Are we saved by Force or Freedom?

 

Question: Does free will exist before we are redeemed? And, if it doesn’t, then aren’t we redeemed by force?

Response: If “free will” is a created thing, then it only exists by grace, which is the force of God, which is the force of Love. “Love bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things; endures all things.” Love is a force. God is Love. And God is entirely free. If “free will” is not a created thing, then it is God. Only God is truly free. Only God’s will (God’s Word) is entirely unencumbered by another will. We are not free in this way, but we will be free in this way, for God is in the process of giving us himself and making us in his image. We are actually his Body. My body is free when it willingly responds to the logic (logos) of my head. When a body part follows its own individual logic, I’m no longer free: I’m a cripple enslaved to chaos. God in Christ Jesus surrendered his will to my chaos, that I might surrender my will to his Will (His Word) and be free.

Free Will is God’s Will, and God’s Will in me is Christ in me. If I don’t believe that this is a gift, the ultimate gift, I’m living in an illusion, which is bondage and not freedom. “For freedom Christ has set us free.” How could he set us free, if we were already free? I’m saved by Grace (God’s Freedom, God’s Will) through faith (God’s Freedom, God’s Will, imparted to me, and sitting on the throne in the Sanctuary of my soul). I can’t justify my self… I can only observe my justification, and this by grace through faith – the gift of God and Freedom.

We are redeemed by choice. We’re redeemed by God’s Choice: Jesus.
We are redeemed by the greatest of all forces, the free will of God, the Word of God: Jesus.
We are redeemed by “God is Salvation,” which destroys the illusion that “Peter is Salvation,” and set’s me free to love as I have been loved.

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