Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. We’re going through the Summa Theologica now of Thomas Aquinas in an attempt to better understand the doctrine of God. This can be read for free at newadvent.org. After all, if we are to truly worship God and live out his teachings for a lost and dying world, we need to know who he is. We’ve been studying the will of God and tonight we’re going to look at the question of if God has free-will.
This is a really short question, but I do hope to expand it some. I also desire to bring in some personal application for us. The first objection to the idea that God has free-will is that God does not have free choice because according to Jerome, who was the church father who translated the Bible into the Latin Vulgate, God cannot sin.
Aquinas answers that this is not an objection against free will in the absolute sense. It only means that God is not free to sin. This is not a deficiency on the part of God. It is like the question of which general in a war is the deficient one? Is it the one who wins every battle and cannot lose or the one who can lose a battle? To answer this question, just choose which one you want to go out fighting your battles for you and which one you want to put your trust in.
This also applies to us. When we get to Heaven, we will not be able to sin because upon seeing God, our wills will be moved towards him and we cannot move away from his utter goodness and perfection. Freedom is not an end but a means and it will have met its means, that we will always be doing the good.
The second objection tells us that freedom is a matter of the reason and the will. However, God cannot will evil. Thus, he could only will the good. Since it is only the good that he is capable of willing, then it would seem to be that God does not have free will.
However, while God cannot will evil, God can will to choose between two opposites where neither one is evil. For instance, I can choose to stand up now or stay seated. Neither one is evil. Either choice can be made and neither choice will involve sin.
The ultimate reason for why this is the case however is that God must only will one thing necessarily and that is his own goodness. God cannot be bound by anything external to him as if he has to will that thing. God did not have to will our creation, but it was because of his love and his grace that he chose to bring this about. God did this freely. It is our privilege that we can truly turn in freedom and praise the Father above who gives us every good and gracious gift.
I hope this look at God’s freedom has been helpful. If you do support the work that is being done here, I invite your prayers for me in my own walk and if you wish to support financially, that’s welcome as well. Our ministry will be expanding soon and I look forward to sharing that when it happens.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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