“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” (Psalm 115:3)
Free Will vs Free Agency
- Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God; but that state was mutable, or changeable so that he was able to fall from it.
- Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has entirely lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; therefore, as a natural man, being altogether averse to that good, and dead in sin, he is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself or to prepare himself for salvation.
- When God converts a sinner and translates him into the state of grace, He frees him from his natural bondage under sin, and by His grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet, by reason of his remaining corruption, he also wills that which is evil.
- The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only. Any study of the will of man is incomplete without some explanation of the difference between free will and free agency. I am using free as meaning “independent, sovereign, autonomous,” that is, “not subject to the rule or control of another.”
An agent is “one who acts, performs an act, or has the power to act—a moving force.”
Man is a free moral agent, but he does not have a free will. Man is only free to act according to his nature, and he was born with a sinful nature (see Ps 51:5).
Spurgeon says: “The predestination of God does not destroy the free agency of man, or lighten the responsibility of the sinner” (Sermons, Vol. 18, p. 30).
Free will, is a term that you will hear a lot, in fact, it is used so often within the church that most people have a completely wrong idea of what it is. Advocates of “free will” believe that to reject free will is to reject personal responsibility or personal choice. In fact, they will then say that those who question free will would make God be a dictator or puppeteer.
These ideas are the result of a general ignorance of what biblical free will is, and a lack of scriptural understanding of the Sovereignty of God.
Free will is defined as ..”The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will” So the question is who actually has free will to do all that they will without restraint?
I tell people, “If you have free will then go to Hawaii right now. Go, now.” They look at me and say,“well I would like to but I have no money”, or “ I would if I could”. Exactly, for only God can do and be anywhere He desires at any time with no restrictions. Again, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” (Psalm 115:3)
Free agency is not to be confused with “free will.” Because of the fall, men have lost their ability—the will—to obey God, but they are just as responsible to God to obey perfectly His commands.
I however have retains upon me, physical, financial, time, and many more. But however, I can make decisions within my given circumstance, and for those decisions, I am responsible for my choices and have to answer for the consequences. I can choose as I desire without external pressure given the restraints of my present environment. That is called FREE AGENCY.
I can make any decision I want, and I am responsible for those decisions, I am free to make those decisions, and choose as I wish, given the restraints of my present situation.
I am a free agent to make decisions bound in my fallen sinful state. I am dead spiritually, and within that state of being dead and all that entails, I can do as I want, choose as I want and I am responsible for those actions. A sinner is going to hell, not because God did not choose him, but rather because he did not choose Christ.
Of course, since salvation is by grace alone, the natural man needs the work of grace in his life to awaken him, convict him, and draw him to the place of decision.
For as Paul says..”There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. “ Romans 3:10,11 and “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” Ephesians 3:7
Grace is what makes a sinner who given his sinful, spiritually dead state and enables us to repent and consciously choose to acknowledge our sin having been convicted by the Holy Spirit.
We are never forced to come to Christ, we choose too, with a desire that only grace can create. Being drawn by the Holy Spirit, having faith instilled in us, we who are dead are made alive with Him, for we are free agents to do His will.