? Free will ?: A guide for beginners

Before Adam’s fall, man had no sin and could not sin. Yes, God saw all that He had done, and behold, he was well (Genesis 1. 31). But the man was also able to sin. Because God said, “The day you eat him [from the tree], will you surely die?”(Genesis 2:17).

As soon as Adam fell into sin, human nature was profoundly altered, now man could not sin. In the fall, human nature lost its freedom not to sin.

Why is man incapable of not siding? Because after the fall.
What was born of the flesh is flesh?(John 3.
6).
And “The inclination of the flesh is enmity against God.
For it is not subject to the law of God; In fact.
It can’t be.
And those who live in the flesh can’t please God?(Romans 8: 7-8.
My translation).
Or.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14: “Now.
The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.
For they are madness; and can’t understand them.
Because they are discerned spiritually?.

Note that the term cannot appear twice in Romans 8:7-8 and again in 1 Corinthians 2:14. Is this the nature of all human beings at birth?What Paul calls a “natural man” and Jesus calls “born of the flesh. “

Too rebellious to submit to God

Paul says that this means that in this condition “we cannot please God” or, to put it another way, “we cannot stop siding. “The fundamental reason is that the natural man prefers his own autonomy and glory to the sovereignty and glory of God. God, this is what Paul means when he says, “The inclination of the flesh is enmity against God, because it is not submissive. “

Joyful submission to God’s authority, superior courage, and the beauty of God is something we cannot do, not because we are prevented from doing what we would like to do, but because we prefer our own authority and value our own worth over God. We cannot prefer God as extremely precious when we prefer ourselves.

The reason for this idyllic preference is that we are morally blind to the glory of Christ, so we cannot value his glory as superior to ours. Satan is committed to confirming this blinding preference. ” Has the god of this century blinded the spirits of the unbelievers, is it not that the light of the gospel of Christ’s glory shines upon them?(2 Corinthians 4. 4). Thus, when the natural man looks at the glory of God, whether in nature or in the gospel, he sees no beauty or supreme courage. .

To believe you have to see the beauty

This is the fundamental reason why natural man cannot believe in Christ. Believing is not only affirming the truth about Jesus, but also seeing the beauty and value of Jesus in such a way that we receive him as our supreme treasure. Jesus expressed that it was to say, “He who loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me; He that loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). saving relationship with Jesus where faith is not about valuing Jesus above his dearest earthly treasures.

Where did this awakening not happen to the supreme glory and courage of Jesus (called?New birth?), The fallen human heart is incapable of believing in Jesus. That is why Jesus said to those who opposed him, “How can you believe?Do you who accept the glory of one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one God?(John 5. 44) In other words, they cannot believe in Jesus, when they have more esteem for human glory than for theirs. believing is quite the opposite, believing in Jesus means receiving Him as supremely glorious and precious (John 1:12).

That is why the natural man cannot please God, because he cannot believe in God in this way, he cannot receive God and his Son as something extremely precious, but the Bible says, “Without faith, is it impossible to please God?”(Hebrews 11:6). Or, as Paul says, even more categorically, in Romans 14:23: “All that does not come from faith is sin. “

The Great Renewal for Christ

So, the stark reality is that human beings, how were we born?With a commonly fallen human nature? We can’t stop siding. We are, as Paul and Jesus say: “The slaves of sin?(John 8. 34; Romans 6. 20). The remedy for this condition is the free and sovereign grace of God that brings a change in the essence of our fallen nature.

This miraculous change, bought with blood, caused by the Spirit we perceive and prefer is described in many ways in the New Testament.

God enlightens our hearts: Why will God, who said, The light will shine from darkness, shining in our hearts, for the enlightenment of the knowledge of God’s glory, before Christ?(2 Corinthians 4. 6).

God who gives us birth again: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has regenerated us in living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead?(1 Peter 1. 3).

God resurrecting us from the dead: “But God, rich in mercy, for the great love with which He loved us, and while we were dead in our crimes, did He give us life with Christ?(Ephesians 2. 4-5).

The divine gift of repentance: “Does God grant you not only repentance to fully know the truth, but also a return to wisdom, freeing yourself from the bonds of the devil, having been taken captive by him to fulfill his will?(2 Timothy 2: 25-26).

The divine gift of faith: why have you been given the grace to suffer for Christ and not just to believe in Him?(Philippians 1:29).

The effect of this miraculous, Spirit-changed change is that we are no longer blind to the supreme beauty and glory of Christ; We no longer prefer our own autonomy to the sovereign government of God; We no longer love God’s creation more than the Creator; we unite ourselves to Christ as extremely precious; We trust your promises; we are freed from our bondage to unbelief and sin, and finally we can not sin. Why doesn’t sin dominate you? (Romans 6. 14).

A definition of “free will”?

Now where is he?

To answer this question, we need a clear definition of “free will”. It may be useful to propose three definitions: one for popular use, one for common biblical use, and one for a more technical discussion.

A popular definition

Popularly, what do most people mean when they ask questions about free will?I think most people want to say something like this: our will is free if our preferences and choices are really ours, so that we can be held accountable, if they are good. or bad. The opposite would be that our preferences and choices are not ours, but that we are robots or puppets without any significant acts of preference or choice.

According to this definition, free will exists in both fallen and redeemed human beings, for what has caused the fall is not that we are no longer authentic people who prefer and choose, but that our rebellion impels us to prefer and choose evil. and choose according to its nature. If nature is rebellious and not subsequent, as Paul describes in Romans 8:7-8, we prefer and choose accordingly. If our nature is liberated from rebellion, it begins to prefer and choose what is truly beautiful. In both cases, our preference and choice are ‘ours’ and we are ‘responsible’, whether good or bad.

A biblical definition

The second definition of free will, expressed in the language of Jesus and Paul, is that the human will is free when it is not under slavery to prefer and choose irrationally; he is free when he is free to prefer what is infinitely less preferable than God. and choose what will lead to destruction. The opposite of this view would be that these irrational and suicidal preferences and choices should be called “freedom. “

Based on this definition, only those born again have free will. This is how Jesus defined the notion of freedom in John 8:32: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. “And this is how Paul speaks of freedom in Romans 6:?But thank God, once enslaved by sin, yet you have come to obey in all heart the form of doctrine to which you have been given; and having been delivered from sin, have they been made servants of righteousness?(Romans 6. 17-18).

A technical definition

The most technical definition of free will used by some people is that we have free will, whether ultimately or decidedly self-determined, and the only preferences and choices for which we can be responsible are those in which, ultimately or decisively, we self-determine – determine. The key word here is finally or decisively. The fact is not only that elections are self-determined, but that the self is the ultimate or decisive determinant of itself. The opposite of this definition would be that God is the only one who ultimately determines himself, and ultimately is the author of all things, including all options, although there are many or more intermediate causes.

In this definition, no human being has free will at any time, in the end, either before or after the fall, nor in heaven, creatures determine themselves, there are high levels of self-determination, as the Bible often points out, but man is never the final or decisive cause of his preferences and choices. When man’s free will and God’s free will are compared, the two are real, but God is decisive. But here’s the mystery that makes a lot of people stumble?God is always decisive in such a way that man’s free will is real and his responsibility remains.

But isn’t that inconceivable?

I’m saying a lot of people stumble upon him because they consider him inconceivable. My perspective is that the Bible teaches the compatibility between God’s decisive sovereignty and man’s responsibility. If that sounds inconceivable to you, I ask you not to let that stop you from believing what it is. the Bible teaches.

But it can be helpful to try to make sense of that. Can a person’s actions be considered laudable or reprehensible if they arise from a good or bad nature that tilts them by a single path?

Here is part of John Calvin’s response to this objection

God’s goodness is so closely linked to his divinity that it is no more necessary to be God than to be good; while the devil, with his fall, has strayed so far from goodness that he can do nothing but evil.

If anyone mentions the profane mockery that few praises are owed to God for a goodness to which he is bound, it is not obvious that everyone responds: it is not because of an overriding restraint, but because of his infinite goodness, which he cannot do. Not good??

Therefore, if God’s free will to do good is not hampered because he must necessarily do good; and if the devil, who can only do evil, willfully sin again; Can we say that man sins less voluntarily, because he needs to sin? (Institutes, II. 3. 5).

You could say a lot more. There is no shortage of questions, I ask you to focus on the true teaching of the scriptures, try not to bring philosophical hypotheses to the text (assumptions such as: cannot human responsibility coexist decisively with God?Will?, Ephesians 1. 11). Let the Bible speak fully and deeply. Trust that one day we will not see each other in the mirror, in the darkness, but face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

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