📖 Biblical Definition
Free will is the disputed doctrine of the freedom of the human will—whether and in what sense man’s will is free in choosing—a question that has divided theologians for centuries and lies near the heart of the difference between the Reformed and their opponents. The crucial matter is to define what is meant by ‘free.’ The Reformed deny the will a libertarian freedom—the supposed power of contrary choice, the ability of the will to act independently of the strongest inclination and the governing state of the heart, as though it were a neutral, self-determining faculty poised indifferently between good and evil. But they affirm that the will is genuinely free in the proper sense: man always chooses, and chooses without external compulsion, according to his own desires and nature; he is no puppet forced against his will, but acts freely as a true and willing agent. The decisive point is that the will is not autonomous but follows the nature; a man wills according to what he is, and the heart governs the choices. Hence the historic Augustinian and Reformed account of the will’s freedom in the four estates of man: in innocence, Adam was able to sin and able not to sin (posse peccare et posse non peccare); fallen, man is not able not to sin (non posse non peccare), his will in bondage to a corrupt nature so that he freely yet inevitably chooses sin and cannot of himself turn to God; regenerate, he is made able not to sin (posse non peccare), freed by grace to choose the good though still warring against indwelling sin; and glorified, he is no longer able to sin (non posse peccare), confirmed in holiness. Thus the fallen will is free (it chooses willingly and without compulsion) yet bound (it cannot choose against its corrupt nature toward God). The Reformed therefore reject ‘free will’ in the sense the term usually bears—an autonomous power that makes man the decisive author of his own conversion—while affirming free agency, that man chooses freely according to his nature. As Luther insisted against Erasmus, the will is not free in spiritual things until Christ makes it free; the bondage of the will to sin is the very thing from which sovereign grace delivers.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines FREE WILL as the power of directing our own actions without restraint by necessity or fate; voluntariness; spontaneousness.
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FREE WILL, n. — 1. The power of directing our own actions without restraint by necessity or fate. 2. Voluntariness; spontaneousness.
WILL, n. — That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue.
📖 Key Scripture
John 8:34 — "...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."
Romans 6:20 — "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."
John 8:36 — "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
Philippians 2:13 — "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
“Free will” is corrupted into libertarian autonomy—the notion that the fallen will is a neutral, self-determining faculty able to choose God independently of grace—making man the decisive author of his own salvation.
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The corruption of the doctrine of free will is the assertion of libertarian freedom for the fallen will—the notion that man’s will is a neutral, self-determining faculty, poised in indifference between good and evil, able to choose either independently of his nature, his strongest inclination, and the governing state of his heart. On this view the unregenerate sinner retains the native power to turn to God or to refuse Him, so that the decisive factor in conversion is the autonomous choice of the human will, and grace merely assists or responds. This is the common assumption of Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, and Arminian schemes, and it is the flattering creed of the natural man, who will not surrender the conceit that he is the master of his own destiny.
Scripture and the Reformed tradition reply that the fallen will is genuinely free in one sense and truly bound in another, and the distinction is everything. It is free in that man always chooses willingly, without external compulsion, according to his own desires—he is no puppet, but a real and responsible agent. But it is bound in that the will is not autonomous; it follows the nature, and the fallen nature is corrupt, enslaved to sin, and at enmity with God, so that the sinner freely yet inevitably chooses sin and cannot of himself choose Christ. Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin; the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. This is the bondage of the will that Luther defended against Erasmus and Augustine against Pelagius: not that man lacks a will, nor that he is compelled against it, but that his will is in slavery to his sinful nature until the Son makes it free. To affirm libertarian free will is to deny this bondage, to credit the sinner with the power of his own conversion, and to rob sovereign grace of its glory. The truth is that man chooses freely—and apart from grace, he freely chooses against God every time.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine turns on the will (thelēma) that is free yet a servant of sin (doulos)—made truly free only when the Son frees (eleutheroō) it.
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Usage
"The Reformed deny the will libertarian freedom but affirm it chooses freely according to its nature."
"The four estates: able to sin, not able not to sin, able not to sin, not able to sin—the will’s freedom in each."
"‘Free will’ as libertarian autonomy makes man the author of his conversion; Scripture says the will is in bondage until freed by grace."
📖 In the Text
Chapters of the reading Bible where this entry is linked.