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Well, I think that we need to be careful that we do not make just a general statement that God is going to sort of win at the end the fulfillment of predestination, because the term as used in Scripture, we keep hearing terms about free will, and I'll ask again, where does the Bible talk about man's free will?
It talks about man's inabilities, no man is able to do this, no man can submit himself to the law of God, no man can hear the words of God unless he belongs to God. Where are the passages that talk about free will, that man has an autonomous free will?
I know where the passages are where God has a free will, he does whatever pleases him. Well, I'll ask Edward in a moment. But I would just point out that the concept of predestination is very personal in Scripture.
It's not just some theological construct, but it is very personal. God knows us, that foreknowing that is found in Romans 8, that you started the program with, is a very personal thing. From eternity, he enters into a relationship.
We did not even exist yet, and yet from God's perspective, there is certainty as to what he's going to do in bringing us unto himself. That's why the objections are raised in Romans chapter 9. The very objections that people have against this doctrine are the ones that Paul responds to.
And when he responds to them, he says, in essence, what shall we say? Is there any unrighteousness with God? May it never be. For to Moses he says, I will, and it's literally, it's not I will have mercy.
Mercy is a verb in Greek. I will mercy whom I will mercy, and I will harden who I will harden.
I'm just looking at your Bible down there. Is it all in Greek? Yes. Very impressed.
The whole point is that this idea of having mercy and having compassion, he himself says, therefore, verse 16, it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running or struggling or trying, but of the mercying God.
So when Paul answers this question, he places it squarely in the mercying action of God, not in the will of man. And that's, I think, what we need to focus upon in looking at these texts.
Right. Tricia, I'm going to let you go. Thank you so much for phoning. Thank you. God bless. Okay. Edward, let me come back, because James said, I don't know of any scriptures which talk of man's free will.
Yes. Well, I will bring it down to the way it is interpreted. I think it is the issue about interpretation that we are talking about here, because when I was speaking, I was talking about right from the time of the Garden of Eden, man was told that he is not supposed to eat the fruit of the tree that was in the garden.
In other words, he could eat the fruit. The consequence is, the day you eat it, you are going to die. In other words, it is just like any other scripture. If I say, touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm, it means that the anointed could be touched, but don't touch them.
So if he says, don't eat the fruit of the tree, it means that fruit could be eaten. Now, man wanting to eat the fruit or man not wanting to eat the fruit, that is where the issue about will comes in. And so I will not say that there is a scripture particularly that will say that man's will could be exercised, whether it comes into a choice of taking God in salvation or not.
But God has given us this thing, which makes us, that's why Moses was telling the Israelites, choose whom you will serve. Joshua said the same thing, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You have a choice, and that is where I pin it down to will.
