Choices of the Will
When God created man (Gen 2), He gave men and women a will, in order to make decisions. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, in their original state of innocence, chose to rebel against Almighty God their Creator. Despite all of their advantages and ample warning, they chose sin and death (Gen 2:17; 3:6).
Unlike God’s will, which is autonomous, the will of fallen men is influenced, even persuaded by outside catalysts. When Creator God was Adam and Eve’s chief influence, they lived in unity and harmony.
Satan, in the form of the crafty serpent, was a new catalyst on the scene (Gen 3). In the pre-cosmic fall of angels, Lucifer opted for rebellion. The devil is a deceiver (Rev 12:9), who introduced Adam and Eve to lies and deception (Gen 3:4). Under Satan’s influence, using their wills, they chose to believe the father of lies rather than God (Jn 8:44).
Satan is called, “the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4),” and he has blinded the minds of sinners from knowing the truth (Gal 4:3). One of his most insidious deceptions pertains to the salvation of God. The deceiver has convinced many people into believing their “free will choice” is the determining factor in one’s salvation. The delusional spirit, who promulgates this lie, has enshrined man’s “free will” into an idol.
All people have a will, but it is an error to claim this will is autonomous and free, meaning that people are not influenced by anything external to themselves. On the contrary, the Bible calls men “slaves to sin” (Rom 6:6), and slaves must do the will of their master. How taken is the will of natural man with sin? The Bible answer is that every inclination of his heart is only evil, all the time (Gen 6:5). Master sin, the great influencer upon the will of men, has made the process of sinning, a most pleasurable one. Men love darkness (Jn 3:19); therefore, men choose evil. When they deny their state of total depravity, they are liars. Lying is a sin man chooses (Dt 5:20), in order to hide some other sin.
It is common for sinners to imagine they are good and that they do good deeds. The Bible denies man’s positive self-judgment, declaring only Christ is righteous and good (Rom 3:10–12). The futile mindset (Eph 4:17) and sick hearts of humanity (Jer 17:9) are helpless and hopeless without God (Eph 2:12).
When the Light of the world shines His light on blind men (Jn 8:12), it has no effect upon them. The Bible claims they do not comprehend the revelation of God, by His Word (Jn 1:5). In other words, the mystery of God’s salvation preached to them has no natural influence upon their wills.
No one is choosing right, as it pertains to obeying God. Paul says men are not even able to keep God’s Law (Rom 8:7). Men choose sin, and they choose to disobey God. This is the reason John claims that men receive Christ, not by the will of man (Jn 1:12), but it is the will of God that causes a man to be born again of the Spirit (Jn 1:13; 1 Pet 1:3).
By God’s gracious choice (Rom 11:5), based on His autonomous free will (Eph 1:11; Jn 1:13), He extends mercy upon whom He wills (Rom 9:15). Accomplishing everything in the process of salvation, God graciously grants faith for men to believe the Good News report (Eph 2:8–9). Faith is not a choice of dead men in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), but it is evidence of the manifestation of the Spirit of God in His elect, redeemed people (Mk 1:8; Acts 2:38; 11:16; Rom 8:9, 11; 2 Cor 5:5; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13).
It is God’s will for His adopted children (Rom 8:15, 23) to have their wills made alive to God (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). Whereas their wills were dead in sin (Eph 2:1), unable to decide for Christ and salvation, now, the Christian’s will is willing and able to choose Christ and righteousness, by faith granted to him. The Spirit made the believer willing (Ps 110:3), and He causes the saints to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27).
For those who received Christ by grace, they are not only commanded to walk in obedience to God’s Law, they are made willing and able to do so (Col 2:6–7). The unbeliever, not having received Christ by grace, remains disobedient to the Son, not having eternal life (Jn 3:36; 1 Jn 5:12). Only Jesus was willing and able to do the will of His Father (Jn 7:17), and this was pleasing to God the Father (Mt 3:17).
When a man speaks from himself, saying, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” he is seeking his own glory (Jn 7:17), and the truth is not in him. Jesus taught, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit (Jn 15:16).”
Branches do not choose to produce fruit on their own. It is God the Father who grafts in the branch to Christ, the living Vine. The life of Christ, the True Vine (Jn 15:1), which is the Spirit that proceeds from Christ (Jn 15:26), is the life-giver who produces fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of God’s life in the branch (Gal 5:22–23).
The spiritual life of the man made new (2 Cor 5:17), in union with Christ (Gal 2:20), is produced entirely by the indwelling Spirit (Rom 8:9, 11), who is the life of God in the soul (heart and mind) of the Christian. The Spirit, however, wars against the flesh and vice versa. Two competing influences, sin and grace, upon the will of the saint, means there is a civil war (Rom 7) between the flesh and the Spirit (Gal 5:17).
God instructs the believer, who fears God, in the way he should choose (Ps 25:12). Christ left an example for Christians to follow in His steps (1 Pet 2:21). To choose the faithful way (Ps 119:30), the way of God’s precepts (Ps 119:73) is the way to live (Dt 30:19), but only the Spirit of Christ makes that happen. A man may say, “Let us choose for ourselves what is right (Job 34:4),” but there is a way that seems right to a man, which in the end leads to death (Prv 14:12). Jesus is the way (Jn 14:6) to which we are conformed.
If we are to choose this day whom we will serve (Jos 24:15), it is only possible to choose life because the life-giving Spirit guides the believer into all truth (Jn 16:13), which includes the fact that there is nothing good in us that would ever will to love Christ, our righteousness, had God not come to us and poured out His love in our hearts, first (Rom 5:5; 1 Jn 4:19).
No choices of sinful fallen men are pleasing to God because they are not of faith (Heb 11:6). The choices of God’s beloved children, made from a will that has been influenced by and inclined to God, are by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20). Christians choose to trust in the Lord because the Lord chose to save us (Rom 11:5; Titus 3:5).
The Christian still sins (Rom 3:23; 1 Jn 1:8, 10). He makes bad decisions because of his body of sin, but nothing separates him from Christ (Rom 8:35–39), who is ever at work (Phil 2:13), helping the believer to choose life, by choosing to do truth (1 Jn 1:6). His will is still not free because now he is a slave of Christ (Eph 6:6). Thus, believers have the mind and heart to do the will of their Master, Jesus, but only by the Spirit of Christ.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 12, 2022
