A Special Word about Free Will

Although “God is not willing that any should perish,” salvation is not God’s only, or even His ultimate, goal. God saves in order to glorify Himself and His Son. Salvation is a means to this further end.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

(Rom 8:29)

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name's sake.

(Psalm 79:9)

Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known.

(Psalm 106:8)

For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.

(Psalm 143:11)

⁹ "For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. … ¹¹ "For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Isaiah (48:9,11)

"But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

(Ezek 20:9)

"But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out.

(Ezek 20:14)

"But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

(Ezek 20:22)

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

(Ezek 36:22)

"So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary

"O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

(Dan 9:17,19)

God’s ultimate purpose is not to preserve the integrity of human free will. God is free to move in the hearts of men and to determine the outcomes of their free decisions.

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

(Prov 21:1)

²² And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

(Ezra 6:22)

²⁷ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, ²⁸ and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

(Ezra 7:27,28)

The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

(Prov 16:1)

18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." 19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? 20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 21 "So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

(Gen 50:18-21)

³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as today.”


(Deut 2:30)

⁵ Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, ⁶ I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. ⁷ Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

¹² So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness." ¹³ For he has said, "By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, For I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants, ¹⁴ And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped." ¹⁵ Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. ¹⁷ And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

(Isaiah 10:5-7, 12-17)

²⁷ "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

(Acts 4:27,28)

²² "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- ²³ this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

(Acts 2:22,23)

God glorifies His mercy and grace more fully by not choosing some but dealing with them only according to justice and merit.

²² What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? ²³ And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

(Rom 9:22-24)