Beth-El Baptist Church

11/14/2010

Greg Tomlinson


What is the relationship between man's freewill and the doctrine of election?


The relationship between man having and exercising freewill ranges all the way from man has complete freedom to decide to do everything and God is powerless to do anything about what man does to man has absolutely no freedom to do anything under his own power but it is the sovereignty of God that makes everything happen. The existence of and the exercise of man's free will when it comes to the question of salvation is a highly debated topic amongst professing Christians.


  1. Does man have any form of freewill?

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Joshua 24:15

1 Kings 18:21 2 Peter 3:9

Acts 16:30-31


It is clear from the Old and the New Testament that God calls people to “choose life”, “choose … whom ye will serve”, and to follow the LORD or Baal (whoever is actually God). God is does not want anyone to perish and that in order to be saved, men are called to believe. There is therefore very strong evidence for the existence of the freewill of man and the call of God for men to appropriately exercise that free will.


  1. Are their limits to man's exercise of freewill? In other words: How is it possible for man to choose life or to follow God?

Joshua 24:19-20 1 Corinthians 2:14

Jeremiah 17:9 John 3:19

Proverbs 20:6; 21:2


The normal or “natural man” does not have any actual or natural desire to truly seek after the things of God. He is by nature a sinner and not only knows only sin but he only desires sin. There is then a limit of what the natural man is capable of doing. He is free to live a life of sin, but to seek to live a life of holiness unto the Lord is outside of his natural abilities.


John 1:12-13; 6:37-40; 6:44; 10:14-18, 26-30; 14:6; 15:26-27; 16:7-11

Romans 10:13-17


The only way for someone to believe is for the Holy Spirit of God to intervene in the life of the individual through the hearing of the Word of God that he might be given grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.


  1. Does God force man to believe?

Genesis 6:5-8; 12:1-3; 21:12; Malachi 1:2-3

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 Acts 9:1-6; 10:34-44; 11:15-18; 16:14; 26:28-29

Romans 9:11-16 Numbers 22:21-34


It is not that God forces men to believe but that all men by nature are destined to hell because of the greatness of their own sins. It is God in His mercy who opens the eyes, the mind and the heart of men (according to His purpose) to come to a point of belief. God did not force Paul to believe but God did intervene in a powerful way so that Paul essentially had no other choice but to believe. God did not force Lydia to believe but God did intervene in a powerful way so that Lydia did actually believe. God did not force King Agrippa to NOT believe but through the hearing of the Word of God, King Agrippa did not actually have a heart that was fully prepared by God to receive the understanding of the Gospel.


A rather unique illustration of this is in Numbers 22:21-34. Balaam was riding his donkey to see Balak, King of Moab, but and angel of God stood in the way. The donkey had eyes to see the angel and his sword but Balaam did not have eyes to see. The donkey and Balaam operated on what they saw but nothing forced the donkey to make the decisions he did. It was not until God operated in a marvelous way in the life of Balaam that he was able to see what was really going on. It is the same way with salvation. The Lord must open the eyes, the ears, the mind, and the heart to the Word of God so that the person might repent and believe.


  1. What about those who arrogantly proclaim their election?

Romans 2:17-18, 2:21-24; 11:18-22 2 Corinthians 10:12-15

Ephesians 2:8-10 Romans 3:24-27

Luke 17:10


It is unfortunate that some men seem to be arrogant about the doctrine of election. It would be better for them to fear God. Does their salvation actually rest in the hands of the merciful God or are they boasting without knowledge and without a faithful, true, and humble heart? Their judgment is in the hands of God but let none of us boast in that which is not ours but the Lords. Let all who call upon the name of the Lord understand that without Christ they can do nothing and that with Christ all the “good” that we are capable of accomplishing is not worth boasting about seeing that “we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).