Tag Archives: free will

How Free is Free Will?

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Over the last week I have been in a discussion over soteriology, which started with the request to define free will. Free will can be a hard concept to define because there are very different ideas of what it means and how it works.

This discussion was not with Michael Patton. However, he has written an excellent post entitled “A Calvinist’s Understanding of Free Will”, explaining free will from the Determinist/Reformed point of view. The points raised in this post are representative of the problems often cited against libertarian free will .

In this post libertarian freedom is defined as the ability to choose against who you are.

If you ask whether a person can choose against their nature (i.e. libertarian freedom) the answer, I believe, must be “no.” A person’s nature makes up who they are. Who they are determines their choice.

This definition may be how Reformers define and understand libertarian freedom, but this is not how proponents of libertarian free will (Arminians) would define it (noted later in the post). That aside, most proponents would agree with the idea that who a person is determines the choices that they make. Most would also accept the notion that a person can not choose against who they are. Continue reading →

Augustine Evolving Views on God’s Sovereignty (Part 2)

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We have been examining Augustine’s changing views on faith, free will, and God’s sovereignty. His original views on these topics evolved from a synergistic model (where God and man cooperate in coming to faith) to a monergistic model (God alone causes man to come to faith) that became the foundation of Reformed theology.

In the last post we delved into Augustine’s interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:3-4 based on what he wrote in from The Spirit and the Letter, written in 412 AD.Saint_Augustine_Portrait

In summary:

  • free will was given to us by God when He created us. Our free will was able to choose between faith and unbelief.
  • God desires all the people He created to be saved, but this desire is constrained so that people maintain their ability to freely choose to be saved. Our consent is required in order for God to save us.
  • The reality that all people are not saved does not thwart God’s will since it is also His will that those who remain in unbelief will perish. Only those who remain in unbelief and escape the penalty would truly thwart God’s will.

Before we consider his revised interpretation using quotes and observations from the Enchiridion of Faith, Hope, and Love written 10 years later, I want to address the idea that Augustine did in fact change his mind. Continue reading →

Augustine Evolving Views on God’s Sovereignty (Part 1)

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In a previous post we examined Augustine’s changing views on free will. His original view regarding free will and faith mirrored that of the other early church writers and theologians. But later, Augustine articulated views that we now kSaint_Augustine_Portraitnow as unconditional election and irresistible grace.

These changes coincided with Augustine’s shift in how he understood God’s sovereignty. We will continue to examine Augustine’s changing views by looking at how he interpreted the passage 1 Timothy 2:3-4 over time.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

This first post will examine quotes and observations from The Spirit and the Letter, written in 412 AD. The second post will examine quotes and observations from the Enchiridion of Faith, Hope, and Love written 10 years later. Continue reading →