The Bible is full of calls to choose our destiny or loyalty. These verses tell us we have a choice, and thus support the doctrine of free will. For example:
- Joshua 24:15: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” This verse is a plain example of a call to make a choice.
- Proverbs 1:28, 29: “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD.” In this verse, God describes His response (not answering, not being found) as the result of the people’s past choices (they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of God). God’s response was conditional; human choice was the condition.
- Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” This is a conditional promise: Anyone who hears and opens the door to Christ will sup with Him. Again, the human choice is the condition.
There are many more verses that could be quoted (such as Deuteronomy 30:19; Proverbs 1:24–25; Acts 5:4; Ezekiel 33:11; Acts 17:27–30; John 3:16; Revelation 22:17); but these three are sufficient for the purpose of this article.
A careful reading of the Bible would lead one to believe that we are all given opportunity to serve God to the best of our knowledge, and by faith (as we have knowledge) to trust in His grace for salvation. The Bible also indicates that, despite this equal opportunity, most will choose the wrong path, while only a few will walk with God. Our decisions will result in either eternal death or eternal life.
In addition to this Biblical evidence, we also have our own experiences: times when we struggle over questions, and knowing what we can do and should do, nevertheless for selfish or fearful reasons choose to do something else. Knowing that we could have done differently is what causes us guilt.
All of this suggests that choice — free will — is very real.
Foreknowledge in the equation
The Bible presents God as one who is able to see the future. The many prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are examples of this, as are stories such as 1 Kings 22:8–38, and verses such as Isaiah 41:21–29 and 46:9–10 which describe God’s foreknowledge in contrast with false gods and false prophets. The term used to describe this ability is foreknowledge.
One argument made against free will is that it conflicts with the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge. The argument goes like this: “If God can see the end from the beginning, then the end is already determined. My destiny is fixed. Therefore I have no real choice.”
Two common reactions to this argument are: (1) Humans cannot really have free will. (2) God’s foreknowledge is not actual knowledge, it is more like plans or expectations. Allegedly, God can, with His vast intellect and knowledge of the past and present, guess what will happen, or can bend situations to make certain outcomes occur. But, some say, He cannot really see the future.
When I first heard this argument, I was momentarily stunned — it seemed logical. But for me that confusion was only momentary. The logic is not as solid as it first seemed.
As humans we are not accustomed to thinking outside the stream of time. For that reason I think we are prone to errors when thinking about time, and about cause and effect relationships — especially at the more theoretical or hypothetical level. Seeing the error in the logic of the above two conclusions may not come easy for some. If in doubt, it is safe to believe the Bible even if we can’t work out the science.
Some counter logic
Since the above arguments are based on logic, rather than scripture per se, I am going to respond with counter logic.
First, I offer two important assertions:
- God’s foreknowledge does not exert any force or pressure on the will.
- God’s foreknowledge is not an influence.
Imagine a man is deciding whether or not to shoplift. Suppose he can choose freely to do it, or not. He will choose one way or the other. Now imagine that God can foresee the outcome of the choice. Even though God can see the outcome, God does nothing in the man’s mind to make him choose one way or the other. The man is just as free as if God knew nothing about it. As such, he has completely free will, despite God’s foreknowledge. If you can wrap your head around that one thought, you are well on your way to reconciling foreknowledge and free will.
Where people become confused is when they wonder, If God sees this outcome, then doesn’t that prove I cannot choose the other outcome? But this inquiry simply calls into question the accuracy of God’s foreknowledge. It’s not that you cannot choose other options, but that you will not. There is a big difference there. If you were to take another course, God would have seen that instead. In a sense, your destiny is fixed, but only by your own future choices. Thus predestination and free will are compatible.
Confronting fixed outcomes
For those who are logicians, it is easy to imagine all sorts of complicated scenarios. Suppose God were to show you your future. Would that mean that future is inevitable? that you have no option to avert your destiny? Perhaps this is why God does not show us our future. He couldn’t tell us we would do something if He knew that after He told us, we would decide to do something else. That would make Him dishonest; so, since God does not lie (Titus 1:2), He cannot offer us those revelations.
Nevertheless, there are times when God has revealed the future, but in such general terms that no one could really see it coming, or else the future was so overruled by Him that no one could do anything to stop it, or else it was expressed in terms of promises or threatenings that were based on conditions that could change. Some examples:
- General prophecies: some of the time prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
- Inevitable outcomes: Jesus’ death during the feast — the very men who were plotting to kill Jesus determined not to do it during the Passover feast, yet that’s how it happened anyway, in fulfillment of Jesus’ own prophecies (see Matthew 26:4–5; Luke 18:31–33).
- Conditional promises/threats: the story of Jonah, and many other prophecies from the latter Old Testament.
Summary
The Bible gives us abundant support for belief in free will and personal responsibility; it also presents God’s perfect foreknowledge through various stories and prophecies. Correctly understood, there is no reason to see conflict between the two.
[Note: This is not meant to be a study on free will versus predestination, or free will versus bondage of the will, or Calvinism versus Arminianism. That would require a more in-depth study than I have attempted to do here.]
I still see a problem here with your article. I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days without a solution. A quote from your article makes this problem blatantly obvious.
“Where people become confused is when they wonder, If God sees this outcome, then doesn’t that prove I cannot choose the other outcome?”
This is as far as you have chosen to take this line of reasoning, insofar as I can tell. The real problem is not simply that God has foreknowledge of what you will choose, but that he actually created you while simultaneously possessing complete foreknowledge of the decision and the outcome.
It seems as though our free will is free will in name only. The situation we have here is one in which God manifested a certain set of scenarios; he in essence was the cause of each one of these. The decision was made at the beginning of time, with no chance of variation.
I would agree with you that God’s foreknowledge exerts no force or pressure on the will of mankind, however, his creation ex nihilo did. When you look at this coupled with his apparent foreknowledge, is when the problem arises.
Hi John, thanks for the comment. So, before I try to respond to that, let me see if I am understanding you correctly. Basically you seem to be saying that in the beginning, before anything was created, God could see the future. And seeing the future, He nevertheless created a particular “scenario” in which various decisions would inevitably work out. Inevitable, not because He rigged the decisions or forced them, but they were inevitable because they were what would happen. And because of this, it appears that God is to blame for the bad outcomes in that scenario He created. Am I summing it up correctly?
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the quick response. You have, for the most part, summed up my comment correctly. The only part I take issue with is when you said the following:
“Inevitable, not because He rigged the decisions or forced them, but they were inevitable because they were what would happen.”
I never actually said that he didn’t rig the decisions or force them. That’s a big part of my objection. I have a hard time finding an excuse for him on that very issue. It would seem as though God, as the creator of all things, started a chain of events with full knowledge of the outcome. How can we place the culpability anywhere but on his shoulders?
FYI, I am an atheist, however, I only ask because I feel as though there is something I am missing here and that my conclusion is somehow flawed. Any insights you have would be very helpful.
Hi John,
My personal feeling is that God has not done anything to directly force any person’s will (free choice). I would say the free will choices were influenced (but not forced) by the historical and situational circumstances into which people were born, but I believe God has seen to it that, no matter how unfortunate a person’s circumstances, they at least have a fair shot at choosing for good or for evil at some point in their lives. So in short, each person it still responsible for their moral choices, and thus their destiny. Those with less privileges are judged by God less exactingly, according to what could reasonably be expected of them.
But, winding the clock back, it is possible that the original setup of things predisposed people to outcomes that might have been different with a different original setup. But, considering God is not only able to see the future, but all-wise as well, it could also be argued that the current outcome is the “best of all possible outcomes”, given a set of priorities that God seems to have, which include letting humans live with their choices. In other words, it could be that in a truly free-will universe, it is utterly impossible to not have anyone ever make wrong choices, and the current universe with its bad choices is the best that could be achieved without excessive interference on God’s part.
In a certain sense, I believe God does share in the “blame” for the current evils in the world, if for no other reason than that He decided to create beings with free will in the first place. But I also believe from God’s perspective this is not a “fault” at all, but an essential part of the price of having a universe with free-will beings in it.
Hi Michael,
I really enjoyed your response. It was refreshing to have a christian take on what I saw as a big flaw head on, as well as in what I would consider a completely intellectually honest way.
Having said that, I still remain unconvinced that:
1.) The current outcome is the “best of all possible outcomes” — especially if we are to posit an omnipotent God. (This really is neither here nor there and your explanation stands as a possibility)
2.) If this IS in fact the best possible outcome (and I don’t mean to say that you said so with any degree of certainty), that a free will universe is the most morally correct action for an all loving God. (Again neither here nor there, just my opinion.)
I would like to just say again I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with some of the objections that could be raised to the issues I presented. This has been a really helpful dialogue for me. I feel like I definitely have some new things to think about, which is exactly what I was looking for.