I know that I have my own freewill. I just don't know how to define the term operationally
Exodus 35:29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD
freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
The Bible assumes the existence of freewill without defining it. Dictionaries provide some lexical definitions of "freewill". For me, to use the term free will in a logical argument, I need a precise operational definition. An example of an operational definition can be found in
Wiki.
Let D = the operational definition of freewill. Given an agent x, D(x) = {yes, no}.
Show me a D that will answer whether x has freewill or not, so that anyone can apply this definition to x and recognize whether x is an instance of freewill or not. The definition should be objective enough that no matter who applies it to x, the answer is the same.
Your definition must be consistent with the following:
1 Corinthians 7 talks about freedom and will:
37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing.
A similar concept is expressed in (BSB) Philemon 1:14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will.
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Ephesians 1:5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Make sure your definition can answer the following:
Does Satan have freewill?
Did Pharoah in Exodus 9:12 have freewill?
Does a sophisticated AI have freewill?
Does a dog have freewill?
How about a fish?
After the resurrection of all the dead, will anyone have freewill?
Alternatively, instead of "freewill", one can speak of "sovereign volition" or "independent will".
God gives man free-will, and man chooses to believe in determinism, instead. That is the sad irony that Calvinists introduce into Christianity. So, is “freewill” a pagan term? No, it is a
biblical term:
Philemon 1:12-14: “I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.”
There are several references to “freewill” that occur in the Bible, as found in the King James translation of the Bible. Here is one example:
Ezra 7:13: “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.” (KJV)
Here are additional variations to free-will, as found in the New American Standard translation:
Genesis 49:6: “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.”
1 Peter 5:2: “Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.”
Luke 12:57: “‘And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?’”
If God has free will (Ephesians 1:6), and if man is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), it stands to reason that man may also have free will, or else in what way is man created in the image of God? Free will is the gift of a life-giving God in order for humans and angels to possess a living mind, with autonomy of reason and creative intelligence, so as to be able to act independently, all so that mankind may be suitable caretakers of God’s creative works.
Is there an independent will? If man does not have an autonomous will that is independent from God, then there is no meaningful way to defend against the charge that God is the author of
their sin. Only an independent will,
coexisting with God’s will, can distinguish God’s holiness from man’s sinfulness. If God decreed whatsoever comes to pass, so that man’s will stems from God’s will (as Calvin claims), then we are left with only one will in the cosmos: God’s Will. Conversely, the concept of a truly independent free-will maintains God’s holiness, explains a myriad of Scripture verses in which God denies doing certain things, and also gives rise to a true meaning of divine permission. An
independent will is crucial to this debate. Otherwise, Calvin’s purported decree of “whatsoever comes to pass” would give the unbeliever an excuse for rejecting Christ, such that they were born this way. Free-will says No! You have a choice for which each of us are eternally held responsible.
The Calvinist view of free-will is that our will is free to choose only evil, all the time, because our nature has been altered by our father, Adam. Thus, mankind is incapable of humbly admitting its fallen state and receiving God’s free offer of healing and restoration. However, our freedom of the will has not been lost from birth due to the fall of Adam, but rather God uses the power of the gospel to tap into our natural freedom of the will, in order to convict and to persuade us, so as to place one’s faith in Christ for salvation. If fallen mankind did not possess freedom of the will to accept Christ, then what would be the point of the Holy Spirit’s work of conviction and persuasion of the lost?
Non-Calvinists Evangelicals agree that mankind is born incapable of willingly keeping all the demands of the law so as to merit salvation. And we would also agree that mankind is in bondage to sin. We would not agree that a man is born incapable of willingly admitting that he is in bondage and in need of help — especially in light of God’s gracious, Holy Spirit inspired, clear revelation — by means of the law (a tutor) and the gospel (a powerful appeal to be reconciled).
