The Question of Will
Via On Being a Theologian of the Cross pp. 50-51
…we always come back to the question of the “little bit,” one of the telltale signs of the theology of glory. This is the issue in theses 13-18. Can we or will we by our own natural powers, doing our best, prepare for the reception of grace? Are we free to will that? Does the will actually want to receive grace?
The question of will and its freedom over against God and his sovereign grace has, of course, always been a difficult one for biblical faith. When it is asserted that we are saved by divine election, the protest is always raised, “We aren’t puppets, are we? If everything happens by divine will, how can we be held responsible? We just can’t accept such a God! There must be some freedom of choice!” But the point is that kind of protest is precisely the proof of the pudding. It is evidence of theologians of glory at work defending themselves to the end. They actually admit that they cannot and will not “will” God to be God. Theologians of the cross who “see what a thing is” perceive what is going on here. They see finally that the will is bound to itself and cannot will God. This is just an honest observation of the truth of the matter, seeing the way things are. The will cannot move. It must say no to God, it wills to do so, and so will do it. If there is to be salvation, it cannot come by the will’s own movement. That means there must be a death and a resurrection. The cross stands behind the question of the will. The cross itself is the evidence that we did not choose him but that he, nevertheless, chose us (John 15:16).
