Luther: God is the Author of Evil (Part 1: Documentation)

I've been skimming through a Luther-related discussion thread entitled, Martin Luther: False Teacher? A Roman Catholic states,

"Regarding man's free will, Luther said: 'God is the author of what is evil as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who deserve not their fate.' What did he mean by this?"

In response, it was noted this quote is yet another mined out of Patrick O'Hare's The Facts About Luther and a challenge was issued to the Roman Catholic to locate a reference and context from Luther. I would actually be amazed if any person using this quote could locate a context. I took me quite a while to analyze the quote Father O'Hare used. This entry will document my work of locating the context. The next installment will analyze the quote.


The Culprit: Father Patrick O'Hare's Facts About Luther

Father O'Hare records the following:

Man," he says, "is like a horse. Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider and goes whither he wills it. Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider. The will cannot choose its rider and cannot kick against the spur that pricks it. It must go on and its very docility is a disobedience or a sin. The only struggle possible is between the two riders, who dispute the momentary possession of the steed, and, then, is fulfilled the saying of the Psalmist: I am become like a beast of burden.' Let the Christian, then, know that God foresees nothing contingently, but that he foresees, proposes and acts from His internal and immutable will. This is the thunderbolt that shatters and destroys free-will. Hence it comes to pass that whatever happens, happens according to the irreversible decrees of God. Therefore, necessity, not free-will, is the controlling principle of our conduct. God is the author of what is evil in us as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also, does He damn others who deserve not their fate." (De Servo Arbitrio, in op. lat. 7, 113 seq.) Source: Patrick O'Hare,The Facts About Luther, (Illinois: Tan Books [reprint], 1987) 266-267.

This quote also appears in a truncated form:

"Man is like a horse. Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider and goes whither he wills it. Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider... Therefore, necessity, not free will, is the controlling principle of our conduct. God is the author of what is evil as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who deserve not their fate." De Servo Arbitrio', 7, 113 seq., quoted by O'Hare, in 'The Facts About Luther, TAN Books, 1987, pp. 266-267.


The Primary Source: The Bondage of the Will
Even without having the Latin source to which Father O'Hare refers, one still has a good chance of tracking down the context. O'Hare let's us know this extended quote comes from De Servo Arbitrio, otherwise known as The Bondage of the Will. There are at least two English translations in print, and a helpful edited volume including some of the work of Erasmus:

The Bondage of the Will Translated by J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston (Michigan: Revell, 1957)

Luther's Works Volume 33: On The Bondage of the Will, translated by Phillip Watson (based on WA 18 600-787).

Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation edited by E. Gordon Rupp and Philip S. Watson, LCC XVII (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969).

There are two old English versions as well, and an edited version:

Martin Luther on the bondage of the will: to the venerable mister Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1525 (1823) Translated by Edward Thomas Vaughan

Martin Luther, On The Bondage of The Will, Written in Answer to the Diatribe of Erasmus on Free Will (1823) Translated by Henry Cole

An edited version of these two translations was put together in 1930 by Henry Atherton

But, this quote wasn't easy at all to locate. When I searched for the quote in Luther's Works 33, I found something similar, yet very different than that cited by O'Hare. I searched specifically for the horse and rider analogy:

In short, if we are under the god of this world, away from the work and Spirit of the true God, we are held captive to his will, as Paul says to Timothy [II Tim. 2:26], so that we cannot will anything but what he wills. For he is that strong man armed, who guards his own palace in such a way that those whom he possesses are in peace [Luke 11:21], so as to prevent them from stirring up any thought or feeling against him; otherwise, the kingdom of Satan being divided against itself would not stand [Luke 11:18], whereas Christ affirms that it does stand. And this we do readily and willingly, according to the nature of the will, which would not be a will if it were compelled; for compulsion is rather (so to say) “unwill.” But if a Stronger One comes who overcomes him and takes us as His spoil, then through his Spirit we are again slaves and captives—though this is royal freedom—so that we readily will and do what he wills. Thus the human will is placed between the two like a beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes where God wills, as the psalm says: “I am become as a beast [before thee] and I am always with thee” [Ps. 73:22 f.]. If Satan rides it, it wills and goes where Satan wills; nor can it choose to run to either of the two riders or to seek him out, but the riders themselves contend for the possession and control of it. What if I can prove from the words you yourself use in asserting freedom of choice that there is no free choice? What if I convict you of unwittingly denying what you seek so carefully to affirm? Frankly, unless I do so, I swear to regard everything I write against you in the entire book as revoked, and everything your Diatribe either asserts or queries against me as confirmed. [LW 33:65]

One can see, these are two very different renditions from The Bondage of the Will, with a substantial amount of difference. The entire sections about the thunderbolt destroying free will, whatever happens, happens by necessity, and God being the author of evil are missing from the LW snippet, while the horse and rider analogy is far shorter than that cited by O'Hare. Altogether, three sections of O'Hare's quote appeared to be missing from Luther's Works volume 33.


Why Doesn't O'Hare's Quote Match Up With Luther's Works Volume 33?
The first reason that O'Hare's quote is not like LW 33 is due to his documentation being spurious. "De Servo Arbitrio, in op. lat. 7, 113 seq" is not a quote reference to a specific section of text. It is actually a reference to where The Bondage of the Will begins in D. Martini Lutheri Opera Latina Volume VII. That is, the treatise, De Servo Arbitrio begins on page 113 in volume 7. The second reason these quotes don't match up is due to the fact that the entire quote is taken from different pages of The Bondage of the Will. That is, it isn't one Luther quote, it's a few quotes placed together in a paragraph taken from different places in The Bondage of the Will. Luther didn't write this as a paragraph. Someone took a few different quotes from the entirety of the book and placed them together into one paragraph.

There's a good chance Father O'Hare took the quote from History of the church, Volume 3 By Johannes Baptist Alzog. Father O'Hare quotes from this Romanist source a few times in his book, and it contains the same Luther quote in almost the exact same form with the exception of two additional words, "he continues":

Man, says Luther, is like a horse. "Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient, and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider, and goes whither he wills it. Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes, and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider. The will can not choose its rider, and can not kick against the spur that pricks it. It must get on, and its very docility is a disobedience or a sin. The only struggle possible is between the two riders, God and the Devil, who dispute the momentary possession of the steed. And then is fulfilled the saying of the Psalmist: 'I am become like a beast of burden.'" "Let the Christian then know," he continues, "that God foresees nothing contingently; but that he foresees, proposes, and acts from His eternal and immutable will. This is the thunderbolt that shatters and destroys free-will. Hence it comes to pass, that whatever happens, happens according to the irreversible decrees of God. Therefore necessity, not free-will, is the controlling principle of our conduct. God is the author of what is evil in us, as well as of what is good; and as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who do not deserve their fate.

Alzog uses this quote in another book as well. He attributes the quote to four different places on multiple pages of The Bondage of the Will [Lutheri opera Latina, Jenae, T. III., fols. 170,171,177, 207. Witt. Germ, fols., 534 b 535a (TR)]. Alzog appears to be using Latin Volume III in the Jena edition of Luther's Works (1555-1558), and the Wittenberg edition of Luther's Works. We'll also see that pages 170,171,177, 207 probably are not the order in which the quotes are arranged.


A Breakdown of the Four Quotes

1. The Horse and Rider Analogy
Man, says Luther, is like a horse. "Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient, and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider, and goes whither he wills it. Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes, and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider. The will can not choose its rider, and can not kick against the spur that pricks it. It must get on, and its very docility is a disobedience or a sin. The only struggle possible is between the two riders, God and the Devil, who dispute the momentary possession of the steed. And then is fulfilled the saying of the Psalmist: 'I am become like a beast of burden.'

LW 33 is much shorter:

Thus the human will is placed between the two like a beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes where God wills, as the psalm says: “I am become as a beast [before thee] and I am always with thee” [Ps. 73:22 f.]. If Satan rides it, it wills and goes where Satan wills; nor can it choose to run to either of the two riders or to seek him out, but the riders themselves contend for the possession and control of it.

The Packer / Johnston translation reads similarly to LW:
So man's will is like a beast standing between two riders. If God rides, it wills and goes where God wills: as the Psalm says, 'I am become as a beast before thee, and I am ever with thee' (Ps. 72.22-3). If Satan rides, it wills and goes where Satan wills. Nor may it choose to which rider it will run, or which it will seek; but the riders themselves fight to decide who shall have hold of it.

Vaughan:
Thus, the human will is placed, as a sort of packhorse, in the midst of two contending parties. If God hath mounted, it wills and goes whither God pleases; as the Psalmist says, I am become as a beast of burden, and I am ever with thee." (Psa. Ixxiii. 22, 23.) If Satan hath mounted, it wills and goes whither Satan wills. Nor is it in its own choice, to which of the two riders it shall run, or to seek its rider; but the riders themselves contend for the acquisition and possession of it.

Cole:
Thus the human will is, as it were, a beast between the two. If God sit thereon, it wills and goes where God will: as the Psalm saith, " I am become as it were a beast before thee, and I am continually with thee." If Satan sit thereon, it wills and goes as Satan will. Nor is it in the power of its own will to choose, to which rider it will run, nor which it will seek; but the riders themselves contend, which shall have and hold it.

Grisar:
Either God or Satan rules over men; to this pet thought he adds: "The matter stands simply thus . . when God is in us, the devil is absent and then we can will only what is good; but when God is not there, the devil is, and then we can will only what is evil. Neither God nor Satan leaves us with an indifferent will." "When the stronger of the two comes upon us," he says, " and makes a prey of us, snatching us away from our former ruler, we become servants and prisoners to such an extent that we desire and do gladly what he wills ( ut velimus et faciamus libenter quce ipse velit). Thus the human will stands," Luther continues, using a simile which has become famous, "like a saddle-horse between the two. If God mounts into the saddle, man wills and goes forward as God wills . . . but if the devil is the horseman, then man wills and acts as the devil wills. He has no power to run to one or the other of the two riders and offer himself to him, but the riders fight to obtain possession of the animal." [source]


The analogy of the horse and rider as quoted by O'Hare / Alzog is a little longer. A similar version can be found here:

So in his reply to the philosopher, he breathed upon the human will which Erasmus decked out as a queen, and drew from it two figures, first one of a horse, then one of salt. The horse is in the open field: "Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient, accommodates itself to every movement of the rider, and goes whither he wills it Does God throw down the reins? Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes, and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider.* The will cannot choose its rider, and cannot kick against the spur that pricks it. It must get on,and its very docility is a disobedience or a sin. The only struggle possible is between the two riders, God and the devil, who dispute the momentary possession of the steed. And then is fulfilled that saying of the Psalmist: 'I am become like a beast of burden.'" [*"Sic humana voluntas in medio posita est, seu jumentum ; si insederit Deus, vult et vodit que vult Deus, ut Psalmista dicit: Factus sum sicut jnmentum et ego semper tecum; si inserderit Satan, vult et vadit sient Satan, neo est in ejus arbitrio ad utrum sessorem currere, aut eum quaerere, sed ipsi sessores certant ob ipsum obtinendum et possidendum." — Op. Luth. tom. iii. p. 177, 6].

This source cites the quote in Latin, and specifically gives page 177 as a reference. Alzog begins with the horse and rider analogy, yet lists it as his third page reference. Can it be concluded that Alzog didn't cite his pages in order of the citations used as they appear in Luther's text? I'm not sure. This text cites the quote as "he compares the human will to a 'pack-horse now mounted by God, and now mounted by the devil,' driven hither or thither by divine or by Satanic agency, irrespective of all moral bias or character in itself" (p. 172 of De Servo Arbitrio, Opera, vol. iii.)". So the quote is said to be either page 172 or 177.

I think it's safe to conclude this longer version is indeed from Luther, despite it not being translated into the recent English texts. That it was edited down doesn't do anything to Luther's point. In WA 18, the quote appears on pages 634-635. Grisar mentions the Weimar version in WA 18 p. 600-787 has only "unimportant differences with the Latin text from Opp. Lat. var. 7 p. 113-368" [Grisar, Luther 2, p. 264]. He also mentions that an early German translation entitled "Dass der freie Wille nichts sei" was put out even while the Latin version was still in the process of being printed. Therefore, it is indeed possible that some of the versions have minor differences.


2. The Thunderbolt That Destroys Free Will
Let the Christian, then, know that God foresees nothing contingently, but that he foresees, proposes and acts from His internal and immutable will. This is the thunderbolt that shatters and destroys free-will.

After Luther quotes the Psalmist, Alzog says, "He continues" meaning that a new quote is being introduced. I located this snippet in LW 33:37, 28 pages previous to what came before it as cited by O'Hare and Alzog.

LW says:
Here, then, is something fundamentally necessary and salutary for a Christian, to know that God foreknows nothing contingently, but that he foresees and purposes and does all things by his immutable, eternal, and infallible will. Here is a thunderbolt by which free choice is completely prostrated and shattered, so that those who want free choice asserted must either deny or explain away this thunderbolt, or get rid of it by some other means. [LW 33:37]

Or, in the Packer / Johnston translation:
It is, then, fundamentally necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing contingently, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His own immutable, eternal and infallible will. This bombshell knocks 'free-will' flat, and utterly shatters it; so that those who want to assert it must either deny my bombshell, or pretend not to notice it, or find some other way of dodging it.

Other translations:

'God foreknows nothing subject to contingencies, but He foresees, foreordains, and accomplishes all things by an unchanging, eternal, and efficacious will. By this thunderbolt freewill sinks shattered in the dust'('Est itaque et hoc imprimis necessarium et salutare Christiano nosse, quod Deus nihil præscit contingiter, sed quod omnia incommutabilia et æterna, infallibilique voluntate et prævidet et præponit et facit. Hoc fulmine sternitur et conteritur penitus liberum arbitrium.')[source]

This quote also appears on page 615 of WA 18, and can be located in various secondary sources. My guess is this is the quote Alzog refers to as being on page 170, as will be explained with the next quote.

3. Whatever Happens is by Necessity, not Free Will
Hence it comes to pass that whatever happens, happens according to the irreversible decrees of God. Therefore, necessity, not free-will, is the controlling principle of our conduct.

This sentence is also on page 37 of Luther's Works 33, two paragraphs after the previous quote:

From this it follows irrefutably that everything we do, everything that happens, even if it seems to us to happen mutably and contingently, happens in fact nonetheless necessarily and immutably, if you have regard to the will of God. [LW 33:37]

This is probably the quote from Alzog that appears on page 171, since in LW 33, it appears close to quote #2 above. This leaves the last quote being on page 207 according to Alzog's reference.


4. God is The Author of Evil
God is the author of what is evil in us as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also, does He damn others who deserve not their fate.

This fourth quote is indeed the most challenging to locate. Perhaps these quotes are in view:

God’s love toward men is eternal and immutable, and his hatred is eternal, being prior to the creation of the world, and not only to the merit and work of free choice; and everything takes place by necessity in us, according as he either loves or does not love us from all eternity, so that not only God’s love but also the manner of his loving imposes necessity on us. [LW 33:198]

But hardest is the view of those who say that free choice is a mere empty name, that it is God who works both good and evil in us, and that all things which happen come about by sheer necessity. [LW 33:112]

I spent quite a while looking through all the extant English versions of The Bondage of the Will for this quote, and neither of these quotes completely satisfies me that I've got what O'Hare and Alzog are using. My search though was thurough. The quote, as it appears in O'Hare and Alzog is the only translation I know of that is worded the way they have it.

This source appears to be translating the same quote:

God is thus plainly the author of sin, and Luther shrinks not from the avowal! He maintains "that God excites us to sin, and produces sin in us" and that "God damns some who have not merited this lot, and others before they were born."

The documentation places the first quote on page 199 and the second on page 207 of the same source Alzog uses. This source though, places the first quote on page 199 of the Opera Latina and the second on pages 522-523 in a different volume:

"God," Luther says, " excites us to sin, and produces sin in us."— (De Servo Arbitrio, Opp. Jenae, tom. iii., p. 170.) " God damns some," he adds, " who have not merited this lot, and others, /before they were born."—(Opp. Jena;, iii., 199 ; and Wittemb., torn, vi., fol. 522-23.)

The quote also surfaces rendered from the German, yet cross-referenced to the same page in Latin (207):

Necessity impels the monk, and hurries him from blasphemy to blasphemy: he now proclaims that God damns some creatures who have not deserved such a fate;1 others even before they are born;2 that he induces us to sin, and produces evil in us.

1-Dass Gott etliche Mensohen verdammet, die es nicht verdient haben
2-Dass Gott etliche Menschen zur Verdammnus verordnet babe, eh sie gebohren worden : 3 Jen. Lat. fol. 207 a. t. 6; Witt. Ger, fol. 343 b, 535 a. t; Alt. fol. 249 b, 250.]

So "God damns some who have not merited this lot, and others before they were born" is probably the same quote as "God is the author of what is evil in us as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also, does He damn others who deserve not their fate." In which case, perhaps this is the section from LW 33:

Now, if you are disturbed by the thought that it is difficult to defend the mercy and justice of God when he damns the undeserving, that is to say, ungodly men who are what they are because they were born in ungodliness and can in no way help being and remaining ungodly and damnable, but are compelled by a necessity of nature to sin and to perish (as Paul says: “We were all children of wrath like the rest,” since they are created so by God himself from seed corrupted by the sin of the one man Adam)—rather must God be honored and revered as supremely merciful toward those whom he justifies and saves, supremely unworthy as they are, and there must be at least some acknowledgement of his divine wisdom so that he may be believed to be righteous where he seems to us to be unjust. For if his righteousness were such that it could be judged to be righteous by human standards, it would clearly not be divine and would in no way differ from human righteousness. But since he is the one true God, and is wholly incomprehensible and inaccessible to human reason, it is proper and indeed necessary that his righteousness also should be incomprehensible, as Paul also says where he exclaims: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” But they would not be incomprehensible if we were able in every instance to grasp how they are righteous. What is man, compared with God? How much is there within our power compared with his power? What is our strength in comparison with his resources? What is our knowledge compared with his wisdom? What is our substance over against his substance? In a word, what is our all compared with his?[LW 33:289]

Cole:
And if you are concerned about this,—that it is difficult to defend the mercy and justice of God, seeing that, he damns the undeserving, that is, those who are for that reason ungodly, because, being born in iniquity, they cannot by any means prevent themselves from being ungodly, and from remaining so, and being damned, but are compelled from the necessity of nature to sin and perish, as Paul saith, " We all were the children of wrath, even as others," when at the same time, they were created such by God himself from a corrupt seed, by means of the sin of Adam,—

Here God is to be honoured and revered, as being' most merciful towards those, whom he justifies and saves under all their unworthiness: and it is to be in no small degree ascribed unto his wisdom, that he causes'us to believe him to be just, even where he appears to be unjust. For if his righteousness were such, that it Was considered to be righteousness according to human judgment, it would be no longer divine, nor would it in any thing differ from human righteousness. But as he is the one and true God, and moreover incomprehensible and inaccessible by human reason, it is right, nay, it is necessary, that his righteousness should be incomprehensible:'even as Paul exclaims, saying, " Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! " But they would be no longer " past finding out" if we were in all things able to see how they were righteous. What is man, compared with God! What can our power do, when compared with his power! What is our strength, compared with his strength! What is our knowledge compared with his wisdom! What is our substance, compared with his substance! In a word, what is all that we are, compared with all that he is!

This quote from LW 33 is also a possibility:

But let us imagine, if you will, that God ought to be of such a character as to take account of merits in those who are to be damned. Must we not equally maintain and allow that he should take account of merits also in those who are to be saved? If we wish to follow reason, it is just as unfair that the undeserving should be rewarded as that the undeserving should be punished. Let us then conclude that God must justify men on the basis of preceding merits, or else we shall declare him unjust, since he takes pleasure in evil and ungodly men, and encourages and crowns their ungodliness with rewards. But alas then for us wretched mortals in the hands of that God! For who will be saved? Observe, therefore, the wickedness of the human heart! When God saves the unworthy without merits, or rather justifies the ungodly with their many demerits, it does not accuse him of injustice; it does not demand to know why he wills this, which in its judgment is most unjust, but because it is advantageous and pleasing to itself it deems it just and good. But when he damns those without merit, then since this is disadvantageous to itself, it is unjust, it is intolerable, and here there is protesting, murmuring, and blaspheming. [LW 33:207]