Free Will

Christian inquirer asks: “I don't understand predestination when Jesus said ‘Jerusalem…How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen…. but you were not willing,’ doesn't that imply we have free will?”

Answer: Two important Bible doctrines as backdrop to your question must be kept in mind. The Bible teaches both of these truths.

First, the Bible teaches God's Sovereignty. God is in complete control of every action and reaction of men and things; His will unfolds according to His pleasure and plan (Ephesians 1:11). He grants salvation to all whom He chooses, on the basis of His good pleasure, not because of the exercise of man’s faith or good deeds foreseen (Ephesians 1:4-5). Also, importantly, the Bible teaches that God is a personal being, not a force or impersonal power. He's named Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Second, the Bible teaches man's responsibility. Man has the responsibility to believe in Jesus Christ, to repent and serve the Lord. (“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.) Man must call on the Lord. That's his responsibility, this includes repentance from sin and to turn in faith to Jesus Christ to love Him, and in that turning to Christ, man then follows in discipleship living out His commandments. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my command-ments” (John 14:15). This faith and repentance is God’s gracious gift (Eph. 2:8-9).

Both of these doctrines are taught in the Bible. They must be taught with equal weight, with equal proportion. If we neglect one, we damage both. If we try to present halvs-ies of each, (God’s part and man’s part), we lose both. The Bible holds these two truths as mates, as parallel points, and equal in importance. They are set in Scripture side by side.

And they work together in such a way, that only God knows their finest, detailed inner-workings; this is mysterious. In this, we're taught that God is big enough, wise enough, to figure out their exact relationship; we cannot. We leave the finer inner-workings of these things to Him (Deut. 29:29).

Now, specifically to answer your question: In the case of Matthew 23:37 as you quoted, Jesus issues His offer to save Jerusalem. The offer is genuine, well-meant, gracious and loving. It's tender. The Lord is seen here as a hen, a mother. This indicates warm-hearted affection. Yet in His offer, He remains the Sovereign Savior, the One in complete control of Jerusalem and the actions of this city's men and women. Some might see our Lord’s offer in light of Jerusalem’s refusal as disingenuous, that He only looks as if He’s desirous of her repentance. But the Bible doesn’t use language in Matthew 23:27 indicating an appearance or surface exhibition of His will to save. Rather, the duplication of Jerusalem, with the sigh, “O Jerusalem,” indicates sincerity. Here, the two important truths from above line up side by side: His Sovereign will desirous to save, man’s responsibility to repent.

Jerusalem's unwillingness to be gathered to the Lord is their choice. The freedom they choose to exercise as an unwilling people is freedom that they themselves express. From this, we learn that men and women have a will, and they have the ability to choose what they desire. Joshua 24:15 says, “…choose for yourselves...”

These ones of Jerusalem, however, are unwilling to be gathered to Him (Matthew 23:37), because they do not have the desire to come to Jesus. They don't have the desire to repent, and that's what the Bible teaches about sinful man being in bondage to his own sin and how he is dead in his sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1-2). Unless God makes the sinner alive to Himself, he will never have a desire to come to Christ.

The whole human race, apart from God's work, has no desire for the Lord, and it cannot come to Christ (Romans 8:8). Man is lost, dead and turned away from Him. It's this very desire, interestingly, that shows such freedom and it keeps men and women away from Christ. Sinful man has freedom to choose what he desires and freedom to refuse what he doesn’t; and he is constantly refusing to come to Christ. It’s precisely as Jesus tells the residents of Jerusalem, “but you were not willing.” They were not willing because God had not given them a desire for Christ. Their sinful ways—in this case, their spite and hatred for the prophets—showed their hardness, and God had given them what they wanted: coldness about Jesus.

So, what does God do to bring some to salvation, to bring them to desire salvation? He decides, He determines that for some of the lost He provides His work of predestinating grace. Before the beginning of time, He put His love on those He wills to save. In the course of their human existence, He works in them to change their desire about Christ and His saving love. This is the work of grace. It’s grace at work in the inner man. The Bible teaches that God's way of controlling men and women and their choices, actions, and decisions does not violate their freedom, but it does change their freedom to a freedom that chooses Christ. Their will is not coerced or manipulated or controlled as like a puppet on a string. But it is made free drawing the lost sinner, nurturing the lost sinner to come and take freely of Christ. God must give him a new heart, with new desires, and new choices.

How does God work in the heart and will of a man changing his desire and choice and willingness---without coercion or manipulation? I do not know. The Bible presents the fact that God works this way, but how? I do not know. But what we can say is that the Bible teaches that it’s done in such a way that God remains completely in control, and man's freedom is genuinely his freedom (see for example, Phil. 2:12-13). God works in the heart, man is acted on, and that same man is freely made willing without coercion. This is the mysterious part. God remains God drawing the sinner to Himself (John 6:44); and man freely chooses to come, and freely, he takes of the water of life (Revelation 22:17). Again, a mystery of God's gracious ways!

“...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13). What a verse! It’s the blend of man's responsibility and God's complete, sovereign, work.

Is this sovereign way of God fair? We often wonder about fairness. We must remember to ask, does God owe anyone anything? He's the Sovereign One. He's the Creator. He's the One who is in charge of all things and all men and women. Particularly we wonder, if God is willing to work grace in the hearts of some men and women and change their desire to choose Him, why doesn't He do that for all, for every last human? We have to answer, “We don't know why He's that way; it’s His good pleasure.” And this points us to grace. He gives grace because He wishes to give grace. We must note this: Just because He determines to grant grace to some does not require Him to supply saving grace to all. Grace is grace. Grace is never required; grace is God's good way of giving a new heart to whom He will. Amazing grace! The apostle Paul taught in speaking of God's determination to work in some and not in all: “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy” (Romans 9:15). God answers to no one.

As Jesus cried out to men of Jerusalem in His day, still He cries to all today, “Come.” And the Bible summons all, requiring all to repent and believe in Him. Anyone who calls on Him shall be saved. God so works His will for salvation and in His working, sinful man freely wants it. Come, take of the water of life this day! Amen!

This has been super long. Your question has been seen in Christendom as a crucial one; it’s a question for the ages, and needs thoughtful work from the Bible. I hope this helps.


G. Mark Sumpter