Free ? (1)

Saturday 5 June 2021

(Jesus said) : I am not trying to do my will, but that of the Father who sent me. John 5.30

I came down from heaven to do not my will, but that of him who sent me. John 6.38

Free ? (1)

It is sometimes claimed that Adam in the Garden of Eden was free to choose. The forbidden tree was before him, its fruit tasty. It was up to him to decide... It would be to say that he was free to disobey God. Now that's exactly the principle of sin.

This conception of freedom is wrong. When God commands, man has no choice, he must obey.

Adam was not a robot, and in that sense he was free. But he did not exist by his own will. He was a creature of God (like each of us). He was responsible, responsible for recognizing the goodness of his Creator, and confidently accepting his will. God wanted his good. He had said to Adam : "You may eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden, but you shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:16, 17). Obeying was not an option.

Jesus, as a man, lived the exact opposite of this form of free will. The will of God, his Father, was his reason for living. Did he exercise any free will in relation to this will ? Never ! While lack of trust in God led Adam to his fall, Jesus' trust was complete, and so was his obedience.

Man independent of God claims to go where he wants and to do what he wants, without God. Jesus went where the Father sent him, he said and did faithfully what his Father told him (John 4:34). The contrast with Adam and his descendants and complete. God had finally found his pleasure in a man, Jesus.

(continued the next 2 Saturdays)

Source (The Good Seed)