PARA 1 – Meaning of Free Will
- God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.
PARA 2 – Free will before the Fall
- Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God, but yet was unstable, so that he might fall from it.
PARA 3- Free will after the Fall
- Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
Outline: Effects of fall on free will
- Man, by his fall into a state of sin,
- hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;
- so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and
- dead in sin,
- is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
PARA 4- Free will after conversion
- When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
Outline: Effects of conversion on free will
- When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace,
- he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and
- by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good;
- yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
PARA 5- Free will in Glory
- This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of glory only.