My daughters have a set of Russian nesting dolls that my mom got them a few months ago. If you don't know what I am talking about, they are little wooden dolls shaped roughly like bowling pins, and the dolls nest one inside another, getting progressively smaller.
Sunday morning, on the way to church, Katie had brought these along for the ride just to occupy her time. She and Abby were playing with the dolls, but Katie would not allow Abby to play with the smallest one for fear that she would lose it. Instead, she left it nested inside of a couple of others. Abby got very upset about this and started wailing and having a horrible fit. Never mind that she could play with any of the other dolls. She wanted the one doll that she could not play with.
LaRissa pointed out that Abby was demonstrating what has so long been a part of human nature: we want the very thing that we cannot have. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of the fruit of any tree in the Garden of Eden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So, what do they do? They eat of the one tree they were told they could not eat. The one tree that was off limits is the one tree to which they are drawn.
Ever since, our sinful human nature tends to draw us to the very things that we cannot have. We do not like to be told "No," and when we are told "No," it tends to increase our desire for the thing we cannot have. Paul points this out in Romans 7. We desire to do good, but we wind up doing the very evil thing that we do not want to do. In addition, the commands of God often give rise in us a desire to do the very thing that God has prohibited. Paul uses the example of covetousness. God's command not to covet gives birth in Paul covetousness of every kind.
The real issue is our sinful nature, our human will. Our decisions, our choices, our actions are constantly impacted by the sinful nature that is within each of us. Our wills are dictated by our nature which is in bondage to sin.
So, do we really have free wills? Well, it depends. We absolutely have freedom of the will. Freedom of the will simply means that we are free to do what we will. Whatever our wills dictate, we are free to follow those impulses. Now, even within this understanding of the human will, there are limits on our freedom. Sometimes my freedom is limited by my own abilities. I may have the will to leap off a five story building and fly like a bird, but gravity, aerodynamics, and my own body structure will have something vastly different to say. Sometimes my freedom is limited by others. I may have the will to stay up till 2 am, but my wife may veto that. Sometimes my freedom is limited by society. I may want to drive 120 mph, but the law, police officers, and other traffic will be a serious limiting factor on my will. I may have the will to play with the smallest Russian doll, but my big sister may have something different to say.
In general, however, we are free to do what we will, we have freedom of the will. Our problem, however, is not really freedom of the will. It is freedom from the will, which we do not have. Freedom from the will is the freedom to do other than what our will dictates. Now, you may say, "I am fully capable of doing other than what I want to do." But that is not the same as doing other than what you will to do. Your actions and decisions are always a function of your will. You always do what you will to do. Sometimes you will to do what you don't want to do, but you will it nonetheless.
Another way of putting it is what Jonathan Edwards said. I am free to do what I will, but I am not free to will what I will. My will is a function of my nature, and my will always dictates what I do. And therein lies our great problem. I am not free from my will. I am in bondage to my will. My will drives me to choices that are destructive, harmful, sinful, and enslaving. Although I am free to do what I will, I cannot change the nature that drives my will.
The only way for me to truly be free is for someone outside of myself to set me free. And that is what Christ has done. Now, even then, my will is not free, because I give myself as a slave to Jesus Christ. But once Christ is in control, I am only then truly free to live the life that God has called me to. Only once I have made Jesus the ruler of my life am I really free.
No comments:
Post a Comment