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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 05

What about the will of the unsaved?

The unsaved are bound to sin. They are unable to make “good” choices. All choices are made from their sin nature. What has become frequently known as Calvinistic theology teaches the Total Depravity of man. This theological belief is that man, though not as bad as he could be, was affected in every area of his being. That is his mind, will, and emotions. If God does not by regeneration change the heart of man he is unable to choose anything that is contrary to his sin nature.

There are two basic schools of thought concerning salvation and God’s providence. Arminian theology is opposite of Calvinistic theology, which is sometimes known by the acronym T.U.L.I.P. The acronym stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irrestistable grace, and perseverance of the saints. Following are some Arminian errors in the theology of the will of man.

1. They do not believe that man’s will is totally bound and that he is unable to choose salvation apart from first being regenerated. There is a failure to understand the gravity of being bound to sin.

2. They often use the tactics of persuasion in evangelism instead of relying on where the Spirit will blow. Since they believe man has the power to choose God, persuasion is often used giving many a false since of security. “Make a choice for God”, “You can choose heaven or hell”, “Say this prayer”, or “Come to the altar” are often statements used. No matter man’s response to these, if the Spirit has not drawn that man, he is not saved.

3. Arminian’s fail to see that man’s failure to fulfill the law is not stemming from the law itself, but from man’s depravity. Christ did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. We are given His righteousness, a righteousness that we could not earn. This righteousness is accredited to the account of the believer just like original sin was accredited to the account of man.

4. They do not see that a salvation that is all of grace cannot be so if man’s will is free to choose. If man could choose salvation it would not be all of grace, but man working with God’s grace. Man’s will is given the same status as God’s. All true Christians would say that man is not above God, but what many fail to realize is that Man is not equal with God either.

· Man was originally created with a free will.

· After the fall, mankind’s will became bound.

· After the fall man made/makes real choices, but the choices made are from a sin nature.

· Those who are born again have been renewed and are able to make “good” choices.

· Though man is renewed after being saved, he is still in process and sometimes makes bad choices. These choices are no longer from his nature, but from sin.

· The unsaved have inclination towards evil only, but God does call them to choose salvation of their free will

· God is providential over all things, using the choices made by man.

Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 05

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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 04

How does God’s providence work with man’s will after he is saved?

God is sovereign over all things, but at the same time he works with men’s choices. God freed man’s will from its slavery to sin. Man makes a real choice for salvation. He is a free agent in that choice. But until God frees a man’s will he cannot make that choice, all he can do is choose what his sin nature dictates. It is a real choice made by man from a new nature. After a man is saved he must still deal with sin.

Rom 7:15-25

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

God is not a dictator and man mechanical. God cares for and guards His creation and purpose. God is not the first cause all things and all choices but by secondary cause assuredly governs providentially. Providence in no way diminishes the responsibility that God gives to man to live according to His word and according to the gifts each has been given.

1 John 5:2

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

NKJV

Rom 12:3-5

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

8

There is an unexplainable peace in knowing that every minute detail of life is governed by a loving God. The most fearful troubled heart can know peace if the truth of God’s providence is alive in the depth of that heart. Mt. 10:29-31 says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows”.

Phil 1:6

6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 04

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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 03

How does salvation affect man’s will?

Christ’s salvation enables man to be born again. That is, born of the Spirit. Through regeneration man’s heart is able to rightly choose because of his new nature. Man was created in the image of God. That image though it remains is marred by the fall. God’s salvation restores man to what he would have been before he was affected by the consequences of rebellion.

Eph 2:1-5

2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Adam is the federal head of mankind. Because of his choice; the fall in the garden, man inherited a sin nature. Man became bound in the choices he made because of this sinful nature. Christ became the second Adam making possible for mankind to be born-again and to receive a new nature. If man receives Christ’s salvation he is given a new nature and become capable of making right choices. Man is not perfectly holy at this point, but is given right standing before a holy God. Salvation then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has it outworking in man. Man becomes more and more transformed into his former glory.

1 Cor 15:44-49

45 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 03

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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 02

Did the condition of man’s will change after the fall?

Adam’s choice in the garden separated Him from God. His choice was to not eat of the tree of good and evil. Once he partook he knew evil, which all of mankind inherited.

Gen 2:17

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Gen 3:9

9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

Scripture tells us that a man must be born again. The immediate result of the fall was a spiritual death for mankind. He is separated from God without a new birth. Only from this new birth can one comprehend and see the things of the kingdom.

John 3:3-8

3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Only God is good. Gods’ will alone is truly free. Man was not able to righteously adhere to the laws commands. It took the death Christ and His righteousness to effect change in the heart of man. Those who are saved (or will be saved) are (will be) becoming what their new standing already declares.

Matt 19:17

17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 02

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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 01

Introduction

Nelson’s Bible dictionary offers the following definition for the will. “Wishing, desiring, or choosing especially in reference to the will of God.” Man was created with a will. He was created with the ability to choose. Man has the ability to wish for and look upon with desire.

The fall of mankind in the garden had devastating effects on man’s will. Man’s will became bound because of the nature he inherited. Total depravity affected all aspects of man including his will. Man no longer was free to choice, though he could still make choices, he could only choose from his sin nature. Christ came to set men free. In other words, Christ came to set men free them from the slavery of sin.

The question about free will is a major point of contention in Christendom. How one answers this question shows who it is that they truly see upon the throne. One group of people believe man is able to, some acknowledging with assistance, choose God. Another polar group of people see that except by a work of grace that man is unable to choose God. At this point, a key passage of Scripture jumps out. “We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).”

If it were not for God, in His providence, for His own good pleasure, choosing to save many, no man could be saved. Salvation is all of grace. It is God showing mercy to the sinner and extending (giving) grace. The (His) salvation portrayed in Scripture elevates God, not man.

One of the early Church fathers, St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) made three points about man’s ability:

1. Before the fall man had the potential to sin or not to sin.

2. Since that fall man was free to sin but lacked the ability to do good.

3. In heaven man will be free to do good, but not to do evil.

4

LESSON 1

Was man created with a free will?

Adam (and Eve) was placed in the garden (It is most important to stress Adam since he is the representative head of mankind). He was told that he could freely eat from any tree in the garden except one. He was given the warning that if he disobeyed and partook of the tree of good and evil that he would surely die.

Gen 2:15-17

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Scripture clearly indicates that Adam had a choice to make in the garden. The choice he made affected all mankind. Mankind inherited original sin. Every aspect of mankind and creation was affected by the fall. This includes the mind, will, and emotions of man. Man’s will therefore become bound. Man became bound to sin. He still made choices but those choices became limited to his nature.

Man’s pride makes it hard for him to be dependent upon another, and not master of his own life. Often times those who reject that man’s will is bound and/or affected by the fall do so on the premise of unfairness. A major argument is that God would not have made man unable to choose. What is not grasped is that God did give man a free choice, and man chose evil. It was God in His sovereign grace who chose some (many) from the foundation of the world to receive salvation. God’s salvation makes man whole. Man is restored to what he would have been had he not chose to disobey and suffered its effects.

Matt 6:24a

24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

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Was Man Created with a Free Will
Free Will, Free Seminary Course Lesson 01