BiblicalInsights.net

If there is no free-will, then, there is no love.  God created human beings with the power of volition.  This is one aspect of being created in the image of God.  God acts freely.  He created human beings so that they can act freely as well.  One of the best ways to know that human beings have free-will is that we intuitively know that we are making choices.  These choices are conscious, volitional,  choices.  Each person is an eyewitness to the fact of volitional power.  To overthrow this vast amount of eyewitness testimony would take a tremendous amount of counter proofs.  Another way that we can know that we have free-will is that God holds human beings accountable for their words and actions.  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things doe in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil” (II Cor. 5:10).  “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:5-6).  The justice of God demands free-will on the part of man. How could God be just when He punishes someone for something that they had no control over or personal responsibility for.  Free-will is also a part of our own justice system in the United States.  In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that a deterministic view of human conduct was “inconsistent with the underlying precepts of our criminal justice system” (Warner Wallace, God’s Crime Scene, pp. 141-158).  God has ordained the government to be a punisher of the evil-doer in order to protect the innocent (Rom. 13:1-ff).  In order for this to be valid justice, the evil-doer must bear responsibility for his actions.  Personal responsibility grows out of accountability to God.  Accountability to God is a part of God’s justice.  Personal responsibility is assigned to every person who chooses to commit a crime or a sin when he or she could have chosen otherwise.
Determinism is the view that actions are determined by prior causal events outside the control of an individual.  Most evolutionists and atheists believe in material determinism.  They accept the consequences of this false concept including: (1) denial of free-will; (2) no personal responsibility for moral choices; (3) no possibility of justice; (4) no possibility of love; (5) lack of ability to alter the future by personal choices in the present.  Each of these consequences have further consequences of their own.
Love (agapē) is a deeply committed love whereby one wills to seek the highest good of another regardless of that person’s character or conduct (Matt. 5:44-45).  This love is principled and volitional.  It is undefeatable, benevolent, good-will.  One way that we can show that it is volitional is that it is a response to a command of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).  The command to love given by the Lord can be obeyed or disobeyed.  The alternative to love is hate.  Where there is such a choice between two moral actions, there is free-will.  Love and hate are observable moral qualities and are present in the hearts of people.  Why command a moral action if it is already determined and fixed?  Where there is no choice, the command becomes void.
Love is a response of the human mind and heart to God.  In I John 4:19, God’s Word states, “We love him, because he first loved us.”  Love for God is a response of the human heart to the divine and demonstrative love manifested by God.  God’s love is shown in the unspeakable gift of His Son (John 3:16; I John 4:10).  God’s love is compelling.  The cross draws people to it (John 12:32).  Our love for God is reciprocal.  Love responds to love.  This takes freedom to act or the power of volition.
The alternative to love is also a choice.  God will punish the person who decides to hate.  Hatred is one of the seventeen sins listed by Paul as works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21).  Hate is equated with murder.  “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (I John 3:15).  Where there is a moral choice there is free-will.  We cannot blame others for our own failures.  We cannot excuse ourselves for disobeying God’s commandments.  When we do not love as God commands, we will face God’s justice.  Our own disobedience will condemn us.