What Is Free Will?
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Does predestination override our free will? Today, R.C. Sproul clarifies the relationship between God's sovereignty and human choices.
Get the new 40th-anniversary edition of R.C. Sproul's book Chosen by God, plus his video teaching series on DVD, when you donate today. You'll also get digital access to all 6 messages and the study guide: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/
Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Request the Chosen by God digital teaching series and study guide with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global
Meet Today's Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Calvin says that if we mean by free will that fallen man has the ability to choose what he wants, |
| 0:10.9 | then of course fallen man has free will. |
| 0:15.6 | If we mean by that term that man in his fallen state has the moral power and ability to choose |
| 0:25.6 | righteousness. Then, said Calvin, free will is far too grandiose a term to apply to fallen man. |
| 0:46.3 | For some Christians, it seems that they believe that there is only one thing more powerful than our sovereign God, free will, believing that free will is the ultimate reason why |
| 0:52.3 | some people repent and believe the good news of the gospel |
| 0:56.0 | and others don't. But is that true? And at the end of the day, what do we mean when we speak of |
| 1:02.0 | free will? Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham and welcome to renewing your mind. What I articulated earlier |
| 1:10.0 | was once my view of free will, and when men like |
| 1:13.2 | R.C. Sprole helped me to understand the sovereignty of God and introduced me to reform theology, |
| 1:19.6 | I still struggled and had questions surrounding free will. And it was Dr. Sprole's teaching |
| 1:25.6 | on our will in chosen by God that brought clarity and |
| 1:30.2 | help me to understand what the Bible teaches. |
| 1:32.7 | So if you have questions, be sure to stay with us today and also request the complete |
| 1:37.8 | series and the special 40th anniversary edition of the book when you give a donation at |
| 1:43.6 | renewingyourmind.org. Well, here's Dr. |
| 1:47.1 | Sprawl on free will. I want to direct our attention to an examination of what we mean by |
| 1:57.6 | those words, free will. What does it mean to have a free will? What does it mean to be a free moral |
| 2:05.3 | agent, a volitional preacher under the sovereignty of God? First of all, let me say that there are |
| 2:11.5 | different views of what free will comprises that are bandied about in our culture, and I think it's important |
| 2:21.3 | that we recognize these various views. The first view I'm going to call the humanist view of free will, |
| 2:28.8 | which I would say is the most widely prevalent view of human freedom that we find in our culture. |
... |
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