Free Will

Man is not an animal.  Man is not a robot.

We are not animals because we have a conscience; an internal sense of right and wrong.  We have morality.

We are not robots because we have the ability to make choices.  We have a free will.

Man can choose to murder or not murder.  Man can choose to steal or not steal.  Man can choose to be a good husband, father, and citizen or a bad husband, father, and citizen.  Man has a choice in all these matters.

But, according to the Bible, sinful man, the unbeliever, does not have a choice when it comes to spiritual matters.  The unbeliever does not have a free will when it comes to spiritual matters.  Why?

Because the Bible states very clearly that sinful man is spiritually dead. (Ephesians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2)

Dead men don't make choices.  Dead men don't have free wills!

Dead men, therefore, cannot choose Christ, come to Christ, accept Christ, or make a decision for Christ.  They are dead!

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of you flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses."

Salvation occurs because God quickens you.  Why did he quicken you?

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."  Romans 8:28

God quickens you because he had already predestined you to be his child.  Why did he predestine you?  We don't know.  The Bible doesn't say.  He "foreknew" you.  Stating that he predestined you because he knew you would make a free-will decision for him is not based on the Bible.  It is pure speculation.

So if God predestined you, when he chooses to quicken you, do you have a free-will to say "no"?

The Bible doesn't say.

Maybe we don't.  Maybe when God quickens us, our belief is just automatic. 

Or maybe it is similar to the following hypothetical situation:

A very, very rich man comes to you and places one million dollars into your hands, no strings attached.  It's a free gift.  You have the choice to pull your hands away and say "no", but who would?  Maybe that is the way salvation works.

But bottom line, the Bible doesn't say.  What it does say is that until God quickens us we are dead and incapable of making spiritual decisions.

If you have read my other postings on this blog, you have heard me make this point many times.  Why do I keep repeating it?  Here is why:  the issue of free-will, or in actuality, the lack of free will, is the key to bringing Baptists and evangelicals back to the true doctrines of the Church.  That is the goal of this blog.

If salvation does not occur by your free will decision, but by God's predestination and quickening, then when God chooses to quicken us can be left in His hands, not in ours.

God can save man when he chooses.  He can save him as an adult who hears the Gospel preached,  or He can save him as a child in the waters of baptism.

In justification/salvation, free will does not exist, only God's will!