Westminster Confession, Chapter 9
Of Free Will
God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined to good or evil.
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Deuteronomy 30:1919I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
Matthew 17:1212But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”
James 1:1414But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God, but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.
Scripture references for paragraph 2
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Genesis 1:2626Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Ecclesiastes 7:2929Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
Genesis 2:16-1716And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,
17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:66When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
Scripture references for paragraph 3
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
John 15:55I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
Romans 5:66For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 8:77because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Ephesians 2:11And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Ephesians 2:55made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
Colossians 2:1313When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,
Romans 3:1010As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
Romans 3:1212All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
John 6:4444“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:6565Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him.”
1 Corinthians 2:1414The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Ephesians 2:2-52in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
Titus 3:3-53For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that, by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
Scripture references for paragraph 4
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
John 8:3434Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
John 8:3636So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Colossians 1:1313He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Romans 7:1515I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
Romans 7:18-1918I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
Romans 7:2121So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
Romans 7:2323But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
Galatians 5:1717For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Romans 6:1818You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:2222But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.
Philippians 2:1313For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone, in the state of glory only.
Scripture references for paragraph 5
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Ephesians 4:1313until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
Hebrews 12:2323in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
1 John 3:22Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
Jude 1:2424Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
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