One of the concepts that has bothered me was the concept of Free Will coexisting with God’s Sovereignty. If God is ultimately the One who decides everything, the One who decides and ultimately controls how the card’s fall, then how could it be possible for humans to have free will? At first these two ideas seem to be at complete odds with one another but with a little careful thought as well as some careful study of scripture these two concepts are not as irreconcilable as they first seem. Before attempting to reconcile them however I think it’s important to establish the doctrine first.
Establishing free will…
Before we begin let's first establish the doctrine of free will. No clear is this found than in the book of Ezekiel. The two verses that stand out most are as follows... Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:23
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Ezekiel 33:11
From these two verses we can gather some condition statements.
If Israel turns from their evil ways, then it follows that they live for God will choose to not destroy them.
From this then it follows that if Israel does not turn from their evil ways, then they will be destroyed as God will choose to punish them for their sins and they will die.
God’s actions are then determined by how man chooses to respond to the call to repent, thus man is given a choice on how they will choose to respond and thus the ability to choose their destiny.
With this concept in mind, let’s take a look at the following verses.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Here we have an invitation from the Lord Jesus to follow Him and to come under His “yoke” or teachings. From the language He uses, we can already gather that this is a free invitation to come to Him and since He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15-18), it follows then that this choice is offered freely to those He is calling to Himself as evidenced in Ezekiel.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 6:44
This verse tells us that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them to Him. Notice that in Ezekiel, God is calling and reaching out to the Israelites. Since Jesus is God in the flesh (John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14), we can apply what He is saying to the scriptures in Ezekiel. The Israelites cannot come to God unless He draws them.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
John 12:32
With this verse we find that God calls and draws all people to Himself. From this we can gather a few things.
- God presents people with the ability to accept or reject Him (Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 33:11 and Matthew 11:28-30)
- Man cannot come to Jesus unless the Father draws them to Him (John 6:44)
- God began to draw all men to Himself after His Son Jesus was crucified (John 12:32)
Everyone then is being drawn to God, by the power of His Holy Spirit to His Son Jesus and are given the choice to either freely accept or reject Him. It seems the doctrine of free will is established until we run into…
The doctrine of free will challenged…
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Romans 8:29-30
It seems we now have a problem. If we truly have free will to accept or reject Christ (and God seems to be granting a choice to accept or reject in Ezekiel), then how can people also be predestined to heaven? These two doctrines at first glance seem to be completely incompatible. If someone is predestined let’s say for a car wreck, then no matter what they do to try and stop it eventually the car wreck is going to happen no matter what the individual tries to do to escape it. If he somehow escaped his fate then it follows that he was never predestined. Let’s present the problem.
If people have free will, then they have the choice if they end up with God in heaven or separated from Him in hell forever.
If people are predestined to heaven it follows then that those who end up in hell are predestined there as well. If this is true then those predestined to those places, no matter what choices they make cannot alter their ultimate destiny.
To put this in simpler terms.
If are we predestined to heaven or hell, we have no free will.
If we are not predestined to either heaven or hell, then free will exists.
This seems like it’s a difficult concept to reconcile and what I find interesting is that Paul doesn’t even try to address or solve this problem in his letter to the Romans and istead he almost seems to say to just deal with it!
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Romans 9:15-24
I think that Paul in this part was addressing the pride that comes with questioning God and trying to tear down such a mentality. God is able to do and does as He pleases. In verse 22 notice the “What if” statement. It’s not that Paul is saying explicitly that this is the way it is, in proposing this hypothetical he is demonstrating that even if it were this way you complaining about it is not going to change the fact that you are just a man and that God is King and can do what He wants. It seems that Paul was addressing some sort of spiritual pride in saying this as if they felt that somehow they had sufficient reasons to charge God with unfairness and maybe no matter what Paul would say to this group they would always find a way to complain about God or what He is doing. This response would effectively shut all mouths and lead to acceptance that God is God and that it is in our best interest to submit to His will (and maybe lead them with this line of reasoning to a possible plea to the Sovereign One for mercy to make them a vessel of mercy and not wrath, should they seem to be the latter and not the former, after all God could lump you into a vessel of mercy as your Creator right?).
Since this article is to try and reconcile these seemingly unreconcilable ideas (I can hear my Calvinist and Armenian brothers ready to start the debate as I type this), I won’t really touch on the spiritual pride thing or questioning God’s methods and just leave it and listen to what God is saying through Paul in the above verse in regards to that.
That being said, let’s play with the idea for a moment that people are predestined to heaven or hell and have no say in the matter in the context of God’s call to the Israelites in Ezekiel.
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:23
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Ezekiel 33:11
If free will doesn’t exist and the Israelites are at the complete mercy of God to believe or not believe, then we must consider the implications of a verse such as this. To tell beings to repent and return to you, while simultaneously knowing that they can’t return to you unless you sovereignly move them from “denial state” to “acceptance state” (remember no free will, you have no choice where you end up) and refusing to turn the ones you are calling to “acceptance state” has startling inferences to the nature and character of God. If God is good and there is no free will, then ultimately He is responsible for who goes to heaven and who to hell. If God were to predestine people to hell, then He is needlessly sending people to eternal conscious torment when He could just as easily predestine them to heaven. Thankfully, we know that God desires everyone to go to heaven. Let’s take a look at the following three verses.
Free will defended…
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
The Judgment of the Dead
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15
1 Timothy 2:1-4 and 2 Peter 3:9 show us that God desires everyone to come to repentance and it is His will for all to be saved. If it were the case that God could save all of us He undoubtably would. Since Revelation 20:11-15 shows us that some people do end up perishing and going to hell, there must be some factor that is preventing God from saving them. Taking the first concept from Ezekiel and Matthew 11:28-30, free will seems to be the best explanation for how God could desire someone to believe, trust in Him and be saved and still have people not end up in heaven. After all if it is His desire and will for them to be saved then He could simply move them from “rejection state” to “acceptance state” in a blink of an eye and He would attain what He desires. If He desires someone to be saved, but they refuse to be saved, then either He is too powerless to move His own creation from “rejection to acceptance state” or they are free to decide for themselves and God will never infringe on their free choice to accept or reject Him. Since God is all powerful then it makes the most sense that free will is the case. If we accept free will however, what becomes of Romans 8:29-30? I want us to take a moment and analyze what Jesus says in John 10:26.
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
John 10:22-26
Take just a moment and breath that in. Jesus, at this point has well established Himself with miracles, divine healings, walking on water and feeding thousands with a few loaves of bread and fish. At some point we have to question whether Jesus is really who He claims He is and if it has something to do with us if we still choose not to believe. I want you to consider the following scenario.
Suppose that after a long day at work you are on your way home and are stopped by a person who tells you he is the divine Son of God. Would you believe him based on his testimony alone? I think any rational, thinking individual would have a high degree of skepticism for his claim, wouldn’t you? What if you found out he had a long list of psychiatric problems? More skeptical right? What if you also came to find out he dabbles in psychedelics and enjoys his fair share of mushrooms, DMT and LSD? If you weren’t dissuaded by the first line of evidence, surely the second piece would give you the confidence this guy is a raving lunatic, right?
Take this next scenario.
Imagine you are in the middle of a lake fishing for food with some buddies and a man walking on water approaches the three of you and claims to be the Son of God. We would first suspect we had literally just lost our minds while wrapping our heads around what is happening right before us. What would you do if it were confirmed He really is walking on water and your buddies confirm what you are seeing is actually happening? This person’s claims about Himself just gained some evidential support haven’t they? Suppose the next day talking with Him you guys are starving but have no food. Suppose there is a food footage in the area, and you go to the local food distribution area (similar to the Great Depression) and the guy behind the counter says he has to close up shop there just isn’t enough food. What if the Man you just met in the middle of the lake asks the guy behind the counter to give Him whatever He has left and feeds the hundreds of people in the line with just one loaf of bread. Would you start taking His claim just a little more seriously at this point or would you still be in disbelief? What if the next day you received a call from your mother and heard that your childhood friend was bitten by a snake the night before and died. The funeral is in three days and you start going your way to pay your respects. The Man who walked on water tells you that this won’t end in your friend’s death and travels with you. At the funeral He prays, “Father, I thank you that I was not here to stop this man’s death so that those here may believe that You are the One who had sent Me.” He then proceeds to say, “Rise and come out!” and to everyone’s amazement at the funeral and to a grieving mother’s surprise and great joy your friend comes out of the casket and is raised from the dead.
Do you believe this man’s claims about Himself yet? Granted, Jesus said that if anyone claims to be the Christ after He ascended to heaven to not believe them, but I was only putting a modern-day twist if Jesus decided to come during a more present time to demonstrate my point. The works that Jesus did when He was on earth backed up His claim, yet some refused to believe. Even when Christ rose Lazarus from the dead in John 11:38-44 some people still did not believe that He was who He claimed to be!
45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
John 11:45-48
It seems that no matter what Jesus does, no matter how much evidence is placed before them, no matter how much the Holy Spirit tugs on some people’s hearts they will simply never believe. Remember that 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God desires all to come to repentance and be saved. If it were merely up to God on our salvation, then everyone would believe and be saved from perishing. Why were these people refusing to believe in light of such overwhelming evidence? When I think of Jesus’s response in John 10:26 I can’t help but have chills run up and down my arms. As an evangelist I have really struggled to know when to leave someone be and move on. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ simply does not put any time or energy in trying to save any of these people! Dwelling on this, I think the Lord has given me the answer and used one of my favorite areas of studies to make sense of it.
Reconciling God’s Sovereignty and Free Will…
I won’t go into extreme detail in describing the concepts of quantum mechanics or the interpretations of the various theories that flood it, but I remember thinking on Christ’s words to the unbelieving people and thinking of the many worlds interpretation of the double slit experiment (I myself think the evidence points to a collapse and therefore agree with the Cophenhagen interpretation, but to each his own). Dwelling on His Words and the implications of the theories an idea popped into my mind.
First let’s establish the concepts.
The butterfly effect (no, not the movie, though it does a great job in helping to make sense of the theory) in Chaos Theory states that a small change in one state of a non-linear system can result in large differences in a later state. Think about it this way. If you were born in India, you would live an entirely different life because you would have entirely different experiences which would cause you to be an entirely different person (you would still be you to a degree, but your life course would be drastically different and as a result a different person with entirely different experiences that would shape and mold your personality). If you were born in China an entirely different scenario would emerge. To drive this point home, think of a very important event in your life, something that was life changing and how it had a ripple effect in your life. Now imagine that one event never happening. How would your life have changed? I think of what my life would be like if I never met my wife and how different everything would have played out. Think about it in these terms. Each line below represents a timeline and series of life events.
The eventual marrying of my wife hinges on whether or not we go on our first date.
What would happen if I did not? How would life have drastically changed?
Time line
Go on date ———————
Date with wife
Don’t go ———————
See you in part 2