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On Free Will | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. It is great to be here.
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So I want to start today by asking you a direct question.
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If you literally cannot avoid committing a crime, are you
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still guilty of it? Well, I mean, your modern
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sensibilities probably scream No, of course not.
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That would be entirely unjust. Right.
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If someone physically forces your hand to steal something,
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you are a victim, not a thief. Yes, and opponents of Reformed
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theology use that precise logic to argue for human free will in
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matters of salvation. They claim that necessity
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cancels out guilt. I mean, they argue that if you
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are bound by necessity to sin, God cannot hold you responsible
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for that sin. But today, in our deep dive into
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the source material, we're going to unpack why that logical
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assumption, though seemingly airtight to the natural mind,
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fundamentally misrepresents human nature.
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Yeah, we're looking directly at excerpts from John Calvin's
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Institutes of the Christian Religion, specifically his
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rigorous refutation of argument supporting free will.
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That opening question strikes right at the core of what John
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Calvin addresses in these sections.
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Calvin's stated goal here is to tear down what he calls the
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false opinion of liberty. Oh wow, the false opinion of
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liberty. Right.
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He views this belief in free will not as something that
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elevates human dignity, but as a false assurance that actually
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leads people to absolute ruin. So he does this by
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systematically untangling the logical fallacies of his
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opponents and, you know, correcting their misinterpreted
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Bible verses. Exactly, I mean spot on.
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He rests heavily on the theology of Augustine, the 5th century
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Bishop of Hippo. Augustine fought the same
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battles against a British monk named Pelagius.
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Which means Calvin is not introducing a novel 16th century
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idea here. No, not at all.
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He is defending the historic biblical understanding of human
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depravity and divine grace. He shows us that the will of man
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is not like a neutral faculty hovering between good and evil,
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waiting to make a pristine choice.
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Right. Instead, without the direct
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intervention of God's grace, the human will is entirely enslaved
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to sin. And yet this enslavement does
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not absolve anyone of guilt. It really does not.
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So let us investigate Calvin's initial response to this
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widespread claim that sin must be avoidable to be classified as
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sin. Well, Calvin points out that
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Pelagius used this very argument against Augustine over 1000
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years prior. The opponent set up a dichotomy
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saying if sin is necessary necessary it ceases to be sin,
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and if it is voluntary it may be avoided.
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Yeah, they are suggesting that necessity and voluntary action
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are mutually exclusive categories.
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Like if you do something necessarily you didn't volunteer
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for it. And if you volunteered for it,
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it wasn't necessary. But Calvin flatly denies both
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inferences. He does.
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He argues that human inability to choose good comes from the
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corruption of nature, not from creation.
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Right. God did not create man as a
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slave to sin. Adam voluntarily subjected
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himself to the tyranny of the devil.
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You see this dynamic with addiction all the time.
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Think of a person entirely consumed by a severe substance
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addiction. Oh, that is a really good
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analogy. Yeah, they're acting
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voluntarily. No one is physically forcing
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their hand to engage in their destructive behavior.
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But they are bound by a necessity created by their
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condition. They aren't free, but they're
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willing participants. I mean, they choose the object
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of their addiction because their nature craves it, yet they are
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completely incapable of choosing sobriety on their own.
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Yes, they act out of necessity, but they do so willingly.
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That addiction analogy perfectly captures Calvin's distinction
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between doing something voluntarily and having free
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choice. It is a massive distinction.
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It is the opponents make a vicious logical leap, as Calvin
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notes, from voluntary to free. They assume that because an
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action is willing, the actor must possess the capacity to
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choose the opposite. And Calvin dismantles this
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assumption by looking at 2 extreme, undeniable examples
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from Scripture, the Devil and the elect angels.
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OK, let us consider the devil first.
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Right. The devil acts by necessity.
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He must do evil because his nature is entirely corrupt.
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He cannot wake up tomorrow and decide to do a genuinely good
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deed out of love for God. No, of course not.
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Yet, does anyone argue that the devil sins involuntarily?
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Or does anyone say the devil is a victim of his own nature?
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No, he sins willingly with his entire being.
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He delights in his rebellion. Right.
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His will is entirely engaged in the evil he commits, even though
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he's incapable of doing anything else.
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Yes, he is bound by his own malice.
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And on the flip side, look at the elect angels and even God
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himself. Precisely.
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God must do good. His nature dictates that he
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cannot decline from goodness. He cannot lie, He cannot sin.
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He is bound by the necessity of his own holy nature, yet does
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God do good involuntarily? Right.
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Are the elect angels forced against their will to worship
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God? No, they do good voluntarily.
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Their necessity to do good does not destroy their will, it
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perfects it. Therefore, if the highest good
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God himself acts by necessity and the lowest evil acts by
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necessity, the argument collapses it.
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Collapses entirely the argument that necessity eliminates
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voluntary action just does not hold.
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Up the corruption by which we are held bound originated in the
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first Man's revolt. We inherited that corrupt
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nature. And so we shouldn't necessarily.
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We cannot do otherwise, but we do so because we love the sin.
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Our necessity is voluntary, which, as Bernard of Clairvaux
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noted, makes us all the more miserable.
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We are willing slaves. That distinction between
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voluntary and free choice is absolutely vital.
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We choose what we want, but our want is entirely broken our.
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Appetites are corrupt. Now the opponents bring in a
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second argument, one barred from the philosopher Aristotle and.
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Later weaponized by the Pelagians, Yes.
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They say that a virtue and vice do not proceed from free choice.
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Then rewards and punishments make no sense.
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Think. About it from a human justice
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perspective, if we are just acting out our corrupted nature,
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why punish us? And on the flip side, if we do
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good only because God's grace compels us, why reward us,
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Calvin? Addresses the punishment aspect
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quite simply it. Does he says punishment is
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inflicted on those by whom the guilt is contracted it.
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Does not matter if you sin with a free or an enslaved judgement,
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as long as you sin voluntarily you.
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Are punished because you committed the treason,
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regardless of whether your corrupt nature made that treason
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inevitable. But.
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The reward aspect is where the theology gets incredibly
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beautiful it. Really does.
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If virtue requires free choice, opponents say rewards make no
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sense. But.
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Calvin quotes Augustine extensively here, and this
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phrase should be written on the heart of every believer.
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What? Is the quote.
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God crowns his own gifts, not your merits.
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Yes, I guess his articulation here is breathtaking, and it
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cuts right through the pride of the human heart.
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The opponents think it is absurd that good works do not spring
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from free will as their proper source.
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They. Worry that if free will is
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denied, there is no place for human merit.
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They want to hold on to some small sliver of credit for their
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salvation or their sanctification.
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But. Augustin and Calvin both ask a
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devastating question. What is human merit?
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We are. Nothing in ourselves.
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Sin is ours, merit is God's. When?
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God gives a reward to a believer.
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He is simply recompensing the grace he previously bestowed.
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It is. Grace upon grace, God
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anticipates all our merit with His gifts to manifest his own
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glory and. To give what is absolutely free
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it. Almost feels like a parent
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giving a child money so the child can buy the parent a
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birthday present. Oh.
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I like that, yeah. The child hands the present to
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the parent, and the parent praises the child for being so
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generous the. Child didn't originate the
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wealth, but the parent delights in the transaction anyway that.
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Is a wonderful way to look at it to.
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Claim that we need free will to earn rewards is to misunderstand
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the gospel at a basic level. Tells the Corinthians, If thou
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didst receive it, why does thou glory as if thou hadst not
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received it? Calvin points out that
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everything is denied to free will for the very purpose of
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leaving no room for merit. The.
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Human ego desperately wants to contribute to the equation.
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Yet the liberality of God is so vast that He bestows grace upon
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us, makes it our own, produces the good works in US, and.
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Then rewards us as if the virtuous acts originated
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independently from us it. Is a staggering display of
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divine kindness. He gives the grace, he does the
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work, and then he gives us the crown.
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Well, that staggering display kindness leads me to ask a
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practical question, one I'm sure you are pondering as you listen.
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OK. What is it if?
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Our default state is a slave to sin.
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If we are completely bound by this voluntary necessity to do
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evil, how does anyone ever end up doing good?
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That is the big question if. We all share the exact same
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corrupted nature inherited from Adam.
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Why do some people believe the gospel and others do not?
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Right. The opponents of this doctrine,
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like John Chrysostom in the past, argued that if our will
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lacks the capacity to choose good, then all who share the
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same nature must be alike good or alike bad.
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They. Claim that unless God leaves us
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in a mutable state where our free will decides the outcome,
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everyone would end up in the exact same condition.
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So. If we are all dead in sin, why
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are some saved? Calvin addresses this objection
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by bringing in the glorious truth of divine unconditional
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election. He.
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Expresses outright astonishment that theologians could blunder
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so badly on this point. How?
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Did it fail to occur to them that it is divine election that
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distinguishes among individuals? Calvin.
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Agrees with the premise that all, without exception, are
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depraved and given over to wickedness.
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We. All naturally suffer from the
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same fatal disease. Every single human being is born
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a willing rebel. However, through the sovereign
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mercy of God, all do not continue in that wickedness.
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It is God's healing hand that makes the distinction, not human
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free will, He. Applies his cure to some while
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leaving others to their chosen corruption.
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And he leaves them to what they actually want.
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He does not force the reprobate to sin against their will, no.
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He simply gives them over to the desires of their own hearts.
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Absolutely. Those whom he passes over simply
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pine and rot away in the disease.
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They love the. Only reason some persevere to
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the end while others fall away is that the Lord by His mighty
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strength sustains the former, so they do not perish while.
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He leaves the latter as monuments of instability.
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Calvin leans heavily on Romans 8.30 here, whom he predestinated
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them he also called in. Whom he called them he also
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justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified.
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Notice. The unbroken chain of divine
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action merit has no place in that chain the.
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Distinction between the believer and the unbeliever rests
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entirely in the sovereign mercy of God, not.
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In the fluctuating, inherently corrupt decisions of the human
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will if. Salvation relied on our free
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will. No one would ever be saved
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because a corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit.
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OK. So now that we've established
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that humans lack free choice for good, and that salvation is
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entirely reliant on divine election, we have to address the
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most obvious, glaring objection that arises it.
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Is the first thing anyone asks when they encounter reformed
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theology if. We lack the strength to follow
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God's commands. Why does God constantly issue
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commands in the Bible? Right.
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The opponents argue that exhortations are vain, warnings
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are superfluous, and rebukes are absurd if the Sinner possesses
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no capacity to obey them if. God tells us to be holy.
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He must assume we have the ability to be holy.
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Otherwise the command makes no sense.
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It would be entirely irrational. This.
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Is perhaps the most common objection raised against the
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doctrine of total depravity when.
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Similar objections were urged against Augustine by monks in
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Aduminum. He wrote a specific treatise to
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dispose of them. Yes.
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Decorepcione A gracia, which translates to on rebuke and
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grace the. Monks were arguing that if grace
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is sovereign and humans lack free will, you shouldn't rebuke
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a brother when he sins you. Should just pray that God gives
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him grace the. Substance of Gustin's answer,
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which Calvin adopts entirely, is brilliant in its clarity.
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Gustin says. Oh man, learn from the precept
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what you ought to do. Learn from correction that it is
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your own fault you have not the ability, and learn in prayer
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whence it is, that you may receive the ability.
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Let's. Break down those 3 clauses
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because they are so dense. OK, learn from the precept what
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you want to do. That means the law sets the
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standard of perfection, right? And then learn from correction
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that it is your own fault. You have not the ability that.
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Goes back to Adam. We broke ourselves.
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God didn't make us broken and. Finally, learn in prayer whence
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it is it is that you may receive the ability.
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The command drives us to our knees.
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Spot on. The commands are not given to
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prove what we can do, but to show us what we cannot do.
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Calvin. Notes that Christ himself
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declared without me you can do nothing.
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In John 15.5 he didn't. Say, without me, you can only do
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a little bit, he said. Nothing yet.
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Did Christ cease to exhort his disciples to good works?
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Did the Apostle Paul stop warning and rebuking the
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Corinthians for their severe lack of charity even?
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While he prayed that God would give them that very charity, no.
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Scripture constantly demands things that God alone can
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supply. The opponents want to accuse God
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of making sport with men demanding things they cannot
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perform. But they failed to realize that
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doctrine, exhortation and rebuke are the very instruments God
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uses to accomplish His sovereign will in the elect it.
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Feels counterintuitive to the natural mind.
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Let. Me translate this into a modern
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setting please. Do if.
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A high school math teacher hands out an exam with equations that
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require graduate level calculus, knowing full well that the
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students only know basic algebra.
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Isn't that just cruel mockery it sounds like?
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It Yeah. Why would God?
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Command us to fulfill the law when He knows our nature is
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utterly incapable of doing so, it feels.
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Like we are being set up to fail just so God has an excuse to
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punish us. How do Kelvin?
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And Agustin answer this specific charge of divine mockery.
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It is an actual. Question.
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But the analogy of the cruel math teacher breaks down when we
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understand the true purpose of the law, the.
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Teacher, in your analogy, is testing the students to see what
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they know, evaluating their inherent ability.
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But God does. Not give the law to evaluate our
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ability, he gives the law as a diagnostic tool.
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Augustine. Said God orders what we cannot
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do, that we may know what we ought to ask of Him.
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A command in. Scripture does not imply a
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promise of human capability when God issues.
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A command. He is laying down the unyielding
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standard of his perfect justice. Calvin.
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Divides biblical precepts into 3 distinct classes to clarify this
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point first. Commands for initial conversion
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like turn to me second. Commands to observe the law like
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love the Lord your God with all your heart Third.
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Commands to persevere the opponents.
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Heap all these precepts together and measure our human capacity
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by them. But Calvin.
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Argues this shows gross ignorance of the law's function,
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the law. Was placed far above human
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capability specifically to convince us of our utter
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feebleness. The Apostle.
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Paul tells us the law entered that the offense might abound.
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It was designed to expose the depth of the disease, so it is
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less. Like a math test and more like
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an MRI machine. An MRI.
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Machine that is perfect an MRI. Machine commands you to hold
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perfectly still so it can take a clear image of the tumor inside
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your body. The MRI.
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Machine doesn't cure you, it just exposes the deadly problem
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you couldn't see on your own. It crushes.
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Yourself reliance and forces you to seek a surgeon the law.
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Forces the believer to flee to Christ, relying entirely on
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divine grace while leaving the ungodly without excuse.
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That MRI. Analogy is highly accurate.
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Let us look closely at those three classes of precepts Calvin
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outlines, because they provide a.
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Very helpful framework for reading the Bible first.
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Consider the commands for conversion.
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God repeatedly calls upon people in the prophets to turn to me,
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opponents read. That and say, see this proves we
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have the inherent ability to turn on our own.
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God wouldn't. Say turn if we couldn't turn.
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But Calvin. Counters this by pointing to the
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prophet Jeremiah, who exclaims to God, Turn thou me, and I
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shall be turned God. Commands us to circumcise our
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hearts, but Moses declares in deuteronomy that this spiritual
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circumcision is made by God's own hand God demands.
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A new heart. But in Ezekiel, God promises I
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will give you a new heart, Agustin.
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Summarizes this dynamic Florida State what God promises we
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ourselves do not through choice or nature, but He Himself does
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by grace the commands. Show the righteous requirement,
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the promises. Show the divine source of the
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fulfillment and the second. Class of precepts which tell us
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to worship God and obey His will function the exact same way
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innumerable. Passages testify that every
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degree of purity and holiness we possess is a gift from God the
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Third. Class commands to persevere are
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equally reliant on grace, Paul exhorts.
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The Thessalonians to continue in grace, but then he prays that
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God would fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in
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them, Calvin points. Out the absolute absurdity of
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gathering precepts to prove man's ability when the
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scriptures so clearly destroy any notion of human strength by
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continually. Pointing us back to divine
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grace, the whole. Strength of the godly consists
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in the grace of God alone. Think of the creation.
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Account When God commands let there be light, he doesn't wait
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for the darkness to produce light.
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The command. Itself provides the light
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similarly. When He commands us to repent
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and believe, He supplies the grace that produces repentance
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and faith in the elect, which. Brings up a highly practical
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point about how God actually works in the believer Calvin.
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Explains that God works in his elect in two corresponding ways,
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inwardly by the Holy Spirit and outwardly by the word he
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illuminates. Their minds and trains their
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hearts inwardly by the Spirit, making them new creatures at the
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very. Same time he uses the outward
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word, the preaching, the commands, the exhortations to
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stimulate them to arouse. Them from lethargy and to
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destroy the pleasure of sin. The Word and the Spirit work in
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tandem. You can think of the.
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Outward word as the sound of Jesus's voice hitting the
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eardrums of the dead Lazarus and the inward.
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Spirit as the life giving force that allows a dead man to hear
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and obey the command to come forth.
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But for the. Reprobate.
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The person who is not elect the word has a completely different
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function. It strikes.
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Their eardrums, but the Spirit does not give them inward life,
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therefore. The word urges their conscience
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is now proving they know the standard, and it will render
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them totally inexcusable on the day of judgement, the outward.
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Command is given to all indiscriminately, but the inward
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grace that enables obedience is given only to the elect.
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Yes. And this completely resolves the
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alleged tension regarding exhortations the opponents.
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Ask why are believers admonished of their duty and not just left
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to the silent guidance of the Spirit?
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Why urge? Them with external exhortations,
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if they cannot hasten any faster than the Spirit impels them.
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Calvin's. Answer is that God sees fit to
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employ exhortation as the very instrument to prepare us for the
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grace that enables us to obey the Spirit.
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Acting within gives the outward exhortation its efficacy,
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inflaming our desire for good. We must never.
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Separate the outward word from the inward work of the Spirit
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Christ. Taught he invited all to come to
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him, but he clearly stated in John 6.44 that no one can come
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unless the father draws them the preaching.
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Of the doctrine is a sweet savor to God, even when it is a saver
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of death unto death for those who reject it.
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OK, I. Understand how a strict command
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acts as a diagnostic mirror. It shows us we are broken.
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Right? But that doesn't explain the
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conditional statements in scripture.
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What do you mean? When God says.
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If you do this, I will bless you.
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He isn't just diagnosed US, he is offering a reward based on a
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condition. I see.
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How should we? Interpret verses that say if you
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are willing you will eat the good of the land, or if you seek
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good you will live well opponents.
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Claim that these conditional promises are offered absurdly if
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we lack the capacity to secure them.
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They argue. That it would be a strong
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liberality on God's part to set blessings before us while we
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have no ability to enjoy them, they claim.
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God is making his promises depend on an impossibility which
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would make him deceptive if I tell.
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My kids, if you fly to the moon under your own power, I'll buy
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you ice cream. I am mocking them exactly.
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But Calvin meets this charge of divine deception head on.
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He denies. That God mocks us when He
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invites us to merit blessings. He knows we are unable to merit
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these conditional. Promises have distinct vital
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uses for two different groups of people for the.
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Wicked. These promises sting the
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conscience by laying. Out the condition if you depart
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from wickedness, I will do you good.
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God demonstrates their unworthiness.
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They are. Bound by the fetters of sin and
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the conditional promise stands as a witness that they are
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deservedly excluded from God's favor because they refuse to
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meet the condition they love their.
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Sin more than the promised blessing, it proves their
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malice. Let me bring.
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Up a medical analogy again. Think of a doctor diagnosing a
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terminal condition caused by a lifetime of bad habits.
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Like someone. Whose lungs are severely damaged
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from decades of smoking? Exactly.
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The doctor might say, if you run a marathon tomorrow, your lungs
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will clear up. The doctor isn't ignoring the
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fact that the patient is currently unable to walk up a
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flight of stairs, let alone run a marathon.
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The Doctor's. Pointing out the origin of the
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sickness and the impossibility of the cure coming from the
21:30
patient's own physical capacity, the condition.
21:33
Highlights the severity of the disease in the same.
21:36
Way God sets the perfect standard before the wicked to
21:39
show them the depth of their depravity they cannot reach.
21:42
The condition because their own sin has crippled them that
21:45
analogy. Is very fitting.
21:46
The condition reveals the extent of the disease, but for.
21:50
Believers, the conditional promises have a completely
21:53
different function, Calvin says. They stimulate a desire for
21:55
grace. Precepts show us our
21:58
wretchedness, but promises attract us.
22:00
By their sweetness they produce. Feeling of love for the precept
22:03
when a believer. Hears if you hearken diligently,
22:07
the Lord will set you on high the believer does not look
22:11
inward to find the strength to hearken instead, the.
22:14
Beauty of the promise drives the believer to their knees,
22:16
supplicating the Holy Spirit for the grace to obey the greater
22:19
our. Desire for the promised
22:21
righteousness the greater our earnestness to obtain the grace
22:24
of God, therefore. God neither attributes to us a
22:27
full capacity of willing, nor does He mock us for our
22:31
impotence. He uses.
22:32
The condition to draw his elect to himself.
22:35
He shows us the prize, so we will ask him for the strength to
22:38
run the race. What about the?
22:40
Passages where God actively upgrades or rebukes his people
22:44
for their rebellion, Calvin brings.
22:46
Up Jeremiah 7, where God says, because he have done all these
22:50
works, and I called you, but ye answered not therefore will I do
22:53
into this house, as I have done to Shiloh the opponents.
22:56
Ask how God can blame the people and punish them if they lack the
23:00
freedom to choose otherwise, they say.
23:03
We wanted prosperity, we feared adversity, but we couldn't obey
23:06
because we are subjects of sin. Why does God?
23:09
Rebuke those who cannot obey Calvin calls.
23:11
That excuse? A flimsy, hypocritical defense,
23:14
he retorts. With a piercing question, can
23:16
they deny their guilt? God is.
23:18
Not unjust and upbraiding them because they have deprived
23:21
themselves of His kindness by their own perverseness, the
23:24
wicked. Cannot point to extraneous
23:26
causes. They cannot say the devil made
23:28
me do it or my lack of free will made me do it, they find.
23:31
Within themselves a fountain of wickedness.
23:34
Their own depraved will is the cause of their rebellion.
23:37
They love their. Rebellion therefore, they cannot
23:39
charge God with cruelty when they face the consequences of
23:42
the sins they eagerly pursue for the.
23:45
Ungodly. The rebukes prove that their
23:47
condemnation is just, even when. Jeremiah was sent to a people
23:50
God explicitly said would not listen.
23:53
The preaching function to ensure they understood that the blame
23:57
for their wickedness resided entirely in themselves.
24:00
They could not. Transfer the blame to God that
24:02
brings. Us to a specific verse opponents
24:05
use heavily. Which one?
24:06
It. Is a verse that seems to
24:08
contradict everything we have discussed if you just read it on
24:10
the surface. In Deuteronomy 30, Moses says to
24:15
the Israelites, the word is very nigh into thee, in thy mouth and
24:19
in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
24:22
Opponents point to. This and say, look, Moses
24:24
himself says the law is easy to keep.
24:27
It's right there in your mouth and in your heart.
24:29
You have the ability, if we read that.
24:31
Verse in isolation, it seems to give a massive amount of ground
24:34
to the advocates of human capability.
24:36
How does Calvin? Handle this passage without
24:38
ignoring what Moses actually says.
24:41
Calvin. Answers this by applying A
24:42
fundamental rule of biblical interpretation, letting
24:45
Scripture interpret Scripture. He does not try.
24:47
To twist the words of Moses instead, he turns to the apostle
24:50
Paul in Romans 10. Paul.
24:52
Who Calvin dryly calls No mean interpreter explicitly quotes
24:57
this exact verse from Deuteronomy 30, Paul states.
25:00
That Moses is Speaking of the doctrine of the Gospel, the
25:03
covenant of mercy, not the strict demands of the moral law.
25:06
If Moses. Were Speaking of mere legal
25:08
precepts, he would have been inflating the people with vain
25:11
confidence, leading them over a fatal precipice.
25:14
And because no. One can keep the law perfectly,
25:17
but Moses? Had just said a few verses
25:19
prior, The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart to love
25:22
the Lord the readiness. Moses speaks of the word being
25:26
in their heart is placed not in the natural capacity of man, but
25:30
in the protection and help of the Holy Spirit, the gospel.
25:32
Holds for salvation on terms that are readily obtained
25:35
through faith, not through the arduous, impossible terms of
25:39
flawless legal obedience. So.
25:42
When interpreted by the apostle Paul, this passage utterly
25:45
disproves any capacity in us to fulfill righteousness on our
25:48
own, it points. To the inward work of the Spirit
25:51
I want to look. Closely at another
25:52
extrapolation, Calvin addresses regarding passages where God
25:56
seems to step back and wait for humans to act, you mentioned.
25:59
Hosea earlier in her notes, Yes, specifically.
26:02
Hosea 5.15 where God says I will go and return to my place till
26:07
they acknowledge their offense and seek my face opponents.
26:10
Argue that it is absurd for God to wait for Israel to seek Him
26:14
if their minds are not flexible enough to turn of their own
26:16
accord they interpret. God's waiting as evidence that
26:19
humanity possesses the inherent capacity to initiate a return to
26:23
God they picture. God standing back, arms crossed,
26:26
waiting to see what human free will can accomplish.
26:29
Calvin. Completely dismantles this
26:30
reading of Hosea He. Asks if the opponents admit
26:33
divine grace is necessary for conversion, why are they arguing
26:37
that man can initiate the return and if they.
26:39
Think of people abandoned by God can turn to him on their own.
26:42
They are arguing against the entirety of scripture when God.
26:46
Says he will withdraw to his place.
26:48
It does not mean he is stepping back to see what human free will
26:51
can accomplish. God doesn't.
26:53
Run experiments to see what we will do it means.
26:56
He is withdrawing His manifest presence and the voice of
26:58
prophecy to silently leave them to be afflicted.
27:02
He tries. Them with adversity for a
27:04
season. Why?
27:05
To humble them. We are sooner.
27:07
Broken than corrected by the strokes of adversity, unless His
27:10
Spirit trains us when God. Hides himself.
27:13
The goal is not to test the extent of our free will, but to
27:17
break our stubbornness through suffering bringing us.
27:20
To an acknowledgement of our utter nothingness.
27:23
Only when we are broken do we realize we need the Great
27:26
Physician understanding. How God breaks our pride leads
27:29
us right into the final major section of our analysis today.
27:33
We need to. Confront the linguistic and
27:34
allegorical arguments used by free will advocates
27:37
specifically. Why does the Bible call good
27:40
works ours? And how should we understand the
27:42
famous allegory of the Good Samaritan?
27:44
Let's start. With the linguistic argument,
27:46
opponents argue. That since the Bible calls good
27:48
works ours and says that we do what is holy, we must have a
27:51
secondary agency in them, they say.
27:53
It is not according with reason to say we do things we are
27:56
incapable of doing of our own motion, as if God were moving us
28:00
like stones if God does. All the work?
28:03
Why are they called our works, Calvin?
28:05
Answers this linguistic trap with a beautiful parallel from
28:09
the Lord's Prayer we. Regularly ask God to give us Our
28:12
Daily Bread. But that bread?
28:13
Is entirely a gift from God. The earth is the Lord's, and the
28:17
fullness thereof what can be inferred.
28:19
From the title of possession simply.
28:21
That by the kindness and free gift of God that becomes ours,
28:25
which in other respects is by no means due to us when we produce.
28:29
Good works. It is only because God has
28:31
gifted us the grace to perform them they become.
28:34
Ours by his imputation and his inward working the opponents.
28:37
Mock this view, saying it treats humans like unthinking stones or
28:41
pieces of wood. But Calvin.
28:43
Fiercely denies the similitude. A stone is driven by external
28:47
impulse, without motion, sense or will of its own.
28:49
But humans? Have a will we have natural
28:52
faculties of approving, rejecting, striving, and
28:55
resisting. The problem is not.
28:56
That we lack a will. The problem is that naturally we
29:00
approve vanity and resist righteousness.
29:02
We are not. Unthinking stones, we are
29:04
willing calculating rebels. So how does?
29:07
The spirit act on this rebellious will without turning
29:10
us into automatons or robots if. God is completely sovereign.
29:14
How does he change us without violating our humanity?
29:17
Calvin says. That when God erects his Kingdom
29:20
and believers, His spirit curbs their will so it doesn't follow
29:23
its natural bend, He bends. Frames, trains and guides it
29:28
according to the rule of his justice.
29:30
He establishes and strengthens it so it may not stumble.
29:32
I love how. Augustine captures this dynamic.
29:35
He says you act and are acted upon.
29:38
God does not. Bypass the human will.
29:40
He heals it and redirects it from the inside out.
29:43
He changes what we desire. That quote.
29:45
From Augustine is central to understanding Reformed theology.
29:48
You act and are acted upon, and you then act well when you are
29:52
acted upon by one that is good. God's grace.
29:54
Does not destroy the will, it repairs it the beginning of.
29:57
Regeneration consists in the abolition of our corrupt
29:59
desires. Grace.
30:01
Corrects the perverseness of the will, conforming it to the
30:03
standard of righteousness, because we.
30:05
Have an innate capacity for willing.
30:07
We are humans, not rocks. We are properly said to do the
30:10
things of which God claims all the praise.
30:12
It is our. Mind our will, our study that
30:16
are guided by Him to what is good any attempt.
30:19
To intermix our own independent effort with divine grace is
30:22
corruption. Calvin.
30:24
Compares it to diluting pure wine with muddy water.
30:27
God. Receives all the glory because
30:28
He provides all the grace. Yet we truly act because He has
30:32
given us a renewed will, a new set of desires to do so that
30:36
brings. Us to a critical text, Romans
30:39
9.15, where Paul writes, it is not of him that willeth, nor of
30:43
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy the
30:46
opponents. Of Calvin twist this verse in a
30:48
way that is quite subtle and frankly very common today, they
30:52
argue. That since Paul says it is not
30:54
of him that willeth, it implies that we do have some will and
30:57
some endeavor, but they are just weak and need merciful aid from
31:00
God to succeed, they say. Paul means our will isn't
31:03
sufficient on its own, not that it is non existent.
31:06
It's a synergistic. View God does his part, we do
31:09
our small part How does? Calvin expose this logical
31:12
fallacy, Calvin calls. This an absurd mode of arguing.
31:15
If Paul meant that the will is simply insufficient, he would
31:18
have expressed himself very poorly.
31:20
Calvin points. Out that Paul is discussing the
31:22
very basis of salvation, why some are saved and others are
31:26
not, using the historical examples of Jacob, Esau and
31:30
Pharaoh Paul's. Conclusion is that salvation
31:32
relies 0% on human will and 100% on Divine Mercy if we follow.
31:38
The opponent's synergistic logic.
31:40
We'd have to look at Titus 3.5 where Paul says we are saved not
31:44
by works of righteousness, which we have done, and conclude.
31:46
That we actually have done some righteous works, just not enough
31:49
to save us that violently. Subverts Paul's entire argument.
31:53
Augustin. Noted that if it is not of him
31:55
that willeth means the will isn't sufficient, then we could
31:58
equally say it is not of God that showeth mercy, because
32:01
mercy doesn't act alone that proposition.
32:03
Is absurd and blasphemous. So Augustine.
32:06
And Calvin conclude that there is no goodwill in man until it
32:09
is prepared by the Lord. Both the willing and the running
32:12
are produced in us by God. Now I want.
32:14
To talk about the Good Samaritan.
32:15
Oh yes. I've heard people use the Good
32:17
Samaritan story saying the traveler on the road was left
32:20
half dead, meaning we still have a tiny spark of spiritual life
32:23
left to choose God. Calvin.
32:25
Notes This allegory was frequently in the mouths of his
32:27
opponents writers. Throughout church history
32:30
allegorized Luke 10, saying the beaten traveler represents
32:33
humanity after the fall because he was.
32:35
Left half dead, the opponents argue that man was not so
32:38
mutilated by sin as to lose all his former endowments, they
32:42
claim. Some portion of right, will and
32:44
reason remains intact. What is Calvin?
32:47
Response to this allegorical method of doing theology first.
32:50
Calvin points out the severe danger of relying on allegories
32:53
to build theology allegories. Ought to be carried no further
32:56
than scripture expressly sanctions.
32:58
They cannot form a basis for core Doctrine, but even.
33:01
Engaging with the text, Calvin vigorously tears this fiction up
33:05
by the roots. He appeals to the direct
33:07
doctrinal statements of the apostles.
33:10
Paul doesn't. Say that the half dead are
33:11
cured. In Ephesians 2.5 he says we were
33:14
dead in trespasses and sins, and we're raised up Jesus.
33:17
Doesn't call upon the half dead to receive elimination.
33:21
In John 5.25 he says the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
33:25
of God, the word of. God leaves no half life to man
33:28
regarding spiritual happiness. It teaches that he has utterly
33:31
perished. He is asleep.
33:33
And buried in sin, utterly alienated from the righteousness
33:36
of God. I want to.
33:37
Zero in on this half dead versus fully dead distinction because
33:42
it dictates how we view grace. There's a massive.
33:44
Difference between throwing a life preserver to someone who is
33:48
treading water and performing a resurrection on a corpse if
33:52
humanity. Is just half dead then Grace is
33:55
just a life preserver we still have.
33:57
To use our remaining strength to grab onto it.
33:59
God does his part, We do our part.
34:01
We get to boast. That we have the good sense to
34:03
grab the rope. But Calvin.
34:05
Is telling us that true biblical grace requires a resurrection.
34:09
You don't throw a life preserver to a corpse.
34:11
God must. Unilaterally breathe life into
34:13
dead bones, even if we. Can see that natural man has
34:17
some understanding and some discernment of what is honorable
34:21
in earthly matters like building cities or forming laws that does
34:24
not. Refute the fact that his heart
34:26
is in venom by sin and totally alienated from heavenly wisdom.
34:30
That is the crux. Of the entire debate.
34:32
If you believe you are treading water, you will constantly look
34:35
to your own strengths to secure your salvation.
34:38
You will. Boast in your wise decision to
34:40
grab the life preserver, but if you.
34:42
Recognize you are dead at the bottom of the ocean.
34:45
You will give all glory to the God who brought you to the
34:47
surface and gave you breath. Calvin.
34:49
Makes it clear that after the fall, the free gifts on which
34:53
salvation depends were completely withdrawn.
34:56
The natural. Gifts that remain, like human
34:58
reason, are corrupted and defiled the mind of.
35:01
Man cannot conceive, desire, or design anything but what is
35:05
wicked regarding spiritual things, even when.
35:08
Unregenerate men make a show of goodness.
35:11
Their mind is interwoven with hypocrisy, and their soul is
35:14
inwardly bound with the fetters of wickedness.
35:16
This is the. Doctrine of total depravity and
35:19
it is essential for understanding the sheer
35:21
magnitude of God's grace before we.
35:24
Conclude our analysis today there's one more passage Calvin
35:26
addresses that we should clarify because it comes from the very
35:29
beginning of the Bible OK, which.
35:30
One opponents. Point to Genesis 4.7, the story
35:34
of Cain and Abel. God says to Cain regarding his
35:36
anger. Unto thee shall be his desire,
35:39
and thou shalt rule over him, they interpret.
35:41
This desire and rule as referring to sin, claiming God
35:45
promised Cain that he had the inherent capacity to conquer sin
35:49
if he labored to subdue it. How does?
35:51
Calvin Breakdown This passage Calvin offers.
35:54
Two ways to understand this text.
35:56
First, he argues it is much more agreeable to the context to
36:00
understand the words as referring to Abel, not sin.
36:03
God is. Pointing out the injustice of
36:05
Cain's envy, God is saying. That Abel, as the younger
36:08
brother is subject to Cain's authority, so Cain has no reason
36:12
to be envious or fearful of losing his birthright.
36:15
But. Calvin says even if we grant the
36:17
opponent's premise that God is Speaking of sin, their argument
36:21
still fails completely if the phrase.
36:23
Is in order. You must rule over sin.
36:26
We have already demonstrated that a command is no proof of
36:29
man's ability. It simply declares Cain's duty
36:32
if it is a promise. You will rule over sin.
36:34
Where is the fulfillment? Cain yielded to the sin and
36:37
murdered his brother, the critics.
36:39
Try to sneak a hidden condition into the text, implying you will
36:42
win if you try hard enough. But Calvin.
36:44
Completely shuts that down as a cheap excuse grammatically.
36:47
And theologically, the phrase is an imperative declaring duty,
36:51
not a statement asserting human capability once again.
36:54
Grace must repair the will entirely, otherwise we will
36:57
always fail as Cain did. We have covered.
37:00
An immense amount of theological ground today tracing Calvin's
37:03
rigorous defense of sovereign grace against the arguments for
37:07
human free will. Let's summarize.
37:09
The main arguments we have investigated first we.
37:12
Established that necessity does not erase guilt.
37:15
We act necessarily because of our corrupted nature, but we sin
37:18
voluntarily because we love it. Second.
37:21
We saw that biblical commands do not imply human ability, the law
37:26
and. The precepts function as a
37:27
diagnostic tool to show us our weakness, to crush our
37:30
self-reliance, and to drive us to seek the grace of God.
37:33
Third. We clarified that conditional
37:35
promises and divine rebukes sting the conscience of the
37:39
wicked and stimulate a desire for grace in the elect.
37:42
Finally, we. Shattered the half dead myth
37:44
affirming the biblical truth that human beings are completely
37:47
spiritually dead until God unilaterally supplies the grace
37:51
he demands, resurrecting the will and guiding it to
37:54
righteousness if our greatest freedom.
37:56
Is found only when our will is completely conquered and guided
37:59
by God's sovereign grace. How does that change the way you
38:03
view the decisions you will make tomorrow?
38:05
That is a. Staggering reality to process if
38:08
we truly. Believe that God must animate
38:11
our every step toward righteousness.
38:13
Our daily posture should be 1 of total dependence and immense
38:17
gratitude. Think about that.
38:18
As you go through your week, thank you for.
38:20
Joining us for this deep dive into the source material, we
38:23
hope it has challenged your assumptions and illuminated the
38:26
brilliance of reformed theology. Keep resting.
38:28
In the grace that raises the dead.
38:30
Until next time.