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My Husband, My brother in Christ
Thursday Theology: What to Avoid & Why (Free Will)
There is so much doctrinal error to avoid embracing as truth because it is not Biblical truth, so I will make this a series beginning with the doctrine of free will:
What is the Doctrine of Free Will?Free will: Freedom of self determination and action independent of external causes. Armenius writes: "This is my opinion concerning the free-will of man: In his primitive condition as he came out of the hands of his creator, man was endowed with such a portion of knowledge, holiness and power, as enabled him to understand, esteem, consider, will, and to perform the true good, according to the commandment delivered to him. Yet none of these acts could he do, except through the assistance of Divine Grace. But in his lapsed and sinful state, man is not capable, of and by himself, either to think, to will, or to do that which is really good; but it is necessary for him to be regenerated and renewed in his intellect, affections or will, and in all his powers, by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, that he may be qualified rightly to understand, esteem, consider, will, and perform whatever is truly good. When he is made a partaker of this regeneration or renovation, I consider that, since he is delivered from sin, he is capable of thinking, willing and doing that which is good, but yet not without the continued aids of Divine Grace."
What is wrong with the doctrine of free will?In the Psalms it says: “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts” (65:4); “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (110:3 KJV).
When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God, And grieved Him because of their sin, God sent along hornets to bring them to terms, And to help His own people to win. If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You’d want to get out, don’t you see!They would not lay hold and by force of their strength,
Throw you out of the window, oh, no!
They would not compel you to go against your will,
But they would just make you willing to go.When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright.
He never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed and ran off from the fight.Now, the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know.
God did not compel him to go against his will,
But He just made him willing to go.CHORUS:
God does not compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go.
God does not compel us to go against our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.
Now go read this, this and this to learn more about why this doctrine of "free will" is not theologically sound. If anything, our "free" will is limited by God.
THUS SAITH THE LORD:
"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy"--Exodus 33:19. (see also Romans 9:8-24)
"I, even I, am He, and there is no God with Me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand"--Deut. 32:39.
"Behold He breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening"--Job 12:14.
"He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"--Dan. 4:35.
"Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began?" --II Tim. 1:9.
The bottomline:
Predestine, Predestination:
The doctrine that God has foreordained all things which will come to pass yet He is not the author of sin. He does, however, use sinful things for His glory and purpose. For example, the crucifixion was brought about by sinful men who unjustly put Jesus to death (Acts 4:27); yet, in that death, we are reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10).
Predestination maintains that God is the one who decides who will be saved (Rom. 9:16) and that it is not up to the desire of the person (John 1:13). God is the one who ordains the Christian into forgiveness, "...and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Also, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and who He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Rom. 8:29-30). Further verses to examine are Eph. 1:4,11; Rom. 9. (See also Election and Sovereignty.)
All that said... I do not have the power to change your mind. Nor do I consider myself "Holier Than Thou." If this stuff makes you mad... well, I hope it makes you so mad it drives you to the Word of God to prove it wrong and the Lord uses that time in the Word to illuminate your mind to this humbling truth. I pray it drives you to your knees as you cry out "Woe is me, for I am undone."
Here is an article my husband sent me on who is the author of sin and the problem of evil. It is excellent. Consider reading it.
Comments
LOVE that song! Did you write it or who did? I just started reading Judges again and didn't God have His ways of making the Israelites willing? And doesn't He have His way with me? Yes, Amen.
Posted by: pure white | August 3, 2006 10:05 AM
No, I didn't write it. I got it off of a Reisinger article that I linked to in this post.
So does this mean we are going to put this to music and sing it with the youth group, my friend?
Posted by: 4ever4given | August 3, 2006 10:16 AM
Yeah, let's do that song and "If men go to hell, who cares?" (We do care (or should, of course.)
I found this quote from Michael Scott Horton...
"If...election and predestination seems too severe, let us remember that an atonement that doesn't atone, a redemption that doesn't redeem, a propitiation that doesn't propitiate, a satisfaction that doesn't satisfy does not help any of us! The fact that God would choose, redeem, call and keep a great number known only to Him is Amazing Grace indeed and of infinitely more comfort than the idea that Christ's death actually secured the salvation of none, merely making salvation possible, depending on the ability of those who are 'dead in trespasses and sins' to make the right moves..."
Posted by: pure white | August 3, 2006 10:58 AM
(Hmmm. Knowing that you know I'm a 7 point Calvinist, I'm going to tackle you on this one, but know that I do it to tear down and ultimately build up)
If you define "free will" as "Freedom of self determination and action independent of external causes", then I would agree that man has free will in the sense that he can make uncoerced decisions. Man can make choices that are his, and his alone.
That MUST be true if God says things like:
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." - Heb 3:12
If that were not even a possibility, why say it?
Or what about this?
"He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels." - Rev 3:5
Does that mean that God actually BLOTS OUT names from the book of life? Does that mean that some names WERE written in that book and then get REMOVED? Does that infer that God uses 'liquid paper' in the Book of Life?
Again, the argument from impossibility doesn't really cut the mustard. To say "God's simply using an impossibility to illustrate a point" doesn't pacify me. Warnings are only compelling if they're based on what's ACTUALLY possible; a warning to beware of a unicorn stampege doesn't compell me to do anything. Know what I mean?
Or what about Deuteronomy 30:19-20 when it says:
"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
God admits that he set the blessings and curses before Israel, and he encourages them to CHOOSE life. He presents them with the offer and allows them to make a choice. (and everyone ultimately rejected it too! What ever happened to God's sovereign will?) How does that passage make sense if the 'bottom line' is that God influenced them, in any way, to do anything AT ALL? Philosophers would suggest, and I would agree, that any coerced or influenced choice is NO CHOICE AT ALL.
Or John 7:17 when Christ says "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."
Why would ole' sovereign Jesus suggest that one could even choose to do God's will, if the possiblity of choice wasn't there?
And in a more general sense, how can God call man to account for their moral choices if those choices are coerced or directed by a will other than their own?
How can God judge sin if his own sovereign will is, somehow, and even infintesimally, involved in the hardening of ANY heart, how can he rightly judge that heart?
Rev 20:12-13 says: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done."
"...according to what they had DONE..."
Mankind bears full moral responsibility for his individual acts of sin. If God, in ANY way, influences the 'tide of the will', how can he be just in his judgements?
Here's a final point:
When God reveals his glory to Moses, what does he say? When God proclaims his OWN name ("I Am") before Moses, his proclamation of himself is:
"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." - Exodus 33:19.
God's own proclamation of himself is that he is THE unmoved mover. He is THE uncoerced chooser. God's mind is not influenced by anything, or anyone. His essence of glory is that he is HOLY in that he "will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion."
That's the CORE of God's holiness; the fact that he's morally, and volitionally, COMPLETELY independant.
Does it not stand to reason that if God's defining characteristic is his ability to make TRUELY uncoerced choices, would not his defining characteristic be found in the man who is "imageo dei"?
It seems to be clear that in all of creation, no other creature has the ability to make choices; self-motivated, moral choices.
I'd go so far as to suggest that God's free will is the model of our free will, and in that we can choose to have mercy and compassion (or not), the creature ultimately reflects the creator.
(It's late and I've gotta go to bed, but them's some thoughts for you)
Posted by: The_Armchair_Theologian | August 5, 2006 02:47 AM
Hey Armchair,
I suggest you read my links within this article for further explanation. Especially the one that says "He is not the author of sin."
I can sum up alot of what you question by the statement I wrote in the article, "If anything, our "free" will is limited by God." and then go to Monergism.com and look at the articles on Definite or Limited atonement.
"God does not compel us to go against our will, But He just makes us willing to go."
Oh, and make sure you read my link that is the first of the "Go read this, this, and this" links in this post. It talks about regeneration being the monergistic work of God... which is why I have a huge problem with the works of Armenius and his "opinion" of free will.
I sincerely appreciate your comment, my friend.
Posted by: 4ever4given | August 5, 2006 06:20 AM
Well, sorry if I came on kinda strong...I was (and still am) angry at the whole Cornerstone fiasco.
Anyway, I'm guessing I have failed in my efforts of babbling on about something coherent...HA! I wasn't disagreeing with the whole Definite or Limited Atonement and I wasn't suggesting ANY sort of synergism in salvation.
The ears to hear the gospel, the mind to understand it, the heart to believe it and the feet to follow the gospel ALL come from God. I'm not disagreeing with you in your post.
Christ died for the elect and his atonement was applied to them alone. God chose, in eternity past, who would believe and appointed them to be saved.
Ravi Zacharias says "The biggest misunderstanding about the Gospel is that Christianity is about making bad people good. This is entirely NOT the case. Christianity is about making dead people alive."
So don't misunderstand me. I'm still a 7 point Calvinist...including the limited atonement.
I was simply trying to harass you a tad, to point out a horrible error that you MAY or MAY NOT be in danger of:
Pitting one scripture, or scriptural principle, against another.
One of the things that I hate the most is when people who hold to a theological system allow that system to filter the scriptures into a 'clear and simple' and 'mysterious and opaque' category.
When I see you saying:
"If anything, our "free" will is limited by God"
or
"God does not compel us to go against our will, But He just makes us willing to go."
I see you in POSSIBLE danger of allowing passages commenting on God's sovereignty to become an interpretive filter to the scripture, much like how the egalitarians use Galatians 3:28 as a 'decoder ring' for the rest of the Bible.
I mean, from one perspective, there's only ONE free will in the entire UNIVERSE; God's. From God's view of things, creation is HIS plan and HIS operation of the unveiling of HIS glory to HIS creation. Creation is God the Father using God the Spirit to give a love gift to God the Son. The elect (the bride) are simply a gift from the Father to the Son. The whole operation of all creation is ultimately God radiating forth the glory of himself to himself by means of himself for the joy in himself. God is so utterly sovereign that although he is not the author of sin, he DID ordain that it would be. And oppositely of sin, God chooses who will believe, then grants them the mind to understand, the heart to believe and the will to choose his gospel, all so that all men will, for all eternity, stand before God in agreement with his own declatations of his own holiness.
AND YET,
From another perspective, all men have the ability to make the choice to believe in the person and work of Christ; and that without coercion. All men are TRULY free.
God calls men who ACTUALLY may turn away, as MANY have done.
God presents the options of death and life, like he did to Israel in Deut. 30, and urges men to select one option.
God commands men to persevere unto their death, for it is actually possible to spend a lifetime serving God and then forfeit the prize at the end of the race; the apostle Paul himself feared this possibility in his life. (1 Corinthians 9:27)
Just as I may choose Christ, and enjoy the rewards of his righteousness, I may ALSO reject Christ, and foreit those rewards. That is an ACTUAL possibility.
If the statement "God does not compel us to go against our will, But He just makes us willing to go" is true, then God MAKES us willing to go. God CANNOT 'make' us willing to do anything, for any dabbling with our will corrupts it's freedom and dirties his hands with our evil desires and will to sin.
God also WILL judge mankind, and he will do so as a righteous and holy judge. He will judge from a position of 100% purity, and his judgements will be based on our SINS, not our sin natures. Those who go will be sent to hell for specific deeds, each of which is a free choice to sin. In NO way can the judge be an accomplice to the defendant.
From exhaustive studying the scripture, I see both two things being taught clearly:
1. God is utterly, meticulously and unwaveringly sovereign.
2. Mankind is free in his choice to either embrace or reject God. God will judge mankind for sins with NO compromise unto his righteousness.
The Bible is clear on both and doesn't atttempt any systematic reconciliation of the two positions. The Bible simply states forth both cases and declares truth.
In my humble (uh...working on it) opinion, I would suggest that the work of salvation is, like the trinity, ultimately an unfathomable mystery. I can know what the Bible says about it and believe it, but I cannot reconcile the human and divine sides of the soteriological project into a nice Halmark card.
I ALSO don't talk like this to anyone...I am like you in that I usually lean towards pushing God's sovereingty. The Bible knows nothing of that though.
My best guess is that God presents both positions for a reason. I don't KNOW what that reason is, but my guess is that:
God unveils his role in salvation so that we don't lose hope. (He can not give me up)
God unveils our role in salvation so that we don't lose steam. (I can not give up)
THAT is more the angle I was coming from. Once again, Armchair uses 750 words to make 2 statements. I'm a dolt! DOH!
Posted by: The_Armchair_Theologian | August 6, 2006 02:31 AM
To clarify... Do you believe this statement that you wrote? "God CANNOT 'make' us willing to do anything."
I have a few more questions for you, but I will start with that one.
Posted by: 4ever4given | August 6, 2006 08:59 PM
"...human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty."--Calvin
I am not an automaton. God has not completely obliterated my will. But He has limited it. I am a child of God... and I am what I am by the grace of God alone. I freely have the ability to choose to go to the grocery store and buy steak and potatoes to cook up for dinner. But, if my will was not limited by God than I could freely choose to fly like a bird. Man's will apart from God is enslaved by his sinful nature. Man's will apart from God is untrustworthy and deceptive. If my will was not limited by God I would be as evil as i could possibly be.
Don't my choices reveal the character of my heart? I am not a sinner because I chose to sin. Don't I choose to sin because I am a sinner? What I am determines what I will choose. If I am totally depraved, I will not freely choose God. I will freely choose to stay enslaved to sin. God did not coerce my will, He renewed my will. In other words, He made me willing not through coercing my will but He made me willing by renewing my will, and is, by the process of sanctification, continuing to transform my will.
A sinner who refuses to come to Christ made a free and uncoerced choice not to choose Christ in accordance with his depraved will, acting voluntarily, free to be who he is apart from Christ... which is one enslaved to sin.
I appreciate your challenges... for the most part, I think we are on the same page. When I write about this stuff, it is not because I think I know everything. I have SO much to learn. My way of thinking things through and learning is in writing it out. That is why I take sermon notes. Not to fill up a journal, but to learn. I do not post articles on a blog as though I think I am some great theologian. I want to be questioned Biblically, challenged Scripturally in my thinking. Not for the purpose of becoming some kind of scholar or authority in the Word, but primarily to get to know this God I serve and love... and to be able to pass on these Truths to my children and encourage other women.
His servant for HIS glory,
Lisa
Posted by: 4ever4given | August 6, 2006 10:28 PM
Great discusion by the puritan writer, BEST, on FREE WILL VS FREE GRACE... ARE we robots??? What does Free Will do to God's Authority? & so forthe
Here is the link: Puritan writer on free will and free grace
Posted by: Ben | August 9, 2006 10:42 PM
Well, in answer to your question of me believing if "God CANNOT 'make' us willing to do anything.", I'd have to say:
1. Yes.
2. No.
It depends on how you look at the statement.
In a nutshell, from a human perspective the answer is "yes". God cannot MAKE me willing to do anything.
From a divine perspective, the answer is "no". There is no free will besides God's free will.
I'd re-read my post again because it's important to see the dichotomy. Take my ongoing bantering with "Anonymous" on my blog, talking about the war between Israel and Lebanon.
From a divine perspective, both Israel and Lebanon are unwitting pawns, no...tools, in the hands of God.
BUT, from a human perspective, both Israel and Lebanon have intent and purpose in the conflict, and are not divine "puppets".
I DO NOT pretend to be able to systematically make sense of it all, but I CAN NOT escape that the Bible presents both sides of the equation without attempting to reconcile them.
AND, you ARE correct when you say: "What I am determines what I will choose".
Definitely. A sinner will freely choose sin because that's the NATURE of a sinner; to sin.
Just as the nature of a billiard ball, when held up above the ground, will fall to the ground when released, the sinner falls into sin when restraining grace releases him for even a moment.
Even more so, when God changes our natures, he does it against our will. Ephesians 2:4-5 says: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
That is a difficult verse. It's hard to reconcile how God saves us against our will (dead in sin = unwilling...right?) while still maintaining our will, and YET he kinda cheats by changing our nature so that our will should become that which he desires.
In the end, I'm guessing that we definitely agree. I'm probably articulating myself from more of an 'abstract/philosophical' angle...being unnecessarily hypothetical. Anyway, I'm sure I (once again) babbled on without saying anything. HA! Any more questions I can dance around?
Posted by: The_Armchair_Theologian | August 11, 2006 12:53 AM