Free Will (14)
But now, since God has put my salvation out of the way of my will, and has taken it under His own, and has promised to save me, not according to my working or manner of life, but according to His own grace and mercy, I rest fully assured and persuaded that He is faithful, and will not lie, and moreover great and powerful, so that no devils, no adversities can destroy Him, or pluck me out of His Hand.
Martin Luther
Bondage of the Will, Section 1643.3K
As to myself, I openly confess, that I should not wish free will to be granted me, even if it could be so, nor anything else to be left in my own hands, whereby I might endeavor something toward my own salvation.Bondage of the Will, Section 164
free will cannot be applied to anyone but to God only. You may, perhaps, rightly assign to man some kind of will, but to assign unto him free will in divine things, is going too far.Bondage of the Will, Section 41
A man's free will cannot cure him even of the toothache, or a sore finger; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure his soul.
For by their free will, they have made Christ to be unto them no longer a sweet Mediator, but a dreaded Judge, whom they strive to please by the intercessions of the Virgin Mother, and of the Saints; and also, by variously invented works, by rites, ordinances, and vows; by all which, they aim at appeasing Christ, in order that He might give them graceBondage of the Will, Section 157
For if the righteousness of God exist without the law, and without the works of the law, how shall it not much rather exist without free will!Bondage of the Will, Section 147
If, therefore, free will be of one and the same nature and impotency in all men, no reason can be given why it should attain unto grace in one, and not in another; if nothing else be preached to all, but the goodness of a long-suffering and the punishment of a mercy-showing God.Bondage of the Will, Section 81
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.The Bondage of the Will (33)
The subject of free will is neither the intellect, nor the will, but both faculties conjointly.
That the will is indeed free, but not freed--free of righteousness, but enslaved to sin.Contra Julianum
How few are there who, when they hear free will attributed to man, do not immediately imagine that he is the master of his mind and will in such a sense, that he can of himself incline himself either to good or evil? It may be said that such dangers are removed by carefully expounding the meaning to the people. But such proneness of the human mind to go astray, that it will more quickly draw error from one little word, than truth from a lengthened discourse.Institutes, Book 2 Chapter 2
the will (without any metaphysical refining) is plainly, that by which the mind chooses any thing. The faculty of the will is that faculty or power, or principle of mind, by which it is capable of choosing: an act of the will is the same as an act of choosing or choice.Part I Sect I, Freedom of the Will
the advocates for free will will be admonished in this place, that when they assert free will, they are deniers of Christ. For if I obtain grace by my own endeavors, what need have I of the grace of Christ for the receiving of my grace?Bondage of the Will, Section 157
There is a great deal about us as indviduals that we have not chosen. None of us has been asked to decide in what century we would be born, who we would have as parents, or what our sex, color, and nationality would be. All this and more has been given to us without our consent, and we have to make the most of our inheritance, whether we like it or not. In the world of time and space we have no freedom to alter these basic facts, and whatever "free will" we may possess is obliged to function within these parameters.God Has Spoken (430)
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2. J.C. Ryle (111)
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5. John Piper (82)
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7. George Swinnock (69)
8. Louis Berkhof (62)
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