Power of Choice in God's Covenant

Notes

1. God's authority is not limited by the granting of the power of choice. At the end of the period of choosing God sets up a judgment in which He calls the creature to account for all the choices he has made.

2. Every martyr's death proves that the power of choice is above the control of all power outside of the individual, since the extreme to which any power can go in an effort to control the will is to put to death.

3. The control of the will is not entirely vested in the character of the one choosing, for it is possible to will to do a thing entirely out of harmony with one's character. Thus an evil person may will to do a good thing even though unaided he can not accomplish it.

4. There can be no choice of the good unless there is the possibility of rejecting the good, which is to choose evil. God placed before His creatures the way of righteousness to refuse which was to choose the way of sin, one way terminating in life, the other death. Sin must of necessity originate with the first being who refused to choose the Lord's way. And since harmony can exist only when all wills, all choices, are in accord with one Supreme will, it is apparent that death must be the result to the one who persists in wrong choosing. Hence the covenant is "obey and live."