Where In The Bible Will I Find:
The Free Agency Of Man?
Man has been created in the image of God; given
power to purpose, plan, and execute his plans. Man has been left free to direct
his own course. It is true that man needed the revelation of God's will to know
what is the best course to follow. The prophet said, "0 Jehovah, I know
that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps" (Jer. 10:23).
Furthermore, man has been warned against that way
which seems right to himself, "There is a way which seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 16:25). Yet
with this warning, man is still left free to choose whether he will follow his
own way or be guided by divine wisdom. There could be no condemnation of sin if
man was not free to act. God would be unjust to condemn man for choosing a
certain course if man was not free to make the choice.
All the responsibilities that rest upon man
emphasize the fact that man is free to act. God does not force man to serve
Him. Man is free to either accept and obey God's plan of salvation and be
saved, or reject it and be lost. At no time did God limit the power of man to
choose whether he would obey or disobey. When Jesus gave the commission for His
gospel to be preached "to the whole creation," He said, "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall
be damned" (Mark 16:16).
This shows that God left man free to believe or
disbelieve, to obey or disobey, to follow Him or to rebel against Him. Today,
man wants to be saved, but on his own terms; he rejects God's ways and
substitutes his own ways; he wants to be saved by "faith only,"
"belief only," or thinks there is nothing for a man to do to be
saved, that God will save whom He chooses. Does not this make God a respecter
of persons? GOD IS NOT A RESPECTER OF PERSONS (I Peter 1:17). Salvation is
conditional, conditioned on our hearing it, believing it, accepting it, and
obeying it. Man is responsible for the way he chooses.
