In Sproul’s lecture, he began by describing the humanistic concept of free will; then he described the biblical view of free will via the writings of Jonathan Edwards; Martin Luther; and St. Augustine; finally, he provided his own brief description.
The crux of his lecture was that motive (inclination, intention, desire) precedes choice; and to have the ability to choose is free will. He explains further, that mankind’s ability to choose was impacted by the fall; and he clarified how our choice-making has been impacted.
Dr. Sproul’s 30 minute lecture contains essential, foundational information that all Christians would benefit from meditating upon and identifying…in their daily struggle with their personal sin, the world, the flesh and the Devil.
Chosen By God, R C Sproul:
This post is part 3 in Sproul’s 6-part series Chosen By God:
The following points are HIGHLIGHTS of Dr. Sproul’s lecture on free will [bracketed statements, emboldening and underscoring are mine]:
- In our culture, various views of free will exist; the first we are discussing is that held by [secular] humanism: those holding this view, believe that choices are spontaneous, without motive, inclination, intention…
- Problems with the humanistic view of free will: 1), if choice is spontaneous, that means there is no reason behind it, no motive for the choice; that is, it just happened
- How could spontaneous choice have any moral implications?
- The Bible is concerned with our intentions (inclinations, motives, desires) for choosing; for example, in the story of Joseph in Genesis, his brothers treated him cruelly because they were jealous of him; they sold him into slavery…; years later, his brothers later repented; he then said to them “You meant it for evil; but God [who is sovereign and permitted Joseph’s suffering to occur] meant it for good;” [because God was planning to save Joseph’s family, Jacob and the other 11 heads of the 12 tribes…].
- Joseph’s words indicate that intentions [motivations] are significant; and that choice is the fruit of one’s intentions [Sproul kept using the terms, intentions, inclinations, desires and motives as words that described what came before choice, causing it]
- When God considers a good deed, He considers the motives that gave rise to that deed [for example, were the motives to glorify God of the self?]
- If there were no motives associated with a choice, then how could a choice be given any moral significance? It would be random and meaningless
- Furthermore, can a creature make a choice when he has NO motive
- If one had no inclination, motive, intention, desire; that would mean that his will was neutral. Consider the following example:
- Alice (of Alice in Wonderland) was at a fork in the road; she could not decide which way to go. She asked the Cheshire cat which path to take and he asked her where she was going; she replied, “I don’t know;” he said, Then I guess it doesn’t matter [by the way, that sounds like what many unbelievers are presently
- We look at her situation and think that she has 2 choices, left or right; but in actuality, she has 4: left, right, back from where she came; and standing still (paralyzed by confusion)
- Why would Alice choose any of the 4 ways if she had no motive, inclination…?
- She would not choose [choosing would never have become an issue]
- Herein, we see the problem of the Humanist argument: they say there can be choice with no motivation; something coming out of nothing; an effect with no cause
- Therefore, a spontaneous choice is a rational impossibility
- The biblical worldview is that man in his fallen state has an inclination which is towards wickedness and away from God [he explained inclination]
- CHRISTIAN VIEWS ABOUT FREE WILL:
- The greatest book on the will is by Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of The Will
- Edwards described the will as the mind choosing, meaning that the mind [that which thinks] and the will [that which chooses] are inseparably related
- We do not make moral choices unless the mind approved the direction of our choice
- That is, my mind becomes aware of certain options, and it prefers one over another; the will makes a choice based on its inclination
- Free moral agents always act according to the strongest inclination they have at the moment of choice; that is, we always choose according to our inclinations
- That is, when I sin, the moment I sinned, my desire to commit that sin was greater than my desire to obey Christ
- More on choosing; it often seems that we have no underlying reason for making many of our choices – examples given to help explain that inclinations come before choices
- Objections raised by some:
- Sproul explained how coercion limits choice, but even then, one’s inclinations form the basis of his choice
- He also talked about how shifts in mood impact choice making
- When the apostle Paul stated the following, he was not talking about overcoming the inclinations that give rise to choices. He was acknowledging that Christians have an internal desire to please Christ that does not always win out when the moment of truth comes: Romans 7:19 [KJV] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
- Sproul further explained (regarding Paul’s statement above): if you asked me would I like to be free of sin; I’d say yes, of course. However, I say that now, until the temptation of sin presses in upon me and my desire for that sin intensifies until I surrender to it freely (when we surrender to sin, we act according to our desires at the time; our free will then chooses)
- Calvin said of free will: if we mean by free will that fallen man has the ability to choose what he wants, then of course he has free will; if we mean by free will, that fallen man has the moral power and ability to choose righteousness, then free will is far too grandiose a term to apply to him
- R C Sproul’s thoughts on free will: every choice we make is free; and every choice we make is determined
- Those seem to be contradictory statements; but he was not speaking of the philosophy of determinism which he explained
- Consider: if our choices flow out of our desires / inclinations; if our actions are an effect, caused by reasons (inclinations, motives, intentions…), then in a real sense, personal desire determines personal choice
- If desire determines choice, how then can we be free?
- Remember, in every choice, our choice is both free and determined; what determined it is we ourselves; self-determination is not denial of freedom, but is the essence of freedom
- We always choose according to our desires; we must choose always according to our strongest inclination at the moment; that is the essence of free choice, to be able to choose what you want
- The problem with the sinner is not that the fall caused him to lose the faculty of free choice; sinners still have minds, desires and wills; the will is still free in that it is able to do what the sinner wants it to do
- Where is the problem?
- The root of the heart’s desires is fallen: he has an evil inclination; a desire for sin; he sins freely
- Sinners reject Christ because they want to reject Him; they do it freely; before a sinner can respond positively to the things of God, choosing Christ, choosing life, he must have a desire to do that [to move him to choose]
- The question is, does fallen man retain any desire in his heart for the things of God, for God?
- Remember Jonathan Edwards distinctions of moral ability and natural ability: NATURAL ABILITY refers to the abilities we have as a human: to think, speak, walk upright…; not to fly. For example, fish have the natural ability to live under water because God gave them gills; birds have the natural ability to fly
- MORAL ABILITY: is the ability to be righteous as well as to be sinful; mankind was given the natural ability to do these things
- Fallen man no longer has the moral ability to be perfect, righteous
- Fallen man still possesses the abilities to think and to choose; but he lacks the inclination towards godliness
- Sproul talked about similarities between the discoveries of St Augustine and Jonathan Edwards regarding this topic
- They described fallen man as ‘in bondage’ to sin, having lost some aspect of moral liberty, meaning that mankind is inclined to choose evil and disinclined to choose righteousness
- FOR EXAMPLE: Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
- Jesus indicated that something has happened inside of us, where our desires / inclinations reside, there is bondage; yet, we can choose
The above video is part 3 of a 6 part series, Chosen By God. The following link is to the series; the parts are as follows: 1) Predestination; 2), God’s Sovereignty; 3), Free Will; 4), The Fall; 5), Salvation and 6), Evangelism in light of the doctrine of Predestination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–fafICBts8&list=PL30acyfm60fXGiDrDfncbzQgFZ-X-GYyz
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
***As he processed his daily sin, Jonathan Edwards used his diary (journal) to note the links he discovered between his choices / actions and his personal motives / inclinations. He considered such understanding to be necessary, as it provided insight into his rationale for sinning. He believed that to be essential information, seemingly because he could then fully confess his sin, develop strategies to undermine his motives and his need for particular sins; and seek the Holy Spirit’s enablement for all of the above.
To get an idea about what you might need to understand to do such things, SEE, CATEGORIES, Jonathan Edwards, three posts titled Glimpses into Jonathan Edwards Spiritual Life. These posts each examine a couple of his journal entries for the type of content and offer suggestions for that type of self-examination; also, a downloadable self-exam packet is linked.