The most systematic work Martin Luther ever created was his De servo arbitrio / The Bondage of the Will (1525), his powerful polemic against the leading Humanist of his day, Erasmus, who had criticized Luther in his De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio / The Freedom of the Will (1524). Luther's The Bondage of the Will is regarded as a work representing the organic unity of his entire theological thought; it can be seen as his theology in a condensed form. In spite of the immense significance of Luther's magnum opus, its theological structure and content have so far not yet been satisfactorily revealed. Much research has been conducted on certain detailed aspects of this work of Luther's, such as the problems of the free will, determinism, and predestination. The basic weakness of those analyses is that the details of The Bondage of the Will can be correctly understood only on the basis of a comprehension of the basic systematic theological idea of his work. The very kernel of Luther's own thought and the deepest intentions of his theology in this work are best comprehended by analyzing the inner structure and cohesion of his own thinking and by seeing how his argumentation developed in his dispute with Erasmus. The task of this study is to expose the fundamental systematic theological idea and structure in Luther's The Bondage of the Will. The method employed in the present study is a comprehensive systematic analysis of Luther's thought in his work. Attention will be paid to the conceptualization of issues by Luther, to his main propositions and the arguments he uses to support his claims, and to the structural principles and the core body of his thinking system. The debate between Luther and Erasmus contained genuine paradigmatic differences in their understanding of the Christian faith, but also some misunderstandings, even intentional misinterpretations. The present study aims at clarifying these conceptual confusions and at exploring the possibility of some degree of reconciliation between the conflicting views. My hypothesis is that Luther's own specific and comprehensive understanding of the Trinitarian theology of grace, with special emphasis on Pneumatology, alongside the more obvious Christology, strongly linked with the theology of creation, is the fundamental thought structure of his magnum opus. This enables him to get rid of the common Late Medieval teaching of the free choice of the human being, represented by Erasmus. Above all, Luther is a theologian of grace, sola gratia. The Bondage of the Will, the most Pneumatological treatise he ever wrote, offers a radical and comprehensive Trinitarian theology of grace. Luther understands the human being as an "ecstatic" creature who receives his/her existence and the quality of his/her existence from extra se. Luther argues for this paradigm in terms of the theology of creation, Christology, Pneumatology, and soteriology. As such, the human being was created a creature which is destined for union with his/her Creator in the Holy Spirit who is the actual presence of the Creator in his creature, God sharing his life with the human being. After losing this original state of union, the human being became a battlefield of the opposing transcendental powers, Satan and sin on the one side, and God and his grace, on the other side. The human is free in "things below oneself," in matters that belong to daily human life, but he/she is not free in "things above oneself," in matters that transcend the human being. Luther sees sin as human infirmity, inability to get rid of unbelief and pride which destroyed the human's union with God. The human being cannot change his/her evil orientation but must continue such as he/she is: this is Luther's concept of "the necessity of immutability"; he applies this philosophical concept to soteriological usage. The human being is in a desperate situation in regard to his/her capacities of contributing to his/her own salvation; here Luther follows his logic of theologia crucis. Both in terms of creation and salvation, the human being is meant to be in a communion of life with the Triune God. Luther develops a strong soteriology, understood in terms of an intimate union between the Triune God and the human being. This union is not primarily a cognitive-rational and morally responsible relation, as Erasmus was inclined to think, but a union of being with Christ in the Holy Spirit, koinonia/unio cum Christo in Spiritu sancto. The quality of a human being's life in this world and his/her eternal beatitude depends on whether his/her person is or is not in union with the Holy Trinity. In his Trinitarian theology of grace, Pneumatology, arguably neglected in Medieval times, is powerfully revived. Luther's conception of divine grace, with some peculiarities of his own, recalls Augustine's doctrine of grace, differing from the soteriological views of Scholasticism and Nominalism. The present study culminates in a systematic presentation of the three dimensions of Luther's Trinitarian doctrine of grace: First, contrition, conversion, and faith are effected by God's Spirit, sola fide is a thoroughly Pneumatological concept - a fact not sufficiently emphasized in research. Second, Luther sees the union with Christ simultaneously as a Christological and as a Pneumatological reality - a view not underscored in research. Third, sanctification means growth in love by way of being increasingly controlled by the Holy Spirit, who is the essence of divine love. This three-dimensional conception of grace can be supported by other works of Luther's mature theology. There are strong points of contact with Johannine, Pauline, Augustinian, and Greek Patristic theology here; a more detailed analysis of these connections, however, is not in the scope of the study at hand. The results of the study intensify the ecumenical potential of Luther's doctrine of grace. Moreover, these results contribute an amendment to the Finnish school of Luther interpretation where the Pneumatological dimension is underemphasized in the first and the second dimensions of Luther's doctrine of grace. Finally, the possibility of some degree of reconciliation between the views of Erasmus and Luther will be considered.

This thesis examines Thomas Goodwin’s (1600–1680) doctrine of union with Christ within his soteriology. It builds upon Michael Lawrence’s historical reassessment which uncovered that, contrary to previous scholarly assumptions, the majority of Goodwin’s treatises were composed during the 1650s and intended to form a grand project defending Reformed soteriology against the new threats of Socinian and radical teachings as well as its traditional opponents, Catholics and Arminians. Goodwin considered this grand project to be his life’s work. It represents the longest exposition of Reformed soteriology composed by an English puritan. However, no modern critical study of the soteriology of his grand project has appeared to date. This thesis, therefore, offers a theological examination in light of his immediate historical context. The study focuses on union with Christ, because Goodwin assumed it occupied a fundamental role in salvation and, therefore, it allows identification of the architectonic structures of his soteriology. The immediate historical context is privileged, because union with Christ (and related loci) was a point of sharp dispute in the 1640s–1650s. By offering a careful examination of this theme in an important individual theologian, this study also aims to make a significant contribution to recent controversy over union with Christ in the post-Reformation period. At stake are two competing visions of the structure of Reformed applied soteriology: some scholars contend that the Reformed tradition granted priority to union with Christ; others contend that priority was granted to justification. The former commonly argue that seventeenth-century divines allowed the priority of union with Christ to be displaced by a causal chain of application; the latter, disputing this claim, argue for continuity within the tradition and that the priority of justification was held alongside broader notions of union with Christ. The main argument of this thesis is a demonstration that Goodwin founded the application of every aspect of salvation upon a ‘real’ union with Christ (i.e., mystical union forged by Christ’s indwelling within the believer) rather than upon a mere ‘relative’ union (i.e., legal union external to the believer). Moreover, Goodwin contended that real union with Christ must involve the indwelling of the uncreated grace of the person of the Holy Spirit. This, he believed, was essential to maintain a trinitarian, federal, high Reformed soteriology in which redemption from the problem of sin is set within a Reformed scheme of christocentric deification. Goodwin’s conception of union with Christ and his high soteriology departed from the views of the conservative majority of seventeenth-century Reformed puritan divines who denied the indwelling of uncreated grace. Instead, his conception often resembled the teachings of antinomians and radicals, though Goodwin remained within the bounds of orthodoxy by repeated application of key theological distinctions. These findings support the view in recent controversy that Reformed applied soteriology was governed by the priority of union with Christ. Yet, neither side accurately construes seventeenth-century views on union with Christ, because disagreement amongst divines over the nature of real union with Christ has not been adequately recognised. Chapter 1 establishes the case for this study from a literature survey. The argument then unfolds in four main chapters. Chapter 2 establishes the nature of real union with Christ embraced by Goodwin. Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate that Goodwin advocated high doctrines of transformation and forensic justification respectively and determine how each was founded in his conception of real union with Christ. Chapter 5 advances the argument by demonstrating that real union with Christ occupied a fundamental place in his soteriology as a consequence of his conviction that salvation principally consists in participation in Christ and his divine nature. Chapter 6 concludes by assessing the significance of Goodwin’s doctrine of union with Christ in his grand project, in his immediate historical context, and for the recent controversy over union with Christ.

The letter to the Romans conveys a message of God's love and how through his grace, he has prepared a way to liberate mankind from a life of sin to a life of righteousness. But the way the message is presented, this grace may easily be misunderstood as an encouragement for people to live in sin. In Chapter 6:1-14, a concise but detailed outline of the message of the epistle unfolds into two main sections, namely, the Indicative and the Imperative. Key statements in these sections are: 'How can we who have died to sin, continue to live in it?' (6:2), and 'Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God' (6:11). Failure to distinguish the separate meanings of these statements may lead to the conclusion that the pericope encourages libertinism. In outlining the:meaning of this expression, 'We have died to sin ... ', I hope to make a contribution for a better understanding of the message of this pericope, namely: The grace of God that enables believers to live a righteous / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Theology)

The letter to the Romans conveys a message of God's love and how through his grace, he has prepared a way to liberate mankind from a life of sin to a life of righteousness. But the way the message is presented, this grace may easily be misunderstood as an encouragement for people to live in sin. In Chapter 6:1-14, a concise but detailed outline of the message of the epistle unfolds into two main sections, namely, the Indicative and the Imperative. Key statements in these sections are: 'How can we who have died to sin, continue to live in it?' (6:2), and 'Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God' (6:11). Failure to distinguish the separate meanings of these statements may lead to the conclusion that the pericope encourages libertinism. In outlining the:meaning of this expression, 'We have died to sin ... ', I hope to make a contribution for a better understanding of the message of this pericope, namely: The grace of God that enables believers to live a righteous / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Theology)