The Will of Man -
Excerpt from J. Preston Eby
At this point I wish to share some
searching and enlightening words penned by a servant of
the Lord more than sixty-five years ago. "Concerning
the nature and the power of man's will, the
greatest confusion prevails today, and the most erroneous
views are held, even by many of God's children.
The popular idea now prevailing, which is taught from the
great majority of pulpits, is that man has a 'free will,'
and that salvation comes to the sinner through his will
co-operating with the Holy Spirit. To deny the 'free will' of man,
i.e. his power to choose that which is good,
his native ability to accept Christ, is to bring
one into disfavor at once, even before most of those who
profess to be orthodox. And yet Scripture emphatically says,
'It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs,
but of God that shows mercy' (Rom. 9:16).
Which shall we believe: God, or the preachers?
"But does not Scripture say,
'Whosoever will may come'? It does, but does this mean
that everybody has the will to come? What of those
who won't come? 'Whosoever will may come' no more
implies that fallen man has the power in himself to
come, than 'Stretch forth Your hand' implies that the man
with the withered arm had the inherent ability in himself to comply.
It should be obvious that the ability came from the One who
spoke the word: 'Stretch forth your hand.' In and Of himself the
natural man has power to reject Christ; but in and of himself he has not the power
to receive Christ. And why? Because he has a mind that is
'enmity against' Him (Rom. 8:7); because he has a hear that hates Him (Jn. 15:18).
Man chooses that which is according to his nature, and therefore before he will
ever choose or prefer that which is divine and spiritual, a new nature
must be imparted to him; in other words, he must be born again.
"Let me appeal to the actual
experience of the reader of these lines. Was there not a
time when you were unwilling to come to Christ? There was.
Since then you have come to Him. Are you now
prepared to give Him all the glory for that (Ps 115:1)?
Do you not acknowledge that you came to Christ
because the Holy Spirit brought you from unwillingness to willingness?
You do. Then is it not also a patent fact that the Holy Spirit
has not done in many others what He has
done in you! Granting that many others have heard the
Gospel, been shown their need of Christ, yet, they are
still unwilling to come to Him. Thus He has
wrought more in you, than in them. Do you answer?
'Yet I remember well the time when the word of salvation was
presented to me, and my conscience testifies that my
will acted and that I yielded to the claims of Christ upon me.'
Quite true. But before you 'yielded,' the Holy Spirit
overcame the native enmity of your mind against God,
and this enmity He does not overcome in all at this time.
Should it be said, that is because they are
unwilling for their enmity to be overcome?
Ah, none are thus 'willing' till He has put forth
His all-mighty power and wrought
a miracle of grace in the heart.
"But let us now inquire, What is the human Will?
Is it a self-determining agent, or is it, in turn,
determined by something else? Is it sovereign or servant?
Is the will superior to every other faculty of our being
so that it governs them, or is it moved by their impulses
and subject to their pleasure? Does the will rule the mind,
or does the mind control the will? Is the will
free to do as it pleases, or is it under the necessity
of rendering obedience to something outside of itself?
"What is the Will? We answer, the will is the
faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action.
Choice necessarily implies the refusal of one
thing and the acceptance of another. The positive and the
negative must both be present to the mind before
there can be any choice. In every act of the will
there is a preference - the desiring of one thing rather
than another. Where there is no preference, but complete
indifference, there is no volition. To will is to choose,
and to choose is to decide between two or more
alternatives. But there is something which influences
the choice; something which determines the decision.
Hence the will cannot be sovereign because it
is the servant of that something. The will cannot be both
sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect.
The will is not causative, because, as we have said,
something causes it TO CHOOSE, therefore
that something must be the causative agent.
Choice itself is affected by certain considerations,
is determined by various influences
brought to bear upon the individual himself,
hence, volition is the effect of these
considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must
be their servant; and if the will is their servant
then it is not sovereign. If the will is not sovereign,
we certainly cannot predicate absolute 'freedom' of it.
Continued at link.
Source: Man Is A Free Moral Agent: Just What Do You Mean Man is A Free Moral Agent; The Sinner Must Decide; The Shepherd Seeks The Sheep; The Will Of Man; I Will Draw All Men Unto Me; By One Man
Excerpt from J. Preston Eby
At this point I wish to share some
searching and enlightening words penned by a servant of
the Lord more than sixty-five years ago. "Concerning
the nature and the power of man's will, the
greatest confusion prevails today, and the most erroneous
views are held, even by many of God's children.
The popular idea now prevailing, which is taught from the
great majority of pulpits, is that man has a 'free will,'
and that salvation comes to the sinner through his will
co-operating with the Holy Spirit. To deny the 'free will' of man,
i.e. his power to choose that which is good,
his native ability to accept Christ, is to bring
one into disfavor at once, even before most of those who
profess to be orthodox. And yet Scripture emphatically says,
'It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs,
but of God that shows mercy' (Rom. 9:16).
Which shall we believe: God, or the preachers?
"But does not Scripture say,
'Whosoever will may come'? It does, but does this mean
that everybody has the will to come? What of those
who won't come? 'Whosoever will may come' no more
implies that fallen man has the power in himself to
come, than 'Stretch forth Your hand' implies that the man
with the withered arm had the inherent ability in himself to comply.
It should be obvious that the ability came from the One who
spoke the word: 'Stretch forth your hand.' In and Of himself the
natural man has power to reject Christ; but in and of himself he has not the power
to receive Christ. And why? Because he has a mind that is
'enmity against' Him (Rom. 8:7); because he has a hear that hates Him (Jn. 15:18).
Man chooses that which is according to his nature, and therefore before he will
ever choose or prefer that which is divine and spiritual, a new nature
must be imparted to him; in other words, he must be born again.
"Let me appeal to the actual
experience of the reader of these lines. Was there not a
time when you were unwilling to come to Christ? There was.
Since then you have come to Him. Are you now
prepared to give Him all the glory for that (Ps 115:1)?
Do you not acknowledge that you came to Christ
because the Holy Spirit brought you from unwillingness to willingness?
You do. Then is it not also a patent fact that the Holy Spirit
has not done in many others what He has
done in you! Granting that many others have heard the
Gospel, been shown their need of Christ, yet, they are
still unwilling to come to Him. Thus He has
wrought more in you, than in them. Do you answer?
'Yet I remember well the time when the word of salvation was
presented to me, and my conscience testifies that my
will acted and that I yielded to the claims of Christ upon me.'
Quite true. But before you 'yielded,' the Holy Spirit
overcame the native enmity of your mind against God,
and this enmity He does not overcome in all at this time.
Should it be said, that is because they are
unwilling for their enmity to be overcome?
Ah, none are thus 'willing' till He has put forth
His all-mighty power and wrought
a miracle of grace in the heart.
"But let us now inquire, What is the human Will?
Is it a self-determining agent, or is it, in turn,
determined by something else? Is it sovereign or servant?
Is the will superior to every other faculty of our being
so that it governs them, or is it moved by their impulses
and subject to their pleasure? Does the will rule the mind,
or does the mind control the will? Is the will
free to do as it pleases, or is it under the necessity
of rendering obedience to something outside of itself?
"What is the Will? We answer, the will is the
faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action.
Choice necessarily implies the refusal of one
thing and the acceptance of another. The positive and the
negative must both be present to the mind before
there can be any choice. In every act of the will
there is a preference - the desiring of one thing rather
than another. Where there is no preference, but complete
indifference, there is no volition. To will is to choose,
and to choose is to decide between two or more
alternatives. But there is something which influences
the choice; something which determines the decision.
Hence the will cannot be sovereign because it
is the servant of that something. The will cannot be both
sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect.
The will is not causative, because, as we have said,
something causes it TO CHOOSE, therefore
that something must be the causative agent.
Choice itself is affected by certain considerations,
is determined by various influences
brought to bear upon the individual himself,
hence, volition is the effect of these
considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must
be their servant; and if the will is their servant
then it is not sovereign. If the will is not sovereign,
we certainly cannot predicate absolute 'freedom' of it.
Continued at link.
Source: Man Is A Free Moral Agent: Just What Do You Mean Man is A Free Moral Agent; The Sinner Must Decide; The Shepherd Seeks The Sheep; The Will Of Man; I Will Draw All Men Unto Me; By One Man
