Term of the Week

Once a week I receive an email with a theological term. At one point I used to receive an email with a word of the day, that gave some obscure word and its definition. That helped me expand my vocabulary, but this helps expand my understanding not only of theological terms, but also of scripture. The term not only comes with a brief explanation, but also an extensive article citing its scriptural backing.

Tomorrow we will be attending our last Reformation Night. Once a month for the last 9 month, several folks from the Chapel community who are Reformed in theology have gotten together to share a meal and have a lively discussion on differing topics. We listen to a discussion on CD and then discuss the issues they have brought up. Though we all generally hold to the Reformed theology and the doctrines of grace, we all come from differing backgrounds and so it is always fun to agree and disagree while seeking to understand what scripture is saying. We have discussed things like, justification, imputation, original sin, law vs. grace. It is so fun. I love Reformation Night. Tomorrow our topic is “Who Saves Whom? What About Free Will”. SO, in light of our topic I have decided to post the brief definition of “Free Will” I received via email. If you want the see the article with the scriptural backing, you can visit the White Horse Inn and look for an article with the above mentioned title.

Big Religious Term: "Free Will"

The essence of free will is choosing according to our desires. The will is free to choose whatever it desires. With regard to salvation, the question then becomes, what do fallen human beings desire? Jonathan Edwards said that as fallen human beings we retain our "natural freedom" (the power to act according to our desires), but lose our "moral freedom" (the disposition, inclination, and desire of the soul for righteousness). In the Fall, we lost all desire for God. But because we can still choose according to our desires, we choose to sin and are accountable to the judgment of God. In this sense, the freedom of our will is a curse. All human beings desire to flee from God unless and until the Holy Spirit performs a work of regeneration. That regeneration changes our desires so that we will freely repent and be saved.

This understanding of human free will is not deterministic because determinism teaches that our actions are completely controlled by something external to us, making us do what we don't want to do. This is coercion and is opposed to freedom. How can our choices be determined but not coerced? Because they are determined by something within -- by what we are and by what we desire. They are determined by ourselves. This is self-determination, which is the very essence of freedom.