On Free Will & The Law (Vermigli’s Common Places, Vol. 2) (Second Edition)

FORTHCOMING TITLE, ETA NOVEMBER 2024

Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) was a forgotten giant of the Protestant Reformation. Born in Florence, Italy, and rising quickly to leadership within the Augustinian Order in Italy, Vermigli discovered the gospel of justification and embarked on a reforming career that would take him to Naples, Lucca, Zurich, Strasbourg, Oxford, and finally back to Strasbourg and Zurich again, as he worked shoulder-to-shoulder with other leading Protestant Reformers Heinrich Bullinger, Martin Bucer, and Thomas Cranmer. He left behind him voluminous biblical commentaries and treatises, and a band of faithful disciples who collected his writings into the massive theological compendium, the Loci Communes.

Appearing now in English for the first time since 1583, On Free Will and the Law represents Part II, Ch. 2 and 3 of the Loci Communes of Peter Martyr Vermigli. Presented here in a clear, readable, and learned translation, we first have Vermigli’s deft treatment of the thorny issue of free will. Demonstrating clearly his peerless erudition and subtle mind, Vermigli simultaneously upholds the the fallen will’s enslavement to sin and freedom to act. Likewise, Vermigli’s considerably more brief exposition of the catholic doctrine of the Law alongside his criticisms of Manichean and Pelagian errors is a helpful summary of Protestant teaching on this issue. With the Scriptures as his final authority, the Church Fathers as his guides, and philosophy as his handmaid, Vermigli produced Loci that withstand the rigors of time and remain a helpful guide to Protestants everywhere.

This expanded second edition includes updated artwork, a fresh typeset, and a comprehensive index.

146 pages.

From the Book

“IT WILL now be worthwhile to discuss briefly the freedom of our will. For the moment we shall consider what degree of freedom has been left to us by the innate depravity resulting from original sin, especially since we are told to attribute completely to the grace of God whatever upright action we perform.

While the term free will does not occur in Scripture, the idea itself should not be considered fabricated or made up. The Greeks call it αὐτεξούσιον, which means in one’s own power or under one’s own control. Latin-speakers express the same idea when they say arbitrii libertas, that is, freedom of will. Free means that which does not follow the will of another, but its own, while will is thought to consist in our following, as we deem fit, the decisions we arrived at by reason. Accordingly, the will is free when it embraces, as it likes,1 those
decisions which are approved by the cognitive part of the mind. Thus, the nature of free will, while most evident in volition, has its roots in reason, and those who wish to use this faculty correctly must above all see to it that there occurs no error in their reasoning. Error usually occurs in two ways: We either fail to see what is just and unjust in the performance of our actions; or, if we see it, we err in our examination of the reasons that are brought forward for either side, for desire in us nearly always favors the weaker argument. This is why the stronger and better position is often dismissed and rejected. We see this sometimes happening in debates: Those who wish to defend the weaker side tend to adorn it with
every sort of rhetorical flourish and embellishment so that the audience will be attracted to the polish and allure and not weigh the strength and soundness of the reasoning.

Furthermore, one should recognize that deliberation does not address just any issue, but only those issues that are called performative (πρακτικαί), that is, actions to be performed by us. Not everything that we pursue or reject requires deliberation. Some
things are so clearly and undoubtedly good that it is enough for them to be proposed, for they are immediately either chosen or
rejected, such as happiness, unhappiness, life, death, and whatever else is in this class. Other things are less clear, or rather occupy
middle ground. It is about these that people tend to deliberate. Everybody admits without hesitation that God is to be worshiped. However, how he is to be worshiped and in what ceremonies is the
subject of the greatest controversy. Everybody knows that it is expedient for people to come together in cities and cultivate community with each other, but by what laws they are to be governed and what form of government they should use are questions that often give rise to deep uncertainty. It is in these and similar questions that free will applies.