so hated it, that no nation under heaven has more atrociously persecuted Christ, unto this day. And who would dare to say, that in so great a people, there was not one who cultivated “Free-will,” and endeavoured with all its power? How comes it to pass, then, that they all endeavour in the directly opposite, and that that which was the most excellent in the most excellent men, not only did not follow this way o
f righteousness, not only did not know it, but even thrust it from them with the greatest hatred, and wished to away with it when it was published and revealed? So much so, that Paul saith, this way was “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 23.).

  Since, therefore, Paul speaks of the Jews and Gentiles without difference, and since it is certain that the Jews and Gentiles comprehend the principal nations under heaven, it is hence certain, that “Free-will” is nothing else than the greatest enemy to righteousness and the salvation of man: for it is impossible, but that there must have been some among the Jews and Gentile Greeks who wrought and endeavoured with all the powers of “Free-will;” and yet, by all that endeavouring, did nothing but carry on a war against grace.

  Do you therefore now come forward and say, what “Free-will” can endeavour towards good, when goodness and righteousness themselves are a “stumbling-block” unto it, and “foolishness.” Nor can you say that this applies to some and not to all. Paul speaks of all without difference, where he says, “to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness:” nor does he except any but believers. “To us, (saith he,) who are called, and saints, it is the power of God and wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. i. 24)). He does not say to some Gentiles, to some Jews; but plainly, to the Gentiles and to the Jews, who are “not of us.” Thus, by a manifest division, separating the believing from the unbelieving, and leaving no medium whatever. And we are now speaking of Gentiles as working without grace: to whom Paul saith, the righteousness of God is “foolishness,” and they abhor it. - This is that meritorious endeavour of “Free-will” towards good!

  Sect. CXXXVIII. - SEE, moreover, whether Paul himself does not particularize the most exalted among the Greeks, where he saith, that the wisest among them “became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened;” that “they became wise in their own conceits:” that is, by their subtle disputations. (Rom. i. 21).

  Does he not here, I pray you, touch that, which was the most exalted and most excellent in the Greeks, when he touches their “imaginations?” For these comprehend their most sublime and exalted thoughts and opinions; which they considered as solid wisdom. But he calls that their wisdom, as well in other places “foolishness,” as here “vain imagination;” which, by its endeavouring, only became worse; till at last they worshipped an idol in their own darkened hearts, and proceeded to the other enormities, which he afterwards enumerates.

  If therefore, the most exalted and devoted endeavours and works in the most exalted of the nations be evil and ungodly, what shall we think of the rest, who are, as it were, the commonalty, and the vilest of the nations? Nor does Paul here make any difference between those who are the most exalted, for he condemns all the devotedness of their wisdom, without any respect of persons. And if he condemn their very works and devoted endeavours, he condemns those who exert them, even though they strive with all the powers of “Free-will.” Their most exalted endeavour, I say, is declared to be evil - how much more then the persons themselves who exert it!

  So also, just afterwards, he rejects the Jews, without any difference, who are Jews “in the letter” and not “in the spirit.” “Thou (saith he) honourest God in the letter, and in the circumcision.” Again, “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly.” Rom. i. 27-29.

  What can be more manifest than the division here made? The Jew outwardly, is a transgressor of the law! And how many Jews must we suppose there were, without the faith, who were men the most wise, the most religious, and the most honourable, who aspired unto righteousness and truth with all the devotion of endeavour? Of these the apostle continually bears testimony: - that they had “a zeal of God,” that they “followed after righteousness,” that they strove day and night to attain unto salvation, that they lived “blameless:” and yet they are transgressors of the law, because they are not Jews “in the spirit,” nay they determinately resist the righteousness of faith. What conclusion then remains to be drawn, but that, “Free-will” is then the worst when it is the best; and that, the more it endeavours, the worse it becomes, and the worse it is! The words are plain - the division is certain - nothing can be said against it.

  Sect. CXXXIX. - BUT let us hear Paul, who is his own interpreter. In the third chapter, drawing up, as it were, a conclusion, he saith, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we have before proved both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.” (Rom. iii. 9).

  Where is now “Free-will!” All, saith he, both Jews and Greeks are under sin! Are there any ‘tropes’ or ‘difficulties’ here? What would the ‘invented interpretations’ of the whole world do against this all-clear sentence? He who says “all,” excepts none. And he who describes them all as being “under sin,” that is, the servants of sin, leaves them no degree of good whatever. But where has he given this proof that “they are all, both Jews and Gentiles, under sin?” Nowhere, but where I have already shewn: viz., where he saith, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” This he proves to them afterwards from experience: shewing them, that being hated of God, they were given up to so many vices, in order that they might be convinced from the fruits of their ungodliness, that they willed and did nothing but evil. And then, he judges the Jews also separately; where he saith, that the Jew “in the letter,” is a transgressor of the law: which he proves, in like manner, from the fruits, and from experience: saying, “Thou who declarest that a man should not steal, stealest thyself: thou who abhorrest idols, committest sacrilege.” Thus excepting none whatever, but those who are Jews “in the spirit.”

  Sect. CXL. - BUT let us see how Paul proves his sentiments out of the Holy Scriptures: and whether the passages which he adduces ‘are made to have more force in Paul, than they have in their own places.’ “As it is written, (saith he,) There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” &c. (Rom. iii. 10-23).

  Here let him that can, produce his ‘convenient interpretation,’ invent ‘tropes,’ and pretend that the words ‘are ambiguous and obscure!’ Let him that dares, defend “Free-will” against these damnable doctrines! Then I will at once give up all and recant, and will myself become a confessor and assertor of “Free-will.” It is certain, that these words apply to all men: for the prophet introduces God, as looking down from heaven upon men and pronouncing this sentence upon them. So also Psalm xiv. 2-3. “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God. But they are all gone out of the way,”& c. And that the Jews might not imagine that this did not apply to them by anticipation, and asserts, that it applied to them most particularly: saying, “We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law.” (Rom. iii. 19). And his intention is the same, where he saith, “To the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

  You hence hear, that all the sons of men, all that are under the law, that is, the Gentiles as well as the Jews, are accounted before God ungodly; not understanding, not seeking after God, no, not even one of them; being all gone out of the way and become unprofitable. And surely, among all the “children of men,” and those who are “under the law,” those must also be numbered who are the best and most laudable, who aspire after that which is meritorious and good, with all the powers of “Free-will;” and those also of whom the Diatribe boasts as having the sense and certain seeds of good implanted in them; - unless it means to contend that they are the “children” of angels!

  How then can they endeavour toward good, who are all, without exception, ignorant of God, and neither regard nor seek after God? How can they have a power able to attain unto good, who all, without exception, decline from good and become utterly unprofitable? Are not the words most clear? And do they not declare
this, - that all men are ignorant of God and despise God, and then, turn unto evil and become unprofitable unto good? For Paul is not here speaking of the ignorance of seeking food, or the contempt of money, but of the ignorance and contempt of religion and of godliness. And that ignorance and contempt, most undoubtedly, are not in the “flesh,” that is, (as you interpret it,) ‘the inferior and grosser affections,’ but in the most exalted and most noble powers of man, in which, righteousness, godliness, the knowledge and reverence of God, ought to reign; that is, in the reason and in the will; and thus, in the very power of “Free-will,” in the very seed of good, in that which is the most excellent in man!

  Where are you now, friend Erasmus! you who promised ‘that you would freely acknowledge, that the most excellent faculty in man is “flesh,” that is, ungodly, if it should be proved from the Scriptures?’ Acknowledge now, then, when you hear, that the most excellent faculty in man is not only ungodly, but ignorant of God, existing in the contempt of God, turned to evil, and unable to turn towards good. For what is it to be “unrighteous,” but for the will, (which is one of the most noble faculties in man,) to be unrighteous? What is it to understand nothing either of God or good, but for the reason (which is another of the most noble faculties in man) to be ignorant of God and good, that is, to be blind to the knowledge of godliness? What is it to be “gone out of the way,” and to have become unprofitable, but for men to have no power in one single faculty, and the least power in their most noble faculties, to turn unto good, but only to turn unto evil! What is it not to fear God, but for men to be in all their faculties, and most of all in their noblest faculties, contemners of all the things of God, of His words, His works, His laws, His precepts, and His will! What then can reason propose, that is right, who is thus blind and ignorant? What can the will choose that is good, which is thus evil and impotent? Nay, what can the will pursue, where the reason can propose nothing, but the darkness of its own blindness and ignorance? And where the reason is thus erroneous, and the will averse, what can the man either do or attempt, that is good!