Is Free Will A Gift From God To All People?

CAN WE FIND GOD'S GIFT OF "FREE WILL" IN THE BIBLE? 

That is a major point of contention between brethren in the Calvinist theology and we who differ with those brethren on theology.  I recall a Home Bible Study about 15 years ago in our Corona International Christian Fellowship (CICF). 

One of the teenage girls in our fellowship invited her high school classmate to our Bible study.  And I was very impressed by the classmate's father, for not knowing us nor what our fellowship teaches, he came with this daughter to our Bible study.  That is the kind of parental stewardship which warms my heart.

At one point in our study, we began to discuss salvation and the meaning behind these Scripture verses:

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Ephesians 1:13, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

The father spoke up and told us that John 3:16 does not mean that God was offering salvation and eternal life to all people, i.e., the world - but only to the Pre-Creation Elect.  For a few minutes Pastor Ed Dacio and I shared with him that the word "world" means just that, all people in the world - and that the word "whoever" means anyone who will.  Therefore we have to interpret this verse as telling us that God loved the whole world - and that whoever, among the people of that world, will believe and receive His Son WILL HAVE eternal life.  Personally I can see no other meaning for that verse.

But the father persisted that God was only referencing those He had chosen to be His Elect before the Creation.  So that our Bible study would not be totally sidetracked, I asked him, "Do you believe that God gave man, all mankind, the Gift of Free Will?"  He adamantly replied, "No, I do not believe that."  At that point, I suggested we leave the fuller discussion of that point until a later time, and continue with the study of our Scripture passage chosen for that evening.

As I said, I highly respected that man for being there so that he would know what his daughter was hearing that evening in our study.  And I believe with all my heart that he was being the steward of his child that God intends for all of us.  Will a belief in the Calvinist doctrine of Predestination affect his or his daughter's eternal salvation?  No, not in any way.   Although I would ask him, if we could meet in a later discussion, "If only those Elected before the Creation will be saved, and there is nothing man to do to seek eternal life in Christ - then how do you know that you and your daughter have eternal life?"

I have asked that question of many Calvinist brethren, lay people and clergy, and no one has ever been able to tell me how he (she) can know he HAS eternal life - if it was done before the Creation.  Think about it.  If only Pre-Creation Elect will be saved, there is only one way for anyone to know:  A direct revelation spoken from God to that person.  And while I do believe that God has spoken to individuals - and at times still does - I have never yet met anyone who will tell me that God spoke to him, telling him that he was chosen before the Creation to be among the Pre-Creation Elect.

And I believe that is the heart of my earlier blog:  Free Will or No Free Will - as defined in the Bible.  So let's explore the Bible to see if we can find God's gift of Free Will to mankind:

We will start in Genesis.  God created Adam and Eve in His own image, i.e., He created them to be triune beings:  body, soul, spirit - just as He is Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  They were not created as deity, for only God, the Trinity, is deity.   God gave them great intelligence, obvious in that Adam named all the animals.  And God obviously gave them the gift of Free Will - for when tempted, they did choose to disobey God. 

The result of their disobedience was (1) spiritual death, i.e, their spiritual link with God was broken, (2) the process of physical death was begun, (3) they were evicted from the perfect Garden of Eden and made to suffer hardships which they did not have before the disobedience, and (4) their descendants, starting with Cain and Abel, were born with the curse of an innate sin nature.   That curse has carried down to all mankind.

Man cannot change the physical death, nor the innate sin nature - but man can restore his spiritual connection with God.  Yet, the only way that man can restore his spiritual connection with God is by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ.  And that is done through the gift of Free Will which God gave to Adam and Eve - and which has been our perpetual gift and blessing since Adam.  You will see nothing in the Bible that tells us Adam lost the gift of Free Will. 

How about Abraham and Noah?  Did they have Free Will?  I would say they did, for several reasons:

Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham obeyed.  .   ."   Abraham left his homeland and wandered into unknown countries - only in faith that God had something better for him.

Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah.  .  .  prepared an ark.  .  . according to faith."  To survive the flood, despite the fact that there had never been a flood nor rain before, Noah trusted God, by faith, to provide the water for the flood.

Could Abraham and Noah have refused to obey God's calling?  Since they both acted "by faith" I have to say, "Yes, they could have chosen to not obey."

And the greatest leap of faith in the Old Testament was in Hebrews 11:17, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.  .  ."   Abraham and Sarah had believed God would provide a son, even though Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 years old when they finally had Isaac.  Then God told Abraham to build an altar and sacrifice his only son, Isaac. 

Genesis 22:1-2 (nkjv), "Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!'  And he said, 'Here I am.'  Then He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.'"

Could Abraham have refused to follow God's instructions?  YES, for in Genesis 22:1 we read, "God tested Abraham."  If Abraham did not have the gift of Free Will to refuse - then this would not have been a test of his obedience. 

During the Exodus, through Moses God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and the Law.  We all know the Ten Commandments, but do you know the reason for, and the extent of, the Law?  The Ten Commandments is like our Constitution, giving a broad outline of the Founder/founders' intent. 

The Ten Commandments give us the big picture guiding God's people.  The Constitution gives us the big picture governing America.  Then we have thousands of statutes and laws further expanding upon our legal rights and obligations, derived from our Constitution.  In the Law, God gave the Israelites over 600 detailed laws and statutes to further explain His intent in the Ten Commandments.

In Exodus we see the Ten Commandments.  In Deuteronomy we find the over 600 statutes making up the Law.

In Deuteronomy 30:19 God tells Israel, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;"  God is giving the Israelites a choice:  Follow My Laws and live.  Disobey my Laws and die.  That clearly shows that God gave the Israelites the gift of Free Will.
 
In Ezekiel 18 the prophet Ezekiel is explaining the justice of a righteous God.  In chapter 18:21-22 we read, "But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. . .  (22) None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live."   Ezekiel is surely telling the people of Israel that God gives them a choice:  Follow His laws and statutes and live.  Disobey His laws and statutes and die.  That clearly shows that God gave the Israelites the gift of Free Will.

Ezekiel 18:5, 9, 21 (esv), "If a man is righteous and does what is just and right - walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully - he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD.  But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die."   God gave the Israelites the gift of Free Will.

Now Let's Look In The New Testament:

John 3:14, 12:32, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, .  .  . And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL peoples to Myself."  Not just the pre-Creation Elect, but all peoples.

1 Timothy 2:3-4, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."   God desires that ALL men be saved, but He does not force them - for we know from Matthew 7:13-14 that many will choose to disobey God.

Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."   Obviously describing a Free Will choice.

Matthew 13:49, "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just."

Matthew 25:31-33, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  (32)  ALL the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  (33) And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."

Notice that Christ separates the wicked from the just in Matthew 13:49 - and the sheep (believers) from the goats (non-believers) in Matthew 25:31-33.  There is no mention anywhere in the Bible of separating the Elect from the Reprobate.

Based upon the Scriptures shared above, I can find no Scriptural support which would cause me to believe in the Calvinist Predestination teaching, that before the Creation God Elected some to eternal life and many others, the Reprobates, to eternal condemnation - nor can I accept the Arminian Conditional Salvation, i.e., that a believer indwelled by the Holy Spirit can lose salvation.  Therefore I have to stand with an Exegetical reading FROM the Bible, etc, an Exegetical Biblicist theology.

I pray that this blog has been a fruitful read for you, as it has been extremely fruitful to my knowledge of God's Word in writing it.  I realize that it is a rather long read - but prayerfully some will have the desire and time to read through it  - and just as prayerfully that others will find a few Golden Nuggets which will enhance your understanding of God's Word.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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