# WCF 9 - Of Free Will



## fredtgreco (Apr 30, 2004)

Here is the link to WCF 9:
http://www.apuritansmind.com/Creeds/WestminsterConfession/Chapter9WestminsterConfession.htm

See also WLC 149-152; WSC 82-84


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## fredtgreco (Apr 30, 2004)

*Questions from WCF 9*

Ok, now here are a few questions to get us started:


1. What does WCF 9.1 tell us about the will of man? How is that different from the modern psychology of "behaviorism" that asserts that all our decisions are controlled by our response to our environment?

[color=blue:2118fa0c24]2. How was Adam's freedom of will different before the Fall and after the Fall?[/color:2118fa0c24]

3. What is the relationship between man's total inability and man's total depravity?

[color=blue:2118fa0c24]4. What does man's state after the Fall (WCF 9.3) tell us about his need for God?[/color:2118fa0c24]

5. Do unconverted men do anything that is good or righteous? Support your answer.

[color=blue:2118fa0c24]6. What is the practical implication of the phrase "by reason of his remaining corruption, he does not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good" (WCF 9.4)?[/color:2118fa0c24]

7. How do you resolve the fact that God commands men to believe with the fact that man is "not able, by his own strength, to convert himself" (WCF 9.3)?

[color=blue:2118fa0c24]8. Does the Confession support the doctrine that the gospel is only to be given to people who have prepared themselves for repentance? Why or why not?[/color:2118fa0c24]


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## Saiph (Apr 30, 2004)

I will give it a try. Here goes. . . . 

1. What does WCF 9.1 tell us about the will of man? How is that different from the modern psychology of "behaviorism" that asserts that all our decisions are controlled by our response to our environment? 

[b:7b1b2604bf]Modern, or rather Postmodern thought, tells us our behavior is biologically and sociologically determined. Uniformity of natural causes in a closed system.

God declares us free, but tethered to a fallen will. We choose what we want. But all we want is sin and autonomy.
[/b:7b1b2604bf]

2. How was Adam's freedom of will different before the Fall and after the Fall? 


[b:7b1b2604bf]He was able to sin. We are not able not to sin.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


3. What is the relationship between man's total inability and man's total depravity? 


[b:7b1b2604bf]Inability is motive, or will. Depravity is desire, or lust.
I cannot will against my natural desires. If my heart was good, but capable of evil, I might be able to choose or have the ability to choose to obey God. But, since the fall, my heart is not good, nor capable of good, therefore tends to all transgressions and want of conformity to God's perfect law.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


4. What does man's state after the Fall (WCF 9.3) tell us about his need for God? 


[b:7b1b2604bf]Man is desperately lost. He seeks for meaning and purpose within himself. Yet without God, the objective transcendant logos, and God's communication to the particular finite subjective mind of man, and the incarnation, we cannot find meaning. 
Man is left to supress the truth in unrighteousness.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


5. Do unconverted men do anything that is good or righteous? Support your answer. 


[b:7b1b2604bf]No. Because their motives are selfish. They only seek the approval of men. And even if they seek the approval of God it is hopelessly works based righteousness. Which no one can excercise perfectly.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


6. What is the practical implication of the phrase "by reason of his remaining corruption, he does not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good" (WCF 9.4)? 

[b:7b1b2604bf]A stain on a pure white sheet is still a stain.
The very hint of depravity is enough to ruin the purity of the whole man. All good we might achieve is tainted by the fall. We cannot will, or be, perfect, because of that stain.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


7. How do you resolve the fact that God commands men to believe with the fact that man is "not able, by his own strength, to convert himself" (WCF 9.3)? 

[b:7b1b2604bf]He commands the rain to fall even though it is an inanimate, and irrational force of nature.
I do not understand the logic of the question here.[/b:7b1b2604bf]

8. Does the Confession support the doctrine that the gospel is only to be given to people who have prepared themselves for repentance? Why or why not? 

[b:7b1b2604bf]No. The gospel (which I understand as all of special revelation) is the means by which the Spirit of God opens the blind eyes, and melts the hardened hearts, of the unbelieveing. We do not know who has been prepared to respond in faith to that revelation. Only God Knows. So we openly communicate it to all.[/b:7b1b2604bf]


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## Puritan Sailor (Apr 30, 2004)

I think Mark did alright on the first few. I'll try for these. 
[quote:2be35d4cea][i:2be35d4cea]Originally posted by fredtgreco[/i:2be35d4cea]
7. How do you resolve the fact that God commands men to believe with the fact that man is "not able, by his own strength, to convert himself" (WCF 9.3)?[/quote:2be35d4cea]
1) The depravity of man in no way relinquishes or disqualifies his responsibility to obey God's commands. Man is responsible to obey both as a creature, and as bound by the covenant of works, to obey God.
2) God works through the command to believe. He speaks, and through the power of His Word he also empowers that act to take place. For example, why should Jesus command to Lazarus to come forth? He can't hear Jesus, he has no ability to bring himself forth, he's dead. But through the spoken Word, Christ works with His Spirit to create in man the response to the command. So it is with the Gospel.

[quote:2be35d4cea]
8. Does the Confession support the doctrine that the gospel is only to be given to people who have prepared themselves for repentance? Why or why not? [/quote:2be35d4cea]
I'm siding with the Marrow men here. No it doesn't. The gospel is to be preached to all men everywhere. And, it is impossible to prepare yourself for repentance. And the emphasis of Scripture is not to prepare yourself for repentence but to repent! Can a baby prepare himself to be born? Can Lazarus prepare himself to be raised? That doesn't mean the unconverted do nothing. They must cry out to God for a new heart and saving faith and acknowledge the fact that they are indeed helpless to save themselves. But that in no way means those actions will garantee their recieving the new heart. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, not men. And so is the work of preperation for repentence. God can create faith and repentence in both the self-righteous Pharisee raised in the church and the drunkard who stumbled in the door hearing the gospel for the first time.


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