REFORMED WITNESS
Volume VII, March 1999, Number 3
The Bondage of the Will
by Rev. Steven Houck
(Following are the first three chapters of a 26 page pamphlet)
Free-Willism
There is a very serious error which is widely believed and promoted in our day - the error of free-willism. By the term, free-willism, I am not referring to the fact that man has a will. That is certainly Biblical. In the act of creation, God gave to man the faculty of the will and that faculty was not lost in the fall. All men have wills. By those wills we make all kinds of decisions and choices every day. By free-willism I mean the false teaching that man has a free will. Most people believe that man not only has a will but that his will is free.
By free will they mean two things. First they mean that man's will in all of its desires, determinations, and choices is free from any outside cause. Man himself wills what he does because of his own pleasure. No one can ever make him will what he of himself does not purpose to will - not even God. In fact, they say that God has given this free will and He will not interfere with it whatsoever. Even though He may want a man to do something, if the man does not will to do it himself, God will do nothing to change his will. Secondly they mean that from an ethical, moral point of view man's will is free to choose either good or evil. Man has the ability to choose the way of sin or to choose the way of righteousness. His will is not inclined to go one way or the other. Man has equally the ability to do either good or evil. He is spiritually free.
Thus with his free will a man can either choose Christ or reject Him. He can either choose to be a Christian or refuse to be a Christian. The choice is strictly his. While people or things may influence him one way or another, ultimately no one and nothing can make him choose Christ or not. Even God will never sovereignly cause him to accept Christ by changing his will. God makes His own will subservient to the free will of man.
This free-willism is a serious error which is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. 1) The Bible teaches us that the will of man is not free but is bound to the eternal, unchangeable, sovereign will of God. 2) The Bible teaches us that the will of man is held in spiritual bondage to sin and can not will that which is ethically and morally good, apart from regeneration. 3) The Bible teaches that true, spiritual freedom is the precious gift which God gives only to his people through Jesus Christ.
God's Sovereign Will
That the will of man is not free is demonstrated first of all by the fact that man's will is bound to God's sovereign will. The will of God is the only will which is absolutely free. His will is not determined by anyone or anything outside of Himself. Although the world is filled with countless creatures and their actions, they do not influence the will of God in the least. Even the actions of man and his will do not determine the sovereign will of God. God is absolutely independent of all other beings and so is His will. He wills what He does only because of His own sovereign good-pleasure. Thus the apostle Paul could write, For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:34-36). The prophet Isaiah teaches the same thing when he says, Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing ... All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. (Isaiah 40:13-17).
The Scriptures make it very clear that no one can ftustrate the eternal counsel and will of God. God always gets exactly what He wants. We read in Isaiah 14:24 & 27, The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand... For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? The very thoughts of the Lord surely come to pass. That which He has purposed stands and no one can turn back His hand when He does what He wills.
That means that God Himself actively brings about all things that take place according to that which He has purposed and determined to be done. For He is the God Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will (Ephesians 1:11). God sovereignly works in all things in such a way that He makes all things do what He has willed in His eternal counsel. All things, not just some things, always do exactly what He has determined. They do exactly what He has determined just because God Himself works that in them. All of history and everything in history is exactly as God has willed it. The world is not out of control. Even the most minute details take place according to His eternal will and counsel. Jesus says, Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:29 & 30).
Since God's will is sovereignly free, there can be no other free wills in the world. If there were, they would limit and infringe upon God's will so that it would not be free and God would not be sovereign. That God's will is free means; therefore, that the will of the creature is not free. The will of every creature is subservient to the will of God. Because God's will is always done, the will of every creature must conform to the sovereign will of God. This is confirmed by the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 46:9-11, ...I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Thus even man is bound to the sovereign will of God-both the righteous and the wicked, the regenerate and the unregenerate Man can not and does not act independently of God. Even his will is under the rule of the eternal will of God. Indeed, God created man with a will so that he makes decisions and choices every day. That will, however, is not free. For the Scriptures teach us, There are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. (Proverbs 19:21). Even though man has many plans in his heart which he wills to do, he can do nothing outside of God's counsel. For the very will of man is moved, directed, and controlled by the will of God. Man's will is always in the service of the Lord whether consciously or unconsciously.
This is very clearly taught in the book of Proverbs. In chapter 16, verse 1 we read, The preparations (literally- disposings) of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. Here the heart is said to be directed by God, but this also includes the will. For man's will is directed by his heart. We read, Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23). Also in Proverbs 23:7 we read, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he... Thus the will is directed by the heart. But that heart is prepared or disposed by the Lord. King Solomon testified, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1). Solomon's will was not absolutely free. He himself says that his heart was in the hand of God and God turned it where He wanted. Just as surely as God by His almighty power turns the course of great rivers, so He directs the heart and will of man.
The will of man is referred to directly in Philippians 2:13. There the apostle says, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Here the apostle does not teach that man's will is free from the interference of God. No, he teaches the very opposite. He teaches that the will of man is just as much the domain of God's sovereign working as anything else. Just as certainly as God moves the wind and the waves this way or that, He moves the will of man to purpose, plan, and will what He pleases. God works within the will. He energizes and empowers the will in such a way that He causes man to will His good pleasure. Thus God not only empowers the believer to do His good pleasure, but He also causes Him to will His good pleasure. In fact, without the mighty working of God's grace within the will of the believer, he could not will what is good. The believer's good works are completely dependent upon God's sovereign control of his will. The apostle says that all the believer's good works are ordained of God in His counsel. In Ephesians 2:10 we read, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Surely that means that God brings about His will concerning good works by making the will of man will His good pleasure. If that were not true, God's will could be frustrated by the believer who did not do the good works God has ordained.
God also works in the heart of the wicked so that they will what He has purposed. We read in Psalm 105:25, He turned their (the Egyptians) heart to hate his people, to deal subtilely with his servants. God turned the heart and therefore the will of the wicked Egyptians so that they hated Israel and enslaved them. Even though the heart is wicked and totally contrary to the righteous standard of God, it is still directed and controlled by God. That is seen particularly in the case of wicked Pharaoh. God hardened his heart so that he would not let Israel go. God said to Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21).
Thus the first principle which we must understand about the will of man is this. The will of man is not sovereignly free but is always bound to the sovereign will of God. We can will and do nothing apart from God's willing. For all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou? (Daniel 4:35).
Freedom In Paradise
Because God is the sovereign God, the will of every man - both the righteous and the wicked - is subservient to and subject to the will of God. There is, however, another kind of bondage of the will. Apart from regeneration man is spiritually, morally, and ethically the slave of sin so that he can do no good. He is not spiritually free. The apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 6:20 where he refers to the unconverted as servants of sin. But before we can understand this spiritual bondage, we must see that this was not man's original condition. This moral, ethical bondage is not the result of creation. When God created man He created him spiritually free. Before the fall, Adam knew nothing of bondage to sin.
Even though the will of our father, Adam, was created subservient to the will of God, his will was spiritually free, that is, free from all sin. Adam was so free morally that all the inclinations of his being were toward the good. He had a positive righteousness not simply a neutrality. His will was good and wanted only the good. For Adam was created in the image of God. We read, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27). Adam looked like God, spiritually. The image of God is explained by the apostle when he says, And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24). In Colossians 3:10 he adds, And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. The image of God consists of three elements - righteousness, holiness, and the knowledge of God. Thus in all of his being, including his will, Adam possessed righteousness, holiness, and the true knowledge of God. He did not want to sin. He willed to do what was good.
For true spiritual freedom is not the ability to choose either good or evil. That is the conception of many. They think that a free will is a will which can either choose to sin or not sin, choose Christ or not choose Christ. It is free to do either, without any inclinations one way or the other. But that is not true. The Bible always speaks of spiritual freedom as the ability to do good instead of evil. This is what we learn from Romans 6:17 & 18. There we read, But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Here spiritual freedom is defined not as the ability to choose good or evil, but the ability to choose what is good. It is freedom from sin. Someone who is spiritually free is not in bondage to sin but is instead a servant of righteousness.
The spiritual freedom of Adam, then, was his ability to choose and do that which is good. Daily he loved, worshipped, and served God in righteousness and holiness. He was filled with the knowledge of God so that he knew Who God is and had the intimate knowledge of fellowship with God. In the evenings He walked with God and talked with Him. The desire and will of his heart was to please God by doing that which is right and good. He did not long for sin and the pleasures of sin. His freedom was such that he knew nothing of sin. All of his being and all of his life was righteousness, holiness, and the knowledge of God. His will was totally consecrated to God. He was so free that he was able not to sin. Until he ate of the forbidden fruit, he did not sin at all.
But Adam's spiritual freedom was not the highest kind of freedom. For though he was able not to sin, he nevertheless did sin. He could loose his moral, ethical freedom. God had warned him of that when He told him, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17). Adam could will to eat of the tree. If he did, he would die spiritually. He would loose the image of God and his spiritual freedom to choose good. In the providence of God that is just what did happen. Even though all of the inclinations of his being, including his spiritually free will, pointed him to obedience to God; he did eat. He lost the image of God and died spiritually. His holiness, righteousness, and knowledge of God were changed into darkness and unrighteousness. His will became the slave of his wicked nature. He could no longer choose what is good and righteous.
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