“ At first Luther’s cardinal doctrine of grace appeared to Melanchthon inconsistent with any view of free will; and, following Luther, he renounced Aristotle and philosophy in general, since “philosophers attribute everything to human power, while the sacred writings represent all moral power as lost by the fall.” In the first edition of the Loci (1521) he held, to the length of fatalism, the Augustinian doctrine of irresistible grace, working according to God’s immutable decrees, and denied freedom of will in matters civil and religious alike. ”

“ Man may pray for help and reject grace. This he calls free will, as the power of laying hold of grace. Melanchthon’s doctrine of the three concurrent causes in conversion, viz. the Holy Spirit, the word, and the human will, suggested the semi-Pelagian position called Synergism, which was held by some of his immediate followers.
In regard to the relation of grace to repentance and good works, Luther was disposed to make faith itself the principle of sanctification. Melanchthon, however, for whom ethics possessed a special interest, laid more stress on the law. ”

“ In the Loci of 1535 Melanchthon sought to put the fact of the co-existence of justification and good works in the believer on a secure basis by declaring the latter necessary to eternal life, though the believer’s destiny thereto is already fully guaranteed in his justification. In the Loci of 1543 he did not retain the doctrine of the necessity of good works in order to salvation, and to this he added, in the Leipzig Interim, “that this in no way countenances the error that eternal life is merited by the worthiness of our own works.” ”