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The Bondage of the Will

Martin Luther

Martin Luther answers Erasmus on whether the will is free in the things that belong to salvation. The 1525 treatise became a defining Reformation argument about grace, Scripture, and human inability.

Cole translation

Translated by Henry Cole

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English of 1823.

Public domain. Modern study editions such as Packer–Johnston remain copyrighted.

About this book

The Bondage of the Will is Luther's reply to Erasmus on whether the human will is free in the matters that concern salvation. Written in 1525 after Erasmus's Diatribe on Free Will, it argues that the will is bound by sin unless God acts. Luther proceeds by examining Erasmus's preface, then Scripture, then the implications of grace, assertion, and the hidden God. The tone is combative and pastoral at once: he treats the dispute as a question about how a person can have confidence before God, not only as a problem in philosophy.

The treatise became a Reformation landmark because it forces the question of grace into the open. Later Protestant debates about predestination, assurance, and the law often return to the ground Luther tries to hold here. It is also a document of a particular quarrel: Erasmus's moderation and Luther's insistence on assertion are part of the argument, not a distraction from it. Read slowly enough to keep Erasmus's claimed position in view; Luther is answering a book, and his sharper sentences make more sense when the objection is remembered. The work rewards attention to the biblical passages he takes up in sequence rather than to isolated quotations.

Author & background

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was an Augustinian friar, biblical lecturer, and the central public figure of the early German Reformation. By 1525 he had already broken with Rome, translated much of the New Testament, and become a pastor and controversialist whose writings circulated widely. De Servo Arbitrio belongs to that working life: it is a reply to a famous humanist, written in Latin for an educated European audience, and later counted by Luther among the books he would not disown. The argument reflects a preacher's concern with conscience as much as a scholar's concern with Erasmus.

Introduction

From the published edition.

  1. Preface by the Translator
  2. Introduction

Contents

Choose a section to begin reading.

  1. Erasmus’ Preface Reviewed
  2. Erasmus’ Scepticism
  3. The Necessity of Knowing God and His Power
  4. The Sovereignty of God
  5. Exordium
  6. Discussion: First Part
  7. Discussion: Second Part
  8. Discussion: Third Part
  9. Conclusion
  10. Martin Luther’s Judgment of Erasmus of Rotterdam. To A Certain Friend
  11. Martin Luther to Nicolas Armsdoff Concerning Erasmus of Rotterdam
  12. Indexes