A 1689/1677 Second London Baptist Confession Commentary

The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession states in Chapter 9: Of Free-will, Section 1 of 5, the following:

1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice[1], that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. ( Matthew 17:12; James 1:14; Deuteronomy 30:19 )

R.C. Sproul states:

• “When we examine the question of free will from the view point of Biblical theology, we are pressured by the massive impact that secular views have had on our thinking.  If there is any place where secular humanism has undermined a biblical view of human nature, it’s with respect to the idea of free will.  The prevailing view of free will in the secular culture is that human beings are able to make choices without being encumbered by sin.  On this view, our wills have no predisposition either toward evil or toward righteousness, but remain in a neutral state from birth.
• This view of human freedom is on a collision course with the biblical doctrine of the fall, which speaks of radical corruption of our human condition.”[2]

So what is the biblical view of free-will?  We are about to find out.  This chapter is very foundational in many ways, but especially in laying a foundation for the following chapters which deal with the application of redemption (effectual calling, faith and repentance, justification by faith, sanctification and perseverance of the saints). 

We will see the following in chapter 9: a definition of free-will (section 1), and free-will described in its various states: before the fall, after the fall, after regeneration and then after glorification (section 1 -4).  These distinctions are very important because the will of man is affected by these states.  One mistake of the Arminian or synergist is in not seeing the biblical distinctions about free-will in these various states.

The 1689 Confession states: God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice,

God has given and empowered man with a will.  And that will has liberty or freedom, along with the accompanying ability or power, to take action based upon the nature of the will.  A natural liberty and power, means the will was created in mankind by God, as part of their nature, as part of who they are, as part of what makes them man or woman.  Without a will we would not be human as we understand that.  Certainly our will is a large part of what it means to be created in the image of God.

The 1689 Confession states: that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.

This will, which has liberty and power to act upon choice, is free in that it is not forced to do good or evil.  Nor is the will of liberty and power, determined by some necessity of nature to do good or evil.  If this were so, then it would follow that the will would not be at liberty to act upon choice.  This second part of the definition seems to be a negative definition, or what the free will is not whereas the first part states what the will is.

R.C. Sproul states:

• “Here the Confession distances itself from every form of moral determinism, which would subject human choices to fixed, mechanical, or physical forces, or even to arbitrary influences of fate.  In a word, Reformed theology categorically rejects fatalism and any determinism based upon the forces of nature.  We are not coerced or forced by natural causes, or by our environment, either to do good or to do evil.”[3]

Section 1 provides us with a definition of free-will as the starting point, but if we fail to make any further distinctions beyond that, such as how the will is affected by the fall, regeneration, and glorification, we will not be getting the whole truth.  As we will see, it is the nature of man that affects his will, and to ignore the sinful nature or redeemed nature in considering the will of man is to miss all the Bible teaches about the nature of man’s will.  The further clarifications will come in the next four sections of this chapter.

A.A. Hodge has made this helpful statement:

• “A man freely chooses what he wants to chose.  He would not choose freely if he chose in any other way.  But his desire in the premises is determined by his whole intellectual and emotional state at the time.  It is plain that if the human will is decided in any given case in opposition to all the views of the reason and all the desires of the heart, however free they will might be, the man would be a most pitiful slave to a mere irrational and immoral power of willing.   All men judge that the rational and moral character of any act results from the purpose or desire, the internal state of mind or heart, which prompted the act.  If man wills in any given case in opposition to all his judgments and to all his inclinations of every kind, his act in that case would obviously be neither rational nor moral; and the man himself, in respect to that act, would be neither free nor responsible.”[4]

Let’s say I am in the market for a house.  I do all my research, carefully considering all of the factors that go into making a wise choice, and I finally find the house that fits my criteria.  But as a result of all of this, I decide not to buy it, but rather to buy another house which is inferior in every way and costs more.  The realtor asks why?  I say, “Because I am going to chose opposite of what I want to do, just to do it!”  This is irrational, and rational human beings make decisions based on what they desire to do, not what based upon they do not desire to do.  But it is worth pointing put that even in this opposite decision, what I desired more than a rational choice, was to do the opposite “just to do it.”  So I desired just to do it more than to buy the right house.

A.A. Hodge states:

• “Christ taught…that human action is determined by the character of the agent as certainly as the nature of the fruit is determined by the nature of the tree from which it springs; and that the only way to change the character of the action is to change the permanent character or moral tendency and habit of the heart of the agent. Matt. Vii. 16-20; xii. 33-35.”[5]

 We see in Scripture the following:

• So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Gen 3:6 (ESV)
• But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”  Matt 17:12 (ESV)
• But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  James 1:14 (ESV)
• I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, Deut 30:19 (ESV)

 The following quote by A.A. Hodge is helpful to keep in mind as we continue looking at the various states of the will in the next 4 sections of this chapter:

•  “In all these estates [the free-will in the state of righteousness, sin, regeneration, and glorification] man is unchangeably a free, responsible agent, and in all these cases choosing or refusing as, upon the whole, he prefers to do.  A man’s volition [will] is as his desires are in any given case.  His desires in any given case are as they are determined to be by the general or permanent tastes, tendencies, and habitudes of his character.  He is responsible for his desires, because they are determined by the nature and permanent characteristics of his own soul.  He is responsible for these, because they are the tendencies and qualities of his own nature.  If these are immoral, he and his actions are immoral.  If these are holy, he and his actions are holy.”[6]
• “The moral condition of the heart determines the act of the will, but the act of the will cannot change the moral condition of the heart.”[7]

This concludes this brief commentary on Chapter 9, Of Free Will, section 1 of 5, from the 1689 Confession of Faith.

• [1] 1689 Adds this to the WCF . The source is the Savoy Declaration.