The Will, Gracefully Free

Salvation through grace and grace alone. This is a bit of Christian orthodoxy that remains a stumbling block to many an otherwise good Christian. It remains an impossibility for them for the same reason Erasmus, the original Humanist, argued that to permit so weighty a matter as the eternal salvation of the human soul to depend only on God would deprive human beings of any worth or value. Without some decisive participation in the transition from mortality to immortality, mankind becomes nothing but automata, as little involved in their growth and development as a rock or stone. In essence, it is argued that  instead of inspiring men to become the very image of God, Christian orthodoxy annuls the greatness that man can be heir to, as well as the responsibility that may, if he is not diligent, consign him to judgment and death.

Free will is the key. Man must have free will in these matters or he is nothing. According to various doctrines adopted in this context, man might have a little part in his own salvation, with God carrying the heavy load, or a great part, with God sitting happily as his child grows himself up. But always there is a definite and decisive sovereign space for man apart from God that carries him to eternal life.

And yet … the most earnest of those who insist on the reification of man's free will in these matter, many of them some of the most effective defenders of Christianity in a dangerous world, have no problem with other gifts and capacities that they were given.  A powerful intellect, to take one example, that has enabled them to discern and teach some of most subtle truths of the Scriptures. They did not create that in themselves, but instead received the potential at birth, were nurtured by their parents, teachers and mentors. None of this bothers them at all: an undeserved gift, freely bestowed on them, which gave them a full and fruitful life with God.

But, they say, it was them that nurtured this gift with a will to become a better person, and it was this personal act that was decisive, not the initial gifts and help along the way. But this misses the point, so let me repeat it. It is incontestable that a powerful intellect can be a critical aid in living a more fruitful life with God and that in fact many of these people have utilized this capacity in their Christian work. And there are many other gifts of the Spirit that come from God - gifts of preaching, of teaching, of administration, or evangelism - that are similarly critical for many people who are trying to live a Godly life. And all of these gifts, properly received, are manifestly unmerited, transparently undeserved, mere contingencies of our lives that could have been different - except for the loving grace of our Father.

But to the Erasmus Free Will junkies this is all just fine. They are not bothered in the least that just about everything they hold of value in their lives as an actual existing human being is contingent, unmerited, and undeserved, so long as they can hold onto a singular human capacity: the free will, to choose salvation or not.

But, alas, our free will is no different from any other capacities and powers we possess. As we look across the range of human beings, it is clear that some have strong wills and some middling wills and some wills are downright weak or non-existent. This is the way it is in this world; de facto equality of all human beings is, in this context, a myth - or a desperately desired dream, depending on your politics. Our wills are strong or weak depending on many factors, our DNA, our upbringing, education, the wider culture we grow up in, the peers we choose at critical life moments, parents, friends, wives, children … the list is endless as to how and why we have turned out like we have. Because, to put it succinctly, we are contingent beings, born into a world not of our making and further formed by forces not in our control.

The degree of will power we possess is important in how we navigate our time and culture, as are such things as our native intelligence and our degree of sociability with our fellows. But it cannot be the basis upon which admission to Heaven is predicated, for the simple reason that it is limited and contingent just like all else in this vale of tears and Heaven is eternal. You might just as well try to elevate the number 212 to Infinity by some sort of legislative fiat. You can do it; you can issue a proclamation about it; you can organize parades of ecstatics in the street; but nevertheless a finite number will never in all of time and eternity be Infinity.

And we can will as hard as we like, with a will of iron and a purpose adamantine, and we will never be more than contingent finite beings - unless, by the perfectly free and unmerited grace of God the impossible is made possible by His Will.