Free Will?

There's a pretty good discussion in the comments section of the Pyromaniacs today (9-9-09) about free will. I particularly liked Mike Riccardi's comment: [Note: Mike has a post this subject here.]

We've got to be careful. The opposite of free will is not "no will"; it's an enslaved will (John 8:34; Rom 6:6, 6:16-20, 8:7-8). Everyone makes choices. But they can only make choices in accordance with their nature. In humanity's case, that nature is in bondage; it is not free. It is a sin, death, and child-of-wrath nature (Eph 2:1-3).

The unregenerate sinner has a will (i.e., a moral inclination to this or that). But his will is enslaved to sin until freed (or changed) by the sovereign grace of God (Eph 2:4-5; John 1:13; Jas 1:18).

"The opposite of free will is not no will..." Mike's statement points out a fact I have been wrestling with and it is this. Many folks I know, seem to have gotten caught up in the concept of "choosing" when discussing salvation. As in, "you must choose Christ as savior." However, Jesus himself commanded us to "repent," He didn't offer a choice.  Here is what He said, Matt 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


What He was saying to the Jews was, you wanted a King, OK, the Kingdom is here, "repent" to be a part of it. He says the same thing to us. That is not the offer of a choice, it is a command to be obeyed. Most men will do what the Jews of Jesus time did, ignore His command, ignore Him, and ignore anything He has to say.

So, over the centuries, mankind has attempted to formulate all kinds of ways to continue to ignore the command, and by so doing delude themselves into thinking, "we can get in this new way." They keep telling themselves, "He really couldn't have meant something so simple." "There has to be more to it, so we will add some stuff."

The basic addition to Christ's command is that we are not really incapacitated by our sinful natures, we can still choose. The error is believing in the concept of "free will," apart from any activity by God on our behalf. This belief is most often expressed in the negative with, "God didn't make a bunch of robots (referring to humans) we have the freedom of will to choose."

The problem for the folks who believe in this autonomous "free will," is they believe God to be unjust for condemning if man doesn't have free will and the capacity to either choose salvation or condemnation. They also believe God to be unjust for choosing to save some but not all if man's will is enslaved, forgetting that man's enslaved will is actively and consistently hostile to God...and establishes God's perfect right to cast into hell, and save only whom He chooses out of the freedom of His will. [Note: Paragraph from Olan Strickland]

Pastor Strickland is correct, men believe God to be unjust in exercising His perfect will to save some and not others. Men resist the idea that a Loving God, forgetting that He is also just, doesn't ignore the fact that all men are born hating Him, hating His Son, and despising anything that He does or commands. These men insist on "free will," little realizing that their enslaved nature's are no more free than is that of a dead man in a casket.

The only way for men to come to Christ is to repent and follow Him. And that cannot be done until the Holy Spirit changes them so that their dead natures are made alive and can conform to His will. Jesus called this being "born again." (Jhn 3:3)

God is absolutely sovereign. He "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11). He does whatever he wants, and no one can stop him (Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:34-35).

Vincent Cheung, in one of his books, also afirms the Sovereignty of God in all things. He quotes Luther, "[I]t is God who "creates" this evil nature in each newly conceived person after the pattern of fallen Adam, whose fall God also caused. And then, God must actively cause this evil nature to function and the person to act according to it. Luther writes that God never allows this evil nature to be idle in Satan and in ungodly people, but he continuously causes it to function by his power."

So, one can only reach the conclusion that we are "free relative to God,(Cheung)" but there is no way we were or ever will be "free" in the sense that we are autonomous. We are what God wills us to be. Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: .

[Note: Vincent Cheung offers all his many excellent articles, books, etc., on his web site in PDF format for free. You should check out this excellent resourse.]