The Monergist View of the Human Will

[canadyjd]

One sees the faith asa gift from God, the other has something they choose to exercise!

Do you see faith as a gift of God that is, nevertheless, something people choose to exercise?

 

[Yeshua1]

Do you see faith as a gift of God that is, nevertheless, something they choose to exercise?

I see it as a gift from God towards His own to be saved, not faith given to all sinners!

 

[canadyjd]

I see it as a gift from God towards His own to be saved, not faith given to all sinners!

Ok, but that wasn't my question, but I will rephrase. Do you believe in the necessity of "His own" responding to His intervention, gospel presentation, and the given faith by exercising faith in Jesus?

 

[Reformed]

It will help to know what your point is before continuing with the 20 questions exercise.

Ok, generally speaking, both synergists and monergists believe the necessity of God's intervention and the gospel presentation in bringing people to salvation.

Is it fair to say that both groups believe the necessity of responding to the gospel with faith in Jesus as the only way to salvation?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Yeshua1]

Ok, but that wasn't my question, but I will rephrase. Do you believe in the necessity of "His own" responding to His intervention, gospel presentation, and the given faith by exercising faith in Jesus?

Are you asking must a person believe in Jesus in order to get saved?

 

[loDebar]

There is an active thread called “I Believe in Free Will” and it is an absolute disaster. No one is listening to each other beyond the sound-byte they need to launch a diatribe against the other poster. I was going to participate in that thread, but I would have just been another din amidst the noise. So, I am going to start a thread to describe what Monergists believe about the human will. I do not expect many replies. With all the BB members I have blocked (and who have blocked me in return) this thread will only reach a narrow audience, and that is fine. As I have written many times before, it is the lurkers – those who seldom post – that sometimes get the most out of a well-written post or reply. So, to those denizens of the BB jungle, I dedicate this thread.

Each human being has a will. For this discussion, if we define the human will as the ability to think, act, and choose – that will be fine. Both Monergists and Synergists believe that human beings make volitional choices. Contrary to the belief of many Synergists, Monergists believe human beings make choices and they do so freely. More on this later. When I cite scripture references in this thread they are not meant to be exhaustive. For the sake of brevity, I will list relevant scriptures to support a contention or make a point.

I believe the Bible teaches original sin (Psa. 51:5; Eph. 2:1-3; Psa. 14:2-3). Sin is a pervasive malignancy that corrupts both the material and immaterial parts of man. Sin is a product of the fall (Gen. 3:6). The heart of man is sinful throughout its entire life (Ecc. 9:3). Many Synergists believe that sinful man is not completely fallen. There remains a “divine spark”, a smoldering ember that only needs the Holy Spirit to breath upon it. For these Synergists that divine spark is not enough to assault the human will. The individual must choose to believe the gospel message. Therefore, the term “Synergist” is used. The human will acts in cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel call. God will not make an individual believe. In a sense it is like the saying, “you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.” That stands in sharp contrast to how the Monergist views the human will.

According the Monergist understanding of scripture, sinners are completely fallen in sin. The will of man is corrupt. There is no part of the human will that is not corrupt. Puritan Ralph Venning wrote a work titled, “Sin, The Plague of Plagues” which was released in 1669. His work has become better known through succeeding centuries as “The Sinfulness of Sin”. The premise of Venning’s book is summarized in Romans 7:13, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” Sin is utterly sinful. It is not a mere condition that nags at the individual. Sin is a terminal disease that has already placed the individual in a state of death. This is what the Apostle Paul revealed to the church at Ephesus when he wrote about their spiritual condition prior to becoming believers: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). The Koine Greek word for “dead” in Eph. 2:1 (νεκρος) nekros, literally means a corpse. The spiritual condition of a sinner is likened to a corpse. This is far different than just an illness or condition that is curable. Sinners truly are dead men walking. This reality was one of the motivating reasons why Martin Luther wrote “On the Bondage of the Will” in 1525. The will of the sinner is literally in bondage to the law of death (Rom. 8:2). The sinner is a slave to sin (Rom. 6:16). The will of the sinner is incapable of doing anything that can help it escape its condition. Scripture states, Romans 8:6-8 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Did you read those words about the mind set on the flesh? It does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. The will of man cannot be separated from the mind of man. The mind of the sinner is wholly corrupt because of sin. It is fallen. It contains no divine spark. Gen. 6:5 states that every thought of man is evil. What makes us think that the human condition has improved since the time of Noah? Every thought of man – today – is evil. We have already seen in Romans 8 that the sinner is incapable of turning to God. This is the consequence of being in bondage to sin. It is the culmination of the sinfulness of sin. Therefore, the Monergist believes that the will of man must first be liberated from its bondage to sin before it can believe.

Back in Ephesians 2 Paul tells us that the sinner is spiritually dead. He uses the Greek word for a corpse to the make that point. This creates a problem for the Synergist, because he must either wrestle with the text head-on, or dance around it to avoid its only conclusion. A corpse has no ability to do anything. It is dead. When describing the fallen human will it is, well, dead. It will remain dead unless an outside force acts upon it making it alive, and this is exactly what the Apostle Paul reveals further on in Ephesians 2:4-9, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Paul does not write “But man” he writes “But God”. Even while we were spiritually dead in sin, God made us alive. This is the work of illumination and regeneration, whereby God makes the human heart willing and able to believe (Ezk. 36:26). Freed from its slavery and bondage to sin, the individual is now able to freely choose the One who has already chosen him. Nowhere in scripture can we find that a sinner can breathe life into his own dead nature so that it can choose God. However, we have just read that the Holy Spirit does exactly that.

*edited to correct grammar and typos.

The thread you mention is probably a disaster but it was urgent to the confront the errors and the thread is correct. Your posts agree with Luther and like his arguments include action as part of Free Will .

 

[loDebar]

Each human being has a will. For this discussion, if we define the human will as the ability to think, act, and choose – that will be fine. Both Monergists and Synergists believe that human beings make volitional choices. Contrary to the belief of many Synergists, Monergists believe human beings make choices and they do so freely. More on this later. When I cite scripture references in this thread they are not meant to be exhaustive. For the sake of brevity, I will list relevant scriptures to support a contention or make a point.

Making choices is not Free Will but results and proof of the existence of Free Will, the desire to make choices. The inability to know options or make decisions does not mean there is not Free Will. Inaction may be from lack of options not desires. Free Will is not inability of save ourselves.

Calvinists cannot accept Free Will , it is contradictory as proof consider the vitriol on these types of threads.

 

[Wesley Briggman]

If God wants you to spend eternity with Him, you will. The Holy Spirit will conform your will to His.

As an aside, RCC doctrine does not comport with anything that has been said. Their position on salvation is contained exclusively in the act of baptism. When an individual is baptized with wholly water, they are born-again are thereby a child of God.

 

[Reformed]

The thread you mention is probably a disaster but it was urgent to the confront the errors and the thread is correct. Your posts agree with Luther and like his arguments include action as part of Free Will .

Any agreement with Luther or another author is only relevant to the degree it supports the biblical position. This thread is meant to posit the Monergist position. Monergists believe the human will of the unregenerate person is in bondage (slavery) to sin. The will is not free by the very nature of it being in bondage. The will of the Christian is free from the bondage of sin, but it still serves another master. Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

 

[Reformed]

Calvinists cannot accept Free Will , it is contradictory as proof consider the vitriol on these types of threads.

The only vitriol that will appear in this thread is the vitriol you bring with you. If you do, I will just add you to my ever-growing block list. I have zero-tolerance for drama queens. You can post into the ether as far as I am concerned. The choice is yours.

As far as free will goes, it is a false soteriological concept. Can the words "free" and "will" be used together in the same sentence? Sure. Do Mongerists believe that regenerate persons choose Christ freely? Absolutely. They choose freely once their will has been released from the bondage of sin. Prior to that release, the will of the sinner is incapable of belief (Rom. 8:7). Once the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates a person, that person will always choose Christ, each and every time. The only people the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates are the Elect. Those people who reject Christ do so because they have never been illumined or regenerated and still have a will that is in bondage to sin.

 

[Reformed]

If God wants you to spend eternity with Him, you will. The Holy Spirit will conform your will to His.

Wesley, I am going to agree with your statement 100%. Jesus said:

John 6:35-40 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Verse 37 says "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me". The Father gives the Elect to the Son. The Holy Spirit accomplishes this by the proclamation of the Gospel and through regeneration. So, yes, if you are are one of God's elect, you will spend eternity with Him.

 

[Yeshua1]

Making choices is not Free Will but results and proof of the existence of Free Will, the desire to make choices. The inability to know options or make decisions does not mean there is not Free Will. Inaction may be from lack of options not desires. Free Will is not inability of save ourselves.

Calvinists cannot accept Free Will , it is contradictory as proof consider the vitriol on these types of threads.

We do not accept that fallen/sinful man can freely choosr to make the decision to accept Jesus by Himself!

 

[Yeshua1]

Making choices is not Free Will but results and proof of the existence of Free Will, the desire to make choices. The inability to know options or make decisions does not mean there is not Free Will. Inaction may be from lack of options not desires. Free Will is not inability of save ourselves.

Calvinists cannot accept Free Will , it is contradictory as proof consider the vitriol on these types of threads.

We reject that sinful natured humans can make any decision outside the restraints placed internally on them by the sin nature itself!

 

[Revmitchell]

We do not accept that fallen/sinful man can freely choosr to make the decision to accept Jesus by Himself!

Nope, he needs to hear the gospel

 

[Yeshua1]

The only vitriol that will appear in this thread is the vitriol you bring with you. If you do, I will just add you to my ever-growing block list. I have zero-tolerance for drama queens. You can post into the ether as far as I am concerned. The choice is yours.

As far as free will goes, it is a false soteriological concept. Can the words "free" and "will" be used together in the same sentence? Sure. Do Mongerists believe that regenerate persons choose Christ freely? Absolutely. They choose freely once their will has been released from the bondage of sin. Prior to that release, the will of the sinner is incapable of belief (Rom. 8:7). Once the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates a person, that person will always choose Christ, each and every time. The only people the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates are the Elect. Those people who reject Christ do so because they have never been illumined or regenerated and still have a will that is in bondage to sin.

We are all either slaves to our base bature, or alive and now slaves to Christ, many here on free will seem to want to have a miidle position, where in bondgae , but not enough to be a slave to sin!

 

[Yeshua1]

Nope, he needs to hear the gospel

Unless the Lord gives to that man the ears to hear and the mind/heart to resond, will be deaf/dumb and blind to it!

 

[Revmitchell]

Unless the Lord gives to that man the ears to hear and the mind/heart to resond, will be deaf/dumb and blind to it!

Scripture says faith vomes from hearing the gospel. It also says the power to believe and be saved comes from the gospel

 

[Yeshua1]

Scripture says faith vomes from hearing the gospel. It also says the power to believe and be saved comes from tje gospel

Yes, as that is the ordained agent the Lord uses to have His elect come to faith now in Christ!

 

[loDebar]

The only vitriol that will appear in this thread is the vitriol you bring with you. If you do, I will just add you to my ever-growing block list. I have zero-tolerance for drama queens. You can post into the ether as far as I am concerned. The choice is yours.

As far as free will goes, it is a false soteriological concept. Can the words "free" and "will" be used together in the same sentence? Sure. Do Mongerists believe that regenerate persons choose Christ freely? Absolutely. They choose freely once their will has been released from the bondage of sin. Prior to that release, the will of the sinner is incapable of belief (Rom. 8:7). Once the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates a person, that person will always choose Christ, each and every time. The only people the Holy Spirit illumines and regenerates are the Elect. Those people who reject Christ do so because they have never been illumined or regenerated and still have a will that is in bondage to sin.

There is an active thread called “I Believe in Free Will” and it is an absolute disaster.

You attack in the first sentence. of this thread. Then repeated the same errors in the thread you attacked. ???????

 

[Reformed]

We are all either slaves to our base bature, or alive and now slaves to Christ, many here on free will seem to want to have a miidle position, where in bondgae , but not enough to be a slave to sin!

There is no middle position. Humanity is never free in the manner in which Synergists think. That does not mean we do not choose freely, but there is a categorical difference between freedom of choice and the concept of free will. Those things are not the same.