The question of freewill in salvation and election

Freewill and bondage of the will

Freewill may be described in very simple terms, in the context that we speak, as the liberty to choose between good and evil.

Bondage of the will is a term I use to describe a Biblical fact that the will of a person is in bondage to his nature i.e. he cannot engage his will outside of his nature. An example: because God is holy, He cannot sin. That is clear from Scripture. Another example: because man is sinful, all his thoughts, actions and choices are influenced by his sinfulness. According to the Bible, even his apparently “good” or “righteous” works are all evil before God. That is why Paul was bold to write:

Romans 3:10-12 ESV
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

We may say a man is good, but before God all men are evil and unrighteous, without the imputation of the life of Christ.

A brief outline:

1. Adam was created indeed with a free will
2. Adam was originally neither good nor evil
3. When Adam disobeyed and ate of that tree, he chose the path of evil, and became corrupted by nature. That corruption has been passed to every man born of man and woman ever since. We are all born with freewill, but now that will is limited to the boundaries of fallen humanity. That will only exercises itself towards evil

The two-fold nature of God’s will

A study of the Bible shows a two-sided dimension to God”s will. One, there is God”s will in the sense of what He has planned for to happen, chosen to do or has chosen to allow happen.

Two, there is God”s will in terms of what He has commanded men to do. For the purposes of brevity, we may call the former “God”s sovereign will“, and the latter “God”s will of command“.

Reconciling these two dimensions of God”s will has always proved difficult for man. But let”s see an example: God had a plan for man that He knew would involve sin. He knew man would sin, and chose to allow that in His plan. Sin didn”t catch Him by surprise. He knew it would happen and He wove it into the plan. It was His choice.

But still, God commands man not to sin. He knew Adam would exercise his freewill to bring humanity into subjection and bondage to sin. He chose to allow this happen, but His commandment to Adam was, “Don”t eat of this tree“.

God knew murder would happen. He allowed that in His plan; yet His command to man is that man is not to kill.

The dilemma of many people here is that if God allows evil, surely that makes Him bad. No; it doesn’t. God’s nature is not subject to human opinion and sentiments. Let me put it to you as Scripture puts it: all of creation was subject to corruption by the will of God, and for a greater good. Here:

Romans 8:20-23 ESV
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

God worked out His plan for man such that all creation (man inclusive) would be subject to corruption. Romans 8:20 says He subjected it. There”s no way around that. God did it; yet He didn”t sin. He didn”t whimsically do it, for no reason, or because He is maverick, or has an ego that needed to be satisfied. But He did it all the same. It was His plan.

To suggest otherwise is to suggest that God has not always been sovereign, and that He failed at some point, having been caught unawares, and now is attempting to rectify the mess. But God has always been sovereign. He has always been in control, even when evil seems to be triumphing.

I ask: how would man know what mercy was, if he never messed up and needed mercy? How would man know what submission was? Love? Hope? Faith? These values would mean nothing if God had not acted as He did. But enough of that for now.

I believe I have presented a clear-cut, Biblically valid case of God”s will in its two dimensions.

Why command what is impossible?

Since Adam, man has been unable to choose good without God”s intervention. Another dilemma people face is that they wonder if God is not evil to command people to do things He knows that they are unable to do. No; He is not. He gave Adam a clean slate. Adam planted humanity in corruption. It was Adam”s choice, as our representative. The rest of us are subject to the results of that initial choice. That”s the way God ordained it to be. It was His choice.

Let’s look at the Law: God gave the Law of Moses, knowing fully well that no man could live successfully by the Law. He knew men would break it again and again. So, why did He give the Law?

Romans 5:20 ESV
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 7:7 ESV:
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

God gave the Law to make clear to man that he is incapable of doing good by himself. It is the same lesson from Adam and Eve”s fall. Though created sinless, they went astray almost immediately.

Now, see what this passage in Romans 8 says:

Romans 8:1-8 ESV
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God”s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

See it right there? Natural man is in bondage to sin and death. Man cannot get free on his own. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Who lives according to the flesh? All men. Who cannot set their minds on spiritual things? All natural men. All unsaved men. They cannot. They are not able to because their will is in bondage to their nature.

Verse 8: those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Natural man is “in the flesh” and cannot please God. It is an inability. Natural man is in bondage to sin and death. His will is always exercised in that direction. Yes; that will is free, but limited to WHAT HE WANTS TO DO. And all he wants to do are fleshly, carnal, sinful, and anti-God.

Those in the flesh cannot please God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6 ). Those in the flesh (sinners) cannot please God; they cannot have faith apart from God; for without faith it is impossible for them to please God.

Yet, God specifically commands all men to believe. Here is the sum total of Scripture – that man apart from the intervention of God (specifically as made possible through the cross of Christ) CANNOT and WILL NOT go in the right direction.

Let me lay it clear again:

1. those in the flesh cannot please God; those in the flesh are spiritually dead
2. sinners are those who are in the flesh
3. without faith it is impossible to please God
4. as such, sinners cannot exercise faith; the spiritually dead cannot exercise faith
5. faith is a gift imparted by God (I have provided Scripture for this earlier)
6. if God does not enable a man to believe, that man cannot be saved
7. as such, only those that God selects/elects/chooses and enables to believe that are saved

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