The Will
of Man
The Misunderstanding
By Dr. Ken
Matto
Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. (John 1:13)
There seems to
be a major confusion in Christianity concerning the will of man.
Many believe that the will of man has no limitations but that is not what
the Bible teaches. It is not a
question whether man has a will because all humans have a will and they can
exercise faith within that will.
The faith along with the will has limitations in the unsaved individual.
The will is part of the intelligence factor which man was given at
creation but now darkened by sin so the question is not whether a person has a
will but the question is “Is the will of man free and alive or is it dead?”
The word “will”
found in the New Testament is the word “thelēma” which means “will, desire,
determination, decree, pleasure, purpose, inclination.”
The word is used 64 times and is translated “will” 62 times, “desires” 1
time and “pleasure” 1 time.
To understand
the limitations of the will of man we must go back to what happened in the
Garden of Eden. God had instructed
Adam and Eve that they had free reign over the Garden and could eat from any
tree they wanted to. This was the
only time that humans had free will because sin had not yet entered into the
world. So there were no limitations
and because they were not affected by sin, and without sin there was no need for
salvation, since they were already in a blissful state in right relationship
with God.
{16} And the
LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: {17} But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
(Genesis 2:16-17)
So we read
above that they had free reign of the Garden and the warning included death if
they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So now after Eve was created, Satan then comes to her tempting her and
she eats of the forbidden fruit and then gives it to Adam, and lo and behold,
they were banished from the Garden and under the sentence of death.
Now we know from the Scriptures that
there were two deaths which took place at that time.
The first was spiritual death which caused the great separation between
Adam and God and that is why an animal had to be killed to make them aprons of
clothing which was an early prophecy of the death of Christ on Calvary for his
people.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
(Ephesians 2:5) In
Ephesians 2:5 and also other places we read that we were dead in sins which was
the direct result of the sin of Adam and Eve.
The word behind “dead” is “nekróus” which means “lifeless, dead,
useless.” So now man was plunged
into a state of spiritual death.
But God raised him from the dead:
(Acts 13:30) The same
word used to describe the deadness of unsaved man is used to describe Christ’s
condition in the tomb, that of total deadness so there is no mistake in
interpretation. The other death in
view was physical death which did not happen at that moment but the mechanics of
death were now at work in Adam and Eve which was the aging process that every
human being on earth is subject to, both rich and poor.
The aging process begins at conception and ends with physical death.
Now once sin
had taken hold of Adam and Eve, they were now in a state of sin meaning they
were in darkness because of sin and this penalty was now handed down from one
human being to another.
Having the understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of
the blindness of their heart:
(Ephesians 4:18) Now that man
was in sin, understanding which comes through the intellect was now darkened and
coupling that with spiritual death, they could no longer have spiritual
fellowship with God unless something takes place first.
That something is spiritual resurrection which I will discuss later in
this article.
In the
condition of spiritual death, you cannot have a relationship with God because
you lack spiritual connection.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24) God is a
Spirit and a spiritually dead person cannot fellowship with one who is
spiritually alive. If you are in a
cemetery alone, will you be able to hear the people in the graves praying?
The answer is no. Why?
Because they are dead and that is why God does not hear the prayer of the
unbeliever. The living do not hear
because those who are praying are dead!
Since man
walked into the state of spiritual death other things took place too.
Limitations were now placed on man and those limitations were intellect,
understanding, physical, faith and will or determination.
To those who think we do not have limitations, ponder this for a minute.
When you go to sleep tonight and while you are waiting to fall asleep you
have a little time frame till that happens, think on this one thing and see if
you can process it, “The Lord Jesus Christ had no beginning…”
Without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like
unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
(Hebrews 7:3) You will
then find out how limited you are.
Now since we
are in a sinful state with limitations, we still have a will and we still have
faith. However, both of these are
now tied to this earth. Just as
Adam and Eve immediately died spiritually but not physically, that was passed on
to every human being. Before
salvation, we are in that condition.
We have physical life but we do not have spiritual life.
The will of man is now limited to the things that we can see, that is,
this earth. Of my own will I can
buy whatever car I want, wear whatever clothes I want, live where I want,
partake in hobbies that I want, etc.
All the things that we will are all tied only to this earth.
In the same manner we have faith but it too is limited to the things of
this earth. I have faith when I sit
on a chair it will not break, I have faith when I drive a car that it will not
break down, I have faith that my job will still be their tomorrow, I have faith
that food I eat in a restaurant will not poison me.
So we have faith but it is severely limited to the things of this world.
So two questions remain, how do I become saved?
How do I cross the barrier from the corporeal world to the spiritual
world? The answer is simple, you
don’t because you can’t!
{12} But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name: {13}
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
In John
1:12-13, we are given the way a person becomes born again, that is, spiritually
alive. Those who receive him, not
accept him, are given the power, that is, the authority to become the sons of
God. To become a son of God (and
that includes daughters) first of all they are not born of blood.
That means because your parents or siblings are saved or your father is a
minister does not mean you are automatically saved by your relationship to them.
A person cannot be born again of the will of the flesh, since the fall,
the flesh contains only sinful tendencies.
The Apostle Paul knew that well and so do we!
For I know that in me (that is, in
my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not.
(Romans 7:18)
Then we cannot
be born of the will of man because we see above that the will of man is now tied
to the earth because of indwelling sin which has darkened our horizons to the
eternal. Have you ever been to a
funeral of an unbeliever where instead of seeing the seriousness of the fact
that a person just died and will soon face the Judgment Seat of Christ and then
be sentenced to eternal damnation that it is like a party atmosphere?
Have you ever heard statements like
“go to hell,” or “What the hell do you care” or how about this one “For Christ’s
Sake?” Both Christ and Hell are
beyond the earthly horizon of man so instead of taking them seriously, they use
them as swear words. If the horizon
of unsaved man had the ability to see beyond the physical, they would not take
each of those I mentioned and use them in a cynical manner.
Then the final part of this verse speaks about the fact that salvation is
“of God.”
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the
voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the
LORD. (Jonah 2:9)
Jonah knew salvation was of the LORD in the Old Testament.
The big
question remains as to how does a person who is steeped in spiritual darkness
and spiritual death become saved?
We saw that the will of man cannot accomplish this.
We saw the will of the flesh cannot accomplish this.
We saw that being born into a Christian family cannot accomplish this but
only God can save a person.
{25} When his
disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
{26} But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is
impossible; but with God all things are possible.
(Matthew 19:25-26)
In Matthew
19:25-26, the disciples were bewildered concerning who can be saved.
Then Jesus answers their query and tells them in plain terms that with
man as the starting point of salvation it would be impossible especially based
upon what we just read in John 1:12-13.
Then Jesus continues and states that “with God all things are possible.”
God is the one who brings salvation to people, he initiates it and
completes it.
All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
(John 6:37) Notice in
John 6:37, it states the God the Father is the one who gives the true believer
to the Lord Jesus Christ and he will never cast us out.
So we have read
plainly that the will of man cannot accomplish salvation, even initiating it.
Now the next misunderstanding concerning the will of man is the area of
faith. We have already looked at
the fact that because of original sin, faith has also been reduced to being tied
to this world. So then how does one
have faith to believe?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(Galatians 5:22)
We read plainly in Galatians 5:22 that one of the fruits of the Holy
Spirit is Faith. Which means that a
person must have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them to receive the fruit of faith.
For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by
faith. (Romans 1:17)
Romans 1:17, if you recall, as the catalyst for the Reformation and
speaks to the fact that the “Just” shall live by faith, that is, the true
Christian. We read before about the
limited faith of the unbeliever and they too live faith to faith but only on a
secular level. When God saves us,
we then order our lives by faith in him and that is why we go from faith to
faith and not works to works because works cannot save us.
Once we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us we are able to have faith in
God and to believe. In other words,
before we can believe and exercise the faith of Romans 1:17, we must be already
saved. So if I am to be saved
before I believe then how is that accomplished if I do not initiate it?
I am glad you
asked. Since a person is in a state
of spiritual deadness and unable to raise themselves, then something must happen
within us to elevate us from spiritual death to spiritual life.
In Revelation 20:5-6 there is a scenario which is overlooked about 99.5%
of the time.
{5} But the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is
the first resurrection. {6} Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years.
(Revelation 20:5-6)
Notice in verse 5 it states
“This is the first resurrection.” Now
dispensationalists look at this and claim it is the rapture. This
is an erroneous teaching. The
understanding of the first resurrection is found in verse 6. It
speaks about those who had part in the first resurrection being blessed and holy
which describes what the believer becomes because of salvation. Then
the next phrase gives us the insight as to what this is speaking about. “On
such the second death has no power” speaks about the first resurrection removing
the power of the second death. The
first death is physical death. The second death is eternal damnation. Since
we have received our resurrected souls which is the first resurrection we are
passed from death unto life, the second death has no power in the life of the
believer. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life. (John 5:24) The
first resurrection is the resurrection of our dead souls unto eternal life which
is personal and specific in the life of those God calls and the second
resurrection will be on the last day when all believers and unbelievers will be
raised if they have physically died before the Lord returns. No
person on earth can will either the first or second resurrection. Lazarus
couldn’t will his own physical resurrection and no person can will their own
spiritual resurrection. Lazarus
was dead and could do absolutely nothing to raise himself in the tomb, it had to
be done from an outside source and that outside source was the Lord Jesus
Christ. Same with us, we are saved
not from within because we saw
that the only thing within unsaved man is death and sin, and therefore our
spiritual resurrection must come from an outside source and that is God himself
who raises us to newness of life.
Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(Romans 6:4) So let us
capsulize the salvation which the LORD has given us as a gift.
Sins are Removed
{13} And you,
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
{14} Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
(Colossians 2:13-14)
We have assurance of Salvation and can
now Believe on Christ
These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son
of God. (1 John 5:13)
We now have Faith that reaches beyond
the earthly Horizon
For ye are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:26)
A Place in Heaven is Reserved for You
To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4)
We are Kings and Priests
And hast made
us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
(Revelation 5:10)
Summary
The salvation
God gave us gives us assurance, faith beyond earth, a place reserved in Heaven,
and we are made kings and priests.
This salvation was planned before the foundation of the world by God and a
person actually thinks their “free will” has accomplished all this?
It is the height of arrogance to believe that a person can initiate their
own salvation from a position of total deadness.
God is the one who planned this all out for his children and no amount of
earthbound will or faith will ever grasp that gift.
There are two types of wills. The first is the will of unsaved man tied to this world and the second is the will of God implanted in the true believer at the point of salvation. There are two types of faith. The first is the limited faith of the unbeliever tied to this world and the second is the unlimited faith tied to the eternal God.