Ligonier Ministries
Ligonier MinistriesIf God predestines people to salvation, then what about free will? Doesn’t the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination override human free will? What about choice? Considering the doctrine of divine election in this message, Dr. Sproul discusses some of the fundamentally wrong assumptions people have when they think of free will.
This is the 3rd in a series of messages by Dr. Sproul on God’s salvation. See other videos in the series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30acyfm60fXGiDrDfncbzQgFZ-X-GYyz
Own this series on DVD: http://www.ligonier.org/store/chosen-by-god-dvd/?mobile=off
Learn more about Dr. R.C. Sproul: http://www.ligonier.org/about/rc-sproul/
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32 Comments
@cal30m1
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMConcerning Leighton’s explanation of Romans 10:21, (2;20 min mark) What is the purpose of asking God to save someone (or a whole nation) if their salvation is based upon their free will to choose God? Does Leighton think Paul is asking God to violate their free will and change their heart of stone to a heart of flesh? Or is Leighton asking God to give Israel the GIFT of faith as in Ephesians 2:8-9? Leighton may lose his “Free Will”, “Provisionalist” card!
@leumasco30
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMBoring… all that talk to get nowhere.
@jimmy5634
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMIt’s very simple.
“Free Will” is God’s gift to his created man which affords him the ability to choose God or reject Him.
This can be intentional or unintentional.
Intentional is blasphemy and is referred to as “the unforgivable sin.”
@llednaselyod8048
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMCan the clay say to the Potter why have you made me this way? GOD predestined us from before the foundation of time to be Saved or for destruction. He is Holy Holy Holy.
@PillowCaseDog
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMSo Calvinists believe a baby that dies young has been already predestined for hell?
@Victoria_Loves_Jesus
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMno choices happens spontaneously
we make choices because of things that are happening to us around us
@johnstewart4350
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AM"They were not called by the name "I will pardon them whom I reserve" !! Ps: You cannot have Calvinism and Armenianism outside Biblical Doctrine. One is true, the other is false !!
@kristineglapa6397
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMThey reject Yeshua because God hasn't opened them up spiritually
@kristineglapa6397
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMGod describes it
@MaicaZhott
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMThis is sooooooo good……I am almost persuaded
@DCFNETWORKS
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMThis is awesome ✝️
@ChrisC-sv3rl
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMWhy are we told to obey if its not an option? Why are there rewards for obedience and sacrifice, if its not your choice? How can you be warned about leaving the faith, if thats out of your control? How can you be corrected, when its not your fault? If there is no free will, there is no responsibility. If there is no responsibility, rewards and punishment are arbitrary.
@raynoble5985
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMToday most churches put man’s will above God’s which is blasphemy
@paulrodriguez9536
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMWow
@MaryMyers-nd8uw
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMRC ROCKS. TOO BAD HE IS NO LONGER HERE BUT IM HAPPY HE IS WITH THE LORD. WHAT A TREASURE. THANK YOU RC ❤
@CarmenCastille
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMOnly God is free
Free people have no one to answer to. Obviously if we were free, we would have no consequences no aging no command to WORSHIP. Anyone who cannot decide their own future consequences is under someone, the total opposite of free.
@michelleseale3635
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMVery thankful to God for RC Sproul,and John MacAuther both for pulling me out of false doctrine.
@thyeconomy
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMtrying to reconcile all existence to the scriptures is truly a career.
@lostat400
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMIf we mean by free will that fallen man has the ability to chose as he wants, then of course he has free will. If we mean by that term that man in his fallen state has the moral power and ability to choose righteousness, then free will is far to grandiose a term to apply to fallen man. Every choice that we make is free, and every choice that we make is determined, but what determines it is me, and this we call self-determination.
It is caused by something else.
Determinism means that things happen to me strictly by virtue of external forces. In addition to external forces that are factors in determining what happens to us, there are also internal forces that are determining factors. If my choices flow out of my disposition, and out of my desires, and if my actions are an effect that have causes and reasons behind them, then my personal desire, in a very real sense, determines my personal choices. If my desires determine my choice, how then can I be free? Self determination is not the denial of freedom, but the essence of freedom. For the self to be able to determine, its own choices, is what free will is all about.
To be able to choose what you want. The problem with sinners, is that sinners can do, what the sinner wants to do. Where is the problem? The problem, is in the root of the desires of the heart.
When we talk about moral ability, we talk about the ability to be righteous as well as to be sinful. Man was created with the ability to be righteous, or to be sinful, but man has fallen, and because he is, he no longer has the ability in and of himself to be perfect, because he is born in sin.
@lostat400
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMFree moral agents always act according to the strongest inclination they have at the moment of choice. There is a reason for every choice that we make, and we always act according to the strongest inclination of the moment.
@lostat400
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMFree Will is the mind choosing. The mind and the will are inseparably related, we do not make moral choices without the mind approving the direction of our choice. That is one of the dimensions that is closely related to the biblical concept of conscience; that the mind is involved in moral choices. For example: If I become aware of certain options, and if I prefer one over the other, To have a preference, before I can make the choice, I have to have some awareness of what those options are, for it to be a moral decision.
@lostat400
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMIf our choices are made purely spontaneously, without any prior inclination, without any prior disposition, in a sense what we are saying, is that there is no reason for the choice. That there is no motivation or motive for the choice. It just happens spontaneously. And if that is the way our choices operate, then we immediately face this problem. How could such a choice have any moral significance to it?
@franuche
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMGen. 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Abraham had the moral ability to believe God, and God credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham could’ve chosen not to believe God, but he didn’t.
Sproul is mistaken that we can only choose our greatest desire. This is proven false by people who are brave in battle. Their greatest desire is peace and to live full lives with their loved ones, but they consider it a duty to sacrifice their own welfare for a greater good. We often choose something we don’t want because it is the right thing, precisely because we have the moral ability and consider it a moral responsibility.
@jimmattson8008
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMMy Calvinist friend told me that I have no free will. Unfortunately, I don't listen to men. I listen to the words of God. 👍
@teeemm9456
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMWhy not just read the bible and use it to determine where "free will" stands, since it's not really addressed. This is a long winded explanation to say, presuppositions determine Calvinistic views, held by Sproul, Edwards, and those seeking to justify flawed doctrines inherited from Luther and Calvin through Augustine and his pre-Christian roots. The contingent of God's grace rests on faith (not made up election), as expressed in Romans and Ephesians, where faith precedes God's grace.
Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
Eph 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,"
It's sad that so many intelligent people held or hold on to terrible doctrines and have risen to prominence in Christianity.
@relaxfrequencymodulation1795
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMnice thank you
@colman.
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMReflexiones personales que me llevo de este video:
-Hay veces que nos ocurren cosas injustas o somos "víctimas" del mal del mundo, pero esto siempre tiene un significado. Dios espera que de aquella situación desfavorable surja algo mejor mejor de lo que teníamos hasta entonces, como si fuera un "renacer".
-Si supuestamente nuestras acciones las llevamos a cabo sin alguna intención detrás, ¿Qué significado moral podrían llegar a tener nuestra acciones? ¿Acaso existiría un bien o un mal? Porque lo que más determina esto no es solo el resultado de nuestras acciones, sino la intención detrás de aquello.
-Es imposible que nuestras decisiones no tengan una intención previa ya que sino ni siquiera nos tomaríamos el trabajo de decidir por alguna opción, simplemente nos quedaríamos paralizados. Y nuestras intenciones detrás de nuestras decisiones surgen de nuestra forma de ver al mundo, la cual es formada por varios factores y experiencias que pasamos a lo largo de nuestra vida, lo que nos lleva también a la conclusión de que no somos ni buenos ni malos por naturaleza, sino que lo somos por "adaptación".
-El "Determinismo" significa que nuestras vidas están guiadas por fuerzas externas y no podemos hacer nada para controlarlo.
-Ser libres de verdad es elegir lo que nosotros de verdad queremos para nuestras vidas. Esto quiere decir que de alguna forma los pecadores también son libres, ya que pecan de manera libre ya que es lo que ellos quieren hacer en aquel momento.
Esto por una parte significa que la raíz del pecado nace del libre albedrío, ya que en nuestra libertad nosotros más de una vez habremos cometido un pecado, pero es parte de nuestra naturaleza. Dios nos dio el libre albedrío para elegir lo que nosotros queramos ya que Él quería tener una relación con nosotros, quería que Él elijamos amarlo, y Él nos dio el libre albedrío porque nos ama, ya que Él quiere que seamos capaces de elegir lo que nosotros de verdad queremos para nuestra vida aunque no este en sus planes y le duela.
-Nosotros tenemos libre albedrío, pero perdimos la libertad. Cuando nos dejamos llevar por nuestros deseos carnales caemos en el pecado, y este pecado nos "ata" y nos volvemos esclavos de el. La verdadera libertad existe cuando nos liberamos del pecado y elegimos lo que nuestro corazón de verdad quiere.
@NinjaMag
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMGod created the universe with His Free Will, He in His Authority freely predetermined.
@MeederTom
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMWho came first? Sproul or Columbo?
@morriswilburn9858
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMOver the years, I have studied the Bible regarding this matter. As best I can figure out, repentance is necessary for salvation. Scripture also teaches that repentance is a “gift” from God. But God does not grant that gift to everyone. Multiple verses in the NT contain the phrase “in the hope that God will grant them repentance” or “if God grants them repentance”. Reinforcing this, through the Gospels Christians are referred to as “the elect”, with the only logical implication being that some people are not elected. But I am very undecided as to how God makes the decision of whom to extend the gift of salvation.
@troycarpenter3675
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMFree will is what Adam and Eve had. Every single person after them have had a sin nature that required God the Father to send God the Son down to take our place in judgement. We are given the ability to accept or reject that precious gift. Whosoever does mean whosoever. Thank you Lord Jesus
@RAlSED2LIFE
02/13/2025 - 2:58 AMThis group of Calvanist took a few scriptures and tried to translate the rest of the bible to conform to their beliefs about those scriptures. Seems like they can't make any good arguments that are based in scripture to support their beliefs. When you look at who God is throughout the entire Bible and you come into a relationship with Jesus, you cannot come to the conclusion that God created most people to burn in Hell.