The following is an excerpt of the ending of Luther's Bondage of the Will. A longer excerpt of the ending can be found HERE. Luther addresses how people can reconcile the apparent injustice of election and reprobation.
I will give a parallel case, in order to
strengthen our faith in God's justice, and to reassure that 'evil eye'
which holds Him under suspicion of injustice. Behold! God governs the
external affairs of the world in such a way that, if you regard and
follow the judgment of human reason, you are forced to say, either that
there is no God, or that God is unjust; as the poet said: 'I am often
tempted to think there are no gods.' See the great prosperity of the
wicked, and by contrast the great adversity of the good. Proverbs, and
experience, the parent of proverbs, bear record that the more abandoned
men are, the more successful they are. 'The tabernacle of robbers
prosper,' says Job (12:6), and Ps. 72 complains that sinners in the
world are full of riches (Ps. 73:12). Is it not, pray, universally held
to be most unjust that bad men should prosper, and good men be
afflicted? Yet that is the way of the world. Hereupon some of the
greatest minds have fallen into denying the existence of God, and
imagining that Chance governs all things at random. Such were the
Epicureans, and Pliny. And Aristotle, wishing to set his 'prime Being'
free from misery, holds that he sees nothing but himself; for Aristotle
supposes that it would be very irksome to such a Being to behold so
many evils and injustices! And the Prophets, who believed in God's
existence, were still more tempted concerning the injustice of God.
Jeremiah, Job, David, Asaph and others are cases in point. What do you
suppose Demosthenes and Cicero thought, when, having done all they
could, they received as their reward an unhappy death? Yet all this,
which looks so much like injustice in God, and is traduced as such by
arguments which no reason or light of nature can resist, is most easily
cleared up by the light of the gospel and the knowledge of grace, which
teaches us that though the wicked flourish in their bodies, yet they
perish in their souls. And a summary explanation of this whole
inexplicable problem is found in a single little word: There is a life
after this life; and all that is not punished and repaid here will be
punished and repaid there; for this life is nothing more than a
precursor, or, rather, a beginning, of the life that is to come.
If, now this problem, which was debated in
every age but never solved, is swept away and settled so easily by the
light of the gospel, which shines only in the Word and to faith, how do
you think it will be when the light of the Word and faith shall cease,
and the real facts, and the Majesty of God, shall be revealed as they
are? Do you not think that the light of glory will be able with the
greatest ease to solve problems that are insoluble in the light of the
word and grace, now that the light of grace has so easily solved this
problem, which that was insoluble by the light of nature?
Keep in view three lights: the light of
nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory (this is a common
and a good distinction). By the light of nature, it is inexplicable
that it should be just for the good to be afflicted and the bad to
prosper; but the light of grace explains it. By the light of grace, it
is inexplicable how God can damn him who by his own strength can do
nothing but sin and become guilty. Both the light of nature and the
light of grace here insist that the fault lies not in the wretchedness
of man, but in the injustice of God; nor can they judge otherwise of a
God who crowns the ungodly freely, without merit, and does not crown,
but damns another, who is perhaps less, and certainly not more,
ungodly. But the light of glory insists otherwise, and will one day
reveal God, to whom alone belongs a judgment whose justice is
incomprehensible, as a God Whose justice is most righteous and evident
- provided only that in the meanwhile we believe it, as we are
instructed and encouraged to do by the example of the light of grace
explaining what was a puzzle of the same order to the light of nature. - The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (as translated by J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston)
The following is another version of the same passage as translated by Henry Cole in a free online version of the entire book HERE.
Sect. 166.—BUT I will produce an
example that may go to confirm this faith, and to console that "evil eye" which
suspects God of injustice.—Behold! God so governs this corporal world in external
things, that, according to human reason and judgment, you must be compelled to say, either
that there is no God, or that God is unjust: as a certain one saith, 'I am often tempted
to think there is no God.' For see the great prosperity of the wicked, and on the contrary
the great adversity of the good; according to the testimony of the proverbs, and of
experience the parent of all proverbs. The more abandoned men are, the more successful!
"The tabernacles of robbers (saith Job) prosper." And Psalm lxxiii, complains,
that the sinners of the world abound in riches. Is it not, I pray you, in the judgment of
all, most unjust, that the evil should be prosperous, and the good afflicted? Yet so it is
in the events of the world. And here it is, that the most exalted minds have so fallen, as
to deny that there is any God at all; and to fable, that fortune disposes of all things at
random: such were Epicurus and Pliny. And Aristotle, in order that he might make his
'First-cause Being' free from every kind of misery, is of opinion, that he thinks of
nothing whatever but himself; because he considers, that it must be most irksome to him,
to see so many evils and so many injuries.
But the Prophets themselves, who believed there is a God, were tempted still more
concerning the injustice of God, as Jeremiah, Job, David, Asaph, and others. And what do
you suppose Demosthenes and Cicero thought, who, after they had done all they could,
received no other reward than a miserable death? And yet all this, which is so very much
like injustice in God, when set forth in those arguments which no reason or light of
nature can resist, is most easily cleared up by the light of the Gospel, and the knowledge
of grace: by which, we are taught, that the wicked flourish in their bodies, but
lose their souls! And the whole of this insolvable question is solved in one
word—There is a life after this life: in which will be punished and repaid, every
thing that is not punished and repaid here: for this life is nothing more than an entrance
on, and a beginning of, the life which is to come!
If then even the light of the Gospel, which stands in the word and in the faith only,
is able to effect so much as with ease to do away with, and settle, this question which
has been agitated through so many ages and never solved; how do you suppose matters will
appear, when the light of the word and of faith shall cease, and the essential Truth
itself shall be revealed in the Divine Majesty? Do you not suppose that the light of glory
will then most easily solve that question, which is now insolvable by the light of the
word and of grace, even as the light of grace now easily solves that question, which is
insolvable by the light of nature?
Let us therefore hold in consideration the three lights—the light of nature, the
light of grace, and the light of glory; which is the common, and a very good
distinction. By the light of nature, it is insolvable how it can be just, that the
good man should be afflicted and the wicked should prosper: but this is solved by the
light of grace. By the light of grace it is insolvable, how God can damn him, who,
by his own powers, can do nothing but sin and become guilty. Both the light of nature and
the light of grace here say, that the fault is not in the miserable man, but in the unjust
God: nor can they judge otherwise of that God, who crowns the wicked man freely without
any merit, and yet crowns not, but damns another, who is perhaps less, or at least not
more wicked. But the light of glory speaks otherwise.—That will shew, that God, to
whom alone belongeth the judgment of incomprehensible righteousness, is of righteousness
most perfect and most manifest; in order that we may, in the meantime, believe it, being
admonished and confirmed by that example of the light of grace, which solves that, which
is as great a miracle to the light of nature!
No comments:
Post a Comment