If the free will of man is so apparent as a doctrine, can it be as fully explained through scripture as the Trinity? With many of the people I have discussed this with, free will is always assumed and never even demonstrated through scripture, at most they only offer verses that deal with an individual making choices but never demonstrate free will. Sadly, most equivocate when using the term or they do not understand that a denial of free will is not a denial of an ability to make choices. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us that God's mercy and compassion on man is not based on the will or exertion of man but rather on God, Rom. 9:16. This follows right after the demonstration of God's purpose of election in verse 11. Here, Paul establishes that God's election of Jacob over Esau was not based on the works of either since the election was before either had done anything good or bad. This verse too follows after Ch.3 v 11-12, where Paul tells us that there are none righteous, none seek after God and that none do good... not even one.
Who then is sovereign? Is man? Is God? Are they both sovereign or do they both work together to secure salvation? If then God alone is sovereign then His election to salvation is not based on anything outside of God including mans choices. If salvation is based on the free will choices of man then God is no longer sovereign since His election to salvation is now dependent upon man's free will choice. If then salvation is wholly dependent upon man choosing then the work of Christ on the cross has been made void and empty until that very day that man decided to choose. The propitiatory sacrifice is no longer a perfect work that saves to the uttermost rather it only makes salvation a possibility which is only effective when and if man so chooses.
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Alright, I'll bite; I don't have a complete grasp of the theology here, so please forgive my naive terminology. The understanding I've come to is that God knowingly created man with the natural inclination to sin and desire to choose to be selfish over selfless [Genesis 8:21].
From the start, God also created the framework of redemption whereby sinful man could be reconciled to God: through the blood of Christ, the perfect form or pattern of redemption [Revelation 13:8], which was first revealed through the Law.
God's will exists on a sovereign level and a moral level, but not on an individual level [cf. Garry Friesen]. We can choose to make choices based on the wisdom of God's moral will, i.e. the Bible, or continue in a selfish manner without his guidance.
God has given us the moral wisdom to accept his unmerited gift of salvation, but we still have to choose to accept that gift. Our salvation is not secure until we confess our innate sinfulness and ask to be expiated by the blood of Christ, accepting him as Lord.
With this acceptance in mind, we begin to be transformed so that our thoughts and actions are not guided by reaction and impulse and human pretension, however well intentioned, but by the discipline of obeying God [Romans 12:2].
Finally, the free will of a Christian is not the freedom to make any choice that we care to, but the freedom to make the only choice of forcing every thought to be a captive prisoner of Christ and subject to His sovereign will.
Whew... that was a ramble and I do apologize for that. If you can make sense of it and offer any response or corrective, I'd be appreciative. If there are theological "tags" that fit that position, I would surely appreciate knowing them, as I'm still an infant in theological tradition.
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