On the Freedom of the Human Will

Some Christians like to emphasize that, in conversion, humans have a free will. Others strongly deny this.

Can we, or how can we act as peacemakers while maintaining full submission to the biblical teaching on this issue?

It seems essential that we first explore what is meant by “free will”.

The Bible does not teach us that God saves people, who (continue to) refuse to be saved. God does not drag people into his Kingdom, who resist ‘with kicking and screaming’!

In the Gospel, God gives a gracious invitation, but since all of “his children”, created in his image, owe it to their true Father to seek Him and to serve Him, this gracious invitation also is an urgent call. We see this in Paul’s speech at the Areopagus. He reveals to the Athenians that the God he proclaims is the One who has given them (and all humans) ‘life and breath and everything else’. Since these are typical father-roles, he agrees with one their own poets, who said, ‘We are God’s offspring’. So, his audience, though they do not know God, already have a relationship with Him, albeit a one-way relationship. The God, who is nearby, wants to be sought and found by them.

Now, this revelation has serious implications. God may have overlooked their ignorance in the past, but now -after Pentecost- God commands people everywhere to repent. They must turn from their idolatry and seek to live with their Father-God.

When God calls people in the Gospel, he shows them what they must do. Those who hear it, have a responsibility and duty, but not without a (personal) choice. After Paul’s presentation only a few people believed his words and became followers of Jesus.

Also, for the people, who have already come to know God, there is a choice. After God had given Israel the land, promised to father Abraham, Joshua recounted all God’s blessings, after which he reminded them of their choice and obligation.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  

Joshua 24: 14, 15

So, in conclusion: If ‘free will’ means that God gives us a choice, then we must agree.

Yet, historically (in the Calvinism-Arminianism debate or the Whitefield-Wesley conflict) “free will” suggests that unconverted human beings still have the capability to seek and follow God.

In contrast, the Calvinist position does not share this view of the sinful human’s capabilities. It reminds us of Paul’s claim that the unconverted ones are ‘spiritually dead’ and therefore need God’s Spirit to open their eyes or soften the hard hearts. In and of themselves nobody will seek God or will want to serve Him. Only when the Spirit works in them the appreciation of God’s gracious gifts, will people seek Him. And only when they begin to comprehend God’s amazing grace, will they (voluntarily!) offer themselves as servants of Christ. In the end, no one enters God’s Kingdom ‘with kicking and screaming’, for those who enter had first their wills transformed by the powerful love of God. During the conversion, people may think that they are in full control; only later may they realize that God had been at work long before. So, when people hear the Gospel, they are the ones who must repent and believe, but those who end up doing this must praise God for working this faith in their hearts. Faith is an obligation for men, yet it is a gift of God.