Free Will
Table of Contents
Free Will: No. 1
What angry discussion there has been on this matter, and it is said there is still much heated disputing on it, especially in the south of England. Our desire is not to dispute, but to inquire calmly what is the truth on this subject. We meet with one great difficulty at the outset; we do not find a scripture that speaks directly on the subject of free will, at least I do not remember one instance where the words free will occur.
Have you ever thought what the words " free will " mean? Do they mean that man has power in himself, in his natural unconverted state, to choose salvation, and that he is free to choose it, or to choose sin, and choose to remain in sin? Let us take this illustration. A man has a strong inclination to go poaching at night for game. Would it do for the government to say, Very well, you are free to poach, for you are a free agent? Or a child has a propensity to steal—would a father say, Yes, you are a free agent; you are free to steal, or free to be honest? If he was free to steal, and had a propensity to steal, then he would steal. Would it not be wickedness to tell the man that liked it that he was free to poach? or the child he was free to steal because he chose it? Then it is plain a holy, righteous God could not tell men—fallen men, whose nature is evil, and have a constant tendency to do evil—that they are free to do the evil they delight in. For man to be told he was free to do evil would be real wickedness. Or put it in this way—you tell your son what you wish him to do; but he says, No, father, I am a free agent, and my free will tells me I must just do what I choose. The more we look into it, the more we see how free will may be, nay, is it not simply lawlessness? and lawlessness is sin. If I say I am free to do evil there is an end to all obedience.
If we look at the Lord Jesus we see the very opposite of this kind of free will. " Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, Ο God." (Heb. 10:9.) Hear His agonizing prayer in Gethsemane: " Ο my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:39.) Was not Satan's one object in the temptation to get Christ to exercise free will as man? One moment of free will and the perfect obedience of the holy dependent second Man would have fallen like the first Adam. Remember it was that very act of Adam's free will that brought in sin and all its consequences. Not so the Lord. It was ever His delight to do His Father's will. He could say, " I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." " For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 5:30; 6:38.) If the Son of God should thus repudiate any free will of His own, but ever manifested entire subjection to the Father's will, what then becomes us? His blessed path was perfect submission and dependence. Yes, the only perfect One did not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him.
But some of my readers will say, That is not our question. It is this: Have not all men a free will to choose or refuse salvation by Jesus Christ? and does not their salvation depend on their willing to choose Christ? Well, that seems clearly put; in other words, what is man's real condition in his natural unconverted state? There is one other question we had better look at before that.
Is there anything on God's part to hinder man's free choice of salvation? The word of God is quite plain and clear as to that: " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16.) " And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved." (Acts 2:21.) " Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." (Rom, x. 11.) " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Ver. 13.) See also 2 Cor. 5:19-21. What then is the will of God in this matter? " And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." (John 6:40.) " Who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth/5 " Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2:4-6.) " I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." (Rev. 21:6.) " And let him that is athirst come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
These and many other scriptures prove that there is nothing on God's part, to hinder or prevent all men coming to Christ if they will. Let us not seek to explain away a single text. Surely there is no need to do so, if we only desire to know the truth.
Let us now return to our question, Has man in his fallen state a free will, or free choice of Christ and His work for salvation? We see there is no hindrance in God. He says, " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." But has man a will to take it? That is the question. The doctrine of Christ is, that man is so bad that he needs to be born again, with wholly a new nature from above. And without this new birth, he cannot even see the kingdom of God. (John 3) This involves the setting aside of the old man, or the fallen nature, and the bringing in of a new man, or new nature.
The thought and teaching of men is the very opposite of this—that man is not so bad, not so utterly lost in sin. He only needs improving and restoring, and the beginning of that restoration he calls regeneration, however it may be effected. If we look at the figure, the birth of a child, we see the folly of this theology at once. Is the babe the improvement or even the change of an old person? Nay, is not that babe wholly new, a new person, the beginning of a new man? And further, neither the conception nor the birth is by the will or choice of the babe. And nowhere is the new birth viewed as by the act or choice of the one born again, or born anew.
" But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12, 13.) No words could be plainer than these, could they? The first communication of life and a new nature is not of man, but of God. So that He who is the truth, says, “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life." (John 5:40.) On God's part Christ was freely presented to men; on their part, they would not have Him, they would rather spit in His holy face, and prefer a murderer. And mark, this was the last trial as to free will in religious humanity. It is the same to this day. Fallen humanity is not changed a bit.
But believing the words of Jesus as we do, we must go a little deeper still. Not only " Ye will not," but " 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." (John 6:44) This is the true condition of fallen, utterly lost man. If our salvation depends on ourselves, on our free choice in coming, then clearly we are not lost.
Shipwrecked sailors wrecked on the rocks are surely not lost if their safety depends on their own free choice to come to shore. You need not dive to the bottom after a drowning man surely, though he has gone down the third time, if his safety depends on his own free will to come out; he is not lost yet.
What then did comfort the heart of Christ in view of this awful condition of man? Hear his words: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37.) This was the great sustaining fact that kept Him in perfect peace on the very night of His betrayal. Read John 17 Had He counted on man's free will, or free choice, what an eternal disappointment—for all refused. Yet in the midst of His utmost rejection, " At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Ο Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." (Matt. 11:25.)
All depends on our seeing the true condition of fallen man—whether there be any good free will, free will in a good sense, whether there be sufficient good in him to choose the good; or have we seen the end of man? Whether we see it or not, God sees it, just as He saw it of old: " And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And God said," The end of all flesh is come before me?" (Gen. 6:5-12.) And when Noah stepped out of the ark into this present world, after the flood, we see a beautiful figure how God will deal with man through the sacrifice of Christ, in the type of Noah's sacrifice; but as for fallen man, " The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." (Gen, viii. 21.)
If we pass through the history of fallen man, even on to the Epistle to the Romans, we see man proved by every trial to be only utterly lost, utterly guilty, all under sin. Yes, an utter slave in sin, and needing a redemption wholly of God's providing. So that the words of God must surely be true. How can they be false?—words He spake long ago to Moses: " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." (Rom. 9:15, 16.) This is the real truth of the case.
You may say, But is it not also true, that when a sinner is converted to God, he does will? Yes, he does then will and desire to be saved, and to serve God. If it is not his own free choice as a lost sinner, how is it? This is the scriptural answer: " For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13.) This, you notice, is the very explanation how those that are saved and sanctified in Christ are to work out their own salvation. It is God that works in them to will. He gives them a new will, and works in them by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Compare Rom. 8:2.
As I write by request for the help of evangelists, local preachers, &c, who often meet with much contention on the subject, we will notice some further scripture illustrations, difficulties, and consequences of this truth, both as to God's readiness to receive the sinner who comes, and man's inability to will to come.
Free Will: No. 2
It may be asked, How then is this new will, or new nature, imparted? It is the direct operation of the Spirit of God. How? " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The word also is the seed imparted by the Spirit in the new birth. Water is a figure of the word. But do not think for a moment that this means a change of the flesh, or an improvement of our old nature. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," remains the same flesh; " that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Now would it not be absurd to say that the new nature was begotten by the free will of our old evil nature? But what saith the scripture: " Of HIS OWN WILL begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." (Jas. 1:18.) Do you see the difference? Then again, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3.) " Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (Ver. 23.)
But it is time we looked at a few illustrations as to man's will. Take the great supper in Luke 14:16-24 God the giver, the provider of the supper, sends out the invitation to many. " Come; for all things are now ready." On God's part no hindrance—salvation as free as the air we breathe. But what of man's free will—did one accept the invitation? Not one. " And they all with one consent began to make excuse." Not one of those that were bidden came. Grace, free grace, had to go out and fetch the guests, compel them to come in.
Again as to free will, take the great picture of man's condition: Israel, slaves in Egypt. Is a slave a free man to do his own will? Nay, he needs redemption. He cannot redeem himself, this must be the work of another. God came down to redeem Israel. God in the Son has come down to redeem the sinner. If the figure was the work of God, surely the reality is so also. If a man is free, he is not a slave—his state is not so bad as that—then it is also true, must be true, if he is a slave, he is not free. If man is free, he does not need redemption. Free will and the need of redemption cannot go together. A man is taken prisoner, and with a great chain round his leg, he is put in a dark dungeon. Would you talk to him through a hole in the iron door, and tell him he has a free will, and he may come out if he likes? And is not our state by nature far worse than that? We were not only in the dark dungeon with sin as a chain to the leg, but we liked it, the darkness and the chain of sin, rather than the light.
If a man knows his real condition as Satan's captive, and knows that he is so vile, that he prefers the horrid slavery of Satan, to the holy liberty of Christ, he will know that he is as far from free will as light is from darkness. How can he be free and a captive to sin at the same time? He cannot be a slave, or a captive, and free at the same time. His very nature is sinful and prefers darkness to light, sin to holiness. Free, ah, he will prefer anything to Christ. No man can ever talk of free will if he knows and believes in the total ruin of man through sin.
And there is still a deeper thing yet. A slave really desiring to be free, hating slavery, and not delivered from it, is a slave still. Who is this? This is a quickened soul, like Israel when they believed God and longed to escape, but were slaves still. This is the very case described in Rom. 7 Here we have a quickened soul, a new will, an earnest desire to do the will of God—one who can say, " I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Yet I am a slave, and how to perform that which is good " I find not." Could you say that one, even born of God and under law, with the experience described from verses 8 to 23, can do that which he chooses? The law provokes sin in the flesh, and the more he struggles, the more he discovers that he is without power to do what he longs to do, and he is a slave to what he hates. Have you known deliverance from that state? If not, you may be in that very state, and not know it. Years you may have gone on in this state, under law, a complete helpless slave, and not have understood it. Can you say, When I was in the flesh, under law, trying to improve it, I found there was not a bit of good in me, that is in my flesh. You never can say this until you are delivered out of it. Is it not then folly to talk about free will while you are a slave? Now when your eyes are opened by the Spirit, you see how the "1 " has been judged on the cross and set aside. It is no longer " I" but Christ. Then you can say, " I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Mark, you will not say, I thank my free will, I have chosen to be free. No, that will not do. It is all of God, I thank God. Not of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy, but all is through Jesus Christ.
Just one further scripture illustration of man's condition as to free will. If you will read carefully with prayer Eph. 1 forty times, you will be surprised how all is of God; and in chapter ii. a still deeper description of our real condition, as God sees us. We may make mistakes, but He never can do so. There both Jews and Gentiles are viewed as dead in trespasses and sins, by nature children of wrath.
Now where is free will? As to all good, man is dead. Have you seen a corpse laid in the coffin, screwed down, laid eight feet deep in the ground? Has that dead body a free will and power to break the coffin-lid and rise out of the grave? If it has, it is very far from being dead. Talk not then of free will.
How then is man to be raised, either from the literal grave at the resurrection, or now, from the grave of sin and death? God—it must be God. It is not the free will of man, " But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ: by grace ye are saved.” Read Eph. 2:1-10. Thus man, with his boasted free will, disappears, and God is all, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Objections.
" If all that is true: if man has no free will, and no power to do what is right even if he desires to do so, then there is no such a thing as responsibility."
Let us try two cases. A man has stolen a sheep, and he has no free will, no desire even to restore it; his will is to keep it, and eat it; or he has killed it and eaten one half, and means to eat and enjoy the other half. A policeman raps at the door. The man is eating a leg of the mutton, and half the sheep is in the cellar. The representative of the law is about to apprehend the man. " Oh, dear, no," says the man, " I admit I stole the sheep, and do you not see I have killed it, and eaten one half, and I have no will to give up what is left even; indeed plainly I have no desire to do so." Can you tell me of a policeman who would say, " Oh, I see, then as you have no will and no desire to restore the sheep, of course there is no responsibility?"
Take another case. A man borrows a hundred pounds from the Bank at five per cent. But instead of paying the interest he spends the hundred pounds in bad ways. What bank is that where the directors would say: " You have spent the hundred pounds in drink and evil ways, have you? Very well, the principle of this bank is, that where the money is spent, and there is neither free will nor power to pay what is spent, that man has no responsibility to pay his debts?" Could there then be greater folly than to say, because man, the sinner before God, has spent all in sin, and has neither free will nor power to make good what he has done, that therefore there is no responsibility?
Another objection. A local preacher says:
" If I thought that man had not a free will and power to accept, I never could preach again. I could not say, ' Whosoever will, let him come.' What's the use of doing so?"
As this is a very common objection let us look at it carefully. We have seen that the Lord and His apostles held distinctly, that it was not of him that willeth but of God that showeth mercy, that they that are born again are born of water and of the Spirit; not of man's will in the least. And they were not discouraged. They did not say, if it is not of man's free will but of God, we can never preach again. Now, dear local preacher, if you say so, you miss good company. But you ask, " What is the use of preaching?" Well, just read through the Acts of the Apostles and you will see the truth of that word, " It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Cor. 1:21.) And again, " How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" &c. (Rom. 10:14.) " For by grace [the free favor of God] are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8.) God gives you the high privilege 01' proclaiming free forgiveness of sins, and justification from all things, through Jesus. And He gives faith by the Spirit using the water, that is the word, He gives by you. It is by the word of Him who said, " Let there be light.” that light and life is given—this new creation power. What a privilege to be an instrument in His hands.
Consequences.
Ah, this would take a volume to tell. If salvation has its spring and beginning in man's free will; then (as we know is held by such as believe this) salvation all the journey through will depend, not on God, but on man's continued free will. All safety ever depends on himself, not on God: and if so now, why not in eternity? Such a one can never on such ground have true peace here or hereafter. This is a most distressing aspect of free will, and brings many a poor soul to despair. But if the new will and power, and new birth and salvation, be of God from eternity to eternity, then my soul rests on the Rock of ages. He changes not.
And yet remember that on God's part His salvation is as free as the air. Only open the window and the air comes in. The question is, who opens the window? Man will not; but God hath mercy on whom He will have mercy.
As this paper is very condensed, perhaps you will read it again, and especially the scriptures. The Lord use it for help to those for whom I was requested to write it; and I believe the request was of the Lord. C. S.