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NASB | Romans 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 9:16 So then God's choice is not dependent on human will, nor on human effort [the totality of human striving], but on God who shows mercy [to whomever He chooses--it is His sovereign gift]. |
Subject: Free will, or ? |
Bible Note: Hi, Lionstrong... I hope you are doing well... and continue to be as strong as a lion! Many modern teachers try to reduce the problem of "free will" to having the choice to turn left or turn right, to have eggs for breakfast, or cereal, etc. That entirely avoids the actual historic question in the church as to what we mean by free will. By dumbing it down to something as simplistic as this, who would possibly adhere to such a view? In theology we understand free will as meaning, the "ability to make choices without any prior prejudice, inclination, or disposition." The crux of the matter is the nature of the one making the choice. Keeping it simple for everyone, we might ask, for example, does a cat have the freedom of will to be bird? Does a man have the freedom of will to be a tree? The Bible states quite clearly that anything and anyone can only be what their nature allows them to be. God makes it quite plain through his prophet Jeremiah: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23) Over and over we see things like this: Solomon said, "Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him." (Proverbs 27:22) Christ said, "For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit." (Luke 6:43) Again, the Word says quite clearly, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." Paul, in his systematic theology, the epistle to the Romans, quite clearly assert that redemption is a matter of God's choice, not man's choice. Men do not share in God's glory. What a man earns by his choices are wages, while what God grants is a gift (Romans 6:23). Nothing could be more plain. Why, even God Himself, cannot do that which is contrary to His will (Titus 1:2; Proverbs 8:23-21; etc. etc.) For all of this I am exceedingly grateful, even beyond my ability to express it. If it were left to me, I would still be lost son of Jacob, resisting God continually. But God intervened on my behalf, freeing me from my hatred of Him, and creating a new creature... that I might choose Him and His will above all else. In Him, Doc |