This is a massively loaded topic, and I realize that. However, there has been a growing trend in our churches these days to dismiss free will, claiming that free will denies God's Sovereignty. The argument is that if man is in control of his own thoughts and actions, then God can't be, because in believing in free will, we are placing our will above God's.
What denying free will actually does, however, is make God out to be a liar and a hypocrite. So what we're going to do is take a look at just a few of the passages in Scripture that undermine this idea that we don't have free will, and help us understand the character of God more clearly as He has revealed it, not as man has reasoned it.
Free Will in the Old Testament
Deuteronomy 30:11-20:
"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
"See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
"But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Moses, at the command of God, called the Israelites together and, after renewing the covenant originally give on Mount Sinai, gave them this speech. Notice the elements of the speech:
1) Obedience to the Law is not too difficult or beyond their reach (11-14). We saw this in a previous post, but this presents to us a choice: whenever we are faced with the temptation to disobey God, we have the ability to choose obedience. This presents us good news, in that obedience is possible, but it also presents bad news: when we don't obey, it's because we choose not to; that is the plain, simple truth of it. Your sin, therefore, is not because God decreed that you should sin, but your sin exists because you decreed it and He allowed it.
2) A choice is set before the Israelites (15). Moses, without any complicated theology and seminarian logic, is giving them two options. Now, if God has decreed that the Israelites are going to follow the disobedience route, then this choice is a false one. Why? Because God is pretending to give them options, when, in reality, He has already chosen their path for them, thus meaning they do not have a real choice. Do you understand this? If God is pretending to give a choice, then He is lying. Since we know that God does not lie, this must be a legitimate choice.
3) God gives them two potential futures, based on their choices (16-18). Again, if God has already predetermined which choices He wants them to make, then these two verses are dishonest, because they don't have two, potential outcomes, only the single outcome that God has chosen for them to have.
4) God lays out the option of choosing (19). Just in case you still don't believe that Israel had the free will to choose whether or not to obey God, God literally says through Moses, "Choose life." Since they didn't, we know they had the ability to choose contrary to what God wanted. This is free will: choosing, on your own, whether or not you will obey God.
II Kings 13:14-19:
Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"
Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
"Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." he struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."
Obviously, I started this in the middle of the story. The background is that Jehoash was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, and the king of Aram came to attack him at the city of Aphek. Jehoash, aware that he would only be successful if God blessed the venture, went to see Elisha. What did Elisha assure the king? That he would win the fight, and Aram would be destroyed (17). But notice something. . . .
Jehoash's lackluster response in striking the arrows on the ground cost them something. Instead of completely destroying them, as Elisha assured him would happen, the king would defeat Aram in three battles, but they wouldn't be destroyed completely. Aram would, after the losses, slink back to its kingdom with its tail tucked between its legs, but God's pronouncement of judgment against Aram would be delayed until Jehoash's son, Jeroboam II (14:25, 28).
Notice that we are given both the potential future, as well as the actual events that happened, and the difference between those two hinged solely on King Jehoash's actions. This isn't hypothetical speculation, it's what is stated in the Scripture. Notice:
1)We're told that Jehoash would have the victory over Aram, completely destroying them (17).
2) We're told that Jehoash made the wrong choice (18-19).
3) We're told that that choice would produce a different outcome than what was originally announced (19; 14:25,28).
In any other scenario - outside of theology, that is - this would be called free will and the consequences that result from free will; Jehoash's decision and actions changed the outcome. I am not guessing that the outcome changed, Elisha told us the outcome changed, and that it changed based solely on the king's actions.
Ezra 2:68:
When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site.
This is one of only a handful of times (ten or so) the word "freewill" is actually used, but when it is used, it is used to denote a very special offering: an offering that the worshiper gave simply because he or she wanted to do so . . . of his or her own free will. There were other offerings that were voluntary, but done for specific purposes (burnt offerings and thanksgiving offerings, for example), but the free will offering was simply a person who wanted to give an extra offering for no other reason than that he or she wanted to do so. Now, why was it called the freewill offering? Because the writers of the Bible - under the direction of the Holy Spirit - recognized it as an act of free will. If the writers of the Scriptures acknowledged the existence of free will, then denying it is to go against the Word of God.
Ezekiel 33:1;7-9:
The word of the LORD came to me . . . "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself."
This passage comes up often when people try to persuade others that free will exists, but it's almost always from the perspective of the wicked man being saved (or, in this case, not being saved). I want to look at it from the perspective of what God is telling Ezekiel, though.
God is giving Ezekiel a choice, and telling him that the better choice is to obey and preach. Now, listen, did God predetermine which choice He wanted Ezekiel to make, and then decree and predetermine that to happen? There is nothing whatsoever in this passage to suggest that. What we have is very straightforward: "Ezekiel, if you don't warn him, you'll be accountable for his blood. If you do, you'll have saved yourself." Once more, in any other situation, we would call this a free choice. Why? Because God gave Ezekiel the possible consequences that he would face, in order to persuade him to make the choice God wanted him to make. If this is untrue, if God had already ordained and selected the choice for Ezekiel, then God's entire speech here is a posturing lie.
Free Will in the New Testament
II Corinthians 9:7:
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul, who was the best theologian who ever lived, had a perfect opportunity to impress upon us that God directs every thought and action, and that we do not decide anything in our own hearts. But Paul says the exact opposite here, doesn't he? He specifically tells us that each man decides in his own heart. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver.
Now, let's think this through, for a moment. My daughter spent a great deal of time making a bookmark for me on Father's Day. It was my Father's Day gift. She took a narrow strip of paper, and she colored it, wrote her name, covered it in all kinds of stickers - really went all-out, four-year-old-style. And, listen, I cherish it. Why? Because she, of her own compulsion and love for me, made this bookmark. It is admittedly tacky, but I don't care - it's my daughter's gift to me.
Let's say, instead, that I forced my daughter to give me a gift. I took her to the store, told her she had to spend her allowance on me, handed her the gift I wanted, and then made her pay for it and hand it back to me. That's not a gift, is it? Under no circumstances would that be considered a gift.
Now let's take it a step further and say I have the ability to mentally influence her to choose to give me a gift (which is how the lack of freewill is often defended). Is that the same? Is it now a gift? No, it's not. It's me pretending she chose to give me a gift, in order for me to feel better about her. By removing free will, our offerings become God pretending that we love Him of our own volition, God pretending that we are cheerful givers, God pretending that we are His people.
Ephesians 6:19-20:
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Does Paul have the option of declaring the Gospel fearlessly, if he has no free will? If God has decreed that certain people won't hear the Gospel - because He doesn't want to save them, as Calvinism teaches - then is it necessary or possible for Paul to preach to them fearlessly? Or even at all? Contrarily, if Paul is preaching to a group of people whom God has already declared and decreed will be saved, then is it necessary for Paul to preach fearlessly? If it is truly God Who regenerates a person in order for them to first believe, and if it is God Who does the calling, and if God's will can never be thwarted by our actions or thoughts, then why ask God for the fearless spirit of preaching? More so, why pray at all? Paul is wasting valuable time and energy worrying about making a mistake or being a coward, when he very well could say, "Well, if I'm not preaching fearlessly in this moment, then it's because God, in his Sovereignty, hasn't chosen these people to be saved." Furthermore, if it truly is not hinging on our actions, then Paul is worrying, for no reason, that he may fail. So, either Paul is wrong in his theology, or the theology that many people hold - that free will doesn't exist - is wrong.
I Thessalonians 4:3-5:
It is God's will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.
The argument, again, that if we have free will, then God's will is not being done, is completely demolished here. Why? "It is God's will . . . that you should avoid sexual immorality." What is God's will? That we avoid sexual immorality. Do we always avoid it? Not according to all of the studies. A large number of Christian men (and a growing number of Christian women) are involved in pornography. Some have affairs. And most of us - if we take Jesus' definition of adultery seriously - are adulterous. Or have been, at least. Is God's will being done in those instances?
Clearly not. Whose will is being done? Ours. Is it being enacted because God wills us to enact it? If that's the case, then He's being contradictory. Why? Because if His stated will is that we avoid sexual immorality, but He also wills us to commit immorality when we do, then He is, quite literally, desiring that we do what He desires us not to do. This is dishonest . . . at best.
* * *
Okay, so I have much more to say on this, with many more passages of Scripture. For now I will close this out, but in the next part, I will be examining the passages that people often use to defend the non-existence of free will. We'll also look more in-depth at the difference between Biblical Sovereignty of God, and false Sovereignty of God.
And if you're interested in other passages that describe our ability to use the free will that God gave us, check out some of these:
II Chronicles 36:15-17
Psalm 95:7-11
Isaiah 5:1-7
Isaiah 10:5-12
Isaiah 42:23-25
Jeremiah 38:19-23
Ezekiel 16:16
Matthew 21:33-46
Mark 6:5-6
Luke 1:45
Luke 7:30
John 1:10-13
Acts 14:1-2
Acts 14:14-21
I Thess. 3:5
Jude 5-7
As always, if you have questions or comments, leave them in the space below!
