Election and Free Will: What the Bible Says

People struggle with the Biblical teachings of Election (God choosing man) and Free Will (man choosing God). Election and Free Will are parallel doctrines taught in Scripture. People are elected (chosen) by God yet are provided with the free will to accept God’s salvation.

Think of it as a neighborhood baseball game — two captains will choose players for their teams. Captain A chooses Johnny; Captain B chooses Joey. Suddenly, you hear your name. Captain A chose you. Now you decide: do you want to play for Captain A or will you reject his choosing to play for Captain B? Captain A chose you, but you can accept or decline his invitation to play on his team.

A perfect Biblical example is in Luke 19:1–10 — the story of Zacchaeus.

As Jesus passes through Jericho, a crowd follows Him through town. Zacchaeus, a tax collector of short stature, wants to see Jesus. He climbs a sycamore tree to get above the crowd to get a glimpse of Him. When Jesus arrives at “the spot” (Luke 19:5) where Zacchaeus is perched in the tree, Jesus stops, looks up, and calls Zacchaeus to quickly come down because Jesus has chosen him from the crowd to go to his house. Zacchaeus hurriedly comes down out of the tree and gladly receives Jesus into his home (Luke 19:5–6).

The Bible teaches that God elects (chooses) those who are to become followers, just as He chose His disciples and, in this story, chose Zacchaeus from the crowd. It also teaches that God gave man a free will — to choose (or not) to follow Jesus’ calling. Free will is demonstrated throughout Scripture — from Adam and Eve choosing to believe the serpent to Jesus’ disciples choosing to follow Him to Zacchaeus choosing to accept Jesus’ call gladly.

I cannot explain why God chooses whom He does, nor why one person of his own free will chooses to accept and follow God’s call when another person may not. No one else can, either. It’s not about knowing how or why; it’s about choosing to accept Jesus’ call when it comes. You don’t get on the team without Him choosing you but when He does, you can choose to be on His team or not.

A couple of other points from the story: Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Anyone seeking after God will find Him (Proverbs 8:17; Matthew 7:7; Matthew 6:33). If God has placed a desire in your heart to seek Him, He has promised to reveal Himself to you.

Lastly, Zacchaeus chose Jesus’ invitation gladly and repented from his sinful life (verses 8, 9). When you accept Jesus’ election, you want to repent (turn your life around) to follow Him.

If Jesus calls you, accept His gift of eternal life, His salvation from eternal judgment, and His act of grace of forgiveness from the sin that separates you from Him. You get all of that with His election, but only by choosing to accept it with your free will.