The capacity with which the Creator endowed human beings that enables them to make choices as to whether to obey or to disobey God, to be subject to moral law or not to be subject to it. This endowment precludes the use of force on God’s part to effect a change in human beings. God seeks to draw people to Him, but leaves each person free to decide for himself or herself whether or not to respond. If people choose to ally themselves with God, His will becomes omnipotent in their lives and nothing can keep them from following God’s plan.
Calvinism and Arminianism propose two greatly differing views regarding free will. These views reach far back into church history. Augustine spoke of what he called God’s irresistible grace and absolute foreordination, which would preclude a truly free will. Pelagius, a British monk living in Rome, rejected Augustinianism, declaring that people could rise up and determine to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling. Thus began the unending controversy over divine grace and human free will.
Calvin asserted that God, by an irrevocable decree, had destined certain persons to salvation and others to reprobation, irrespective of their personal choice or attitude. Those thus appointed to salvation would inevitably be saved, and all others as certainly damned. According to Calvin, Jesus Christ did not die for all, but only for those who had thus been elected by God to salvation. Those destined to salvation would be unable to resist the Spirit of God working in their hearts, whereas no desire or effort on the part of those predestined to eternal damnation could possibly avert that fate. To the strict Calvinist, election rests solely on the sovereign good pleasure of God, not on faith or works.
Arminianism, on the other hand, defines predestination as an everlasting decree, in Christ, to make everlasting life available to all sinners who, by His power and grace, accept Jesus Christ and persevere in the good fight of faith ( Eph. 1:3–8 ). God will reject only those who voluntarily refuse the offer of divine grace. According to Arminius, Jesus died for all, and by virtue of His death all are eligible to accept pardon from sin, to find acceptance with God, to remain steadfast to the end, and to enter God’s eternal kingdom. Sin deprived humanity of the capacity to exercise free will; by His death on the cross Christ restored that capacity. Apart from God’s grace human beings are helpless. All good works are a result of this grace, which, though absolutely necessary, is not irresistible. Through this divine grace men and women can be victorious over sin, the world, and the devil.
Numerous modifications of the theories of Calvin and Arminius have come in since their day. Seventh-day Adventists find elements of biblical truth in both Calvinism and Arminianism. Both the OT and the NT stress the freedom of the human will ( Deut. 28:1 , 2 , 13–15 ; Joshua 24:14–25 ; Isa. 1:19 , 20 ; Jer. 18:7–10 ; 29:13 , 14 ; Matt. 7:24–27 ; 23:37 ; Rom. 6:12 , 13 ; 14:10–12 ; 2 Cor. 5:10 ; Rev. 22:17 ).
God, in grace and mercy, desires that all shall be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, but He leaves with humanity the choice of accepting or rejecting His gracious gift. Everyone is therefore responsible for his or her own destiny. The person who chooses to place his or her free will on the side of God’s will, and who wills to keep it there, is invincible “in Jesus Christ.” However, by voluntarily surrendering his or her will to the will of God, a person does not thereby lose the freedom of his or her will. The individual can still choose to break the union with Christ, though no force, temptation, coercion, or deception is able to wrest salvation from the one who chooses to serve the Master by a definite, continual committal and action of the will.