Orland Evangelical Free Church | Do We Have Free Will?

I grew up around musicians. One of my grandpas was a baritone trained in German lieder. His wife was a violinist. My dad was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. When I was born, he was a music theory major. He listened to records of Bach and followed the scores with me on his lap.

My earliest memories are of record album covers. The same colors still influence and comfort me. Under dad's tutelage, I was able to identify instruments of the orchestra early. My grandma's violin was an obsession: I loved the shape of it as well as the sound.

I performed as a singer from the time I was small. From early in the morning til evening somebody in the house was practicing something or listening to something. Grandpa and dad took me with them touring churches to sing, to choir practices they directed, and to recording sessions for their radio program.

So I am a violinist today. If you were to ask me what I am, my instinct would not be to say pastor but musician.

Now: I had no choice about who my parents and grandparents were. I had no choice about their love of music as opposed to other pursuits, no choice about where or how they were trained, no choice about the objects and sounds that surrounded me. Of all the influences that moved me to play the violin, I chose not a single one.

Was my free will violated? Was I coerced?

No. My pursuit of music is entirely free, though my free choices were influenced by myriad factors I couldn't control.

The classic Arminian definition of a free choice is one uncaused by anything other than the will of the actor. This definition does not meet casual scrutiny, much less a standard of biblical exegesis. Every choice we make is influenced by factors outside our wills. Every choice.

So are we mere products of our environments?

No. My brother grew up in the same musical atmosphere as I. He heard all the same records, went to the same concerts, and saw grandma's violin just like I did. But his enthusiasm for music is quite different from mine. He has expert knowledge of jazz artists and recordings.

He made free choices too.

Romans 1.24 teaches, "God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." The hideous variety of sins in this world is a result of free choices by people trapped under the influence of depravity. And that variety expands (1.30) through "inventors of evil".

What if God changes that nature, initiates his influence back into a human being? Romans 8.2 teaches, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." A new nature enables new choices, no less free than the old ones.

Many issues need to be addressed exegetically to define a Calvinistic soteriology, questions like whether regeneration precedes faith. Such matters are beyond the scope of this article.

My argument is quite narrow. There is no such thing as a free choice of the sort described by Arminians. There is such a thing as a free choice influenced by one's environment and experiences - the realm shaped by God. We do have free will.

Okay, 550 words.