Bill Huntley

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Predestination vs. Freewill

Bill Huntley - February 2007

Predestination
Webster defines predestination as “the state of being predestined (to be foreordained to an earthly or eternal lot or destiny by divine decree): Foreordain: Predetermine”

It has been defined by biblical scholars as “The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of God by which he has, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined whatever comes to pass. It is used particularly in theology to denote the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery. Predestination is a part of the unchangeable plan of the divine government; or in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God.”

The scriptures point this out in Eph 2:10 “God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.” and in Jer 1:4,5 “The LORD said to me, I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations." and again in Gal 1:15 “But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. ...” to name just a few references.

One doesn't have to look very deeply to see that God has (in his infinite wisdom) foreordained each and every one of our lives for a purpose.

Freewill
Freewill has been defined as: “The power of directing our own actions without restraint by necessity or fate. Voluntariness Spontaneousness”

The scriptures indicate that we have freewill, you can see this in Heb 6:11,12 “Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.” and Heb 3:14 “For we are all partners with Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning.” and again in Col 1:22,23 “But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel.”

From these scriptures, and there are many more like them, there seems to be the assumption that it is up to us to choose to continue our walk with Christ. We can choose to hold firmly to the end. By having this choice we also have the choice to not hold firm, to walk away, a sad choice but still our choice.

It has been said that for freewill to exist then predestination must cease to exist. After all predestination means that everything is already planned out and freewill means that every moment of every day we must choose which course we take.

The Conflict
There has been an apparent conflict between these two concepts for generations. People have stated that we are all predestined, be that to a noble cause or ignoble, we can not change what has been foreordained. Paul stated in Rom 9:21 “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?” It has been said that we have no more control over our situation as we do our actions, after all we are all foreordained. But the scriptures also tell us that we have a choice, we have freewill. We must choose to continue on in the faith, to hold firm till the end. One can not make that choice without the ability to choose and having that ability directly contradicts the very nature of predestination.

So where does the truth lie between these two seemingly mutually exclusive precepts?

Where We Live
Like most conflicts, the true message can be found between these perspectives.

I was never really any good at playing chess but I used to watch matches when I was younger. I found it interesting to see a master chess player, they would be playing many moves in advance of the move they were currently on. They knew the game so well that they knew the move their opponent would make in response to their move and they would set up plays four and five moves in advance. Their opponent still had to make the move and the move they made was their choice but the master player already knew they would make that move and have a follow-up ready.

Our lives here are much like that chess game, God already knows every choice we are going to make, be that good choices or bad, but we still have to make the choice. God already knows every person that will choose to follow him and every person that will not. God is the Alpha and the Omega, he knows the end from the beginning. He also knows every misstep we will ever make as well as every step we make that brings us closer to him. He is the master chess player, he has every counter move already planned out and he is just waiting for us to make the choices he already knows we are going to make.

Summery
From a worldly perspective there is no way these two concepts can co-exist but from a heavenly perspective they can and do. There is no conflict when we stop to look at this closer, from Gods perspective. Each and every one of us must, using our God given freewill, choose to follow Christ or not. We each must choose every day to hold firm to the faith and run the race as God would have us do so. In doing so we can take comfort that God has already foreordained our path. He has already made sure that there would be no struggle too great for us to bare, that he is, has been, and will always be looking out for us. He will be smiling on us when we choose to do what he wants for us and he will be guiding us back when we stumble.