UNREGENERATE MAN HAS A FREE WILL…


The LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21)

[Jesus said,] “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:21-23)

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
(John 8:34)

As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin… (Romans 7:14)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins… (Ephesians 2:1)

…you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh… (Colossians 2:13)

As you can see the Bible knows nothing of a free will on the part of unregenerate man to do good and to somehow seek God. And because of this incontrovertible fact neither did the Reformers below:

If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.
Martin Luther

…we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free, because through man’s innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion.

For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the will, from which follows that it is self-determined.
John Calvin from Bondage and Liberation of the Will, pg. 69-70

HT: Monergism