Articles

Romans Chapter 9​​​​​​​

 

The prayer to accept Christ is it an independent decision? Could a person’s decision to believe in Christ be affected by one’s life experiences? Would it be easier for one to accept Christ living in one environment compared to another living in a different environment? If this is true, has God been fair to those who are born in an environment more difficult to accept Christ? For the bible tells us that even before the foundation of the earth, God had already prearranged the paths we would take in our lives.

The account of the Lord’s death on the cross together with two robbers in the Gospel of Luke will help us better understand what man’s free will is:

‘One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."’ ~Lk 23:39-43

The two criminals nailed to the left and right of Jesus were both under the death penalty. They lived a life of sin and probably robbed and killed countless people. From their conversation, they must have known each other and could even be partners in crime. Now, they had been captured by the Roman government and sentenced to be crucified on the cross, to repay for the sins they had committed. No one would pity them because they were made to serve their due punishment. However, God took pity on them, in His mercy, He offered them the final opportunity to be saved. He arranged the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, to be nailed together with them before they died.

Regrettably, one of the criminals even on the verge of death continued to hurl insults at Jesus without any signs of remorse. All he wanted was to be released from his punishment and never for a moment did he feel he was deserving of the sentence. The other criminal, on the other hand, was deeply sorrowful and remorseful for his sinful deeds. He fully understood that it was God punishing him for the sins he had committed. All the pains and sufferings he had brought to others were now being repaid upon him, to be crucified on the cross was only just and fair. Feeling guilty and ashamed of his sins he repented before God. At the same time, he believed that the person whom he was nailed with was truly the Christ – the Saviour of the world. He further pleaded with Jesus to remember him when His kingdom came – a worthless sinner once crucified alongside Him. And because of this sinner’s repentance, by turning to Christ just before he died, he was now forever with the Lord Jesus in paradise.

Both of the criminals committed the same crime, both nailed alongside Jesus, and both bestowed the same grace and opportunity. But only one chose repentance and believed in Christ, while the other rejected the Lord; therefore, one was saved, while the other perished. Though they shared similar experiences, from their choices, we see that going through the same life experiences does not equate to making the same decision, and this is the definition of “free will.” To further elaborate on this point, let us assume there is a pair of twins who grew up in the same environment. They have the same looks, height, weight, intelligence, capabilities and interests. Throughout their lives, they experienced the same pains and joys, made exactly the same choices, and every single thing about them is the same. One day, a Christian shares the gospel message to the twins. After hearing the gospel, both of them understood the message equally well. They knew that they were sinners and also understood the reality concerning heaven and hell. However, at the point of decision to receive Christ, they made the completely opposite decisions. One chose to receive Christ while the other chose to reject Him. This is what it means by “free will.” In spite of having experienced the same guidance by God in their lives, having heard the same gospel, and having experienced the same illumination by the Spirit, the deciding factor to enter heaven or hell still remained a choice of their free will – their personal decision. Although God would have employed all ways and means to lead a person to saving faith, He would never interfere with a person’s freedom to believe in Christ.

God not only wants to save the two robbers on the cross, He also wants to save everyone in the world. The compassion of God to save all of humanity can be found throughout the New Testament, indicated clearly in various passages: “The Lord… not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Pe 3:9) “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (NASB 1Ti 2:4) These passages are straightforward and could not be any clearer. It would be hard for anyone to assign other meanings to them. God genuinely desires all to be saved and has employed all ways to lead everyone to Christ. Through the guidance in one’s life, through the preaching of the gospel by Christians to the whole world, and through the working of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, God exhausts all ways so that He can lead everyone back to Him. God is never biased; He will never arrange opportunity for some to be saved while leaving others without an opportunity to know Him; otherwise, all that have been said in the Bible about God loving everyone would be a lie.

The following passage explains the relationships between God, Christ, the Gospel and Man:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” ~Jn 3:16-21

The passage clearly declares that God loves everyone in the world and He has loved us to the extent of sacrificing His one and only Son for us. Such that whosoever is willing to believe in Him can enter heaven freely and needs not suffer the punishment of hell. God did not send Jesus to the world to condemn sinners; rather, He intended to save the world through faith in Jesus. However, there are many who have yet to turn to Christ, because they are unwilling to forsake the pleasures of sin. They loathe the salvation of God and would instead choose to continue pursuing a life of sin, and because of that, they are condemned. God does not want to see this happening, for He wants all to receive His salvation to be saved and none to perish.

Whether a person can be saved, lies in his attitude towards “light” and “darkness.” “Light” represents holiness and righteousness, “darkness” represents evil and wickedness. To love the “light” means to flee from evil, to repent, to turn to Christ, and to live a holy and righteous life henceforth; to love “darkness” is to reject Christ and to continue living a life of sin. Just like the two criminals on the cross, although God made arrangements for the both of them to come to the salvation of Christ, one chose “light” while the other chose “darkness.” Therefore, one was saved and the other perished.

Some followers of Calvinism interpret verses concerning “For God so loved the world” as “For God only loved those He had elected in the world” and narrowed the scope of God’s love. Why did they need to do this? In the five points of Calvinism lies a big loophole, without the loophole covered up, Calvinism simply cannot stand. According to the first point “total depravity,” second point “unconditional election,” and fourth point “irresistible grace,” it states that mankind is so utterly corrupt that they are completely helpless and have even lost the ability to turn to Christ. Therefore, God has to use His sovereign will to predestine a selected group of people from the world and give to them irresistible grace so that these individuals could turn to Jesus. If these points are true, then God did not mean it when He said that He did not desire anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance and be saved. This is because if Calvinism is correct, surely everyone in the world would have come to believe in Christ! Since God with His desire to save the world, He would without a doubt bestow His irresistible grace to everyone on earth, causing everyone to turn to Christ and be saved. However, we did not see this happening in the real world. On the contrary, those who are saved are a small minority. Therefore, the followers of Calvinism, for the sake of protecting their teachings, had to alter passages found in the bible concerning “God loves everyone in the world” and changed them to “God only loves those He elected in the world.” Only by doing so, to believe that God loves exclusively those He has elected, and not everyone, it could then be possible to explain the small number of believers in the world today.

If “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” is God’s genuine desire and yet we continue to find that the number of believers in the world today are not many, it could then only be attributed to one explanation. A person’s decision to believe in Christ is not made under God’s influence, instead, it is made from the person’s own free will. This explains why even though God desires the whole world to be saved, only few are saved, this is because only a small number of people are willing to believe in Jesus. This is consistent with what happens in the real world and agrees with the truths found in the bible.

If the choice of whether to believe in Christ is made out of free will, Calvinism’s first point of man is totally corrupt to the extent of being unable to believe in Christ would not stand. Followed by the second point that God had only chosen a selected group of people to be saved, and the fourth point that God’s grace cannot be refused, would all become invalid. Even the third point that Jesus died only for those He had elected would be false. This would have called for the end of the Calvinist school of thought, how then could its advocates not be compelled to alter the meaning of all the bible verses concerning “God so loved the world” to “God only loved those He had elected in the world”?

From the very beginning we have made it clear that no matter how profound a doctrine, if it contradicts the bible, we have to discard it. We must never for the sake of man’s philosophies, distort clear biblical truths. Some followers of Calvinism for the sake of preserving their teachings, have deliberately distorted God’s truth, and have brazenly reduced the magnitude of God’s love for the world, and caused the world to doubt the sincerity of His love for them.

All who have experienced God’s love can fully testify how great the love of God is for the world. For He has loved us to the extent of sacrificing His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross! How then could we deny our conscience and speak against the truth, and claimed that God did not really love all of us in the world?