Do Protestants accept the doctrine of free-will?
Upvote:0
The biggest problem is that there seems to be confusion regarding the identity of a Christian.
A Christian is a disciple of Christ, having faith in and obeying Christ.
To not have faith and not obey Christ is to not be a disciple of Christ.
By definition having faith and obeying the Lord are characteristics of the disciple.
Therefore one has freewill to be a disciple or not be a disciple by the way one chooses to live out ones life.
Upvote:2
I don't understand the problem here.
(Disclaimer: The following is spoken from a Protestant perspective.)
We are Justified through faith alone, and faith is the free gift of God. Good works are not necessary for faith, but they are the fruit of faith.
We also have free will, which means we can choose whether or not to do good works. (Note that an "evil" person — meaning, a person without faith — might still choose to do good works for various reasons.) So, we could choose to not do good works... but if we have faith, why would we make that choice?
What James 2:20 is saying is that faith without good works is (at best) suspect. I'm not being "forced" to do good works, but through faith, I want to do good works.
Perhaps what you're really asking is if a person can reject faith/grace? If so, then I would say the answer is "yes". The doctrines of Faith Alone and Grace Alone are not, at least so far as I know (YMMV depending on just what denomination you ask) do not mean that faith and grace are "forced" on us.
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