Predestination is one of the most if not the most controversial topic in Christianity. Before we dive into this topic we must find reliable definitions. Predestined comes from the Greek word poorizo which means; to determine beforehand. Free will is the God given ability to make choices, it is essentially faith or belief. While the word predestine is used in the Bible multiple times, free will is not explicitly mentioned. This paper will look at the biblical teaching on predestination vs free will, how both logically make sense, and lastly whether predestination or free will plays a bigger part in our salvation.
There are many verses on both predestination and free will (for free will the verses use words like believe or faith). Just to name a few verses on predestination, Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 8:28-30, John 6:44,15:16. Just to name a few verses on free will, John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9. Christ died for all according to many verses in the bible (1Timothy 4:10, John 1:29, 1 John 2:2) and why would he die for all if there were an amount of set aside people that were chosen by God to go and be with him in heaven. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 states “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
If God wants all people to be saved, why would he only pick a selected few? There are many problems and contradictions with this idea, how would God be loving and just, why did Jesus die for all, and why would are belief matter. Calvinist might say that he is being loving by letting some of us go to heaven because no one deserve to be with God but how is this then just? They also might say that on our own we cannot change our hearts and come to God so he comes to us, this is true except for he comes to all of us, and we must expect him according to so many verses.
Now you might be thinking what about the verses I mentioned earlier like Ephesians 1:4-5 which says “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.” Well lets first look at the first part of the verse “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” He made us blameless and holy when he first created the world; Adam and Eve were without sin and that is how he made it to be.
Now the second part is a bit harder to unravel. “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” If God wants all to come to him (1tim 2:3-4) could he predestine all of us to come to him but on our own, do we reject him? Predestine as I said before means to determine beforehand, so could an all-powerful God determine beforehand all of us to be adopted but then we reject him. Is he making our decisions for us or is he giving us a gift that some of us reject?
The bible clearly teaches predestination, but it is often misinterpreted because if God is just, good, and loving. Therefore, he would not pick certain people to inherit eternal life and not others, but he would give it to all. It is our decision to believe and repent or to reject and live in our sin.
You might be thinking how free will and predestination work together. Logically they compliment each other beautifully. Romans 6:23 states “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If God’s gift is free, then why would he decide who receives it? Wouldn’t we then be like robots that God chooses to open our eyes and unharden our hearts so we can receive this gift? I disagree with this stance for many reasons if God wants a relationship with us then don’t we have to act? If God wanted a relationship with us, then made some of us accept it how would it be genuine?
God predestines all of us so do we have the free will to accept him or not. If God wants a relationship with us all then how could he predestine us not to be with him (predestine us to hell). Another problem is did he predestine Adam and Eves sin? If he did how would he be good if he created evil? If you don’t believe this then how could you believe that he predestines some of us to inherit eternal life but not others, wouldn’t God then be like a dictator choosing who goes to heaven and who doesn’t based on nothing. How could he be called a righteous judge?
He is a righteous judge because he gives us all eternal life if we do so except it and we are without excuse (Romans 1:20). How would we be without excuse if God chooses for us? The dots don’t connect if predestination is what Calvinist make it out to be. They look at a couple verses and draw a big contradictory conclusion which is God chooses some of us to inherit eternal life and the others are left to there sinful lust resulting in eternal fire.
They might use the illustration of a man who gives out randomly 5 dollars to 10 people in a crowd of 50. The 40 who did not receive the money would be upset because they did not get a gift while the 10 who received the money would be happy. The conclusion is that God extends his blessing to some of us that he chooses but not all of us. There are many problems with this argument. If the person giving out the money had enough to give it to all the others and wanted to give the money to all the others and he could why wouldn’t he?
Argument
God is love
God selects some of us to receive eternal life
Therefore, in God’s love he selects some of us receive eternal life
Counter Argument
If God is love, he would want everyone to go to heaven (which he does 1Tim 2:3-4)
Jesus died once for all, so that anyone who believes in him shall have eternal life
God predestined all of us to have eternal life we just have to except it
Therefore, a loving God would let anyone who believes in him to go to heaven
What plays a bigger part in salvation free will or predestination? The Bible clearly shows us that it is our choice to believe it is not God’s choice to make for us, right? And if that’s true then it is our choice to receive eternal life. Ephesians 1:5 which says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” He loves us so much he made a way to be adopted into sonship he determined beforehand that we were going to be able to have this chance.
He had already predetermined that all who believed in Jesus would have eternal life. The Bible clearly shows that our belief or free will plays a bigger part in our salvation then predestination.
Now I’ve heard Calvinist claim that in Ephesians 2:8-9 we are told that we can’t do any works to receive eternal life. So, believing on our own would be a work. First off, they forget to include the part of the verse that says “For we are saved by grace through faith” faith is our free will. Is faith a work? Because this is seems to saying that we are saved by faith through grace. Free will is the ability to freely choose on our own and faith is putting your trust into something which is backed up with belief.
So is a work believing or faith? No, Paul says we are saved by grace through faith, he says in romans multiple times that we are not saved by works of the law but by faith from the free gift of God (Romans 3:20-22). And again, in Galatians 2:16 it claims that we are not saved by the works of the law but justified through Jesus and faith. So it is unreasonable to claim that in Ephesians 2:8-9 “works” does not include faith, belief, or belief.
In conclusion God made possible a way for us to go to heaven and it is not because he randomly chose people but because he chose everyone and gave the free gift to everyone but if you don’t except it, you will not receive eternal life. Free will plays a bigger role in our salvation than predestination because the Bible supports it and it logically makes sense.