The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Who does the believing and repenting?

1) God has indeed commanded all men to obey His commands/commandments. The primary commandments are summed up as: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." However, what you have not considered and that which the Bible also teaches is that a command given does not imply that man is capable to obey that command. Rather what the Bible teaches is that God has the authority (right) to command His creatures to do whatever He pleases. And, all men are responsible to do all that is commanded of him, regardless whether or not he is capable of obeying. (see below)

2) Men have always been "free" to obey all that God has commanded according to his nature! Man's freedom is, first of all, restricted and determined by his nature (aka: inclination). Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a holy nature, i.e., they were inclined toward God and all that is good. Thus they had the ability to obey God's commandments, since they were predisposed to all that was good. However, and this is where most people err, after Adam transgressed the explicit command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because of their sin, the punishment promised for disobedience was put on them. This punishment was "death"; physical, spiritual and eternal death. And it is the noetic affects of the Fall (aka: Original Sin) which is most often ignored and/or flatly denied. This "Original Sin" consisted of two elements: a) Guilt: violation of the explicit commandment to not eat of the fruit resulted in Adam and all his progeny to be guilty before God (Rom 5:12-18). Thus, all men are under the wrath of God and liable to judgment (eternal death). b) Corruption of Nature: also known as spiritual death (Eph 2:1-3; et al) immediately came upon Adam at the moment he sinned and can be seen in his hiding, lying, casting blame, etc. This corruption of nature radically changed Adam's disposition/predisposition. As said before, when Adam was created, his nature was inclined toward God and all that was good. After he sinned, he experienced spiritual death so that his inclination/predisposition was inclined against God and toward all that was evil. (Gen 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; 15:14-16; Ps 51:5; Eccl 9:3; Jer 17:9; Rom 3:10-18; Eph 4:17-19; et al) What this shows is that man's "freedom" was restricted according to that which he deemed desirable. A simple example might be seen by considering that a lion, for example, has no ability to fly or to do commerce, etc., because it has no desire (inclination/predisposition) whatsoever to fly or to start a business, etc. Men always do that which is most desirable to them at any given moment and in any given circumstance. Since men hate the light and love sin (Jh 3:18, 19), they cannot obey God because they will not obey God. The will is under the total influence and control of man's intellect and affections. No man can be forced to do what he has determined not to do.

John Gerstner gave this most illustrative example when he said, "I can be sitting here at my desk writing and a man can come in and put a gun to my head and threaten me with, 'Either stop writing or I'll shoot you!'. Even in such a radical situation, I still have freedom of choice; either stop writing or stop living. The choices may not be to my liking, but nevertheless I still have a choice. If my strongest desire is to go on writing, that is exactly what I will do. If my strongest desire is to go on living, they I will put down my pen. But regardless, there is nothing the man with the gun can do to force my will. He can only limit my choices.

Thus, because man since the Fall is "totally depraved" (possesses a corrupt nature) his choices are limited and determined by that nature, but he is still "free" to choose which sin he will think, say or do. Man is totally able/capable of committing any sin but he is not "free" (able/capable) of doing that which is good and right or loving God. Such things are most despicable to him and no amount of preaching, pleading, reasoning, etc., will ever convince him to change his mind any more than one could convince a lion to fly or to start a business. The ONLY way any man will ever repent of his sins and believe upon Christ is if he first undergoes a radical change of nature. And this is exactly what happens when God by His immeasurable grace sends His Spirit to regenerate a man's soul. He is thus "born anew". And this new nature created within him gives him the ability to comprehend his sinfulness, his guiltiness before God, the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, a love for God, and the understanding to know that the Lord Jesus Christ through His atonement is his only hope.

In His grace,