Regeneration and the Freedom of the Human Will
So what does all this mean for the doctrine of the human will? Do people have free will or do they not? The testimony of Scripture is this: people have the freedom to do as they please, and God exercises absolute sovereign control of every human thought and act. Prior to regeneration, people have the ability to do as they please, and all that they can please to do is sin.
Prior to regeneration, they can do nothing truly righteous and free from the stain of sin. It is not possible for the unregenerate person to do anything meritorious, anything perfectly righteous. After regeneration, the will is changed, so that it is now capable of doing things that are truly good, truly God-glorifying.
But even after regeneration, the human will is not “free” in the sense that it is now free from the sovereign hand of God. The will is never free in that sense. God is always sovereign over everything, including human decisions.