In Norman Geisler’s book, Chosen But Free, Geisler explains how God’s sovereignty and free will form a balanced equation. Throughout the book he explains how, even though God has given mankind the ability of freewill, our Heavenly Father also knows what we are going to chose. Some people try to argue that this means that we are really not freely choosing then, but as Geisler points out in chapter eight, Seeking a biblical balance, “God’s predestination and human free choice are a mystery but not a contradiction. They go beyond reason, but not against reason. That is, they are not contradictory, but neither can we see exactly how they are complementary.”
In the latter part of chapter eight, Geisler points out that many great men such as Augustine, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas all held the view that there is a “balanced solution” that comes from the preknowledge yet freely chosen view. On page 154, Geisler explains the “overall logic of the balanced view” by showing the logic of the, “view that God knows for certain (=predetermined) precisely how we will use our freedom (=freely determined).”
I unquestionably agree with the above statements. Of course God in omniscient, meaning that He knows everything that was and is and will happen, but He also gave mankind the ability to freely make choices for their lives. I believe that God loved us, His very own creation, so much that He allowed mankind to make their own decisions. As mentioned on page 155, as humans, we have the “authority over [one’s] own will” (1 Cor. 7:37 NASB).By making their own decisions, mankind was being allowed to choose God, to put their trust in their Heavenly Father, but at the same time, God already knew who was going to accept Him and who was going to reject Him. How could he be all knowing and not know who was going to accept Him or reject Him? It just comes along with the territory.
Salvation is a gift that mankind was given so we could either freely accept or to freely decline it. In Appendix Five, Is Faith a Gift Only to the Elect?, Geisler takes verses out of the Bible that can be controversial and clarifies them by explaining the Greek meaning of the words. Take for instance Ephesians 2: 8-9, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Extreme Calvinists look at the words like “it” and interpret it as faith, making the meaning of the verse that God’s gift to mankind is their faith, indicating God only gave certain people the faith to choose. But like Geisler points out on page 229 and 230, because of the different feminine and neuter Greek words used in the text, Paul was using the “it” to mean salvation, and not faith. In that, salvation is the gift. We can freely choose to accept His gift of salvation, or we can freely choose to reject His gift of salvation, just like we can freely chose to accept or decline a gift that a friend has given us.
Geisler has put together many arguments throughout this book and clearly responded to them in a logical way. Through his use of Scripture, I think his book, Chosen but Free, is an extremely good resource in which would really help many people to sort out their questions on the topic of election or predetermination.
Geisler, Norman L. Chosen but Free: a Balanced View of God's Sovereignty and Free Will. 3rd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2010. Print.
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