“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” ~ John 8:36
“All that the Scripture knows about free-will is, that in the state of nature, antecedent unto the converting, sanctifying work of the Spirit, all men whatever are in bondage unto sin, and that in all the faculties of their souls.
They are ‘sold under sin;’ are ‘not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed can be;’ – can neither think, nor will, nor do, nor desire, nor love any thing that is spiritually good, according to the mind of God.
But as unto what is evil, perverse, unclean, that they are free and open unto – ready for, prone, and inclined, and in every way able to do.
On the other side, in those who are renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified, it acknowledgeth and teacheth a freedom of will, not in and indifferency and flexibility unto good and evil, but in a power and ability to like, love, choose, and cleave unto God and his will in all things.
The will is now free from its bondage unto sin, being enlarged by light and love, willeth and chooseth freely the things of God, having received spiritual power and ability to do so.
It is the truth, -that is, faith in the gospel, the doctrine of truth, - which is the means of this freedom; the truth that makes us free.
And it is the Son of God by his Spirit who is the principal efficient cause of it; for “if the Son makes us free, then we are free indeed,” and otherwise we are not, whatever we pretend.” ~ John Owen
