Revelation 22:17
See also: Joshua 24:15, Deuteronomy 30:19. However, some verses indicate that man does not have a free will: Jeremiah 10:23, Acts 13:48, Romans 8:29-30, Romans 9:11-22, Ephesians 1:4-5, II Thessalonians 2:11-12, II Timothy 1:9, and Jude 4, for example.
Response
Yes, man has a free will to either accept or reject Christ. God predestines Christians to eternal life based on His foreknowledge (He knows who will accept Him).
In many verses, God speaks of ordaining the consequences for either believing or not believing. As an example, the law may state that an armed robber should spend a certain number of years in prison under certain circumstances. A man in court who was arrested for armed robbery is, in a sense, “ordained” to so many years in prison. No one made him rob the bank—he did so of his own free will, but lawmakers did ordain the consequences of robbing a bank. Verses falling under this category may include Ephesians 1:4-5, II Thessalonians 2:11-12, II Timothy 1:9, and Jude 4.
Other verses make it clear that God’s predestination is based on His foreknowledge—or His knowledge of what will happen in the future. The thought that God knows what man will do of his own free will is certainly difficult for us to understand with our finite minds, but this is what the Bible teaches in verses such as Romans 8:29-30 and I Peter 1:2. God does not force us one way or the other in salvation—but He supernaturally knows what we will choose in advance with our truly free will.
Romans 9:11-22 says that God sets the rules in salvation (“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”). However, God does not pick men to salvation without any choice on their part: the Bible says God in His sovereignty has decided that the rules are that whosoever will may come (Revelation 22:17). God can harden people; however, this comes after they have already rejected the gospel. For instance, the example mentioned in Romans 9 is Pharaoh, which the Bible says God hardened. However, we also read of three instances in the Old Testament where Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15, Exodus 8:32, and Exodus 9:34). God sometimes hardens people, but only after he/she rejects the gospel.
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