As we have seen from Turretin and Owen and just a bit from Luther, the shining lights from the history of Reformed theology and Christianity saw that the doctrine of free-will was virtually if not in reality a different view of Christianity than that of free grace. It taught a different Gospel and it taught a different view of God and man. Let us look at one passage of Scripture to show this difference.
“Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Romans 3:24-28).
Justification is of God and God alone. It comes “as a gift by His grace.” What do those words really mean? In his book The Reign of Grace Abraham Booth sets this out in a most beautiful way. That book is highly recommended in most parts. The word “gift” in the NAS demonstrates the effort to define a concept of Scripture. The KJV uses the word “freely.” The Greek word here is dorea which is used in these ways: freely(1), gift(12), needlessly(1), without a cause(1), without charge(1), without cost(2), without paying(1). John 15:25 translates the word as “without cause.” This is the passage which speaks of people hating Jesus without cause. Something that is truly free is without a cause in the person receiving it. Justification, then, shows us that sinners are saved without cause in themselves. The only cause of justification is the grace of God.
Without cause or reason in the sinner God redeems them by Christ. God displays Christ as a propitiation to demonstrate His own righteousness. God demonstrates His own righteousness so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where does all of that leave any room for boasting? It does not leave any room for boasting at any point and at any way. Why is there no room for boasting? It is because there is no cause within the human being which moved God to save them. Salvation is all of grace toward the human being (and I do mean all of grace in each and every aspect) because all of the causes and works involved in salvation are from within and come out from God. There is nothing about the Gospel that is not caused and moved by God. There is nothing to boast about because it is all of the grace of God. Not only does free grace point to man not being the cause of salvation, but grace points to how undeserving and ill-deserving human beings really are. Grace does not know of any cause within man or it would not be grace at all (Romans 11:6).
The doctrine of free-will, however, sets out that there is something in man that is self-determined. It teaches that until man exercises his will in some way (and a free-will means that the determining factor has to be self-determined in order to be free and not from another) that person is not saved. Many teach a form of grace that prepares man and gives man some strength but that the last movement is up to man. Whatever the case, they teach that last little bit is left to the self-determining power of human beings. But Romans 3:24ff does not show that distinction at all. It says that salvation is caused by God alone and it is by grace alone. It shows with utter clarity that there is nothing that man can do to help save himself.
Justification is by grace alone and uncaused in any way by human beings and so is the whole work of Christ in the text given above in Romans. Notice what happens, however, when we slip in a little bit of free-will. The whole text in its context will have to be changed. Justification is no longer by grace alone but by grace and just a bit by free-will. No longer is man justified freely (without cause in himself) by grace, but he now is able to contribute a cause for why God justifies him. The redemption that was all of grace is now mostly by grace. Propitiation used to be without cause to man and only so that God could demonstrate His righteousness is now caused in some way by man. God is no longer the sole justifier but man has contributed just a little bit by the act of his self-determining will. We are then left with man as being able to boast some in that he chose of himself when others did not. Indeed it is man that distinguishes himself in that scheme. As you can see once again if we throw a little free-will into the mix it leavens the Gospel into something a lot different. But it does not stop there, that leaven even goes to the throne of God and changes what Scripture teaches about God. It is a deadly serious error. We must beware.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment