“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”
-Proverbs 21:1
I read something which I found to be very interesting in Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan” concerning free-will and necessity:
“Liberty and Necessity are Consistent: As in the water, that has not only liberty, but a necessity of descending by the Channel: so likewise in the Actions which men voluntarily do; which (because they proceed from their will) proceed from liberty; and yet because every act of man’s will, and every desire, and inclination proceeds from some cause, and that from another cause, which causes in a continual chain (whose first link in the hand of God the first of all causes) proceed from necessity. So that to him that could see the connection of those causes, the necessity of all men’s voluntary actions, would appear manifest. And therefore God, that sees, and disposes all things, sees also that the liberty of man in doing what he will, is accompanied with the necessity of doing that which God will, and no more, no less. For though men may do many things, which God does not command, nor is therefore Author of them; yet they can have no passion, nor appetite to any thing, of which appetite God’s will is not the cause. And did not his will assure the necessity of man’s will, and consequently of all that on man’s will depends, the liberty of men would be a contradiction, and impediment to the omnipotence and liberty of God. And this shall suffice, (as to the matter in hand) of that natural liberty, which only is properly called liberty.”*
I was floored by how well these two issues are here reconciled, and I love that he uses the analogy of man’s will and a channel of water. I first heard this analogy from Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Proverbs 21:1-
“Even the hearts of men are in God’s hand. God can change men’s minds, can turn them from that which they seemed most intent upon, as the husbandman, by canals and gutters, turns the water through his grounds, which does not alter the nature of the water, nor put any force upon it, any more than God’s providence does upon the native freedom of man’s will, but directs the course of it to serve his own purpose.”
And to honor the other namesake of Bill Watterson’s classic comic strip, here’s John Calvin:
“Now when I assert that the will, being deprived of its liberty, is necessarily drawn or led into evil, I should wonder if anyone considered it as a harsh expression, since it has nothing in it absurd, nor is it unsanctioned by the custom of good men. It offends those who know not how to distinguish between necessity and compulsion. But if anyone should ask them whether God is not necessarily good, and whether the devil is not necessarily evil, what answer will they make? For there is such a close connection between the goodness of God and His divinity that His deity is not more necessary than His goodness. But the devil is by his fall so alienated from communion with all that is good that he can do nothing but what is evil…if a necessity of doing well impairs not the liberty of the divine will in doing well if the devil, who cannot but do evil, nevertheless sins voluntarily; who then will assert that man sins less voluntarily, because he is under a necessity of sinning?”
Water freely flows within its boundaries. A train freely runs along its track. Likewise our hearts freely run according to their desires, whatever they may be. Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” The consistent theme in the Bible with regard to the heart is this: you are what your heart is. You will know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 12:33). We are not free to grow fruit which our root doesn’t produce. It’s not so much a matter of freedom as it is of ability. I’ve often used the example of the human body. Healthy individuals have free-will over their bodies. They can clap their hands, jump up and down, run, swim, scream, whisper, etc… At the same time, they can’t breathe underwater. They can’t fly on their own power. The free-will a person may have over their body is not absolute. It’s confined.
As long as Christians try to define “free-will” in absolutist, autonomous terms, they will never truly understand their own salvation. The hearts of every man, woman, and child on this earth are bound to either sin or God. Popular theology teaches that God is voting for us, Satan is voting against us, and we must cast the deciding vote. The idea is that man is a blank slate, inclined more to Satan maybe, but ultimately the master of his own desires. Paul speaks in harsher terms though when he writes that “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7). The unsaved heart is not indifferent to God. It’s hostile to him. It’s at enmity with him, filled with hatred towards him. We are not compelled to hate him. We hate him of necessity. From the heart flow the springs of life, and from the evil heart flow the springs of hostility towards God. As a human body equipped without gills cannot breathe underwater, neither can the natural heart desire God.
People have often wondered if Jesus can truly be considered “human” if he was unable to sin, but they’re asking the wrong question. Man looks at Christ’s sinless life as an alienation from true humanity. God calls us to look at Christ’s sinless life and lament over our alienation from what it truly means to be human. God created Adam and Eve and called them “Good.” He sent his son Jesus Christ to dwell in an earthly body, yet without sin. Humanity is meant to be inherently good. And one day it will be again. Ideal humanity doesn’t carry with it autonomy. Many speak of life in Christ in terms of “freedom,” and while this is true, many don’t understand what this freedom constitutes. Our freedom in Christ still involves slavery. Paul writes “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). Christ frees us from slavery to sin to become slaves of righteousness. Many would abhor the use of the slavery concept here, but slavery is only as repulsive as its master. What kind of slavery does Christ enlist us to? Himself. Righteousness. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-Control. What problems would disappear from our planet if every human was bound of necessity to practice these qualities?
Slavery is freedom if the Master gives his slaves what is most beneficial and joyful to them. The freedom to withdraw yourself from such infinite blessing would not be viewed as a good thing, but as an ominous threat. Will we be free in Heaven? Yes. Will we be able to sin? No. Again, nothing can do anything other than what nature necessitates and limits it to do. Notice what Paul praises in Romans 6:17: the Roman Christians’ obedience from the heart. Heart obedience is true obedience, and true obedience is evidence of God’s liberating work in a person’s life. Our natural hearts can’t and won’t love God. So how does God ensure that we are effectually drawn to him and will forever be set on doing his will? New hearts. Hearts naturally predisposed to love him and do his will. This is the Covenant God makes with man through Jesus Christ. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me” (Jeremiah 32:40).
This is the great focus point of Calvinism: action according to the necessity of the will. This is the standard of Christianity: purity at action’s source, the heart. This is why Jesus tells us that in God’s eyes, hatred is the same thing as murder, and that lust is the same thing as adultery. As Charles Spurgeon says, God counts heart sin as well as hand sin. Our hearts flow freely in their channels. May God direct the channels of your heart toward himself and to a servant-hood of freedom and joy both now and in the age to come.
* “Leviathan.” Part II, Chapter 21. Spelling updated by me.
