CHAPTER 22 

 

WHOSE WILL IN SALVATION -  

GOD’S WILL OR MAN’S ‘FREE WILL’?

 

Has God created man with free will? Is fallen man able to resist and frustrate God’s Sovereign will to save all men? Does the biblical truth of Universal Salvation mean a forced robotic salvation? These are important questions, which we need to clearly understand and answer because our very salvation depends on us understanding and believing the biblical truth about them.

Arminianism, which is by far the majority view of those who claim to be Bible believing Christians, says that even though God gives indispensible help in salvation, ultimately, it is down to a person’s free will to decide whether or not he or she wishes to be saved. On the other hand, Calvinism argues that since God is absolutely sovereign, man does not have free will, and it is always God’s will that decides who will be saved or lost. This debate has been going on for centuries and it has sharply divided the Christian world.

The problem lies with how man’s free will is understood relating to his salvation. In this chapter, we are only concerned with man’s will regarding salvation. We are not concerned with man’s free will regarding mundane everyday living. We know that man is able to exercise his free will and make choices in everyday living within his physical, emotional and environmental limitations.   

The Bible says that man is only truly free when he is freed from sin. Are you free to love God and fellowmen free from sin? The problem is nobody in a fallen state can claim to be without sin because all men are born with a fallen nature, which is in bondage to sin because of Adam’s original sin.  

When God created Adam and Eve in His own image, He created them with free will, meaning a will which was free from sin so that they could have a loving relationship with God, and with each other.

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 

God is the Potter and we are the clay, and the clay (Adam and Eve) were created with free will to have a loving, meaningful relationship with Father God. God did not create man in the image of a robot, without free will. God created Adam and Eve to reflect the most important characteristic of God, which is love. God is love and He is free to show His love to all of His creation; likewise, He made Adam and Eve in His own image so that they could freely show their love to God and to each other, without sin.  

However, when Adam and Eve sinned by partaking of the forbidden fruit when tempted by Satan, their free will became marred by sin. Of course, God knew beforehand that Adam and Eve would succumb to the temptation from Satan, because God knows the end from the beginning.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they violated their God given conscience. They knew that they had done something wrong; therefore, they hid themselves from the presence of God. They became accountable for disobeying God and God judged them for their sin. From then on, man’s will is no longer free to love God and fellowmen but it is in bondage to sin, under the influence and deception of Satan.  

 John 8:44  

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. 

Fallen man is accountable for his sinful actions. Fallen man’s will is now only free to sin; he is no longer free to love God and his fellowmen as Adam and Eve did before they sinned. Fallen man is now under the curse of the law of sin and death, spiritually separated from God. Mankind, since Adam and Eve, has lost true freedom to love God and fellowmen because of sin. Fallen man remains blinded in darkness, and a slave to sin. 

John 8:34 (NIV)
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin”.

Romans 3:9-10
9 What then? Are we better [than they]? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one.

Arminiansim believes that fallen sinful man has the ability to see and understand the work of the cross when the Gospel is preached to him, and that he is free to come to Christ. It believes that fallen sinful man retains the ultimate power to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation. This is completely unbiblical.

The Bible says that all men are born spiritually dead, in darkness and dead in their sins (Colossians 2:13). Can a dead person make himself alive? If a dead person can make himself alive then it is possible for an unrighteous man to come to Christ of his own volition. Just as it took a supernatural miracle for Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead before Lazarus could move or do anything, so it takes a supernatural miracle to give spiritual life in Christ, to a spiritually dead person.

The often repeated truth of the Bible is that fallen man is only free to sin, but he is not free to come to Christ unless Father God supernaturally draws him to Christ (John 6:44, John 6:37, John 10:26-24, Matthew 11:27).

John 6:44  

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

God’s Plan is to draw and save only His Elect, the Firstfrutits, before the Day of Christ’s return. Only God’s Elect, His Sheep, will be supernaturally drawn to Christ in this life. Only they can truly hear the voice of Jesus Christ, and only they will be set free from the bondage of sin before they die. God is not desperately trying to save the whole world in this age before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and Satan is not winning hands down by taking billions of people to hell.

John 8:32-36 (NIV)                                               

32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

 Yes, it is only when the Son sets you free to see, understand and believe in the full work of the cross, that you are indeed set free from the law of sin and death. Your will is then truly free to love God and fellowmen, free from the condemnation of sin.

 If you believe that it is your ‘free will’ that has the ultimate power to accept God’s salvation and set you free from sin, then you are greatly mistaken. You would have something to boast about in your ‘salvation’. True salvation is always by God’s Grace through the God given gift of faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 The Arminian theology of salvation through man’s free will is in effect ‘salvation by works’, which ultimately gives the glory to man for accepting his salvation. It is ‘salvation’ through human self-righteous faith, which is not salvation at all. It is sad to say that millions are deceived into believing this false gospel of Arminianism. The so-called sinner’s prayer, which many ‘free will’ preachers require unbelievers to pray ‘parrot fashion’ for their salvation, does not save anybody without the gift of saving faith from God.

In order to defend its free will theology, Arminianism refers to many scriptures to prop up its false unbiblical understanding of ‘salvation through man’s free will’. So let us have a closer look at three of their key texts.

Text 1

Deuteronomy 30:19

I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.

The argument goes that God would not ask us to choose life if we were incapable of choosing life. However, ‘Christians’ who believe in ‘salvation through man’s free will’ fail to understand that the verse above has nothing whatsoever to do with choosing eternal life, salvation through man’s free will. Please understand that this scripture was given to the Israelites under the Old Covenant of the Law. God was instructing the Israelites to choose a physical life of blessing on this earth through obedience of His Law, instead of a physical life of cursing and early death through disobedience of His Law.

Our salvation is a gift from God through God’s sovereign will and never through man’s will. It is always by grace through the gift of God given faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Text 2

Acts 17:30

Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

The argument goes that God would not command all men to repent if fallen men are incapable of repenting. This is a fallacious argument contrary to the Word of God. It is important to understand that God’s Plan is not to save all men in this life, but to save only a few, His Elect. It is impossible for a fallen man to repent if he is not one of God’s Elect, as Father God is not drawing him to Christ in this life. However, the glorious truth of the Bible is that God is the Saviour of all men, and all men will repent in God’s time and His order which extends beyond this life, as we explain in detail in Chapter 12.  

Text 3

Matthew 10:32-33

32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.  

The argument goes that such ‘whoever’ verses in the Bible clearly imply that ultimately it is up to each person to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation. Not at all.  All such ‘whoever’ or ‘whosoever’ verses, when rightly understood, in fact prove that nobody can come to Christ if Father God is not drawing him to Christ.

‘Whoever’ confesses Jesus Christ before men in this life are few, called and chosen God’s Elect. Only God’s Elect are drawn in this life by God the Father to come to the true and the only begotten Son of God, the Saviour of the world.

‘Whoever’ denies Jesus Christ before men are all non elect unbelievers and they cannot come to Christ in this life. They will be denied by Christ before Father God on the Great White Throne Judgement Day and cast into the Lake of Fire. However, they are not lost forever because all non elect unbelievers will also be saved during God’s refining yet merciful Lake of Fire Judgement Age, as we explain in detail in Chapter 12.

Most ‘Christians’ are deceived into confessing a false Trinitarian Christ who is effectively one and the same co-equal Person as His Father God. This Trinitarian Christ is not the Saviour of the world, as he is able to save only a few people, but ready to throw most of humanity into a hell of eternal torment or annihilate them.

Now that we have looked at these three texts, let us believe what the Bible clearly says, that our salvation occurs because of the sovereign will of God and not because of the fallen will of man.

 John 1:13

Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The will of man will always joyfully and thankfully come in line with the will of God when Father God draws a person from darkness to light to believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ by the gift of God given faith. God has created man in His own image to embrace His salvation once God opens a person’s eyes to the treasure of the truth of the Gospel. God hasn’t created man in the image of Satan to reject His salvation. It is absurd and nonsense for ‘Christians’ who hold to the Arminian free will view of salvation to believe that anyone could choose ‘hell’ even after God draws a person to the truth of the Gospel. All those who reject God’s gift of salvation in this life are not God’s Elect and it is not their appointed time to be saved before they die. 

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is only Father God, through Jesus Christ, who can restore our fallen will in order for us to freely love God and fellow men, without sin. It is the wonderful truth of the Bible that ultimately, Jesus Christ will draw absolutely all men to Himself.

 John 12:32 (NIV)

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

We are all created in the image of God with the destiny of being children of God as part of God’s huge Family.

1 John 3:2

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

How awesome! We are all destined to be children of God and we shall all be like our Father God.

Conclusion

The glorious truth of the Bible is that the free will in Christ is far superior to the free will in Adam. In Christ, Father God restores man’s free will to a sinless and righteous state; to an incredibly far superior state than the free will of Adam and Eve before they sinned. Ultimately, all men are destined to be gifted with free will in Christ because the power of Satan, sin and death are all destroyed forever, through the work of the cross, for all of humanity. This will be fully and completely realised for all people at the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth in the Eternal Kingdom of God.

Man’s ‘free will’, as believed by ‘Christians’ who believe in hell or annihilation, is not the free will as taught in the Bible. It is a ‘free will’ of man’s own imagination. True biblical free will always thankfully comes in line with the will of Father God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Man’s free will, as liberated by Jesus Christ, operates in loving harmony with God’s sovereign will and His Plan to save all men. This is when man is able to fully understand and know the love of Father God and His Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross to forgive the sins of the whole world.

Salvation is not a matter of chance, first chance or second chance. Our salvation occurs because of God’s sovereign will, and His will is to save all men. Does the biblical truth of Universal Salvation mean a forced robotic salvation? Absolutely not. The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, and when a man finds it, he is committed to keep this treasure at any cost. It is God’s most wonderful Plan that all men without exception will find this great treasure of the Kingdom God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is important to retain the concept of free will as taught in the Bible. Remove the concept of free will in Christ and we create a huge problem in understanding many aspects of Christian life including the understanding of God's love and His judgements. Without free will in Christ, our prayers and our relationship with God would become meaningless and we really would be reduced to mere robots. Yes, a robot can make choices, but it cannot have a relationship with God.

All of the glory goes to God for our salvation when He draws us from darkness into light to see and believe the truth of the cross, through the gift of saving faith. This is when we freely, joyfully and thankfully choose God’s salvation, and ultimately all in God’s time and His order, without a single exception, will choose to be saved.

Let us rejoice in the truth of the Bible that it is the sovereign will of our loving and gracious Father God to save all men through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:3-6, 1 Timothy 4:9-10). Ultimately, all men without exception will enter the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth as children of God, to be part of God’s huge Family.