There are a more than a few objections to this position and I'll try to devote some posts to some of the more common ones. This post is devoted to the concept of free will.
Before I go any further, allow me to state what a debt of gratitude I owe to Wayne Grudem for helping me make sense of this topic (and of Reformed theology in general). His chapters on God's Providence and Election and Reprobation in Systematic Theology have been extremely helpful to me in attempting to understand this and a great many other theological concepts. My friend Greg gave me Dr. Grudem's book as a present for standing in his wedding (Greg's, not Dr. Grudem's) and it's one of the best presents I've ever received. I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to go deeper in their knowledge of Christian Theology.
Prior to embracing my faith, and for many years thereafter, my understanding of free will was something like: "complete autonomy as a sentient, moral being to make any decision I chose, without being compelled in any way." Maybe not the best definition, but I think it gets at the general idea: I, and I alone, was the ultimate causal agent for every choice I ever made. Obviously, things like circumstance, mood, fatigue, misunderstanding of the present situation in which I found myself, etc, could influence my decisions. But ultimately, there was no other force, be it God or fate, pulling the trigger on "my choices." I had ultimate self-determination.
I have since come to understand that this is a crock of haggis.
To properly explain my present understanding of the relationship between God's will and our own, I have to start by saying that there is in fact no way to explain it--at least not completely; it is a mystery which human understanding can only begin to approach: namely, that God controls everything, including us, and yet we willingly make real decisions that have real consequences. Dr Grudem describes the paradox this way:
God causes all things that happen, but...does so in such a way that he somehow upholds our ability to make willing, responsible choices, choices that have real and eternal results, and for which we are held accountable. Exactly how God combines his providential control with our willing and significant choices, Scripture does not explain to us. But rather than deny one aspect or the other (simply because we cannot explain how both can be true), we should accept both in an attempt to be faithful to the teaching of all of Scripture.
Consider the following verses:
Proverbs 16:1: "The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord."
Proverbs 16:9: "The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps."
Proverbs 19:21: "Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel [sometimes translated: purpose] of the Lord will stand."
Proverbs 20:24: "Man's steps are ordained by the Lord, How then can man understand his way?"
Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He wishes."
Jeremiah 10:23: "I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct himself."
While some of these verses acknowledge that humans play a role as intentional, willing beings, all indicate that it is not people who are the ultimate causal agents of their decisions and actions: The answer that your mouth speaks is from the Lord. The Lord directs your steps. Your every step has been ordained by God from eternity. God turns your heart whichever way He wishes. It is not for your to direct your way. And yet, the Bible is stuffed with examples of people who make decisions and engage in patterns of behavior which in every case are recognized as having been done willingly, and for which the individuals in question are held accountable. In every case where someone sins, God regards the individual in question as a moral being who has acted willingly, and God holds the individual morally responsible for their sin.
As a brief aside: If the implications of the previous paragraph don't make you tremble, consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. God ordained/willed/directed that these two to feign that a financial gift to the church was the entire proceeds from the sale of their property, when in fact they had pocketed some of the cash (making themselves look good and making some money at the same time). God wills that this happen, and they willingly comply. The result is that God is angered and kills them both. God wills that they do something that outrages Him, so that He can punish them. Reading an event like this causes me to praise God for His mercy that He has not seen fit to deal with me in like manner.
How does the Bible describe God's sovereign direction of human will when it comes to the salvation of Christians? Here are a few verses for your consideration.
Ephesians 2: 8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Romans 9: 16: "So then, it does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy."
Philippians 2:12c-13: "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
These verses seem to rule out human beings as the ultimate determining agent for their salvation, or in the case of Philippians 2:12-13, continuing on in their faith. Ephesians 2: 8-9 and Romans 9:16 seem to disqualify human will from as playing any role whatsoever in the believer being saved. Salvation is "not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works." "It does not depend" on man's will or man's striving. It's like Paul is writing out in capital letters, underscored, "YOUR OPINION DOESN'T MATTER" in salvation. Yes, as with all other decisions we make, we who are believers willingly responded to God's call. But these verses make clear that (as with all other decisions we make) the necessary cause for this outcome was not our will, but God's. If you are saved, you are saved because God willed for you to be saved, not because you willed it.
Furthermore, and without straying too far into the doctrine of Total Depravity (to which I hope to devote another post in the future), you couldn't have decided to accept Christ on your own.
Romans 3:10-12:
as it is written:
"THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
In this passage, Paul is quoting certain passages in the Psalms to underscore the fact that we're all born into this world so thoroughly sinful that we never choose to do good, and we never choose God. We are all bent in our fallen state to the degree that, given a choice between running to God or running away from Him, we will run away from Him every time. That is the natural state of anyone who has not been saved.
This brings me to my next point about free will, namely that it's a problematic term because we are not completely free to do good, only evil. Quoting from John Calvin, as excerpted by Grudem in his chapter on God's Providence:
Man will then be spoken of as having this sort of free decision, not because he has free choice equally of good and evil, but because he acts wickedly by will, not by compulsion. Well put, indeed, but what purpose is served by labelling with a proud name such a slight thing? ... But how few men are there, I ask, who when they hear free will attributed to man do not immediately conceive him to be master of both his own mind and will, able of his own power to turn himself toward either good or evil...If anyone, then, can use this word without understanding it in a bad sense, I shall not trouble him on this account...I'd prefer not to use it myself, and I should like others, if they seek my advice, to avoid it.
So "free" will isn't an accurate description of what we exercise when we make decisions. God is the ultimate causal agent behind everything we do, and, at least in our flesh, the range of possibilities available to us as "deciders" and "actors", are all sinful. For years, this was so hard to get my head around, and even harder to accept. The thought that I wasn't free to make my own decisions and determine my own future was almost as outrageous to me as the notion that some people were born into the world with no chance of ever being saved. Sure, I would pray and ask God for wisdom and advice as I made my decisions, but I, and no one else, was the ultimate causal agent of every decision I made. I, and no one else, had ultimate self determination over my life. And yet, here were verses like Proverbs 16:9 and Romans 9:16. I could only deny reality for so long.
Understand, the position I have come to embrace is one that involved a lot of frustration and confusion. Interpret nothing that I write as flippant. For someone spiritually raised as an Arminian Christian, accepting this understanding of the role of human will vs. Divine will, as well as other elements of Calvinist doctrine, has been a difficult process.
One last thought. As I intimated above, the single greatest objection to Calivinism raised by non-Calvinists is of course the idea that some people are born into this world with absolutely no opportunity to repent and be saved. This was appalling to me as an Arminian (I'll devote a longer post to the doctrine of Election and Reprobation). I drew comfort from the hope that any of my unsaved friends and family had the opportunity to accept Christ, and might do so in the future. The thought that some of them would never have this opportunity was just too unbearable to contemplate.
But I now have come to believe that not even Arminian theology allows the possibility that all could come to salvation. The hope that all can be saved, even in the Arminian framework, is an illusion.
Romans 8:29-30 says the following:
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren, and these whom He predestined, He also called, and these whom He called, He also justifed, and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Generally, Armenians interpret this verse this way: God, from eternity past, looked forward into the future and saw the faith that would exist in the hearts of His followers, and "predestined" them for salvation as a preemptive response to the decision that they would one day make.
I would ask the Arminian to consider: regardless of whether you were saved on the basis of God choosing you or you choosing God, if in fact the salvation of all believers has been predestined by God from eternity, and cannot be changed (in other words, it's not possible for you not to be saved--furthermore, it was never possible for you not to be saved, for your salvation has been predestined since before the dawn of time. Regardless of whether you would ever want to, you cannot decide to renounce your faith. So not even the Arminian position offers total "free will." But I digress), conversely, it necessarily follows that everyone outside of that camp has not been predestined for salvation from eternity, and thus will not be saved. So how does the Arminian position really offer salvation as a possibility for everyone?
By now I'm sure you're almost as exhausted from reading this as I was from writing it, so I'll call it a day. Again, my coming to the position I now hold on this subject involved a lot of forehead pounding against various furniture, walls and assorted inanimate objects (mostly blunt objects, gratefully). The millions upon millions of Arminian Christians in the world today are a testimony to how difficult this concept is to swallow. But I'm just trying to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and trying to follow where I believe the Bible is leading me, and this is where I've ended up (I think). If you can't let go of the idea of total free will, then God bless you. The mystery of how God's will relates to our own will be revealed, eventually.
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