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TrustInJesus版 - How can God be sovereign and man still be free?zt
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话题: god话题: free话题: voluntary话题: man话题: choices
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How can God be sovereign and man still be free?
Responsibility and voluntary choice are not the same thing as free will. We
affirm that man is indeed responsible for the choices he makes, yet we deny
that the Bible teaches that man has a free will since it is no where taught
in the pages of Scripture. The Bible teaches, rather, that God ordains all
things that come to pass (Eph 1:11) and it also teaches that man is culpable
for his choices (Ezek 18:20, Matt 12:37, John 9:41). Since the Scripture is
our ultimate authority and highest presuppsosition, the multitude of clear
scriptural declarations on this matter outweigh all unaided human logic. We
find that almost always the objections to God's meticulous providence over
all things are moral and philosophical rather than exegetical. This means we
must strive to consciously affirm what the Scripture declares over all our
finite understanding and sinful inner drive for independence.
In order to understand this better theologians have come up with the term "
compatibilism" to describe the concurrence of God's sovereignty and man's
responsibility. Compatibilism is a form of determinism and it should be
noted that this position is no less deterministic than hard determinism. It
simply means that God's predetermination and meticulous providence is "
compatible" with voluntary choice. Our choices are not coerced ...i.e. we do
not choose against what we want or desire, yet we never make choices
contrary to God's sovereign decree. What God determines will always come to
pass (Eph 1:11).
In light of Scripture, (according to compatibilism), human choices are
exercised voluntarily but the desires and circumstances that bring about
these choices about occur through divine determinism. For example, God is
said to specifically ordain the crucifixion of His Son, and yet evil men
willfully and voluntarily crucify Him (see Acts 2:23 & 4:27-28). This act of
evil is not free from God's decree, but it is voluntary, and these men are
thus responsible for the act, according to these Texts. Or when Joseph's
brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, Joseph later recounted that what
his brothers intended for evil, God intended for good (Gen 50:20). God
determines and ordains that these events will take place (that Joseph will
be sold into slavery), yet the brothers voluntarily make the evil choice
that beings it to pass, which means the sin is imputed to Joseph's brothers
for the wicked act, and God remains blameless. In both of these cases, it
could be said that God ordains sin, sinlessly. Nothing occurs apart from His
sovereign good pleasure.
We should be clear that NEITHER compatibilism nor hard determinism affirms
that any man has a free will. Those who believe man has a free will are not
compatibilists, but should, rather, be called "inconsistent". Our choices
are our choices because they are voluntary, not coerced. We do not make
choices contrary to our desires or natures, nor seperately from God's
meticulous providence. Furthermore, compatibilism is directly contrary to
libertarian free will. Therefore voluntary choice is not the freedom to
choose otherwise, that is, a choice without any influence, prior prejudice,
inclination, or disposition. Voluntary does mean, however, the ability to
choose what we want or desire most according to our disposition and
inclinations. The former view (libertarianism) is known as contrary choice,
the latter free agency. (the fallen will is never free from the bondage of
our corrupt nature, and and not free, in any sense, from God's eternal
decree.) The reason I emphasize this is that compatibilists are often
misrepresented by hard determinists at this point. They are somehow confused
with inconsistent Calvinists. When compatibilists use such phrases as "
compatibilistic freedom", they are, more often than not, using it to mean '
voluntary' choice, but are not referring to freedom FROM God's decree or
absolute sovereignty (an impossible supposition).
In biblical terminology, fallen man is in bondage to a corruption of nature
and that is why the biblical writers considered him not free (see Rom 6).
Jesus Himself affirms that the one who sins is a "slave to sin" and only the
Son can set him free. Note that even Jesus speaks of a kind of freedom here
. He is not speaking of freedom from God but freedom from the bondage of sin
, which is the kind of freedom those have who are in Christ. In this sense
God is the most free Person since He is holy, set apart from sin... yet He
cannot make choices contrary to His essence, i.e. He cannot be unholy. So,
we must conclude, according to Jesus in John 8:31-36, that the natural man
does not have a free will. The will is in bondage to sin. Any consistent
theologian who uses the term "freedom" usually is referring to that fact
that while God sovereignly ordains all that comes to pass, yet man's "free
choice" (voluntary) is compatible with God's sovereign decree. In other
words the will is free from external coercion but not free from necessity.
In my reckoning, there is no biblical warrant to use the phrase "free will",
since the Bible never affirms or uses this term or concept. So when some
theologians use the word "free" they may be misusing or importing
philosophical language from outside the Bible, but I think anyone who is
consistent with the Text means "voluntary" when they say "free", but NEVER
affirm they are free from God in any sense. For to affirm that God
sovereignly brings our choices to pass and then also say man is free FROM
GOD, is self-contradictory. So I repeat, many of those whom I read seem
equate the word freedom with the meaning "voluntary". If any mean "free from
God" they are confused. I heard R.C. Sproul say there are "no maverick
molecules". Nothing happens by chance, but all falls within God's meticulous
providence, no exceptions.
One of the best statements on compatibilism is one I found from John Calvin:
"...we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if
he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary
choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the
nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free,
because through man's innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is
evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to
deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion. For
we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because
his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore
of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is
necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary
or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the
will, from which follows that it is self-determined.
- John Calvin from Bondage and Liberation of the Will, pg. 69-70
Prior to the fall, Adam's will was not in bondage to sin, thus it was free
from sin's bondage and corruption but it was not free from God's decree. His
choice to rebel was completely voluntary even though God has ordained with
certainty that it would come to pass. He was not yet sealed in righteousness
even though his inclination was toward the good. Through Satans devices,
that he overcame his own good inclination and chose evil makes original sin
all the more heinous.
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/qna/sover
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话题: god话题: free话题: voluntary话题: man话题: choices