II. De Libero Arbitrio
The Question of Free Will
The chapter opens by framing the central question: what powers does the fallen human will possess in spiritual matters before regeneration?
The state of the controversy. Since the will of man has a fourfold consideration — first, before the fall; second, after the fall; third, after regeneration; fourth, after the resurrection of the flesh — the principal question now concerns only the will and powers of man in the second state: what powers does he have in spiritual matters, after the fall of our first parents, before regeneration, from himself; and whether, by his own powers, before he has been regenerated through the Spirit of God, he can apply and prepare himself for the grace of God; and whether he can receive and lay hold of divine grace (which is offered to him through the Holy Spirit, in the word and in the Sacraments divinely instituted), or not.
The Affirmative Teaching
The positive confession asserts that the unregenerate human mind is wholly blind and the will is hostile to God, utterly unable to turn to spiritual life by its own power.
AFFIRMATIVE. The sincere teaching on this point, consistent with the unshaken rule of the divine Word. I. On this matter, our faith, teaching, and confession is this: namely, that the human intellect and reason are completely blind in spiritual matters, and cannot understand anything by their own powers. As it is written: The natural person doesn't perceive the things of the Spirit; they are foolishness to him, and he can't understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.✦ II. We believe, we teach, and we also confess: the will of one not yet reborn is not only turned away from God, but has even been made hostile to God — so that it desires and longs for only those things that are evil and that oppose the divine will, and takes delight in them. For it is written: The sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth. Likewise: The inclination of the flesh is enmity against God — for it is not subject to the law, and indeed it cannot be. Therefore we believe that just as a dead body is far from being able to give itself life or restore physical life to itself, so a person who has died spiritually through sin is far from having any power to call himself back to spiritual life — as it is written: When we were dead in sins, he gave us life together with Christ, etc. Therefore, even judging from ourselves, as it were on our own basis, we are not capable of thinking anything good: but whatever capability we do have, that itself is from God.
The Holy Spirit Works Through Means
Conversion is accomplished by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God's Word, and without His grace all human effort is fruitless.
III. Now it's the Holy Spirit who brings about a person's conversion, and not without means; but to bring it about, the Spirit regularly uses the preaching and the hearing of the word of God, as it is written: 'The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.' And faith comes from hearing the word of God. And indeed the Lord wills that his Word be heard, and that ears should not grow hard against its preaching. To this word the Holy Spirit is present, and he opens human hearts so that, as Lydia did in the Acts of the Apostles, they may listen attentively and in this way be converted — by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit alone, whose sole and only work the conversion of a person is. For if the grace of the Holy Spirit is absent, our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering are completely pointless — that is, if he does not grant the growth. As Christ says: 'Apart from me you can do nothing.' And in these few words Christ strips free will of every strength and attributes everything to divine grace, so that no one might have anything to boast of before God.
Rejection of Errors
The chapter turns to the negative side, announcing the condemnation of false teachings that contradict the standard of God's Word.
NEGATIVE. The rejection of contrary and false teaching.
Against Stoic and Manichean Fatalism
The first error rejected is the Stoic and Manichean doctrine of necessity, which claims all events — including wicked acts — occur by compulsion.
So let's reject and condemn all the errors we're about to recite, since they don't agree with the standard of God's word. I. First, we reject the raving doctrine of the Stoic philosophers, just like the frenzy of the Manichees, who taught that everything that happens must happen by necessity and could not possibly happen otherwise, and that a person is forced to do everything, even the things they do in outward matters, and that they are driven to commit wicked acts and crimes — such as wandering lusts, plunderings, murders, thefts, and the like.
Against Pelagian and Semipelagian Presumption
Pelagianism is condemned for claiming man can turn to God and merit salvation by his own strength, and Semipelagianism for claiming man can begin conversion without grace.
II. Let us also reject that blatant error of the Pelagians, who didn't hesitate to claim that a person can, by their own strength and without the grace of the Holy Spirit, turn themselves to God, believe the Gospel, obey the divine law from the heart, and in this way merit for themselves the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. III. Beyond these errors, we also reject the false teaching of the Semipelagians, who claim that a person can begin their own conversion by their own strength, but can't complete it without the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Against the Remonstrant Middle Ground
The Remonstrant teaching is rejected: that an unregenerate person, once the Holy Spirit has begun through the Word, can cooperate with grace by natural strength.
IV. Likewise, when it is taught that a person who is not yet reborn is, by reason of free will, weaker before their own regeneration than they would be able to make a beginning of their own conversion and, by their own strength, turn themselves to God and obey the law of God with their whole heart — yet if the Holy Spirit has made a beginning through the preaching of the Word and has offered their grace in the Word to the person, then the person's will, by their own and natural strength, in some small way — even though it is slight, weak, and very faint — is able to help conversion, to cooperate, and to apply itself to grace, to prepare it, to grasp it, to embrace it, and to believe the Gospel.
Against Perfectionism and Enthusiasm
The perfectionist claim that regenerate persons can perfectly fulfill the God's law is rejected, along with the Enthusiast error that God saves without Word and Sacraments.
V. Likewise, that after regeneration a person can perfectly observe and fulfill the law of God, and that this fulfillment is our righteousness before God, through which we may obtain eternal life. VI. We also reject and condemn the error of the Enthusiasts, who imagine that God draws people to himself, illuminates them, justifies them, and saves them immediately—without hearing the word of God and without the use of the Sacraments.
Against Extremes on the Soul and the Will
The error that God abolishes the substance of the soul in conversion is condemned, as is the unqualified language of a will that resists the Spirit before, during, and after conversion.
VII. Likewise, in the conversion and regeneration of a human being, God completely abolishes the substance and essence of the old Adam—especially the rational soul—and creates a new essence of the soul out of nothing, in that same conversion and regeneration. VIII. Likewise, when these sayings are used without explanation — that is, that a person's will resists the Holy Spirit before conversion, during conversion itself, and after conversion; and that the Holy Spirit is given to those who deliberately and stubbornly resist him — For in conversion God makes the unwilling willing, and dwells in those who are willing, as Augustine is accustomed to say.
Right Speech About Conversion
Expressions such as 'God draws the willing' and 'the will is not idle in conversion' are judged unsound when used to confirm free will's role in conversion.
As for certain sayings — now of the Fathers, now of certain more recent teachers — that apply here: God draws, but he draws the willing person; and the human will in conversion is not idle, but does something — we judge that these statements are not in accord with the standard of sound words. For these sayings are brought forward to confirm a false opinion about the powers of human free will in a person's conversion — against the teaching that attributes this work to divine grace alone. Therefore we think one must refrain from discourses of this kind whenever the conversion of a person to God is being discussed.
Passive in Conversion, Active in Sanctification
In conversion the will is purely passive before divine grace, but after regeneration it becomes an instrument of the Holy Spirit, cooperating in the works that follow.
On the contrary, it is rightly taught that the Lord, in conversion, through the drawing of the Holy Spirit (that is, the motion and operation) from resisting and unwilling people, makes them willing: and that after conversion, in the daily exercises of repentance, the will of a reborn person is not idle, but cooperates with all the works of the Holy Spirit that he brings about through us. Furthermore, what Luther wrote — that in conversion the human will is purely passive — is correct, and it's properly understood this way: with respect to divine grace in kindling new motions. That is, it must be understood of the situation when God's Spirit, through the Word heard or through the use of the Sacraments, approaches the human will and brings about conversion and regeneration in the person. For once the Holy Spirit has already accomplished this very thing and, by His own divine power and working, has transformed and renewed the human will, then truly that new will of the person becomes an instrument and organ of God's Holy Spirit, so that it not only receives grace but also cooperates with the Holy Spirit in the works that follow.
The Word and the Spirit Alone
Before conversion only the Holy Spirit and the Word of God are efficient causes; hearing the Word is required, but faith comes only by the Spirit's grace.
Therefore, before a person's conversion only two efficient causes are left (effective toward conversion), namely the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, which is the instrument of the Holy Spirit, by which the Holy Spirit brings about a person's conversion. A person certainly ought to hear this Word; yet in order to embrace it with true faith, they can by no means obtain this by their own strength alone, but only by the grace and working of God the Holy Spirit.
Read the original Latin
Status controversiae. Cum hominis voluntas quadruplicem habeat considerationem, Primo, ante lapsum: Secundo, post lapsum: Tertio, post regenerationem: Quarto, post resurrectionem carnis: Nunc quaestio praecipua est tantum de voluntate et viribus hominis in secundo statu, quasnam vires, post lapsum primorum parentum nostrorum, ante regenerationem ex seipso habeat, in rebus spiritualibus: an propriis viribus, antequam per spiritum Dei fuerit regeneratus, possit sese ad gratiam Dei applicare et praeparare: et num gratiam divinam (quae illi per Spiritum sanctum, in verbo et Sacramentis divinitus institutis offertur) accipere et apprehendere possit, nec ne.
AFFIRMATIVA. Sincera doctrina de hoc articulo, cum immota Regula verbi divini congruens.
I. De hoc negotio haec est fides, doctrina et confessio nostra: quod, videlicet, hominis intellectus et ratio, in rebus spiritualibus prorsus sint caeca, nihilque propriis viribus intelligere possint. Sicut scriptum est: Animalis homo non percipit ea, quae sunt spiritus: stultitia illi est, et non potest intelligere, quia de spiritualibus examinatur.
II. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur etiam: Voluntatem hominis nondum renatam, non tantum a Deo esse aversam, verum etiam inimicam Deo factam: ita ut tantummodo ea velit et cupiat, iisque delectetur, quae mala sunt, et voluntati divinae repugnant. Scriptum est enim: Sensus et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua. Item: Affectus carnis inimicitia est adversus Deum: neque enim legi subiicitur, ac ne potest id quidem. Itaque credimus, quantum abest, ut corpus mortuum seipsum vivificare, atque sibiipsi corporalem vitam restituere possit, tantum abesse, ut homo, qui ratione peccati spiritualiter mortuus est, seipsum in vitam spiritualem revocandi ullam facultatem habeat, sicut scriptum est: Cum essemus mortui in peccatis, convivificavit nos cum Christo, etc. Itaque etiam ex nobismetipsis, tanquam ex nobis, non sumus idonei, ut aliquid boni cogitemus: quod vero idonei sumus, idipsum a Deo est.
III. Conversionem autem hominis operatur Spiritus sanctus non sine mediis: sed ad eam efficiendam uti solet praedicatione, et auscultatione verbi Dei, sicut scriptum est: Evangelion est potentia Dei ad salutem omni credenti. Et: Fides est ex auditu verbi Dei. Et sane vult Dominus, ut ipsius Verbum audiatur, neque ad illius praedicationem aures obdurentur. Huic verbo adest praesens Spiritus sanctus, et corda hominum aperit, ut, sicut Lydia in Actis Apostolicis, diligenter attendant, et ita convertantur, sola gratia et virtute Spiritus sancti, cuius unius et solius opus est hominis conversio. Si enim Spiritus sancti gratia absit, nostrum velle, et currere, nostrum plantare, seminare, et rigare, prorsus frustranea sunt: si, videlicet, ille incrementum non largiatur, Sicut Christus inquit: Sine me nihil potestis facere. Et his quidem paucis verbis Christus libero arbitrio omnes vires derogat, omniaque gratiae divinae adscribit: ne quis coram Deo habeat, de quo glorietur.
NEGATIVA. Reiectio contrariae et falsae doctrinae.
Repudiamus igitur et damnamus omnes, quos iam recitabimus, errores, cum verbi divini regula non congruentes.
I. Primo delirum philosophorum Stoicorum dogma, quemadmodum et Manichaeorum furorem, qui docuerunt, omnia quae eveniant necessario fieri, et aliter fieri prorsus non posse: et hominem omnia coactum facere, etiam ea, quae in rebus externis agat: eumque ad designanda mala opera et scelera (qualia sunt, libidines vagae, rapinae, caedes, furta, et similia) cogi.
II. Repudiamus etiam crassum illum Pelagianorum errorem, qui asserere non dubitarunt, quod homo propriis viribus, sine gratia Spiritus sancti sese ad Deum convertere, Evangelio credere, legi divinae ex animo parere, et hac ratione peccatorum remissionem ac vitam aeternam ipse promereri valeat.
III. Praeter hos errores reiicimus et Semipelagianorum falsum dogma, qui docent, hominem propriis viribus inchoare posse suam conversionem: absolvere autem, sine Spiritus sancti gratia, non posse.
IV. Item, cum docetur, licet homo non renatus, ratione liberi Arbitrii, ante sui regenerationem infirmior quidem sit, quam ut conversionis suae initium facere, atque propriis viribus sese ad Deum convertere, et legi Dei toto corde parere valeat: tamen, si Spiritus sanctus praedicatione verbi initium fecerit, suamque gratiam in verbo homini obtulerit, tum hominis voluntatem, propriis et naturalibus suis viribus quodammodo aliquid, licet id modiculum, infirmum, et languidum admodum sit, conversionem adiuvare, atque cooperari, et seipsam ad gratiam applicare, praeparare, eam apprehendere, amplecti, et Evangelio credere posse.
V. Item, Hominem, post regenerationem, legem Dei perfecte observare atque implere posse: eamque impletionem esse nostram coram Deo iustitiam, qua vitam aeternam promereamur.
VI. Reiicimus etiam, damnamusque Enthusiastarum errorem: qui fingunt, Deum immediate, absque verbi Dei auditu, et sine Sacramentorum usu, homines ad se trahere, illuminare, iustificare et salvare.
VII. Item, Deum in conversione et regeneratione hominis, Substantiam et Essentiam veteris Adami, et praecipue animam rationalem penitus abolere, novamque animae essentiam ex nihilo, in illa conversione et regeneratione creare.
VIII. Item, Cum hi sermones citra declarationem usurpantur, quod videlicet hominis voluntas, ante conversionem, in ipsa conversione, et post conversionem, Spiritui sancto repugnet: et quod Spiritus sanctus iis detur, qui ex proposito et pertinaciter ipsi resistunt. Nam Deus in conversione ex nolentibus volentes facit, et in volentibus habitat: ut Augustinus loqui solet.
Quod vero ad dicta quaedam, tum Patrum, tum Neotericorum quorundam doctorum attinet: Deus trahit, sed volentem trahit: et, hominis voluntas in conversione non est otiosa, sed agit aliquid: iudicamus haec formae sanorum verborum non esse analoga. Afferuntur enim haec dicta ad confirmandam falsam opinionem, de viribus humani arbitrii in hominis conversione, contra doctrinam, quae soli gratiae divinae id opus attribuit. Ideoque ab eiusmodi sermonibus, quando de conversione hominis ad Deum agitur, abstinendum censemus.
Contra autem recte docetur, quod Dominus in conversione, per Spiritus sancti tractionem (id est, motum et operationem) ex hominibus repugnantibus et nolentibus, volentes homines faciat: et quod post conversionem in quotidianis poenitentiae exercitiis hominis renati voluntas non sit otiosa, sed omnibus Spiritus sancti operibus, quae ille per nos efficit, etiam cooperetur.
Item, Quod D. Lutherus scripsit, hominis voluntatem in conversione pure passive se habere: id recte et dextre est accipiendum, videlicet, respectu divinae gratiae in accendendis novis motibus: hoc est, de eo intelligi oportet, quando Spiritus Dei per verbum auditum, aut per usum Sacramentorum hominis voluntatem aggreditur, et conversionem atque regenerationem in homine operatur. Postquam enim Spiritus sanctus hoc ipsum iam operatus est, atque effecit, hominisque voluntatem sola sua divina virtute et operatione immutavit atque renovavit: tunc revera hominis nova illa voluntas instrumentum est et organon Dei Spiritus sancti, ut ea non modo gratiam apprehendat, verum etiam in operibus sequentibus Spiritui sancto cooperetur.
Relinquuntur igitur ante conversionem hominis duae tantum efficientes causae, (ad conversionem efficaces) nimirum Spiritus sanctus, et verbum Dei, quod est instrumentum Spiritus sancti, quo conversionem hominis efficit. Hoc verbum homo certe audire debet: sed tamen ut illud ipsum vera fide amplectatur, id nequaquam suis viribus propriis, sed sola gratia et operatione Dei Spiritus sancti obtinere potest.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.2.14 — But the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
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