Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 9)

Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter 9

Of Free Will

(Part  1)

Many have a knowledge of Reformed theology that is based on hearsay. One of the issues that is raised routinely by non-Reformed Christians when speaking with a Reformed Christian is the matter of the freedom of the human will. Non-Reformed Christians have “heard” that Reformed theology has no place for man’s free will; they have “heard” that Reformed theology denies freedom of choice to man and makes him little more than a “puppet” with whom God does as He pleases. This is a gross mischaracterization of Reformed thinking, to be sure, but it is a common mischaracterization, nevertheless.

In most cases, those who make such assertions have done very little, if any, study in Reformed theology. It is this lack of investigation that enables misunderstandings of theological traditions to persist. Now this is not to suggest that if a non-Reformed Christian will just study the issue of man’s will from a Reformed perspective that he will instantly be converted to our way of thinking. What we mean is that a fair reading of Reformed theology dispels the notion that our system denies man’s free will. This chapter in the Confession explains how Reformed theology understands this issue.

I. God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined good, or evil.

The first paragraph is concerned with the will of man from the perspective of his original creation. The Divines state that, as created, man had a will that was characterized by “natural liberty.” By this they mean that man’s will was free by design. God did not create man with a will that was deliberately predisposed to good or evil. As created, the will of man was mutable, or changeable; it could be exercised without restriction within the limits imposed by the will’s capacity.

By this last phrase we mean that while man’s will was free as created, man could not, therefore, determine to do anything that was beyond the ability of his will. For example, man the creature could not “will” things into existence, as God could and did. So while man had a naturally free will, that will was ultimately limited by its nature. Those who argue so vigorously for what they understand to be man’s free will need to stop and consider the implications of what they are saying.

There is no such thing, there can be no such thing as an absolutely free will. Even God’s will is subject to His nature. God cannot will to lie, for example. His will is governed by in His nature. The same is true of human beings. Our wills are free within the confines of our nature.

II. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.

This paragraph expands upon man’s situation in the Garden of Eden. Having a will endowed with natural liberty, Adam was capable of choosing good or choosing evil. That is, he was capable of obeying God, and he was capable of disobeying God. The picture represented in this paragraph is the closest man ever has come to an absolutely free will. Adam had the ability to choose to follow God or choose to make his own way.

In this sense, Adam’s will was free. Adam did not, however, have the ability to be God or in any fashion compete with God. The nature of Adam’s will, as indicated in this paragraph, left him susceptible to disobedience. God placed Adam in the Garden and Adam had a genuine freedom of choice. The warning from God regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, found in Gen. 2:16, 17, indicates the reality of Adam’s freedom of choice.

(To be continued)