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The Bondage of the Will
The Bondage of the Will is fundamental to an understanding of the primary doctrines of the Reformation. In these pages, Luther gives extensive treatment to what he saw as the heart of the gospel.
Free will was no academic question to Luther; the whole gospel of the grace of God, he believed, was bound up with it and stood or fell according to the way one understood it. Luther affirms our total inability to save ourselves and the sovereignty of divine grace in our salvation. He upholds the doctrine of justification by faith and defends predestination as determined by the foreknowledge of God.
This accurate translation by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston captures the vitality of Luther's treatise, thereby conveying its relevance to our lives today. The translators write, "Do we not stand in urgent need of such teaching as Luther here gives us--teaching which humbles man, strengthens faith, and glorifies God?"
Read less
Free will was no academic question to Luther; the whole gospel of the grace of God, he believed, was bound up with it and stood or fell according to the way one understood it. Luther affirms our total inability to save ourselves and the sovereignty of divine grace in our salvation. He upholds the doctrine of justification by faith and defends predestination as determined by the foreknowledge of God.
This accurate translation by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston captures the vitality of Luther's treatise, thereby conveying its relevance to our lives today. The translators write, "Do we not stand in urgent need of such teaching as Luther here gives us--teaching which humbles man, strengthens faith, and glorifies God?"
Read less
- GenresTheology
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2022
About the author
Martin Luther
5,193 books863 followersMartin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.
Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.
Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.
His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.
Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.
Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.
Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.
His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.
Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 6, 2025
In Bondage of the Will Luther argues against Erasmus’s Diatribe.
This book includes a translators’ note and a historical and theological introduction followed by the main components of the book:
I. Original introduction
II. Review of Erasmus’ Preface
III. Review of Erasmus’ Introduction
IV. Review of Erasmus’ Arguments For ‘Free-Will’
V. Review of Erasmus’ Treatment of Texts that Deny ‘Free-Will’
VI. Review of Erasmus’ Treatment of Texts That Deny ‘Free Will’
VII. The Bible Doctrine of the Bondage of the Will
VIII. Conclusion.
As noted in the translator’s note, ’It was man’s total inability to save himself, and the sovereignty of Divine grace in his salvation, that Luther was affirming when he denied ‘free-will’, and it was the contrary that Erasmus was affirming when he maintained ‘free-will’. The ‘free-will’ in question was ‘free-will in relation to God and the things of God’ (p. 48).
However, whether the ‘free-will’ in question to which Luther speaks concerns only ‘gracious being’ as Luther coins the term on p. 265 (God and the things of God) versus ‘natural being’ (things done by nature, e.g., eating drinking, etc.) is an issue of further complexity as we shall see.
This is important to make note of because some interpreters have suggested that according to Luther ‘free-will’ concerning ‘natural being’ is merely an illusion.
Luther seems to support the following theses from p. 81 regarding ‘free-will’ in the sense of ‘natural being’:
i). God’s decree is immutable from which it follows that nothing can occur other from what God has decreed; one cannot do otherwise.
ii). Human agents do nothing under compulsion or against their wills
iii). Human agents do what they want or please
iv). Human agents make decisions ‘as if’ totally free (as though one’s actions were contingent or mutable even though they could not have done otherwise).
Of course, from the vantage point of someone who believes in the philosophical paradigm of libertarian free will, for one to have genuine freedom the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), i.e., the ability to do otherwise, must be true. If this is assumed from the outset, it seems reasonable for one to understand Luther’s argument to entail ‘free-will’ being an illusion. Luther thought that the infallibility of God’s foreknowledge entailed that PAP is false.
Throughout this work, Luther seems to jump between ‘free-will’ in the theological sense (ability to please God) and ‘free-will’ in the philosophical sense. However, one has to rely upon the context of the text to determine which of these he’s referring to since it is not always clear.
Section VII. most clearly refers to ‘free-will’ in the theological sense of one’s inability to not sin and inability to submit to God’s law. For example, he refers to Romans 8— ‘For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God’ (ESV). I concur. Section VII. is the most important part of the book in this regard.
Other interesting topics covered throughout the book:
- Divine foreknowledge and human freedom
- The visible versus invisible church
- The perspicuity of Scripture and hermeneutics
- Biblical commands and moral obligations not entailing moral ability
- The purpose of the Law
- Council of Constance
- The hardening of Pharoah’s heart
- Total Depravity
- Theodicy
- God’s decrees
- Interpreting Romans 9
- Divine ineffability
This book includes a translators’ note and a historical and theological introduction followed by the main components of the book:
I. Original introduction
II. Review of Erasmus’ Preface
III. Review of Erasmus’ Introduction
IV. Review of Erasmus’ Arguments For ‘Free-Will’
V. Review of Erasmus’ Treatment of Texts that Deny ‘Free-Will’
VI. Review of Erasmus’ Treatment of Texts That Deny ‘Free Will’
VII. The Bible Doctrine of the Bondage of the Will
VIII. Conclusion.
As noted in the translator’s note, ’It was man’s total inability to save himself, and the sovereignty of Divine grace in his salvation, that Luther was affirming when he denied ‘free-will’, and it was the contrary that Erasmus was affirming when he maintained ‘free-will’. The ‘free-will’ in question was ‘free-will in relation to God and the things of God’ (p. 48).
However, whether the ‘free-will’ in question to which Luther speaks concerns only ‘gracious being’ as Luther coins the term on p. 265 (God and the things of God) versus ‘natural being’ (things done by nature, e.g., eating drinking, etc.) is an issue of further complexity as we shall see.
This is important to make note of because some interpreters have suggested that according to Luther ‘free-will’ concerning ‘natural being’ is merely an illusion.
Luther seems to support the following theses from p. 81 regarding ‘free-will’ in the sense of ‘natural being’:
i). God’s decree is immutable from which it follows that nothing can occur other from what God has decreed; one cannot do otherwise.
ii). Human agents do nothing under compulsion or against their wills
iii). Human agents do what they want or please
iv). Human agents make decisions ‘as if’ totally free (as though one’s actions were contingent or mutable even though they could not have done otherwise).
Of course, from the vantage point of someone who believes in the philosophical paradigm of libertarian free will, for one to have genuine freedom the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), i.e., the ability to do otherwise, must be true. If this is assumed from the outset, it seems reasonable for one to understand Luther’s argument to entail ‘free-will’ being an illusion. Luther thought that the infallibility of God’s foreknowledge entailed that PAP is false.
Throughout this work, Luther seems to jump between ‘free-will’ in the theological sense (ability to please God) and ‘free-will’ in the philosophical sense. However, one has to rely upon the context of the text to determine which of these he’s referring to since it is not always clear.
Section VII. most clearly refers to ‘free-will’ in the theological sense of one’s inability to not sin and inability to submit to God’s law. For example, he refers to Romans 8— ‘For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God’ (ESV). I concur. Section VII. is the most important part of the book in this regard.
Other interesting topics covered throughout the book:
- Divine foreknowledge and human freedom
- The visible versus invisible church
- The perspicuity of Scripture and hermeneutics
- Biblical commands and moral obligations not entailing moral ability
- The purpose of the Law
- Council of Constance
- The hardening of Pharoah’s heart
- Total Depravity
- Theodicy
- God’s decrees
- Interpreting Romans 9
- Divine ineffability
July 18, 2024
This is a classic of reformation theology. Luther thoroughly and clearly explains that there is no such thing as free will in its normal conception. Nonbelievers are bound to sin, and believers have the ability to choose good. Salvation is a free gift of grace from God, and we do absolutely nothing to earn it or merit it. God chooses who will receive that free gift and who won't. Yet God does not cause evil, nonbelievers freely choose to wrong things. Luther goes through numerous Scripture passages and shows the simple reasoning that leads to those conclusions.
I had a few quibbles that he could have defined a few things more clearly and he missed some points that I would have addressed. But he is a significantly famous and important public figure, and I am not. So I guess his choices are OK.
Luther explicitly wrote the book in response to a book by Erasmus who tried to say free will meant humans could will a few good acts on their own to at least start the process of salvation. I knew Luther was famous for his biting put-downs, but, wow! He just savages Erasmus on every page, and then turns conciliatory in the last two pages of a 300 page book. I am persuaded by Luther's arguments and agree with his conclusions, but wish he used a kinder, gentler way of making his points.
I had a few quibbles that he could have defined a few things more clearly and he missed some points that I would have addressed. But he is a significantly famous and important public figure, and I am not. So I guess his choices are OK.
Luther explicitly wrote the book in response to a book by Erasmus who tried to say free will meant humans could will a few good acts on their own to at least start the process of salvation. I knew Luther was famous for his biting put-downs, but, wow! He just savages Erasmus on every page, and then turns conciliatory in the last two pages of a 300 page book. I am persuaded by Luther's arguments and agree with his conclusions, but wish he used a kinder, gentler way of making his points.
August 11, 2026
Luther was quite a theologian! An amazing defense (apologetic) for the Sovereignty of God in all things. Luther’s knowledge of the scriptures was off the charts although he was lacking in tact. Sometimes, tactlessness is more effective.
October 9, 2026
This translation is really good and I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Luther's characterization of the arguments made by Erasmus are at times shocking, but appropriate I suppose. I am leaving doubly sure of my position on free will.
July 21, 2025
Polemical but Good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews