I understand my response is long, and have therefore recorded myself dictating it. For an audio version (.mp3) please PM me.
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For almost six months I have avoided these discussions on SI, but it is truly a great sorrow on my soul to see such worldly wisdom being spouted forth to the shame of Christ's redemption. I have written the following with grief and love, and no striving spirit, for the hope that Christ might be glorified. Please receive it as such.
Perhaps we may see more clearly if we look at the subject of the will from a different vantage?
May I ask in all seriousness, does God have a free will? To what extent? Is God free to lie? Could He sin if He wanted to?
"But He will never want to!" you exclaim.
And why not? How are you so certain that God will never choose to deceive, lust, or in any other way to sin?
You know that God will never choose to sin because you have an almost innate understanding that all choices of the will flow out from the nature of a being. God's choices reflect His nature, and His nature is holy. It is not the will which decides anything; the will is only that which acts upon the behalf of one's judgment, which is rooted in the heart, or "nature". Again, God's nature is immutably holy, therefore He wills only ever to do that which concurs with His holy judgment and gratifies His holy nature. In the sense that God is unchanging, He [b]cannot will[/b] to sin, simply because [b]His nature will never approve of it[/b]. His will and all wills, act only within the bounds of the nature and judgment of the willful being.
Let us turn this lens upon mankind. Our above statements are confirmed in Jeremiah 17:9-10, when God refers to man's heart as the "reins", or that which guides and controls the direction of a creature. In the same passage, we read, "I the Lord search the heart," and what does He find? Man is not holy. In fact, his heart, the seat of all judgment, is called "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Of Adam's fallen race it is written, "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." [Gen. 6:5] It is to the heart, and not the will, which Jesus points when He says, "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." [Matt. 15:19]
When a man's heart approves of sin more than obedience, his will immediately sets about to fulfill the judgment of the heart. The will of the being can only perform that which the judgment of the heart most approves at a given time. One may wrestle in his judgment between several options, but the moment he has judged, the will acts in service to the judgment. The judgment receives its values from the heart, or nature.
For this reason we must understand that though man's will is not in bondage to the external control of any other person, yet his will is subject to his own nature. If his nature, the seat of judgment and desire, is dominated by sin and is captivated by the deceitful enticements of Satan, that man can and will only choose to follow sin. He will do so willingly, and continuously until he is somehow brought to judge obedience as being more heartily desirable.
The bible teaches that man's judgment will entertain numerous carnal options, but will consistently refuse that which is spiritual.
"The natural man [b]does not receive[/b] the things of the Spirit of God: for [b]they are foolishness[/b] unto him: [b]neither can he know them[/b], because they are spiritually discerned." [1 Cor. 2:14]
"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men [b]loved darkness rather than light[/b], because their deeds were evil. For [b]every one[/b] that doeth evil [b]hateth the light, neither cometh to the light[/b], lest his deeds should be reproved." John 3:19-20
According to his fallen nature man does not come to the light. He cannot, simply because it disgusts him. His judgment disapproves of holiness, humility, and grace, when compared to the pleasures of sin for a season. He needs desperately to receive a new nature, but the nature of man is received only at the time of conception. Hence Jesus says in this passage that, "unless a man is born again, he [b]cannot see[/b] the kingdom of heaven." In other words, natural man needs a new nature, coming from a spiritual birth, in order to have eyes to see, that is, judgment which approves of God's means of redemption.
This natural hardness of man is so great that Jesus makes the breathtaking statement, "[b]no man comes to me[/b]..." [John 6:44]
Though this self-wrought sinful bondage is alone enough to prevent man from coming to Christ in faith, he is doubly prevented by the deceit of the devil. So greatly does the devil deceive unregenerate man, that the bible uses language such as, "bondage", "captivity", and "slave" to describe the subjected relationship man has to the devil.
Paul tells Timothy to instruct opponents with meekness, "for [b]perhaps God will give them repentance[/b] to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are [b]taken captive by him at his will[/b]." [2 Tim. 2:24-26] The entire basis of Christian meekness is the understanding that God is free to change hearts, which results in changed behavior. Teachers do not need to be headstrong and coerce people into obedience, since God has freedom to transform the hearts of men.
Paul adds elsewhere, "The god of this world (the devil) has [b]blinded the minds of the unbelievers[/b], to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." [2 Cor 4:4]
This is precisely why unregenerate men must first be given "new hearts."
"A [b]new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you[/b]: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an [b]heart of flesh[/b]. And I will put my Spirit within you, and [b]cause you to walk in my statutes[/b], and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." [Ezekiel 36:26-27] Note that until God gives a new heart, the person has a stony, rebelious one. While he is yet a dead cold stone, God makes him a new living creation and places an obedient spirit within him. God does not need to make man will anything - He needs only to change man's nature, and the will of the man begins to act according to the new system of judgement.
This new nature is granted through the spiritual birth of regeneration. Just as those born of Adam are sinful, so those born of the Spirit are begotten after His holy nature. And how does this begetting come? According to the analogy of birth, it comes by the sovereign conception of the parent - the will of God and not of man. Those who receive Christ do so because they are first "born, [b]not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God[/b]." [John 1:12] To the Christians, Paul writes, "You hath he regenerated, who were [b]dead in trespasses and sins[/b]... [who] were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, [b]even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ[/b], (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [b]not of yourselves[/b]: it is the [b]gift of God[/b]:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his [b]workmanship, created in Christ Jesus[/b] unto good works." [Eph 2:1-10]
Note, it is salvation itself which is the gift, not merely the "offer" of salvation. It is being re-created which Paul is rejoicing in, and not the opportunity of re-creating ourselves through human volition.
Again, it is not enough for bad trees to will to produce good fruit; they must become entirely different "good trees." [Matt 7] "Bad trees [b]cannot[/b] bear good fruit." Is there any better fruit than faith in Christ. Every man is naturally a bad tree, and cannot please God.
If this topic has been expired, perhaps you will allow me to close with this brief explanation of sovereign grace.
What's the idea behind Sovereign Grace?
In the beginning God made man upright, capable either of obeying the Lord or choosing to sin. God covenanted with Adam in the garden, promising him life if he would obey the commands of God, and eternal death if he would not. The Lord was free to make this arrangement, even as He made similar arrangements with the angels.
When Adam fell, so did all the race which he federally represented. For this reason Paul writes [Rom 5:10-21], "through the offense of one many be dead," speaking not of physical death but of spiritual death which brings damnation. All men have the guilt not only of their Head, but have inherited the sinful nature of Adam, and so run immediately to many wicked inventions.
No amount of external obedience to God's Law can resolve the debt of justice which hangs over man. No choice or action of itself can merit eternal life. Worse, natural man wants neither heavenly life nor hellish punishment, but only sin forever. If a way could be found to give men life, and that way required man to quit sin, he would not take it. It is foolishness to him.
God the Son, born of a virgin, made under the Law, came and fulfilled the obedience which God required under the first covenant, and thereby merited eternal life for Himself and those He federally represented. He bore their sins, even the sins of all who would believe, and rose to justify them. Now He sends forth the Spirit to regenerate the elect, so that having receives new eyes, new natures, new hearts, and new spirits, they receive Christ in the gospel. These are even those who simply believe the promise of the gospel, that as many as come to Him shall in no wise be cast out", who have forsaken the world to trust that on account of His obedience they are justified of all things. Their choice to believe is their own, but the heart to believe is from God.
"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]
"We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." [Titus 3:3-8]
