According to Lutheran theology, the true opposite of synergism is not
Calvinism with its double election, irresistible grace, denial of
universal redemption, etc., but the monergism of grace, embracing
particularly the tenets that in consequence of Adam's fall man is
spiritually dead and utterly unable to contribute in any degree or
manner toward his own justification and conversion; moreover, that,
being an enemy of God, man, of his own natural powers, is active only in
resisting the saving efforts of God, as well as able and prone only to
do so; that God alone and in every respect is the Author of man's
conversion, perseverance, and final salvation; and that, since the grace
of God is universal and earnestly proffered, man alone is responsible
for, and the cause of, his own damnation.
_"Sola fides iustificat,_ Faith alone justifies"--that was the great
slogan of the Reformation sounded forth by Luther and his followers with
ever increasing boldness, force and volume. And the distinct meaning of
this proposition, which Luther called "_hoc meum dogma,_ this my dogma,"
was just this, that we are saved not by any effort or work of our own,
but in every respect by God's grace alone. The restoration of this
wonderful truth, taught by St. Paul, made Luther the Reformer of the
Church. This truth alone, as Luther had experienced, is able to impart
solid comfort to a terror-stricken conscience, engender divine assurance
of God's pardon and acceptance, and thus translate a poor miserable
sinner from the terrors of hell into paradise.
In the _Seven Penitential Psalms,_ written 1517, Luther says: "If God's
mercy is to be praised, then all [human] merits and worthiness must come
to naught." (Weimar 1, 161.) "Not such are blessed as have no sins or
extricate themselves by their own labors, but only those whose sins are
graciously forgiven by God." (167.) "It is characteristic of God (_es
ist Gottes Natur_) to make something out of nothing. Hence God cannot
make anything out of him who is not as yet nothing.... Therefore God
receives none but the forsaken, heals none but the ill, gives sight to
none but the blind, quickens none but the dead, makes pious none but the
sinners, makes wise none but the ignorant,--in short, He has mercy on
none but the miserable, and gives grace to none but those who are in
disgrace. Whoever therefore, is a proud saint, wise or just, cannot
become God's material and receive God's work within himself, but remains
in his own work and makes an imaginary, seeming, false, and painted
saint of himself, _i.e._, a hypocrite." (183.) "For he whom Thou [God]
dost justify will never become righteous by his works; hence it is
called Thy righteousness, since Thou givest it to us by grace, and we do
not obtain it by works." (192.) "Israel the true [new] man, does not
take refuge in himself, nor in his strength, nor in his righteousness
and wisdom.... For help and grace is not with themselves. They are
sinners and damned in themselves, as He also says through Hosea: O
Israel, with thee there is nothing but damnation, but with Me is thine
help." (210.) "He, He, God Himself, not they themselves, will deliver
the true Israel.... Mark well, Israel has sin and cannot help itself."
(211.)
In his explanation of Ps. 109 (110), 1518, Luther says: "He calls these
children [conceived from spiritual seed, the Word of God] dew, since no
soul is converted and transformed from Adam's sinful childhood to the
gracious childhood of Christ by human work, but only by God, who works
from heaven like the dew, as Micah writes: 'The children of Israel will
be like the dew given by God which does not wait for the hands of men.'"
(701.) Again: "In every single man God precedes with grace and works
before we pray for grace or cooperate. The Doctors call this _gratiam
primam et praevenientem,_ that is, the first and prevenient grace.
Augustine: _Gratia Dei praevenit, ut velimus, ne frustra velimus._ God's
grace prevenes that we will, lest we will in vain." (710.)
In his 40 theses for the Heidelberg disputation, also of 1518, Luther
says of man's powers in spiritual matters: "13. Free will after sin [the
Fall] is a mere titular affair [an empty title only], and sins mortally
when it does what it is able to do. _Liberum arbitrium post peccatum res
est de solo titulo et dum facit, quod in se est, peccat mortaliter._"
"16. A man desirous of obtaining grace by doing what he is able to do
adds sin to sin, becoming doubly guilty. _Homo putans, se ad gratiam
velle pervenire faciendo, quod est in se, peccatum addit peccato, ut
duplo reus fiat._" "18. It is certain that a man must utterly despair of
himself in order to become apt to acquire the grace of Christ. _Certum
est, hominem de se penitus oportere desperare, ut aptus fiat ad
consequendam gratiam Christi._" (W. 1, 354.) By way of explanation
Luther added to thesis 13: "The first part [of this thesis, that free
will is a mere empty title] is apparent, because the will is a captive
and a servant to sin, not that it is nothing, but that it is free only
to [do] evil--_non quod sit nihil, sed quod non sit liberum nisi ad
malum._ John 8, 34. 36: 'Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' Hence, St.
Augustine says in his book _De Spiritu et Litera:_ Free will without
grace can only sin--_non nisi ad peccandum valet._ And in his second
book against Julianus: You call that a free will which in truth is
captive, etc." To thesis 16 Luther added: "When man does what he is able
to do (_dum facit, quod est in se_), he sins, seeking altogether his
own. And if he is minded to become worthy of, and apt for, grace by a
sin, he adds proud presumption."
In his sermon of 1519 on Genesis 4, Luther remarked: "This passage ['The
Lord had respect unto Abel'] subverts the entire liberty of our human
will. _Hic locus semel invertit universam libertatem voluntatis
nostrae._" (Weimar 9, 337.) In a sermon of September 8, 1520, we read:
"By nature we are born accursed;... through Christ we are born again
children of life. Thus we are born not by free will, not by works, not
by our efforts. As a child in the womb is not born by its own works, but
suffers itself to be carried and to be given birth, so we are justified
by suffering, not by doing." (474.) "Where, then," Luther exclaimed
about the same time in his _Operationes in Psalmos,_ "will free will
remain? where the doing what one can? _Ubi ergo manebit liberum
arbitrium, ubi facere quod in se?_" (5, 544. 74.) In a sermon of
February 2, 1521, he said: "Whatever grace is in us comes from God
alone. Here free will is entirely dead. All that we attempt to establish
with our powers is lost unless He prevenes and makes us alive through
His grace. Grace is His own work, which we receive in our hearts by
faith. This grace the soul did not possess before, for it is the new
man.... The great proud saints will not do this [ascribe everything to
God and His mercy]. They, too, would have a share in it, saying to our
Lord: 'This I have done by my free will, this I have deserved.'" (9,
573; 5, 544.)
Thus Luther, from the very beginning of the Reformation, stood for the
doctrine of justification, conversion, and salvation by grace alone.
Most emphatically he denied that man though free to a certain extent in
human and temporal affairs, is able to cooperate with the powers of his
natural, unregenerate will in matters spiritual and pertaining to God.
This was also the position which Luther victoriously defended against
Erasmus in his _De Servo Arbitrio_ of 1525. Goaded on by the Romanists
to come out publicly against the German heretic, the great Humanist, in
his _Diatribe_ of 1524, had shrewdly planned to attack his opponent at
the most vulnerable point. As such he regarded Luther's monergistic
doctrine, according to which it is God alone who justifies, converts,
preserves, and saves men, without any works of their own. In reality,
however, as presently appeared from his glorious classic on the
_sola-gratia_ doctrine, Erasmus had assaulted the strongest gate of
Luther's fortress. For the source of the wonderful power which Luther
displayed throughout the Reformation was none other than the divine
conviction born of the Word of God that in every respect grace alone is
the cause of our justification and salvation. And if ever this blessed
doctrine was firmly established, successfully defended, and greatly
glorified, it was in Luther's book against Erasmus.
Justification, conversion, perseverance in faith, and final salvation,
obtained not by any effort of ours, but in every respect received as a
gracious gift of God alone--that was the teaching also to which Luther
faithfully, most determinedly, and without any wavering adhered
throughout his life. In his _Large Confession_ of 1528, for example, we
read: "Herewith I reject and condemn as nothing but error all dogmas
which extol our free will, as they directly conflict with this help and
grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. For since outside of Christ death and
sin are our lords, and the devil our god and prince, there can be no
power or might, no wisdom or understanding, whereby we can qualify
ourselves for, or strive after, righteousness and life; but we must be
blinded people and prisoners of sin and the devil's own, to do and to
think what pleases them and is contrary to God and His commandments."
(CONC. TRIGL. 897, 43.)