The Proclaimer

The Choice Is Yours

The Bible clearly teaches the free moral agency of man and his own accountability based upon the choices that he makes.  There is a tendency by many to try to blame others for their shortcomings rather than accepting the responsibility themselves.  Such was the case with the children of Israel.  The Israelites had a proverb: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”  They used this proverb to place the blame for their disobedience upon an earlier generation.  But God told them, “As I live, saith Jehovah, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.  Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:2-4).

To be sure, their fathers had sinned in times past and the consequence of that sin had affected the present generation of Hebrews.  Many of their present distresses were, “Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked with other gods” (Jer. 16:11).  But while God acknowledged the sins of their fathers, He tells them, “ye have done evil more than your fathers” (v. 12).  The influence of one generation, both good and bad, upon another is clear.  Parents bear responsibility for teaching their children as well as providing the proper example.  And when the parents are not what they ought to be in the sight of God, we ought not be surprise if the children turn out to be like their parents, or even worse.

But the children are not held accountable for the shortcomings of their fathers.  Jeremiah answers the proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.  But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge” (Jer. 31:29, 30).  As Ezekiel put it, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezek. 18:20).

Augustine, and Calvin after him, contended that the enslavement of sin has so affected man that he is incapable of exerting any real freedom of choice and is, therefore, totally dependent upon the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit to submit to the will of God.  But the Bible teaches no such thing.  While it is true, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10; Psa. 14:3), the fact is, we cannot blame anyone else for our sin.  The choice to obey or reject God is our own to make.  Certainly we are influenced by others to either obey or reject His commands, but ultimately the decision is ours.

We have the ability to choose to do right or to do wrong.  But with “ability” comes “responsibility” to choose to do right.  If there is no “ability” to respond, there is no “responsibility.”  “Responsibility” also implies “accountability.”  In fact, “accountability” is, perhaps, the greatest argument for free moral agency.  God holds each of us accountable for the choices we make. “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).

“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching where unto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17, 18).              

                                                                                         -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer