Free Agency, Free Will |
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Free Agency.The human personality's freedom of choice and action, by reason of which a person's decisions and conduct proceed from his inner character, not from external constraint. Free Will.A misleading and incorrect term for free agency. Man is a free agent, but his will is not free from the rest of his personality. The will is free in the sense that it is not determined by anything outside of the person; but it is not free in the sense that it can operate independently of motives and character. The unsaved sinner is a free agent, but because his nature is sinful, his free decisions and acts are always sinful too. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. See Article on "The Sinlessness of Jesus"
The above notes are taken directly from J. G. Vos' Religious Terms Defined - a
section added to the back of Louis Berkhof's Summary of Christian Doctrine (
Banner of Truth Trust 1960 Paper Back Edition
)
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