hat we receive according to how we live our lives. Luther's principle crumbles in light of this consideration. Man must have free will, otherwise commands, prohibitions, rewards, and punishments would be in vain. If God could "guarantee" obedience and belief, why didn't He simply do that with Adam and Eve (and Satan for that matter) and thus avoid all kinds of problems? God's grace is a necessary condition for our faith/works, but I don't believe God forces us to do what we do, whether good or evil.Luther did have some good ideas as well. He basically said that for humans to have "complete" free will would destroy God's sovereignty. Yet an absence of free will would destroy God's goodness, given the existence of evil. This is where the complications occur. I think there must be a balance somewhere- the notion of "predestination" must exist to have a notion of "free will." ...
