Free Will Revisited: A Respectful Response to Luther, Calvin, and Edwards

by Robert E. Picirilli

Overview

Whether man has free will continues to be a hot topic among Bible teachers and theologians. After defining the issues involved, from both a worldview and a biblical standpoint, this work devotes three chapters to exploring the single-volume treatments against free will by the great theologians Luther, Calvin, and Edwards. The author then responds to the major issues involved in their objections to free will: foreknowledge and necessity, human depravity and the grace of God, the sovereignty and all-encompassing providence of God, and Edwards's rationalistic argument. In each instance, the doctrine of free will, rightly understood, is in full and biblical accord with these concerns. A concluding chapter summarizes and expresses the bottom-line differences in the doctrine of salvation between the Arminian and the Calvinistic wings of reformed theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498244039
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	05/31/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
Sales rank:	820,396
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert E. Picirilli is professor emeritus (New Testament and philosophy) at Welch College in Gallatin, Tennessee. He is author of Grace, Faith, Free Will, Paul the Apostle, and numerous other works and journal articles. He is also the editor of the Randall House Bible Commentary on the New Testament.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Abbreviations: Citations from Luther, Calvin, and Edwards x

Part 1 Defining the Issues

1 What Is Free Will? 3

2 Free Will and the Clash of Worldviews 8

3 Free Will in a Biblical Perspective 18

Part 2 The Case against Free Will

4 Martin Luther against Free Will 37

5 John Calvin against Free Will 49

6 Jonathan Edwards against Free Will 60

Part 3 The Major Issues

7 Free Will, Foreknowledge, and Necessity 77

8 Free Will, Human Depravity, and the Grace of God 89

9 Free Will and the Sovereignty and Providence of God 102

10 Free Will and the Logic of Cause and Effect 118

Part 4 In Conclusion

11 Summing Up, and the Bottom Line 129

Bibliography 135

Scripture Index 137