How many times have you found yourself in a nice conversation, when all of a sudden someone brings THAT up? You know what I’m talking about. It’s the “cultural taboo” that that launches any group into the seemingly endless rabbit hole. That nice conversation you once knew quickly turns into an active warzone. Arguments and rebuttals start flying through the air, while the quieter ones shrink under the cover of silence, wishing it would all be over soon. Perhaps this is an over exaggeration, but the topic of predestination and free will nonetheless continues to strike fear within Christian communities to this day. With fate/free will debates often going multiple hours long, it’s no surprise that many people avoid the topic. After all, when it seems to only ever lead to frustration, division, and further confusion, why bother?
While it’s definitely sad to see Christians divide over conflicting opinions, it would be a great tragedy for us to avoid Biblical truths that can bring us a deeper understanding and appreciation of God. That’s why after reading this article, I hope you’ll come out of it not only less confused about the topic, but also emboldened to seek out knowledge for the sake of loving God more.
Proverbs 15:14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge
“If through the Spirit of God you’ve been born again, then the more you know about God, especially God as He’s revealed in the cross of Christ… The more you’re gonna love Him.” — Paul Washer in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg3jbCtIEcQ
The Sovereignty of God
Does God know what’s going to happen? Is God in control of the future? If He is, what does that mean for our free will? Do our choices even matter? Are we still responsible for our sins? The list of questions goes on. To make things simple, let me put it this way. All of these questions are asking the same two things. At the heart of this issue, our confusions lie within two questions: “how much control does God have?” And “how much control do we have?” The trick to all of this is in reconciling the answers to those two questions. Now, before we dive into the “no man’s land” of this warzone, let’s make sure we know what the Bible says first.
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
The Bible testifies that God is sovereign over all. He is The Almighty; The All-knowing. In short, yes, God does know what you’ll have for lunch today, even before you decide. He planned everything, from the course of every atom in existence, to your miraculous existence. There are no coincidences. This simple, yet glorious truth is one that so many take for granted. It’s this wonderful reality that gives us hope that there’s a good reason behind our pain and suffering. After all, we can only find peace in God when we trust that He’s got everything under control. Without this truth, we have no confidence that good triumphs over evil, no assurance to our faith, and nothing that we can ever truly trust. Trust me on this, it’s good that this is true.
The Free Will of Man
2 Corinthians 5:10 we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
James 1:13–15 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Proverbs 19:3 A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord.
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Here we are. Welcome to “No Man’s Land,” the place where countless hours have fallen in battle. Let’s reconcile some misconceptions. Do we have free will? Well, it depends on what you mean by free will. If you mean free will in the sense that you can surprise God with your choice, then clearly not.
The common misconception with free will is that we assume it means that we have total control — control over our hearts, control over our desires, and along with those, control over every action. The problem, however, is that assumption conflicts with God’s sovereignty. If God has total control, then that means we don’t, and vice versa. While the Bible confirms that we are indeed responsible for our actions, and even for guarding our hearts, it does not say that we can control or change hearts. Only God can change the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
God holds us to account for our every action, meaning that we are neither forced to sin, nor are we forced to obey. We have the capability of doing good, and of doing evil, and that is the free will that we do have. God is not to blame for our sins, but rather, the problem is with our hearts. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked and radically corrupted by sin. From these cold dead hearts come all manners of evil, and that’s our issue. We act based on the desires of our heart.
A simple way of thinking about this can be through the thoughts that pop into our head. We don’t have control over which thoughts come up, but we do choose what to do with these thoughts. No one is forcing us to act or not to act on a particular stray thought, but when good ideas are the only ones that come to mind, that’s what we’ll end up acting upon. We can discipline ourselves against negative thoughts, and refuse to act on them, but controlling which thoughts come up is out of our control.
What Then Shall We Say?
Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world
Ephesians 2:8–9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We have fallen because of our sin, and with our corrupt hearts, we have no hope on our own to save ourselves. What we need is for God to rescue us. We need Him to change our hearts and give us renewed desires. He’s our only hope. This is why salvation belongs to God, and not to us. That is why we give all the glory to God when a sinner comes to saving faith in Jesus. The gift of new life is a gift because we didn’t earn it, but rather, it was given out of grace through God’s overwhelming love for us. We have no place to boast, because all the work is done by God, and none by us. How wonderful is that? Not only do we have a God who loves and saves us, but He is also perfectly in control so that nothing can stop Him from doing so.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Romans 8:39 in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
If the changing of the heart was even 1% on our shoulders, and 99% on God’s, then there is no guarantee of salvation. After all, we make mistakes, and we could mess up that 1%. We would be hard-pressed and stressed in each evangelistic encounter, with the eternal fate of souls in our hands. Thank God that’s not the case. Instead, in light that we are merely sowers of the seed, while God is the grower, we can choose to faithfully and joyfully accept His call for our lives. With the results already determined, we need not fear any longer, for we know that God loves us. All that’s left is for us to trust and obey. Willingly.
Romans 6:17–18 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
