Chapter 9 Of Free Will

Table of Contents

9.1 The Freedom of the Will

God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.

Matthew 17:12 (CSB) “But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

James 1:14 (CSB) But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (CSB) I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

9.2 The Power of the Will

Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well- pleasing to God, but yet was unstable, so that he might fall from it.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (CSB) Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

Genesis 3:6 (CSB) The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

9.3 The Bondage of the Will

Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

Romans 5:6 (CSB) For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 8:7 (CSB) The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.

Ephesians 2:1–5 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Titus 3:3–5 (CSB) For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

John 6:44 (CSB) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

9.4 The Rescue of the Will

When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.

Colossians 1:13 (CSB) He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

John 8:36 (CSB) So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Philippians 2:13 (CSB) For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

Romans 7:15–23 (CSB) For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

9.5 The Glorification of the Will

This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of glory only.

Ephesians 4:13 (CSB) until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.