What is Free Will?
If there was no Free Will, as the ancient Gnostics alleged, then how can one explain the origin of sin? The Gnostics argued that there was a sense of Dualism, light and darkness, spirit and flesh, in order to account for the origin of sin. Later, the Gnostic convert Augustine, taught a Monism instead, insomuch that all sin comes from God, by divine cosmic ordering, in which everything on balance is actually good, because God is good, and everything comes from Him. Notice the slight amount of Circular Logic there. The problem is that without Free Will, there is no way to explain the origin of sin, without implicating God as the origin of it all. Calvinists affirm a form of Free Will, called Compatibilistic Free Will, but which is not Free Will at all, but just a camouflage for Determinism.
Norman Geisler: “...God made the fact of freedom; we are responsible for the acts of freedom.” (Chosen But Free, p.23, emphasis mine)
This simple statement explains the origin of sin, such as, “Where did Lucifer get his desire to sin?” What God created was the fact of freedom, but Lucifer is responsible for his act of freedom, and hence God has a logical basis upon which to hold him accountable. However, if you were to say that God’s creative mind is the true origin of Lucifer’s desire to sin, then you would have what Geisler terms, “Extreme Calvinism.” Notice that even Calvinist, R.C. Sproul, stops short of stating that God is the origin of the sinful choices by truly free creatures. Concerning Adam & Eve, before the Fall, Sproul states:
Therefore, for those who insist that in order for God to be “truly sovereign,” that He must have caused the fall of Adam & Eve, Lucifer and the fallen angels, and rendered it certain, have clearly gone further than R.C. Sproul. (As you are about to see, it also goes beyond what John Calvin himself had stated about the origin of sin.) So how are Calvinists going to tell Arminians that they are wrong about the nature of free-will, when even they admit that they cannot explain it?
John Calvin: “But now, removing from God all proximate causation of the act, I at the same time remove from Him all guilt and leave man alone liable. It is therefore wicked and calumnious to say that I make the fall of man one of the works of God. But how it was ordained by the foreknowledge and decree of God what man’s future was without God being implicated as associate in the fault as the author or approver of transgression, is clearly a secret so much excelling the insight of the human mind, that I am not ashamed to confess ignorance.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.123-124, emphasis mine)
Compatibilism doesn’t help the Determinist’s cause either, since it is still raw Determinism, but merely with the camouflaged cover and veneer of free-will.
Question: Why does one person respond to the grace of God, and not another?
Answer: Can you explain why did Adam & Eve choose the way that they did? If it’s not something that God made them do, then it’s something that they decided for themselves, and hence, free-will. Turning the tables back upon the Calvinist, ask: “Is God powerful enough to enable an unregenerate person to receive His grace?” According to Calvinists, “no,” because “fallen man is too far gone,” even for God, and thus Irresistible Grace is the only solution for the Total Inability of man. Thus, Calvinists have assumed a limitation for God.
Question: Two people receive the same grace to be saved, but one person repents while another rejects it. What caused the difference?
Answer: The person’s own volition caused the difference. Each may be faced with different external motivations, but it’s their own volition that decides which way to go. So is there a precedence for this? Consider God. What causes His decisions? What about the angels, before 1/3 fell? What about Adam and Eve, pre-Fall? What caused their choices? The answer is either going to be Determinism or Self-Determinism. If God has a free will, and if the angels have a free will, and if Adam and Eve had a free will, then there is at least a basis to suppose that volition is a legitimate source of causation.
Consider 1st Corinthians 10:13 which states: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
This makes for a great response to the Calvinist who asks why a person chooses one way over another? Here you have two Christians, both enabled by God with sufficient grace to overcome temptation, and yet one overcomes while another does not. Why? The answer is free-will, otherwise there is no “way of escape” after all. Only free-will can explain why one Christian took the escape, while another did not.
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians: “God promises Christians that they never have to sin. He gives grace to aid the Christian so that the Christian can resist temptation, even though he is obviously able to give in to temptation. So if you take two Christians, and one gives into temptation, while another does not, then why does one give in while the other remains faithful? It cannot be a difference of grace--they are both able to resist the temptation. By the Calvinist argument, it must be because one has some good in him, apart from God or grace, and must be able to legitimately boast. But this is obviously, patently unbiblical, and shows how the Calvinist argument is invalid.” (SEA, emphasis mine)
Adrian Rogers: “God is the author of everything. God made everything perfect, and when God made man, God man His creature perfectly free. Free Will, then, man’s Free Will, is the origin of evil. God did not create evil. God created perfection, and God made man perfectly free, and freedom therefore gave rise to this evil. You see, this is what makes us moral creatures. Somebody says, ‘Why didn’t God just make us where we couldn’t sin?’ Well if God had made us where we couldn’t sin, He could have no more fellowship with me than I could have with that pulpit or that speaker. Because God made us moral creatures; love is the highest good; and God wants us to love Him. This is the first and great commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind.’ Love is the highest good, but forced love is a contradiction in terms. Forced love is not love at all. In order to love, we must be free to love, to choose to love, and to choose to love, we have to be able to choose not to love. And so God gave us perfect choice. Adam chose in the Garden of Eden, and the sons of Adam after him, to sin, and that’s where the heart-ache, and the groan and the moan come from, as we’re going to see in a moment.” (Turning Hurts Into Hallelujahs: Romans 8:8-11)
A.W. Tozer: “Here is my view: God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, ‘What doest thou?’ Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so. Perhaps a homely illustration might help us to understand. An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here and they do not contradict each other. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfilment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in those purposes, but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and to give us good hope and firm assurance of future well-being.” (The Knowledge of the Holy)
Billy Graham: “God created man in His own image and gave him an abundant life. He did not make him as a robot to automatically love and obey Him, but gave him a will and freedom of choice. Man chose to disobey God and go his own willful way. Man still makes this choice today. The is results in separation from God.” (The Enduring Classics of Billy Graham: The Secret of Happiness, Happiness Through Peacemaking, pp.125-126, emphasis mine)
Hal Lindsey: “So God did this because He did not want to create robots. You see, He wanted a creature that could respond to Him. But, most of all, He wanted a creature that could respond to His love. Now, there cannot be love without freedom of choice. Unless you can choose not to love, you can’t love.” (Gospel of John, emphasis mine)
By the grace of God and through the free will of men to believe in Christ, some are saved (Ephesians 2:8), while others, who are disbelieving, remain condemned and perish. (John 3:18) Our free will is subject to outside influences, both from the negative influence of the devil, through sin, and also from the positive influence of God, through His preceding grace, which enables a man to receive Him.
Question: So, how are men saved?
Answer: Saving faith in Christ.
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians: “God, for some reason or another, seems just as concerned about how one comes to salvation than whether one comes to salvation. After all, salvation means to be rescued. God could rescue us without our consent: without our faith. For some reason He declared that we shall be saved by faith, and whatever made Him put the condition on salvation also causes Him to make revelation conditional as well.” (SEA, emphasis mine)
Question: Where does saving faith come from?
Answer: From Christ’s Word which is “living and active.” (Hebrews 4:12). Romans 10:17 states: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
On the basis of Romans 10:17, what reason is there to believe that saving faith is not available to all? The Calvinist will immediately respond, “then why don’t all believe?” On that basis, the Calvinist will insist that something more than just the Gospel is needed for someone to believe, namely, a changed heart by means of preemptive, Regenerative Grace. Many have converted to Calvinism over that very point. However, God doesn’t give Regenerative Grace to sinners in order to believe. Rather, God gives believers Regenerative Grace in order not to sin, and to accomplish the holy calling in which each Christian has been uniquely called by God to serve within the Body of Christ.
So, then, how does anyone embrace the faith produced by the Gospel? The answer that Jesus gave was that you had to receive the Word with “an honest and good heart.” (Luke 8:15) However, Calvinists simply see that as a sign of regeneration because the natural, unregenerate man does not possess an honest and good heart, but rather possesses a heart that is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked heart.” (Jeremiah 17:9) However, Jesus didn’t mention anything about “Preemptive Regeneration” in His presentation of Luke 8:15. In fact, Jesus never specifically taught Preemptive Regeneration, period. So if not for Preemptive Regeneration, how does a “deceitful” and “wicked” heart become an “honest” and “good heart” in order to receive the faith produced by the preaching of the Gospel? The simple answer is that it doesn’t. Evangelism is not about seeking out the race of the good-hearted in order to get them saved. Many with a wicked heart have received the Gospel, while those of a lesser evil nature, remain unrepentant. Why? Because Jesus never said that good-hearted people are inclined to receive the Gospel. What He said was that you need to have “heard the word in an honest and good heart,” not that you must already possess an honest and good heart, as Calvinism teaches that Preemptive Regeneration operates. For instance, a wicked person can be utterly broken and convicted by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), and therefore sincerely surrender under the weight, burden and guilt of sin, empowered by the faith-producing Gospel. Becoming a Christian is not about being a good person, but rather bad people surrendering under fear and pressure induced by the Holy Spirit. Hell is real and Jesus taught more on hell than anyone one else in the Bible. For instance, the two thieves on the cross next to Christ weren’t good-hearted people at all, but yet one of them heard what was being said about Jesus (through the scoffing of the Pharisees), and heard it with honest sincerity, and as a result of it, surrendered to Christ under the conviction of his sins. However, the Calvinist will still ask why one surrendered and the other didn’t. The answer, again, is that one sincerely embraced it, while the other hardened his heart. And why is that?, the Calvinists will still protest. Ultimately, it comes down to a free choice, under pressure of the Holy Spirit, empowered by the faith-producing Gospel. Jesus said to an unrepentant Saul of Tarsus, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14) Will you choose to sincerely embrace hope, or will you harden your heart in faithlessness? For instance, Adam and Eve were sinless creatures while in the Garden of Eden. Were they not? Yet, they freely chose to sin, did they not? It was a perfectly free choice. Most Calvinists seem to loathe that analogy, but it was nevertheless a free choice, and like Adam and Eve, God gives us the glorious privilege of being able to receive reconciliation with Him, like the one thief, or the dubious privilege of rejecting Him, like the other thief. Man is enabled, and then held accountable for the enablement. In terms of such accountability, 2nd Peter 2:21 states: “For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.” Real opportunity is presented, and which also something Calvinism denies, apart from Elective and Regenerative Graces.
However, the Calvinist will still protest. Why, they will ask, does the one surrender under the weight of the pricking of the Holy Spirit, and not another, if not by preemptive Regenerative Grace by way of eternal in the Father Election? The answer is that one hardened his heart and not another. Naturally, the Calvinist will persist with, why did one choose to harden his heart, and not the other? The point of the Calvinist is simple, in that the difference between the two individuals is something that lies within themselves rather than something that lies within God, as Calvinism teaches, whereby God irresistibly helps the one to make the right choice, that is, the eternal elect individual, while withholding help for the other. Although the Calvinist perspective is functionally sound, it is nevertheless not biblically sound, and the Arminian is left to explain the concept of a free-will choice to the Calvinist.
Daniel Whedon: “Ask then what fully caused the Will in its conditions to cause the volition and the reply is, nothing. However, in the cause of the volitional decision to repent, God’s prevenient grace does exert an enabling influence on the will. Jon vi, 44; xvi, 8-9. An influence is not the same as a determining cause or partial cause. The will is still free to go in alternate directions.” (Freedom of the Will: A Wesleyan Response to Jonathan Edwards, p.74, emphasis mine)
Daniel Whedon: “…the grace of God frees the Will from being completely bounded by sin since the Fall, but it does not determine or cause which way the Will volitionally decides. Even for the pagan, the Will is free to choose between sin, relative human good or repenting to become a Christian. Or if the question is: In general, why did the Will in equipoise choose thus rather than otherwise? The reply is, because the Will was a complete and adequate cause for that choice rather than another; and when an adequate cause is assigned the Why is answered.” (Freedom of the Will: A Wesleyan Response to Jonathan Edwards, p.74, emphasis mine)
How is it complete?
Daniel Whedon: “Our very definition of a free Will is, a power of choosing in a given direction, with a full power of choosing otherwise. Now the rejection of a counter for which there is full power, in given forth the actual, is included in the very idea of a free will.” (Freedom of the Will: A Wesleyan Response to Jonathan Edwards, p.75, emphasis mine)
This is called the “power of contrary choice.”
Question: How does a person harden their own heart?
Answer: By stalling or procrastinating. It isn’t necessarily by rejecting Christ immediately. But each time a person stalls, like Pharaoh, and puts off God, their heart becomes a little bit harder. As the next day rolls into the next, they perceive that they’ve gotten away with putting off God, all while abusing God’s long-suffering patience, until the day that it catches up with them.
What if God took a person and dropped him in hell for two minutes. Upon lifting him out, he might come out cursing, or he might come out surrendering. It just depends upon the free choice of the individual. This, incidentally, is the very picture of “the rich man” at Luke 16:19-31 who suddenly had the heart of an evangelist while in hell, persisting in an attempt to persuade Abraham (on the other side of the chasm) to reach his lost brothers who were soon to join him in hell and fiery torment. Now did “the rich man” require preemptive Regenerative Grace to arrive at this new perspective? The Calvinist will protest that this is simply not the manner in which God deals with the lost. Or is it? When the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, in conjunction with the faith-producing Gospel message, the world is essentially placed under that very same perspective of fear and impending doom in an eternal hell, contemplating the same exact future as “the rich man,” and some become bitter and harden their heart, while others submit. Some put off a decision for Christ for another day, while others walk the aisle and surrender their heart to Christ. Either way, for both, it is a life-changing event. For the one, their heart is regenerated and are now being born again. For the other, their heart has been hardened, and they don’t even realize it, which is why Isaiah warned: “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6) The perfect picture is the two men on the crosses next to Jesus. Both of them had their eternal future starring them right in their face, and one submitted and the other didn’t. It’s a Free Will choice, and you don’t get Regenerative Grace to make it. Just as what Abraham told the “the rich man,” they have Moses and the Prophets to listen to. (Luke 16:29, 31) Today, however, we have the Bible. Abraham’s answer is that even if someone should return from the dead, even that will not un-harden their heart. They have the free choice either to remain stubborn, which God warned against, “Harden not your heart” (Psalm 95:8), or to surrender and quit fighting and quit kicking against the goads. The Calvinist will still reject that, and ironically, that is entirely their free-will choice.
The Calvinist perspective: If you agree that God created all things with explicit knowledge of all that would come to pass, then you would have to say that God approved of it, in the sense that God approved that the act will take place. In this sense, Calvinists believe that God ordained sin.
That statement came from the question of whether or not Abortion was the will of God.
According to Calvinism, if God went ahead with creating a world that He foreknew would fall away, then God is responsible for all that that world would ever do, both good and bad. Otherwise, God could have stopped it from ever coming to pass, and if God chose not to stop it, then He must have a purpose for it.
Calvinists present the following illustration: Suppose you knew that prior to your child’s birth, that this child would someday murder his mother. You have not yet impregnated your wife. Would you chose to continue having sexual relations with your wife, knowing the end result? If you did, would you say that you were in some way approving or consenting to the ramifications?
In this illustration, if you did continue to have sexual relations with your wife, then it would not be because you approved of her eventual murder, but instead because you desired a normal relationship. For God to have proceeded with the act of creation, knowing that by creating the fact of freedom, people would misuse their freedom, does not require that God approved of their misuse, but rather that there was something else that God did desire. The parable of the Wheat and the Tares, exemplifies this. Jesus stated: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Matthew 13:24-30) Quite obviously, the enemy was Satan, and the Garden of Eden comes to mind. As Genesis records, what God created was “very good.” (Genesis 1:31) In this parable, the only reason why the Sower permitted that tares to continue to grow was because He did not want the wheat to be harmed, rather than having any secret purpose for the tares.
According to the Calvinist: God has a purpose for everything that takes place. I do not believe that God simply rolls the dice of creation and crosses His fingers hoping that everything turns out for the best. I believe in a God who is great and sovereign over all His creation and He has worked out all things according to His own purposes and for His own glory. Nothing comes into existence apart from God. It becomes an exercise in absurdity to try to imagine anything taking place outside of His will.
That’s the religion of a Calvinist: God has a purpose for sin. God ordained sin. If something happens, it’s because God has a purpose for it. That’s Calvinism.
Calvinists contend that the Arminian view is faulty because if Arminians are correct, then we will be less free in heaven since the ability to sin will be removed.
Right now, we struggle with the sin nature, and are ensalved to it, but when we get to Heaven, we will be freed from this nature, to take on a nature as holy as Christ’s, and we will have chosen it, insomuch that we have chosen to be with Christ, longing for His return. Additionally, I’m not so sure that the “ability” to sin in Heaven will be removed, so much as the desire to sin will be removed, viz. a new nature, one that is like Jesus’. For instance, when Jesus was on earth, perhaps He had the physical ability to sin, though with His spiritual nature, He had no desire to commit sin, due to His nature which had no desire to sin. On the other hand, with fallen man, whether it be the “unregenerate unbeliever” or even the “regenerate Christian,” we still have a sin nature (Romans 7:14-25, in terms of the conflict of 2 natures). Someday in Heaven, the sin nature will be removed, and all that will be left is the regenerated nature, with a volitional fortitude and will-power like Jesus’ character. (See here for an additional discussion on this topic, particularly, the quote from Ron Rhodes.)
Consider 2 types of temptations:
1: TV commercial advertises a great deal on a new car. That’s a temptation.
2: You say to yourself, “Wow, that’s a great deal! I’m really tempted to buy it.”
The Bible says that Jesus was tempted to sin (i.e. Matthew chapter 4), but I infer that it was only type #1 listed above, and never type #2. This way, Jesus was tempted in like manner as we are (#1), but never gave into temptation (#2), in order to be swayed by it, and hence Jesus can relate to what we face, because He faced it too, and overcame it every time, and the power to overcome temptations has been supplied to us also, so that we too can overcome temptation, in any situation, because He supplies this grace. (1st Corinthians 10:13) I don’t want to make God into a machine so that I can trust that someday He won’t turn bad. I think that doubts that He is truly good, after all. Moreover, if we say that God is good only because He cannot help it, and that He is hard-wired that way, then we as men have a moral capacity that God lacks, and the rest is just downhill from there, but there are varying viewpoints on this subject and we are free to disagree.
The fact is, that the Calvinist cannot explain free will within the context of their “Determinism” when the creature in question is not “unregenerate,” such as Adam & Eve in their pre-Fall state, including the pre-Fall of Lucifer and the Fallen Angels. Even with the Calvinist’s version of Compatibilism, nothing is left but Hard Determinism, with a mere illusion of Free Will (since what is “compatible” must be meticulously programmed within them, in order for their “free” choices to be rendered compatible with a predetermine purpose, or else their unprogrammed, freedom to do a multitude of other free choices [good or bad], would interfere with a predetermined purposed. In other words, their potential freedom to commit sin-series: B-Z, would interfere with the predetermined purpose of them committing only sin-series: A. Hence, the need for meticulous pre-programming so that their “free choices” may appear compatible with their actual choices). Hence, the Calvinist version of free will, is nothing more than Hard Determinism. For more on this point, see here.
Robots don’t have Free Will. If I was to program a robot, then whatever the robot does, would be an extension of myself, as its exclusive programmer. Now regarding humanity, if there is no Free Will, then where does our Will come from? If it comes exclusively from Determinism (by divine decree, in which everything is fixed, set and scripted), then whatever humanity does, would similarly be an extension of the One programming the unchangeable decree. God is good, but Calvinism otherwise makes God complicit in an allegedly decreed Fall of man.
As Calvinists, Arminians and non-Calvinists (believing in Jesus, and claiming the Bible as the final authority), like George Whitefield and John Wesley, we read the same verses, and we know each of the arguments, and yet we strongly divide into our respective theological camps, anyway. So is an irresistible grace the reason, or free will? If it requires a special enlightenment to be a Calvinist, then why would God enlighten certain Christians to this, but not all Christians? If true, it would mean that the Holy Spirit would be willing to indwell them, but not willing to teach what Calvinists like Charles Spurgeon otherwise state is the Gospel. As Arminians, we look at Calvinism as being an ancient relative to Gnosticism, as if it was a poisonous plague upon the Church. Calvinists look at Arminianism as insulting to God, making Him appear small, incompetent, impotent, unhappy, sappy, frustrated and a failure. Strong opinions on both sides! So why the difference? Again, we’re not talking about unbelievers under Total Depravity, but regenerated Christians indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and therefore traditional explanations will not suffice. I say that free will is the only logical explanation for the difference. I see it as a psychological phenomena.
One Calvinist responds: “I as a believer in the doctrines of grace believe our wills are set free after made alive by the spirit but as scripture teach we still struggle with the old flesh. We receive different gifts from the spirit. We struggle with traditions and presuppositions and not relying totally on the Spirits guide. We are at different levels of maturity.”
However, that is a tough argument to maintain, since it requires that godly people (John Wesley, Adrian Rogers, ect.), were yet “spiritually immature” and “in the flesh.” It’s an argument that says, “We’re more spiritual on the Calvinist side.” As an Arminian, I don’t say that Calvinists are spiritually immature or in the flesh, but rather that they’ve been duped by an ancient, clever lie of Satan, twisting the Scriptures to match a Determinist world-view. However, back to the original point, if not free will, then the alternative is Determinism, and that Arminianism, including those who believe it, are unchangeably predetermined as such.
Question: How did sinless Adam and Eve arrive at the decision to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?
Answer: One Calvinist argues that we don’t become sinners when we sin, but we sin because we are sinners. Although you can make that argument for anyone who came after Adam and Eve, you cannot say that about Adam and Eve themselves, since they became sinners only after they had sinned. So how would they have come to that decision (to sin) without having a sin nature? The answer is free-will, we are no different, because if Adam and Eve chose to sin when it wasn’t within their nature to do so, then it stands to reason that we can equally make a decision to choose God, even when it’s not within our nature, either.
Free Will in the the Early Church period: Augustine.
Augustine explains: “...it is written in the sacred Scriptures, ‘God hath spoken once; these two things have I heard, that power belongeth unto God. Also unto Thee, O God, belongeth mercy: for Thou wilt render unto every man according to his works.’ Now the expression, ‘Once hath He spoken,’ is to be understood as meaning ‘immovably,’ that is, unchangeably hath He spoken, inasmuch as He knows unchangeably all things which shall be, and all things which He will do. We might, then, use the word fate in the sense it bears when derived from fari, to speak, had it not already come to be understood in another sense, into which I am unwilling that the hearts of men should unconsciously slide. But it does not follow that, though there is for God a certain order of all causes, there must therefore be nothing depending on the free exercise of our own wills, for our wills themselves are included in that order of causes which is certain to God, and is embraced by His foreknowledge, for human wills are also causes of human actions; and He who foreknew all the causes of things would certainly among those causes not have been ignorant of our wills.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 9, emphasis mine)
Augustine adds: “In His supreme will resides the power which acts on the wills of all created spirits, helping the good, judging the evil, controlling all, granting power to some, not granting it to others. For, as He is the creator of all natures, so also is He the bestower of all powers, not of all wills; for wicked wills are not from Him, being contrary to nature, which is from Him.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 9, emphasis mine)
Augustine writes: “For one who is not prescient of all future things is not God. Wherefore our wills also have just so much power as God willed and foreknew that they should have; and therefore whatever power they have, they have it within most certain limits; and whatever they are to do, they are most assuredly to do, for He whose foreknowledge is infallible foreknew that they would have the power to do it, and would do it.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 9, emphasis mine)
Augustine writes: “...when we say that it is necessary that, when we will, we will by free choice, in so saying we both affirm what is true beyond doubt, and do not still subject our wills thereby to a necessity which destroys liberty.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 10, emphasis mine)
Augustine writes: “It is not the case, therefore, that because God foreknew what would be in the power of our wills, there is for that reason nothing in the power of our wills. For he who foreknew this did not foreknow nothing. Moreover, if He who foreknew what would be in the power of our wills did not foreknow nothing, but something, assuredly, even though He did foreknow, there is something in the power of our wills. Therefore we are by no means compelled, either, retaining the prescience of God, to take away the freedom of the will, or, retaining the freedom of the will, to deny that He is prescient of future things, which is impious. But we embrace both.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 10)
Augustine writes: “Prayers, also, are of avail to procure those things which He foreknew that He would grant to those who offered them; and with justice have rewards been appointed for good deeds, and punishments for sins. For a man does not therefore sin because God foreknew that he would sin. Nay, it cannot be doubted but that it is the man himself who sins when he does sin, because He, whose foreknowledge is infallible, foreknew not that fate, or fortune, or something else would sin, but that the man himself would sin, who, if he wills not, sins not. But if he shall not will to sin, even this did God foreknow.” (The City of God, Book 5, Chapter 10)
Free Will in the the Early Church period: Justin Martyr.
Justin Martyr writes: “...I said briefly by anticipation, that God, wishing men and angels to follow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness; possessing reason, that they may know by whom they are created, and through whom they, not existing formerly, do now exist; and with a law that they should be judged by Him, if they do anything contrary to right reason: and of ourselves we, men and angels, shall be convicted of having acted sinfully, unless we repent beforehand. But if the word of God foretells that some angels and men shall be certainly punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably [wicked], but not because God had created them so.” (The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Chapter CXLI.—Free-will in men and angels, emphasis mine)
Question: Is “Free Will” a pagan term?
Answer: No. Rather, it is a biblical term: “I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.” (Ezra 7:13, KJV)
This is one of 17 references to “freewill” that occurs in the Bible, as found in the King James Translation of the Bible. Additionally, you also have Genesis 49:6 which states: “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.” Luke 12:57 states: “And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?” But if their initiative was actually someone else’s, then what would be the point of the criticism?
Consider some Gift Principles:
The children of Israel were given the victory over the Canaanites. But when they sent spies to search out the land, only two came back with a positive report, namely Joshua and Caleb. The rest esteemed themselves as grasshoppers among giants, and they refused to lay hold of the victory that God had given them. As a result, God decreed that Israel must wander in the wilderness for 40 years, and none would enter the Promised Land but Joshua and Caleb. Here God had given them the victory, but because they refused to lay hold of it by faith, they lost what God had given them. Now would that somehow make God a failure? Only the crazed logic of a Calvinist would deem it so. They failed themselves. The larger point at hand is the fact that they were given the gift of victory and they forfeited it. Similarly, Jesus offers all men the free gift of His grace, as per Romans 5:15. If men should refuse to lay hold of His gift, it too will be forfeited, and they will not see God’s Promised Land in Heaven.
Adrian Rogers states: “Many times we lose the war because we don’t show up for the battle.”
(From the Palace to the Pit: Ezekiel 28:8)
This certainly was true of the Israelites who had forfeited their free gift of victory, and this serves as a lesson for us today, not to forfeit the victory that Christ purchased at Calvary.
Next consider some Choice Principles:
Adrian Rogers states: “Jesus came to deliver you. Jesus came to set you free. He came to give you peace and power, forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven, but He will not force it upon you. The same God that gave to Lucifer the power of choice, gives to you the power of choice. ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve.’” (From the Palace to the Pit: Ezekiel 28:8, emphasis mine)
Adrian Rogers explains: “God is a God who gives us the choice. Now I want to give you some Choice Principles. You are free to choose God. God says, ‘I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.’ Here you’re in the Valley of Decision. There’s a mountain of misery and a mountain of mercy. You can choose. You are free to choose. Now, I am a Calvinist to the degree that I believe that God is sovereign. But I am not a Calvinist to the degree that I believe that God does not enable anybody to choose, or that God chooses for anybody. God gives you the choice. You must choose. And God says to all of us, ‘Choose you this day.’” (Choices Made in the Valley of Decision: Joshua 8:1, emphasis mine)
Adrian Rogers explains: “Your responsibility is your response to His ability. … Now you must choose. Listen, you can’t do it without Him; He will not do it without you. You must yield. … When temptation comes, you must yield, and you will yield. That much is settled. The only question is, which way you will yield? Will you yield to Satan, or will you yield to Christ?” (Abounding Victory Thru Amazing Grace: Romans 6:6-7, emphasis mine)
