According to Luther man has power over things beneath himself, but not
over God in His majesty. We read: "We know that man is constituted lord
of the things beneath him, over which he has power and free will, that
they may obey him and do what he wills and thinks. But the point of our
inquiry is whether he has a free will toward God, so that God obeys and
does what man wills; or, whether it is not rather God who has a free
will over man, so that the latter wills and does what God wills, and can
do nothing but what God has willed and does. Here the Baptist says that
man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven: wherefore
free will is nothing." (E. 359, St. L. 1957.)
God as revealed in the Word may, according to Luther, be opposed and
resisted by man, but not God in His majesty. We read: "Lest any one
should suppose this to be my own distinction, [let him know that] I
follow Paul, who writes to the Thessalonians concerning Antichrist (2
Thess. 2, 4) that he will exalt himself above every God that is
proclaimed and worshiped, plainly indicating that one may be exalted
above God, so far as He is proclaimed and worshiped, that is, above the
Word and worship by which God is known to us, and maintains intercourse
with us. Nothing, however, can be exalted above God as He is in His
nature and majesty (as not worshiped and proclaimed); rather, everything
is under His powerful hand." (E. 221; St. L. 1794.)
God in His majesty is supreme and man cannot resist His omnipotence, nor
thwart His decrees, nor foil His plans, nor render His omniscience
fallible. Luther: "For all men find this opinion written in their
hearts, and, when hearing this matter discussed, they, though against
their will, acknowledge and assent to it, first, that God is omnipotent,
not only as regards His power, but also, as stated His action; else He
would be a ridiculous God; secondly, that He knows and foreknows all
things, and can neither err nor be deceived. These two things, however,
being conceded by the hearts and senses of all men they are presently,
by an inevitable consequence, compelled to admit that, even as we are
not made by our own will, but by necessity, so likewise we do nothing
according to the right of free will, but just as God has foreknown and
acts by a counsel and an energy which is infallible and immutable. So,
then, we find it written in all hearts alike that free will [defined as
a power independent of God's power] is nothing, although this writing
[in the hearts of men] be obscured through so many contrary disputations
and the great authority of so many persons who during so many ages have
been teaching differently." (E. 268; St. L. 1851.)
The very idea of God and omnipotence involves that free will is not, and
cannot be, a power independent of God. Luther: "However, even natural
reason is obliged to confess that the living and true God must be such a
one who by His freedom imposes necessity upon us, for, evidently, He
would be a ridiculous God or, more properly, an idol, who would either
foresee future events in an uncertain way, or be deceived by the events,
as the Gentiles have asserted an inescapable fate also for their gods.
God would be equally ridiculous if He could not do or did not do all
things, or if anything occurred without Him. Now, if foreknowledge and
omnipotence are conceded, it naturally follows as an irrefutable
consequence that we have not been made by ourselves, nor that we live or
do anything by ourselves, but through His omnipotence. Since, therefore,
He foreknew that we should be such [as we actually are], and even now
makes, moves, and governs us as such, pray, what can be imagined that is
free in us so as to occur differently than He has foreknown or now
works? God's foreknowledge and omnipotence, therefore, conflict directly
with our free will [when defined as a power independent of God]. For
either God will be mistaken in foreknowing, err also in acting (which is
impossible), or we shall act, and be acted upon, according to His
foreknowledge and action. By the omnipotence of God, however, I do not
mean that power by which He can do many things which He does not do but
that active omnipotence by means of which He powerfully works all things
in all, in which manner Scripture calls Him omnipotent. This omnipotence
and prescience of God, I say, entirely abolish the dogma of free will.
Nor can the obscurity of Scripture or the difficulty of the matter be
made a pretext here. The words are most clear, known even to children;
the subject-matter is plain and easy, judged to be so even by the
natural reason common to all, so that ever so long a series of ages,
times, and persons writing and teaching otherwise will avail nothing."
(E. 267; St. L. 1849.)
According to Luther, therefore, nothing can or does occur independently
of God, or differently from what His omniscience has foreseen. Luther:
"Hence it follows irrefutably that all things which we do, and all
things which happen, although to us they seem to happen changeably and
contingently, do in reality happen necessarily and immutably, if one
views the will of God. For the will of God is efficacious and cannot be
thwarted since it is God's natural power itself. It is also wise, so
that it cannot be deceived. And since His will is not thwarted, the work
itself cannot be prevented, but must occur in the very place, time,
manner, and degree which He Himself both foresees and wills." (E. 134;
St. L. 1692.)