To Christians misinterpreting predestination, it seems like we are saying God is a despot and we are puppets on a string, robots, or automatons. Robots don't have a will as we do; however, we do not have a neutral volition, but one biased to evil. Does God just pull the right strings? He does know how to push the right buttons just like you do to someone you know, like spouses. Are we stronger than God's will and is God's sovereignty limited by our freedom? (Cf. Rom. 9:19) No!
These are age-old disputes and what kind of a God wouldn't be 100 percent sovereign? He doesn't just reign on a throne, but He rules all things great and small, such that there is not even a rebel molecule in the cosmos. Before preceding, I would like to point out two kinds of will: mundane or natural; and moral or towards God. It is in the latter that God makes the final decision as to whom will be regenerated by belief because no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws them and it is granted by Him (cf. John 6:65:44).
These are age-old disputes and what kind of a God wouldn't be 100 percent sovereign? He doesn't just reign on a throne, but He rules all things great and small, such that there is not even a rebel molecule in the cosmos. Before preceding, I would like to point out two kinds of will: mundane or natural; and moral or towards God. It is in the latter that God makes the final decision as to whom will be regenerated by belief because no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws them and it is granted by Him (cf. John 6:65:44).
John 15:5 says that we can do nothing apart from Christ. It is as if all of us choose to go the way of the devil and God had to choose out of His mercy to save some and demonstrate His grace and justice in action. We were all free (in Adam as our representative) and we chose the wrong path! We are, therefore, sinners by choice, by birth, and by nature.
Predestination means that our destiny is ultimately in the hands of God ("we are not the captain of our souls nor the masters of our fate"), and that if we were left to ourselves, none of us would want to be saved or have the will to believe--even our desire for Christ is of God. God reserves the prerogative to save whom He will and show justice to whom He will (cf. Rom. 9:18). Some men receive justice and some mercy. Romans 9:19 says that no one can resist His will. God's will is always done with or without our cooperation.
Predestination means that our destiny is ultimately in the hands of God ("we are not the captain of our souls nor the masters of our fate"), and that if we were left to ourselves, none of us would want to be saved or have the will to believe--even our desire for Christ is of God. God reserves the prerogative to save whom He will and show justice to whom He will (cf. Rom. 9:18). Some men receive justice and some mercy. Romans 9:19 says that no one can resist His will. God's will is always done with or without our cooperation.
Now, our will have little to do with our believing in Christ, for we are simply clay in the hands of the Potter and God is the one who decided our character and personality. Just like a dove will voluntarily choose seeds to eat and a vulture will feast on carrion, so God knows us and we are fearfully and wonderfully made to His specs. In the same manner, we act voluntarily and not by compulsion, and never act unwillingly so as not to be culpable.
We did not choose our nature, and it is our nature that primarily, along with nurture that determines our fate and consequent choices. No one will deny having made their own decisions. There is no such legitimate doctrine as determinism whereby God makes us do something we don't desire or there is an external force acting upon us--that is coercion and the opposite of freedom.
We did not choose our nature, and it is our nature that primarily, along with nurture that determines our fate and consequent choices. No one will deny having made their own decisions. There is no such legitimate doctrine as determinism whereby God makes us do something we don't desire or there is an external force acting upon us--that is coercion and the opposite of freedom.
But just as all man can only do evil and sin (non posse non peccare or the inability not to sin or that he is unable to please God in the flesh or is dead in a moral/spiritual sense), man is free in the sense of self-determination (he has to admit he made the decision or confirmation). God is also free but He cannot sin and we will be free in heaven without the ability to sin too.
The British monk Pelagius thought that man had the ability to make a free decision apart from grace, but Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, said we are "free but not freed." We have lost our liberty like a person in jail that is free in the sense that he still makes decisions apart from being a robot. We are free to act according to our God-given nature, but we've lost the inclination to do good; therefore, we are still human, just not good.
The British monk Pelagius thought that man had the ability to make a free decision apart from grace, but Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, said we are "free but not freed." We have lost our liberty like a person in jail that is free in the sense that he still makes decisions apart from being a robot. We are free to act according to our God-given nature, but we've lost the inclination to do good; therefore, we are still human, just not good.
What this entails is that we don't need an absolute free will, but wills made free--that is the crux of the doctrine because if the Son sets you free you shall be free indeed (cf. John 8:32). We still remain human with the faculty to make choices, such as what we want to eat, but we have lost all ability to please God and to believe in Him!
Jesus clearly said that we didn't choose Him, but that He chose us in John 15:16 and Matt. 22:14 (ESV) says: "For many are called, but few are chosen." We wouldn't have chosen Christ, had He not first chosen and loved us. The problem with our freedom is that it is a curse because we didn't choose Him (Adam is our representative) and God had to choose us. We were free but didn't choose Christ and we wouldn't have come to Him unless He had wooed us and drew us to Him, taking the initiative.
Jesus clearly said that we didn't choose Him, but that He chose us in John 15:16 and Matt. 22:14 (ESV) says: "For many are called, but few are chosen." We wouldn't have chosen Christ, had He not first chosen and loved us. The problem with our freedom is that it is a curse because we didn't choose Him (Adam is our representative) and God had to choose us. We were free but didn't choose Christ and we wouldn't have come to Him unless He had wooed us and drew us to Him, taking the initiative.
God took the initiative and the first step in such a way that we never did anything we did not want to do, and without any outside coercion or force acting upon us. Our righteousness, including faith and repentance, is God's gift to us, not our gift to God (we have nothing to offer Him but our sin): "Who makes you to differ? What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7).
Love must be voluntary to be love and we loved God because He first loved us and God worked in our hearts a regeneration that loves Him willingly--we never do anything we don't want to do and in this sense, we are not robots but free agents. However, God is able to make us do His intentions by His omnipotence, which is stronger than our will. For example, He can turn the king's heart like a stream of water (cf. Prov. 21:1).
Love must be voluntary to be love and we loved God because He first loved us and God worked in our hearts a regeneration that loves Him willingly--we never do anything we don't want to do and in this sense, we are not robots but free agents. However, God is able to make us do His intentions by His omnipotence, which is stronger than our will. For example, He can turn the king's heart like a stream of water (cf. Prov. 21:1).
Again: "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Prov. 16:9, ESV). Jeremiah 10:23 says, "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." In the example of loving a mate, we can think that it was all voluntary, but God knew what we wanted and couldn't resist and brought them into our life--so whose in control?
We can never frustrate God and catch Him off guard, not being able to run His universe at will. Just like you can manipulate your friends to do you a favor, God knows how to work His will in you. God can make you love Him without violating your free will or making you do it against your choice. We do indeed have the power of choice and must choose Christ, but we cannot do so of our own power because of our depravity--our wills are depraved too. ("... [H]e greatly helped those who through grace had believed," says Acts 18:27.)
We can never frustrate God and catch Him off guard, not being able to run His universe at will. Just like you can manipulate your friends to do you a favor, God knows how to work His will in you. God can make you love Him without violating your free will or making you do it against your choice. We do indeed have the power of choice and must choose Christ, but we cannot do so of our own power because of our depravity--our wills are depraved too. ("... [H]e greatly helped those who through grace had believed," says Acts 18:27.)
We cannot believe apart from grace as God gives us the power. The whole Christian life is not hard, it is impossible and we could never live it without the power of God in our life. Humanists and semi-Pelagians or Arminians argue, however, that the will is not affected by sin and is not depraved, but absolutely and totally free.
We didn't come to Christ of our own independent and free volition, but were called and drawn by the Father with efficacious grace or what Reformed theology calls irresistible grace (better named efficacious grace that works what God intends)--i.e., He intervened. This saving grace is demonstrated in Philippians 2:13 (ESV) saying. "[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will [God changing our will or making us willing] and to work for his good pleasure." And in Psalm 110:3 (ESV) as: "Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power...." (Also refer to Jer. 20:7; Heb. 13:21 and Col. 1:29.)
We didn't come to Christ of our own independent and free volition, but were called and drawn by the Father with efficacious grace or what Reformed theology calls irresistible grace (better named efficacious grace that works what God intends)--i.e., He intervened. This saving grace is demonstrated in Philippians 2:13 (ESV) saying. "[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will [God changing our will or making us willing] and to work for his good pleasure." And in Psalm 110:3 (ESV) as: "Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power...." (Also refer to Jer. 20:7; Heb. 13:21 and Col. 1:29.)
We were chosen by God according to His good pleasure, "according to His own purpose and grace," (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9). Jesus used the analogy of the wind blowing where it wills, and that is how one is born of the Spirit. The bottom line is that, though we possess a depraved will capable of decision, God can cause us to believe in Christ and repent according to His good pleasure. Soli Deo Gloria!
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