Does man have a free will ?

There seems so much emphasis on free will, but it is no where taught in the scriptures .
When Jesus talks about being free, it seems more likely that he's referring to being free from sin rather than being given free will. Prior to that, they're aren't free from sin, and those who aren't free from sin, can't have free will. They're condemned to the bondage of sin.
 
I would say even Jesus didn't have Free Will; his Will was not Free from Righteousness...
Since God has no free will neither does man ?

Did adam have a free will to choose to obey God or the devil ?

If not then man in no more than a robot with no choice, no will. God created adam as a robot with the sole purpose to sin.

And everything God created was good including making adam sin since he had no free will to do anything else right ?
 
There seems so much emphasis on free will, but it is no where taught in the scriptures .

Free will is a metaphysical concept that words alone can't convey.

Whoever told you "free will is nowhere taught in Scripture" lied to you that Scripture even has the ability to say one way or the other.

The implication—that multiple viable choices are sometimes available to people and one is not inevitable—can be seen in Scripture.

The idea of limited or bound free will does not logically contradict it, but only modifies it.
 
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There seems so much emphasis on free will, but it is no where taught in the scriptures .
That seems like a denial of scripture

(ARV 2005) but without thy mind I would do nothing, that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(ASV-2014) but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(Anderson) but, without your consent, I was not willing to do any thing, that your good deed might not be as a matter of necessity, but one of free-will.
(ASV) but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(FAA) but I did not want to do anything without your opinion, so that your good deed would not be as it were under compulsion, but of free will.
(GDBY_NT) but without your consent I did not wish to do anything; in order that your good might not be by constraint, but by the free will:
(GW) Yet, I didn't want to do anything without your consent. I want you to do this favor for me out of your own free will without feeling forced to do it.
(csb) But I didn't want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will.
(LEB) But apart from your consent, I wanted to do nothing, in order that your good deed might be not as according to necessity, but according to your own free will.
(MRC) but without your consent I did not want to do anything, that your goodness might not be by necessity, but of your own free will.
(MNT) But without your consent I was unwilling to do anything, so that your kindness to me might be of your own free will, and not of compulsion.
(NTVR) but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(NWT) But without your consent I do not want to do anything, so that your good act may be, not as under compulsion, but of your own free will.
(Revised Standard ) but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will.
(RNT) but without your consent I am unwilling to do anything, so that your goodness may not be of necessity but of free will.
(RSV-CE) but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will.
(TLV) But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness wouldn’t be by force but by free will.
(WEB) But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(WEB (R)) But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(Wuest's) Georgia;;14-16 But I came to a decision in my heart to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be as it were by compulsion but of your own free will. For perhaps on this account he was parted for a brief time in order that you might be possessing him fully and forever, no longer in the capacity of a slave, but above a slave, a brother , a beloved one, beloved most of all by me, how much more than that by you, both in his human relationship and in the Lord.
(NASB77) 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion, but of your own free will.
(NASB95) 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.
(TEV) 14 However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like for you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree.
(ERV) 14 but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(NHEB) 14 But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
(TCE) 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.
and you can add both the NEB and the REB
CT 14 but I would not do any thing without thy consent, that the benefit derived from thee might not be as it were forced, but of free will.
NENT 14 but without thy: mind I wished to do nothing; that thy: goodness be not as of necessity, but of free will.
SLT 14 But without thy judgment I would do nothing; that good might not be as according to necessity, but according to free will.
(NEB) 14 But I would rather do nothing without your consent, so that your kindness may be a matter not of compulsion, but of your own free will.
(REB) 14 But I would rather do nothing without your consent, so that your kindness may be a matter not of compulsion, but of your own free will.
(EOB) 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent: your goodness should not be forced, but of free will.
 
Since God has no free will neither does man ?

Did adam have a free will to choose to obey God or the devil ?

If not then man in no more than a robot with no choice, no will. God created adam as a robot with the sole purpose to sin.

And everything God created was good including making adam sin since he had no free will to do anything else right ?
Was adam's sin a cosmic accident?

An unlcky roll of The dice for humanity?
 
Was adam's sin a cosmic accident?

An unlcky roll of The dice for humanity?

The terms "accident" and "unlucky" are metaphysically loaded terms that imply elements of randomness.

Something truly random, is something not predictable and not controlled by anything—and free will is therefore not random in that sense.

If you instead phrased it as "Humanity and God did not receive an optimal outcome," I would agree to that.
 
There seems so much emphasis on free will, but it is no where taught in the scriptures .
Talking about salvation....yes and no.

The default for mankind is hell. See John 3:18. At that point there is no choice.

So, what happens? First we know you can't come to Jesus unless the Father allows it. See John 6:65.....as we are dead in our sins and transgressions. (and made alive in Christ). See Eph 2:5.
How are we made alive? Here's one way....The Lord has to move and open your heart to hear the gospel. See Acts 16:14.

Perhaps here is where you can ask the question....do we have free-will? It seems as if the person is already saved at this point. Of course each and every day you can .... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. See Josh 24:15.

There's basically 2 salvation scenarios
1) A person is in a lake drowning....they're about to go under for the last time and drown. Become dead. BUT! a life preserver is thrown out to them and now all they have to do is choose to grab the life preserver and live. Once grabbed they can be pulled to shore and live.

2) A person has already drowned and is laying at the bottom of the lake...dead...God has to jump into the lake, dive to the bottom, grab the dead body and drag it back to the shore....where God then has to make the person alive in Christ, that is regenerate them.

I believe #2 best represents our salvation.
 
There's basically 2 salvation scenarios
1) A person is in a lake drowning....they're about to go under for the last time and drown. Become dead. BUT! a life preserver is thrown out to them and now all they have to do is choose to grab the life preserver and live. Once grabbed they can be pulled to shore and live.

2) A person has already drowned and is laying at the bottom of the lake...dead...God has to jump into the lake, dive to the bottom, grab the dead body and drag it back to the shore....where God then has to make the person alive in Christ, that is regenerate them.

I believe #2 best represents our salvation.

There is a logical #3.

3) A person is spiritually dead, but then empowered and enabled to see and experience enough grace to make a choice of whether to accept that resurrection life in full or to reject what has come to them. If the Holy Spirit can resurrect a dead person, he can enable a dead person.
 
The terms "accident" and "unlucky" are metaphysically loaded terms that imply elements of randomness.

Something truly random, is something not predictable and not controlled by anything—and free will is therefore not random in that sense.

If you instead phrased it as "Humanity and God did not receive an optimal outcome," I would agree to that.
Well there is complete causation. THERE is pure randomness. And there is the in between, something with predictability but has a random element such that it cannot be predicted with 100% accuracy.
Science calls these in between events "probabilistic" particularly with reference to quantum events.

Point being, these are the only kinds of events we can conceive of logically.

Now you can argue adams sin was predctictable, and therefore not random. Ok. But if it was 100% predictable its a simple case of causation. If it was predictable probabilisticly like "THERE was a 5
67% probability adam would sin" then there had to a random component to adam's sin.
 
Point being, these are the only kinds of events we can conceive of logically.

The agent's will is the cause, so there is a direct correlation to a preceding reason for the choice, not random.

God's knows the agent's choice, the agent knows their choice as soon as they make it, and that knowledge is before the action committed.

This knowledge does not equal causation—knowledge of a thing is not causing a thing, it's a modal scope fallacy.
 
There is a logical #3.

3) A person is spiritually dead, but then empowered and enabled to see and experience enough grace to make a choice of whether to accept that resurrection life in full or to reject what has come to them. If the Holy Spirit can resurrect a dead person, he can enable a dead person.
OK, the question I have is what then causes a person to choose or not to choose Jesus?

Obviously the happenstance of their life has to enter into the salvation equation.
 
The agent's will is the cause, so there is a direct correlation to a preceding reason for the choice, not random.

God's knows the agent's choice, the agent knows their choice as soon as they make it, and that knowledge is before the action committed.

This knowledge does not equal causation—knowledge of a thing is not causing a thing, it's a modal scope fallacy.
No I didn't claim knowledge of a thing is causing the thing. In science complete 100% predictability doesn't cause the event, it simply demonstrastes causality is in play.
 
There seems so much emphasis on free will, but it is no where taught in the scriptures .
Until we are saved, we have no free will. When the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. It would seem to me that this is the whole purpose of the way God has saved us. He did all the heavy lifting and reconciled himself first to us through Jesus.

Then He lights every human who comes into this world in a way that they can be presented with a choice. They can reject the light because they love darkness and return to the slave master of sin or they can come into the light where they now can see and can choose of their own free will to remain under the bright light of God.

God will have a universe of free-willed sentient beings that love and obey him of their own free will. I don't think God wants a bunch of companion-bots.
 
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