In his commentary on the Minor Prophets, Martin Luther argued against the plain meaning of Zech 1:3, instead arguing that it teaches the impossibility of us returning to God:
Return to Me, says the Lord
of hosts. Because all the
sophists have taken this passage as a declaration in favor of free will, we
must not leave this unnoticed. However, they are drawing a very incorrect
conclusion. Anyone with a bit of judgment who is not devoid of common sense can
judge it as incorrect. This is the way they draw this conclusion:
“ ‘Return to Me, says the Lord, and I will return to you.’ Therefore we
have free will.” I deny the consequence which is drawn from the imperative verb
to the indicative. After all, what is this consequence? “The Law says: ‘You
shall love the Lord with all your mind and all your strength’; therefore I have
the power to love.” Certainly, so terrible and total is our blindness if, when
we lack the grace of God, we pursue the light of nature and of our reason in
matters of godliness. Today we see men laboring in this blindness whom our age
considers most learned, most outstanding—men whom both kings and princes look
up to. I am not told here what I can do but what I should do. You see, “Return
to Me, etc.,” is the word of the Law. Consequently this text does not speak in
favor of our will but against free will. Lawyers speak this way—and
correctly—that bad habits produce good laws. After all, laws are publicized
because what is required by law is not happening. You see, whenever I demand
something of someone, I immediately convince him that it is not being done by
him. Otherwise I would be making a foolish demand. Thus any child who knows his
ABCs can laugh at this lack of logic. But if we had had to concede this to
those who favor free will, they would have all the laws of Scripture on their
side, and with all of them they would be able to establish the power of the
will. Indeed, this turning is twofold. One is our turning to God; the other is
His to us. After all, it is one thing when God turns toward us, and another
when we turn to God. The Lord demands that we turn, not because this is
something we can accomplish by our own power, but rather that we may
acknowledge our own weakness and implore the help of the Spirit, whose
prompting can turn us. This, then, is the conversion caused by the Gospel.
There is, you see, a twofold conversion—that of the Gospel and that of the Law.
The Law merely gives the command, but nothing is accomplished; something is
accomplished, however, through the Gospel, when the Spirit is added. He renews
hearts, and then God turns toward us. This is the conversion of peace, that is,
that we are not merely righteous but also filled with joy and find delight in
God’s goodness. This is what Paul always wished the Christians: “Grace and
peace.” (LW 20:9)
Such comments only show that I and other critics of
Protestantism have said for some time now: the appeal to the “perspicuity” of
Scripture is nothing short of a shell game.
