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Emilio Chase
Professor Sheppardson
Renaissance and Reformation
30 March 2016

The Issue of Free Will

Both Erasmus and Luther present cases supporting their belief systems quite strongly.
Both men come from places of vast amounts of education and life experiences that help to
support their beliefs and why they feel so strongly about them. Erasmus was a Dutch
Renaissance humanist, teacher, and theologian that firmly believed the Catholic Church needed
to be reformed. In fact, he remained a member of the Catholic Church for the majority of his life,
hoping to help reform the abuses from within. Luther, however, was a theology professor, priest,
and monk that became a prominent figure during the Protestant reformation. He is most wellknown for his issues with the Catholic Church, mainly the idea of indulgences. Luther believed
that freedom of sin could not be purchased, which was one inspiration for him to write his
famous Ninety-Five Theses of 1517. Clearly, both men have strong reasoning to support what
they believe and, while they both provide reasonable arguments supporting their argument, I tend
to side more with the opinions expressed by Erasmus.
Erasmus begins his thesis by first explaining how the concept of free choice is already
difficult to ascertain. While Erasmus has his own views, he acknowledges that there have been
many differing opinions on the topic since the birth of the Christian church. One of Erasmus
early arguments is that, I admit that many different views about free choice have been handed
down from the ancients about which I have, as yet, no fixed conviction, except that I think there

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to be a certain power of free choice, (Erasmus). However, Erasmus does go into quite a lot of
detail as his argument unfolds that reject Luthers ideas and how he is not persuaded by Luthers
beliefs. An interesting aspect of Erasmus work is that he does not appear to want to take a
definite side in his argument. While his opinions are apparent, his word choice makes it appear
that he simply wants to be a mediator between the issues presented. This is further exemplified
by the quote provided previously. However, Erasmus does still present a convincing argument
for his viewpoint. Mainly, Erasmus views salvation as a cooperation effort. Salvation is earned in
part through ones efforts and the grace of God. Essentially, while God is receiving the glory, man
is being rewarded for their religious efforts. Erasmus states that, And so these passages, which
seem to be in conflict with one another, are easily brought into harmony if we join the striving of
our will with the assistance of divine grace, (Erasmus). Not only does this allow Erasmus to get
his viewpoint across, it also incorporates both sides of the argument, which allows for this idea to
achieve as much widespread acceptance as possible. Overall, while Erasmus attempts to present
his case in a way that pleases everyone, his points are clear and he defends his beliefs in
refutation of Luther.
Luther responds to Erasmus in a way quite unexpected. Firstly, he addresses that he did
not respond for so long due to him deeming it unnecessary to repeat himself so many times. In
his other writings, he had already addressed his ideas on free will, so there was no original point
in addressing them again. However, once Erasmus work became more popular, Luther felt he
had no other choice but to respond. Luther passes harsh judgement on Erasmus argument,
stating it was essentially poor quality and worthless, which was yet another contributing factor to
him not responding quickly. One of the first responses Luther has deals with the inconsistencies
that Erasmus states in his own theology. Through this, Luther also states that, I owe you no

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small thanks, for you have made me far more sure of my own position by letting me see the case
for free choice put forward with all the energy of so distinguished and powerful a mind,
(Luther). Essentially, Erasmus writing helped Luther to become more secure in his own
viewpoint. Luthers main approach to this is the importance of doctrine, which he holds to be of
the utmost importance. Erasmus, being a humanist philosopher, naturally cares more about the
human reasoning behind free will and places less of an importance on the doctrine. Luther calls
into question the issue that Erasmus does not value the Scripture enough when taking the topic
into concern. This brings back up the relevance of Sola Scriptura, or Scripture alone, that is the
basis of any argument that Luther makes. Essentially, Luthers argument revolves around the
idea that the Scripture must be the sole authority in matters of life, such as free will.
Overall, I identify with Erasmus argument more in terms of ideology. While Luther
focused heavily on the ideas of Scripture, Erasmus attempted to take the human aspect into
account. Erasmus focuses on the idea of free will being as much a human quality as a divine one.
While God does have the final judgement, humans can be rewarded for giving glory to God. I
identify with this argument more because it does not wholly rely on the predetermined decision
of God that Luther believes in. It allows humans to act with a love and appreciation of God,
rather than an intense fear of God.
Ultimately, both sides present convincing arguments on their viewpoints, but I happen to
identify with Erasmus case more. Erasmus focuses on the humanist aspect of free will, stating
that it is both a decision of God as well as the actions of the individual. Luthers response
consists of focusing on the importance of Scripture and how all of the answers are present there
if one looks hard enough.