This has been the lesson of science. The more we know, the
more we see how little we do know. We have even learned that our senses have
betrayed us. I always thought that my table was made out of solid oak. However, science has
enlightened me that my table is made out of huge spaces. Even more surprisingly,
science has been unable to tell us what matter actually is.
Besides, the mysteries of this world abound, even in regards
to the basics. Science is unable to define light, space, time, let alone
sub-atomic particles. If our world remains incomprehensible, it would stand to
reason that its Creator would be no less mysterious.
I’m leading up to a subject surrounded by perplexity and
disagreement - human freewill. If you deny that there is anything beyond this
material world, you probably also believe that all matter falls within the
grasp of the laws of science. Consequently, I would venture to guess that you
also believe that all of our thinking and choosing is strictly the product
bio-chemical reactions determined by the laws of science, which exclude the
possibility of freewill and objective moral accountability.
Taking this reasoning one step further, if our thinking and
choosing is entirely controlled by these laws, it also means that we were never
able to do other than what we have already done.
Interestingly, many Christians also deny that we can
exercise relatively free choices. Some limit this judgment to those who haven’t
been regenerated, while other Christians would include everyone in this judgment.
They argue that if God directs our steps and even our
intentions (Philippians 2:12-13) and deeds (Ephesians 2:10; Isaiah 26:12), then
our lives are a matter of His will and not
our own.
Here’s where I’d like to introduce one aspect of God’s many
mysteries. I think that the Biblical evidence forces us to the conclusion that
it’s not a question of either God’s will or our will. Instead, it seems that
they are both working together,
something that the Christian should already acknowledge. In what way?
Let’s start with the phenomenon of Scripture. While we
believe that it is fully God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Thessalonians. 2:13;
2 Peter 1:19-21), we also must acknowledge that it is also the word of man. For
example, Paul often mentioned his feelings, experiences, and associates and
even used his own distinctive style and vocabulary in his epistles. These point
to the fact of Paul’s active freewill involvement, even though he acknowledged
that he was writing the Word of God. This overlap of intentions, Divine and
human, suggests something quite strange – that human thinking and choosing are
compatible with God’s sovereign oversight.
This compatibility is also acknowledged by the Scriptures.
For example, while the Assyrians culpably intended to conquer and devastate
their enemies, God intended to bring justice through the very same evil
actions:
- “Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;” (Isaiah 10:5-7)
By the same action, evil Assyria intended one thing while
God intended something very different. Was Assyria merely a pawn of God or was Assyria a responsible freewill agent?
According to the context, Assyria acted with intent and forethought even as
they accomplished the work that God had intended. Somehow, God was able to
direct Assyria’s freewill plan for His own purposes.
Did Assyria have a legitimate excuse for the evil they had
brought upon other nations? Not according to Scripture! Why not? They knew
better (Romans 1:20):
- Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. (Romans 1:32 -2:1)
Paul declared that evil has “no excuse” for itself. The
evildoer stands condemned before God. However, if Assyria was just a pawn of God, lacked freewill, and
couldn’t have done otherwise, they would have had the perfect excuse along with Hitler and Pol Pot.
Scripture acknowledges the greater seriousness and guilt
incurred by intentional sins over
unintentional sins. If everything we did had been caused exclusively by God,
such an important distinction couldn’t be made. All of our sins would be the
same – all foisted upon us by deterministic forces. Instead, Scripture informs
us that deliberate sins are far more culpable:
- For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26-27; Numbers 15:30)
What difference would having the “knowledge of the truth
make” if we are incapable of acting otherwise? Instead, the entire Bible
requires us to take responsibility for our sins:
·
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being
tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no
one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
(James 1:13-14)
A worse charge would have been, “I am just a pawn of God,
and I couldn’t have acted in any way different than the way I have acted.”
However, even Israel never resorted to such a charge. Instead, God had insisted
that He gave Israel everything that
they needed to live uprightly:
·
“What more was there to do for my vineyard
[Israel], that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why
did it yield wild grapes [unrighteousness]?” (Isaiah 5:4; Jeremiah 2:5)
If God had withheld the gift of freewill from Israel, Israel
could have easily charged, “You withheld from us freewill, and so we are not
morally responsible, and You are not just for judging us.” Although Israel had
charged God with many injustices, they never charged Him with this one. Why
not? It probably seemed too ludicrous to them. Why? Because it is so obvious and
undeniable to all of us that we make freewill choices! The mugger never says to
his victim, “I couldn’t help but mug you.” Or, “God knew that I would mug you,
and I had to act according to God’s foreknowledge and ordination.”
Here is another explicit portrait of how freewill human
intentions work in accordance with God’s sovereign plan:
·
But Joseph said to them [his brothers], “Do not
fear, for am I in the place of God? As
for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it
about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:19-20)
The brothers were guilty for their treachery against Joseph,
but Joseph claimed that he wasn’t in the place of God to judge them. Instead,
he acknowledged that through their act of treachery, God had shown grace to all
of them.
Likewise, the Apostles had acknowledged that Jesus was
crucified according to God’s plan, and yet the perpetrators weren’t mere pawns.
Instead, they were guilty of their crime (Acts 4:26-29).
Consequently, we don’t have choose between either the
freewill/moral responsibility of humanity and the sovereign determination of
God. Nor need we deny one of the other. Although the mechanics are perplexing,
it seems that they both work together.
Nevertheless, there are verses that teach that we cannot
come to God unless He draws us. These seem to suggest that our freewill is
highly attenuated. Indeed, freewill is a relative commodity. The comatose,
addicted, and infants have less freewill than others. As we lose freewill as we
become addicted to drugs, so too can we lose our freewill as sin controls our
lives, we become slaves to sin.
Consequently, I don’t regard these verses as arguments
against freewill but an acknowledgment of a loss of freewill. Consequently, I
thank God for awakening me from my self-imposed blindness and rejection of Him.
In summary, the Bible insists that we are relatively free
and responsible moral agents who will ultimately be judged for our choices.
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