(some paraphrasing & modifications by Camille Russo for the hearer to more easily understand)
It is God who works in you, both to Will and to work for His good pleasure.
† Philippians 2:13
It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
† Romans 9:16
The Word plainly declares: “There is none that seeks after God” † Romans 3:11
Did not Christ say to the men of His day: “You will NOT come to Me, that you might have life” † John 5:40 ?
Yes, but some actually did “come” to Him. Who were they?
John 1:12, 13 tells us: “But as many as received Him, to them He GAVE POWER TO BECOME the sons of God, to them that believe on His name: WHICH WERE BORN, not of blood, NOR OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH, nor of THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD”
In and of himself the natural man has the power to reject Christ, but in and of himself man does not have the power to receive Christ. And why?
Because man has a mind that is “enmity against” God… “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” † Romans 8:7 & Because man has a heart that hates God… “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” † John 15:18
A man simply chooses what is according to man’s nature; therefore… before he will ever choose that which is Divine and Spiritual, a new nature must be GIVEN to him; in other words, man must be born again.
The Holy Spirit does something in each of God’s elect: He works in His elect; “For it is God who works in you TO WILL and TO ACT on behalf of His good purpose.” † Philippians 2:13
People will say: “NO! the Spirit’s work of conviction is the same both in the converted and the unconverted, the only difference is that the converted yielded to God’s effort whereas the unconverted resist them.” (Allowing God to transform them because of their own choices and ability to choose)
But, if this were the case then the Christian would have reason for boasting and self-glorying over their co-operation with the Spirit; BUT this would clearly contradict Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God, so that NO MAN MAY BOAST.”
Let us appeal to the actual experience of the Christian reader:
Was there not a time (may the remembrance of it bow each of us into the dust) when you were unwilling to come to Christ?
There was. But since then you have come to Him, Yes?
Are you now prepared to give Him ALL the glory for that?
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.” † Psalms 115:1
Do you not acknowledge you came to Christ BECAUSE the Holy Spirit BROUGHT YOU FROM UNWILLINGNESS TO WILLINGNESS?
What is the human Will?
Is the human will a self-determining agent?
Or is it determined by something else?
Is the human will sovereign or a servant?
Is the human will superior to every other faculty of a human’s being so that the will governs them?
Or is it moved by their impulses and subject to their pleasure?
DOES THE WILL RULE THE MIND, OR DOES THE MIND RULE THE WILL?
Is the will free to do as it pleases, or is it under the necessity of rendering obedience to something outside of itself?
Does the will stand apart from the other great faculties or powers of the soul? Is the will a ‘man within a man’, who can reverse the man and fly against the man and split man into segments, as a glass snake breaks in pieces?
Or, is the will connected with the other faculties, as the tail of the serpent is with his body, and that again with his head, so that where the head goes, the whole creature goes, and, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he? First thought, then heart (desire or aversion), and then act.
Is it this way; the dog wags the tail?
Or, is it the will (the tail) that wags the dog? (Silly)
Is the will the first and chief thing in man, or is it the last thing- to be kept subordinate, and in its place beneath the other faculties?
Is the true philosophy of moral action and its process that of Genesis 3:6: ‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food’ (sense-perception, intelligence), ‘and a tree to be desired’ (affections), ‘she took and ate thereof’ (the will).” (George S. Bishop).
These are questions of more than academic interest. They are of practical importance. We believe that we do not go too far when we affirm that the answer returned to these questions is a fundamental test of doctrinal soundness.
THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN WILL.
What is the Will?
We answer: The will is the faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action. Choice necessarily implies the refusal of one thing and the acceptance of another.
The positive and the negative must both be present in the mind before there can be any choice.
In every act of the will, there is a preference: the desiring one thing rather than another. Where there is no preference, but complete indifference, there is no volition (choice, discretion).
To will is to choose (determine), and to choose is to decide between two or more alternatives (choices).
But there is (always) something that influences the choice; something that determines the decision.
Hence the human will cannot be Sovereign because it is the servant of that something that influences the choice.
The human will cannot be both Sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect.
The will is not causative, because, as we have said, something causes it to choose, therefore that something must be the causative agent.
Choice itself is affected by certain considerations, and is determined by various influences brought to bear upon the individual himself, hence, volition is the effect of these considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must be their servant; and if the will is their servant then it is not Sovereign, and if the will is not Sovereign, we certainly cannot predicate absolute “freedom” of it.
Acts of the will cannot come to pass of themselves – to say they can, is to postulate an uncaused effect.
Ex nihilo nihil fit-nothing cannot produce something.
In all ages, however, there have been those who contended for the absolute freedom or Sovereignty of the human will.
Men will argue that the will possesses a self-determining power. They say, for example, I can turn my eyes up or down, the mind is quite indifferent to which I do, and the will must decide. But this is a contradiction in terms. This case supposes that I choose one thing in preference for another while I am in a state of complete indifference. Manifestly, both cannot be true. But it may be replied, The mind was quite indifferent until it came to have a preference. Exactly; and at that time the will was quiescent too! But the moment indifference vanished, the choice was made, and the fact that indifference gave place to preference, overthrows the argument that the will is capable of choosing between two equal things.
As we have said, choice implies the acceptance of one alternative and the rejection of the other or others.
That which determines the will is that which causes the will to choose.
If the will is determined then there must be a determiner.
WHAT IS IT THAT DETERMINES THE WILL? We reply, The strongest motive power which is brought to bear upon it. What this motive power is varies in different cases. With one it may be the logic of reason, with another the voice of conscience, with another the impulse of the emotions, with another the whisper of the Tempter, with another the power of the Holy Spirit; whichever of these presents the strongest motive power and exerts the greatest influence upon the individual himself is that which impels the will to act. In other words, the action of the will is determined by that condition of mind (which in turn is influenced by the world, the flesh, and the Devil, as well as by God) which has the greatest degree of tendency to excite volition …
Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:6-13, 15-16
