In my last post on this subject, I established the fact that the will is not a factor in what we believe. Everything we believe is a result of information we have received and are convinced is true and cannot honestly deny.

So what can the will do? In short, nothing. The will is not a power that can accomplish anything. It is simply our desire, our “want to.” I want to get up in the morning, but just laying there and willing myself out of bed won’t do it.

When we say “free will,” we really mean “freedom to do as we will.” The question, then, is this: are we free to do what we want to do? I believe the answer is yes, absolutely, within the limits of our abilities. Our abilities are limited by who, or what, we are. I am not a bird, so I cannot fly.

More importantly, though, our desires are a product of who we are. We all have different desires based on our different personalities. But we all have one thing in common: we are all sinful beings, born in sin, so our desires are products of our sinful nature. We are all free to do as we will, and here is the statement—the fact, I believe—that will get me tied to the stake and burned as a heretic: God does not violate our free will. Bear with me, please. While the Calvinists may tie me to the stake now, when I am finished, it will be an Arminian who lights the flame.

We are free do as we will. We make free choices. We can even read God’s commands and choose to obey them, if we will.* But we always choose what we want, and as unregenerate sinners, we never want what God wants. We always want whatever suits our own interests.

So I have asked, of what value is free will to the unregenerate? It is of no value whatsoever. The power to make free choices has no bearing on what we believe, and the one thing that must be done to be saved is to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31). Free will has value only to those who have been saved, a fact I will discuss in another post.