Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Free Will is not Really Free

In the book Putting the Amazing Back into Grace, Michael Horton conveniently compiles a list of Scriptures demonstrating the effects of Adam’s sin upon all his progeny. Adam was told, “When you eat of it (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

Those who embrace Free Will Theology are nearly desperate to retain the right and ability to choose their salvation. To suggest otherwise spawns looks of panic and disgust upon their faces. To suggest otherwise is . . . inhuman. However, the Word of God clearly teaches that our supposedly "free" will  is enslaved to sin.  It is utterly incapable of choosing salvation. In Adam, we all died—physically, spiritually, and eternally. The dead have no ability to choose salvation.  So keep your free will if you want.  It is worthless.

Here are some of the Scriptures that Horton compiled to demonstrate this:

Psalm 51:5--Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Psalm 58:3-- Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.

Psalm 130:3-- If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

Proverbs 20:9--Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

Ecclesiastes 7:20-- There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

Ecclesiastes 7:29-- This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.

Ecclesiastes 9:3-- This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

Isaiah 53:6-- We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.

Isaiah 64:6-- All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Jeremiah 17:9-- The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Mark 7:21-23-- For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'

John 3:19-- This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

John 8:34--Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

John 8:44-- You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.

Romans 3:9-12-- What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

Romans 5:12-- Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 6:20-- When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

Romans 8:7-8-- The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

I Corinthians 2:14-- The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Ephesians 2:1-3-- As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Job 14:4-- Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

Jeremiah 13:23-- Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

Matthew 7:18-- A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

John 6:44-- "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

2 Corinthians 3:5--Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

1 comment:

  1. Hello

    I am very pleased that there is another blog dedicated to the Reformed Faith that is also in the state of West Virginia. I live in Charleston, West Virginia.

    It is also cool to see our church's website on your links. I will continue to follow you and comment on your post as time permits.

    Our church site address is ~ http://www.kanawhasalinespresby.org/

    Thank you,

    Timothy
    timotheus@skubalon.net

    ReplyDelete