The Problem With "Free" Will

Theologically, I'm Reformed (Calvinist). Philosophically I'm a soft determinist (compatabilist). This means I reject the concept that is commonly called "free will." On the occasions that I've openly stated my position on the will to students, fellow Christians, or even non-Christian friends, I've often been presented with stunned silence or disgust. I can't be sure if it is because they have never heard of the concept or if it is because they are just shocked that I would hold a position, which is so clearly incongruous with common sense and a plain reading of the Scriptures. It is my attempt to explain myself here.

Clarifying the meaning of "free will"

There seems to be some confusion regarding the concept of free will itself. Most people that I've encountered in actual conversation about free will have assumed that human beings either 1) have total libertarian free will or 2) they are mere automata, carrying out the orders of some external force (i.e. God, Nature, or the Matrix). But, this is a fallacious false dilemma.

While I do argue that the will is not "free," I do not believe that humans have no will (like robots). The "will" means that humans do what they want (or will) to do. To deny the human will (hard determinism) is contrary to common sense, I think, because we all commonly sense that we are indeed willful. If you have ever eaten a banana, run a marathon, driven a car, or accepted Jesus as your Savior, it is what you wanted to do.

In short, the rejection of free will is not the rejection of human willfulness. We are not robots.

The problem with the will

The problem lies in the human will--it naturally desires the wrong things. While human beings are willful (doing what they want), what they want to do is directed by corruption. Philosophers draw a helpful distinction between first order desires and second order desires. See the examples below:

First order desire: "I want to eat the orange."

Second order desire: "I want to want to eat the orange."

Humans wrestle with this distinction in everyday life. "I want that bacon cheeseburger so bad (first-order), but I wish I didn't want it (second-order)." We seem to have very little control over our first-order desires. The allure of some things (junk food, pornography, attention, drugs, etc...) is irresistibly strong. As the Apostle Paul declared in Romans 7:15, "...what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Paul apparently had first-order desires to sin that he hated, but they were his desires nonetheless.

This raises important questions: Where did my desires come from? Why does my will want the things that it does? I reject the "free" part of free will, because our first order desires are not really free at all. The human will seems to be in bondage to some second order force that makes it want all the wrong things -- "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Galatians 5:19)

Robots vs. slaves

As stated before, the rebuttal that the rejection of free will makes human beings into robots is a fallacious false dilemma. It does, however, turn the human will into a slave. That is precisely what I think the human will is--a slave. As stated in Romans 7:14, "...I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." On the surface, though, this doesn't solve the problem. One might object, "Why does it matter if we have a will if we aren't free to exercise it?" This is where the deepest confusion lies. We are slaves to ourselves. We are only free to want the things that our corrupt nature wants.We are not free to want the things that God's perfect nature wants. The assumption that any human is totally free to want either good or evil is simply not biblical.

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one."

(Romans 3:10b-12)

Apart from Christ, all that any human being will ever want is the list of sins that Paul calls the "fruits of the flesh." (see Galatians 5:19 above). Naturally, we will never want the "fruits of the Spirit" -- "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23) Likewise, we will never want God himself, because his very essence is contrary to the corruption of our wills. This voluntary slavery to sinfulness is called the doctrine of total depravity or moral inability. It is what sets us in diametric opposition to God.

How do we get saved if we don't want God himself?

This fundamental corruption of humanity's second-order desires leaves humans in a precarious position--in absolute separation from God. If we are separated from God and totally incapable of fixing that ourselves, how does anyone get saved? By grace through faith, and the faith itself is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) [1]

If man's second-order will truly is in bondage to sin and incapable of wanting God on its own, then it must be that salvation is 100% the work of God himself on our behalf and at cost to himself (the death of his son). This is the most powerful expression of God's love and the Gospel that I know.

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[1] People are saved by placing their faith in Jesus Christ, but faith itself is the gift of God. It is, in no way, a work of the person. (See John 6:37; John 6:65; Philippians 1:29; Acts 13:48)