Free Will or God's Mercy?

 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So, then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy....Romans 9:15-16

In his letter to the Romans living in Corinth, Paul put to rest the idea of obtaining salvation by "free will" and "works".

First, let's clear something up.  Some will say these verses are referring to Israel, and while it's true this is who Paul is speaking of, these verses still apply to the rest of the world because God didn't create a way of salvation for Jews and a different way of salvation for Gentiles.  We all come salvation the same way:  through Christ.  

"So, then it depends not on human will". 

NOT on human will.  There is no way to make this mean anything differently.

".....Or exertion".

This refers to "works".  There are not enough good deeds we can do that will bring about salvation.  Neither can we pray a prayer that will bring salvation.  There are pastors who say, "If you want to be saved just walk this aisle and pray this prayer and you'll be saved."  That is a work...."do this and you'll be saved".

God is the initiator in salvation, not us, and it all starts in Ezekiel 36:26-27:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

When you read through that whole verse, God is the actor.  "I will give", "I will put", "I will remove", and "I will cause".  Scripture says that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.  In the Greek, the word author also means "captain", "chief leader", or "prince".  Check out this link to read more about this teaching.

Scripture also says we are "dead" in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  Because of our deadness, we can't respond to the call of the gospel UNTIL Ezekiel 36:26 takes place.  Many believe they make a decision first, then God gives them a new heart, but just as Lazarus couldn't walk of the tomb until Jesus spoke life back into him, we can't come to Jesus until He puts that new heart within us.  Otherwise, we're still dead with no hope. 

The story of Lazarus wasn't just a demonstration of how Jesus could raise the physically dead, it's also a demonstration of how He raises the spiritually dead.  Lazarus couldn't "will" himself back to life.  It required a force outside of himself to make him alive.  Same with those whom God has chosen for salvation.  We can't "will" ourselves to life spiritually, and those who reject salvation do so because they are still dead.  Lazarus, seeing himself inside that tomb, knew he couldn't stay there because the tomb is for those who are dead.  When we're brought to life spiritually, we're given a view of who we are and the hopeless state we're in and we realize we can't stay there and so we do what is the only acceptable thing and that is surrender to Christ.

We're not forced against our will, but we are made willing.