willieH: Hi Martin...
As you have herein been and ADVOCATE for the "FREE WILL of men",...
I am herein noted as an ADVOCATE for the OPPOSITE...
I decided to see if the Bible said anything about freewill, simply from the standpoint of the Concordance. And here's what I found. In the KJV these terms are used and here's how many times they're used:
Strong's Concordance says that the KJV uses the word "free" 58 times, freewill 17 times, freed 2 times, freely 16 times, freewoman 3 times, selfwill is used 1 time, selfwilled is used 2 times, and liberty is used 27 times. I got lazy on counting out the word "will" so I asked Biblegateway.com how many times "will" is used and it counted 'em up as 2908 times, willing is used 54 times, willeth is used 1 time, wilt is 208 times, and would is used 437 times.
These stats are meaningless unless the term is used IN CONJUNCTION with MAN's WILL as "FREE"... The words N'DAB, N'DABAH, and NEDAB are all used concerning offerings... not SPECIFICALLY referring to the WILL of MAN, engaged in his on-going CHOOSING...
To name the appearance of words such as... FREE, WILL, WILLETH, WILT, WOULD, etc... is irrelevant unless they are used to the STATE of the WILL of MAN as FREE...
In order to establish FREE WILL as a teaching, it must be found and noted as a TEACHING of THE
WORD...
My best and STRONGEST case is made in the life of
CHRIST, concerning the ABSENCE of "FREE WILL" in men...
CHRIST was a MAN
(1 Tim 2:5)His ENTIRE LIFE, was found in subjection, NOT to his own "free will" rather, was lived according to the WILL of
YHVH...
In other words, He had no "free will" of His own, his life was DECLARED by GOD in Scripture, and then lived as the SCRIPTURE (in EVERLASTING TERMS), notes it to be lived ...the DECLARATION of GOD...
In that life
CHRIST was never found doing other than the WILL of
YHVH which life found Him to be
FREE of SIN at its conclusion...
Whereas the "WILL" of MEN, takes them into SIN
(James 1:14), which is a BONDAGE from which they must be DELIVERED by a SAVIOR... Such a WILL cannot be considered FREE for it's manifestation produces ENSLAVEMENT to SIN.
JESUS walked according to that which was PROPHECIED of Him... and His "WILL" did not supercede the PROPHECY... He did NOT have the OPTION to do otherwise, ...and in the most PERTINENT sense, ...was BOUND to walk by those PROPHECIES, to the LETTER... By walking in that COMPLETE subjection (absent of "His will" as a man) to that which
YHVH mapped out in Scripture... He FULFILLED them, and established the FREEDOM of GOD'S WILL in doing so...
MEN who do otherwise in life, and are also "mapped out" by
YHVH in Scripture, ... however CONCLUDED in UNBELIEF (bondage)... and are found FULFILLING the Scriptures as well, which note "ALL HAVE SINNED and COME SHORT of the glory of GOD"... as well as "NONE DOETH GOOD, no... NOT ONE"!
Thereby verifying the difference between a WILL which is
FREE (
CHRIST) and which shall REIGN FOREVER... and a WILL which is IN BONDAGE to ITSELF (that of MEN), which shall be DISSOLVED within and BY the conclusion of the course of TIME... (before the LAST DAY ends)...
Of the 17 times that "FREEWILL" is used in the
WORD, 16 of them are connected with OFFERING in their context - SPECIFICALLY on a voluntary basis... (#5071 N'DABAH - from #5068 NADAB)
The ONLY other one used is the word
#H5069 - N'DAB... which specifically means FREEWILL offering...
NONE of these discuss in their context, or even DENOTE the WILL of MEN... nor do they define what "CHOICE" is, as done by MEN...
God overrides our free will when it's in our best interests or when it's in the best interests of His own glory, or where it relates to a Covenant issue that He's keeping to the thousandth generation, as when He turns the heart of the king/prime minister/president where He wishes.
Where in Scripture is this stated Martin? Please note where what you state above in BLUE is said in the
WORD of GOD...
This is NOT what Scripture states about the WILL of man at all...
Scripture states the HEART ("will") is DESPARATELY WICKED
(Jer 17:9), and that NO MAN is ABLE (of his "will") to come to
CHRIST (John 6:44), without the aid of
YHVH...
It also states that GOD is the one which brings about MERCY in each, and in that process He denotes the FAULTS of MEN to be manifest, as the POTTER decides
(Rom 9:21) HE MAKES one vessel of the
SAME LUMP, unto honor, and
HE MAKES another unto DISHONOR...
The CLAY does not MAKE ITSELF (via its "will")... ANYTHING honorable, or dishonorable! It is the Creation of
YHVH that makes one vessel DISHONORABLE and the other HONORABLE...
But not much besides. It's pretty much our own decision and varying degrees of blindness that determines whether or not our socks are matching that we're wearing today. Most of the time, His overriding of someone's will winds up being about His providing hand to someone that's keeping Covenant with Him, or at least on their knees before Him pushing past every demonic obstacle in prayer. What He did with Pharaoh was in the behalf of Israel, what He did with Christ Jesus was about our provisions, etc., etc.
Again this is the "devising" that men do via choice which is NOTED they would do... Those choices are according to the DECLARATION of
YHVH, done before the Creation...
