In the case of the betrayal of Judas, as Scheel points out, Luther
does not mention any necessity “which compelled Judas to act as he
did”; Luther seems, at least in certain passages, to look on that
act as necessary, only because, having been foreseen by God, it
“inevitably occurs at the time appointed.”[821] Yet elsewhere he
says: “His will [that of the traitor] was the work of God; God by
His Almighty Power moved his will as He does all that is in the
world.”[822]
A similar confusion is apparent in his statements concerning Adam’s
Fall. Adam was not impelled to his sin, but the Spirit of God forsook
him, and intentionally placed him in a position in which he could
not do otherwise than fall--even though his will was as yet free and
though as yet he felt no attraction towards evil as the result of
original sin. May we then say after all that God brought about the
Fall and was Himself the cause of the depravity of the whole human
race through original sin? To this question, which Luther himself
raises, the only answer he gives is: “He is God; of His willing there
is no cause or reason,” because no creature is above Him and He
Himself “is the rule of all things.”[823] Because He wills a thing, it
is good, “not because He must or ought so to will.” In the case of
the creature it is otherwise; “His will must have reason and cause,
not so, however, the will of the Creator.”[824] What seems to follow
from these Occamistic subtleties is, that Adam’s sin was after all
“brought about by God,”[825] and that Adam could not do otherwise
than sin, even though God merely placed him in a position where sin
was inevitable, but that he was nevertheless punished, and with him
all his descendants. But is it so certain that in Adam’s case Luther
excludes a real impulse, a real inner compulsion to transgress? The
fact is that certain of his statements on this question present some
difficulty. “Since God moves and does all, we must take it that He
moves and acts even in Satan and in the godless.”[826] It is true,
according to Luther, that He acts in them “as He finds them, i.e.
since they are turned away from God and are wicked, and are carried
away by the impulse of Divine Omnipotence (‘_rapiuntur motu illo
divinæ omnipotentiæ_’), they do only what is contrary to God and
evil.... He works what is evil in the wicked because the instrument,
which is unable to withdraw itself from the impelling force of His
might, is itself evil.”[827] If this means that the impulse on God’s
part must in every case have an effect conformable to the condition of
the instrument moved, then, in Adam’s case, its effect should surely
have been good, inasmuch as Adam, being without original sin, was
not inclined to evil by any passions. If then Adam fell we can only
infer that the Almighty allowed an entirely different impulse from
the ordinary one to take effect, one which led directly to the Fall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account