The Formula of Concord - Solid Declaration

II. Free Will or Human Powers

[Status of the Controversy]

[1] A division about free will has arisen not only between the papists and us, but also among some theologians of the Augsburg Confession themselves. Therefore, we will, first of all, show exactly the points in controversy.

[2] Mankind’s free will is found and can be considered in four unique conditions. The question now is not what the condition of mankind was before the fall, or what he is able to do in outward things (which apply to this earthly life) since the fall and before his conversion. Also, the question is not what sort of a free will he will have in spiritual things after he has been regenerated and is controlled by God’s Spirit, or when he rises from the dead. The chief question is only this and this alone: What is the intellect and will of the unregenerate person able to do in his conversion and regeneration from his own powers remaining after the fall? Is he able, when God’s Word is preached and God’s grace is offered, to prepare himself for grace, accept the same, and agree with it? This is the question about which there has been a controversy among some theologians in the churches of the Augsburg Confession for quite a number of years now.

[3] One side has held and taught that a person cannot from his own powers fulfill God’s command or truly trust in God, or fear and love Him, without the Holy Spirit’s grace. Nevertheless, a person still has enough of his natural powers left before regeneration that he is able to prepare himself to a certain extent for grace and to agree (although weakly). However, he cannot accomplish anything by these powers, but must give up in the struggle if the Holy Spirit’s grace is not added.

[4] Both the ancient and modern enthusiasts have taught that God converts people and leads them to the saving knowledge of Christ through His Spirit, without any created means and instrument; in other words, without the outward preaching and hearing of God’s Word.

[Affirmative Statements]

[5] Against both these parties the pure teachers of the Augsburg Confession have taught and argued the following: by the fall of our first parents mankind was so corrupted that in divine things having to do with our conversion and the salvation of our souls we are by nature blind [Ephesians 4:18]. When God’s Word is preached, a person does not and cannot understand God’s Word, but regards it as foolishness [1 Corinthians 2:14]. Also, he does not draw near to God on his own. He is and remains God’s enemy until he is converted, becomes a believer, ‹is endowed with faith› and is regenerated and renewed [Romans 5:10]. This happens by the Holy Spirit’s power through the Word when it is preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any cooperation of his own [Titus 3:4–7].

[6] In order to explain this controversy in a Christian way, according to the guidance of God’s Word, and to decide it by His grace, our doctrine, faith, and confession are as follows:

[7] In spiritual and divine things the unregenerate person’s intellect, heart, and will are utterly unable, by his natural powers, to understand, believe, accept, think, will, begin, effect, do, work, or concur in working anything. They are entirely dead to what is good [Ephesians 2:5]. They are corrupt. So in mankind’s nature since the fall, before regeneration, there is not the least spark of spiritual power remaining or present. No person can prepare himself for God’s grace or accept the grace God offers. A person is not capable of grace for and of himself. He cannot apply or accommodate himself to it. By his own powers he is not able to aid, do, work, or agree in working anything toward his conversion. He cannot do this fully, halfway, or even in part—not even in the smallest or most trivial part. He is sin’s servant (John 8:34) and the devil’s captive, by whom he is moved (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Timothy 2:26). Therefore, the natural free will according to its perverted disposition and nature is strong and active only to do what is displeasing and contrary to God [Genesis 6:5].

[8] This declaration and general reply to the chief question and statement of the controversy presented in the introduction to this article is confirmed and substantiated by the following arguments from God’s Word. Although these arguments are contrary to proud reason and philosophy, we know that the wisdom of this perverted world is only foolishness before God [1 Corinthians 1:19–20]. Articles of faith must be judged only from God’s Word.

[9] First, mankind’s reason or natural intellect does still have a dim spark of the knowledge that there is a God. It also knows about the doctrine of the Law (Romans 1:19–21, 24, 32). Yet it is so ignorant, blind, and perverted that even when the most ingenious and learned people on earth read or hear the Gospel of God’s Son and the promise of eternal salvation, they cannot by their own powers perceive, apprehend, understand, or believe and regard it as true. They want to understand these spiritual things with their reason. But the more diligently and seriously they try, the less they understand or believe. Before they become enlightened and are taught by the Holy Spirit, they regard all this only as foolishness or fictions.

The Scriptures flatly call natural man in spiritual and divine things darkness (Ephesians 5:8; Acts 26:18). John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness” (that is, in the dark, blind world, which does not know or regard God), “and the darkness has not overcome it.” Likewise, the Scriptures teach that a sinful person is not only weak and sick, but also finished and entirely dead (Ephesians 2:1–5; Colossians 2:13).

[11] Now, a person who is physically dead cannot from his own powers prepare or make himself come back to life again. So the person who is spiritually dead in sins cannot by his own strength make or apply himself to acquire spiritual and heavenly righteousness and life. This is true unless he is delivered and brought to life by God’s Son from the death of sin.

[12] The Scriptures deny to the intellect, heart, and will of the natural man all readiness, skill, capacity, and ability to think, to understand, to be able to do, to begin, to will, to undertake, to act, to work, or to agree to work anything good and right in spiritual things from himself.

“The natural person does not accept [or, as the Greek word properly signifies, grasps not, comprehends not, accepts not] the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14). This means he is not capable of spiritual things. For they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them. [13] Much less will he truly believe the Gospel or agree with it and regard it as truth.

[14] In a word, what God’s Son says remains eternally true, “For apart from Me you can do nothing” [John 15:5].

Paul says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” [Philippians 2:13].

To all godly Christians who feel and experience in their hearts a small spark or longing for divine grace and eternal salvation this precious passage is very comforting. For they know that God has kindled in their hearts this beginning of true godliness. He will further strengthen and help them in their great weakness to persevere in true faith unto the end [1 Peter 5:10].

[15] Here belong also all the prayers of the saints in which they ask that they may be taught, enlightened, and sanctified by God. By this very act they declare that they cannot get those things that they ask of God from their own natural powers. For example, in Psalm 119 alone, David prays more than ten times that God would give him understanding, that he might rightly comprehend and learn the divine teaching. Similar prayers are in Paul’s writings (Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:9; Philippians 1:9). These prayers and passages about our ignorance and inability have been written for us. They are not written to make us idle and remiss in reading, hearing, and meditating on God’s Word, but that we should first thank God from the heart that by His Son He has delivered us from the darkness of ignorance and the captivity of sin and death [Ephesians 4:8]. Through Baptism and the Holy Spirit He has regenerated and illumined us.

[16] After God (through the Holy Spirit in Baptism) has kindled and caused a beginning of the true knowledge of God and faith, we should pray to Him without ceasing [1 Thessalonians 5:17]. We should ask that through the same Spirit and His grace, by means of the daily exercise of reading and doing God’s Word, He would preserve in us faith and His heavenly gifts, strengthen us from day to day, and keep us to the end. For unless God Himself is our schoolmaster, we can study and learn nothing that is acceptable to Him and helpful to ourselves and others.

[17] Second, God’s Word testifies that the intellect, heart, and will of the natural, unregenerate person in divine things are not only turned entirely away from God, but also are turned and perverted against God to every evil. Also, a person is not only weak, incapable, unfit, and dead to good, but is also sadly perverted, infected, and corrupted by original sin so that he is entirely evil, perverse, and hostile to God by his disposition and nature. He is very strong, alive, and active in everything that is displeasing and contrary to God.

St. Paul explains this passage from Jeremiah, writing,

[18] The natural or fleshly free will in St. Paul and in other regenerate people strives against God’s Law, even after regeneration. Was it not much more stubborn and hostile to God’s Law and will before regeneration? Therefore, this is clear (as it is further declared in the article about original sin, to which we now refer for the sake of brevity): (a) the free will, from its own natural powers, cannot work or agree to work anything for its own conversion, righteousness, and salvation, nor follow, believe, or agree with the Holy Spirit, who through the Gospel offers a person grace and salvation; (b) from its inborn, wicked, rebellious nature it resists God and His will with hostility, unless it is enlightened and controlled by God’s Spirit.

[19] Because of this the Holy Scriptures compare the heart of the unregenerate person to a hard stone [Ezekiel 36:26]. It does not yield to the one who touches it, but resists. It is like a rough block and a wild, unmanageable beast [Jeremiah 2:23–24]. This does not mean that since the fall a person is no longer a rational creature, or is converted to God without hearing and meditating on the divine Word. It does not mean a person fails to understand outward, worldly things, or of his free will do, or abstain from doing, anything good or evil.

[20] As Dr. Luther says about Psalm 90[91]:

[23] Dr. Luther calls this capacity ‹not active, but passive›, which he explains as follows:

Augustine has also written in a similar way (Against Julian, Book 2). See Dr. Luther on Hosea 6. Also see the Church Postil on the Epistle for Christmas and on the Gospel for the third Sunday after Epiphany.

[24] Before a person is enlightened, converted, regenerated, renewed, and drawn by the Holy Spirit, he can by himself and by his own natural powers begin, work, or agree to work in spiritual things and in his own conversion or regeneration as little as a stone, a block, or a lump of clay. He can control the outward members of his body and hear the Gospel. To a certain extent he can meditate on it and discuss it, as is to be seen in the Pharisees and hypocrites [Matthew 23:25–28]. Nevertheless, he regards it as foolishness and cannot believe it. In this respect he acts even worse than a block. For he is rebellious and hostile to God’s will, unless the Holy Spirit is effective on him and kindles and works in him faith and other abilities pleasing to God, and obedience.

[25] Third, in this way, too, the Holy Scriptures do not credit the human powers of the natural free will with conversion, faith in Christ, regeneration, renewal, and all that belongs to their effective beginning and end. They do not credit free will the whole way, half way, or in any way, even in the smallest or most trivial way. They credit conversion solely and completely to the Holy Spirit’s divine work, as also the Apology teaches.

[26] Reason and free will are able to live an outwardly decent life to a certain extent. But only the Holy Spirit causes a person to be born anew [John 3:5] and to have inwardly another heart, mind, and natural desire. He opens the mind and heart to understand the Scriptures and to listen to the Word, as it is written in Luke 24:45, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

[27] St. Augustine writes about this passage in particular. By it he was convinced that he must lay aside his former wrong opinion, when he had believed the following in his treatise On Predestination, chapter 3: “I erred in this matter. I believed that God’s grace consists only of this: God reveals His will in the preaching of the truth. But our faith in the preached Gospel is our own work and is within our own powers.” Likewise, St. Augustine writes further, “[I erred when] I said that it is within our own power to believe the Gospel and to will. But it is God’s work to give the power to do something to those who believe and will.”

[28] This teaching is founded on God’s Word and conforms to the Augsburg Confession and other writings mentioned above, as the following testimonies prove.

[29] In Article XX (29–32) the Augsburg Confession says as follows:

And a little afterward (XX 36):

[30] These passages clearly testify that the Augsburg Confession does not at all recognize the human will in spiritual things as free. But it says that a person is the devil’s captive. How, then, is a person able to turn himself to the Gospel or Christ by his own powers?

[31] The Apology (Article XVIII [70–73]) teaches this about free will:

Here it is clearly seen that the Apology credits no ability to the human will, either for beginning good or for working by itself.

[33] In the Smalcald Articles (Sin [; III I 5]) the following errors about the free will are also rejected, “A person has a free will to do good and not to do evil,” and so on. And shortly afterward [III I 10] it is also rejected as an error when people teach, “Scripture does not teach that the Holy Spirit with His grace is necessary for a good work.”

[34] Furthermore, we read the following in the Smalcald Articles (Repentance [; III III 40]):

[35] These words say nothing at all about our will, or that even in regenerate people our will does anything by itself. But they credit this work to the gift of the Holy Spirit, who cleanses a person and makes him daily more godly and holy [1 Corinthians 6:11]. Our own powers are entirely excluded from this work.

[36] In Dr. Luther’s Large Catechism [II 52–53], this is written:

[38] In this passage the Catechism does not mention with a single word our free will or cooperation. It credits everything to the Holy Spirit who, through the preaching office, brings us into the Christian Church, sanctifies us in the Church, and causes us to grow daily in faith and good works.

[39] Even in this life the regenerate advance to the point that they want to do what is good and love it, and even do good and grow in it. Still, this (as stated above) is not of our will and ability, but of the Holy Spirit. Paul himself speaks about this, saying that the Spirit works such willing and doing (Philippians 2:13). Also in Ephesians 2:10 he credits this work to God alone, when he says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

[40] In Dr. Luther’s Small Catechism, it is written:

[41] In the explanation of the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer the following words occur, “How is this done? When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and there in eternity.”

[42] These testimonies state that by our own powers we cannot come to Christ. God must give us His Holy Spirit, by whom we are enlightened, sanctified, and thus brought to Christ through faith and kept with Him. No mention is made either of our will or cooperation.

[43] To this we will add a passage in which Dr. Luther later declared personally, with a solemn protest that he intended to persevere in this teaching unto the end. In his Confession concerning Christ’s Supper, he says:

[44] In these words Dr. Luther, of blessed and holy memory, credits our free will with no power at all to qualify itself for righteousness or strive after it. But he says that a person is blinded and held captive to do only the devil’s will, and to do what is contrary to God the Lord. Therefore, there is no cooperation of our will in a person’s conversion. A person must be drawn and born anew by God [John 6:44]. Otherwise, there is no thought in our hearts that of itself could turn to the Holy Gospel for the purpose of accepting it. Dr. Luther also wrote this way in his book The Bondage of the Will [1525], in opposition to Erasmus. Luther clarified and supported this position well and thoroughly. Afterward he repeated and explained it in his glorious commentary on the Book of Genesis, especially on Genesis 26. Luther’s meaning and understanding (about some other peculiar disputed points introduced here and there by Erasmus, as of absolute necessity, and such) have been firmly stated by him in the best and most careful way against all misunderstanding and perversion. We also appeal to this book and refer others to it.

[45] This is teaching incorrectly: to assert that an unregenerate person still has so much power that he can desire to receive the Gospel and to be comforted by it, and that the natural human will cooperates somehow in conversion. For such an erroneous opinion is contrary to the holy, divine Scripture, the Christian Augsburg Confession, its Apology, the Smalcald Articles, the Large and the Small Catechisms of Luther, and other writings of this excellent, highly enlightened theologian.

[46] This doctrine about the inability and wickedness of our natural free will and about our conversion and regeneration (that it is God’s work alone and not from our powers) is ‹impiously, shamefully, and maliciously› abused in an unchristian way by both enthusiasts and the Epicureans. As a result of their speeches, many people have become disorderly and dissolute. They have grown idle and lazy in all Christian exercises of prayer, reading, and devout meditation. They say that, since they are unable by their own natural powers to convert themselves to God, they will always strive against God with all their might, or will wait until God converts them by force, against their will. Or since they can do nothing in these spiritual things, and since everything is the work of God the Holy Spirit alone, they will regard, hear, or read neither the Word nor the Sacrament. But they will wait until God, without means, instills into them His gifts from heaven, so that they can truly feel and see in themselves that God has converted them.

[47] Other discouraged hearts might perhaps fall into difficult thoughts and doubts about whether God has chosen them and will work His gifts also in them through the Holy Spirit. They do this especially when they are aware of no strong, intense faith and sincere obedience in themselves, but only of weakness, fear, and misery.

[Conversion]

[48] For this reason we will now explain further from God’s Word how (a) a person is converted to God; (b) how and through what means (namely, through the oral Word and the holy Sacraments) the Holy Spirit wants to be effective in us, to work and bestow in our hearts true repentance, faith, and new spiritual power and the ability to do good; and (c) how we should respond to these means and use them.

[49] It is not God’s will that anyone should be damned, but that all people should be converted to Him and be saved eternally [2 Peter 3:9].

[50] Out of His immense goodness and mercy, God provides for the public preaching of His divine eternal Law and His wonderful plan for our redemption, that of the holy, only saving Gospel of His eternal Son, our only Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. By this preaching He gathers an eternal Church for Himself from the human race and works in people’s hearts true repentance, knowledge of sins, and true faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. By this means, and in no other way (i.e., through His holy Word, when people hear it preached or read it, and through the holy Sacraments when they are used according to His Word), God desires to call people to eternal salvation. He desires to draw them to Himself and convert, regenerate, and sanctify them.

The eternal Father calls down from heaven about His dear Son and about all who preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name, “Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5).

[52] All who want to be saved ought to listen to this preaching. For the preaching and hearing of God’s Word are the Holy Spirit’s instruments. By, with, and through these instruments the Spirit desires to work effectively, to convert people to God, and to work in them both to will and to do [Philippians 2:13].

[53] A person can hear and read this Word outwardly, even though he is not yet converted to God and regenerate. As said above, a person even since the fall has a free will to a certain extent in these outward things. So he can go to church and listen or not listen to the sermon.

[54] God works through this means (i.e., the preaching and hearing of His Word). He breaks our hearts [Jeremiah 4:3–4] and draws us to Him [John 6:44]. Through the preaching of the Law, a person comes to know his sins and God’s wrath. He experiences in his heart true terrors, contrition, and sorrow. Through the preaching of, and reflection on, the Holy Gospel about the gracious forgiveness of sins in Christ, a spark of faith is kindled in him. This faith accepts the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake and comforts itself with the Gospel promise. So the Holy Spirit (who does all this) is sent into the heart [Galatians 4:6].

[55] The preacher’s planting and watering and the hearer’s running and hearing would both be in vain and no conversion would follow it if the power and effectiveness of the Holy Spirit were not added [1 Corinthians 3:6–7]. The Spirit enlightens and converts hearts through the Word preached and heard. So people believe this Word and agree with it. Neither preacher nor hearer is to doubt this grace and effectiveness of the Holy Spirit. They should be certain that when God’s Word is preached purely and truly, according to God’s command and will, and people listen attentively and seriously and meditate on it, God is certainly present with His grace. He grants, as has been said, what otherwise a person can neither accept nor give by his own powers. [56] For we should not and cannot always judge from feeling about the presence, work, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as to how and when they are experienced in the heart. They are often covered and happen in great weakness. Therefore, we should be certain about and agree with the promise that God’s Word preached and heard is ‹truly› an office and work of the Holy Spirit. He is certainly effective and works in our hearts by them (2 Corinthians 2:14–17; 3:5–6).

[57] If a person will not listen to preaching or read God’s Word, but despises God’s Word and community, and so dies and perishes in his sins, he cannot comfort himself with God’s eternal election or receive His mercy. For Christ, in whom we are chosen, offers to all people His grace in the Word and holy Sacraments. He sincerely wants it to be heard. He has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name and have His holy Word, He will be in their midst [Matthew 18:20].

[58] When such a person despises the instrument of the Holy Spirit and will not listen, no injustice is done to him if the Holy Spirit does not enlighten him but allows him to remain in the darkness of his unbelief and to perish. For it is written about this matter, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Matthew 23:37).

[59] In this respect it may well be said that a person is not a stone or block. For a stone or block does not resist the person who moves it. It does not understand and doesn’t care what is being done with it. But a person with his will resists God the Lord until he is converted. It is true that a person before his conversion is still a rational creature, having an understanding and will. However, he does not understand divine things. He does not have the will to desire something good and helpful. He can do nothing at all about his conversion (as has also been said above ‹frequently›), and is in this way much worse than a stone and block. For he resists God’s Word and will, until God awakens him from the death of sin, enlightens, and renews him.

[60] God does not force a person to become godly. (Those who always resist the Holy Spirit and persistently oppose the known truth are not converted, as Stephen says about the hardened Jewish people [Acts 7:51].) Yet God the Lord draws the person whom He wants to convert [John 6:44]. He draws him in such a way that his darkened understanding is turned into an enlightened one and his perverse will into an obedient one. This is what the Scriptures call creating a clean heart [Psalm 51:10].

[61] For this reason it is not correct to say that a person can do something good and helpful in divine things before his conversion. Because a person is “dead in [his] trespasses” (Ephesians 2:5) before his conversion, there can be no power to work anything good in divine things in him. Therefore, he has no way of doing something good and helpful in divine things. [62] When we talk about how God works in a person, ‹it is true that God has› one way of working in him, as in a rational creature. He has another way of working in some other irrational creature, or in a stone or block. Yet, before a man’s conversion, nothing at all can be credited to him for doing good in spiritual matters.

[63] When a person has been converted, and is thus enlightened, and his will is renewed, then a person wants to do what is good (so far as he is regenerate or a new man). Then that person will “delight in the law of God, in [his] inner being” (Romans 7:22) and from that time forward does good to such an extent and as long as he is moved by God’s Spirit, as Paul says [in Romans 8:14], “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” [64] This moving by the Holy Spirit is not a coercion. The converted person does good spontaneously, as David says [in Psalm 110:3], “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.” Nevertheless, ‹the conflict between the flesh and spirit› remains in the regenerate. St. Paul wrote about this in Romans 7:21–23:

[65] From this evidence the following is certain: as soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness. This cooperation does not come from our fleshly natural powers, but from the new powers and gifts that the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion. [66] St. Paul clearly and eagerly encourages that “working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” [2 Corinthians 6:1]. But this is to be understood in no other way than the following: the converted person does good to such an extent and as long as God by His Holy Spirit rules, guides, and leads him. As soon as God would withdraw His gracious hand from that person, he could not for a moment keep obeying God. But ‹if anyone would take St. Paul’s words in this sense—› the converted person cooperates with the Holy Spirit the way two horses draw a wagon together—this could not be allowed in any way without damaging the divine truth.

[67] There is a great difference between baptized and unbaptized people. According to the teaching of St. Paul in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ,” and are made truly regenerate. They now have a freed will. As Christ says, they have been made free again [John 8:36]. Therefore, they are able not only to hear the Word, but also to agree with it and accept it, although in great weakness.

[68] We receive in this life only the firstfruits of the Spirit [Romans 8:23]. The new birth is not complete, but only begun in us. The combat and struggle of the flesh against the spirit remains even in the elect and truly regenerate people [Galatians 5:17]. For a great difference can be seen among Christians. Not only is it true that one is weak and another strong in the spirit, but each Christian also experiences differences in himself. At one time he is joyful in spirit, and at another fearful and alarmed. At one time he is intense in love, strong in faith and hope, and at another time he is cold and weak.

[69] When the baptized act against their conscience, allowing sin to rule in them, they grieve the Holy Spirit in them and lose Him [Ephesians 4:30]. They do not need to be rebaptized. But they must be converted again, as has been said well enough before.

[70] This is certainly true: in genuine conversion a change, new emotion, and movement in the intellect, will, and heart must take place. The heart must perceive sin, dread God’s wrath, turn from sin, see and accept the promise of grace in Christ, have good spiritual thoughts, have a Christian purpose and diligence, and fight against the flesh. Where none of these happen or are present, there is no true conversion. [71] But the question is about the effective cause. Who works this in us? How does a person have this? How does he get it? Therefore, this teaching informs us that, since the natural powers of mankind cannot do anything or help toward it (1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 3:5), God, out of His infinite goodness and mercy, comes first to us. He causes His Holy Gospel to be preached. The Holy Spirit desires to work and accomplish this conversion and renewal in us. Through preaching and meditation on His Word God kindles faith and other godly virtues in us. They are the Holy Spirit’s gifts and works alone. [72] Therefore, this teaching directs us to the means that the Holy Spirit desires to begin and do this. It also teaches us about how those gifts are preserved, strengthened, and increased. It warns us that we should not let God’s grace be bestowed on us in vain, but diligently use it and ponder how great a sin it is to hinder and resist such works of the Holy Spirit [Acts 7:51].

[73] From this thorough explanation of the entire teaching about free will, we can now judge, at last, the questions about which, for quite a number of years, there has been controversy in the churches of the Augsburg Confession:

Now we can see, expose, censure, and reject the following opposite dogmas and errors:

[Negative Statements]

[74] 1. First, the folly of the Stoics and Manichaeans, who asserted that everything that happens must happen in this way, that a person does everything from coercion. And even in outward works a person’s will has no freedom or ability to perform (to a certain extent) outward righteousness and respectable behavior. A person cannot avoid outward sins and vices. A person’s will is coerced to do outward wicked deeds, unchastity, robbery, murder, and such.

[75] 2. Second, the error of the gross Pelagians, that the free will, from its own natural powers, without the Holy Spirit, can turn to God and believe the Gospel. People can be obedient to God’s Law from the heart, and by this voluntary obedience the heart can merit the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

[76] 3. Third, the error of the papists and scholastics, who have acted in a somewhat more crafty way. They have taught that a person from his own natural powers can begin to do good and to convert himself. Then, because a person is too weak to bring it to completion, the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of the good begun from a person’s own natural powers.

[77] 4. Fourth, the teaching of the Synergists, who pretend that a person is not absolutely dead to good in spiritual things, but is badly wounded and half dead. The free will is too weak to make a beginning and to convert itself to God by its own powers. It can’t be obedient to God’s Law from the heart. Nevertheless, when the Holy Spirit makes a beginning, calls us through the Gospel, and offers His grace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal salvation, then the free will, from its own natural powers, can meet God. To a certain extent, although feebly, the will can do something toward salvation; it can help and cooperate in it and can qualify itself for it. The will can apply itself to grace, can grasp and accept it, and can believe the Gospel. It can also cooperate, by its own powers, with the Holy Spirit, in the continuation and maintenance of this work.

[78] Against this teaching, it has been shown at length above that the power known to qualify one’s self for grace naturally does not come from our own natural powers, but only from the Holy Spirit’s work.

[79] 5. Likewise, we reject the following teaching of the popes and monks: after regeneration a person can completely fulfill God’s Law in this life, and through this fulfillment of the Law he is righteous before God and merits eternal life.

[80] 6. On the other hand, the enthusiasts should be rebuked with great seriousness and zeal. They should not be tolerated in any way in God’s Church. They imagine that God, without any means, without the hearing of the divine Word, and without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws people to Himself, enlightens, justifies, and saves them.

[81] 7. We should also rebuke those who imagine that in conversion and regeneration God creates a new heart and new person in such a way that the substance and essence of the old Adam, and especially the rational soul, are completely destroyed, and a new essence of the soul is created out of nothing. St. Augustine clearly rebukes this error in ‹his comments on› Psalm 25, where he quotes the passage from Paul [in Ephesians 4:22], “Put off your old self …” Augustine explains this in the following words:

[82] 8. Likewise, the following expressions should not be used without being explained: the human will before, in, and after conversion resists the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is given to those who resist Him.

[83] The preceding explanation makes this matter clear. Where (a) no change at all in intellect, will, and heart happens through the Holy Spirit to what is good, and (b) a person does not at all believe the promise (and is not made fit by God for grace, but entirely resists the Word), there no conversion takes place or can exist. For conversion is the kind of change through the Holy Spirit’s work in a person’s intellect, will, and heart that by the Holy Spirit’s work a person can receive the offered grace. Indeed, all those who stubbornly and persistently resist the Holy Spirit’s works and movements—which take place through the Word—do not receive, but grieve and lose the Holy Spirit.

[Terms and Expressions]

[84] There still remains also in the regenerate a rebelliousness of which the Scriptures speak: “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit” [Galatians 5:17]. Also of “the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” [1 Peter 2:11]. And, “in my members another law wages war against the law of my mind” (Romans 7:23).

[85] The person who is not regenerate resists God altogether and is entirely a servant of sin [John 8:34; Romans 6:16]. The regenerate person, however, delights in God’s Law after the inward man, but nevertheless sees in the members of his body the law of sin, which wars against the law of the mind. So he serves God’s Law with his mind, but the law of sin with the flesh (Romans 7:25). In this way the correct opinion can and should be thoroughly, clearly, and definitively explained and taught.

[86] Chrysostom and Basil have said, “God draws, but He draws the willing”; “Only be willing, and God will anticipate you.” Likewise, the Scholastics ‹and papists› have said, “In conversion the will of man is not idle, but effects something.” (These expressions have been raised to confirm the natural free will in a person’s conversion, against the teaching about God’s grace.) It is clear from the explanation presented earlier that they are not in harmony with the form of sound doctrine, but are contrary to it. Therefore, they ought to be avoided when we speak about conversion to God.

[87] The conversion of our corrupt will, which is nothing other than restoring it back to life from spiritual death, is only and solely God’s work (just as the restoration of life in the resurrection of the body must also be credited to God alone). This has been fully set forth above and proved by clear testimonies of Holy Scripture.

[88] In conversion God changes stubborn and unwilling people into willing people through the drawing of the Holy Spirit. After such conversion, in the daily exercise of repentance, a person’s regenerate will is not idle, but also cooperates in all the Holy Spirit’s works that He does through us. How this happens has already been explained well enough above.

[89] Luther says about conversion that a person is purely passive [LW 33:157]. This means a person does nothing at all toward conversion, but only undergoes what God works in him. Luther does not mean that conversion takes place without the preaching and hearing of God’s Word. Nor does he mean that in conversion no new emotion whatever is awakened in us by the Holy Spirit and no spiritual operation begun. But he means that a person by himself, or from his natural powers, cannot do anything or help toward his conversion. Conversion is not only in part, but totally an act, gift, present, and work of the Holy Spirit alone. He accomplishes and does it by His power and might, through the Word, in a person’s intellect, will, and heart, “while the person does or works nothing, but only undergoes it.” It is not like a figure cut into stone or a seal impressed into wax, which knows nothing about it, which neither sees or wills it. Rather, it happens the way that has just been described and explained.

[90] The young people in the schools have also been greatly confused about “the doctrine of the three efficient causes of the conversion of an unregenerate person to God.” They are confused about the way the three causes (i.e., God’s Word preached and heard, the Holy Spirit, and the human will) come together. It is again clear from the explanation presented above that conversion to God is a work of God the Holy Spirit alone. He is the true Master who alone works this in us. For this He uses the preaching and hearing of His Holy Word as His ordinary means and instrument. The intellect and will of an unregenerate person are nothing other than “what needs to be converted,” for they are the intellect and will of a spiritually dead person, in whom the Holy Spirit works conversion and renewal. A person’s will that is to be converted does nothing toward this work, but undergoes God’s work alone in him, until he is regenerate. Then that person works with the Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to God in other good works that follow, in the way and to the extent fully set forth above.