I'm Trying to Understand More About Free Will's Role in Reformed Theology

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Calvinism or Reformed Theology is a very difficult subject for this reason - the question of free will. How does free will fit into it? If God is sovereign then what about free will? It's a really difficult question to ask when some empathetically reject Calvinism because of the question of free will. But what is free will? It really is something that I want to try and study the issue of free will. Yes, I believe in free will and I don't think there's any real contradiction with believing in Calvinism's view of the sovereignty of God.

If people aren't saved by their own free will then what gives? Does that mean that God drags people into Heaven or Hell against their will? That's not what unconditional election and irresistible grace are all about. Instead, we need to understand that irresistible grace is all about God making whoever is unwilling to be willing. John 6:44 says that no person can come to Jesus except that God the Father draws that same person. Man has the free will to reject the Savior without the due election of God. Man still has a limited free will which God allows for a reason I can't understand.

I remembered the late Robert C. Sproul Sr.'s series on Calvinism and human freedom. One of his examples is the story of Job. It's stupid, even for a moment, to think that the Chaldeans were once Job's good neighbors. A better analysis would be to see that Satan cannot harm the believer unless God gives the former permission to do so. The Chaldeans had their free will intact. Did Satan really directly lead the Chaldeans? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the Chaldeans can't say, "But Satan made me do it!" on Judgment Day. The Chaldeans had their free will to either resist or give in to that temptation since they were cattle rustlers. Satan makes the accusation to God. God allows Satan to harm Job to prove the latter wrong. God allowed the Chaldeans to attack Job and they wouldn't have succeeded without it. 

Another example by Sproul Sr. was to use the story of Joseph. Genesis 50:20 has it that Joseph said that what was meant for evil, God meant it for good. What's the big issue of Joseph? Joseph's life has become a mess at the most unexpected time. Why did God even allow all those events such as Joseph getting sold by his half-brothers to Egypt, to be framed by Mrs. Potiphar, and to be forgotten by the cupbearer of the Pharaoh for two years? I was thinking of Vernon McGee's commentary where he said that if Joseph was remembered immediately then he would've gone home. Instead, God had a reason in allowing all the tragedies to happen. This isn't to whitewash the sins of the half-brothers but God stood above their sinful choices. Then we realize that all of these events were all arranged by God. After all, think that God told Abraham in Genesis 15:13 that the latter's descendants will soon be slaves. 

My favorite example for predestination leading to salvation may be the Apostle Paul. Paul used to be Saul of Tarsus and had the free will to persecute believers. I remembered a recent statement that said that Saul didn't choose Jesus on Damascus. The more I read Acts 9 then the more I see that Saul was incapable of making a choice for Jesus. Instead, it's even confirmed that Saul was to be that chosen vessel to deliver the message unto the Gentiles. Saul couldn't have had the ability to choose Jesus if Jesus didn't choose the former first. Besides, John 15:16 has Jesus telling His truest followers that He chose them and that they didn't choose him. Saul was made willing by Jesus' calling and couldn't resist it. Saul's free will was overridden by Jesus' calling of him. Saul would have probably just scoffed at the vision of the risen Christ if it wasn't for him being chosen first. I believe Saul was among the skeptics when Christ had risen. It takes the divine initiative of Christ to choose him before Saul can even believe in the message he so rejected and go from persecutor of Christ's followers to getting persecuted as Christ's follower. What a dramatic change for Saul of Tarsus because Jesus chose Him to suffer all these things and bear His name!

How does this continue to fit in? Romans 8:28 has this very promise that all things work better for God to those who love God and obey Him. God lets people do what they do for a reason. Judas Iscariot himself had the free will to be an apostate or false convert. False converts have their free will to be false converts. I think the idea of diminishing free will in terms of salvation amounts to this - the free will of man is limited and incapable of choosing God. When God elects then He proves Himself above the free will of man. It would take a supernatural act of God (though without visible with signs and wonders such as blind eyes opening) to get a person to be made willing to follow God. 

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