Erasmus And Luther Discourse On Free Will

In the course of reading Erasmus and Luther: Discourse on Free Will, I found that this was not simply a debate on the highly controversial topic of free will but more of a question of how man is saved. The methods of Luther and Erasmus are rather different. Is man saved through his own labors or is salvation the work of God alone?

Erasmus took on the question in a rather arrogant manner. He states that the truth shall become more visible as he tells of his opinion and mocks Luther while he’s at it by calling him a prodigy and an elephant while Erasmus is nothing but a puny fly. He takes a classic humanist approach to the subject. An attempt is made at being historical and biblical on the matter.

The great scholar cannot deny grace because

He says that Erasmus brushed off the sovereignty of God over man and Luther is reaffirming it. Martin Luther proclaims that the definition of free will that was given by Erasmus is wrong and lacking clarification. He says that no man has true free choice. Only God possess the power of free will and man cannot act freely on his own because he is subject to God. Erasmus relied heavily upon Scriptural text, especially that of Ecclesiastes. Luther notes that it refers the creation of man and says nothing explicitly of free will. However, God did give man dominion over the creatures of the Earth but this was before the fall of man, while man still had innocence. Luther says that God gave man the commandments to show that he cannot keep his law. He tells a story of parents playing a game with their children asking them to do something and they cannot. This forces them to ask for help. We are like these children, asking for God’s help. God knew that man would not be able to keep his commands. Therefore, we must ask for God’s grace and help to

The issue was taken on with reason, philosophy, and Scripture. He seemed to pick and choose biblical text as it fit to his argument. As a humanist, Erasmus saw that God’s ability is seen with collaboration of man’s ability to do good acts. According to Erasmus, man makes the initial move and God reacts. He claims that man must first ask God to save him. Erasmus thought he would be witty and brilliant in rhetoric to disprove Martin Luther but was subsequently “schooled” by him. Luther’s approach was more so that of a Godly man rather than Erasmus who came across as a pompous