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 mans free will

47. Does the bible teach that man has free will?

When the question of free will arises, it is imperative that we define our terms very carefully. By “free,” do we simply mean that we make real choices apart from external coercion, or do we mean that we can choose any theoretically possible option, without being necessarily constrained by our natural inclinations, prejudices, and desires? If we mean the former, then the term “free” is unnecessary and misleading, for real choice without external coercion is part of the very definition of “will”. If I make any choice at all, I do so willingly, because it is what I want to do; I am not constrained from the outside, and therefore, I cannot say in my defense, “Something took control of my body and forced me to do what I didn't want to do – I'm not to blame!”. No, whatever I have done, I have done willingly, and I am responsible to God for my actions.

But if we mean the latter, that we have the power to choose to do good or evil, to obey God or not to obey him, or at least to believe or disbelieve his gospel, as many people intend to suggest by the term “free will,” then we are in direct contradiction to many scriptures. We are “free” to do what we want to do, but we are bound in what we want by our evil nature and desires. We may do as we please, but we cannot please as we please. We cannot use our will to shape our natures, but rather, our natures determine how we will use our wills. Thus, the bible says very often, and in many different ways, that we are utterly bound in sin. In our flesh, we cannot please God (Rom. 8:5-8), we cannot understand the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3, 10-13; 14:17), we cannot seek God (Rom. 3:11), we cannot believe in God (John 6:44, 65; 10:26; 12:37-41), we cannot do anything good at all (Job 15:14-16; Prov. 20:9; Jer 13:23; Rom. 3:10-18). We are utterly captive to sin (John 8:34; Rom. 6:20; Tit. 3:3), we are prisoners of the devil and constrained to do his desires (John 8:43-45, 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 1 John 5:19), every impulse of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually (Gen. 6:5), and so every action we perform, no matter how “good” we think it is, is actually evil, nothing but “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). Ever since the fall, we are not free to do anything good whatsoever; and we can only begin to do good as the Spirit gives us a new nature (Ezek. 36:26-27). We are only free when the Son sets us free (John 8:36).

John Calvin has very adeptly expressed these truths in his treatise on the Bondage and Liberation of the Will:

"...we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free, because through man's innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion. For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the will, from which follows that it is self-determined." John Calvin from Bondage and Liberation of the Will, pg. 69-70


For Further Study:
Freedom/Bondage of the Will at Monergism.com
Eleven (11) Reasons to Reject Libertarian Free Will by John Hendryx

Monergism Copyright © 2008

 2009/8/17 22:22
LoveHim
Member



Joined: 2007/6/14
Posts: 562
Indiana, US

 Re: mans free will

[i]47. Does the bible teach that man has free will?[/i]

Oh no, not again. :-D

Count me out brother/sister.

But thanks be to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ that we don't have to be Calvinists or Arminians, but merely Christians..

Take care friend. ;-)

 2009/8/18 0:16Profile









 Re:

i found this to be a very good answer. I am not a calvinist or arminian but i believe this a true answer that is true to the biblical text.

 2009/8/18 0:24
rainydaygirl
Member



Joined: 2008/10/27
Posts: 742


 Re:

What will posting this thread do but bring about yet another endless debate.
Jesus Christ is all that matters! The only name I want to be known by is Jesus!!!

with care
rdg

 2009/8/18 0:25Profile
LoveHim
Member



Joined: 2007/6/14
Posts: 562
Indiana, US

 Re:

[i]i found this to be a very good answer. I am not a calvinist or arminian but i believe this a true answer that is true to the biblical text[/i]

Yeah I have no doubt that you do. All I am saying like rainydaygirl, is it will only lead to a Calvinist vs. Arminian debate. If you want to search that, there are probably at least 50 or more threads that debate this very subject.

That is all I was trying to say man.

Phil

 2009/8/18 0:37Profile









 Re:

We are free to choose good or to choose evil. We are free to obey our flesh or to obey God. Men are free to obey or disobey the knowledge that they have.

Some think that our flesh forces our will or that our nature determines our will. If that is true, how did Adam, Eve, and Lucifer sin? The Bible even says that homosexuals do that which is against nature. Your will is free to obey or disobey your nature. Our conscienc is part of our nature and our conscience tells us not to sin, yet many do anyways.

Free will is presupposed all throughout the Bible.

God repented of making mankind when He saw how wicked they had become. Why would He repent of making them when He saw them sinning unless He made them capable of not sinning? For forms us in the womb. Why wouldn't He form us with the ability to obey Him?

Every time the Bible talks about judgment, it presupposes free will. Why would God punish men for disobeying Him unless they were capable of obeying Him? It would be cruel and unjust to punish the lame for not walking! So also it would be cruel and unjust to punish men for disobedience unless they were capable of obedience.

Sodom and Gomorrah was punished? Why unless they had a free will? Nineveh was going to be punished but repented. How, unless they had a free will?

The Bible even says that God tested men to see if they would obey Him or not. Why do this unless it was possible for them to obey?

Jesus rebuked the cities that did not repent. Why rebuke them unless it was possible for them to repent?

Stephen rebuked men for being uncircumcised in hearts and for resisting the Holy Spirit. Why rebuke them unless it was their choice and unless they could have chosen different??

The Early Church said, "only heretics deny free will" because all of the Church believed in free will and only the Gnostics denied it, until Augustine converted from Gnosticism and joined the Church and brought a lot of Gnosticism with him.

This was an article I recently read and greatly enjoyed:

[url=http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module=message&task=view&MID=MB007GMP&GroupID=0B0078JH&label=&paging=all]Man's Ability To Obey God[/url]

 2009/8/18 0:38









 Re:

Quote:
What will posting this thread do but bring about yet another endless debate.



I wish that SermonIndex would stop allowing Calvinism to be promoted so heavily on this website. It is very sad to see.

 2009/8/18 0:39









 Re:

Not being a calvinist myself but seeing that this is true and biblical is all that matters , you might disagree but to me and many this is accurate of scripture. I would like to point out again like i have before just like calvinsm and arminianism have their own interpretation on what scripture says so do we, so now we must stop talking about them because you say it causes division, but guess what anything that anybody says on here that is not referenced towards calvinism or armianism and other doctrines can still cause disagreements and division no matter what way we look at it.Look i think the earth is young you think it is old , we can still post information on it if it is true to us and we think through our study that is true, even though we can not perfectly prove it. What i am trying to say is you have your own views you post on here from yourself not from some other teaching but your own personal belief on scripture and what not, and you our telling me that it is o.k to post those personal beliefs of yours even though everyone would disagree with you but because it is not a well known dispute it can be posted. I think it is hypocritical. Yes i posted something that is of a calvinst belief but i truly believe it is biblical and i did delete a quote from john calvin at the bottom of it so their would not be a big dispute but it still has been one. But this a true statement about our free will and i already had someone thank me for posting it. I am not defending calvinism or anything of the like but this my friend is what the bible teaches and i agree 100 percent with it. i am sorry if you our upset by it, i don't want to start disagreements but this site is full of everyone on here with their different beliefs and their our sermons of many of the same men who disagreed but it is all here for everyone to read or hear for possibly helping that someone in their walk with God. I know somebody it has already helped, but if we dislike what i have wrote or posted you simply just don't need to read it or go any farther than reading it. I don't know how much i disagree with some on this site with but sometimes you just have to say it is not worth arguing about. For some their our some true treasures in things on this site and for some this article might be one of them.

 2009/8/18 1:22









 Re:

But i would like to apologize if i hurt anyone at all with this, this was not my intention. I do care and love you guys so i am very sorry i f i have done so. Most that know me know i did not do that for the sake of pride, i know God would convict me about that.

 2009/8/18 1:36
hmmhmm
Member



Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re:

yes i am convinced scripture does tech free will, and i believe it also teaches God is sovereign at the same time, for one how could God keep you accountable for something you never could chose to begin with? how can he send men to hell if they never had the ability to chose how to live and what to do? i know these answers are not easy but i have found for myself we have a choice, but at the same time all good gifts come from the father, we can not take credit for any thing, we can not say i chose this and therefore i am worthy of salvation, but on the other hand we can not say " I can not repent or live for God since God has not granted me repentance" since God commanded all men to repent, and to me it seem a violation to Gods character to blaim him to command men to do that which they can not do and then throw them in hell because they never did what they never could.

God is love, and we should love God and man with all our heart, and love is always a free choice, you can not "force" love, you can not force or make a robot to love you, you can program a robot to love you, but that is not true love, true love comes from a free choice. If God would force us to love him, he could force us to always keep his commandments, he could force us to never sin, but he does not

why?

adam had free will, he had no sinful nature to blaim, the angels had free will, and God has free will, and we where created in his image.

to what % it works out, mans free will and Gods sovereignty i do not know, but some days I sense Gods sovereignty to a degree i stand in awe and amazement that we can breathe his holy air without dying on the spot polluting it without sinful bodies, other days i can almost weep due to the fact we dont chose him more in our lifes.

i know these are not scripture, but if we read the early church fathers, they write strongly about Gods sovergnity, they where strong believers in that, but also at the same time in mans free will. here are some quotations, its not an either or, even tho many say it is, scripture never says believe either or, we can reconcile these two seemingly opposites by Gods grace and a humble approach to scripture, God never reveal anything to those who are proud and already know it all.

"If a man were created evil, he would not deserve punishment, since he was not evil of himself, being unable to do anything else than what he was made for." Justin Martyr (First Apology Chap. 43)

"If anyone is truly religious, he is a man of God; but if he is irreligious, he is a man of the devil, made such, not by nature, but by his own choice." Ignatius (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume One, p. 61)

"The Scriptures…emphasize the freedom of the will. They condemn those who sin, and approve those who do right… We are responsible for being bad and worthy of being cast outside. For it is not the nature in us that is the cause of the evil; rather, it is the voluntary choice that works evil." Origen (A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs by David Bercot, p. 289,

"Those who do not do it [good] will receive the just judgment of God, because they had not work good when they had it in their power to do so. But if some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for they were created that way. Nor would the former be reprehensible, for that is how they were made. However, all men are of the same nature. They are all able to hold fast and to do what is good. On the other hand, they have the power to cast good from them and not to do it." Irenaeus (A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs by David Bercot, p. 287,

Ignatius of Antioch-

# If any one is truly religious, he is a man of God; but if he is irreligious, he is a man of the devil, made such, not by nature, but by his own choice.

Polycarp- c. 69 AD-c. 155 AD.

# But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom... 13

Irenaeus- (ca. 130-202)

# Men are Possessed of Free Will, and Endowed with the Faculty of Making a Choice. It is Not True, Therefore, that Some are by Nature Good, and Others Bad.

# Man is Endowed with the Faculty of Distinguishing Good and Evil; So That, Without Compulsion, He Has the Power, by His Own Will and Choice, to Perform God's Commandments, by Doing Which He Avoids the Evils Prepared for the Rebellious.

Justin Martyr- c. 100/114AD – c. 162/168 AD.

# Man acts by his own free will and not by fate.

# We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments, chastisements, and rewards are rendered according to the merit of each man's actions. Otherwise, if all things happen by fate, then nothing is in our own power. For if it be predestined that one man be good and another man evil, then the first is not deserving of praise or the other to be blamed. Unless humans have the power of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions-whatever they may be.... For neither would a man be worthy of reward or praise if he did not of himself choose the good, but was merely created for that end. Likewise, if a man were evil, he would not deserve punishment, since he was not evil of himself, being unable to do anything else than what he was made for.

# But that you may not have a pretext for saying that Christ must have been crucified, and that those who transgressed must have been among your nation, and that the matter could not have been otherwise, 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.

Clement of Alexandria (190 AD)

# A man by himself working and toiling at freedom from sinful desires achieves nothing. But if he plainly shows himself to be very eager and earnest about this, he attains it by the addition of the power of God. God works together with willing souls. But if the person abandons his eagerness, the spirit from God is also restrained. To save the unwilling is the act of one using compulsion; but to save the willing, that of one showing grace.

# Neither praise nor condemnation, neither rewards nor punishments, are right if the soul does not have the power of choice and avoidance, if evil is involuntary.

Archelaus (250-300 AD)

All the creatures that God made, He made very good. And He gave to every individual the sense of free will, by which standard He also instituted the law of judgment.... And certainly whoever will, may keep the commandments. Whoever despises them and turns aside to what is contrary to them, shall yet without doubt have to face this law of judgment.... There can be no doubt that every individual, in using his own proper power of will, may shape his course in whatever direction he pleases.

Methodius (260-315 AD)

# Those [pagans] who decide that man does not have free will, but say that he is governed by the unavoidable necessities of fate, are guilty of impiety toward God Himself, making Him out to be the cause and author of human evils.



these men are not scripture, but its interesting reading what the early church believed and thought since these men preserved scripture for us, how they also interpreted them, and they thought and read greek, they lived in the same culture as Jesus and in same time period, so some "weight" does their thoughts carry, i read another view once posted by brother TJ, from another perspective, i will try find it and we have a view from the other side as well for balance, even tho i dont agree with the article he posted, there was much to consider that i can not dismiss from scripture. Ill post it if i find it


_________________
CHRISTIAN

 2009/8/18 1:53Profile





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