[Please note that I put “free will” in quotation marks because it’s a nonsensical concept that can’t actually exist in reality. This article wasn’t written to prove that fact, though, nor was it written to prove that God is ultimately in control of all things, at least from an absolute perspective (including all sinful and/or evil actions and events). However, if you aren’t already aware of these facts, please go read chapter 3 of my (free) eBook, because I proved all of that in there. In fact, please read the whole book, if you haven’t already, because you’ll learn a lot of scriptural truths you’ve likely never heard taught at your church.]
When I created the above chart and included it in my last article, I predicted that a lot of members of the body of Christ who read it would object to me including “God’s control of all things, including sinful/evil choices and actions” among the list of Secondary Doctrines rather than Primary Doctrines on the chart, and I was absolutely correct in my assumption, because nearly everyone who read it and got back to me told me that I needed to move it to the Primary Doctrines category. This is why I took the time to explain my reasoning for where I placed this issue on the chart before publishing the article, but not everyone read the whole thing before getting back to me after seeing the chart, so I wanted to go into a little more detail here on why I listed it where I did.
First things first, the point of the chart wasn’t about whether something is true or not, so much as it was about what disagreements over doctrine that we should and shouldn’t be willing to break fellowship with other members of the body of Christ over. The Primary Doctrines category was the only category that I believe one should be willing to do so over, which is why I instead placed this issue on the the list of Secondary Doctrines (which are doctrines we should all be 100% in agreement with, but not necessarily separate from one another over if we aren’t, as opposed to Tertiary Doctrines, which we should technically be able to agree to disagree on, even if we should still feel free to defend our positions on such issues).
However, because all members of the body of Christ rightly understand that general salvation (meaning the eventual salvation of all humanity) is not based on a choice we make, but is rather based 100% on Christ’s death for our sins — along with His entombment and resurrection, of course — and also understand that our special salvation (which includes our membership in the body of Christ) is based on God’s choice to gift us with the faith to believe this Good News, meaning it isn’t based on any choice we make either, most of them also assume that this means one can’t believe in the existence of something called “free will” (or believe that God isn’t in control of all things) and also be a member of the body of Christ.
The reason they make this assumption appears to be because they’re also assuming that, if someone believes something called “free will” exists (regardless of how one defines the term “free will”), or believes that God is not 100% behind every action and event that occurs, then our salvation must be based on a choice we make. I’m not sure why they’re making this second assumption, but based on the discussions I’ve had with various believers over the last couple days, it does seem that this assumption is the reason they disagreed with my placement of this issue where I did.
The problem is, a belief in the existence of “free will,” and/or a belief that God might not control absolutely every single thing that happens, doesn’t mean that one has to also believe that everything which happens in the world is based on our supposed “free will” choices, and that would include salvation (both types of salvation, at least when it comes to the types of salvation connected with Paul’s Gospel). You see, someone who believes in “free will,” and/or that God is not 100% in control of everything that happens, is still aware that there are plenty of things which occur that aren’t based on choices at all (be they “free will” choices we supposedly make, or even choices that we were predestined by God to make).
For example, a “free willer” is well aware that water is wet entirely apart from any “free will” choices one might make. They also know that earthquakes happen, as do volcanic eruptions, all apart from any choices they make as well. And likewise, while it might be extremely rare (if it actually happens at all in practice, which it very well might not), someone who believes that something called “free will” exists is technically still capable of understanding that the general salvation of humanity isn’t based on any choices we make at all either (again, be it a “free will” choice, or even a choice we’re predestined by God to make), but is rather based solely on Christ’s death for our sins, entombment, and resurrection on the third day. I’m not sure why so many believers seem to miss this fact, but it is indeed still a fact, even if perhaps just a theoretical one.
And so, as I tried to explain in my follow-up explanation in that article, belief in “free will” could fall under what’s already listed among the Primary Doctrines, but only if someone tried to apply it to salvation (meaning, if someone believed that salvation was based on a choice one has to make to be included in it). So long as one isn’t applying their belief in “free will” to salvation, however (meaning, as long as one understands that general salvation is based solely upon Christ’s death for our sins, and has nothing to do with any choices we make, and understands that we can’t choose to have faith for our special salvation either, but rather that faith is given to us as a gift), I see absolutely no reason to believe that they couldn’t be in the body of Christ — again, at least from a theoretical perspective.
And this article is all being discussed from a theoretical perspective, because it could be that God makes sure everyone He gives faith to believe Paul’s Gospel to is also given a belief in the lack of existence of “free will” and a proper understanding of His sovereignty as well. In fact, I personally do think it’s unlikely that a believer will believe in “free will.” But from a purely theoretical perspective, although also because I just can’t say for certain that it’s impossible (since I haven’t seen any Bible verses to the contrary, nor have I met every member of the body of Christ and hence don’t know what every one of them believes about the topic), even if I don’t actually think it will happen, I’m forced to maintain the view in the article.
Still, if there are any flaws in my logic regarding this issue, I’d like to hear about it or them, so please reach out to me if you can see somewhere I went astray in my reasoning there (if you don’t know how to get in touch with me, you can find me on our ecclesia’s public Discord server, the link to which is on the homepage of this website).