In this present age, the phrase “freedom of choice” is touted as describing an inalienable right men claim to have. Usually it implies they can do their own thing, if they only avoid depriving someone else of the right to do the same.
Freedom of choice
From the very beginning, man has had the freedom to choose between obedience and sin. Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose the wrong way when confronted with the serpent’s lie, and they did.
The dire consequences of their choice were made perfectly clear. They experienced shame at their nakedness, thereby revealing a defiled conscience, and they suffered the punishments detailed in Genesis three. In addition, their wrong choice had consequences tor all their descendants, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…” (Rom. 5:12)1
Right choices and wrong
Cain and Abel were also presented with a choice and their respective responses represent a microcosm of all subsequent generations.
Abel’s response was typical of generations of faithful men who, recognizing their need, have chosen to offer acceptable sacrifices to God. Abel made a deliberate, free-will choice to follow God’s commands in offering the firstlings of his flock. And the Lord had respect for his offering.
On the other hand, Cain chose not to comply with God’s will and offered the fruit of the ground according to his personal desires (Gen. 4:3). When God refused his offering, he erupted with jealous anger against Abel and slew him. Thus Cain continued the rebellion which had begun in Eden. His deeds served as a prototype of the actions of evil men through the ages. Like Cain, they choose the path of rebellion and death.
Choose the narrow way
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus defines two choices men have. They can enter the narrow gate and walk the narrow way which leads to life or enter the wide gate and walk the broad way which leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14).
The same message is later phrased as an exhortation: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many…will seek to enter in and shall not be able” (Lk. 13:23-24). The Greek word rendered “strive” is agonizomai and means to agonize or struggle as in competition with an adversary (see Strong’ s Concordance). After choosing the straight path, we must make a fervent effort to walk in that path without stumbling over sin.
Why is the way that leads to eternal life described as being “narrow?” The meaning of the Greek word for “narrow” describes a path of tribulation. We will suffer tribulations along the way to life and the cross we carry may be heavy at times. But God offers help in the way (Acts 14:22; Rom. 5:3; 8:35). We should always pray for that help.
The path to life requires straight paths for our feet to tread. Hebrews 12:1-15 defines the narrowness of the way and J.B. Phillips perhaps offers the best translation of a key verse in that section: “So take a fresh grip on life and brace your trembling limbs. Don’t wander away from the path but forge steadily onward. On the the right path the limping foot recovers strength and does not collapse” (Heb. 12:13 JBP translation). This verse suggests that there will be divine help along the way if we do our part.
The spiritually lame get help
All men are morally lame because we all sin. Our limbs need strengthening that we may be spiritually strong and thus recover.
Writing of the millennial age, Isaiah expresses the healing of the lame: “And they (the lame) shall leap like the hart” (Isa. 35:1-6). There was a foreshadowing of the healing that will occur in the age to come when Jesus healed the physically lame: “Great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb and maimed and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet and he healed them” (Matt. 15:30-31). Physical lameness and physical healing point to the greater moral healing by the Lord.
Walking in the light
The narrow path we walk is not filled with darkness, it is illuminated with divine light. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin” (I Jo. 1:7).
Freedom of choice gives us the prerogative to follow a path of our choosing. Having chosen the narrow way, we must carefully continue to exercise our freedom in Christ to maintain his righteousness in our lives. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15,16).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One