The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Free Will compatible with Sovereignty

"Free Will" as historically defined by non-Reformed churches, sects, cults, etc. is the ability of a person to choose whatever he wants/desires without restriction. They believe that the "will" is an independent part of man and determines all that a person will and can do.

The Bible and historically, the creeds and confessions of the original churches that were part of the Protestant Reformation and those that followed them rejected the Arminian/semi-Pelagian doctrine of "Free Will" because it violates the doctrine of "Total Depravity/Inability". Jonathan Edwards, in his treatise, "The Freedom of the Will", correctly stated that man is free to choose whatever he so desires according to his nature. Thus, an unregenerate person will ALWAYS choose that which is evil and contrary to the will of God because they are spiritually dead.

Martin Luther preceding Edwards understood this same truth which he wrote most marvelously in his well known book, The Bondage of the Will.

The "secondary causes" are simply God in His providence using situations, things, etc., to determine the 'path' of individuals, whether good or bad to accomplish His 'good pleasure (indeterminate council) (cf. Prov 16:9; Isa 46:9-11; Acts 2:22-24; et al).