Luther denies the existence of free will.  Throughout his writings Luther asserts the existence, the actual operation, and the necessity of human free will, though sadly weakened by sin, in the affairs of this present life.  It will be sufficient to cite as evidence the Augsburg Confession which was drawn up with Luther’s aid and submitted to Emperor Charles V in 1530 as the joint belief of Luther and his followers.  “Of the Freedom of the Will,” say the Protestant confessors, “they teach that man’s will has some liberty for the attainment of civil righteousness and for the choice of things subject to reason.  Nevertheless, it has not power, without the Holy Ghost, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness, since the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2, 14); but this righteousness is wrought in the heart when the Holy Ghost is received through the Word.  These things are said in as many words by Augustine in his Hypognosticon (Book III):  ’We grant that all men have a certain freedom of will in judging according to natural reason; not such freedom, however, whereby it is capable, without God, either to begin, much less to complete aught in things pertaining to God, but only in works of this life, whether good or evil.  “Good” I call those works which spring from the good in Nature, that is, to have a will to labor in the field, to eat and drink, to have a friend, to clothe oneself, to build a house, to marry, to keep cattle, to learn divers useful arts, or whatsoever good pertains to this life, none of which things are without dependence on the providence of God; yea, of Him and through Him they are and have their beginning.  “Evil” I call such things as, to have a will to worship an idol, to commit murder,’ etc.” (Art. 18.)

Luther has always held that there is a natural intelligence and wisdom, a natural will-power and energy which men employ in their daily occupations, their trades and professions, their trade and commerce, their literature and art, their culture and refinement, yea, that there is also a natural knowledge of God even among the Gentiles, who yet “know not God,” and a seeming performance of the things which God has commanded.  But these natural abilities do not reach into the higher hemisphere; they cannot pass muster at the bar of divine justice.  They do not spring from right motives, nor do they aim at right ends; they are determined by man’s self-interest.  They come short of that glory which God ought to receive from worshipers in spirit and in truth (Rom. 3, 23; John 4, 23); they are evil in as far as they are the corrupt fruits of corrupt trees.  In condemning the moral quality of these natural works of civil righteousness, Luther has said no more than Christ and His apostles have said.