Always Been Curious
I have always wondered, where in the Holy Scriptures is the doctrine of Free Will explicitly taught. I have seen many places where predestination, unconditional election, and the will enslaved to sin. I have seen many places in the Bible where a person has a choice to make. They are every where. However, I have yet to see a verse that teaches that man has a free will that is free to chose whatever it so determines. I have seen philosophical arguments for this idea/concept. Yet no Scripture can be offered in support of it. So that is my curiosity. Where in the Bible does the explicitly, not implicitly, teach that man has self-determining free will and that God has so determined to honor that free choice over his own purposes?
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Acts 17:26-27
(English Standard Version)
The above seems like a mix of determinism and free will, does it not? I simply cannot fathom love without choice and thus lean towards Arminianism.
I must admit that the main thrust of my leanings stems from my philosophical views and heavily influences my interpretation of the Bible. Yet, I remain committed to having an open mind on this issue and to seek the truth independent of how I may want it to be.
With that confession out of the way, I must say that many passages give me trouble. Romans 9
and Pharaoh of Genesis are a few examples. I have yet to incorporate all my beliefs on the subject into a single workable theory.
The above verses, along with others, such as John 3:16
, seem to frame the argument a bit differently than the pro-Calvinist verses do. I want to take a quick look at several phrases in the two above verses and see which side of the fence that they fall on.
Here Luke makes no bones about God placement of humans on the earth. He planned for me to be born in Missouri in the early 1980’s. This seems to line up very well with the Deterministic philosophy found in Calvinism (and most of Christian Theology for that matter). The catch here is the next phrase:
Luke lets us humans in on a divine motive: God puts us in our locations and times so that we may seek God. This is the real hard part for any Calvinist to swallow in light of the maintaining of the five points of Calvinism.
Calvinism says that humans are so corrupted by original sin, that they cannot even begin to seek God. While I would agree that Man cannot reach God by his efforts alone, I have a hard time that none seek Him without his election, with all the religions we have had running around throughout the years.
Does God elect all of the saved independent of consent from the saved; or do the people that are saved choose to join in with the universal offering of salvation provided for by God? The next phrase seems to clue us in on what the answer might be:
This too seems to indicate that God places each person in their own little nick on history’s totem pole in the hope that the causes and conditions might be just right that the person would choose to look for and find God. The last phrase re-enforces this idea :
It is very difficult to substitute “each one of us” with “people who God chooses anyway to find Him” as one must if one takes a Calvinist approach. It would seem that God has made Himself available to all and hopes that we choose to look for Him.
With this said, what are we left with in these two verses? My interpretation is that God is involved with mankind and influences their lives in order to point us in the general direction, yet respects our autonomy and choice so much that he remains hidden and hopes that we choose to look for God.
One last thing - where is the Trinity doctrine explicitly stated?
Before I deal with the text itself I must say outright, thank you for using a Bible verse. Second, I feel that you get off track because I’m not debating election, even though it is prevelant to the topic at hand.
I don’t see how this verse is hard for a Calvinist to swallow. God has determined the place and time for each person “that they should seek God.” That doesn’t mean they can seek God but that they should seek him. Again I feel will is being read into the text not from the text. I would think that is harder to swallow for a free willer because we don’t do what we should. Also I say what greater hope is their than to find God? Our purpose is to find him and to be with him for eternity. But that doesn’t say anything about free will either. It doesn’t mean that we have the ability, the will, to make the choice. It only says that the choice is there. Also God is near to everyone of us, but again where does this text say that we can find this God that is so very near to us that if our hearts will be inclined to him we will find him? Where at in Acts 17:26-27
is that teaching? I can’t see that. God is near but that doesn’t mean we can see him. Paul, the same man Luke is quoting, also said in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Man can’t see that God in Jesus Christ. Satan has perfectly blinded us from seeing Jesus, and through Jesus God.
Your interpretation assumes free will without offering any support of the idea. By assuming free will your interpretation does work, and quite effectively I might add. But I still cannot see this in light of the whole of Scripture.
You mentioned John 3:16
but as I have said in an earlier post, where is the idea of “will” and “choice” even in that text? It has nothing to do with our wills and our abilities to chose. It only says that in God’s love for the world he saves believers through the death and resurrection of Jesus from eternal hell. That’s what the text says. God’s love is sufficient for all of mankind but is efficient, only effects atonement, for believers.
In reguards to the do the doctrine of the Tinity, the doctrine itself is in the Bible, not the term used to define it. The Bible clearly states that there is only one God. But that at the same time there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Each person has the same nature but are different persons. The only thing missing from the Bible is the term “Trinity.”
I ask this question because I don’t really see “free” will anywhere in the Bible. Sure it can be seen from our own experiences and such, but it is not in the Bible. Romans 6
and John 8
have both Paul and Jesus saying that as sinners we are not free but slaves to sin. Sin is our master. I don’t see any “freedom” here. But also I see God saying to the Angels in Genesis 6:5
and to Noah in 8:21 that man is only evil always from his youth. Or in Romans 3
Paul says that no one seeks after God, no one is righteous. I don’t understand how in light of this evidence, not talking about unconditional election here but free will, that a person can argue for us having final, ultimate, self-determining, free will. I don’t see it in the pages of the Bible.
I rather see that there is choice that counts but as Paul says in Romans 9:16
, it matters not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy.
I bring this up because many people tell that Calvinism is wrong because of verses A,B,C and X,Y,Z. Then I am told to adopt free will in its place with no such support. An example of this is in my doctrine class. I am hounded there as I told you for being the guy that defends the Five Points. I was pointed to Matthew 19:16-25
and the rich young ruler. I was told this man had a choice to make: to sell all and follow Jesus or not. The man in his love of possessions did not choose Jesus but his material wealth. I was told ha! there is free will there see? But I don’t see because of what Jesus said in John 8
and what God said in Genesis 6:5
and 8:21. What I see is in Matt. 19:26
, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” It was impossible for this man to enter into heaven (sell all he had and follow Jesus) but by God’s grace it is possible. That man could not sell what he had because his heart did not love Jesus. This must be changed by God (Deut. 30:6
, Jer. 31:33-34
, Eze. 36:26-27
) and by that change he would have followed Christ.
I don’t see free will in the Scriptures but only a sinfully corrupt will of man that desires not the things of God but of self and of sin. Where is the freedom in that if a person only desires sin? I just don’t see in the Bible, implicitly even, where free will taught.