On the Bondage of the Will

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On the Bondage of the Will

Author	Martin Luther
Original title	De Servo Arbitrio
Translator	Henry Cole; first translation
Language	Latin
Genre	Philosophy, Theology
Publication date	December 1525
Published in English	1823; first translation
Preceded by	De Libero Arbitrio
Followed by	Hyperaspistes

On the Bondage of the Will (Latin: De Servo Arbitrio, literally, "On Un-free Will", or "Concerning Bound Choice", or "The Enslaved Will") by Martin Luther argued that people can achieve salvation or redemption only through God, and could not choose between good and evil through their own willpower. It was published in December 1525. It was his reply to Desiderius Erasmus' De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio or On Free Will, which had appeared in September 1524 as Erasmus' first public attack on some of Luther's ideas.

The debate between Erasmus and Luther is one of the earliest of the Reformation over the issue of free will and predestination, between synergism and monergism, as well as on scriptural authority and human assertion.