Due to time and space considerations, this study will focus on the main issues and hopefully encourage the reader to continue his or her studies on this very important subject. If you get these questions wrong, your entire theology will be in error. For example, does man have the free will independent of God's grace to even want salvation? Has the fall so corrupted man's nature that he cannot take a step towards God without help? Does God come to man first, or does man take the first step toward God for salvation? Can man come to God without the first act of grace being given from the Holy Spirit? Is man spiritually dead or only mostly dead? Is he the case of the sick man that only has to take the medicine from the doctor to be saved or is he the man incapable of taking any action on his part to be made well? This lesson will focus on three questions:
1. Does man have free will?
2. What is the difference between free will and free moral agency?
3. Is man totally depraved or only partially depraved?
To answer the first question, we must first try to answer the question, what is free will. The type we will discuss is the view called "The Humanist View" and it is the one most prevalent in our churches today. This view states that man makes choices spontaneously without any affect from our prior disposition, conditioning, or prejudice. In essence, man is a blank slate. We can choose whatever we want to choose. For the moment, I will concede that such a blank slate is possible. If man has no prior disposition to a matter, he might not even make a choice because he has no inclination one way or the other. I heard Dr. R.C. Sproul use the example of "Alive in Wonderland" to make the point. Alice comes to a fork in the road and can't decide which way to go. She asks the Cheshire Cat which way she should go. He asks Alice, where she was heading. She said she didn't know so he replied than I guess it doesn't matter which way you go. In the same way, if we had no prior disposition or inclination to act in a certain way, our choices would be meaningless.
There are many verses that point to man's free will:
1. Joshua 24: 15: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve...."
2. John 1: 12: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God...."
3. Revelation 3: 20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him...."
My answer to the question is that man has free will to choose whatever he desires most. The Bible is clear that man is called on to make choices. Those choices have consequences so man must be responsible for his choices. If his will wasn't free, that would seem unfair. How does man choose? The strongest motivation at the time of choice will influence the choice. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds and I want a piece of birthday cake. My choice will be controlled by the strongest desire at the moment of choice. If losing weight is more important than tasting the cake, I will say "no" to the cake. On the other hand, if tasting the cake is more desirable at the moment, I say, "May I have a slice?" So, while man's will is free it is not without prior dispositions and inclinations. The position held by most churches today that man's will is neutral, is just not true.
I think the answer to the second question, "What is the difference between free will and free moral agency," will bring clarity to the issue. A person is possessed with three great powers: intellect (the power of seeing or knowing), the power of affection or feeling, and the power of the will. When you study the actions of man, you will find that the will of every man by nature is not independent but is dependent upon his affections and intellect. Therefore, man is a free agent, but does not have a free will. Man is responsible but does not have the power to choose independent of his affections or his fallen nature. You could say that man is free, but his will is not free. Man has a liberty or a freedom from coercion, but he does not have the power from within to make the right spiritual choices. The choices are controlled by his fallen nature. So, there is a vast distinction between man as a free agent and man having a free will.
Man is a free agent because he does as he pleases, always as he pleases, and only as he pleases, and is therefore responsible. However, on the other hand, man has not a free will because all the faculties of man's inner being are so interwoven and bound together that his judgment moves his desires, and his desires move his will. The reason he does not will to come to Christ is because his judgment is twisted, his understanding is darkened, and his mind is blinded; therefore, he does not know the facts in the case. Now since his judgments and desires and affections are depraved, he does not want to know the facts in the case that would lead him to the Lord Jesus Christ, and left to himself, he never will. Then, by man's own intellect, or knowledge, he can never know God and the Lord Jesus Christ. By wisdom the world knows not God. Apart from the grace of God you cannot find Christ. In summary, man has a fre will but that will is so affected by his depravity from the fall of man, he will not exercise that freedom to choose Christ.
This leads us to the final question: Is man totally depraved or only partially depraved? The answer to this question will influence how you view the Sovereignty of God and how a person is saved. We will look at a few Scriptures:
1. John 6: 44: "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." The word "draw" is the Greek word helkyo and it means to drag. It is the same word used in John 21: 6 to speak of Peter dragging the net full of fish and Acts 16:19 when Paul and Silas were dragged into the marketplace after the conversion of Lydia. The word speaks of a forceful pulling not a gentle wooing.
2. Romans 3: 10-18: These verses speak of the following:
a. There were none righteous.
b. No one seeks after God.
c. No one does good.
d. Their throats were open sepulchers.
f. They had poisonous tongues.
g. Their mouths were full of cursing and bitterness.
h. Their feet were swift to shed blood.
i. Destruction and misery were their ways.
j. They had no peace.
k. There was no fear of God before their eyes.
3. Ephesians 2: 1: "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins...." Dead people cannot help themselves.
The above verses point to the conclusion that man is totally incapable of coming to the Lord, i.e., without God's grace being shed abroad in their hearts. John Wesley called God's act to reach the lost prevenient grace. John Calvin stated it was irresistible grace. Without engaging in a debate that has been ongoing for over 400 years, suffice it to say that I believe that man is incapable on his own to come to God for salvation without the assistance of God's grace regenerating his heart so that he might believe.
This lesson has attempted to address the issues of free will, free moral agency and total depravity. This is an important subject. If you get this wrong, you will get salvation wrong. My opinion is as follows:
1. Man has free will, but not the moral ability to choose God due to the fall in the Garden of Eden.
2. Man is totally depraved and dead in sin.
3. Without the gift of God of grace and repentance, man will remain lost in his sins.
4. We are dead in sins until God regenerates us as a Sovereign act of His doing.
If you have questions about this subject, please contact us.
No comments:
Post a Comment