BONDAGE OF THE WILLS COMPARED

By: Guillermo Santamaria

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Puts Luther (1525), Jonathan Edwards (1754), and Old School Baptists—Absoluter wing into one frame to compare “free will,” predestination, and lapsarian order.

• Moves from definitions → doctrine → exegesis → pastoral use, then closes with a source-based Beebe section.

Big theses

• Luther: After the Fall the will is in bondage; conversion is monergistic (God alone). Scripture’s revealed will guides preaching; the hidden will is adored, not dissected. Emphasis: Law/Gospel and assurance.

• Edwards: Compatibilism—we always choose according to the strongest present motive; sinners have natural ability but moral inability to love God. Regeneration changes dispositions; God’s decree makes events certain without coercion.

• OSB (Absoluter): Absolute predestination of all things; immediate (non-means) regeneration; reject “duty-faith.” Tone is supralapsarian-leaning; “permission” language is viewed as too soft—prefer decree/government while denying God is the author of sin.

Lapsarian placements (logical order of decrees)

• Luther: Doesn’t play the lapsarian game; functionally infralapsarian if forced (elect considered as fallen), but officially sidesteps the schema.

• Edwards: Infra in order (fall then election) with end-first teleology (God’s glory) that sounds supra-ish.

• OSB—Absoluter: Frequently supralapsarian in tone (election/reprobation ordered to God’s prior purpose; the fall serves the plan).

Double predestination & “permission”

• Lutheran confessions: Single predestination (deny “double”); teach election for comfort and refuse a decree to damnation.

• Edwards: Asymmetrical double predestination—active election; certain permission/preterition for the rest, with just condemnation for their sins (never equal ultimacy).

• Absoluter OSB: Push beyond “mere permission” to absolute decree of all events (still not authoring sin). Salvation is Plan A, not a patch.

Luther’s book—chapter-by-chapter spine

1. Stakes: “free will” is the hinge.

2. Scripture is clear on sin and grace.

3. Revealed vs. hidden will distinction.

4. “Free will” toward God is a name without a thing post-Fall.

5. Necessity ≠ coercion.

6. God ordains all; not author of sin (hardening by withdrawing grace).

7. Law exposes inability; Gospel creates faith.

8. Monergistic conversion via Word/Spirit.
   9–11) Exegesis hubs: Romans 9; John 6; slavery to sin texts.

9. Replies to Erasmus’ “middle way.”
   13–15) Predestination comforts; preach Christ, not speculation.

Edwards’s book—four-part scaffold

• Part I: Terms—liberty = acting from one’s own will; necessity = certainty, not force.

• Part II: Will follows the strongest motive; “self-determining power” collapses into regress.

• Part III: Responsibility doesn’t require leeway alternatives; it requires sourcehood (the act issues from you).

• Part IV: Divine decree makes events certain; humans act voluntarily; key hinge: moral vs. natural ability.