Before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they were perfect, holy, and without sin. Had they never sinned, they would have lived forever in perfect communion with God. Without sin in the world, generation after generation of their descendants would have been born holy and righteous, destined to live in the presence of God for all eternity. That was God’s will—that all men and women would be born righteous and without sin and would have everlasting life. But as we know, sin and death entered into the world when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit. The question that must be asked is this: Are we to believe that before sin entered the world, God wanted all men and women to be saved, but then after sin entered into the world, God wanted only certain men and women to be saved? Malachi 3:6 answers this question with an emphatic “No!”: “For I am the LORD, I change not.”
While the Bible certainly speaks of predestination, it does not say that people are predestined to faith in God and in his Son, Jesus. In fact, the Bible is clear that every person must decide on their own if Jesus truly is the Son of God. In other words, everyone must answer the same question that Jesus asked of his disciples: “But whom say ye that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). It is your choice, your decision to make. God will not answer that question for you. God gave every person the freedom to choose how they answer that question. But make no mistake, every person must give an answer. Importantly, it is God’s will and desire that you come to a point where you can answer that question the same way Peter did: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
Below are certain scriptures that teach the doctrine of Free Will — that God gives us the freedom to choose whether we will believe in Jesus and be saved or whether we will reject him and bring upon ourselves the wrath of God. These and many other scriptures are presented and explained in the book Am I Predestined? Or Free to Choose? by author Craig Reid.
God’s Will for Salvation
The Bible makes it clear that God’s will and desire is that all men and women would be saved. First Timothy 2:4 tells us that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” This message is repeated in 2 Peter 3:9 which says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God’s Offer of Salvation
The Bible is also clear that Jesus died for all men and women, and that salvation is offered to all mankind. First John 2:2 states, “And [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The Unbeliever’s Blind Heart
The Bible tells us that it is not God that blinds the hearts of unbelievers, it is Satan. Second Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world [i.e., Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Compare that to Acts 26:16-18, where Jesus told Saul he was sending him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”
The Rejection of the Gospel
In the parable of the sower, Jesus says, “A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it” (Luke 8:5). Jesus explains the parable, saying, “Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). The important point is this: Satan caused these people to reject the gospel. Had Satan not taken the Word of God out of the people’s hearts, they would have been saved.
The Rejection of God
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of every person to either accept the gospel of Jesus Christ or reject it. “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return…The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD” (Jeremiah 8:5,9). This is why Joshua so famously told the children of Israel, “choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
God Is Not a Respecter of Persons
“For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11; see also Acts 10:34, Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 3:25, 1 Peter 1:17). If God is not a respecter of persons, how could he predestine one group of people to faith and salvation and another group to unbelief and condemnation? The answer: he couldn’t.
God’s Purpose for Hell
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Hell was not created for mankind; it was created for Satan and his angels. God’s will and desire has always been that no man or woman would ever go there.