1 Corinthians 2:8 “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Does God allow mankind to have free choices in life?
Can people choose between life or death, salvation or eternal judgement? For those who read the Bible, the reasonable conclusion is that God does leave all kinds of choices up to people, including the option to receive His grace or reject it.
Acts 17:30-31 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Molinism is a belief system that tries to balance God’s control with human free will using the idea of middle knowledge. Unlike Calvinism, it lets people make choices that fit within God’s foreknowledge. Named after its founder, Luis de Molina, a 16th-century Jesuit priest, Molinism offers a unique perspective on divine providence and human free will.
Matthew 11:21-24 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”
Do you see the evidence of God’s knowledge and man’s free will? God acknowledges that if the same works that had been done in Bethsaida were also done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. God demonstrates what’s called ‘counterfactual knowledge’, in that He acknowledges decisions that would have been made based off a different set of circumstances.
To elaborate, Molinism suggests that God’s knowledge is not limited to merely knowing what has happened or what will happen. It also includes knowing what could happen under different circumstances. This means God perfectly knows every possible outcome of every possible decision each free creature could make in any given situation. Therefore, Molinism provides a robust framework that harmonizes the divine orchestration of events (God’s sovereignty) with the meaningful choices made by free creatures (human free will).
Is this view Biblical?
Philemon 1:14 “But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will.”
We know that God’s people have choices to either be found faithful or walk in disobedience. People have the choice to either accept or reject God’s free offer of salvation.
The Calvinist doctrine would say people don’t have free will, but I believe the Bible says otherwise.
Calvinism is a theological tradition originating from John Calvin, a French theologian during the Protestant Reformation. It places a strong emphasis on God’s sovereignty, asserting that God is in full control of all events and outcomes, including individual salvation. This perspective leads to the doctrine of predestination, which posits that God has predetermined everything that will happen, including who will be saved and who will not. The Calvinist perspective asserts that God’s sovereign will is the ultimate cause behind all events. For Calvinists, divine sovereignty is so overarching that it even extends to the choices and actions of individuals. This results in a view known as “compatibilism,” which suggests that human free will is compatible with God’s determinative control over human actions. In this view, humans make real choices, but these choices are ultimately determined by God’s sovereign decree.
Sadly, this view places God as the originator of sin, and we know that can’t be true. If God sovereignly ordained for people to sin, then His holiness has been compromised. If the cause of sin is founded in God’s sovereign will, then unbelievers are only pawns of a sick plan to form them for destruction and nothing more.
Divine Knowledge
According to Calvin, when God shows His divine grace in the form of an effectual call, then His predetermined will for the elect has been fulfilled. He claimed the elect are so overwhelmed by God’s divine call, they cannot resist the call and are compelled to believe, thus it is irresistible. The Calvinist would say they had a choice, but that is just word play. If God overwhelms someone to the point of believing, they never really had a choice.
The second call is the common call of God. This is what the calvinist regards as what happens to those who are not predetermined to believe. They never received the overwhelming elective call, so they don’t get the opportunity to receive the grace that is dangled before them. They might hear the gospel, but the Spirit never truly draws them. The wasted effort of the evangelist is an exercise in futility when the message is given to the unelected listener.
In contrast to the Calvinist view of predestination, Molinism suggests a concept known as “conditional election.” This means that God’s choice of who will be saved is based on His foreknowledge of who would freely choose to accept or reject His offer of salvation under any given circumstance.
Let’s look at scripture and see if it supports a particular position.
John 2:2 “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
If we were to write the exhortation of John in Calvinist language it would sound like this….
John 2:2. “He is the propitiation for the elect sins, and not for the elect only but also for the sins of the whole election.”
Does this make sense?
This isn’t just word play, this is what Calvin has claimed.
Here is another example…
John 3:16 “For God so loved the (elect), that He gave His only begotten Son, that for all (elected) who believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life.”
Calvin believes Jesus only died for those who were pre-selected. For the rest of the world, they are left in the darkness of never knowing the true love of God.
Why is this important to understand?
Molinism affirms God’s sovereignty, but maintains that humans possess genuine free will given by God. This means that human beings have the ability to make authentic decisions that are not predetermined or caused by God. Molinism posits that God, through His middle knowledge, knows what any free creature would choose under any given circumstance, and He uses this knowledge to achieve His purposes without infringing upon human free will.
This makes much more sense when looking at the Word of God.
All will bow before God
Unbelievers will fall before a just and holy God and will not argue their case because they did not have the choice of receiving the grace that Jesus afforded. They will be left without excuse because they did see God’s glory and heard the call and yet rejected it. Therefore, God will be glorified in judgement, not accused of being unloving by only offering salvation to some.
Isaiah 5:16 “But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.”
Isaiah 2:11 “The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”
We can read and see the unprofitable servant Jesus illustrated in Matthew 25 who was given a talent that was squandered in fear. He had the choice to take the deposit and act on it but chose not to. Jesus later on described the difference between the sheep and goats as evidenced by their actions. The righteous and the unrighteous are often confirmed by the manner of their belief as evidenced by their actions.
God refutes man for not listening or doing what He says.(Luke 6:46, Lk. 9:5)
Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
God gives mankind the freedom to accept or reject His call. He gives the freedom to receive the Spirit of God and be made righteous or reject the Spirit’s call and walk in unrighteousness. Works reveal the evidence of the heart.
As God gives His elect choices of whether to walk in obedience or disobedience, He gives the unbelievers the same choice.
God is love. His love has been expressed to the entire world and God’s desire is that everyone would be saved. Love doesn’t predetermine some to be created for destruction and others for eternal joy. Love is expressed without a caveat, and people will be left without excuse.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Why would God need to be patient or long-suffering if all He had to do was demonstrate the effectual call to an unbeliever and they would be saved? If grace is irresistible, it wouldn’t take much patience for God to redeem His people.
Resisting the Spirit
There is scriptural evidence of people resisting the work of the Spirit. (Acts 6:10, 7:51-55)
Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
For those who are called, they are allowed to take God’s offer freely. (Rev. 22:17)
God gives mankind the freedom to accept or reject His call. Not some limited call that removes the Spirit but a God ordained, Spirit led conviction.
Acts 10:34 “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”
Mankind has a responsibility to God’s call and His work.
God gives the freedom to accept or reject His work because He is loving. Mankind is warned that our common enemy (Satan) prowls about, looking for those who may be consumed.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Satan is not currently in a bottomless pit but is actively looking to destroy those who have yet to believe. Why would this warning go out if people were never elected in the first place? If the elect are kept by the power of God, why should they fear as well?
The conclusion is this: All people are given the right to become children of God, for all who believe in His name their election is confirmed.
God knew who they would be but He chose to give everyone the opportunity. He is a good God. He doesn’t play favorites with fallen man but He does bless those who have received His grace and rewards His people for their faithfulness.
I love my calvinist friends but I believe we must move on to maturity in our thinking. We must take the Word of God and apply what we read, not take a man’s doctrine and try to fit God’s word into what he claims.
Thanks be to God He has redeemed His people from death to life, and God has given us all the opportunity for eternal life….only in Jesus Christ.
U.T. 