THE FREE WILL DILEMMA

The enigma of the doctrine which is called man’s freedom of the will is one of the prominent controversial doctrines in the Christendom. Those who are in the camp of Free Will are quick to express their belief by saying, without Free Will man is like robots. It is said, the colossal example where this doctrine operates is the expression of true love for God. Love which is force is said to be meaningless. This is said without any basis of Scripture to support such premise. Indeed, true love is voluntary, but it was argued that it requires the so called man’s free will to make it possible.

The Bible is abounding in scriptural teachings that render the doctrine of the so called free will not only unscriptural, but it overrides God’s sovereignty. It is said God gave man freedom to do whatever he wants to do, holding God off limit to interfere. He is free to do whatever his heart desires to do. This is where the doctrine of free will came about when in fact man is a prisoner and slave to sin (Gal. 3:22; Rom. 6:16-18). This is not a God given freedom. God gave us freedom by setting us free from slave to sin that we become slave to God whom we now serve (John 8:36; Rom. 6:22). We cannot attribute this freedom to what is called Free Will. This man’s doctrine is lawless, because man’s desire is against God, and doesn’t want to subject himself to God’s law (Romans 8:7).

One of the popular radio programmed named the Bible Answer Man; its host wrote an article on the subject of free will; his is a typical example of answering biblical questions out of man’s wisdom (1 Cor. 2:13). He formulated and rationalized a beautiful composition of writing upholding the doctrine of free will without quoting a single verse from the Bible which he claimed to be the source of his teachings. And I never read nor heard anyone quote a single verse to support this doctrine they uphold. The phrase I always hear is, without free will man is like a robot‒‒this is unscriptural. Nothing in the Scripture that implies man’s analogous to robot.

In this study paper, all answers to biblical questions are directed to the Scriptures. The Word of God is the sole authority that gives the final and irrefutable answer. Scriptures are to be compared in harmony with other Scriptures that delves in the same subject which is among the principle of understanding God’s word. Such principle is maintained in this study paper and, following the example of those in Berea in the book of Acts 17:11. Just for example read Rom. 9:11-23 and analyze what man can do to put his so called free will into action.

The writer of this study paper has a deep passion in learning the truth of God’s word that he avoid into some degrees to be dogmatic regarding controversial issue to allow any possible truth that may come up; hence, he pertained to this writings as only Bible Study. Anyone who has a different insight is welcome to present what the Lord has given him, not through human logic, but through the Scriptural revelation. By this means we can express the love of God, and together we can pursue our endeavor to grow in the grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I wonder if the wise of this world have given thoughts to their claimed that “God is in control of everything” and at the same time God gave them the freedom of the will, that God, himself, cannot intervene to control their wills. This is where the Scripture pertained to in saying, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness.” This is their DILEMMA. (1 Corinthians 3:19).

God created man with a personal, rational and moral character, with heart and soul which is the seat of human function where feelings and emotion emanates. Man re˗˗acts according to the carnal emotion of his heart. Although he possessed the elements of the image character similar to those of the divine Being, the godly traits of handling such virtue is yet to be molded and develop through life time experience of struggle in overcoming fiery trials, sufferings and endurance, and learn the ways of God and His righteousness before God allow him to reach out for the tree of life and live forever. Man is in the process of being created into the perfect image of God, not by means of his own will, but according to the purpose of God’s will in His plan.

Robot is a preprogram machine, mindless, no heart and soul, no fear nor guilt. It can be program to utter the words “I love you” repeatedly for thousands of times, but without feelings or emotion. It can be programmed to obey without having to struggle to perform the task. It has no initiative and incapable of learning. It is therefore a farfetched idea to make an analogy of man to robots‒‒it is just a dumb obedient machine.

God works in man in many ways according to His good pleasure to fulfill His plan. There are abounding of biblical characters that demonstrates how God works in them, yet they never acted as robots do. The following are just a few examples:
We are familiar with the story of the ten sons of Jacob who sold their brother to the Ishmaelite traders. To make the story short their brother was brought to Egypt and became the second in command to Pharaoh. These ten brothers were so fearful when they came face to face with Joseph whom they sold. Obviously, their act of fear and guilt were the result of their heinous crime and the evil deeds they have committed against their young brother.

Then, Joseph said, “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you, So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 45:5,8; 50:20).

God uses people to accomplish his plan. God didn’t use the ten sons of Jacob to act like robots to accomplish his plan; robots have neither fear nor guilt. They thought the decision they made came from their own will or the so called FREE WILL. It was God who works in the hearts of the sons of Jacob to WILL AND TO ACT (Philippians 2:13) that causes them to sell Joseph. God, holding them accountable does not mean they have Free Will. God put in their hearts what they did. Their action comes from the emotion of their jealous hearts that their conscience convicted them to be accountable. Joseph breathe to them these words because they feel accountable to what they had done, “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here…,” Robots has no feeling or emotion, has no fear or guilt, and no feeling of responsibility and accountability; robots are just a dumb obedient machine. None of us who knew this story ever think that the sons of Jacob were like robots. There is a world of difference between man and robots, and it is a farfetched idea to compare man to robots.

God worked in the heart of Pharaoh to will and to act to accomplish His purposed. The Lord says to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Pharaoh’s action comes from his heart. He feels it was an act of his own free will that made him responsible, without knowing it was God who hardened his heart to fulfill His plan. It is axiomatic that who knew the story never assumed Pharaoh was
acting like robot.

Who could ever think that it is in God’s plan to divide the kingdom of Israel? God works in the heart of king Rehoboam in making the crucial decision to fulfill God’s plan of dividing the nation of Israel (1 Kings 12:15). There are other prominent characters of the Bible that God works in their hearts such as King Cyrus of Persia which is responsible in rebuilding the temple of God in Jerusalem. God moved the heart of Samson to marry the Philistine woman which is unlawful for Israel in order to fulfill His plan. These biblical characters are explicit example that God works in the hearts of men to will and to act according to his good purposed to both believers and unbelievers, for which they were responsible for their decision and accountable for their action. Robot is not designed to make decision for which they can be held responsible.

What can we say about the Apostle Paul? He was a spiritual giant. I consider him the best example among the biblical characters which demonstrates that God works in us without being robotic in character. Aside from being the product of the New Testament church in which we are, he spoke about himself in his struggle against his sinful nature.

We have Scriptures as to how man is able to obey and love God without being force despite of the rebellious sinful nature that blatantly opposed God’s way (Rom. 8:7). God works in our hearts by inspiring us to will and to do according to His good purposed. The Scripture also says for those whom God touches the heart to believe and choose the ways of God still struggle with their sinful nature. It is not automatic obedient like robots; there are overcoming involve. There were occasions we succumbed to our sinful nature which God allows, making us aware and conscious that we need Him in our struggle to overcome. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” For this reason we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to be joyful and pray continually to be closed to Him and be strengthen, so that even in the midst of our struggle no matter what happens we can still give thanks with a joyful heart.

True Love Is Not Express In Free Will:
The doctrine of free will makes man believe that he is free to do whatever he wants to do, such as choose to reject or choose to love and obey God. It is said, free will is essential to express a genuine love for God‒‒so is said in the author’s opinion in his book entitled “Bible Answer Man.” On page 170 we read:
“Without choice, love is meaningless. God is neither a cosmic rapist who forces his love on people, nor a cosmic puppeteer who forces people to love him. Instead, God, the personification of love, grants us the freedom of choice. Without such freedom, we would be little more than preprogrammed robots.” [We will see the difference between being forced and inspired.]

If you notice there is no single verse in the Bible quoted. All what he said is from his own wisdom in supporting the doctrine he uphold. Let’s focus in why the majority in Christianity believe their love for God comes from free choice as stated by the above author. Here is why: Because they don’t feel being force in loving God. Christians who read this paper experienced such sincere love emanates from their hearts. For those who have such emotion of genuine love is manifested with obedience and deeds that glorify God. It is a voluntary love without being forced or pressured. This experienced is said to be man’s free will or freedom of choice.
This understanding of loving God has a problem. There is a problem with this thought of loving God through the operation of alleged freedom of the will. “We love because he first loved us,” 1 John 4:19. We cannot will to initiate loving God; humanity as a whole is not free, for the whole world is a prisoner of sin (Gal. 3:22). This is reaffirmed by the following Scriptures:
Romans 3:10-18 and Romans 8:7 tell us about the fallen state of man.
“There is no fear of God before their eyes” verse 18
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”

The question is: How then, we have such existing feeling and emotion that comes deep from our hearts that produce a genuine love for God, when the Bible said, our nature of being carnally minded is hostile against God, and it is impossible for us to submit to his law (“neither indeed can be”). Therefore, what we call free will is impossible to administer in producing this genuine love we presently experience as followers of Christ. Our genuine love for Jesus is undeniable‒‒hopefully.
Think about this: What happens between being carnally minded and not loving God or being not subject to His spiritual law, AND THEN LATER, loving God and being subject to His spiritual law‒‒that is what we are now. How did this happen? Who was responsible for causing it to happen? Philippians 2:13 (NLT) is the prominent among other Scriptures that will give us the answer.
“For GOD is working in you, giving you the desire to obey (and to love) him and the power to do what pleases him” (parenthesis added

God, who is in control of everything was the responsible, not what we think our presume free will. The irony is we are placing the credit upon ourselves in taking the first action [which didn’t and can never happen] of loving God‒‒something that we can boast (Eph. 2:9).
How can we have the will to love God, we can’t even come to Jesus, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). And unless he chose us (John 15:16), we can do nothing apart from him (John 15:5). Unless he paid our sin death on the cross, we cannot be set free (John 8:36). Say, where is man’s free will here?

When we are set free and come to know the truth, we can make the decision to accept and receive Christ in our hearts. Loving God is not a decision. It doesn’t come from free will. God works by inspiring our hearts to move with such a passion and emotion of loving Him, overriding our hostility against him for we are controlled no longer by the sinful nature but by the Spirit (Romans 8:7-9). You didn’t choose to love God, it’s already there‒‒in your heart, when God inspired you to love Him‒‒you are not force. There is a world of difference between being inspired and being forced. God didn’t work in us (Phil. 2:13) to force us to obey loving him, or to threaten us to go to hell if we refuse. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This verse is telling us God will not force us to love Him.

And to add to the above Scriptures of describing man’s nature, the Bible has something more to say about the heart of man‒‒they are as follows:

Matthew 15:19
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?

Genesis 6:5
“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Jeremiah 11:8
Yet they obey not, nor inclined their ear, but walked everyone in the imagination of their evil heart.

Matthew 23:37
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”

God’s foreknowledge demolished the doctrine of free will. How could it be free? God said His counsel or purpose shall stand, and what He planned, that He will do (Isaiah 46:10). Example: Peter was sincere in his decision to die for Jesus, with that said, Jesus demolished believers’ so called free will of Peter by predicting he will deny his Master three times instead. All of these abounding Scriptures have shown this doctrine comes from the wisdom of man who wants to be free and not to subject to the spiritual law of God, says Romans 8:7. Man is practicing what he believed concerning free will of choice, but he has no choice but to disobey God. The horror of the consequences of ignoring the law proved this doctrine of free will is not real but only an idol of the heart. If anyone wants to subject himself to the law of God [being aware of Romans 8:7], now is the time to abandon this doctrine of idol of the heart. Anything place before God is a sin of idolatry, like holding on free will in place of subjecting oneself to the law of God. Where is the wisdom in saying, I have free will and I subject myself to the law of God. It’s kind of like placing a round pole in a square peg. God gave us freedom from slavery of sin. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36), and becomes slave to God (Rom. 6:16, 22), because we subject ourselves to the law of God. Man’s free will is bent to disobey God. This is the reason why God didn’t say we have to choose between life and death, His command is to choose life (Deut. 30:19). God’s command to Adam is not to choose between eating and not eating the forbidden fruit. God gave specific command to Adam‒‒not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen. 2:17). No free will of choice, but to obey His command. God is not forcing man to obey His law, rather work in inspiring those whom He has chosen for the first era of salvation before the creation of the world, giving them the power to obey Him and to do what pleases Him (Phil. 2:13). And Adam sinned by not subjecting himself (Rom. 8:7) to the law of God. He, himself, chose to follow his sinful nature not to obey the commandment of his Creator.

I found out in many parts of the Old and New Testament beginning in the Garden of Eden, God gave those biblical characters commandments by which they could be blessed, but they fall far short of God’s standard; their choices are always against the ways of God. Is it surprising for Adam to disobey God? It was exemplified by the ancient Israel’s rebellious character against God. It was also Paul’s testimony for the New Testament believers that he, himself was struggling against his sinful nature (Rom. 7:18-19). In my own experienced, even I claim to receive Christ as my Savior, the desire to do things my own way still present in me. Since I am no longer control by the sinful nature I have to overcome such carnal desire with godly desire, yet, just like Paul, I cannot carry it out apart from Jesus. In my investigation I cannot find even the slightest hint of free will in Apostle Paul’s testimony in Romans 7:18-19 that says,

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the will to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

What a paradox! Does anybody who knows Paul’s admission in this Scripture still cling to free will? This is Paul, the spiritual giant, speaking in his state of having the Holy Spirit in him, yet still struggling with his sinful nature. Paul’s will is not free to carry out his will to do good. Who among us that received the Holy Spirit is perfect and no longer struggle with the sinful nature? Obviously the answer is none of us. I direct my interest in Paul’s teachings that unravel the mystery of inconsistency of being a man of God and his admission of still struggling with his sinful nature. I found in Romans 7:24-25 that says,

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God‒‒through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Jesus our Lord helps us in our struggle to overcome the evil desire of our sinful nature. God initiate the action of drawing Paul to Jesus [This incident occurred on the road to Damascus] and then works in him, giving him the desire to obey him and the power to do His will. Just like Paul, the only way that we can come to the decision to accept, to love and to abide in Christ is for the Father to draw us first to Christ and live our life in Christ who love us and gave Himself for us. It is by grace that God initiates the action by drawing us to Christ, for Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him” (John 6:44), and “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The operation of the so called free will is totally absent in choosing to obey and to love God, for we love, because He loves us first (1John 4:19).
I asked myself, how Philippians 2:13 works? Does God works by possessing us like a demon possessed person that controls the mind and soul? I learned from the Scriptures that God works in both believers and unbelievers to fulfill His plan according to His good pleasure, but none of them or anyone of us experienced of being force to do something, or preprogram like robots. I found out how God operates in working in man to do His good pleasure–‒that is through the heart‒‒not through the mind. The heart controls the mind. The nature of the heart does not always change instantly when God works by inspiring us and giving us the desire to obey him and the power to do His will according to His good pleasure. There are struggle and overcoming involved which is the process of forming man in the image of God’s spiritual character. God works through the heart, the seat of human function which is the soul where feelings and emotions emanates. Just like a man who fell in love with a woman despite of her unpopular back ground, make a life time decision to marry her against the will of his mind. That love comes from the feelings and emotion of his heart which he cannot resist. He is deeply in love.
God works through our hearts to will and to do according to His good pleasure. This is not how robots work. Robots have no feelings and emotions. This love that comes from the heart is voluntary, not base on free will. Voluntary love has action. The chosen cannot ignore his emotion of obeying God. He cannot afford to ignore the emotion of his deep love for God that comes from the heart by not doing anything for the glory of His name, although there is still struggle because of the presence of sinful nature.

The Holy Spirit inspires us to study His Word. To be inspired in doing something is not being force. God inspires His chosen to love Him, to know Him more, and to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. True Christians has lots of good works to do in their walk with our Lord Jesus, but this work is inspired by God who works in every believer. Take note of this verse.
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10), no free will.
This is how the Scripture says that we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We cannot boast by giving credit to ourselves in doing the good works. We can do nothing even to what we call our part, for He said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” A person may claim that he chose Jesus Christ without experiencing of being force, because it was Christ who works in the emotion of his heart and gave him the desire to choose Him. We are taking the credit upon ourselves if we say we choose God with our own free will, and we are even then boasting says Ephesians 2:8-9.
Yes, we chose God and, also to abide in Him‒‒there is no question about it. Indeed we must repent for the forgiveness of our sins. We must have faith, for without faith we cannot please God. We must believe for us to be saved and our household. We must pray all the time and be thankful whatever happens, and we must obey to have an intimate personal relationship with God.

The above are Scriptural and the prerequisite for salvation. But they are all the works of God‒‒not through the operation of the so called free will. God has a plan of salvation for mankind. With God everything in His plan is already done before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11; Romans 8:29-30).
In man’s original state (Romans 3:10-18; 8:7) it is impossible for him to go through all the prerequisite of salvation. It all begins with God, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2 KJV). The following are the Scriptures that reaffirmed the works of God in the process of salvation:

John 6:44 “No one [May I emphasize “NOT EVEN ONE” can abide in Christ with his own decision] can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…”

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit: FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING.”

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”

Philippians 1:29 To believe is a gift from God, “For it has been GRANDTED to you on behalf of Christ not only TO BELIEVE on Him, but also to suffer for Him.”
Ephesians 2:8 Faith is a gift, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH‒‒and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God.”

Philippians 2:13 NLT “For GOD IS WORKINGF IN YOU, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.”

REPENTANCE IS A GIFT:
Acts 11:18 “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has GRANTED even the Gentiles REPENTANCE unto life.”
Acts 5:31 “God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give REPENTANCE and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”
2 Timothy 2:25 “Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”
Romans 2:4 “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of GOD LEADS YOU TO REPENTANCE?

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

Acts 13:48 “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”

Salvation is all of God, as we response to the emotion and feelings inspired by Him. It is not force but voluntary. All of us have his own story to tell how God works in us in drawing us to Jesus. Looking back when I was a babe in Christ with a little knowledge of the Scriptures; for me, being a Christian going to church every Sunday is only an obligation; yet I still benefit to the sermons through which I acquire the second hand knowledge of the Scripture by listening. In the process of time, curiosity and interest, and the desire in knowing and learning more about God’s Word fascinated me‒‒I was inspired [I was not aware God is working in me]. Being unaware of such passion that engulf me in keeping on the direction of spending time studying Bible daily, like those in Berea of Acts 17:11, I found many Scriptures first hand that excites me and inspires me such as Philippians 2:13, John 6:44 and John 15:5 and many other familiar Scriptures I quoted in this paper, which brought out a new light of meaning which had been obscured before. Through these verses I became aware of my transformation not only in acquiring knowledge but also the endeavor of living in them‒‒putting them into practice, as Paul said. God works in a wonderful way without being noticed until such a time we become aware of it. I still struggle against my sinful nature. Indeed, there is nothing good lives in me, except Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world–the source of my strength (Philippians 4:13).

I pray that those who opt to dwell in the dilemma of contradiction will now see through the Scriptures how we came to choose, believe and accept the sacrifice of Christ despite of our rebellious sinful nature. Thus, we are responding to the exhortation in 2 Peter 3:18 that we should grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him, be the glory both now and forever. Amen. #