Free Will and Salvation

As the issue relates to human free will and salvation, Calvinists claim all reality is interlocked in a causal chain leading back to God as the first-cause of all things; but humans are “free,” even though they are pre-determined, because their choices are executed “willingly.”  The Calvinist defines man as a second-cause agent incapable of choosing a path different from that which God would have him choose.  Because man doesn't know he is being manipulated, he believes himself to be a first-cause agent making free will decisions.  This is the historic Calvinist concept of "free will."  It leads to the idea that absolute determinism by God is compatible with the exercise of free will by man; this concept is sometimes called compatibilism or soft determinism.

Arminians agree much of reality is part of a causal chain but claim God does not determine the free will decisions of men or angels.  The idea that men and angels are first-cause agents of choice, is a central concept of Arminianism and is sometimes called libertarian freedom.  The Arminian believes "free will" makes you a first-cause agent of decisions.  The compatibilist believes "free will" makes you a second-cause agent; you have simply been tricked into thinking of yourself as a first-cause agent.  These two definitions of free will are mutually exclusive.

Consider a man who beats his wife, sexually abuses both his daughters and sons, steals from and abuses his parents and subsequently dies without confession of sin, without remorse for his brutality, without repentance and without asking for the mercy of God.   The compatibilist claims each one of these events is God's will because God's sovereignty requires complete determinism of all things; God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.  The man may think he is acting freely but he is actually executing a sinister puppet dance, with God pulling the strings from behind His transcendence.  However, the man is fully responsible for his second-cause sins since they were executed willingly.

The Arminian claims not one of these sins was God's will and God grieves deeply over each of them.  Each sin represents a free will decision by a first-cause agent and is contrary to God's will.  God permits, within limits and for a time, the consequences of rebellion but He is deeply grieved by the evil world in which we live.  The Arminian believes the Calvinist concept of compatibilism is actually incompatible with God's attributes of holiness, justice, goodness and truth and with the clear teaching of Scripture:

• If God credits the unsaved with second-cause sins then, in conflict with Scripture (Eph 2:8-10), He would credit the saved with second-cause good works.
• A just God would not hold a man responsible for a sin which God made him commit.
• If salvation were simply a matter of God exercising His free-will, then a good God would save all men. 
• The idea that free will can be exercised by a second-cause agent is logical nonsense.  Free will can only be exercised by a first-cause agent.   Consequently, the thesis (determinism by God is free-will by man) violates the logical rule of contradictories (b is-not not-b).  Such a statement is called a paradox.

The historic Calvinist responds that we must not expect the holiness, justice and goodness of God will always make sense to our limited intellect.  Furthermore, true free will can be exercised by second-cause agents; this central concept of historic Calvinism may be logical nonsense to man but not to God who reasons on a higher level using a different kind of logic.