Are those who are saved by God still left with free will? Are we saved against our will? Is free will opposed to predestination? If we are predestined to be saved, how can free will still be relevant or exist? Since we are free, moral agents, how can we be predestined to be saved by God before the earth even existed? Can humans reject their call to salvation even if God has predestined them to be saved?
What is Predestination?
For the believer, predestination is such an incredible thing that it is hard to grasp our finite, human minds around. Predestination and Calvinism seem closely tied to each other. John Calvin was of the mind that God is sovereign over all that happens. God predetermines who He will call and brings it to pass since what God wills can not be changed by humans. The idea is that God, before the earth was created and any humans were ever born, preordained that some would be saved and some would be condemned to an eternal judgment. For those who are “lucky” enough to be called by God, God calls them effectually; that is He completes what He ordained by His sovereign direction of that believers life. They can not help but be saved since He effects what He wills. Predestination is a common thread thorough the Old and New Testament.
Scriptures About Predestination
Jeremiah states that God knew us even before we were born in chapter one, verse 4-5: “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Isaiah 43:7 also presents evidence that God knew us before hand and had plans for us, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Job 23:14 declares, “He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.”
I Corinthians 2:7 says “…we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”
Paul understood that he was called by God as evidenced in Galatians 1:15, “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased.”
There is no book in the Bible that contains more references of predestination than in the book of Ephesians and no chapter more so than chapter one:
Verses 4-11; “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
In Ephesians 1:5, where it says, “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…” the Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture.
God’s Predestining Your Life
How can freewill fit into the framework of God’s sovereignty and God’s predetermination to save us? Just look what God planned for you before the earth even existed:
- God had planned you even before you were born or before you were in our mother‘s womb (Jer. 1:4).
- He planned things for you in the future before the earth or time existed (I Cor. 2:7).
- He had made plans for your life to give you His grace before you were born (Gal 1:15).
- He chose you and called you to redemption to be saved and be made holy (Eph 1:4).
- He chose you before your birth to bless you and save you through Christ (Eph. 1:3-4).
- He planned your adoption prior to your birth (Eph. 1:5).
- And according to His good pleasure, revealed the secrets things of God to you (Eph.1:9).
Predestination vs. Freewill
If you have freewill, how can God be sovereign over your life? If God has planned your salvation and planned to save you, predetermined to call you, and chose you to before earth existed, how can you still have freewill?
I am a father and grandfather. When my wife and I counseled before marriage, we planned to have children. We predetermined to have a certain number of children. We planned before their birth to start college funds. We planned on living in a small town where we were raised. We chose before their birth particular toys that our girls and boys would like to play with. Knowing boys and girls preferences, we knew in advance what they would like to play with. Knowing this we predetermined to buy toys that girls and boys would want to play with; dolls, tea sets, toy trucks, and so on. Our children had freewill to choose which toys to play with and which to reject playing with. It was our good pleasure to do this. We did all of this before they were even conceived. This was all done well in advance but we knew what they would like for the most part.
Freewill and God’s sovereignty are not opposed to each other but run parallel with one other. Imagine that you are a slave on a ship. You are chained to the deck below. It is determined that you row for the captain of this ship. You have no choice but to be chained to this ship. This is like God’s sovereignty. But even here you have freewill. You are free to row or not to row. If you do not row you choose to receive beatings by the quartermaster, but if you row, you choose not to be beaten. You might even chose to break free of the ship by escaping your chains, but God’s sovereignty is not diminished.
God sovereignty does not diminish man’s freewill. God never twists anyone’s arm into heaven. God is all knowing of the past, present, and future. He alone knows what we will do. One example is that there are said to be over 600 prophecies in the Bible regarding Jesus Christ. God alone is able to know the future and the means to bring about what He desires to come to pass. God knew that I would be saved and come to a saving faith in Christ. The very fact that you are reading this may be an indication that He is or has called you for salvation. You have freewill to either reject Him or to accept this saving grace. Either way, He knew it, He planned it, He purposed it, He desired it, and He predestined the very thing that you are now reading. My prayer is that you could come today to the Savior and not reject the free give of His grace that is found only in Jesus Christ. You are free to choose it or you are free to reject it. The point is that the will of God will be done either way.
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Does God Still Work Miracles Today?
Do Animals or Pets Go To Heaven?
Sources
The Holy Bible, New International Version
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Good article. Just one edit as I was looking up the verses you reference: Jeremiah 1:4 should be Jeremiah 1:4-5. I appreciated the way you explain man’s will as free even in subjection to God’s sovereignty. I’m not sure it fully addresses the problem of how can God know the future and our will still be free, but it’s a good basic understanding. Martin Luther offers some more insight his book “Bondage of the Will.” God bless!
Damon, thank you my friend. You are spot on the mark. I apologize. Forgive my mistake. Thank you also for visiting the site. It is such a pleasure to have you here. Thank you. This is quite a conundrum for the finite mind indeed. I don’t think one small article will solve it all, you are right. I appreciate your keen eye too my friend.
I once told my congregation that part of my sermon today would be perfect. The part where I read out of the Bible. LOL
please answer if free will and predestination go parallel then what about John 15:16 which says that He chose us and we didn’t choose Him. And also 2 Tim 1:9 witch says He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. How can they run parallel it makes it really clear that they can’t run parallel. If you believe the Bible then you would believe John 15:16 that says WE DIDN’T CHOSE HIM. So we don’t have free will according to the Bible. I don’t know if any verses that say we have free will or we chose him. There are many verses that talk about Him choosing us, the Bible makes it very clear.
Hello Gabe, and thank you for your comment. I did not say anywhere in my article that we chose Him. Let me say that I am feeling that you have no free will and that no one alive or dead has or has ever had free will? I do not mean that free will that we have means that we are not chosen or that He does not save us…we have free will to be able to obey or disobey…we can be saved and still live in sin but God will discipline every child of His. God has elected us, predestined us, but we still have choices to make but this free will is not that we are free to choose or reject our election. The free will I speak of are non-salvation issues? Does this make sense? For example:
John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” I know Christians, even pastors, who battle pornography, some Christians who smoke pot, but they battle these addictions and have free will to either get help and quit or keep falling into these sins. If the are the elect of God, then God certainly called them and they are NOT free to not have come to faith in Christ. See what I mean?
John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Gen 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are FREE to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 “in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 “But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 “I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong [your] days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 “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.”
The church at Corinth that Paul wrote too were Christians yet they freely made some bad choices: Divisions in Corinth (1:10-4:21), Immorality in Corinth (5:1- 6:20), Difficulties in Corinth (7:1- 14:40), Doctrine of Resurrection Errors (15:1- 58) and the Closing (16:1-24).
Problems in the Corinth church where they were making some bad decisions and sinning, yet were the elect and predestined to be saved, but they still freely willed to make some poor decisions. The church was:
1. Riddled with problems involving interpersonal conflicts and ethical improprieties
2. Some of his members were at each others throats claiming spiritual superiority over one another and trying to establish it through ecstatic acts during the course of worship services
3. Different members of the community would speak prophecies and make proclamations in languages that no one else (including themselves) knew, trying to surpass one another in demonstrating their abilities to speak in divinely inspired tongues.
4. One-upmanship had evidently manifested itself outside the worship service as well. Some people had grown embittered enough to take others to court (over what, we are not told).
5. In addition, the personal conduct of community members was not at all what Paul had in mine when he led them away from what he viewed as their degenerate pasts into the church of Christ.
6. Periodic community meals: some of the men in the congregation had been frequenting prostitutes and didn’t see why this should be a problem & one of them was sleeping with his stepmother.
This was the community that Paul addressed as the “saints who are in Corinth” (1:2) but they had free will to be living carnally. Does this make sense? Thank you Gabe. I should have included this in the article. God bless you sir and thank you for your comment and question.
thank you for your answer
Gabe, your are most welcome and thank you for visiting the site and for your very important comment and question. In hindsight, I wish I had included more of the issue you brought up sir in the article…I am most appreciative of those who hunger for the Word of God and trying to refute error when they find it. I am so thankful for godly people like you who want to protect the veracity of the Bible. As a pastor, the only part of my sermons are when I read out of the Bible.
May God richly bless your walk with Him in this life.
Oppss…I should say the only “perfect parts of my sermons are when I read out of the Bible!”
In your article entitled “Predestination vs Freewill”, how is God’s will accomplished in one who rejects the “free gift of His grace” (forgivness, salvation)?
Thank you Mike for visiting us and for your comment. A person who rejects God’s grace (salvation) was known beforehand by God and all things that happen to those who place their faith in Christ were also known by God.
Romans 8:28-29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” By this statement of fact then God also foreknew who was not predestined, who was not to be called, those who were not to be justified, and those who would not be glorified. In short, He knew those would would be justified and those who would not be. God has all knowledge of all things thru all time and is not limited by space and time.
I hope this helped Mike.