I am not a theologian, nor did I attend Bible college. So, while it may be presumptuous for me to tackle the question of free will vs. election, I have been reading my Bible pretty much every day since I was saved on August 6, 1978, and have formed an opinion on the subject.
Although I have leaned toward the free will (Arminianism) camp, I recently tried to better understand the election (Calvinism) perspective. I think I have arrived at a middle ground that merges the two ways of thought. I realize this question has been debated for the last 2,000 years, but see what you think.
We know that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4). That certainly seems like a good argument for free will. But just because God desires something doesn’t mean he will force it upon us. In fact, God knows from before he created us who would give their hearts to him and who would not. As the Apostle Paul says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29).
God’s choice or ours?
Does that mean God decided in the beginning who would be saved and who would not? Did he predetermine the outcome?
I think not. That would negate our free will. We know that Joshua told the Israelites, “…choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). And Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
But what do we do with a verse like this, where Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44)? Well, remember that God desires that all come to a saving knowledge of him. The Holy Spirit is always seeking to draw all people to Jesus. But many will resist.
God hated Esau?
When we read a difficult verse like, “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated” (Malachi 1:2-3), does this mean God chose Jacob for salvation and determined that Esau would not find it? No, I think it means that God foreknew who would follow him (Jacob) and who would not (Esau). That is the basis of God’s rejection of Esau. Esau rejected him, so he rejected Esau.
When we read, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:4-5), we can understand that verse as saying that God foreknew who would respond positively to his invitation. That is the sense in which he chose us, because he wants everyone to receive him, as we read in John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Total depravity
As to our ability to receive Jesus, those who lean toward election believe that man is born in total depravity, dead in trespasses and sins, and unable to choose God. Yet Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). This seems to say that we do have the ability to choose. But how can we repent if we really are totally depraved (unable to choose)?
Some Calvinists say that God gives us the ability to repent at the time he irresistibly draws us to Himself. They believe that salvation and repentance occur simultaneously. I differ with the idea of irresistible grace, as it is clear that many (take Judas, for example), choose to reject God.
My story
However, I can accept the idea of salvation and repentance happening simultaneously. When I gave my heart to the Lord, I had just been terrified by watching a movie, A Thief in the Night, about the Rapture and the Tribulation. After the movie, I told the Lord, “When all this happens, I want to be on your side.”
That was it. That was repentance—turning to God. I didn’t understand yet that I was sinful. I hadn’t followed the prescription of the Four Spiritual Laws. I just experienced what we read in Romans 10:13, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It was at that moment that God’s Holy Spirit entered me and gave me a new heart, one that soon began to understand, acknowledge, and repent of my sinful behavior.
Did God choose me? In a sense, yes. He foreknew me, and he knew I would eventually choose him. And that is overwhelming when I think about it. It makes me feel special, not in the sense that I was any better than someone who has not yet chosen him, but in the realization that he loved me from before creation, knew all the bad choices I would make, but also knew that I would give myself to him and experience his forgiveness and grace.
Why evangelize?
Some accuse Calvinism of making evangelism unnecessary. I don’t think it does. The Scripture says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). One of those good works is evangelism. Yes, God knows who will choose him, and only he can draw people to himself. But he has appointed us to be part of his plan, pointing people to his Word, as we read, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
In God’s mysterious way, he weaves our evangelistic efforts with the work of his Holy Spirit to bring those he foreknew (not predetermined) into his kingdom. As we make that choice, the Holy Spirit enables us to repent.
We read in Psalm 85:10, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” Similarly, election meets free will, and though they may not kiss, perhaps they can begin to hold hands.
Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash
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