The Choice Is Ours: We Can Turn to God or Away
Free will is the understanding that the things we do are done on our own accord. Our actions are voluntary and not forced. Given this, we have the free will to follow Jesus or not.
Though he wants us to follow him, he doesn’t make us. It’s our choice. We have free will in the matter. But what does the Bible say about free will?
Predestination
First let’s talk about predestination, the opposite of free will. Predestination states that what will be has already been determined.
This results in a paradox pitting free will against predestination. It seems that free will and predestination stand in opposition to each other.
I attempt to reconcile the two when I ask if free will and predestination can coexist. Then I give a follow-up consideration, which I label as an example of predestined free will .
The Bible gives us four verses saying we’re predestined by God. Other versions of the Bible use the phrases foreordained, marked out, and decided. Yet, if our future has already been determined by God, where does free will fit in?
If we embrace the doctrines of free will and predestination, we must accept the tension that exists between the two. The goal is not to accept one and reject the other. Our challenge is to simultaneously embrace them both.
What Does the Bible Say About Free Will?
The only mentions of the phrase free will in Scripture pair it with the word offerings, as in freewill offerings. These passages all occur in the Old Testament.
In this context, these offerings are not mandated by God but are voluntary. That is, each person gets to decide how to respond.
Aside from this, the Bible doesn’t mention free will anywhere else. The absence of the phrase, however, doesn’t mean it’s something we’ve made up. The Bible overflows with examples of free will.
Adam and Eve Had Free Will
The first example of free will starts in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God created them and placed them in an idyllic paradise.
He gave them one rule: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). But they broke that rule. Through that one action, sin entered our world.
God didn’t need to put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. That would’ve solved everything. Yet he included it anyway.
God didn’t need to give Adam and Eve the opportunity to choose whether to obey him or not. Yet he did. He doesn’t want to force our obedience. We get to choose.
God’s People Often Choose Wrong
Unlike Adam and Eve that had one rule, God gave his people many rules to follow in the Old Testament. Scholars tell us it was 613 commands of what to do and not do.
The people often disobeyed. Over the centuries, God kept giving them chance after chance. For the most part, the people chose to disobey.
Beyond the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah, we see many more examples in the Bible of men and women who made a choice about whether they would obey God or not. Too often, they did not. They exercised their free will.
Fortunately, God sent Jesus to us to save us from our wrong decisions, from our sins. All we need to do is follow him (Luke 9:23). We do this through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Other Passages That Teach Free Will
Jesus said that he longed to gather the people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Then he lamented that they weren’t willing (Matthew 23:37). He could’ve made them come to him, but he didn’t force them. He wanted them to decide.
Paul writes that we have been set free. Yet we shouldn’t assume our freedom is a given. We need to take care that we maintain our freedom and don’t give in to the yoke of slavery, to sin (Galatians 5:1).
Last, as the Bible comes to an end in the book of Revelation, God invites us to come to him (Revelation 22:17). It isn’t forced upon everyone.
It’s a choice each person gets to make. Say yes to Jesus and live forever. The decision is up to us. We have free will to decide.
What does the Bible say about free will? Plenty. It’s now up to each of us to decide how to make the most of it.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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