I’m studying God’s Will and humans will right now. I believe humans do not have “Absolute Free Will”, that is humans are not “free” to choose life in their natural state. Let me see if I can explain with this analogy:
The human will is like gravity. What happens when you drop a book? Gravity pulls it down to the floor. The only way to pull the book up is for something outside the nature of gravity to do so (i.e. someone or something picks the book up). The book is stuck inside it’s nature and subject to the law of gravity.
The human will is in a total depraved state, fallen beyond all natural repair (if you believe man has good in him you will differ here) and left alone (without God restraining it) would continue to get worse and worse (sin, sin, sin). The human will can no way pull itself up against its natural depraved state anymore than a book can pull itself up against gravity. It is bound by its nature (fallen state) and cannot change its nature in and of itself. There has to be something outside (God) that does something. Something that pulls it upward.
Let me on a side note say God does not cause man to sin. Man is subject to his nature and sins naturally. God withholding His saving power should not be considered pushing man into sin. Like the book that is dropped, the nature of gravity is what pulls it down, not something else.
Now the main issue is if humans have “free will” does it take away from God’s saving work. I think it does because it gives some of the power of salvation to humans.
If humans who have never been converted (born again) continue to reject the Gospel, they are not “free” to change their nature, because they are still dead in their sins, held bondage and still an enemy with God. We should not assume just because someone is convicted of their sin, they have been born again, without which you cannot be saved. The person who is convicted of their sin and does not heed the call of repentance and faith in Christ is still dead in their sins (not born again), will die and perish in hell forever. Their nature of (loving sin) and their (bondage to sin) will not allow them to choose life, but can only choose when something happens from outside of them or their nature (God causing them to be born again).
I believe once this amazing work of God causes a person to be born again, they CANNOT reject it, and saying they CAN reject it is saying there is something more powerful than God’s will for them to be saved, humans will.
If you look at people who appear to have been truly “born again” their stories will all be similar and it will go something like this:
I was a rebel, sinful person and wanting nothing to do with God, and by grace and grace alone God allowed me to be born again. It was nothing of myself, it was all God. I was DEAD in my sins, and God MADE me ALIVE. I contributed nothing to my salvation…
Now let me be clear on something very important. I believe it is possible for a person to be really “born again” and reject some of the Gospel, some of the time. This is true in my life. I cannot honestly say I obey my Lord, all the time and in everything I do, but I know without a doubt God has RIPPED out my old heart of stone and given me (which I could not reject nor would even want to) a heart of flesh. My only goal now in life is to please HIM and to allow HIM to grow me in holiness. I so desperately want to slay my sin and the filth that is still waging war within me, and know outside Christ this is impossible, but all things are possible in Christ.
I do believe the difference between someone being “born again” and someone “not born again” is their relationship with the sin in their life. The truly converted person will continue to “Repent” of their sins as they become aware of them, and the falsely converted will have no problems with their sin. There is no way for man to know who is truly born again or not, but Scripture says, we will know them by their fruits. If you look at the overwhelming fruit of Americans it appears they are NOT born again, but still dead in their sins. God help them!
So to sum up, man is “free” to act within his nature (fallen), but is not “free” to act outside his nature (being born again). A man who hears the Gospel and continues to reject is still in his natural state (fallen), and can only respond once God does something (being born again). A man who thinks they did something in the salvation process is in contradiction to the Scriptures (Esp.2:8-9).
Free Will is an illusion when it comes to making you “Alive” from being “Dead.”
Philippians 2:13
“for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
The human will is like gravity. What happens when you drop a book? Gravity pulls it down to the floor. The only way to pull the book up is for something outside the nature of gravity to do so (i.e. someone or something picks the book up). The book is stuck inside it’s nature and subject to the law of gravity.
The human will is in a total depraved state, fallen beyond all natural repair (if you believe man has good in him you will differ here) and left alone (without God restraining it) would continue to get worse and worse (sin, sin, sin). The human will can no way pull itself up against its natural depraved state anymore than a book can pull itself up against gravity. It is bound by its nature (fallen state) and cannot change its nature in and of itself. There has to be something outside (God) that does something. Something that pulls it upward.
Let me on a side note say God does not cause man to sin. Man is subject to his nature and sins naturally. God withholding His saving power should not be considered pushing man into sin. Like the book that is dropped, the nature of gravity is what pulls it down, not something else.
Now the main issue is if humans have “free will” does it take away from God’s saving work. I think it does because it gives some of the power of salvation to humans.
If humans who have never been converted (born again) continue to reject the Gospel, they are not “free” to change their nature, because they are still dead in their sins, held bondage and still an enemy with God. We should not assume just because someone is convicted of their sin, they have been born again, without which you cannot be saved. The person who is convicted of their sin and does not heed the call of repentance and faith in Christ is still dead in their sins (not born again), will die and perish in hell forever. Their nature of (loving sin) and their (bondage to sin) will not allow them to choose life, but can only choose when something happens from outside of them or their nature (God causing them to be born again).
I believe once this amazing work of God causes a person to be born again, they CANNOT reject it, and saying they CAN reject it is saying there is something more powerful than God’s will for them to be saved, humans will.
If you look at people who appear to have been truly “born again” their stories will all be similar and it will go something like this:
I was a rebel, sinful person and wanting nothing to do with God, and by grace and grace alone God allowed me to be born again. It was nothing of myself, it was all God. I was DEAD in my sins, and God MADE me ALIVE. I contributed nothing to my salvation…
Now let me be clear on something very important. I believe it is possible for a person to be really “born again” and reject some of the Gospel, some of the time. This is true in my life. I cannot honestly say I obey my Lord, all the time and in everything I do, but I know without a doubt God has RIPPED out my old heart of stone and given me (which I could not reject nor would even want to) a heart of flesh. My only goal now in life is to please HIM and to allow HIM to grow me in holiness. I so desperately want to slay my sin and the filth that is still waging war within me, and know outside Christ this is impossible, but all things are possible in Christ.
I do believe the difference between someone being “born again” and someone “not born again” is their relationship with the sin in their life. The truly converted person will continue to “Repent” of their sins as they become aware of them, and the falsely converted will have no problems with their sin. There is no way for man to know who is truly born again or not, but Scripture says, we will know them by their fruits. If you look at the overwhelming fruit of Americans it appears they are NOT born again, but still dead in their sins. God help them!
So to sum up, man is “free” to act within his nature (fallen), but is not “free” to act outside his nature (being born again). A man who hears the Gospel and continues to reject is still in his natural state (fallen), and can only respond once God does something (being born again). A man who thinks they did something in the salvation process is in contradiction to the Scriptures (Esp.2:8-9).
Free Will is an illusion when it comes to making you “Alive” from being “Dead.”
Philippians 2:13
“for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
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