The conjunction of the words free with will is actually very misleading--albeit intentionally so. The notion of free will suggests a state of ontological being which has never existed...in God, in angels, nor in man. As John Darby clearly stated, "I believe we ought to hold to the Word; but, philosophically and morally speaking, free-will is a false and absurd theory. Biblically speaking, free-will is a state of sin [i.e. rebellion]."
The creature's will or volition is always subject to the propensity (aka: bent, nature, etc.) of the creature's ontological being. While God is omnipotent, His will remains consistent (bounded) by His essence--who He is in all His full-orbed attributes. For example, He cannot will to be unjust or unloving. He cannot will to act or be unlike Himself--a self-referential contradiction, philosophically speaking.
The Christian church has suffered much confusion and possibly unnecessary division due to those, who through ignorance or other questionable motive, seek to use the terms free will and volition interchangeably. An awareness of the difference between these terms is an essential prerequisite for correctly interpreting and understanding Holy Scripture--the Bible. If one approaches Scripture with the fictitious concept of the creature's unbounded free will, the true meaning of the verse, the chapter, or the entire Bible is altered and a pseudo-version of Christianity is spawned. -- Dan Smedra
This is my absolute opinion: he that will maintain that man's free-will is able to do or work anything in spiritual cases be they never so small, denies Christ. This I have maintained in my writings, especially in those against Erasmus, one of the learnedest men in the whole world, and thereby will I remain, for I know it to be the truth, though all the world should be against it; yea, the decree of Divine Majesty must stand fast against the gates of hell. --Martin Luther
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