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.

Love (agape) is a choice.  Without choice, there is no love.  Love thrives in freedom. Love is a principle.  It may be defined as: “undefeatable, benevolent, goodwill.”  Love involves seeking the highest good of another.  Love is often commanded in God’s word and touches every relationship including our relationship with God.  Love is a principle that we will ourselves to follow.  It requires human volition to pursue.

The Example of Jesus
In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.”  Jesus was given a commandment from the Father that involved the sacrifice of His life for the redemption of mankind.  Jesus freely gave His life for us.  He was not coerced or forced to sacrifice His life.  He freely gave it as an act of love.  “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, the we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Pet. 2:24).  Jesus loved the Father. “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.” (John 14:31).  Jesus loved the Father and He loved us.  In a free act of love, He sacrificed His life to provider the atonement for sin and redeem unto Himself a special people purified by His blood.

Love is a Command
Consider the following commands from God involving love.  First and foremost, there is the command to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind (Matt. 22:36-39).  Mark adds “strength” (Mark 12:29-31).  In these same passages, we are commanded to love our neighbor.  Paul instructs husbands to love their wives (Eph. 5:25) as Christ loved the church as gave himself or it.  In Titus 2:4, Paul instructs aged women to teach younger women to love their husbands and their children.  Jesus commands us to love our enemies in Matt. 5:44.  Finally, love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is commanded (John 15:12; I John 3:14; 4:21).  When we are given a command from God, human volition is involved in obeying it.  When we love freely, there is no resentment in the action required.  When we choose to love God, we empower our lives for Christian living.  We act, rather than react, based upon a sacred principle.

Love and Freewill
Without choice, love is not possible.  Love is a free act of the human will in response to God’s commands.  The very existence of love, proves free will.  Consequently, determinism is false.  Evolutionists are determinists.  Sam Harris wrote, “Free will is an illusion.  Our wills are simply not of our own making.  Thoughts and intentions emerge from background causes of which we are unaware and over which we exert no conscious control” (Sam Harris, Freewill, 2012, p. 5–quoted in Paradoxolgy, p. 230).  If this is true, then there is no love.  Secondly, predestination is false.  Those who teach predestination also teach that we do not have free will.  But, the price for believing such a doctrine is high.  If there is no choice, there is no love.

Love is Essential
Love is essential to becoming and remaining a Christian.  Loving God with all of our being requires a choice.  We must choose whom we will serve. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16).  Obedience to God requires love for God (John 14:15).  Joy follows the decision to follow God.  When Jesus went to the cross, He embraced the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2).  His joy was in manifesting His love for the Father and Us.  His joy was not in the painful death He suffered.  But, He had joy in His sufferings because He loved much.  Love for God will produce the same joy in us no matter what the cost might be for following Him.