common questions (part two).
Read Part One & my disclaimers about this series here.
One more disclaimer: I am neither a pastor nor a teacher. I’m basically a nobody from nowhere just sharing what the Lord is teaching me. Please don’t take my word for anything, but test everything against the Word of God.
[Using ESV translation of Scripture]
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Does God give people free will or is it predestined that someone goes to heaven/hell?
Let me start by saying that I think there are sound Biblical teachings and Scriptural evidences behind both of these theological viewpoints. Theologians (much smarter people than me) have argued about this topic for centuries, and I don’t expect to solve this ever-elusive conundrum in a blog post (or ever, for that matter). Honestly, my head spins in circles when I think about this subject matter for too long (praise God He’s got it all figured out, and I don’t actually have to solve anything). But there seemed to be a good bit of interest in engaging the predestination vs. free will discussion, so I’ll attempt to cover as much ground as I can in this limited capacity. I also think it’s always worthwhile to look into Scripture, so even if we fall into different camps here—we can still open our Bibles together and marvel at the Lord’s goodness!
When it comes down to it, I am neither fully Arminian (typically supporters of free will for everyone) nor Calvinist (typically supporters of predestination of the elect). I find myself taking up residence somewhere in No Man’s Land, and I think that’s okay as long as I am looking to Scripture to shape my worldview. I do believe in free will, and I will give you some passages that shape my theology here in a second. But I just want to make it clear that I don’t think you have to exclusively believe one or the other in order to follow Jesus. This is not the hill I want to die on, friends…so I will try my best to be brief. (Laughing out loud at this. “Brief” is a relative term, right?)
At the end of the day, if God does indeed give us all free will, then praise the Lord! He is good and sovereign. If it turns out that He predestines an elect group, then praise the Lord! He is good and sovereign. God does not change based on our opinion of Him, and He is always worthy of devotion.
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To hit the highlights, here’s how I think about free will and predestination: God’s sovereign will gave us free will for His utmost glory. We can break that down a bit further to say that—yes, God is always in control and there’s absolutely nothing we can do to earn salvation, but He gives us a choice to surrender to Him through Jesus Christ as our intercessor (and the Holy Spirit as our guide) or reject His Lordship and succumb to the darkness rather than the light… because He is most after His own glory (which is also for our good). God alone does the saving but humanity’s sinfulness does the rejecting. This is all determined ahead of time because God is above time (He does not experience time like we do), and He knows every action, thought, and desire of our hearts. God knows ahead of time whether or not we will ultimately trust and obey Him. The Jews are God’s chosen people and Israel is God’s chosen nation, but when Jesus came to earth, He broke down the barriers between Jews and Gentiles; anyone can have a relationship with Him. And God always knew that Christ would be the redemption for our sins—that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Does that sound confusing enough yet? Like I mentioned, I don’t expect to ever fully understand the reconciliation of both free will and predestination, but Scripture supports both of these concepts, so I believe both are true in certain respects.
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Okay, let’s dig into some passages for further study.
First, let’s look at a well-known story from the New Testament, which is often referred to as “Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler.”
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Mark 10:17-22).
When asked how to inherit a spot in heaven, Jesus answers with the commandments. Obedience to the commandments is a sign of a heart following the Lord. But it is not all; I think a heart of surrender is the key idea here. In this passage, Jesus looks straight into the man’s heart and sees his love of wealth. Jesus knows that the rich man has not fully surrendered his possessions to God, so He instructs him to give up his belongings and follow Him. The kid has followed all the rules and done the good deeds, but he didn’t want to give up his stuff. In other words, he was rejecting the salvific pathway of laying down your life to find it. I think he had a choice in doing so.
Gosh, I don’t want us to miss the beauty in verse 21 though (right before Jesus digs deep into his soul): “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him...” What a God we serve. I love that Mark includes this in his book. This tidbit of information hits home, am I right? He knows each of us intimately, and HE STILL LOVES US.
Here’s the way I see it—Jesus died on the cross for every single one of us. He does not desire “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And while the Lord knows who will ultimately come to salvation, we all have an opportunity to have a relationship with Him because of Jesus as out intercessor and the Holy Spirit as our guide. And although there is nothing we can do to earn salvation, I think we can refuse the call; we can unrepentantly reject the Holy Spirit’s pull on our lives (if the Holy Spirit is not yet dwelling in us). Through our unrighteousness we can “suppress the truth” and receive the wrath of God (Romans 1:18). I see this reflected in the discussion of the one unforgivable sin in Scripture:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come (Matthew 12:31-32).
We cannot unrepentantly reject the Holy Spirit and enter the kingdom of heaven. Saying it another way, no true follower of God blasphemes the Spirit. Personally, I think anyone and everyone has the opportunity to accept Christ as Savior and receive the Holy Spirit. Once we do so, there will be evidence of sanctification (God setting us apart & making us look more like Him). But this does not mean everyone will surrender to this narrow path.
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Let me paint an imperfect illustration for ya. Say I know for 100% certainty that my daughter is going to make a really bad decision (clearly hypothetical scenario). I am still going to fight for her to make the right decision the whole way. This not-giving-up mentality can look different for the circumstances and kid. Sometimes it might mean allowing her to experience the consequences of her sinfulness. Sometimes it might mean discipline in response to disobedience. But as her parent, I am still going to present the better option even though I know she’s going to make the bad decision. Now multiply this imperfect mama’s love and commitment times infinity, and I think that might scratch the surface of God’s loving faithfulness toward us. Even though He knows that some of us will refuse the call to salvation, He continually offers us a better way. The only way worth walking.
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Last point before I switch gears to dive further into predestination. My dad brought up this idea the other day when we were talking about this age-old debate, which goes something like this: God would not ask us to lie. We are to share the good news of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. But wouldn’t we be lying to others while evangelizing (saying “Jesus died for your sins”) if they are not part of the “elect” and they reject the true Gospel? I’m sure we could dig further into this, but I’ll leave room for further reflection up to you guys.
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Alright, let’s examine the flip side. Unarguably, the Bible talks about predestination. So what’s that all about if you believe in free will?
(Okay, I know what some of you are thinking, “She said she was going to be brief.” This is my brief version, y’all.) There are lots of other passages I’d love to look at, but I’m just going to dive into one more to address predestination a bit.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:3-10).
On first glance at this passage, we are all probably thinking, “Well, so much for free will.” But let’s dig a bit deeper. Verse 4 says, “…even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…”
He chose us (I believe He chose all of us and many reject this choosing), but this passage is highlighting salvation through Jesus Christ. “In Him” are keywords that we can’t skip over. He always knew that those He saved would be saved through the sacrifice of Christ. I think it’s important to keep that lens when looking at this passage. He predestined our adoption THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. He set this redemptive act in motion “as a plan for the fullness of time” (verse 10). This redemption through Christ is what has been predestined, not necessarily everyone’s fates (although He knows our fates, so it is already determined in that sense—this is where my head starts spinning in circles again…)
The text continues to refer to predestination and says,
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will… (Ephesians 1:11).
Here are those words again, “In Him…” We cannot miss the beauty of the Gospel while looking for the theology here. God knew all along that He would redeem His people through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Wow, wow, wow. He has always been—and always will be—a good, merciful, and loving Father. His grace is sufficient when we fall short.
Okay, now what is it talking about being predestined in this verse? Our inheritance. God knew that Jesus would provide the way for people to experience eternal life with Him. He works all things according to the counsel of His will, despite people’s rejection of the Gospel (I believe free will is involved in His will). This passage goes on to discuss how the indwelling of the Holy Spirit serves as the guarantee of this predestined inheritance. Once we come to faith in Him, He will never leave us. Again, just wow.
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Now, if you are scratching your head and thinking, “If God wants us all to come to salvation and obviously that’s the best outcome we could have, then why doesn’t He just make us obedient and repentant to Him?” Good question, good question.
In God’s design, we should be perfectly obedient to Him. But there’s this thing called sin. I’m guessing you’ve heard of it. You’ve definitely experienced it. We’re all pretty rotten, down to our very core. And just because things in the Garden of Eden went so very wrong—this doesn’t mean God isn’t still in control. Without getting too sidetracked into Satan’s initial rebellion against God and his dominion over the earth, I’ll just say that the enemy is prowling around trying to thwart God’s plan and destroy His Church. (He hasn’t and he won’t, but the devil can and does lead people astray). This all sounds like free will is involved (from my limited point of view). Also, the Lord softens and hardens people’s hearts for His plan and for His glory (see Exodus 7 for an example of this). After all, God is most after His glory (which is also what’s best for us).
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For me, I see God’s love and glory through the gift of free will. I might sound like a broken record here, but I believe He ultimately lets us choose Him (He already chose us). This is not a form of earning salvation, but a kind of anti-action, a surrendering to Him as Savior. On the flip side, I believe He allows people to reject Him as Savior. And when one unrepentantly rejects the call of Christ, God gives them what they want most, which looks something like this:
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator... (Romans 1:24-25).
Yikes, that’s not a spot you want to find yourself in. If God gives you the truest desire of your heart and your desire is not for Him, then you will pay the consequences for your misplaced devotion.
I’m realizing that I’ve written far too many words on this subject already, so I promise I’m going to wrap this up.
Here’s a little recap/summary:
God alone does the saving (say it with me: we cannot earn our way into heaven!), but humans have personal responsibility. Are we going to surrender to Him, to lay all of our stuff and very lives down at His feet like Jesus commanded the rich young ruler to do? Those who refuse to acknowledge and obey Jesus Christ as Lord will be held accountable (see previous post for more on this). But praise God that He has offered us redemption through the blood of His Son. He offers us mercy (sparing punishment for what we deserve) and grace (rewards that we do not deserve) which reveals His glory and His overwhelming, can’t-comprehend-it love for us through the death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ.
And if that’s not the definition of good news, I don’t know what is.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed digging into Scripture + theology with me. Again, you can totally disagree with my stance on free will and it’s okay (as long as you’re okay with me making jokes about how you were always predestined to disagree ;)
[If you want an alternate, Biblical-based breakdown of predestination/election from a Calvinist point of view, here is a podcast episode that does just that.]
I will pick up this series after the new year and possibly bounce around with other topical posts as well, but feel free to keep sending topics/questions you’d like to discuss!
Merriest Christmas to y’all.
Come, thou long expected Jesus
Born to set thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in thee.