The Hinge on Which All Turns

The Light Shines in the Darkness...

“If there is no freedom of will, what place is there for merit? If there is no place for merit, what place is there for reward? To what will it be ascribed, if man is justified without merit?”

-Desiderius Erasmus, The Freedom of the Will as quoted in Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will, trans. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1957), p.292.

“…you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot.”

–Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, trans. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1957), p.319.

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An Introduction to the Topic of Calvinism

At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the debaters on both sides argued over a great many topics. The Papacy, indulgences, Scripture, tradition, church councils, the Mass, and justification were all hot topics that were frequently debated. However, the main reason that the Reformation had been started was over the nature of justification, and the nature of the state of man determined the principle presuppositions on both sides. In fact, the entire nature of the Roman Catholic sacramental system of works and merit was and still is dependent upon man having a free-will that can either accept or reject grace independent of outside influence. On the other hand, if man’s free-will was destroyed by the fall and was left with a will that was only free to choose evil, then man’s conversion must entirely be the act and will of God. [This would eliminate the belief that one’s initial conversion earns them congruous merit.] Furthermore, if one was made a ‘bondservant’ of Christ and kept in the faith by the power of God (which supercedes any human willpower), then that would logically eliminate the possibility of falling away. So, that which differentiated the two systems of salvation was the issue of free-will. Protestants denied it while Roman Catholics affirmed it. For many Protestants, that has changed.

It is sad to see so many Protestants move half way back towards Rome in this respect. It is sad to see so many Protestants give up their heritage of sola gratia (i.e. by grace alone) and replace it with grace plus man’s willpower. It is sad to see so many Protestants dump the clear meaning of Paul and replace it with the philosophy of Plato. It is sad to see so many Protestants contort the meaning of Scripture because its plain meaning interferes with their emotional presuppositions. The following articles will defend the doctrines of the plain meaning of Scripture, the Doctrines of Grace, which the Protestant Reformation restored.

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Was Free-Will an Apostolic Teaching?

A frequent objection that is made by proponents of free-will theology is that, up until Augustine, the entire church believed in free-will. Is that true? If it is, then it might give credence to the belief that the apostles taught free-will. However, as will be shown, the first use of the phrase, ‘free-will’, happened in the mid-second century and was derived from pagan Greek philosophical presuppositions, not apostolic ‘tradition’ or Scripture:

“The earlier patristic period represents the age of the exploration of concepts, when the proclamation of the gospel within a pagan culture was accompanied by an exploitation of both Hellenistic culture and pagan philosophy as vehicles for theological advancement…Indeed, by the end of the fourth century, the Greek fathers had formulated a teaching on human free will based upon philosophical rather than biblical foundations. Standing in the great Platonic tradition, heavily influenced by Philo, and reacting against the fatalisms of their day, they taught that man was utterly free in his choice of good or evil…It is quite possible that the curious and disturbing tendency of the early fathers to minimize original sin and emphasize the freedom of fallen man is a consequence of their anti-Gnostic polemic…Justin’s anti-fatalist arguments can be adduced from practically any of the traditional pagan refutations of astral fatalisms, going back to the second century B.C.”

–Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2^nd edition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1998), pp.17, 19, 20.

The early insertion of free-will into Christian theology was a result of language, culture, and philosophy; it was not something that was taught by the apostles or the evangelists.

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Also, some helpful audio on this topic can be found at:

http://www.straitgate.com/aom/dl/99.htm (June 26-August 21)

Some helpful online reading can be found here:

http://www.mslick.com/comments.htm ***

http://www.mslick.com/tulip.htm