The Bondage of the Will, A Review

“The Bondage of the Will” is one of Luther’s most famous works, Next to his Small Catechism, which is the more important of the two, in that Luther’s Small Catechism, is a confessional document for Lutheran’s and is also a positive presentation of Luther’s theology free from the polemics of the Bondage of the Will. However, The Bondage of the Will is well worth reading for an understanding of Luther’s theology.
“The Bondage of the Will” is also perhaps one of the most abused of Luther’s writings. Calvinists like to think it makes their argument for them, which I suspect is the reason J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston made this edition available. A good corrective to the Calvinist interpretation would be Uuras Saarnivaara’s “Luther Discovers the Gospel.”
It may come as a surprise but often even Lutheran pastors are guilty of not reading the work. We don’t subscribe as Lutheran’s to every jot and tittle he ever wrote, is the mantra. True enough, yet reading the Bondage of the Will is well worth anyone’s time, especially a pastors, and might could be read every year or so, especially when living in the Arminian backwater that is America.
Luther does indeed argue against the freedom of the will, and for election /predestination in the Bondage of the Will. However, he also emphasizes both a universal damnation and a Universal Atonement. He argues for a distinction between the God preached, or revealed, and the God hidden, and the means of Grace in bringing about election.
In the end, the book might be harder on the position of Arminius shared by Erasmus, but it does not make the case for 5 point Calvinism or even double predestination that you often hear Calvinists saying it does.
The preached or revealed God, Luther argues, is God as he wishes to be known, and in the end the only God that can be known. The hidden God is beyond the grasp of man, we really cannot know him in this manner, but he tends to be the God we speculate about trying to use logic to resolve paradoxes and mysteries that will in the end not be resolved. Rather than speculating, Luther would have one look to the cross where God reveals himself in the salvation of man. It is here that God wishes to be known.
We thank J.I packer and O.R. Johnston for translating the complete book and making it available to the general public. Often you only find excerpts from the book. It is a very readable translation of the original. It perhaps could have used a better topical index.