Scott Warren, ETS National Conference, November 17, 2005
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essential to bear in mind that freedom is not properly the cause of anything.
Freedom simply allows one to act as one wishes. Within the parameters of one's
freedom,
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one's inclinations will direct one's actions.
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Freedom allows certain
courses of actions to be taken, but does not cause or explain any of them.
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The
concept of freedom simply describes a condition within which actions are taken as
directed by a person's inclinations.
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Arguing, then, that people do certain things
because they are free to do so misses the point and clouds the discussion
considerably.
There is a popular argument that the reason that there is sin in the world is
that God made humans free. Its corollary is that freedom could not exist without
sin. Freedom does explain the fact that sin was a possibility, but it does nothing to
explain why that possibility was embraced. While this thesis does not provide a
positive explanation for the human fall into sin, it does show us that our focus must
be on the intent, nature or inclination of the heart of original humanity, rather than
on its freedom.
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The existence of freedom offers nothing to answer the question in
view.
Related to other discussions of human freedom is the question of whether
or not Jesus was free to sin. Further, if he was free to sin, was the success of his
mission sure? If he was not, was his identification with humanity a sham? Was he
genuinely tempted? The Scriptures assure us that Jesus was tempted even beyond
our own temptation.
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In short, I find in Scripture no reason to think that Jesus was
not free to sin, and every reason to think that his temptations were real as well as
intense. It was no sham. The question of whether he could be free to sin and yet
surely not sin is based on the confusion of the concepts of freedom, ability,
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I.e., one's abilities.
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Alternately, we could say, one's inclinations are the "cause" of one's actions.
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We may, however, speak of one's lack of freedom being a cause of an agent's lack of action in a
manner consistent with the agent's desires.
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Regardless of the appropriateness of it's political application, this is the same basic reasoning
employed by opponents of gun control when they argue that "guns do not kill people; people kill
people." A gun simply gives a person the freedom to do what they otherwise would not be able to
do. It does not provide a motive for its use.
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Likewise, with ongoing human sin. Clearly everyone who has in fact sinned has the capacity to do
so, but this alone does not address the real question: being able to sin, why do we. For that answer,
we must look to the human heart and its inclinations.
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Note Luke 22:44, c.f., Hebrews 12:4.