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Man's Will - Free Yet Bound
[Brackets added with numbered footnotes by Curtis Pugh]
For more than fifteen hundred years the Church [1] has engaged in a heated debate over the freedom of man's will. The major issues came to general attention in the early fifth century when Augustine and Pelagius did battle on the subject. Through medieval times the nature of man's freedom received a great deal of attention. As they studied the Scriptures, Bernard and Anselm made significant contributions to the doctrine of the human will. In the sixteenth century the freedom or bondage of the will was one of the chief issues dividing Reformers [2] and Roman Catholics. To the mind of Martin Luther, it was the key to his dispute with Rome. In the seventeenth century the nature of man's freedom was at the heart of the debate between Arminians [3] and Calvinists [4]. The conflict surfaced again in the eighteenth century during the Great Awakening. Finney's [5] approach to revival in the nineteenth century led the church astray through a misunderstanding of the human will. So too the nature of man's will continues to bring intense disagreement between Reformed and Fundamentalist believers. A proper understanding of the content of the gospel and the use of GOD-honouring methods in evangelism are dependent on one's grasp of this issue. Some theologians, both Arminian and Calvinistic, have been quite lucid in their discussions concerning man's will. Others, for example, Jonathan Edwards [6], have soared into the lofty clouds of philosophy where many a believer faints in the thin air of difficult logic and complex thought. But none is so refreshingly clear as our holy LORD. His instruction on the subject is laced with vivid illustrations to assist our groping minds: Matthew 12:33-37 says, 'Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.' In this passage are three
verbal windows through which the light of Christ's lesson passes. Each presents
a familiar scene. (1) A tree that has fruit - v. 33. (2) A man who brings
treasures out of a chest - v. 35. (3) A stream that overflows from a fountain.
This last is rather more obscure than the first two, but it is suggested by our
LORD's choice of words in v. 34. The word 'abundance' suggests superfluity or
overflow.
I. Man has a
will and that will has a certain
freedom. Our LORD clearly teaches that man has a power of choice. It is
important to begin here to disarm opponents of all the foolish accusations that
have been brought against the Biblical doctrine of man's will. Every man has the
ability to choose his own words, to decide what his actions will be. We have a
faculty of self-determination in the sense that we select our own thoughts,
words, and deeds. Man is free to choose what he prefers, what he desires. No one ties fruit on a tree's branches, not even GOD. The tree bears its own fruit. Evil men sin voluntarily; they take evil treasures out of their chests, that is, evil words and deeds. Righteous men are holy by choice; they select good treasures, that is, good words and works. The person who is speaking and acting is completely responsible for his moral behaviour. This power of the will is a vital part of human personality. It always exists in you and me and in all to whom we witness or preach. GOD never forces men to act
against their wills. By workings of outward providence or of inward grace, the
LORD may change men's minds, but He will not coerce a human being into thoughts,
words or actions. When GOD in His holy wrath sent the Israelites to drive the
Canaanites from their land, He also sent hornets against them. There is a
children's song which tells the story of these hornets stinging the Canaanites,
causing the pagans to flee the land. The chorus then sings: GOD never compels
us to go, Oh no,
When Saul was converted, the
LORD did not compel him to edify the church instead of persecuting it. He added
a new factor of inward grace in his soul, consequently Paul changed his
decision. GOD may renew the will but He never coerces it. The Westminster Confession [7]
is very careful to assert the liberty of the human will. When it speaks
of GOD's eternal decrees, we are told, 'GOD from all eternity did . . .
freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby
neither is GOD the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the
creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but
rather established.' When
discussing Free Will, the Confession begins, 'GOD hath endued the will of man
with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute
necessity of nature determined, to good or evil.' Neither by creation nor by
subsequent acts of GOD are man's decisions made for him; he is free to choose
for himself. This sort of freedom of the
will is essential to responsibility! Having a will is a necessary ingredient to
being morally accountable. This is clearly implied in our LORD's words in verses
36 and 37: 'I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt
be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.' A man can be
condemned only because the words are his own. He was free to bring them out of
his treasure chest. They were the overflow of the fountain of his own heart.
They are the fruits of his own tree of nature. No one imposed the words on his
lips. He chose them. Society, companions, parents cannot be blamed. Idle words
are the product of the man's own will. It is vital for every
minister to appreciate the importance of man's will. For in evangelism the will
must be addressed. In preaching the gospel we are not only to shine the light of
truth upon darkened minds. We are also to appeal to men's perverted wills to
choose Christ. Faith is as much an act of the will as it is of the mind. When by
the Spirit a mind understands essential truths, by the same Spirit the will must
trust Christ. Repentance is a selecting of good and a refusing of evil. Volition
is central to faith and repentance. Indeed, in conversion, a man
must make a decision. We shy away from that term because in modern jargon a
'decision' has come to be identified with an outward expression, such as raising
the hand or going forward to the front. While such external acts have nothing to
do with forgiveness of sins, the heart must make a decision to be saved. When Christ stood to cry
'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink,' He was soliciting a
willing choice of Himself as satisfying drink for the soul. GOD urges all
sinners to come just because they may
come. And it is our duty to inform the sinner that he has a warrant, a right to
choose Christ. Beyond this, we must assure him that he has a positive
duty to embrace the Saviour. The great guilt of sinners under the gospel is that they
will not come. Christ complained in John 5:40:
'Ye will not come to me that ye might
have life.' And to Jerusalem He sobbed, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings and ye would not
!' There is in the unregenerate [7-a] hearer of the
gospel an obstinate, wilful choice not to come. Hence it is that in flaming fire
Christ will come to take vengeance on them that
obey
not the gospel [2 Thess 1:8]. In the
free exercise of their uncoerced wills men have rejected the Son of GOD. In speaking of responsibility
we have implied nothing regarding ability, as will be seen below. But the point
is that men have wills which must be addressed as powerfully and directly as
their minds and emotions in gospel preaching. Men must be confronted with their
responsibility. 'This is the work of GOD, that ye believe on Him whom He
hath sent' [John 6:29].
II.
Man's Will is not a Sovereign Faculty.
Although man does have a will, it is neither independent of all influences nor
supreme over all other parts of his personality. This is the next point to be
seen in our LORD's teaching. Pelagians [8],
Roman Catholics, Arminians and Finneyites have all held one common view of the
nature of man. They suggest that the will of man is in some way neutral, that it
exists in a state of moral suspension. It is their understanding that with equal
ease the will can choose good or evil; it can receive or reject Christ. With
only degrees of difference and variety of explanation, this is their common
opinion. Pelagians have taught that the will is neutral because man's heart is
morally neutral. Arminians, on the other hand, acknowledge the human heart to be
evil. But they suggest that prevenient [9] grace has hung the
will upon a 'sky hook' [10] of neutrality from which it can
swing either to receive or to reject the gospel. The common ground, however, is
this idea of neutrality. The will, they tell us, is disinterested. Ultimately
this controls their entire view of conversion and of sanctification [11].
It will be noted that our
Master taught that the human will is not free from the other faculties of the
heart. Far from the will reigning over a man, the will is determined by the
man's own character. It is not raised to a position of dominance over the entire
man. Man is like a tree. His
heart, not his will alone, is the root. There is no possible way by which the
will can choose to produce fruit contrary to the character of the root. If the
root is bad, the tree is bound by its very nature to produce evil fruit. Man is
like a person standing alongside his treasure chest. There is no possibility of
bringing pure gold out of a box filled only with rusty steel. The contents of
the heart determine what words and deeds may be brought out. Far from being
neutral, the will must reach into the heart for its choices. Every thought, word
and deed will partake of the nature of the treasure within. Man is like a stream
which cannot rise above its source. If the fountain is polluted, the outflow
will be evil. If the source be sweet, the stream will not be bitter and cannot
choose to be so. These three illustrations
alike contain the same lesson. What a man is determines what he chooses. Choices
of the will always reveal the character of the heart, because the heart
determines the choices. Men are not sinners because they choose to sin; they
choose to sin because they are sinners. If this were not so, we could never know
a tree by its fruits, nor could we judge a man's character by his acts. In modern times we observe rockets fired so that they escape from the earth's gravity. To accomplish this there is a great complex of electrical wires all woven into one control centre, called in the U.S. 'Mission Control.' According to the Bible, the
heart is the Mission Control of a man's life. The heart is the motivational
complex of a man, the basic disposition, the entire bent of character, the moral
inclination. The mind, emotions, desires, and will are all wires which we
observe; none is independent but all are welded into a common circuit. If
mission control is wired for evil, the will cannot make the rockets of life
travel on the path of righteousness. The will cannot escape the direction of
thoughts, feelings, longings and habits to produce behaviour of an opposite
moral quality. 'Will' may be the button which launches the spacecraft. But the
launching button does not determine the direction. Direction is dependent upon
the complex wiring system. If the will were able to make
decisions contrary to reason, and to the likes and desires of the heart, it
would be a monster. You would find yourself in a restaurant ordering all the
foods you detest. You would find yourself selecting the company you loathe. But
the will is not a monster. It cannot choose without consulting your
intelligence, reflecting your feelings, and taking account of your desires.
You
are free to be yourself. The will cannot transform you into someone else. This is most profoundly true
in the moral and religious realms. When the mind is at war with GOD, denying His
truth; when the emotions hate Christ His Son; when the desires wish GOD's law
and gospel were exterminated from the earth; the will cannot be in a position to
choose Christ. If it were, a man would not be truly free to be himself. Here is
the tragic truth about man's will. While free from outward coercion, it is in a
state of bondage. It is not in a stated neutrality. It is not a lever with which
to move a man's personality from sin to righteousness, from unbelief to faith.
This brings us to the third element in Christ's words.
III. Man's
Will is in Bondage to Sin. The chains
which bind a man's will to sin do not result from the actions of the Omnipotent
GOD. The binding chains are the man's own depraved faculties. The prison is his
own nature. Our LORD's rhetorical
question in verse 34 brings this home with force: 'O generation of vipers,
how can ye, being evil, speak good things ?' Our wise LORD is suggesting
that a man must speak as he does because of what he is. To sinners He was saying
'You are unable to choose good words because you possess an evil heart. If the
tree is bad, if the treasure chest is filled with evil things alone, if the
fountain is bitter, your will cannot produce good words (fruits, treasures,
overflow).' At this point there are very
many scriptures which attest to a man's bondage to sin by his own nature. To
mention but a few - Jeremiah 13:23: 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or
the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do
evil;' John 6:44: 'No man can come to me, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him;' Romans 8:7: 'The
carnal mind . . . is not subject to the law of GOD, neither indeed can be.'
Pelagian, Arminian and modern Fundamentalist [12] support for the moral and spiritual freedom of the will usually centres on one point. We have admitted that man has a responsible freedom. He is free to be himself. He is held accountable for his words and deeds, especially for his receiving or rejecting Christ. On all of this we agree. They use this toehold to argue that the will is not in bondage to sin but has the power of contrary choice. It can do either good or evil, at least when confronted with the gospel. They insist that the responsibility of the will to choose Christ implies ability of the will to choose Christ. There is no scriptural
defence of this belief, none that I have ever seen in print. The argument is
completely philosophical. It runs as follows: If a man cannot do good, it would
be unjust to punish him as evil. Furthermore, if a sinner cannot repent, it
would be foolish to command all men everywhere to repent. GOD is not foolish and
He has commanded repentance. Therefore men are able to repent. We can only reply that those
who applaud the powers of the will with such arguments have not read the Bible
very carefully. To maintain their philosophical premises they will have to argue
with Christ their LORD. For our Prophet tells us in verses 36 and 37 of our text
that in the day of judgment men will be held responsible for their evil words.
Yet in verse 34 our Teacher tells the very same men that they cannot speak good
words because they are bound by their evil character. Lazarus in his tomb had no
ability to respond when our LORD commanded, 'Come forth.' The man who had
been impotent for 38 years had no native ability to obey when Jesus commanded
him to take up his bed and walk. Nor have modern sinners ability to believe when
we preach. 'This is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son
Jesus Christ' [I John 3:23]. When a sinner refuses to come
to Christ, he is guilty because he has made a free choice. It reflects his own
state of mind, feeling and attitude toward GOD and His Son. He has acted
voluntarily without coercion. It is his decision. But the poor sinner, dead in
trespasses and sins, could not do otherwise, being evil. It is not necessary for
him to have a neutral will, or the ability to do both good and evil, for his
action to be held accountable before the Judge of all hearts. Anselm [13]
is very helpful on this matter. This medieval theologian points out that if
ability to sin is necessary to true liberty or responsibility, then GOD is
neither free nor praiseworthy. For the scriptures teach us that GOD cannot lie.
Similarly, saints in glory will be neither free nor responsible; for in eternity
the LORD's people have confirmed righteousness. Anselm goes on to show the
Biblical emphasis of freedom. True liberty rests in the ability to do good
whereas he that does sin is the slave of sin. If true liberty rests
in the ability to do good in GOD's sight, then the highest liberty rests in the
inability to do otherwise. This highest freedom belongs to the sons of GOD in
glory. How Biblical were Anselm's insights! No doubt Anselm's thinking
has influenced the Westminster Confession's wording in the chapter 'Of Free
Will.' For it says that Adam 'had freedom and power to will and to do that
which is good and wellpleasing to GOD.' Yet this freedom was mutable,
subject to change. Man could and did lose his liberty in the sense of being able
to do good. This is not the same as a man's liberty to be himself.
'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 prepare himself thereto.'
Bernard [14] was very near the truth when he wrote of our condition in Adam: 'The soul, in some strange and evil way, is held under this kind of voluntary, yet sadly free necessity, both bond and free; bond in respect of necessity, free in respect of will: and what is still more strange, and still more miserable, it is guilty because free, and enslaved because guilty, and therefore enslaved because free.' We have seen that man is free
to be himself and therefore is enslaved to sin by a wicked heart. And this
brings us to the most profound truth regarding the salvation of souls. It is
crucial to our preaching. It is vital to saving impressions in our hearers.
IV. Man's Will
is not his Hope. Our LORD has taught
that the tree must be made good. Man must be renewed in his entire character. He
must have a new heart to bring forth good fruit; the will cannot make the tree
good; it may only exercise liberty to be what the tree already is. The will
cannot reload the treasure chest with a new kind of goods; it may only freely
bring forth what is there. The will cannot cleanse the fountainhead; it may
overflow only with the waters available in the soul. Any gospel preaching that relies upon an act of the human will for the conversion of sinners has missed the mark. Any sinner who supposes that his will has the strength to do any good accompanying salvation is greatly deluded and far from the kingdom. We are cast back upon the regenerating work of the Spirit of the living GOD to make the tree good. Unless GOD does something in the sinner, unless GOD creates a clean heart and renews a right spirit within man, there is no hope of a saving change. While we address the wills of
men in gospel preaching, they are wills bound in the grave clothes of an evil
heart. But as we speak, and the LORD owns His word, sinners are quickened to
life by divine power. His people are made willing in the day of His power [Psa
110:3]. All who are adopted as sons of GOD were 'born not of the will of man,
but of GOD.' [John 1:13] We stand to preach with no power to make the tree
good. The 'trees' before us cannot make themselves good, so no gimmicks or
policies of men can persuade them to make the change. But our glorious GOD, by
inward, secret, transforming power, can make the tree good, the treasures good,
the fountain good. Thus all glory be to GOD and to the Lamb! Salvation is of the
LORD! “This article reproduced by permission from THE BANNER OF TRUTH magazine, Issue 140, May 1975.” Footnotes by Curtis Pugh (use back arrow to return): 1. By this he means all the saved upon earth. 2. Protestants who had left the Catholic church. 3. Followers of Dutch theologian James Arminius. 4. Followers of John Calvin. 5. Charles Finney – Arminian revivalist. 6. 18th century minister, writer and instructor at Yale University. 7. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, this confession has been influential in the Church of England and Church of Scotland as well as other Presbyterian bodies. 7-a. Not born again, or lost 8. Pelagius taught that original sin did not taint man's will. 9. Anticipatory – comes before the new birth. 10. i.e. no such thing exists. 11. Progress in holy living. 12. Predominantly Arminians or neo-Arminians who profess to believer in fundamental Bible doctrines. 13. Benedictine monk – early Archbishop of Cantebury. 14. French abbot – primary builder of the reforming Cistercian Order.
Scriptures referenced (use back arrow to return): 2Thes 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
1Joh 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
Psalm 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Walter J. Chantry was born in 1938 at Norristown, Pennsylvania, raised in the Presbyterian Church; graduated B.A. in History from Dickinson College, Carlisle in 1960, and a B.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1963, from which time he has been pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Carlisle. He is married with three children. |