“
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. —Deuteronomy 30:15
Free will is defined as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. Some people believe in God, and some don’t. If people don’t believe in God, then why would they worry about free will? So, let’s say that God is real, and let’s begin in the Bible with the apostle Paul speaking in the context of Apollos visiting Corinth:
I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but he was not at all willing to come right now, but he will come when he has the opportunity. (1 Corinthians 16)
It says that Apollos was not at all willing to go to Corinth. So, right from the start, it seems we have the free will to make our own choices. But let’s go deeper. Ten lepers approached Jesus Christ and begged for mercy. Jesus told them to show themselves to the priests. As they went, they found themselves healed, but only one went back to Jesus to give thanks:
17 Jesus answered, “Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17–18)
This scripture might tell us that one in ten people are the elect of God because they choose to worship him, as it says in Nehemiah,
Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns. (Nehemiah 11:1)
If Jesus had to ask where the other nine lepers were, doesn’t this tell us they had the free will to go back and give thanks or to go their own way as they did? Yes, it does.
The people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 11:2)
If the gospel is preached to ten people, does this mean that only one is going to hear the word? Six would immediately walk out the door before we started talking. Four would stay and listen. These four are summed up in the Sower parable, as we read in Luke 8:5–8. In the explanation of the parable, the first person hears the word, but the devil removes the word from his heart so that he may not believe and be saved, and he returns to life in the world. The second person hears the word with joy but believes only for a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, the person falls away. The third we would think could make it, but after some time, anxieties, riches, and pleasures of life draws the person back. We’re left with our ten percent. This is the one who hears the word, understands the word, and bears good fruit, producing a crop. Ten percent of people, those in Christ, are the elect who will be gathered to Jesus on the day of the Lord. But some people are directly called by God, and the apostle Peter tells us to be diligent in making our calling and election sure (see 2 Peter 1:10). Here’s Jesus:
13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. 14 How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it. (Matthew 7:13–14)
The road that leads to destruction is broad. The way to life is narrow. Let’s keep in mind the following scriptures to help keep us on the narrow road to life:
25 Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. 26 Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27)
But why are so many people on the broad road to destruction? They’re perishing because they prefer darkness to light:
And this is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)
The following scriptures speak for themselves:
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. (John 12:47)
Jesus Christ did not come to condemn. People will condemn themselves by rejecting Jesus and not accepting his words:
There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (John 12:48)
The people who condemn themselves are those who remain in disobedience and unbelief. Let’s listen to the apostle Paul:
3 Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, 4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. (2 Corinthians 4:3–4)
When the apostle Paul says “the god of this world,” he’s talking about Satan. The god of this world blinds many until it’s too late. God knows people so well that he knows who will be saved and who won’t.
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. (John 2:25)
Abraham speaks to the rich man suffering torment in flames:
Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’ (Luke 16:26)
The “gulf” might tell us that when people die, they’re going to find out the truth, but it’s going to be too late, as it says in 1 Kings:
Micaiah replied, “You will soon see, on that day when you go and hide in an inner room.” (1 Kings 22:25)
When the end begins and people go to hide, it’s going to be too late. The life we’re living now is the time to be saved. Satan pulls the veil down over people’s eyes so they may not believe the truth and remain in disobedience. The apostle Peter says this is their destiny:
and “A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.” They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. (1 Peter 2:8)
Why is it their destiny? It’s their destiny because they disobey the word. But why do they disobey the word in the first place? They disobey because they’re without faith (see verse 7).
18 And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter. (Hebrews 3:18–19)
So, disobedience is unbelief. In Revelation 3, God knocks on the door to the church in Laodicea:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in and will dine with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
In Luke, Jesus even tells us to knock on the door:
9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9–10)
This sounds like a two-way street. Most people won’t open the door, let alone knock, but they could. In the following scripture, the blind man knocks on the door, and Jesus answers:
51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.” Jesus said to him, 52 “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way. (Mark 10:51–52)
What did Jesus tell the blind man? He said, “Go your way.” What did the blind man choose to do? He chose to follow him “on the way.” Jesus tells the demoniac from Gerasene something different:
18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the demons begged to go with Him. 19 But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.” 20 So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed. (Mark 5:18–20)
The man begged Jesus to go with him. What did Jesus tell him? He told him to go home. He didn’t literally follow Jesus like the blind man, although he wanted to. He did as Jesus told him and proclaimed what God had done for him. Wasn’t this man an example of God’s mercy? Human beings have free will. Christians have free will. Why would anyone choose sin? Sin leads to death.
Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God. (1 Peter 2:16)
God knows who will make it, but we don’t. This is why we have to proclaim the good news, strengthen each other, watch each other’s back, and wash each other’s feet.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
The law of Christ is love, and love fulfills the law. Let’s continue with free will:
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. 13 For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:12–13)
However, most people won’t call on the name of the Lord. Let’s look at this scripture:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. (John 6:44)
If we have faith in Jesus Christ, we’ll be resurrected to everlasting life. Hearing and believing the gospel is how we’re drawn by God, as we see in John 6:45. Let’s go to Romans 9:
So, it depends not upon a person’s will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy. (Romans 9:16)
Unbelievers can’t go to Jesus even if they tried. Why not? Because they don’t believe. People can only come to believe by the grace of God, as we read in Acts 18:27. Why doesn’t God give all people faith? Because even with faith, most people would still choose the world. God knows this. It’s better for those people to not know the way of righteousness than to know it and turn back to their former ways, as we can see in 2 Peter 2:21.
Let’s read these scriptures:
64 But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him. 65 He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.” (John 6:64–65)
Is this God’s choice that an unbeliever can’t go to Jesus? No, it’s not. Does God make them unbelievers? No, he doesn’t. God only grants those who believe to come to Jesus. How can someone who doesn’t believe go to Jesus? They can’t because they don’t believe. If they believed, they would have faith, and faith is from God. The previous scriptures say that Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe. Did Jesus make them unbelievers? No, he didn’t. The god of this world did. Here’s the plan—Jesus is sending Paul to the Gentiles:
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:18)
This scripture is the definition of repentance. The proclamation of eternal salvation continues and will continue (see Revelation 14:6–7). Ultimately, it’s God’s decision to whom he will show mercy, to whom he will take pity, to whom he will harden, and to whom he will raise up (see Romans 9:18). By harden, I don’t mean to say that God hardens the heart. The deceitfulness of sin hardens the heart:
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13)
God simply hands people over to the desires of their hearts. If people choose to believe a lie or live a lie, that’s their choice. God will eventually give people what they want (see 2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 and Romans 1:24–25).
In the book of Exodus, we read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh wanted to keep the Israelites in slavery out of the hardness of his heart, so God simply gave him what he wanted. The story is told to us in this way because to say anything otherwise would be to insinuate that Pharaoh had any power at all. This wasn’t some man versus God, it was just God, and he has all the power. Pharaoh hardened his own heart, as we read in 1 Samuel:
Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people on their way as they departed? (1 Samuel 6:6)
God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house. The potter was at work at the wheel:
Whenever the vessel of clay he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making another vessel of whatever sort he pleased. (Jeremiah 18:4)
This scripture doesn’t say God made the vessel to be bad. The vessel of clay turns out badly in his hand.
Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? (Romans 9:21)
So, if the vessel goes badly in his hand, it’s a vessel for dishonor. God endures with much patience the vessels of wrath because of compassion and mercy. There are vessels for noble purposes and ignoble purposes:
19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands, bearing this inscription, “The Lord knows those who are his”; and, “Let everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord avoid evil.” 20 In a large household there are vessels not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for lofty and others for humble use. 21 If anyone cleanses himself of these things, he will be a vessel for lofty use, dedicated, beneficial to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:19–21)
Can’t the vessels for humble use become vessels for lofty use if they cleanse themselves of evil from verse 19? Can’t wood and clay vessels become gold and silver vessels? Yes, they can. Paul goes on to tell us to flee from youthful passions. We should make every effort to be vessels of gold.
God doesn’t predestine anyone for eternal destruction, and we can use Ezekiel 13:19 as an example:
You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived. (Ezekiel 13:19)
The following scripture says that those who “were appointed to eternal life believed.” They were appointed to eternal life because God knew they were going to believe before time existed. Let’s go to Acts:
As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)
The Gentiles who accepted the word with joy and believed were grafted into the olive tree, and the Jews who didn’t believe can be grafted back in by God if they don’t remain in unbelief (see Romans 11:17-23). But what about those who have never heard of Jesus Christ?
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? 15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:14–15)
So who’s right, those who believe in free will or those who believe in predestination? Are we destined because God knows what we’ll choose? How can we even begin to understand the mind of God?
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
The apostle Paul was called according to God’s purpose:
But when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased (Galatians 1:15)
Doesn’t “from my mother’s womb” mean that Paul was predestined? Yes, it does.
And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
Some are called according to God’s will, and some aren’t. Some names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, and some weren’t. There are those who are conscious of God and those who aren’t, and those who aren’t vastly outnumber those who are. They are blinded by the god of this world. Some who are conscious of God simply choose to go their own way. Some who aren’t conscious of God will be saved in the last days. God knows the end from the beginning, and he knows the choices people will make. We do have free will. Here’s the apostle Paul again:
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose. (Philippians 1:21-22)
Isn’t choosing between life and death the ultimate in free will?
Some are predestined like Paul, but they still have free will within that predestination.
God is perfect and has perfectly given us free will. He sets before us good and evil, life and death. In these last days, let’s choose good and life. Let’s receive God’s promise of eternal life by freely accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Let’s turn from evil and do good in a rapidly dying world.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
Futile World 