Free Will (Part 1) by Tom M. Roberts
(reprinted from the Feb. 1999 issue of the Watchman Magazine,
www.watchmanmag.com)
Some issues are so taken for granted that common acceptance belies their intrinsic value and native importance. Such an issue is the subject of free will. Among brethren, until fairly recent dates, free will has been an accepted doctrine, figuring unobtrusively in conclusions drawn from Biblical principles. Events of recent date in which some have taught that man has a corrupted nature have led to the recognition that we may have taken too much for granted, in fact. Theologians have debated God's sovereignty and man's free will for centuries, churning out volumes of commentaries from Augustine onward. Since most of us do not pretend to be theologians, we have allowed simple Bible exegesis to determine our approach to the subject more than philosophical reasoning. I have personally done little preaching on free will as a separate topic, choosing rather to include it by reference in related matters. With this discussion, I hope to stimulate others to further writing and preaching on what I believe to be a vital subject. Free will has far-reaching implications relating to human nature, ethics, moral responsibility, social issues, and theology, including the question as to whether or not man is able to respond to his Creator's will so as to exercise choice among moral contingencies. The particular view one espouses will determine attitudes and actions in "every issue of life" (Proverbs 4:23).
Does man have genuine moral freedom, true choice among alternatives, the ability to make decisions without coercion of a genetically inherited disposition beyond individual control? Are there contingencies facing man which he will confront without determinism (the antithesis of moral freedom) or antecedent causes? Is man ultimately responsible for his actions? Can he "do" anything by free choice in response to God's grace? Is punishment and reward fixed by God independent of any action on the part of man and by divine fiat before the worlds were formed? The very scope of these questions suggests their importance. The question that David pondered, "What is man..." (Psalm 8:4), is still very much with us today.
The Nature of Creation
God made robots of many orders: animate (fish, fowl, beasts of the field) and inanimate (planets, trees, grass). An animal is no less a robot than a star, being programmed by instinct to act only according to its species, even as a star wanders according to the laws of the universe. A spawning salmon returns unerringly to the place of its birth, not because it chooses to do so, but because it is driven by instinct: it cannot not return. A blade of grass or a flower springs forth, withers and dies, having no choice as to its existence, to bloom or not to bloom. Such creatures never weigh alternatives and choose a direction based on free, moral action. "Free" in this context is "absence of external compulsion," action that spontaneously erupts from its subject. "Moral" denotes the "ability to know right from wrong." Man is a free, moral creature and unique in that he is the only such creature on earth! It is this awesome uniqueness that sets man apart from all other beings and faces him with responsibilities that have eternal consequences. If man is moral, he can know right from wrong and will be held accountable for his actions. If man is but another robot, a living machine without morality, he has no more responsibility or accountability than the animate and inanimate robots of creation. An evil man would be no more guilty than a shooting star or raging torrent; a good man would be no more worthy of praise than a blooming flower. But, in the light of the scriptures, who can accept such a position? Let us trace the Biblical answers and learn the purpose of man's creation.
Jehovah Created Us For His Own Glory
Basic to our study is the fact that Jehovah has the inherent right of the Creator to create as it pleases Him. "Nay but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus" (Romans 9:20)? Consequently, when God created, he did so to his own praise and glory. "Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created" (Revelation 4:11). But should we not consider that the highest order of praise and glory to God is that which is freely given? While it is true that the "heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1), they do so by constraint (as robots) and not by choice. How, or in what fashion could the Lord bring into existence a creature that offered its Creator praise and glory not of constraint but by free choice? Is it not in the creation of a free-will being; something that could recognize the righteous nature of the Creator and, while able to act of his own will, willingly submit to God's will? Is not man, therefore, the expression of God's grand design to have a free-will creature, a higher order than anything on earth, to be able to choose to serve and glorify God with a free heart? "Why did God make free-will creatures? The Bible does not give an explicit answer to this question. We infer from other teaching in the Scripture that God's chief purpose and desire were to have creatures who would love, serve, and glorify him of their free choice and not by coercion or manipulation. We infer this, for example, from the fact that the first and greatest commandment is that we should love God with all our hearts and minds (Matthew 22:37). The fact that this is the most important thing that we can do suggests that it is what God desires from his creation more than anything else. Giving his creatures free will was a necessary means to this end," 1 We may also infer the truthfulness of this proposition from the projected destiny of those who choose to serve God: heaven. John sees the "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Revelation 21:2-3). Though sin interrupted the grand plan of creation, it is yet achieved through Christ. Paul wrote "to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1: 25-27). We conclude, therefore, that God made man "a little lower than the angels, crowned him with glory and honor" (Hebrews 2:7), instilled within him free will and the ability to choose righteousness, all to His own praise and glory. Man reaches no higher goal than when he serves God. "The whole (duty) of man" is to "fear God, and keep his commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). "Unto thee, 0 Jehovah, do I lift up my soul" (Psalm 25:1). "I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works" (Psalm 9:1). With these beautiful verses, I can add my own choice of praise, freely given, that "in me, Lord, thy purpose of creation is vindicated. I freely choose to serve thee."
Footnote:
1.What The Bible Says About God the Ruler, by John Cottrell (College
Press), p. 398.
[Editor's Note: Bro. Roberts will conclude this lesson in next week's issue.]
SHORT EXHORT ­ Written and/or Compiled by David J. Riggs (http://www.public.usit.net/driggs/)
"And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Rom. 8:10)
A boy while flying a kite was so successful that the kite went out of sight. He stood in the field with a cord in his hand that bent upwards into the sky. Someone asked him how he knew the kite was there, and he let them put their hand on the string. They could feel the pull of the unseen kite. Similarly, although the world cannot visibly see Christ in us, they can recognize His invisible power in every phase of our lives. They are forced to admit that we, as Christians, have something which they do not possess.
Let us truly have Christ, the hope of glory, within us.
PARTING THOUGHT
Experience is a hard teacher, the test is given first, the lesson afterward.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7 (KJV)