Do Calvinists believe in free will?
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Mark 12:10
Verse Concepts
Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief cornerstone;
Matthew 8:34
Verse Concepts
And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.
Mark 6:3
Verse Concepts
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
Luke 4:29
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and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.
John 1:11
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He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
John 12:48
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He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
Heb 10:26
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Look and the verbs of what these people did to God:
- rejected
- implored Him to leave
- took offense at Him.
- drove Him out of the city,
Noticed it doesn't say Jesus did any of this to himself.
Regarding ''free will'' , you need to explain and define what man's will is free from, if indeed it is free from anything.
What is a persons ''will' and, what makes his choices free from that will? again if indeed your choices are free from who you are??
Thinking upon the above actually helps answer the question. Are you free from who you naturally are?
What is a persons ''will' and, what makes his choices free from that will? again if indeed your choices are free from who you are??
Thinking upon the above actually helps answer the question. Are you free from who you naturally are?
Scripture seems to support that "believing" in Jesus is necessary to receive eternal life.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 6:47 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Acts 16:31 - And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
John 5:24 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 8:24 - I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 6:47 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Acts 16:31 - And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
John 5:24 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 8:24 - I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
If I understand the terms correctly, it's 'hypercalvinism' that doesn't believe in free will at all. While almost anyone who believes in predestination a d fate is accused of believing there is no free will, as far as I know it's only a small minority that go that far.
Traditional reformed theology includes the concept of 'irresistible calling' - which is briefly, that if God purposes to save you, your free will cannot overcome His divine purpose; He will call you, draw you, and work in you to conform your will to His own. Implicit in this is the notion that we indeed have free will, with the caveat that God does also, and His will is greater than our power to resist Him.
Traditional reformed theology includes the concept of 'irresistible calling' - which is briefly, that if God purposes to save you, your free will cannot overcome His divine purpose; He will call you, draw you, and work in you to conform your will to His own. Implicit in this is the notion that we indeed have free will, with the caveat that God does also, and His will is greater than our power to resist Him.
Basically that's it in a nutshell.. Although reformed prefer the term free agency. Basically because as humans we are not free from our ''will's (nature).
Free agency is probably more accurate (in my opinion) as it refers to human activity as being done freely from their nature - anything we freely do is an outworking of who we are (will).
In my opinion I would say that God commands all men/women everywhere to repent and come to faith, but none freely do.
It's an interesting topic.
I'm not Calvinist, but I have always questioned this one.
If God took "free will" or the choice to accept him or not accept him away from the salvation process, then why wouldn't he do the same during the sanctification process?
Why would he allow any of the "chosen" to sin? Why wouldn't he just take their "free will" or choice to sin away?
Well it isn't as simple as yes or no because Calvinism like many denominations has different branches of belief. The thing is many know the scriptures and many know the word of God and are well versed in defending it and their beliefs but if you do all this without taking into account who God is then it's all in vain.
We call him father and parents are physical representation of himj because he fashioned humans to be in his image, if you had a kid and you loved them you would have them do as you say but a child always has the optiion to either do as you say or not.
To understand us and father we never have to look far free will is evident just from the fact that as children we had the option to listen to our parents or not, God is many things he is almighty he is order he is glory but above all other things he is love and is the original parent. We can debate all the scriptures we want but if it contradicts his nature then it is like doing your math but because you don't understand how the njumbers add up you just keep getting different outcomes.
Some good points you make blain. The thing we need to think about is in what respect is God the father of men. Are you referring to the sense that God is the father of all men in relation to him being the creator, or as Father in the salvific sense, ie, Adopted as son's in christ. Are the unregenerate the same 'type' of sons as those who are in Christ? Doe's God love those who are not in Christ in the same manner?
I'm thinking along the lines of general grace and special grace may help our understand here?
I think we need to answer the question.. What is free will (mans nature)? What is the will free from? More importantly what does the bible say about mans nature? Are mans choices 'free' from this nature? I don't think there is much point asserting that man has free will if you can't explain biblically what man's will is free from?
Yes, "how free is 'free?'"
We certainly can't just decide to walk on air or instantly be 30 years younger by our will. We can't just will ourselves to like a food we can't stomach or become patient because we've decided to be.
So our will is not completely free; we have limitations and predilections. How far does that go?
Do we ever use our will to do anything other than evil? If we ever do good, is it our will or God working in us?
Good question, Jesus said you can not serve two masters
YOU will serve one or the other. it is your choice
Well I meant it in more than one way, yes I did mean him as the father of men but also as those who are in Christ. The Hebrews if I am not mistaken have more than one kind of kin they have a direct kin and also a distant kin kind of like how we here in america have say 2 cousons or distant relatives they are still family just not direct family.
Or lets mention how we are likened as sheep the shepherd watches over his flock they are safe happy and fed but if say a lamb goes off into the cold world where the wolves will not hesitate to devour them he will chase after that one lost lamb even risking his life fighting off wolves for it.
These are again mentions of how we are fashioned in his image as far as grace or chosen or free will are concerned they are only part of the formula sometimes we just look at things in a simple but deeper manner to understand things.
why?
where does goodness come from?
evil is easy to explain: people do things. we have freedom to do things.
what's hard to explain, IMO, is goodness