NOTES on Free Will and Predestination

"FREE WILL" TERMS:

1) "Free will" theory: the human will is free to act independently of divine control or external causes. Usually defined as the "ability to choose good or evil equally."

2) "Free will" definition:

a. "The power or discretion to choose freely under any circumstance."

b. "The belief that man's choices ultimately are or can be voluntary, and not determined by external causes."

3) "Free will" implication:

= man has the innate power of "selection" or "free decision" in all circumstances.

= man is the master of both his mind and will, and he is equally able of his own power to turn himself toward good or evil.

RELATED TERMS:

1)"fatalism" = The doctrine that all events are predetermined by fate and are therefore unalterable by man. Implies that men's choices have no real meaning, or do not affect outcome. Falsely equated with determinism and predestination.

2) "determinism" = The doctrine that every act, event, or decision is the unavoidable consequence of what went before. There are no 'uncaused' events.

3) "indeterminism" = the doctrine that at least some events do not have prior causes. Usually accompanies a dependence on chance to explain events.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

1) Scripture doesn't teach that we are "free" in the sense of being outside God's control or of being able to make decisions that are not caused by anything. Nor does it teach that we are "free" in the sense of being able to do right on our own apart from God's power. A freedom to be absolutely outside of God's sustaining and controlling activity would really be to "not be in existence." To be absolutely totally free of God's control is simply not possible in a world providentially sustained and directed by God Himself.

2) Biblically, "free will" never serves as an explanatory category. It never explains anything. But God's sovereignty certainly does. Appealing to 'mystery' or 'paradox' in suggesting that we remain free to choose anything and that God is sovereign, is no help.

3) If our will is "free," can we freely choose to resist evil in all circumstances? Which influences can it resist?

4) What would have been the outcome had Joseph freely willed to leave Mary with Elizabeth and went to Bethlehem alone with the required information for the census? What would have happened if David had willed himself by "free" choice, not to become King of Israel?

5) If your will were absolutely free, and your choices not contingent on anything, then God would never return in judgment. He might just return to judge you as a sinner seconds before you freely chose to repent and become a believer.

6) If our "free" will is critical to our humanity, how can we be certain that we will not sin in the distant future of heaven? If we do not have a free will in heaven in eternity, why is it critical to our "humanness" to have one now? What rational assurance do you have that some unfortunate saint will not spoil the whole deal by sinning a million years from now?

7) If God were not "willing that any should perish", He should not have created us with a "free" will in the first place. God should have done what would be necessary to save everyone, thus assuring that everyone should not perish. We know that God is quite capable of saving very evil people and has frequently done so.

Origen:

"It is a faculty of reason to distinguish between good and evil, and it is a faculty of will to choose one or the other."

Augustine:

"Our only real freedom is freedom from righteousness. We are enslaved to sin. It is a faculty of reason and will to choose good only with the assistance of grace; ...evil, when grace is absent."

"The will, without the Spirit, is actually "un"free" because it has been laden by shackling and conquering desires." It is so enslaved that it has no power for righteousness (2 Cor. 3:17). Man is the slave of that which has overcome him (John 15:5). "Will" is inseparable from man's nature, and therefore it did not perish in the fall. But it became so bound to wicked desires that it cannot strive after the right. It is incapable of seeking and finding the truth (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).

Pertinent questions:

a) Are we 'free' in the sense of being outside of God's control? Isaiah 46:9-10; 45:1-4; Genesis 38:7, 10; 1 Chronicles 10:14.

b) Are we free to make decisions not caused by anything? Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13; Romans 9:19, 21; Titus 3:3-4.

c) Are we free to will ourselves to any spiritual good accompanying salvation? 2 Timothy 2:25-26; Romans 5:6; 8:7; John 15:5

d) Does the Bible teach that men have free wills?

Saying we have a "free" will is not the same thing as saying that we are "free" moral agents. While the Bible does not teach that men have a "free" will, I believe the Bible does teach that men have free agency. Free agency is the power to decide according to one's character. If what the Bible teaches about men is true, that is, that by nature men's hearts are bound to do only evil, then their free agency only allows them to will to choose evil. (Yet, they are not always as evil as they can be, but they cannot choose unto the 'ultimate' good of salvation either).

Free will, on the other hand, is the power to change one's character by volition or choice. While every man has free agency, the power to change one's character by the exercise of the will does not belong to mankind. The sinful man cannot act contrary to anything that is commanded by his own heart. He can only remain in harmony with his own deceitful, wicked depraved nature. The Biblical view is that God performs a miraculous work on the heart prior to faith.

Example: Man is free to use his hand," but his hand is not “free." The hand does nothing on its own, it must do what the man commands it to do. Even so, if you tell it to lift 350 pounds, is it free to lift it? Yes it is free to lift it, but it is not able to. Man's hand is a slave to his muscles, so to speak. Regardless of what we tell it to do, it is not freely able to do whatever it wants to.

Yet we do make willing choices that have real effects.

Just because we are not aware of any restraints from God on our will when we make choices, we cannot conclude that we have power to will any choice in complete freedom. Yet neither can we say that we do not make willing choices, otherwise we would have to become fatalists or determinists.

SUGGESTED VERSES FOR DISCUSSION:

John 1:12-13; John 3:16; 6:37, 39-40, 44-45, 65;10:26-29; 2 Timothy 2:20-21; et.al.

Yet neither can we say that we do not make willing choices, otherwise we would have to become fatalists

Predestination and Free will

Jn. 8:34, 44; Rom. 6:20; Titus 3:3

Freedom of Inclination and Libertarian Freedom

When Christians talk about freewill, there is far more assuming that their understanding of freewill is a given, in other words, that the Bible assumes freewill in the same way they assume freewill.

Freedom of inclination

Libertarian freedom:

1. Asserts that the will is free from all causes and influences. The will hasthe power of contrary choice. The will is independent and self-determining, making autonomous choices.
2. Denies any form of determinism - Affirms indeterminism
3. Denies any form of compatibilism - Asserts incompatibilism
4. The will is ultimately self-determining. There may be influences, but the will always rises above any conditioning factors.
5. The pillars of libertarian freedom are
6. We experience real deliberation and choices that we make; (2) that "ought" implies "can" and
7. Moral responsibility/accountability requires free will.

The will is free in that man freely chooses what he chooses, that is, he is not forced or coerced in his decisions. His choices are governed by his nature or character and are expressions of his nature and character (Matt. 7:15-20).

Affirms determinism, that is, internal or external influences, shape man's choices.

"It is not the reality of the will that is in question, but its independence from the rest of our fallen nature and its capacity to choose autonomously against God's eternal purposes" (No Place for Sovereignty, Wright, 112. Italics are his).

Affirms compatibilism, which states that man's free moral agency and God's absolute sovereignty are compatible with each other (Prov. 16:9; Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28).

What about ability? Jer. 13:23; Jn. 6:44; 15:5; Rom. 3:10-12

1. Does the Bible actually teach free-will?
2. The insurmountable problems caused by libertarian freedom
3. For the Christian life, libertarian freedom is extremely problematic.The believer in heavenLibertarian freedom frequently leads to denials of God's omnipotence and omniscience, open theism and process theology.Libertarian freedom thwarts prayer.
4. Libertarian freedom undermines predictive prophecy Libertarian freedom undermines inspiration"Merely to rescue a pseudofreedom attributed to humans, God is deprived of his sovereignty, the covenant of grace of its firmness, and Christ of His royal power" (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, IV. 85).

Conclusions:

1. Man's will does not operate independently from his mind or his affections.
2. Man's will does operate freely within the parameters of his own nature."It is not the reality of the will that is in question, but its independence from the rest of our fallen nature and its capacity to choose autonomously against God's eternal purposes" (Wright, 112. Italics are his).

Moral Responsibility

Isa. 10:5-19

1. The Bible teaches that man is responsible for his deeds within a compatibilist framework (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23)
2. We are responsible to God because He is the Creator and we are the creatures.
3. We are responsible to God because He is Holy and Just, thus He is the Lawgiver and the moral standard for all His rational creatures.

Compatibilism, not libertarian freedom, is the biblical perspective. In salvation, the will must be freed and empowered and that happens not by the work or will of man, but by the will and grace of God. It is God's grace overcoming our stubborn, bound wills that is the greatest gift!

All that God does brings Him pleasure and all that He is pleased to do, he does. Compare Isaiah 46:9,10; 44:28; 48:14; Jonah 1:14; Psalm 115:3; Psalm 135:6.

The Hebrew word in these verses translated as "pleasure" or "being pleased" means "to be mindful of, be attentive to, keep, protect," with the idea being more of eagerness or zealousness in the attention, where the end notion is one of "excited or delighted attention." It carries the notion of both emo- tion and feeling great favor toward something. God is said to have this attentive or excited delight toward people, matters, activities, and things.

For instance, God is said to delight in certain people, like Israel, His chosen; He delights in the Sabbath being kept; He is pleased by His law being observed; He is pleased by demonstrating mercy toward people; He is pleased by Israel's knowledge of God and truth. He is pleased in making the universe as a kind of spin-off of his overflowing delight in His own glory.137

Every activity that God is engaged in gives Him delight! Again and again in Scripture we read that he acts for the sake of his Name. His great goal is to magnify his fame and to manifest the renown and the honor of his Name in all that he does. When Psalm 115:3 says, "But our God is in heaven, He does whatever He pleases," we find that the English versions translate the word pleases with a variety of words like desire, wish, want, pleases, purposes, wills, and determines. This is significant. When this Hebrew word for pleases is used of God, it is translated to include not only His wanting and determining but wishing and purposing and desiring and doing.

1. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases."
2. Isaiah 46:9, 10: "I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure."
3. Jonah 1:14: "Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, "We pray, 0 Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, 0 Lord, have done as it pleased You.”
4. Again, Psalm 135:6: "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places." Psalm 115:3 says, "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." Here in Psalm 135 we have, "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does." It is what pleases Him that is the motivation for His action. And all of His actions please Him. There is nothing that God does that displeases Him.