Do human beings truly have a free will?

[Quasar92]

If “free will” means that God gives humans the opportunity to make choices that genuinely affect their destiny, then yes, human beings do have a free will. The world’s current sinful state is directly linked to choices made by Adam and Eve. God created mankind in His own image, and that included the ability to choose.

However, free will does not mean that mankind can do anything he pleases. Our choices are limited to what is in keeping with our nature. For example, a man may choose to walk across a bridge or not to walk across it; what he maynot choose is to fly over the bridge—his nature prevents him from flying. In a similar way, a man cannot choose to make himself righteous—his (sin) nature prevents him from canceling his guilt (Romans 3:23). So, free will is limited by nature.

This limitation does not mitigate our accountability. The Bible is clear that we not only have the ability to choose, we also have the responsibility to choose wisely. In the Old Testament, God chose a nation (Israel), but individuals within that nation still bore an obligation to choose obedience to God. And individuals outside of Israel were able to choose to believe and follow God as well (e.g., Ruth and Rahab).

In the New Testament, sinners are commanded over and over to “repent” and “believe” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 3:23). Every call to repent is a call to choose. The command to believe assumes that the hearer can choose to obey the command.

Jesus identified the problem of some unbelievers when He told them, “You refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Clearly, they could have come if they wanted to; their problem was they chose not to. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7), and those who are outside of salvation are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20-21).

But how can man, limited by a sin nature, ever choose what is good? It is only through the grace and power of God that free will truly becomes “free” in the sense of being able to choose salvation (John 15:16). It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him/her a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Salvation is God’s work. At the same time, our motives, desires, and actions are voluntary, and we are rightly held responsible for them.

Recommended Resources: Chosen But Free, revised edition: A Balanced View of God's Sovereignty and Free Will by Norm Geisler and The Potter's Freedom by James White and Logos Bible Software.

Source: www.gotquestions.org


Quasar92

 

[Albion]

But how can man, limited by a sin nature, ever choose what is good?

Right there we may have the strongest argument against the idea of salvation coming to any of us through an act of our free will.

The Bible has verses that seem to say we have free will...but it also has verses that seem to say that God chooses who will come to faith and be saved by it. One of the strongest arguments in favor of the latter view is the one quoted right here.

It sounds so good to our ears to hear that we choose, and our pride inclines us towards thinking that we are free agents in all things. When it comes to choosing God whom we cannot even comprehend fully (see all the threads asking how we can understand the Trinity), are we just fooling ourselves?

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

It sounds so good to our ears to hear that we choose, and our pride inclines us towards thinking that we are free agents in all things. When it comes to choosing God whom we cannot even comprehend fully (see all the threads asking how we can understand the Trinity), are we just fooling ourselves?

I don't think we are fooling ourselves. I do think that the power of choice is an awesome power that we do not fully understand and know how to wield. Our sin nature is enmity towards God, and the devil exploits it and uses it against our Father and ourselves. I think the Bible is true in all aspects. It says
2 Pet. 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Repentance it a choice. Lord Jesus says it is by the Holy Ghost that men are drawn to our Father. So men can choose to resist the Holy Ghost.

 

[Albion]

I don't think we are fooling ourselves. I do think that the power of choice is an awesome power that we do not fully understand and know how to wield. Our sin nature is enmity towards God, and the devil exploits it and uses it against our Father and ourselves.

With all due respect, that doesn't strike me as a very strong rebuttal.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

With all due respect, that doesn't strike me as a very strong rebuttal.

OK. Take it or leave it.

 

[bling]

Just look at the prodigal son story as an example of how it does works without having to believe it is the person making the salvation choice:

Luke 15: 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

1. The father allowed the son to get himself into a tragic situation (he could only blame himself).

2. The situation and his own mind brought him to “come to his senses” (the father did not sent anyone).

3. The son has a choice (this is his free will choice): stay in the pigsty and starve to death (he does need to pay the piper, be macho and take the punishment he deserves, not disturb his father any more with his presence, and maintain what pride [false pride] he can against his brother’s ridicule) or the son can humbly return to the father and hopefully receive some underserving charity which he is willing to accept.

4. The young son is not doing some “righteous” act out of some “noble motive”, but is selfishly willing to humbly accept pure charity. The son has done nothing worthy of anything and it might be even more commendable, if son had been macho, paid the piper, stayed in the pigsty and starved to death (paid the price for his actions and not bothering his father more).

This is the way we all are prior to humbly accepting God’s charity:

When a nonbeliever is brought to their senses than they can make an autonomous free will choice (willing choice) to either be macho hang in there and fight to their death, be strong and take the punishment they fully deserve and be willing to pay the piper OR they can wimp out, give up and surrender to their enemy (who at the time of their surrender is still their enemy). They certainly know they are totally undeserving and should be destroyed for their previous war crimes, but God just needs them to be accepting of His pure charity. God will shower them with unbelievable wonderful gifts which will change them.

If a mature adult does not have a “will” to make this very simple limited free will choice than the lost would be God’s fault and also realize the prodigal son did nothing “worthy” of anything and was motivated by selfish reasoning (he wanted just some kind of life), which is the same selfish motivation of the nonbeliever.

 

[RDKirk]

Free will as originally invented defined by the Greeks (and as understood by modern secular philosophers) means the ability to make choices of moral action without constraint by any other moral agent (even the ancient Greeks were sophisticated enough to eliminate silliness like physical impossibilities from their philosophical discussion of free will).

The point is whether a person can choose his moral actions without restriction or consequences by any other moral agent. If a person's moral choices are dictated or consequences imposed by another moral agent, he does not have free will.

Paul denies such free will. According to Paul, all men are slaves in their moral choices. They are either slaves to their essentially evil (that is, resistant to God's will) nature, or they are slaves to God's will.

Man has no "free will," but has only as single choice of who he will serve...and that choice only through God's grace. A single choice of who will be one's master is not "free will."

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Man has no "free will," but has only as single choice of who he will serve...and that choice only through God's grace. A single choice of who will be one's master is not "free will."

This really is the real bottom line isn't it?

 

[Greg J.]

People are confused by this issue way too much. Which of us is able to think logically the way God thinks, who exists outside of time as well as inside it? Scripture says we can't. God has revealed the truth of his sovereignty for his glory, but that doesn't mean we can use every fact we've been told in logical reasoning.

God gave the Scriptures to mankind, so not surprisingly, he did so in a way that mankind can understand. From God's outside-of-time perspective he chose everything that would happen all through time. But the best, closest, and only way humans can understand that is as God made us—on a journey through time. From our stuck-in-time perspective, we have free will. If you believe in God's just nature, then it should be obvious he is not going to hold us accountable for things we did not willfully choose. That by itself is proof that we have free will. God will judge us for what we have said and done, not for what we did not choose or do (e.g., the things God chose to do). God's sovereignty and our free will are both real and true at the same time.

God himself has free will more than any of us. There is no basis on which to suggest He does not have free will, whereas all Scripture shows that he is free to make whatever choices he wants. He simply does not want to do anything "sinful," and there is no greater power to drive him to do so.

 

[bling]

Free will as originally invented defined by the Greeks (and as understood by modern secular philosophers) means the ability to make choices of moral action without constraint by any other moral agent (even the ancient Greeks were sophisticated enough to eliminate silliness like physical impossibilities from their philosophical discussion of free will).

The point is whether a person can choose his moral actions without restriction or consequences by any other moral agent. If a person's moral choices are dictated or consequences imposed by another moral agent, he does not have free will.

Paul denies such free will. According to Paul, all men are slaves in their moral choices. They are either slaves to their essentially evil (that is, resistant to God's will) nature, or they are slaves to God's will.

Man has no "free will," but has only as single choice of who he will serve...and that choice only through God's grace. A single choice of who will be one's master is not "free will."

The "Greek's" definition of "free will" does not have to be The Bible's (God's) definition. The choice for the prodigal son was not some moral decision: return to being the father's obedient son in his house or obey his sinful ergs, but either wimp out, give up and surrender or hang in there, be macho, pay the piper, and take the punishment he fully deserves. He did nothing noble or worthy.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

The "Greek's" definition of "free will" does not have to be The Bible's (God's) definition. The choice for the prodigal son was not some moral decision: return to being the father's obedient son in his house or obey his sinful ergs, but either wimp out, give up and surrender or hang in there, be macho, pay the piper, and take the punishment he fully deserves. He did nothing noble or worthy.

That is the point really.It is what the father did that was noble, not what the son did.

 

[bling]

That is the point really.It is what the father did that was noble, not what the son did.

All the glory goes to the Father, we do nothing worthy.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

All the glory goes to the Father, we do nothing worthy.

We repent.

 

[RDKirk]

The "Greek's" definition of "free will" does not have to be The Bible's (God's) definition.

The God has no definition of "free will" because He denies free will. It's a pagan concept.

Augustine first (and then later, Aquinas) introduced "free will" as a Christian theological concept--reaching back to pagan philosophy--to combat pagan arguments that Christianity is morally deterministic. However, Augustine narrowed it down to what I said: Nothing more than a single choice between two moral authorities. A Christian uses what freedom of will he has only to choose God as his moral authority...otherwise, his will is under the control of evil.

The important thing is to understand that Augustine's definition of "free will" is significantly more narrow that that used by a secular philosopher.

 

[Ron Gurley]

FREE WILL

The true doctrine of "FREE WILL"??: Biblical examples??

Gods Grace vs Free Will

https://www.christianforums.com/thr...the-all-everything-attributes-of-god.8011130/

 

[Ron Gurley]

God gave Mankind 2 spiritual gifts from the beginning:
1. "free will" to SPIRITUALLY choose to accept or reject His calling/drawing.
2. "sin nature" - the innate NATURAL tendancy to turn from God and toward self.

Man SPIRITUALLY CHOOSES whether he want to be a "child of God" (saved believer)...or...NOT.

God spiritually calls/draws/knocks to ALL.
EACH Man's spirit must accept or reject the gifts.

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

1 Chronicles 28:9...KING David to wise son Solomon
“As for you, my son Solomon,
know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind;
for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts.
If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; BUT
if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

John 3:36...John the Baptizer on Jesus: CHOOSE
1. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; (BELIEVER)
but
2.he who does not obey (TO BELIEVE IN!) the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God abides on him.” (UN-BELIEVER)

John 1
11 He came to that which was His own, but His own did NOT receive Him.
12 Yet to all who DID receive him,
to those who BELIEVED in his name, he gave the right to become "children of God"
— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but "born of God"

Revelation 3:20...CHOOSE!
Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

 

[bling]

The God has no definition of "free will" because He denies free will. It's a pagan concept.

Augustine first (and then later, Aquinas) introduced "free will" as a Christian theological concept--reaching back to pagan philosophy--to combat pagan arguments that Christianity is morally deterministic. However, Augustine narrowed it down to what I said: Nothing more than a single choice between two moral authorities. A Christian uses what freedom of will he has only to choose God as his moral authority...otherwise, his will is under the control of evil.

The important thing is to understand that Augustine's definition of "free will" is significantly more narrow that that used by a secular philosopher.

There are "free will" offerings in scripture which people understand as being their choice on how much they give.

 

[bling]

We repent.

The "repenting" we do is a change in direction, but it is not from being a big time sinner to obedient servant of God, but from fighting God to giving up, quitting, wimping out and really surrendering. Those on the battle field from either side are not commended for their surrendering and no monuments are built to those who surrendered. At the point of surrendering the soldier still feels the same toward his enemy, but hopes for an undeserved mercy, he deserves to be severely punished to death for his war crimes even with surrendering and he might realize that, but wimp out. The unbeliever goes from being that good soldier of satan to a wimp.

 

[RDKirk]

God gave Mankind 2 spiritual gifts from the beginning:
1. "free will" to SPIRITUALLY choose to accept or reject His calling/drawing.
2. "sin nature" - the innate NATURAL tendancy to turn from God and toward self.
.

"Sin nature" logically and philosophically excludes "free will." Paul spends quite a bit of time explaining that by man's own ability, the sin nature cannot be overcome...therefore "free will" is obviated.

Scripture says nothing about free will. It does, however, speak of the sin nature.

 

[RDKirk]

The "repenting" we do is a change in direction, but it is not from being a big time sinner to obedient servant of God, but from fighting God to giving up, quitting, wimping out and really surrendering. Those on the battle field from either side are not commended for their surrendering and no monuments are built to those who surrendered. At the point of surrendering the soldier still feels the same toward his enemy, but hopes for an undeserved mercy, he deserves to be severely punished to death for his war crimes even with surrendering and he might realize that, but wimp out. The unbeliever goes from being that good soldier of satan to a wimp.

What?