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 If
asked to name the ONE main doctrinal difference in N. T.
Christians and nominal Christians of the world — a little
discussed, poorly understood concept would vie for the place. We
refer to the nature of man, his power of choice, FREE AGENCY.
The
"masses" of nominal Christians claim to believe in
free will, but their theologians deny it. Doctrines to which
many hold can not be maintained if man is truly a free agent;
and the exegetes know this, even when the laymen do not. Those
who give lip-service to free will may be unaware of their
inconsistency, or taken in by the double-talk used in discussion
of the subject. Many others have not recognized the relation of
what they are supposed to believe to doctrines that fathered
these concepts.
Augustine
(354-430), influenced by his own struggle with sin, concluded
that man was so far depraved as to be incapable of implementing
his move toward God. (Theorist have a field day speculating
about man before the fall, etc., but we are concerned with Joe
Dokes, now.) We believe God made man capable of saying
"Yes" or “No” to His will; that he has
consistently dealt with man on this basis (before and after the
"fall"), and that Jesus Christ is freely offered as
the remedy for sin to all mankind, effective to
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each particular
individual only as that individual wills, consents, and seeks to
obey. (We believe "faith" is man's response to divine
evidence; not some "work of grace" that God puts into
man irrespective of man's will.) God's sovereignty will be
vindicated in final judgment, when man must answer for his
"No" --- but for now, the choice is up to man. This is
not equivalent to man's saving himself, for "all have
sinned and come short...." (Rom. 3:23); and can stand free
of guilt only through forgiveness, made possible by Jesus
Christ. Christ is the means of redemption, but it is man's
choice as to whether he uses that means or refuses it. There is
no human element in the provision of means of redemption, but we
must meet the divinely ordained condition. This is not a
question of what God could de, but a question of what His word
says he will do; and that is all we can know about it.
Concepts
of Adamic sin that deprive man of this capability; of the direct
operation of God's Spirit in man's conversion; of the
"enabling" indwelling Spirit in his understanding of
the word, or Christian life; or any other concept that negates
the free agency which God saw fit to give man; is an affront to
God's revelation of His will in His word.
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