Free Will and Salvation

Free will exists without question outside the area concerning righteousness. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it, “we are free only against God” ( Ethics ). But looking back at more foundational Christian Fathers, Saint Augustine goes much further in his response to Pelagius as do Martin Luther and John Calvin a little later.

In their mind, it is completely out of bounds to accept that mankind could play ANY active role in acquiring salvation as this would clearly be works based salvation. Therefore God working though the Holy Spirit is the only one who works in us to set up the correct conditions for salvation. Luther is adamant on this subject in his tirade against Erasmus, “we can endevour to do no good”, referring specifically to this subject of being saved. ( Bondage of the Will )

However, God is clear that he offers us a free gift and it is ours to accept. ( Rev 22:17, Ephesians 2:8, Romans 5:15-17 ) God delegates directly to us the responsibility ( i.e. freedom ) of accepting or rejecting his gift of eternal life. Yes it's true that we can do nothing to earn God's gift, but on the other hand we can not be compelled or forced to accept it against our will. It would be neither free nor a gift if we had no choice in accepting it

Augustine and Luther argue that references in the Bible stating our responsibility to act does not imply our ability to act. In fact moral obligations simply serve to make us aware of how incapable we actually are of meeting our moral responsibilities.

The difference I would maintain between what I am poorly trying to state and what Luther and company are stating is that when they speak against Pelagius and Erasmus of earning righteousness or endevouring to earn righteousness, they are speaking of outward acts such as baptism, or doing good deeds. This is very well and true, however, as we learned from Jesus in many of his teaching moments, righteousness wasn't about doing good or being baptised or keeping the law or any outward acts; it was about the purity of the mind first and foremost. That is to say, acting out of a position of love as opposed to obligation when obeying the law and doing those good deeds. As an alternative, I would describe the initial saving faith in Jesus as a completely inward and personal orientation, not requiring outward acts.

I maintain ( against Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc.. ) that we can, and should, and do endevour to believe ( align our free will with God's truth ) that Christ is Saviour and thus accept our otherwise unearned gift. It is this inward act, this endeavour of the will to recognize its own bondage, and then plead for release that “open's the door” and earns us our “free gift.” Confessing Christ as Saviour out of obligation or pre-destination would not mean anything in the sense of John 3:16, as it would not be possible to cooerce someone into believing something that they simply didn't believe.

My humble apologies to Saint Augustine and Martin Luther, but I think there is plenty of room for mankind to recognize it's sorry state and to confess our universal need for a Saviour out of our own free will without having to compromise on our completely sinful nature or the fact that on our own we can do nothing to earn our salvation. In addition, lets put responsibility back where it belongs. God has already done everything he needs to do, it is now up to us to reciprocate.