Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Free-Willery
Some Reflections on the Doctrine of Free-Will
May 2, 2003

Introduction Ive never seen the movie Free Willy, but I am familiar with the story behind it. It is truly fascinating, an example of life imitating art. In that movie the Orca whale, whose real name is Keiko, is captured and then freed by a young boy. After the movie, the younger audiences were shocked when they realized that Free Willy wasnt really free at all. Instead, he was actually a whale named Keiko who was confined to a shallow pool in Mexico. What followed this realization was eventually a $20 million dollar effort to rehabilitate him and return him to the ocean to see if he would prefer his fellow whales over the humans he had grown so used to interacting with. Everybody it seemed was for Keiko. On the one hand his owner, Leif Nottestad an expert on orcas at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway - stated outright that Keiko would not be able to survive on his own if he were not being cared for by humans. He claims that the laws of nature would be disregarded if the whale were to be set free. How can a whale who has spent most of his life with humans actually be taught to love his own kind? Until he was captured in 1979 and rescued from his papilloma virus, he had never actually swam in sea water. But upon being rescued, he was cured of the skin virus that made him so skinny, and he put 2,000 pounds. So it seems he was rescued from certain death. But on the other side is Dave Phillips, a marine mammal activist, who was hired by the movie studio to work hard to get Free Willy actually freed. Realizing that Keiko didnt even know how to catch a live fish to feed himself, the job would be tough. But Phillips was convinced that Keiko could be rehabilitated. So they hoisted him into a cargo plane and shipped him off to Iceland where someone had to pay $200,000 a month to maintain Keikos specially designed million dollar pen and prepare him for a life as a whale lover instead of a human lover. Well, the movie was made ten years ago. The movement to rescue him and actually free Willy began just after that. He was finally rehabilitated
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

and eventually swam off with a pod of other orcas at the end of last July. Until Ooops! Five weeks later he showed up on September 1 off the coast of Norway. Not good. Norway is a whaling country. But no fear! The people of Norway spotted Keiko, realized who it was, and a whole new wave of fans and media frenzies began. Keiko loved people more than whales after all! Six years of rehabilitation and $20 million in expenses later, Keiko really does love us humans more than his own kind. That makes me feel so good inside! Not much has changed. Keiko has another home, a protected bay in Norway not open to the public. Now he is managed round the clock by his keepers. But the new rules and new location havent stopped Keiko from using his old tricks again. He still relies on humans to take care of him. This includes his eating habits. He is currently being fed 150 pounds of herring per day, by humans of course. That totals up to thousands of dollars a month. But thats okay because we all love Keiko! Everyone knows deep down inside that all of this is just silly. $20 million dollars had to be spent to figure out what Keiko would really do. Phillips and others really wanted to believe that Willy would really live free. I think the question ABC News asked Phillips was pretty legitimate: were the projects expectations driven more by emotions than science? Phillips responds that the project was conducted scientifically and that Keiko will ultimately live free and make it back into the wild to live with his neighbor orcas. Back in January or February Phillips was expecting a pod of orcas to come swimming into Keikos backyard. The test was going to be whether or not Keiko would hook up with his new buddies or continue to prefer life with humans. But in the end, the statement Phillips made was both telling and stupefying: if Keiko chooses to stay with humans, the multi-million dollar project will not be a complete failure. "We'll go as far as he can go," Phillips said. "And if he can't go any further, we're very comfortable in taking care of him for the rest of his life."1 How goofy is that? This is so reminiscent of what I have affectionately termed as FreeWillery. This is a doctrine that has been taught for hundreds of years. The problem is, it didnt emerge from the pages of Scripture, but from the minds of men who put it in Scripture. And throughout church history there have been many who have continued, like Phillips with Keiko, to expend hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, and lifetimes to keep the dream alive. And like the present situation with Keiko, Free-Willery continues to be maintained and cared for as biblical despite its obvious disconnect with the Bible.
Cited from the article Killer Instict from ABCNEWS.com at http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/ DailyNews/2020_keiko030124.html. Adult Bible Study Hour Community Church
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

I recall the year when I first explored this subject and delivered the results of my study to a theology class when I was Bible College. I delivered what I believed to be the biblical understanding of free-will, answered every single question and objection with clear texts. Honestly no one had a single objection or question left as I recall. And yet the reply I received from my theology prof afterwards was both telling and stupefying, just like Phillips response to Keikos failure. He wrote it down so Im quoting word for word here: I stand by my basic presupposition ofmans free-will and ability to respond to grace. Again, how goofy is that? What drives Free-Willery is the same thing that drove freeing Willy: emotions and not the biblical science of exegesis. Free-Willery can no more be found to be in harmony with Scripture than Keiko can be found to live in harmony with his fellow orcas. And no amount of money or time will make it work. It is a project doomed for failure from the start. What I offer you in the pages that follow was originally part of a manuscript written from the months of study on the subject of free-will. I was so intent on the subject that I figured I might as well write it all down so I could remember it! So what follows are a few modern reflections on free-will as compared to what the Scriptures seem to teach concerning it. I trust it will be helpful as we see the same obvious error that Phillips made in trying to free Willy! The Sovereignty of God: The Best Starting Point God's sovereignty is always the subject of much study and debate in just about every section of those who are even the slightest bit learned theologically. You don't have to study it very long before someone inevitably asks how God's sovereignty and man's responsibility and free-will fit together. If you have never studied it I suggest that you do so before even finishing this paragraph, because that is the most fundamental study in your Christian faith that you could ever do. But for those who are somewhat familiar with it I will summarize it briefly here so as to polish up our foundation. Sovereignty is the complete freedom of God to move, act, and do all that pleases Him (Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:8-10). God's power is not confined; His presence is not restricted; His knowledge is not limited; and He cannot change no matter what. Consider the following elements of theological truth that make up what we call Gods sovereignty. 1. God's Power - Omnipotence means all powerful...If God did not have all the power there was to have then He would not be all powerful, and so He would not be completely free and sovereign to do all He pleases.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

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God's Presence - Omnipresence means every place all the time...If God were to be found throughout the entire universe, in other universes, other galaxies, etc. and yet was not found in some remote cave of some remote planet in the universe some 90 trillion miles away then God would not be present everywhere at all times. He would not be completely free and sovereign to go where He wanted. God's Knowledge - Omniscience means all knowledge (of things actual and possible)...If God knew everything there was to know in every universe and galaxy with exception of one little piece of information floating around somewhere out there, God would not know all things. Thus, He would not be completely free and sovereign to move, act, and do all that He pleases. God's Unchangeableness - Immutability means never changing...If God could ever change then He would not be a perfect God. Perfection never needs changing or bettering. It cannot get better or get worse. If He could change then what would He change anyway since He is perfect and constant.

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Now consider this conclusion in light of what we know: If there were one maverick molecule or passive particle floating around out there somewhere outside God's power, presence and knowledge then He would not be sovereign because it might be that very molecule or particle which might mean the undoing of God. But since He has all power, knows all things, is everywhere at all times, and cannot change, He is God. All of this means that God is wholly other, or what theologians term transcendent. He is not at all like us. He is completely different from His creation in essence. We will look more extensively into some of these areas later on but for now let it suffice to say that these attributes are necessary to His existence. It is not that He must have them to exist, but rather than they are natural attributes which flow from Who He is. Because He is God He knows all things and can do all things. Because He is the creator, He is everywhere in that creation at once. Because He is perfect He is unchangeable. But now lets turn our attention to that which seems to contradict this doctrine of Gods sovereignty. Free-Will Defined by Modern Society I took a survey many years ago and asked many people of different backgrounds (Christian and non-Christian) to define what they understood by the word free and the phrase free-will. Almost all of them defined it in one of the following two ways.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

1. Man's will in all of its desires, determinations, and choices is free from any outside cause. a. Man himself wills what he does because of his own pleasure... b. No one can ever make him will what he of himself does not purpose to will - and not even God. c. God has given this free-will and won't interfere with it in anyway. d. God may want a man to do something but if the man himself does not will to do it himself, God will do nothing to change his will. 2. From an ethical, moral point of view man's will is free to choose either good or evil. a. Man has the ability to choose either good or evil. b. Man has the ability to choose the way of sin or to choose the way of righteousness. c. Man has the ability to do either good or evil making him spiritually free. Now plug this into the issue of salvation: if this is what freedom is then the unsaved person can either choose or reject Christ, and their salvation is purely their decision and strictly their choice. As it relates to this issue of sovereignty, all they would say is that man does have the ability to see the cross and choose Christ for salvation or look away from the cross and reject Christ. However, this seems to run against the clear biblical teaching of a God who is sovereign and can do whatever He pleases. So here we have man doing what he wants and God doing what He wants. Somebodys going to get hurt! These free-wills are going to collide at somep point! But I want to make the problem a little worse by observing what the dictionaries say about freedom. 1. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Free having liberty; not subject to some external force or power; having no restrictions or limitations; without interference; freedom from outside domination; enjoying personal freedom; not subject to the control or domination of another; choosing or capable of choosing for itself; determined by the choice of the actor or performer; having a scope not restricted by qualification.2 Free Will - freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.
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Free as cited in various forms in the online edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary. There were many definitions given under this word, and I chose those that best fits the modern understanding of the word free. To be sure, there was one definition that accurately defines what I will present as the biblical understanding of free-will in this article: not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being. Adult Bible Study Hour Community Church

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

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The American Heritage Dictionary3 Free not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty. Not controlled by obligation or will of another. Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance. Free-Will - The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will.

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Dictionary.Com4 Free Agency - Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.

Now I want you to consider societys understanding of freedom and the dictionarys understanding of freedom from two vantage points. First, all of these viewpoints seem to contradict plain logic. Im under the law of gravity, for one. I am not free to fly or free to jump off a building without some form of assistance in safe landing. Therefore, if Websters definition was applied to me in this one example, I should not be subject to the external force of gravity, I should not have any restrictions on flying, and I should be able to jump off a building without the interference of death. Hmmm. Suddenly, Im not so free anymore. And there are many more examples of how this could apply. Now, to be sure, the people who write definitions for Webster would tell me that this is a general statement about being free and as with anything else there are exceptions to that definition. And since I know this is true, I suddenly am confronted with a host of biblical exceptions to that definition. And thats the second area which these viewpoints on freedom seem to contradict. The Bible speaks of God as free and man as bound to sin or to Christ. Therefore, the dictionary definitions and societys understanding of freedom must be amended to mean that one can in fact be in some sense restricted by external force and yet still be free to move within those restrictions. One of the definition sin Merriam-Websters definition fits this more logical understanding: not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being. And this gets to the thesis of my argument. I am bound by gravity, yet I am free to walk anywhere I want. And likewise, the sinner is bound to his own sinful nature and yet he is free to sin in anyway he desires. Also, according to the dictionary definitions, man would be totally free to reject Christ or choose Christ. He can either choose to be a Christian or refuse
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Cited from the online version at http://www.bartleby.com/am/. Cited from the online version at http://dictionary.reference.com/.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

to be a Christian. The choice is strictly his. While people or things may influence him one way or the other, ultimately no one and no thing can make him choose Christ or reject Christ. And did you catch the phraseology that was repeated in a couple of instances? The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will. So then, even God will never sovereignly interfere with a persons will to cause Him to accept Christ. In this sense, God makes his own will subservient to man's free will. And so goes the concept of free-will according the dictionary definitions and societys understanding. So, what kind of God do we have now, who cannot interrupt or interfere with our freedom? Further Concepts of Free-Will5 Some people say that to have a free-will is to have neutral will. This type of will has no inclination or prior disposition to the left or to the right so that every choice make is completely spontaneous with no governing prior reason for it. To me this seems completely irrational, erroneous, and certainly unbiblical. Why? Well, if you say that man is completely neutral in his decision making and that he has no prior disposition or inclination to make one choice over the other and he makes it spontaneously then here are some problems to deal with: 1. You have an effect without a cause. reason for it to happen. Something happened without a

2. You made a choice for no apparent reason. If you are neutral you don't have anything - even desires, thoughts, etc. - pulling you one way or another. How can you make a decision then? 3. There is no moral significance attached to your choice at all. All choices point to the moral source from which it comes. Where is the moral source for a decision made from neutrality. 4. Could a person with no inclination or disposition to the right or left really make a choice at all? If you were indeed really neutral with no one or no thing to coerce you one way or the other then you would never make a choice would you? What is the conclusion? This is a non-reality concept of free-will here. There is a reason for every single choice we make in life, no matter how small and minute it may be. Our decision making faculties are already biased with our own set of desires, tastes, and preferences that we have made throughout
A thorough study of the following aspects is available on cassette tape by R.C. Sproul in his series entitled Live from Falls Church made available through Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida. Adult Bible Study Hour Community Church
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

our past. So then we do have the ability to choose what we want and when we want it and why we want it, but we will always do so according to our set of desires, tastes, and preferences. So in a sense we are free to choose, but our freedom is limited to these desires, tastes, and preferences that only we personally have. Putting Sovereignty and Free-Will Together If you have followed this argument so far you have probably come against some problems. Immediately there is usually a question which comes to most minds at this point: If God is sovereign and free and man is also free then how do we fit the two together. Well, here are three ways that I have heard this explained to me: 1. The relationship between the two is that of paradox and contradiction. We as Christians who have faith in God are not to question them but only to hold to them no matter how difficult it may be to understand. 2. The relationship between the two is like two parallel lines which will meet somewhere in eternity at the throne of God. 3. The relationship between the two is like two train tracks that press ever onward into the distant future of eternity, while all along the way these two tracks are connected by the ties of faith. Gods sovereignty and mans free will do seem to contradict. But that is only if we accept societys understanding of free-will today. But if we look at free-will as the Bible does, the contradiction and paradox disappear. As a word of counsel, dont let anyone put you into a theological box that isnt clearly defined by good exegesis. Good exegesis doesnt define freedom the way the dictionaries do. So I wont allow myself to be put in some theological box that forces me to come to a conclusion that is intellectual nonsense or theological schizophrenia at best! Now, while parallel train tracks never meet anywhere, there is some merit in the third choice of applying faith between the two. However, they cannot contradict. Holding contradiction with faith is nonsense. Faith doesnt abandon reason. It supports reason and is in complete harmony with it as long as it is being formed and shaped by Scripture. However, the merit is in the fact that when we as humans dont understand what the Bible seems to clearly teach, then faith is in order, trusting that God knows it all and that He has it all worked out for us. So in a worst case scenario, even if I dont understand how they work together, faith enables me to trust in an allknowing, all-wise God. But in the best case scenario I know that freedom is not defined by society but by Scripture. Yet I also know that even in the way Scripture defines freedom there are smaller and perhaps more insignificant
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

theological problems that may arise. But they arent ones that undo my whole structure. Instead, Ill hold what I know is clear to be true, and what I dont understand Ill hold in faith with humility, awaiting for the Spirit to lead me to a better understanding sometime later. Scriptural Concepts of Free-Will Now I want to finish up my argumentation here and get to my thesis of how I thin kthe Bible speaks of freedom. First, let us remember that we know the Bible says that God is sovereign and man is not. Thats a good start. But what else must happen is for the student of Scripture to remove the matrix of free-will which is almost always superimposed on the text. I was engaging in a debate with a fellow earlier today who offered over a dozen texts that he said taught the free-will of man, yet in not one of these texts is there such a teaching. Rather, it is inferred from a text, but it is always inferred where there is not even an implication. Passages such as John 3:16 are always offered as if they said anything at all about mans free-will. I understand what they are trying to draw from the text. I understand that the whosoever seems to imply that anyone can come to Christ. But thats not what the text says. It is a simple statement of truth: if you believe you will have eternal life. Thats all it says. Free-Willerys biggest argument goes like this: when God commands man, man must be able to obey. After all why would God command a person who could not obey. That is the famous statement which says that Gods commands are Gods enablings. I dont believe that is true for the nonChristian and Ill deal with that in Free-Willery II, the sequel. But suffice it to say now that just because God commands a person to be holy or to be perfect, that doesnt mean that the person can comply with the command. And that would mean then that man does not have any free-will as modern society understands it. However, I also believe the Scriptures do teach a clear concept on what exactly man's will is and the many facets which it involves. I believe the Bible is very clear on what takes place in making a decision for Christ. The Scriptures clearly define man's will for us in actualized terms. In other words, the Scriptures do not give us an absract concept of something which we cannot see, but rather it gives us concrete evidence which we can see which will conclusively determine what the will is.6 Basically, Scriptures look at the evidence which we can see and deduce what must be the diagnosis about mans heart. After all, is there another method which can be so conclusive than judging a fruit tree by what fruit it
For a more thorough dealing with the biblical understanding of the heart of man, see my article entitled The Heart of the Matter, from November 5, 2002. Adult Bible Study Hour Community Church
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bears? Is there a better means by which to determine what type of water there is than judging its source? All of Scripture teaches that the heart determines the conduct and one of the faculties of the heart which makes decisions is the will. Therefore, what the will does is what it is; or to state it more succinctly, what the will does is what it is subject to. Consider these truths. First, it is clear from Romans 6:16,20 that the unsaved man is a slave to sin. He is in total bondage to sin. This includes everything about him - even his intellectual faculties and decision making faculties. If all his cognitive faculties are in slavery or bondage to sin then his set of desires, tastes, and preferences are going to be used to make sinful choices the majority of the time. This is clearly supported by other Scripture: a. Romans 8:7-8 - The carnal or natural mind is at enmity or is hostile towards God. So all the unsaved man's decision making is made by his natural or carnal mind with that presupposition and predisposition as well as prior inclination. b. Ephesians 2:15-16 - God is at enmity with the unsaved man because he doesn't obey God's commandments and regulations. The unsaved man cannot fulfill the law of God, which is why he is unsaved to begin with. His existence offends a perfect and holy God. c. Romans 9:22 - The unsaved man is an object of God's wrath because of the previous point. His very existence is offensive to God which makes him an object of God's wrath. d. Ephesians 2:3 - The unsaved man, who is dead is by nature an object of wrath because the natural man can only gratify the cravings of their sinful nature and can only follow the sinful nature's desires and thoughts. e. I Corinthians 2:14 - Finally, the natural man, or the unsaved man, does accept the things of or from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. The reason he does not accept them is because he cannot, and the reason for that being because he is a natural man. This verse does not specify any exception for the natural man as to when he does accept the things of the Spirit of God which logically leads us to conclude that he cannot and will not at any time accept them. In conclusion of this first point, the only decisions the unsaved natural mind of man can make (especially in regards to spiritual things) are things contrary to God because according to Scripture he is against God.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Second, it is clear from Romans 6:14,16,20 that the saved man is a slave to righteousness. He is in total bondage to Christ. This includes anything about him here - even his intellectual faculties and decision making faculties. If all his cognitive faculties are in slavery to righteousness then his set of desires, tastes, and preferences are righteous the majority of the time. This point too is clearly supported by other Scripture: a. Romans 8:9-10 - One who has Christ has a righteous nature and is controlled by the Spirit and so his choices to be made should be made with His set of desires, tastes, and preferences. b. I Corinthians 2:16 - Paul tells us here that as Christians, we have the mind of Christ. The Greek word for mind is nous includes will, emotions, intellect, etc. c. Ephesians 1:3 - and every other passage which Paul speaks of Christians as being in Christ. It is very important to note that Paul always makes a clear distinction between being in Christ and being in sin. The believer belongs to the former category and the unbeliever to the latter. In conclusion of this second point, the only decisions the saved man can and will make in (especially in regards to spiritual things) are things according to the Spirit and Word of God because according to the Scriptures he is in Christ. Conclusion Let me try to wrap all of this up here for you. Since an unsaved man is in slavery to sin we can now better understand the truth which Christ spoke in John 6:65 when He said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled Him." In other words there is not one person who has ever been born in the history of time who has had the ability the come to Christ without receiving that ability to come to Christ from the Father. The phrase "no one" comprises a universal negative; "can come" indicates ability to do something; "unless" indicates an exception to the rule. All of these put together tell us that there is none who has the ability to come to Christ to be saved unless the Father gives Him that ability. So then, since a man will either be in Christ or in sin he is then in bondage to the one or the other. Though he is in total bondage to either one or the other, he is still free. The reason he can be in bondage and yet be free is because his freedom still exists and actually only truly exists within the realm of spiritual domination in which he lives. Though the unsaved man is in bondage to sin he is yet still free to choose any sin (any size, shape, form, manner, etc.) he wishes to choose. But his boundary is set for him, and that being sin and his master Satan. Though the saved man is in bondage to
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

righteousness, he is yet still free to choose any act of righteousness and good work (also any size, shape, form, manner, etc.) he wishes to choose. But his boundary is also set for him, and that being salvation and his master Christ. The unsaved man is free to choose all the sin he wills to choose within his sinful nature and the saved man is free to choose all the righteousness he wills to choose within his righteous nature. I pray that this interaction may have been beneficial for you to see that what we often think of when we hear free-will is not the same thing as how the Bible describes it. We are close, yet so far away. So my challenge to my Free-Willery brothers and sisters in Christ out there is to cease funding your theological system with so much time and energy because the Bible sees the matter completely different. And any efforts which (even unwittingly) set out to prove the biblical understanding as unbiblical will be doomed to failure from the start.

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