Question:

Thank you for always having the right heart & passion for answering our questions.    My question is – Why is it that sin is the consequence of free will?  I understand that there is no definite answer, but I could sue some insight on how we can address this.

Answer:

Thanks for your question.  My response is that sin is not a consequence of free will.  Sin is a consequence or our disobedience and rebellion.  Free will is a gift, not a curse.  By definition, if we did not have free will, we could not sin, as sinning is willful rebellion and disobedience, but free will does not cause us to sin.  We are told the cause of sin in James 1:13-15.  It is the result of our own evil desires and giving in to those desires.  We should not blame God and we should not even blame Satan.  We are responsible for our own actions.

Again, I suppose that, technically, if we did not have free will, then we would not sin, but to say that free will is the cause if sin is not correct.  For example, the people we love the most are the ones who can hurt us the most.  This is a fact of life.  Well, if the ones we love hurt us, does that mean that our love for them caused them to hurt us?  No, but the fact that we love them so much is why their actions hurt so much.   Similarly, if we did not have free will, we would not sin, but free will does not cause us to sin.  No.  Free will is a gift from God because he loves us.  It should be a motivation for us to not sin.  Hopefully that is how you feel as well.

John Oakes