Bondage of the Will

Renewing Your Mind

Ligonier Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Reformed, Study, Jesus, Preaching, Christianity, Scripture, Spirit, Bible, Holy, Theology, Christian, God, Teaching

4.8 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We are doomed in our slavery to sin unless the sovereign God changes our hearts and sets our wills free. Today, R.C. Sproul examines the issue of free will as it appears in discussions throughout church history.

Request Ligonier’s special 500th-anniversary of The Bondage of the Will book by Martin Luther with your donation of any amount. We’ll include lifetime digital access to R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Willing to Believe and the companion study guide: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4167/donate

Live outside the U.S. and Canada? With your donation, get the ebook edition of The Bondage of the Will and lifetime digital access to the Willing to Believe teaching series and study guide: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global

Meet Today’s Teacher:

R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.

Meet the Host:

Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.

Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a matter of critical importance, according to Luther, as to whether we think in the final
0:05.8	analysis, our salvation is the work of God, or it is something that, to a certain degree,
0:14.4	is accomplished by our own efforts and our own striving and our own merit.
0:28.0	Throughout church history, some people have said that man is totally free to choose
0:33.3	salvation. In the 16th century, a debate over free will erupted between Martin Luther
0:39.2	and the Dutch theologian Erasmus, a debate that continues today in the church.
0:45.2	Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and all this week on renewing your mind, that is our topic.
0:51.0	Yesterday, Stephen Nichols joined us to discuss Luther's classic book, The Bondage of the Will.
0:56.8	And today we begin a series of messages from R.C. Sprole on the Will and what the Bible really says
1:03.0	about our ability or lack of ability to choose God. Before Dr. Sprold digs into this debate between
1:10.0	Luther and Erasmus, don't forget to request the 500th anniversary edition of the Bondage of the Will, along with digital access to this week's 12-part series and study guide when you give a donation in support of renewing your mind at Renewing Your Mind.org.
1:26.9	Well, here's R.C. Spraw on Martin Luther, Erasmus, and the bondage of the will.
1:34.7	One of the most fascinating duels that ever took place in the theological arena between theologians
1:43.3	was the duel that erupted in the 16th century between probably the
1:50.0	most respected Catholic humanistic scholar of the era and Martin Luther. It was Desiderus Erasmus of Rotterdam, the man who reconstructed the received
2:05.9	text of the New Testament, who was known around the world for his great scholarship and acumen,
2:12.6	who in the early stages of the Reformation sided with Luther and who wrote the praise of folly,
2:21.7	which was a bitter, sarcastic satire against the corruptions of the clergy within the Catholic
2:30.9	Church.
2:31.8	But nevertheless, when it came to the cardinal issues of the Reformation
2:36.3	itself, Erasmus broke with Luther and remained faithful to the Roman Catholic Church,
2:43.4	and then set about to critique the teachings of Martin Luther.
	...

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