Do we have free will? Philosophers debate this. Is everything in the world predetermined, or do we determine our own destinies? And if everything is determined by God, would we even be able to figure it out? Let’s leave the speculation to the philosophers. Such questions are impossible to answer by philosophy.
But we’re Christians. And we have the Scriptures, where God has revealed his truth to us. Based on the wisdom of the Scriptures, when posed with the question, do we have free will? we respond with another question: in regards to what? Do you have the free will to choose between soup or salad? Yes. Do you have free will to decide whom you will marry? Yes. Do you have free will to sleep in on Sunday or get up for church? Yes. Do you have free will to do a good deed or an evil deed? Yes. Do you have free will to love and trust in Jesus? No. And that’s really the critical point.
In the Augsburg Confession, the Lutheran reformers confessed,
“Our churches teach that a person’s will has some freedom to choose civil righteousness and to do things subject to reason. It has no power, without the Holy Spirit, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness. For ‘the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God’ (1 Corinthians 2:14). This righteousness is worked in the heart when the Holy Spirit is received through the Word” (Article XVIII, 1-3).
It should be noted that they wrote this before John Calvin became noteworthy and took it to an unbiblical extreme. Beyond predestining those who will be saved (which is biblical; Rom 8:29-30; Eph. 1:5-6), Calvin taught that God also predestined some to be condemned forever. Calvin’s teaching had not been expressed yet, so when the Lutherans argued against free will in spiritual matters, they were not supporting Calvin’s error.
Instead, they were writing against the Roman Catholic error that man’s will is powerful enough to work for and earn God’s favor. The Lutheran reformers acknowledged that man is able to choose to do some righteous act to benefit his neighbor, but that does not, in any way, justify us before God. Nor are we able to turn our hearts to love him.
This is not because God made it that way. When we ponder the question of free will, we might think of it in terms of whether or not God permits us to have free will. But that’s not really the issue. It’s not like God wants us to believe in him, but also prevents us at the same time. The problem is on our end. Adam and Eve had free will to love God before the fall into sin. But they chose to disobey. And since the fall into sin, our hearts have become corrupt. We simply don’t want to trust in Jesus for forgiveness. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14). We were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). We were enemies of God (Rom. 5:8). It’s not that God doesn’t give us the choice to trust him. He does more than give us the choice. He calls us to trust him. He invites us to believe in him. The problem is that our natural hearts are incapable of making the right choice.
So this is the work of God, that we would believe in Jesus (John 6:29). The Holy Spirit comes in when we hear the Word of God. He gives life to our dead hearts, so that we would trust in Jesus and be made children of the Father. Thanks be to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All glory to him forever and ever.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Pastor Dan Antal