Free Will Shapes Salvation

And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

(Luke 7:29-30)

In this series so far, we have seen that it is the perfect will of God that all people should be saved. We have also seen that God has made provision for all people to be saved, and that He proclaims the message of salvation to everyone.

So, the question must then be asked: why is it that some are saved while others are not? In answering that question, we will see in this section that the reason some people are saved and others are not is because all people have a free will—and in this life, God does not override the free will of anyone. In other words, God does not force anyone to be saved. Rather, He offers His salvation and allows each person to choose whether to accept or reject it.

To establish this truth, I have quoted four witnesses who all affirm the same point: that human beings, by an act of their free will, either accept or reject God’s offer of salvation. The four witnesses are the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and the apostles Paul and Barnabas.

The first witness quoted above is the Holy Spirit, for it was He who inspired Luke to write this passage of Scripture. In it, the Holy Spirit clearly reveals that it is people themselves who, by an act of their free will, either accept or reject God’s will for their lives.

In context, Jesus is speaking about how Israel responded to the preaching of John the Baptist. It was God’s will that they all receive John’s baptism. Yet, as an act of free will, some accepted God’s will by being baptized by John, while others—specifically, the lawyers and Pharisees—rejected God’s will for themselves by refusing to be baptized.

Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.' But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me."

(Luke 10:8-16)

The second witness quoted above is the Lord Jesus Christ. The context of this passage is that our Lord is sending out His seventy disciples into the towns of Judea to preach the kingdom of God.

It is very clear from this passage that our Lord places the choice of either receiving or rejecting the gospel in the hands of those who hear it. He tells us that those who receive the gospel message ultimately receive God the Father, while those who reject the gospel message ultimately reject God the Father.

Therefore, from our Lord’s teaching, we can plainly see that each person either receives or rejects the gospel as an act of their free will. It cannot be made any clearer than that.

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: 'I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.' “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

(Acts 13:44-48)

The third and fourth witnesses quoted above are the apostles Paul and Barnabas. The context of this passage is that they had preached the gospel message in the town of Antioch. From the passage, we can once again see very clearly that some believed their message while others rejected it. On both sides, those who rejected the gospel did so as an act of their free will, while those who believed the message also did so by their own free will.

Therefore, there can be no doubt that all four witnesses quoted in this section agree on the same point: humanity either accepts or rejects the gospel message as an act of their own free will. This is why some people are saved while others are not.

In this section, we have seen that, ultimately, it is up to each individual to either accept or reject the salvation of God as an act of their free will. However, it is important to note that in all of this, it is God who is the initiator—not man. God initiated the plan of salvation, God made salvation possible, and God proclaimed the message of salvation.

Therefore, regarding salvation, man’s only role is to respond to what God has initiated—by choosing, through their free will, either to accept or to reject the message of the gospel.

Michael E.B. Maher

Predestined to His Purpose

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