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Isaiah 10:5–7
“Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.”
Sin has corrupted every part of human nature—our spirits, our minds, our affections, our bodies, and our wills. The issue of how sin has affected the human will or faculty of choice has been the subject of much controversy in church history. Thus, we ask the question: After the fall, do human beings have free will?
The answer depends on what we mean by free will. If it means that we can make choices undetermined by our own natures and inclinations, then human beings have never had free will. Without inclinations, preferences, and so on, we could never make choices at all. We would be forever neutral, and we would have no inclinations to which our wills could assent to make a decision.
Looking to Scripture, Augustine of Hippo noted that before the fall, unfallen human nature meant that we could choose to sin (posse peccare) or choose not to sin (posse non peccare). Once Adam sinned and human nature was thoroughly corrupted, however, sin became our only option. Apart from grace, we are unable not to sin (non posse non peccare). Romans 3:9–20 and other biblical texts say as much.
This does not mean that humans lack free will. We retain the same free will that we had before the fall—namely, the power to choose according to our natures and inclinations. We are still free to do whatever we most want to do in any given situation. The problem, however, is that apart from grace, all our choices will be sinful because our wills are fallen. We can choose only sin, but no one forces us to sin. We sin because we want to. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes: “We are not forced or coerced to do something against our wills; we are able to do what we want to do; we determine our destiny and make our choices, so it is the self that determines the will. But the problem is that the self is fallen and spiritually dead. It gives us decisions, they may be made freely (that is, free from coercion), but they are still made in bondage to sin.”
God ordains all things, including our sin (Eph. 1:11). But we are accountable for our sin because although God works for good even in our evil choices, we do not. When we sin, the Lord’s sovereign will is being worked out, but like the Assyrians described in today’s passage, we have evil intentions contrary to what pleases God (Isa. 10:5–7). The Lord used Assyria for His good purposes, but the Assyrians were not motivated by God’s glory or revealed will. Similarly, God can use our sin, but we are guilty because we have evil motives.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Many people say that Reformed theology denies free will. That is not true. What Reformed theology denies in accordance with Scripture is the autonomous will, a will not subject to divine sovereignty. We remain free to do what we want even after the fall, but apart from divine grace, we want only to sin. As believers, we have been renewed by God so that we are able to choose good. Let us ask Him to strengthen us to do so in all our decisions.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 31:24–29
- John 8:34
- Romans 6:15–23
- 2 Peter 2:19
The bible in a year
- Job 4–6
- Acts 7:23–43