Predestination 2: Do I really have a choice?
Acts 2:22–41
You’re reading the second instalment in a series on predestination. These began as notes for our youth leaders, but gradually evolved into something the internet might accept. Start here for the series introduction.
Back when I was 18, I got heaps into listening to John Piper, an American pastor. One story has stuck with me.
As a seminary student, Piper was struggling with what his professors were teaching about God’s control over everything. During a heated discussion with one of them, he held a pen in front of the professor’s face and dropped it on the floor.
“I dropped it!” he insisted.
He’d made the decision. He’d opened his hand. Surely that settled it.
But did it? If God is in control, was dropping the pen really Piper’s choice? And what about our decisions to trust Jesus, turn away from him or obey what he says?
People often call this the question of “free will”, though philosophers and theologians mean different things by that phrase. Here I’m asking whether we really make choices, and are responsible for them, when God is in control.
In Acts 2:22–41, Peter puts God’s plan and human choices together as he explains the death of Jesus. We’ll see that God’s plan and our choices are both real. What we choose matters.
Some context
In this passage, Peter is addressing a crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has come upon Jesus’ followers, and people have gathered to find out what’s happening. Peter tells them that the Jesus they crucified has been raised by God. He explains Jesus’ death and calls them to respond.
1. God’s plan is real (vv. 22–35)
Peter says:
This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge.
Acts 2:23
Think about how surprising that is. Jesus was betrayed, arrested and publicly executed. To his followers, it must have looked as though everything had gone wrong. Yet Peter says this terrible event happened within God’s saving purpose. God hadn’t lost control, and Jesus’ enemies hadn’t defeated him. Through Jesus’ death, God was dealing with our sin; by raising Jesus, he defeated death. The cross gives us a concrete example of God carrying out his good purpose even through people’s wicked actions.
Peter then shows how Jesus’ resurrection fulfils what God had promised through David. David spoke about someone who wouldn’t be abandoned to death. But David himself died and was buried, so Peter explains that he was speaking about the Messiah’s resurrection (vv. 25–32). God raised Jesus and exalted him to his right hand. Jesus then poured out the Holy Spirit (v. 33). The crowd is seeing the results of God keeping his promises. His plan runs through Jesus’ death, resurrection and reign.
But God carrying out his plan doesn’t let the people who killed Jesus off the hook. Peter makes that clear back in verse 23.
2. Our choices are real (vv. 23, 36)
Peter tells the crowd, “you … put him to death”. God’s plan didn’t make the people involved into puppets. They chose to kill Jesus, and Peter holds them responsible for that wicked act. They weren’t trying to obey God or rescue sinners. They wanted Jesus dead. Their actions fulfilled God’s saving plan, but their intentions and choices were still their own. Peter doesn’t say, “God planned it, so you couldn’t help it.” He confronts them with what they did. We need to take both parts of the verse seriously: God planned Jesus’ death, and people acted wickedly in bringing it about.
Peter comes back to their responsibility in verse 36. The one God has established as Lord and Messiah is the Jesus they crucified. Being part of God’s plan hasn’t made their actions innocent. They still need forgiveness.
3. God’s plan calls us to choose (vv. 36–41)
God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him as Lord and Messiah, his promised King (vv. 33–36). When the crowd hears this, they’re cut to the heart and ask, “What shall we do?” You can see why they’re shaken: they’ve rejected and crucified the King God sent. Peter doesn’t tell them to wait and find out whether they’re chosen. He tells them to repent and be baptised in Jesus’ name. Repenting means turning away from sin and turning to God. They’re being called to turn to the very Jesus they rejected. And Peter promises them forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit (v. 38). Even after what they’ve done, there is mercy available through Jesus.
Verse 39 speaks of those whom God calls, and verse 41 describes people accepting Peter’s message. God’s call and their response belong together. God calls people to himself through the gospel. They hear it and respond. His plan includes their turning to Jesus; it doesn’t make that response unnecessary.
Pushback questions
If God planned everything, aren’t we just robots doing what he programmed us to do?
When we make choices, we think, want, weigh things up and act for reasons. Those choices are genuinely ours. God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean he forces us to do things against our will.
Think about the people who killed Jesus. They wanted him dead. They weren’t reluctantly carrying out an instruction from God; they acted on their own hostility towards Jesus. That’s why Peter holds them responsible, even while saying Jesus’ death happened according to God’s deliberate plan (Acts 2:23).
That doesn’t explain everything about how God’s plan and our choices fit together. But it shows why we shouldn’t picture people as robots (or puppets). God carries out his purposes through people who make willing choices—and remain responsible for what they choose.
If God planned Jesus’ murder, how can he blame the people who did it?
God knew what they would do and could have stopped them, but chose to allow it as part of his saving plan. They wanted to kill Jesus; God’s purpose was to save us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Allowing their actions doesn’t make God morally guilty of their sin, and fulfilling his plan doesn’t excuse what they did. We’ll explore God’s purposes and human evil further in our article, “Is God responsible for evil?”
If God already knows what I’ll choose, can I really choose anything else?
God’s knowledge is never wrong, so what he knows will happen is certain. But certainty isn’t the same as coercion: we still choose willingly. And God does more than know the future—he carries out his purposes through our choices. We can affirm both without claiming to explain exactly how they fit together.
A real choice doesn’t have to mean a choice independent of God’s plan. Acts 2:23 puts God’s deliberate plan and people’s responsibility for their willing actions together. We shouldn’t dismiss either of them.
So what?
Take your choices seriously and trust God’s plan.
Repent, trust Jesus and obey him. You don’t need to solve every question about God’s sovereignty before you respond to the gospel. Peter told the crowd what to do, and the same call comes to us: turn to Jesus. God being in control gives us confidence; it doesn’t give us an excuse to do nothing. If you’ve hurt someone, don’t shrug and say, “It must have been God’s plan.” Own what you did, ask forgiveness and take steps to put it right. And when following Jesus is difficult, remember the cross: even when people acted wickedly, God’s saving purpose held firm. You can take responsibility for your choices and trust him with what you can’t control.
Study 2. Do I really have a choice?
Pray and get going
Q1. What’s a decision you’ve made recently? What helped you decide?
Read Acts 2:22–41
Q2. Look at verse 23. What does Peter say about God’s plan? What does he say the people did?
Q3. Does being part of God’s plan mean the people did nothing wrong? What words in verse 23 help you answer?
Q4. What did God do after Jesus was killed (vv. 24, 32)? What does Peter want the crowd to understand about Jesus (v. 36)?
Q5. How does the crowd respond to Peter’s message (v. 37)? What does Peter tell them to do, and what does he promise (vv. 38–39)?
Q6. Verse 39 speaks about God calling people. Verse 41 describes people accepting Peter’s message. How do these verses help answer our big question: “Do I really have a choice?”
Q7. Someone says, “If God wants me to become a Christian, he’ll make it happen. I don’t need to do anything.” How would you answer them from this passage?
Q8. Peter calls people to repent, to turn away from sin and turn to Jesus. What might that look like for you this week? Think of one specific step you could take.
Pray and give thanks
Father, thank you that Jesus’ death was part of your saving plan, and that you raised him from the dead. Please help us to turn from sin and trust Jesus as Lord. Help us act on what we’ve heard today, trusting you with what we can’t control. Amen.
Read the rest of the series
More questions? Fair enough. Here are the other articles in the series:
1. Has God already decided who will be saved?
3. Is God responsible for evil?
4. Does God want everyone to be saved?
5. How is predestination fair?
6. What about people who never hear about Jesus?
