The Bible teaches that faith itself is and has to be a gift of God, by grace, and not of self (Ephesians 2:8). It is safe to deduce that for Luther, any evangelist who advocates free will has not only “not yet comprehended any part of the Gospel,” but also that he has not yet preached the Gospel at all; his is a counterfeit gospel.
The Trinity Foundation - Luther on Free Will
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What gives you the impression that we Arminians think otherwise; when it comes to Christ giving of his grace? The fact that God wills before we do...is not something we disavow. It is also something that is quite complex. And at times, as far as man is concerned...God awaits our choices. Of course God is not held in suspension while he waits...or while we wait. It's just that we know by the simple practise -- that free-will at any aspect exists. It has a destructive state; one that needs God. It has a fatal state one that is spiritually lawless, and binded by Satan. Finally the only actual free-will -- in Christ. As this, we are the definitive Protestantism. Because we--by God's grace embody free-will... With free-will comes liberty. That is not a will severed by his grace. Nor apart.
Grace always produces results. John 6:37-44, 65. The person who is born of God always comes to Christ. For you grace can lead to hell. What a grace you have there:) And Jesus died for those in hell. What an atonement that sends people to hell. Great logic, Bubba:) John 10:11, 15
THIS, therefore, is also essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know: That God foreknows nothing by contingency, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will. By this thunderbolt, "Free-will" is thrown prostrate, and utterly dashed to pieces. Those, therefore, who would assert "Free-will," must either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to see it, or push it from them. Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will. Sovereignty.
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