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NASB | Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, |
Subject: Of the Freedom of the Will |
Bible Note: The old divines used Matthew 17:12; James 1:14; Deuteronomy 30:19. I tacked it on Deuteronomy 30:19 because it was one of their verses, but was lacking any notes to date. The Westminster divines, some 45 years earlier (1656), worded it as follows, using the same proof texts: "God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil." Westminster Confession of Faith 9.1 The Savoy Declaration (1658), Congregational Church of England, worded it, with only slight change in punctuation, and the same proof texts: "God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined to do good or evil." Savoy Declaration 9.1 You might find greater comfort with Augustine's statement: "“For when [God] has foreknowledge of our will, it is going to be the will that He has foreknown... Therefore, the will is going to be a will because God has foreknowledge of it. Nor can it be a will if it is not in our power. Therefore, God also has knowledge of our power over it. So the power is not taken from me by His foreknowledge; but because of His foreknowledge, the power to will will more certainly be present in me, since God whose foreknowledge does not err, has foreknown that I shall have the power." On the Free Will (sometime in the 4th century). This would also be how Open Theism's theodicy would prefer it. The Remonstrants, citing Jacob Harmensen (1560-1609), wrote the following: "Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man’s freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man’s freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God’s Spirit and be regenerated or resist God’s grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit’s assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man’s act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner’s gift to God; it is man’s contribution to salvation." But without citing any verses. It is such a blessing to read through all of this as our Lord works the truth through His church. |