Free Will vs. Bound Will

"Free Will" vs. the "Captive Will" is one of the most 'sensitive' issues in Christendom. Usually, the controversy is thought of philosophically. This is to the detriment of the discussion. As the philosopher Peter Singer once wrote,"We have to believe in Free Will! We have no choice!"

Philosophically, the antonym to "Free Will" is "Determinism." Consequently, when confronted with the loss of their Free Will, most people lament: "But we're not puppets are we?" To which Gerhard Forde would respond by waving his arms and announcing: "See, no strings!" Under Determinism, the end product is not "Faith" but "FATE"--all things are inevitable. Not only does Fate take away choice but it destroys responsibility.

When the controversy is taken up theologically, the antonym of "Free Will" is the "Bound Will." We are bound to choose the things we choose, we can't escape it. This isn't about the Determinism of our behavior but about determining our "being." The Old Adam or Eve is "bound" to sin; sinfulness is their "ontology"--their "being-ness." The new creature in Christ is bound to righteousness; sin is behind them in the old being. Saintliness is their "ontology"--their being-ness.

The sinner can only sin and is bound to sin--a captive to that triumvirate of powers: the devil, the world, and the sinful self. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, all we have access to--visibly and manifestly--are works of the flesh. Which, because they are done out of our "mortality," these works of the flesh are mortal sins, as Luther discusses in the Heidelberg Disputation.

The saint can only do works of righteousness--a bound servant of Christ and neighbor; living under Christ in his kingdom, serving him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, the glorious life of the saint is hidden from us. As Saint Paul writes in Colossians 3:3-4 "You are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ--who is your life--appears in glory, then your life too, will appear in glory" Since its life is hidden, the saint is accessible only to faith--faith in Christ. This is why Paul MUST confess in Galatians 2:20: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God..."

Under "religion" and "Free Will," the Christian life is determined to be the commitment to making "right" choices regarding thinking, feeling, and doing, so that progress is made from being a "sinner" to being a "saint." Religion can agree that we are both sinner and saint at the same time... existing somewhere on the continuum stretched between the two absolutes: absolute sinner and absolute saint. The Christian life is "achieved" through progress on the continuum. This is the paradigm of religion.

However, under "faith in Christ" and the "Bondage of the Will," the Christian life is given by the handing over of Christ to you as the Holy Spirit works faith through the Means of Grace. There is no progress,only death and new life. There is no continuously existing self to make progress on a continuum between absolute saint and absolute sinner. Both the absolute saint and the absolute sinner exist simultaneously--totally saint and totally sinner at one and the same time. This "double" ontology--200% being--is always "received" never "achieved." It is the "passive" life of the Christian--the passion of being done unto. This is the paradigm of faith.

During these days of our Baptism we have citizenship in two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world, manifested by flesh, and under the triumvirate of powers--the devil, the world, and our sinful selves; and the kingdom of Christ (the new creation), manifested by faith, and under the Lordship of Christ with his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. These two kingdoms are connected--not by the sinner's progress toward saintliness--but by Jesus Christ himself. Since Christ is the first fruits of the new creation delivered through the Means of Grace, his person is the only bit of the new creation accessible to us while we wait for glory. For now, during these days of our Baptism, being "joined" to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection--is THE ONLY WAY this double life is available to us. There is no "progress," There is only the "return" to baptism and its benefits: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every confession, absolution, and subsequent repentance is a return to baptism and its reality of life in two kingdoms.

Under the religion paradigm, faith is concerned with direction, direction, direction. Faith is like a mathematical "vector:" it has a direction and it has a magnitude. Religion is all about getting your faith-vector pointed in the right direction and then increasing its magnitude--that is, the "strength" of your faith. Faith is a human emotion: trust, loyalty, confidence, commitment, etc. Faith is treated like any other human virtue--it is "our" work. Preaching is exhortation to use, motivate, and increase our faith--usually so that the religious "institution" can benefit from it.

Under the faith paradigm, faith is concerned with location, location, location. Faith is not about "movement" but about being "planted"--located. Faith in Christ "locates" you "in Christ" where you have an invisible, redeeming, divine reality that tears you away from and places you in contrast to all other realities. You have "life" in two kingdoms. You are fully located in each.

In the kingdom of this world you are "wholly" a creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have nothing to prove, nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. You are fully aware your "flesh" is mortal; it has no future; and that it has only two purposes: 1) to be of some "use" to the neighbor; and, 2) to say "Amen, let it be with me as the Lord has said," when it hears the Word of God.

In the kingdom of Christ you are a holy new creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have no need for more "proof;" nothing more can be uncovered for you; and you have nothing more to gain. You have fully received your immortality; you have an eternal future; and that it has only one purpose: to bow and confess that Jesus Christ--the Lamb who was slain--is Lord.

You can see these two paradigms at work in the various ways Hebrews 11:1 is translated. Some translators use words for faith that arise from within the person--faith is "internalized." Other translations use words for faith that come from outside the person--faith is "externalized."

Some examples of these various ways of translating Hebrews 11:1--

Internalized Faith:
NET Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
NIV Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NLT Bible--Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

You can see how it is all focused on the person: "being sure," "being convinced," "being certain," "having confidence..."

Externalized Faith:
NASB, ESB & NRSV--Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
KJV & NKJV--Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can see how it is focused on what is "outside" of the person, being "given" to the person:
"assurance,"--which some outside authority provides
"conviction"--which is pronounced by an external word
"substance" & "evidence" (which are my favorites) these have such a SOLID sense to them, anchoring faith in a reality beyond the vagaries of human virtue and emotion... anchoring it in the reality of the person of Jesus Christ himself.

All of this is to say, that you can't really preach "ABOUT" free will or the bondage of the will. You must preach Christ in such a way that you hand him over so the people can have faith. In this faith they will come to see how they're bound to sin but free in Christ.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Palm Sunday -- April 5, 2009 2nd Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

From an old sinner for whom Christ died.

This is an early Christian hymn beginning with verse 6. It describes Christ in the servant role. He had equality with God but did not cling to it but rather for our sakes he humbled himself and became even obedient unto death, death on a cross.

Paul introduces it in verse 5. That is THE CRITICAL VERSE that sets the tone for the rest. IT ALL DEPENDS ON how one reads verse 5.

Free willers (that is, those who hold that we have free will to chooses good or evil) read it as a call to imitate Jesus. For those who know that free will is a lie and that we have NO FREE WILL it is a remarkable expression by Paul of that which permeates all of his writings, which is conformity to Christ, not imitating Jesus.

I pulled several Bibles from my library and checked how they translated verse 5. I knew in advance that because FREE WILL dominates our religious culture most of the translations would push “imitate” Jesus. So we have the following:

“The attitude YOU SHOULD HAVE is the one that Christ Jesus had…”(Today’s English Version)

“Your attitude SHOULD BE the same as that of Christ Jesus…” (NIV)

“THINK the same way that Christ Jesus thought…” (CEV)

“LET the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (NRSV)

Imitate, imitate, imitate, these translations shout. “You should,” “your attitude should,” “think,” “let,” they scream at us. It’s in your hands they insist. You have the free will to choose they argue. All of which is a big fat lie!

The RSV comes close with this translation, “Have this mind among yourselves WHICH YOU HAVE IN CHRIST JESUS…”

For Paul, EVERYTHING depends on being IN CHRIST. Baptized we are therein united with Christ in his death and resurrection so that we DIED with him and now HE is the life in us. IN CHRIST we have been discharged from THE LAW (Romans 7:6). WE have died to the demands of the Law. Therefore the translations above (except for the RSV) seek to put us back under the demands of the Law thereby discharging us from CHRIST HIMSELF.

Paul points out in I Cor. 2:16, that “we have the MIND of CHRIST” because of our baptism into CHRIST. Thus it is consistent for him to state in verse 5 of Philippians 2: “have his mind among yourselves which in fact you already have because of your incorporation into CHRIST JESUS through the waters of baptism.” This is the very opposite of “imitating” Jesus. It is “conformity to CHRIST” which is God conforming us to CHRIST HIMSELF.

Where “imitating” would call for us to be active trying to achieve this, Paul is setting forth “conformity” which calls for us to be TOTALLY PASSIVE in the face of God’s activity in us; totally passive because we have already died. Dead things don’t do anything. And we are dead through baptism (Col. 3:4; Rom. 6:3-4).

In II Corinthians 3:17-18, Paul makes it so obvious that the free willers have to wince when it is read: “Now where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED in his image from one degree of glory to another. And all this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit!”

“ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED” is the phrase that declares “conformity to CHRIST.” There is NO PLACE for the person’s participation in this. It is happening to us by God alone, period.

There is NO PLACE for “imitation of Jesus.” There is ONLY “conformity to CHRIST.”

Free Will is exposed for the lie that it is.

THE END OF FREE WILL IS THE BEGINNING OF FAITH!

The servant role described in Phil. 2:5-11 is your role and mine because you are IN CHRIST JESUS. You HAVE the mind of CHRIST. IT is the role being played out in you and me because the life in you and me is CHRIST HIMSELF.

This is not a SHOULD but an IS.

©Richard J. Smith