Freedom of choice
Genesis 2:15-17
By Ysrael De la Cruz
You and I made tons of choices in each day. You are always making decisions, choosing what to do and not to do or what to leave for later. You go to a restaurant to eat, then you look at a menu from which you will have to choose what to eat. At the store you must make decisions of what to buy and what not to buy. We as humans are always making choices; it is one of the things that makes us humans. Our ability to choose. We are created beings with the ability to make choices. This is the way God has created us. One of the reasons why I want to talk about this topic today is because there are Christians who truly believe that humans do not have free will (ability to choose). Two weeks ago, I watched a debate based on the Sovereignty of God and the will of man.
The Bible teaches us that God is sovereign (he is the supreme ruler of the world; he does whatever he wants and is accountable to no one). The Bible also teaches that humans were created with the ability to make decisions and sometimes those decisions have severe consequences.
Some Christians believe that it is either or. If you have free will, then God is not Sovereign and if God is Sovereign then free will is an illusion.
When you study the Scriptures, you will see that it is both: God is Sovereign, and we have free will.
Genesis 2:15-17
Humans are the only creatures who bear the image of God. God made them into his likeness. God gave humans something he did not give the animals and plants. Humans can create, think, and make logical decisions.
God place man in the garden to work it and keep it (God delegated responsibilities to man). V.15 God made man supreme over creation, put him in charge of creation) Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Humans are free to choose/ make choices. (v.16)
“16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
You are free to eat of all the trees of the garden. Now ask yourself, how many trees were there in the garden? This means God did not tell them of which trees to eat what days. Man did not ask God or pray to God to see when they could eat bananas or oranges. They had the freedom to choose.

Even though we have freedom to choose, our freedom is limited.
v.17, But of tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of you shall surely die.
Man was free to eat of all the trees except one. This one was off limits. This was the only prohibition God gave humans. Their Creator gave them lots of freedom, but he set up a boundary. God gave them freedom to choose, you can eat of all the trees in the garden; but he set up the limit, the boundary (the tree, one tree in the middle of the garden)
This is like someone inviting you to your house and saying you can eat of all the food in the fridge and pantry, you can even cook your own food here. But do not touch my strawberry jam or we’ll have a problem. Only one item off limit while the person would enjoy staying in the house.

When you go to the restaurant, the freedom to choose is limited to the items on the menu. You can only choose what is available.
We do have free will or ability to make decisions; we are free to make choices, but our freedom is limited. There are boundaries we cannot ignore if we want to enjoy the freedom.
Driving from one place to another, you are free to take any rout you want, but the road you take has lanes marked so you know where you should drive; there are speed limits so may know how fast you should go. Boundaries are good; they show you the lines or limitations of your freedom.
No sport could be play without boundaries. The players have freedom to play under the guidelines of the game.

Humans are created with the ability to choose; this freedom will never be taken away by God. We are free to choose within certain perimeters. When we violate the boundaries, then our choices have severe consequences.

Man chose to go against God by eating of the tree which he told them not to eat of. This is how sin entered the world due to man’s choice to go against God’s boundary. Our choices are real, they can affect us and even others.
In the garden man made the choice to go against God’s command and the whole world suffered. God made the choice to rescue mankind by bringing him back to himself; he made the choice to redeem us from the curse of sin. How did God do this? By sending his Son Jesus to the world so that through Jesus we can be right with God. God made the choice to fix the problem by providing a solution.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You and I must choose Jesus to be save. The choice is ours!