FREE WILL

Before preparing to set down the teaching of the new church on free will, I must preface my remarks with an account of the views on this subject expressed by the present-day church in its theological books. But for this anyone of sound reason and religion might think that it is not worth while writing anything new on the subject. He might say to himself: 'Is there anyone who does not know that man has free will in spiritual matters? What else would be the point of priests preaching that people should believe in God, be converted, live in accordance with the commandments in the Word, fight against the lusts of the flesh, and turn themselves into new creations,' and much more of the same sort. He cannot therefore help thinking that these expressions would be merely empty verbiage, if there were no element of free will in matters affecting salvation, and it would be madness to deny this, as being contrary to common sense. Yet the present-day church goes in the opposite direction and banishes it from its buildings, as is evident from the book called the Formula of Concord, a book the Evangelicals swear to uphold, as the following extracts will show. The Reformed churches have similar teaching and thus belief about free will, so the situation is similar throughout the Christian world, and consequently in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England and Holland, as is clear from their theological books. The following passages are transcribed from the Formula of Concord, published at Leipzig in 1756.