Tag Archives: free will

What does Free Will do?

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calvin-and-hobbes-on-predestinationI have posted a lot on Free Will since I find it both an interesting topic of study as well as one of the most misunderstood areas of theology. The way I see it, a libertarian definition of free will is necessary to rationally and Biblically solve such theological problems as God’s relationship to evil, ethics and personal responsibility, and reconciling how a sovereign God could want none to perish and desire all to be saved when not all people receive eternal life.

Liberty necessitated, or over-ruled, is really no liberty at all. It is a contradiction in terms … downright nonsense. – John Wesley

In Disputation #11, Arminius attributed “complete freedom of action” to God alone, and listed the following characteristic of free will as it applied to man. Continue reading →

Tertullian on the Problem of Evil and Free Will

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This is part of a series of posts that captures the early church views on free will and determinism. The idea for this series was motivated by Calvinist claims that their view was held by the early church.

Tertullian

Tertullian

Tertullian (160-225), a 2nd century theologian lived in North Africa, wrote numerous works explaining and defending Christianity. We explored his views of orthodoxy (or the Rule of Faith) already, in this post we will look at how he approached the problem of evil.

One of his works is The Five Books against Marcion. In Book 2, Tertullian explores the problem of evil because Marcion (the heretic of Pontus) was wrestling with how a good God could be the author of all the evil in the world (i.2).

The problem of evil, as stated by Marcion and presented by Tertullian goes, something like this (ii.5): Continue reading →

Origen on Free Will

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This is a series that will be updated periodically that captures the early church views on free will. Check the Series page for the other posts.

OrigenWhat prompted this series was an assertion made by Charles Spurgeon in his sermon “Election“, that throughout church history only heretics held to a view of free will:

Were I a Pelagian, or a believer in the doctrine of free-will, I should have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and there a heretic of no very honourable character might rise up and call me brother.

In this post we will examine the views that Origen held on these topics.

If you have heard the name Origen before then you probably know that he had his run ins with various church leaders (during his lifetime through to today) due to his hermeneutics and speculative views on various doctrines. But reading about his life and digging into his writings it is evident that his life was focused on Jesus Christ. We evaluated his basic views and whether they were orthodox in a prior post. Continue reading →