How did Martin Luther answer Erasmus in De servo arbitrio?

In his 1525 work De servo arbitrio (The Bondage of the Will), Martin Luther responded to Erasmus’s De libero arbitrio (1524), which had defended the role of human free will in the process of salvation.1

Luther’s treatise was a direct theological rebuttal to Erasmus’s position. While Erasmus argued that human choice played a part in salvation and emphasized the authority of the church's historical consensus in interpreting Scripture, Luther countered with a firm rejection of these ideas. Luther’s writing was characterized by the polemical style he often employed in theological controversy, focusing on his core conviction that salvation is achieved solely through grace and faith, rather than through human effort or choice.12

This debate marked a definitive split between the two thinkers, as Luther’s work insisted on the absolute sovereignty of God in the process of human redemption, effectively denying the efficacy of free will that Erasmus sought to preserve.12