"Free Will vs. Predestination"
Anonymous asked:
What can you say to people who believe in freewill,
please be very specific. I have talked to people in the past and they say that
there is scripture that supports both freewill and predestination, I have also
shown scripture that literally states that God chooses us, what verses do they
have to support freewill?
Also, my teacher has said that everybody is
predestined by God and that Jesus died for everybody, but it is our
responsibility to accept him into our hearts. What can I say to them?
Thanks for the great questions.
We have a number of things that are getting confused here, so I'll try to define some terms and positions on the issues first.
The disagreement between Reformed (Calvinist) and non-Reformed (Arminian or non-Calvinist) is not whether man has free will. We all agree that man has free will. The disagreement comes when we discuss the
ability of man to choose God, and the ultimate authority in the salvation of man. Is man's free will the ultimate authority? Do we have a God who wants to save but is unable? Is the will of God thwarted at every turn by the almighty free will of man? I guess you can see which side of this issue I come down on.
Free Will--I am free to fly like a bird. Unfortunately, I am
unable to do so. I do not have the capacity. Similarly, a person who is dead in sin does not have the capacity (nor the desire) to "choose Christ."
ESV Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Would you consider the ability to exercise saving faith a good thing?
ESV Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Did you notice the use of the word
ability? Speaking of ability... notice how this verses addresses it:
ESV John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
We've so often heard the term
draws described as a wooing or attracting. It's simply not the case. This Greek word
helko means
to drag or haul. The other four places it appears in the NT are pretty telling:
ESV John 18:10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)
ESV Acts 21:30 Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
ESV John 21:6 He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.
ESV James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
Salvation is a work of God and God alone.
Verses to support free will? By far the most popular is:
ESV Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
The important things to note about this Scripture is that it comes in the middle of the strongest denunciation of the Jewish religious leaders to be found in Scripture. The term
Jerusalem here is a reference to those leaders (rather than individual Jews), it was those leaders who killed the prophets, etc., and it is those leaders who are resisting. Also notice it is the
children of Jerusalem that God is gathering. (Yes, people resist God all the time... another misunderstanding of Reformed theology).
Free Will and Irresistible Grace
God's electing grace is irresistible the way the first breath of life is irresistible. The claim that God would never violate someones free will is pure human tradition. While those who disagree make this out to be a violation of free will, it is actually a changing of the will. Think carefully about this point because it is important. Does God drag people kicking and screaming into His kingdom against their will? If you understand the distinction I just made, you will say "no, He graciously changes their will." Let's face it, this is not a bad thing. Only a deeply rooted commitment to free-will-ism would see this as a bad thing. God is giving spiritual life to the spiritually dead! God is sovereign over the will of man.
How many times did God harden Pharaoh's heart? [Exodus ch7 to ch11 repeatedly]
What happened to Lydia here?
ESV Acts 16:14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
Finally on this topic... ask you friend if they pray for the salvation of people. If you believe in the supremecy man's free will, does it make sense to do so? Doesn't that equate to asking God to violate their free will?
Now--about your teacher.
I can only hope that you misunderstood your teacher's position. To claim that everybody is predestined or to claim that Jesus died for everyone is to take a universalist view (that everyone is saved). [1 Tim 2:4-6 and 2 Pet 3:9 always come up here. Joel Barnes does a great job of
summarizing the responses to these verses from James White's
The Potter's Freedom right
here--scroll to the bottom]
ESV Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
These are completed works. Jesus actually accomplished salvation for the elect on the cross. When he said "it is finished" he didn't mean "I've done all I can, now it's up to you."
On the last point I agree with your teacher. We do have a responsibility to respond to the gospel... to obey the command to all men everywhere to repent. This is another shocker to non-Calvinists because they think we don't believe in human responsibility. The Bible teaches
both the sovereignty of God
and the responsibility of man. This has some philosophical difficulties. Since it violates man's sense of fairness that God would require something of someone that he can't possibly do (alone)...we come to a three way fork in the road.
* We can decide that everybody must be able to respond since God commanded it--compromise God's sovereignty (Arminian)
* We can decide that man has no choice or responsibility in the matter--compromise the responsibility of man (Hyper-Calvinist)
* We can accept the Word of God for what it says and deal with the philosophical difficulty (see the
compatibilism link at monergism.com).
Another helpful note:
"whosoever verses" -- Amen! These speak to who will, not who can. Always just say amen and "all those things are true about those who will be saved, now let's talk about who they are... those drawn by the Father." (ability verse)
I need to get on to other things, but if you have follow up questions we'll keep the conversation going.
Labels: Free Will, Submitted Questions
