(Part of the Election, Sovereign Grace, Will, Salvation bible study group.)
Is there such a thing as free will salvation? It is widely taught among the Christian community and accepted as sound doctrine. Yet, is it really a biblically valid doctrine? Or, is free will salvation a man-made fabrication, which makes the Creator subject to the will of the created? Does the Bible teach election by God's Sovereign Grace & Will, or the exercise of man's free-will, as the means to salvation? Consider the following verses:
- - " So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy. "
(Rom 9:16)
- - " But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, who were born, not of bloods,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man,
but were born of God. "
(John 1:12-13)
- - "according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will."
(Eph 1:4-5)
These verses along with numerous other verses of Holy Scripture, a good variety of which you will find on the other pages of this site dealing with Salvation by God's Sovereign Grace & Will (Election), show that salvation is by God's Will, not the free-will of man. The biblical evidence clearly reveals that free will salvation is a man-made, satanically-influenced, doctrine based on supposition, self-serving interpretation, piecemeal Bible study, and faulty logic. Since it subjects God's Will to the choices (free-will) of man, it in effect makes salvation an act of man not God. Thereby, glorifying man above the Creator. The whole fabric of Scripture, in its entirety, teaches that Sovereign God, according to His will, chooses His people, not the other way around.
(See Scripture's Proclamation.)
The false doctrine of Free Will Salvation has given rise to a number of false beliefs, which are widely accepted. Since it teaches salvation is man's choice it follows that there is no eternal security, for what man can choose He can also lose. A more insidious, and growing, belief generated by this false doctrine is that, " Man has the right to salvation." Biblical evidence clearly reveals these beliefs to be false.
Free-Will Salvation inadvertently makes Jesus out to be a liar and a failure.
- - " My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. "
(John 10:27)
Since free will salvation teaches that man can choose, or not choose, to follow, it would mean that the above statement, and all other similar verses, by the Author of Salvation are false, in effect labeling Jesus a liar.
- -" And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. "
(John 6:39 )
If man can choose to follow, or not follow, and since not following results in damnation, free will salvation, IF true, would mean that Jesus was unable to carry out His Commission from the Father. Also, it would mean that the will of man is superior to that of Almighty God.
The Bible speaks volumes about man and the exercise of his "free will." Checking through the account of man's relationship with God as
related by Holy Scripture, the following are a few examples of man's widely proclaimed "free will"
- Mankind's Fall from Grace
- Cain killed Abel
- The Tower of Babel
- The reason for the great flood
- The Golden Calf
- The 40 year Exodus in the wilderness
- David & Bathsheba
- Samson & Delilah
- Sodom & Gomorrah's destruction
- The exile to Babylon
- The crucifixion of Jesus, the Christ
- etc., etc.
The results of man exercising his "free will" are readily apparent. Also shown most clearly is that this exercise of "free will" leads man away from God not towards Him.
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Free will and salvation
page updated 03/17/2011.