Hi, Jordan
I have read the New Testament multiple times, and while reading it most recently the possibility that Jesus Christ may not have had free will came to me.
Free will is a big deal with a lot of people. And there are different ideas and "logic" about this. So, I will offer what I have, but I do not mean to disagree or debate with anyone.
Free will can be an idol of people's egos, of them wanting to make their own choices in separation from God. However, if I can do things apart from God, because I am separate from Him, this is a problem . . . if I am separate from God enough so I can make my own choices.
"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)
Only in union with God can we live in real love.
But it is good to treat each person like he or she has a free will . . . so we are not trying to control and use people and we are feeling for others. But it is better to be fully controlled and guided by God in His love (Colossians 3:15, 1 Corinthians 16:14), rather than to be my own love-dead puppet.
If God acted through Christ-- who was a human-- to cause a change on Earth, how much of Christ's actions were his own, and what degree of his actions were God's?
Yes, Jesus came to this earth in the flesh, but not only to change this earth. He came to bring us to God in order that God changes us to become like His Son Jesus who is so pleasing to our Father. And this change will last after this earth no longer exists as it is now > Romans 8:20-21, Romans 8:29.
I understand, through John 14:10 and John 10:30, that Jesus and our Father are perfectly one with each other, and Jesus and our Father did all things in perfect oneness with each other. This includes how Jesus on the cross had our Father in Him sharing with Him in the work of reconciling us to Himself >
"that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19)
It seemed that Christ had at times many of the frailties of humans, but at other times the insight and confidence of not just a prophet, but God-incarnate.
I understand that Jesus had limits for His physical body, but not spiritually >
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
So, yes Jesus could feel and go through things we go through, in this life, but He went through it all
"without sin". I benefit from how Jesus did not only succeed at not sinning, but Jesus went through all He did so He can now feel for us and help us with how His love and grace made Him able to even suffer and keep on loving, instead of being like a victim. In us, His grace can do the same . . . not only keeping us from doing wrong, but also making us caring for others, and having compassion on others >
even able to help others with God's own grace (1 Peter 4:17) and comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
By the way, how many humans in their own free wills are choosing to be attentive to doing this??
So, Jesus is not only our High Priest, but also our role model and example of how we all are called to His priesthood, to go through things of this real world, so we can feel for others and minister to them His grace which makes us strong enough in love to succeed in loving, through all things.
There are many different interpretations and conclusions that are arrived at when reading the New Testament, and my current interpretation is that God possessed Christ's body occasionally to effect a change on Earth. This seems to be a violation of the free will that God has instilled in humanity, and an action which is not perfectly good on God's part.
As I offered, "free will" can be a problem. There are people who are free from God, so they can sin. In their separation from God, they do not have His love's grace making them alive to live in love. In sin, a person's character is
"dead", in a dead free will which is not good >
"you were dead in trespasses and sins", our Apostle Paul himself does say, in Ephesians 2:1. In sin, we were love-dead, and this included how our wills were love-dead, not about to make loving choices. Only the life of God's love through Jesus can make us alive in a living free will capable of choosing loving things to do. We need to become alive in love so we can choose to do loving things. Only God through Jesus can make us alive in real love.
People without God do have free wills, but they are
"free in regard to righteousness" > Romans 6:20 > free from God and free from the life of God's love. This is because humans have inherited the sin nature of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve, in sinning, lost the created freedom of their wills. In sin, people are, as our Apostle Paul does say . . .
"slaves of sin" > Romans 6:17, and also in Romans 6:20. This means that in sin, a human does not have the character of God's love, for choosing what is truly good. One can puppet oneself to do certain actions of good, maybe, but this is contaminated by the deeper ego's motives and weakness making the person unable to fight off emotional problems and torments of personality which come because of fears and worry. So, the person is not free, really.
But in God's love, more and more we have true freedom of will > 1 John 4:18 < for just one example, love makes us strong, so fear can not get the better of us. And because we are immune to fear, our personalities mature in being able to not suffer in the various torments of fear and worry. This is truly being free in our wills. Humans without Christ do not have this free will.
But, on a personal level, yes we do make our choices; so we do have "free wills"; we do answer for what we do; there are consequences; we are judged; and we will be judged; the Bible is plain about this. So, in this way every human does have a free will. But does God "honor" our free wills while we sin?
"God resists the proud," we have in James 4:7 and also in 1 Peter 5:5.
Please help me understand the relationship between God and Christ more.
I offered some comments, above, about the oneness of our Father and His Son Jesus.
I'll try to help a little bit more > God our Father and Jesus are spiritually the same, but Their positions differ. In a family, you can have different positions and things and responsibilities but all in the family can be the same in love with each other . . . in a strong and healthy family, "of course". Ones in love can do things as one. Our Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are perfectly one with one another, having the exact same spiritual and love nature. So, this is beautifully wonderful, how They are ! ! !
And They desire to share all with us; so God, being
"love" (1 John 4:8&16), has sent His very own Son to us, not some second-best being, or lesser blessing. Our Father
"is love" (1 John 4:8&16); so He desires to share His very own with us. And He and His Son and the Holy Spirit are always laboring first for this.
And this is our example, how we need to have hope for this for any person, at all. And do whatsoever our Father has us doing to love any person, at all.
God bless you, good to see you