'. I. THE BIBLICAL TRUTH OF

MAN'S "FREE-WILL"

God created man with a natural liberty, rnaking him responsible and accountable to God for all his choices and actions. A. THE MEANING OF" NATURAL LIBERTI"

1. THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

God has given man the freedom to choose whatever he wants to choose, although he does not always have the ability to do what he chooses to do. • ... but I (jesus) say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished," Mat. 17:12.

2. THE REATION OF THE

HEARr AND THE Wn.L

Man is free to choose accordin.g to hisnature and to the dictates ofhis hean. Man's will is not coerced from his environment on the outside, or biochemically determined from the inside. The direction of man's will is governed by his hean and mind. What thewillchoosesand prefersisdeterrnined by the nature and condition of the hean. If the hean of man is evil, he will choose evil, not good. If the hean of man is good, he will choose good. "You shall know them by !heir fruits. Grapesarenotgatheredfrom thornbushes, norftgs from thistles, are they?

Even so every good tree bears good fruit; but the rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit," Mat 7:16-18. "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree rotten, and its fruit rotten;forthe treeis known byits fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart The good man out of his good treasure brings forth whatis good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil,' Mat. 12:33-35. "Listen to Me (Jesus), all of you, and understand: thereis nothing outside the man whichgoinginto himcandefilehirn; but the things which proceed out of the man are whatdeftle !heman. - Forfrom within, out of the heartof men, proceed the evil thoughts and fOmications, /hifts, murders, adulteries .... All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man," Mark 7:14-23.

Walt Chantry haswritteninhis tract, Myth of Free will: "The will of man is his power to choose between alternatives. Your will does dedde your actions from anumberofoptions.Youhavethefaculty to direct your own thoughts, words, and deeds. Your decisions are not formed by an outside force but from within yourself. No rnan is compelled to act contrary to his will, nor forced to say what he does not wish. Your will guides your actions .

''Yet this does not mean that the power to deddeis free from all influence.

8 :j: THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon :j: September 1991

You make choices based on your understanding, your feelings, your likes and dislikes, and your appetites. In other words, yourwill is not free from yourself ! Your choices are determined by your own basic character (Bean). The will is not independent of your nature but the slave of it. Your choices do not shape your character, but your character guides your choices. The will is quite partial to what you kn.ow, feel, love and desire. You always choose on the basis of your disposition, accordin.g to the condition of your heart."

In the light of this prindple, the phrase, ·free-will," leaves some wrong impressions. The will is free to choose, but it is not free from the determinations of the hean and mind. Man's will does not possess the ability of self­determination, irrespective of the judgments and influences of his hean and mind.

B. The Origin of Man's Natural Liberty

Man's natural liberty, ("free-will"), origin.atesin thesovereigu decree of God, who has foreordained everything that comes to pass in time. God decreed that man would be created in Hisimage, with the liberty to choose as his heart and character led him, (onacreaturely level), just as God determines to do what is in accord withhischaracter. So God created

man with this natural liberty. Therefore, man's will must never be considered as apart from its origin-the sovereign will of God, which detennines and governs all things, Rev. 4:11; Exod. 34: 24; II Sam. 17: 14; II Chron. 10: 15; Provo 16: 9; Jer. 10: ~3; 1..k 12: 18ff; Phil. 2:12.

Whereas man does have "free-will," he does not have ultimate will, sovereign will, or autonomous will. The will of God, notman, is ultimate in the universe, and in the life and heart of man-"The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps," Provo 16: 9. Man's will is not free from the control of the will of God. In fact, it is the decree originatinginthesovereign will and good pleasure of God, whichguaranteesthat man will never be a mere puppet, with no will of its own.

Furthennore, in saying "free will", we are not saying that man's will is free to detennine the course of his life. We do not choose Sickness, sorrow, war, or death. If man'swillisaspowerfulas people think it is today, why does he not choose not to die, but to live on and on ? Do we will our color, race, intelligence,etc. ?No .These are detenninedbythe will of God. As Jeremiah said, "I know, 0 Lord, that the way of man is notin himself: itis notin man to direct his steps, "Jer . 10: 23.

However, when most people say, "free-will," today, they mean, "sovereign­will," Le. will not under the control of God. As Billy Graham wrongfully and unbiblically said, "God has given you a free will to do whatever you want to do, and He cannot do a thing about it!" Man does not have a free-will in spite of God,

he has a free, but not sovereign, will, because of God. Manisnotazero, amere puppet, capable of no meaningful choices, heisafullyaccountable being, capable of choices of eternal consequences, hecause the Sovereign Creator has decreed, from all etemity, that he be SQ as the image of God.

Manmaychoosewhathewants, and he mayplan what he will do, but his will isnotfreetoaccomplishanythingcontrnry to the will and purposes of God. Nor

does he have the power to reach his goals, unless God gives him that power. RememberwhatJesussaidabout the rich man'swill. Therichmansaid: "IWILI.do this: I WILL pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I WII.I.store allmygrninandmygoods ... ButGodsaid to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you," Lie 12:18-21.

On every page of the Bible we see two emphases: The Total Sovereignty of God and the Total Accountability of Man. We must never dilute one for the sake of the other. We must believe them

both, not because we have fit them together logically in our minds, but because they are revealed in the Bible, which is the Word of the Sovereign God.

II. THE HISTORY OF MAN'S "FREE-WILL" FROM ADAM TO

HEAVEN, or, The Human Will in the

Four States of Human Nature

Therealissuein the free-will debate, is whether or not men and women have

the freedom and ability to choose good, God and Chiist, whenever they take a notion to do so, or is their will in some way limited or restrained? This question can be understood in the lightofwhattheBiblereveals on the states of human nature.

A. THE HUMAN WILl. IN

MAN BEFORE HIS FALL INTO SIN

Beforehis Fallintosin, Adam and Eve had both the FREEDOM and the ABILITI to choose to do good and to serve God, yet they were capable of sinning, Ecc. 7:29; Gen. 1:27, 31. They were

capable of falling from their exalted, pre-fall, Edenic condition. As the Westminster ConfessionofFaithsays: "Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God, CEcc. 7:29; Gen. 1:26); but yet mutably, (changeably), so that he might fall from it, (Gen. 2:16f; 3:6)." In his book, THE REFORMED FAllli, Roben Shaw comments on this statement: "In the state of innocence, the natural inclination of man'swillwas only to good;butitwas liable to-change through thepowerof

September 1991 ~ mE COUNSEL of Chalcedon :j: 9

temptation, and therefore free to choose evil."

B. THE HUMAN WILL AFTER MAN's FALL INTO SIN, Bur BEFORE HIs CONVERSION

Man is a fallen creature, Gen. 3:1ff; Rom. 3:23. That sin has polluted every aspect ofhis being, spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. Now, man, before conversion, is no longer basically good, as Adam and Eve were before the Fall. Now, everybody is basically evil­"There is IIIJne that do good, IIIJ IIIJt ond" Therefore fallen, unconverted man has the LIBERTY to choose good ot evil, but he has neither the abiliry to do good, nor .he desire to choose good, nor the abIllry not to sin, RorII. 3:lOf; Rom. 8:3ff;]ohn6:44, 65; Rom. 9:16; I Cor. 1:9; 2:14. Fallen, unconverted men and women are totally depraved, Gen. 6: 5; 8: 21; Jer. 17:9;Prov.4:23;~. 7: 21; Psa. 51: 5; Psa. 14: 53; Rom. 3:10-18; Rom. 6:20; Tit. 3:3; Eph. 2:1-3;Jn. B:34; Jer. 13:23. Man's heart Is thoroughlypoUnted withsin, Mark 7:21£. The heart is

"deceiiful aJxive all things, and desperatelywtcked." The hean of un conve ned man "loves the darkness" and "hates the light,' according to Jesus, John 3 :19-20.

Therefore,lftheheanofunconvetted man is totally depraved, and since the will chooses what the heart dictates, all the choices of unconverted man will be sinful.lefttohimselflnhisowndepravity, he will not ever choose to do good In the sightofGod. Moreover, he doesnot even have the ability to do so. When we speak of fallen man, we not only speak of his total depravity, we must alsospeak ofhis total inability to desire or to choose God, although he has the freedom to do so, if he desired to do so. Being "dead in his

sins," Eph. 2: If, man does not, and cannot even desire to choose God in

Christ. "The mind set on the flesh, (ie., the unconverted mind), is hostile toward God; foritdoes IIIJtsuJ?jectilself to the LawofGod, forltis IIIJt evenable to do so; and diose who arein the flesh canlllJtplease God, "Rom. 8: 7-8.

The appetites of man's depraved heart are his gods, Eph. 2: 3; IJn. 2:16. He cannot do good, In. 15:4-5; Mat. 7:17f. He cannot understand good, Rom. 3:10. Hecannotdesire,choose, or dogood,Jn.3:19; 8:44Jn. 6:44; 8:34,44;

Rom. 3:lOff. left to himself, man is totally Incapable of desiring to choose good, God or Christ. in himself he is hopelessly lost. His "free-will" is not free from the bondage and slavery ofhis sin. His will is chained to his depraved heart, ' and he will not choose God. He has the liberty to choose God, whenever he desires God In Christ, but a dead-man is Incapable of desires. And an evil man, who loves his evil, and who is chained to it, will never desire that which is evil's opposite.

The Westminster Confession says it

10 '" TIlE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon 'I' September 1991

this way: "Man, by his fall Into a state of sin, has wholly lOst all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanytng salvation, (Rom. 5:6; 8: 7;Jn. 15:5); so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, (Rom. 3:10,12), and dead in sin, (Eph. 2: 1,5; Col. 2: 13), is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, OTtO prepare himself thereunto, On. 6:44,65; Eph. 2:2,3,4; I Cor. 2:14; Tit. 3:13-15}." RobertShawcomments, In THE REFORMED FAITH: "In his natural corruptstate, man freely chooses evil, without any compulsion or constraint on his will; and he cannot do

othelWise, being under the bondage of sin."

It must be made clear that unregenerate, totally depraved man, CANNOT andWllLNOTtumfromhis sins to God and to good, In and of himself. His will is a slave to sin, but it is a willing slave. "Free will" in the unregenerate is "a noble freedom, Indeed,-for man not to be forced to serve sin, yet to be such a willing slave that his will is bound by the fetters of sin! "-John CalvitL

C. THE HUMAN WILL AFTER A MAN's CONVERSION AND

BEFORE HIS DEATH

The regenerate, con-verted person has the ABlllTY and the DESIRE to choose and to do good, and to follow God in Christ, although not perfectly because he remains a sinner, until death, whenheiSperfectedinholiness,Romans 6 and 7. When God regenerates the sinIier, he frees him from sin's bondage and depravity ,and gives him a new hean with new desires and abilities to choose to do good and to serve God, although not perfectly because of his indwelling sin,Jer. 31:31; II Cor. 5: 17; Phil. 2:13;Jn. 8:34, 36; Rom. 6:1B,22;Eph.2:1O;Rom.

7:21. A man's will is not "free" to choose God, until that man has been "freed" from sin by Jesus Christ. Before conversion, the sinner is hopelessly enslaved to his sin and under the condemnation of God. Afterconversion, the believer, while remaining a sinner, has a new heart full oflove for God, and thereCore,hewillsnottodoevil, although . he does not do so COnsistently, Rom. 7: 15ff.

Augustine said of free will: "Without the Spirit man's will is not free, since it has been laid under by shackling and conquering desires. - The freewill has been so enslaved that it can have no power for righteousness. - What God'sgracehasnotfreedwill not be free. - The justice of God is not fulfilled when the law so commands, and man actsasifby his own strength; but when the Spirit helps, and man's will, not free, but freed by God, obeys. - Man isnot free from righteousness except by decision oCthe will; moreover, he does not become free from sin except by the grace of the Savior." (Quoted by Calvin in his INSTITUTES,pgs. 265f.)

"When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he frees him fromhisnatural bondage under sin, (Co1.1:13;]ohnS:34,36),andbyhis grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which isspiritually good, (Phil. 2: 13; Rom. 6: IS,22); yet so as that, by reason of his remaining conuption, he does not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but does also will that which is evil, (Gal. 5:17; Rom. 7: 15,lS, 19,21,21)."-Westminster Confession of Faith. Roben Shaw comments: "In the state of grace, he has a free will partly to good and partly to

evil. In thlsstate there is a mixture of two will what is good." Robert Shaw. opposite moral dispositions, and as sometimes the one, and sometimes the CONCLUSION other, prevails, so the will sometimes chooses that which is good, and 1. Beware of that doctrine which sometimes that which is evil." teaches that God cannot save a sinner

until that sinner exerts his own will, and D. THE HUMAN WILL IN MAN IN HEAVEN of himself decides for Christ. People who

receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, The glorified believer is made doso because they "werebornnotofblood, .

perfectly and finally FREE AND ABLE nor oj the will oj the flesh, nor oj the will oj

TO DO ONLY GOOD in heaven, jude 24. In heaven, man is unable to sin. He has neitherthe freedom northe ability to sin. It is impossible for him to sin in heaven. Inheaven man isin total bcndage to love, holiness, and submission to God, Ijn. 3:2. Praise God for such alife, when wewillbe free fromthepresence, freedom and ability to choose sin. How sweet and precioussuchasin1esslifeinthepresence of the triune God will be!

"The will of man is made pelfectly and immutably (unchangeably) free to do good alone in the state of glory only, (Eph. 4: 13; Heb. 12:23; Ijn. 3:2; Jude 24)."-Westminster Confession. "In the state of gloty, the blessed freely choose what is good; and, being confinned in a state of perfect holiness, they can only

man, but oJ God,"John 1:12-13. BlllyGraham'sunbiblical view of man's will and God's will can been illustrated in his own words to his audience regarding those who had "come forward": "You prayed for them before they came. Pray for them after they leave; but do not pray forthem now until they decide for Christ, [or God has done what He could and can do nothing else until they decide." Poor god! The Living God, however, "has mercy on wlwm he will have mercy ... ," Rom. 9:15,lS.

"The wind blows where it wishes and)Ou hear the sound oj it; but do not know where it comes Jrom and where it is going; so is every one wlw is born oj the Spiri~ "john3:S. This verse speaks of the sovereignty and irreSistibility of the regenerating, saving work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men. The salvation of sinners depends upon the will of God, not the will of man. God saves whom he wills, Mat. 11:25-27. It is correct to say that whosoever will may come to Christ for salvation, Rev. 22:17; but, no unregenerate person, dead in his sins, will ever "will" to come to Christ, unless God wills it, and enables him to come by hisSpirit.jesus said: "Noone CAN come to me, unless the Father wlw sent me draws him; and I WILL raise him up on the last day," john 6:44.

September 1991 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon :; 11

2. Beware ofleavingan unconverted sinner with the false impression that he can become a Christian at his convenience. There is an urgency here. A person can ~come a Christian only by the power of the Word and Spirit of God. To reject the witness of the Word by a Christian, is to r~ect the one thing that can save him. Faith itself is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, Eph. 2:8,9; and ':faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Rom. 10:17. Until God gives a sinner a new heart,hewillnotchooseto receiveChtist. We are utterly dependent upon God, so we must cry out to God for mercy, for He is our only hope.

3. Some objections against this biblical view of man's "free-will."

a. First objection: Man's accountabilityisincompatiblewith God's sovereignty. Answer: Says who! God has clearly revealed in the Bible that His decree creates and preserves human freedom and accountability.

b. Second objection: God would not demand of us that we do something we areincapableofdoing,andthencondemn us for failing to do it. Since God commands man to believe in Christ in order to be saved, all men must have the inherent power to believe. Answer: Man once had the abilityinAdam, mankind's root, head and representative, but he threw it away and rejected it. Should God no longer require anything of us, sincewhatwehadwehavenow 10st?Has the creditor no right to require payment of his money, because the debtor has squandered itawayand isnotable to pay him?

The Heidelberg Catechism asks: "Does not God then do injustice by requiring or him, (the sinner), inhislaw that which he cannot perform?" Then it answers: "No, for God so made man that he could perform it, but man, through

the instigation of the devil, by willful disobedience deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts." Norm Jones comments on this answer in his book on the Catechism, STUDY HElPS ON THE HEIDELBERG CATECHlSM: "The reason God still can demand of totally depraved sinners perfect love and obedience, (although in themselves they cannot produce either), is that MAN IS ENTIRELY TO BLAME FOR HIS PRESENT PREDICAMENT. - It is true that you and I were not in the Garden (of Eden), but Adam acted as our representative and what he did was imputed (charged) to us, his posterity. Adam'sdisobediencewasWILLFUL(not done in· ignorance), and the awful consequences of his Original Sin are passed on to us. We must confess before God that WE are to blame for our depravity, not God, and that every moment that we fuil to love and obey perfectly we increase our guilt!"

c. Third Objection: If we are unable to believe and to choose God, in and of ol.1Tselves, how can God hold us responsible for our sins on the Day of Judgment? Answer: RespOnsibility and accountability with Godarenot basedon ability but on knowledge, John 15:22; Luke 12:47,48.

4. "The historic controversy about "free will" is cormected with the biblical concept of freedom only indirectly. It concerns the question whether fallen man's slavery to sin is so radical and complete as to make him wholly unable to perform spiritual good or to avoid sinning, or to repent and put fuith in Christ. Reformed theology follows Augustine in affirmulg, on the basis of such passages as Rom. 8:5-8; Eph. 2:lO; John 6:44; 15:4-5, that man's will is not in fuct free for obedience and faith till freedfromsin'sdominionbyregenerating grace. Only on this basis ... can human merit be excluded and God's sovereignty acknowledged in the matter of salvation,

12 'I' THE COUNSEl. of Chalcedon 'I' September 1991

and justice be done to the biblical insistence that We are saved by faith alone, withoutworks,Rom. 3:28, through grace alone, not human effort, Rom. 9:16, and for God's glory alone, not man's, I Cor. 1:28-31. Any alternative view ... makes mana decisive contributor tohis own salvation, and so in effect his own Savior."].I.Packer, BAKER'S DICTIONARY OF THEOLOGY.

BIBliOGRAPHY

1. Boston, Thomas, HUMAN NATURE IN ITS FOURFOLD STATE.

2. Lutlier, Martin, ON THE BONDAGE OF THE Will.

3. Edwards, Jonathan, THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL.

4. Shaw, Robert, THE REFORMED FAITH, pgs. 115ff.

5. Spurgeon, Charles, FREE WILLA SLAVE.

6. Cbautry, Walt, MYTH OF FREE WILL.

7. Calvin, John, INSTITUTES OF THECHRISTIANRELIGION,pgs.183ff,

239-348. 8. Boettner, Lorraine, THE

REFORMED DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION, pgs. 208f.n

"You must re bomfrom

above" (John 3:7)