Austin Bible Church
Volition is free will or self-determination. Volition is the right to decide to be either dependent upon God or to act independently of Him. Each member of the human race has the personal authority to make their own decisions and to be responsible for those decisions. This authority of your volition should give you confidence in your own decisions.
For example, Adam and Eve in the Garden made a decision to be married. In Genesis 2-3, the animals were named by Adam and choices were made in the Garden as to the forbidden fruit. They both decided based on their own free will to disobey God's singular mandate to not eat the fruit on a single tree in the Garden. This single command from God was the very first time in human history that volition became an issue. Gen. 2:16-17.
“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."” (Genesis 2:16-17, NASB)
Under maximum freedom under innocence in the Garden, there was but one law - “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” Under maximum freedom, there are laws to be respected. The Ten Commandments were given from God to the Israelites as a Magna Carta of human freedom. Exodus 20:2-3.
“"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:2-3, NASB)
The soul is made up of self-consciousness, mentality, emotion, and volition as the authority of the soul. Our soul’s authority is called volition or free will or self-determination. Your decisions and choices determine the life that you will lead. Volition provides each of us the authority to obey or disobey when given a choice. With your personal choices comes responsibility for the consequences for those decisions, intended or unintended. Your volition is your authority to make good decisions from a position of strength or bad decisions from a position of weakness.
The most critical choices in life are whether to accept or reject the existence of God (God-consciousness) and then to either accept or reject the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for the sins of mankind. Following those positive volition decisions, the believer’s decisions determine the level of spiritual growth that they will attain in this life. For the ones who reject the existence of God and then reject the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, their eternal path remains unchanged – the Lake of Fire. John 3:36.
“"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."” (John 3:36, NASB)
Human freedom cannot exist without privacy and authority. We must have freedom and privacy for the proper function our free will. This is why the laws of divine establishment are so important. However, it is still possible to exercise spiritual freedom while under a loss of human freedom such as living under slavery. For example, in the Roman Empire, slaves were generally free to come and go and could still be evangelized and grow spiritually. See category on Divine Institutions. See category on the Laws of Divine Establishment.