Saturday, October 28, 2017

What Kind Of Freedom, Part 2

In my last post I began interacting with a friend of mine, Tim Stratton, of Free Thinking Ministries, on what kind of freedom humans possess. I jumped into the dialogue by interacting with a June 8, 2017 Free Thinking Ministries post, in which Tim contends that Molinism is a biblical position. He primarily focused upon five different biblical passages (one being a cluster of passages). He argued that each taught libertarian freedom, i.e. that a genuinely free person can think and do otherwise than what he is currently doing and ultimately that person has the ability to choose to think or do other than what he chooses or thinks. Additionally, libertarian freedom means a person’s decision is made within himself and not decided by causes external to himself (and external causes would include God).

I also explained that I hold to a view of freedom known as compatibilistic freedom, i.e. a decision is free if the person making it truly wants to make that decision, regardless of the level of causality or what kind of alternativity is present. Alternativity refers to the ability to do other than what one chooses. So, if a person chooses to eat cheese cake at his birthday party, he also has the ability to choose not to eat it.

In the previous post I also said I had three main responses to Tim’s biblical arguments for libertarian freedom. The first was that I agree with much of what Tim said about ability in those passages. In other words, my point is one that British philosopher and theologian, Paul Helm, has made multiple times: The compatibilist can say much of the same things that one can say who advocates for libertarian freedom. For example, the person advocating libertarian freedom speaks of people changing their mind or responding to a rational argument or making a decision that flows from their own will. Yet, compatibilism, if properly understood, can say the same things. So, I outlined some of these places of agreement.

The remaining two responses to Tim I take up in this post and in a following post. They are: 1. I have a few important disagreements with Tim on what he says about ability from these passages. (I actually began introducing this response in the first post as I delineated what I mean by different kinds of ability humans can possess) 2. These passages are best explained as advocating compatibilistic freedom. I will deal with these responses together as I look at each of the passages. I will look at the first four passages in this post and then the last one in a subsequent post.

Deuteronomy 30:14
This text reads: “But the word is very near you. It is on your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” To understand this verse we need to see it in context.

Deuteronomy 30 is part of the third sermon Moses preached to Israel while they were positioned to enter into the Promised Land (1:1-5a). In this third message the leader sets before the nation the blessings and curses of the covenant (ch’s. 27-28), then leads them in renewing their commitment to the covenant with God, which includes words about what will happen if they do not keep the covenant (29). Then in chapter 30 he teaches the people the importance of repentance in the future if and when they turn away from God (and the text strongly suggests they will!)—so covenant blessings can be restored (30:1-10).

In the first ten verses of the chapter it is important to note that in such future repentance, God’s heart transformation will (and must) lie behind it, a transformation that will enable them to love Yahweh their God with all their heart and soul, that they may live (30:6). This “circumcision” of the heart is a work of God’s grace whereby he removes their stubbornness and gives them the desire to respond positively to him (cf. Dt. 10:16).   This positive response results in their obeying the voice of the LORD and keeping his commandments (30:8)—fueled by their faith in God (30:10).

In verses 11-14 Moses challenges those who would conclude that the righteousness of God is attained through self-effort, rather than faith-fueled obedience. Since “this commandment” (v. 11) is the only place in Deuteronomy we find the singular of mitzvah (“commandment”), it most likely refers specifically to the command to repent and trust in Yahweh, to seek him in the event of future rebellion, a command found in the immediately preceding context. This would be opposed to the plural of this word found throughout the rest of the book (sometimes along with “statutes”) that refers to the totality of the Law (e.g. 10:12-13).

The point that Moses makes in 30:11-14 is that this call to return to Yahweh is not one that is so far off that a person has to ascend to the skies through self-effort or go beyond the sea. Rather, the word (i.e. the word of God, the Law) is in the mouth and heart of a person who has been changed by Yahweh (this last clause is added because of the context of verses 1-10).  In other words, the doing of God’s will, the following of him, is by his grace that transforms—a grace available to all kinds of persons without distinction, rather than by super-human efforts done only by a select few. This appears to be how Paul understood this passage in Romans 10:6-8.  So, life comes by God’s grace and is available to all without distinction. 

So, to use the different kinds of ability to choose I introduced in the previous post, it is better to see this passage as consistent with the idea that people possess the natural ability to respond to God in faith and obedience (they have the faculties to do so). However, they do not possess the moral ability (including the desire) to respond to God in the ways he commands, for the purposes he commands, and to the extent he commands. For this moral ability to be present, there must be an effective work of God’s grace. In fact, the language of this text causes the reader (especially the New Covenant reader) to lean forward toward those later Old Testament promises in which God said he would cut a new covenant with his people that would change them from the inside out and enable them to carry out his will (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-27). With such a work of grace, then surely the person can say that the doing of God’s will is in us, not far from us, and can be done without some kind of additional extraordinary strength.

So, to read Deuteronomy 30:14 as if any person has full ability to respond to God positively without a previous effective work of God’s grace seems to ignore the context. In other words, they do have natural ability. Yet, the corrupt nature of man’s heart leaves him ever unwilling to respond positively to God. His can’t is actually a won’t! To understand this text in its context supports the compatibilistic freedom of the Calvinist, a freedom that argues that the positive response of faith, repentance, and obedience will arise only from God’s effective and decisive previous work in the heart.

1 Corinthians 10:13:
This text reads: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Here we discover several pertinent points.

To begin, when we face temptation to sin, we can be assured that none of us is facing a temptation that goes beyond what other humans have faced.

Next, when we face temptation to sin, we can be assured that God is sovereign over that temptation. Though God does not author sin or tempt us to sin (cf. James 1:13), nevertheless, he can limit the level of temptation so it fits with the general moral ability of the Christian, or he can provide grace such that the general moral ability of the person matches the temptation. Part of the way he does this is to provide a way of escape so the person can endure the temptation and not give into it. Here Paul may be thinking of other believers who come along to pray with, for, to exhort, and to encourage the person (Heb. 3:12-14; 10:24-25; James 5:19-20), or he may be thinking of the Spirit bringing to the Christian’s memory biblical promises that help him escape (e.g. 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 7:1). Whatever Paul has in mind, he is not suggesting that a Christian has the ability within herself alone to say, “Yes,” to God and “No” to temptation without a previous, effective, and decisive work of God.[1] Nor can she do so without the ongoing work of God’s Spirit in her from moment to moment applying the person, power, presence, and work of Christ.

What Paul appears to be promising to the Christian is general moral ability in all cases of temptation. However, in line with God’s immeasurable combination of causative and permissive governance in the believer, along with whether or not the believer is putting sin to death and pursuing holiness (i.e. disciplining self unto godliness and forming positive habits), and whether or not they are trusting in Christ at the time to be obedient, will determine whether or not they possess particular moral ability at the time. We can say that the presence of particular moral ability to avoid sin in the Christian is always ultimately brought about by God’s saving and transforming grace—and through the intellect, affections, and will of the person. The lack of particular moral ability in the Christian is due to the person not resting in the promises of God and also due to their own sin.[2]

2 Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:8:
In regard to this cluster of passages, Tim writes that they call us to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ and we are responsible to act upon this and can act upon it. So far so good. A compatibilist, as I wrote in my previous post, can and should agree. But then he writes: “Our thoughts are not causally determined and forced upon us from external sources; we possess the ability to think otherwise…. Which is not even possible on a deterministic view as many Calvinists affirm.”

I will deal with each clause individually.

I disagree with Tim’s assertion, “Our thoughts are not causally determined.” To be precise, what the Calvinist means by saying one’s thoughts are causally determined is that they flow from antecedent movements of their heart and decisions, which the Bible makes clear in explaining how humans make choices (e.g. Mt. 7:17-18; 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 2:13-14; Eph. 2:1-10).[3] The second intent of the Calvinist is to say that all such antecedent movements, decisions, and current decisions are determined by God and realized through an immeasurable (from the human perspective) combination of causative and passive divine acts of governance. The result is that man acts freely and responsibly, to do what he desires to do. At the same time, God, in absolute sovereignty, exercised through meticulous providence, works to bring about all he has foreordained.

Yet, when God works decisively in a Christian to give general and/or particular moral ability, he works upon the will (cf. Phil. 2:13), he enables the person to desire to do what is right and so he is not forcing them from an external source. So, I disagree with Tim’s implication that this is what Calvinists teach, namely that God forces upon people an action from an external source.

In Tim’s last two clauses he suggests that according to Calvinist thought a person does not have the ability to think otherwise. The implication would be that a person could not change their mind. This is simply not accurate. Take, for example, a person’s decision to eat cheese cake or not. Each person has the natural ability to eat it or not. One person may have the general moral ability to say, “No,” because they have done it many times previously. Yet, given the fact they have not eaten anything all day previous to the offer and they have not developed a strong disciplined approach to their eating (a habit), they may lack the particular moral ability at that moment, which simply results in a strong desire to eat that is not off-set by a greater desire not to, so they eat. Another person, because they have developed a habit of disciplined eating and saying, “No,” may possess the particular moral ability to say, “No,” and so they do so. A greater affection (e.g. their desire to maintain their weight loss) offsets the desire for the cheese cake at that moment. Yet, in each situation, the Calvinist believes the person can change their decision. What the Calvinist does not argue is that the person has the power to choose what they do not want (in accordance with their greatest desire at the time). What the Calvinist does believe is that whatever choice is made, it is not only free, but also in accordance with God’s absolute sovereignty, exercised through an immeasurable combination of his active and passive governance.

2 Timothy 1:7:
This text reads: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Here I merely note two things. To begin, Paul is clearly speaking of what God has done in Christians (which Tim recognizes), so these effects or characteristics flow out of a previous gracious work of God (cf. 2 Tim. 1:5-6).

Second, I would simply note that the word translated, “self-control” (sōphronismos) does not necessitate that a person is controlling himself by himself, as if he is the only cause of the control, which, if I understand Tim correctly, he seems to be arguing. In fact, a word that has an overlapping field of meaning and so is translated “self-control” (egkrateia) in Galatians 5:23 is said there to be part of the fruit of the Spirit (i.e. what the Spirit produces). What both texts seem to be saying is that one must control self, but this does not demand that the desire or ability to control self arises only in the person at that time and does not have other internal antecedent causes and/or external causes. In fact, it demands also the causation of the Holy Spirit!

The best forms of Calvinism reject any sense of monocausality, i.e. that in our decisions there is only one cause of a decision. It is recognized there are multiple causes. Some forms of Calvinism seem to suggest God is the only cause of all things and so man is not free in any sense or responsible. At the same time, some advocates of libertarian freedom can, at times, sound as if they are suggesting a free act must arise only from the person without any other causes. The best forms of Calvinism reject both.

This can be seen in the state that both Tim and I call home, Nebraska. Many young men and women here grow up to cheer for the Nebraska Cornhusker football team freely. Though I would argue that desire flows from the will of the fan and so is free, it is not only the will of the fan that decides it. There are multiple causes, not the least of which is living in this state and growing up in a family that cheers for the Huskers.

Conclusion
I realize I have not answered all questions or scratched all itches in just two posts. That will take many more to unpack the Calvinist view. I plan to keep plugging away at this and trust it will be of help to all who read the posts, whether they agree or not. I have certainly been very positively impacted by interacting with Tim and his writing on the subject, even though I do not agree with him on all things.

In my next post I will take up Tim’s final passage he mentioned (Philemon 14) and, along the way, will introduce more on what the Calvinist believes about freedom and why libertarian freedom is rejected. After this, I will move on to explain about God’s absolute sovereignty exercises through his meticulous providence and how this includes both causative and permissive governance.

Joyfully Following Our Sovereign God With You And Loving Those Who Disagree With Us,



Tom









[1] This is in line with the larger context of 1 Corinthians, in which Paul argues that in order for a person to accept the things of the Spirit of God, the gospel in particular, demands a previous effective and decisive work in them, as well as an ongoing work (2:13-14).

[2] Such an understanding, then, demonstrates how God can ordain all things in his absolute sovereignty, worked out through his meticulous providence, and yet with the result he is not responsible for sin, his grace is necessary for man’s righteous acts, and in both cases man acts responsibly and freely in the compatibilistic sense.
[3] In all of these passages in the cluster, if the reader looks at the preceding larger context, she will find Paul’s emphasis upon a previous effective gracious work in the person that is necessary for both general and particular moral ability to be present to trust in and to follow Christ. For example, in Eph. 6:10, just two verses prior to the verse Tim cites, the reader is commanded, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength that comes from his might” (author’s own translation). When Paul goes on to delineate the spiritual armor the believer has at her disposal to fight the enemy, it is understood that both this armor and the ability to use it are given through Christ. The spiritually dead person is made alive by God so she can carry out the works that God prepared for her to do (Eph. 2:1-10) and must continually trust in Christ to have the ability to stand against the enemy.

No comments:

Post a Comment