Bible Basics

Man and Choice

Many passages teach we are saved by faith (Eph. 2:8; Rom. 5:1, 2; John 3:16; etc.). But is our faith a human response to evidence presented; i.e., something we must do? Or is faith something God does for us? As an overreaction to man being saved by a system of works whereby man earned his salvation, a doctrine developed in the Reformation that excluded man from having any part in his own salvation. This theology was based on the faulty premise that man was so depraved he was incapable of responding to God; that God had elected certain individuals to be saved and would, therefore, impart a miraculous outpouring of grace, or faith, or the Spirit on this person to save him. At the very heart of this theology is the notion that the sovereignty of God is totally incompatible with the free moral agency of man. At first glance, this theology seems to glorify God in so far as it places all human events in God’s hands, thus relieving man of having any choice in life at all. Man is relegated to a robotic state that either serves God or rebels against Him according to God’s predetermination. But Scripture denies this concept, for one thing is certain from Genesis to Revelation: man is accountable to God and will be judged according to his actions (2 Cor. 5:10). Man’s accountability demands free moral agency.

                                                                                                               -- Clark Dugger

Bible Basics