Ye Olde Free Will Debate

Who do you believe?

In I Corinthians 1:10-13 and 3:1-3, Paul urges us to be followers of Jesus not Apollos or Cephas or even Paul himself—or by extension Billy Graham or Joel Osteen or Arminians or John Calvin. Which means that, like the Bereans who…“received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11), we need to search Scripture to check the truth of what we are being taught.

One of the basic rules of Bible interpretation is to start with the verses that are clear, straight forward, and easily understood; and then interpret the more difficult verses in light of those—not the other way around. As Bible believing Christians, we cannot fault the cults if we are also twisting explicit Scripture to fit an interpretation we have made or come to believe regarding obscure passages.

According to the Bible’s clear teaching, all have sinned, Jesus died for all, Jesus draws all to Himself, and it is God’s will that all repent (change their minds) and come to Him.

            Check it out for yourself:

·         Romans 3:23 – “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” [1]

 

·         II Corinthians 5:15 – “…He (Jesus) died for all…” [2]

 

·         John 12:32 – “…I (Jesus)…will draw all men to Myself.” [3]

 

·         I Timothy 2:3-4 – “…God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” [4]

(See other verses in the endnotes.)

All is all! It does not get any clearer than that! We need to start with these clear Bible statements and reject any interpretation that contradicts them. If instead we reject these verses in favor of other interpretations, on what basis do we make such interpretations? Clearly not on God’s Word! God does not contradict Himself!  (Psalm 18:30)

“I am the truth,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In fact, “God commands all everywhere to repent (change their minds).” (Acts 17:30) Why would He do that if he prevents some of us from repenting and believing? According to Mark 6:6, Jesus “…marveled because of their (the people of his hometown Nazareth) unbelief.” It would certainly be self-contradictory for Him to say that if he had caused their unbelief. As Jesus said about Jerusalem, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

If it is not God’s will that we should perish, whose is it? Ours, of course! We can’t claim ignorance or blame God or anyone else.

 “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) And because we are incapable of finding God on our own (Romans 3:11), He has revealed Himself to us through Creation, Israel, the prophets, and his Son Jesus Christ:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Furthermore, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1)

Jesus said in John 15:22 – “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

“I am the way,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

If we reject Jesus, we are without excuse. In Luke 13:3 and 5, Jesus said, “…unless you repent (change your mind), you will…perish.”

Praise God that, because He has revealed Himself to us and draws us to Himself, you can “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9 and Matthew 7:7-8) You can “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) as Moses told all Israel when he called them together in the wilderness. (Deuteronomy 29-2)

“I am the life,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In Acts 16:30 the jailor asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas did not say: Who knows? God either saves you or not. They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” In John 6:29 Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The only work! Salvation is “the gift of God, not of works,” (Ephesians 2:8 and 9) accomplished by Jesus alone through His death and resurrection. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Our one task is to believe it—a decision that God, in His sovereignty, has given all of us the ability to make.

Who do you believe?

--- GK

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[1] See also:

Romans 3:10 – “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one…’”

Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

[2] See also:

Romans 5:18 – “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

Titus 2:11 – “…for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…”

I Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”

I Timothy 4:10 – “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”

I John 2:2 – “…He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Act 17:31 – “…because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Romans 6:10 – “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all…”

[3] See also:

Matthew 11:28 – “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

John 7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

[4] See also:

2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”