Free will in the bible – part 2

It is very simple to demonstrate that the concept of free will, that is, the ability to choose between good and evil, is in the Bible. A good example of a passage that could be used to demonstrate that God recognises this concept, is from the book of Joshua.

In this book, the prophet Joshua, son of Nun, stands up and challenges all the Israelites who are gathered before him, and this is what he says at one point:

‘Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’ (Josh. 24:14-15).

This is one of the most famous passages in the whole Bible and it sets the tone for much of the rest of the Scriptures, especially the phrase, ‘…choose this day whom you will serve…’ How many people have this on the wall in their homes? Lots. This could be called the perennial question of the scriptures. Who will you CHOOSE to serve, God, or the false gods of this world? This is the most important question you will ever be asked and the passage makes no indication that this is something that people cannot make a decision on. The passage throws down the challenge, ‘Which God will you use your free will to follow?’ And the people are forced to make a response.

Someone might note here that verse 19 indicates that the Israelites cannot choose, because it says, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord…’. But look what it says in wider context:

‘But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem.’ (Josh. 24:19-25).

The people whom Joshua says are ‘…not able to serve the Lord…’, not only prove him wrong by choosing to serve the Lord, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him’ but their choice is used as the basis for a voluntarily-entered-into-covenant between this people and God. Clearly when Joshua says they are not able to serve the Lord, he is goading them, or challenging them, to provoke a response and a choice. He wants them to show him he is wrong here. It was their exercise of their freewill, which is a witness against them that they are responsible for this choice. This passage, alone, makes a mockery of the idea that people cannot choose the things of God. The whole point of the Bible is that it is written to reason with people to encourage them to make the right choice. This passage is a powerful example of this. 

Of course, what is an even more foundational passage on this issue is Genesis 2 to 3, the passage of the Bible, which does the most to explain to us human nature as it exists in this fallen world. We are told there that Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, and that they were not to eat from the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Gen. 2:15-25). But we are then told a little later on after they ate from the tree:

‘Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life’ (Gen. 3:22-24).

These two chapters tell us something very clear about humanity, that we have the capacity to choose to reject God, and we did. Adam and Eve ate from the tree (Gen. 3:6). But these passages also tell us that the fall did not take away the ability for humanity to choose between good and evil, in fact, it did the opposite, it gave people experiential knowledge of just how to do this. Genesis 3:22 clearly states that humanity’s ability to choose between good and evil is retained, and now is practiced and experienced. How does good judgement come about? Experience. How does experience come about? Well, that comes from poor judgement. This is the first example of this in the Bible, learning about good and bad from experience.  

To have dominion obviously also means to be able to make decisions about how to rule. To prove that humanity’s will was free and real at creation, Adam and Eve even had the ability to disobey God and choose to follow the devil. A foolish decision, of course, but a true and genuine exercise of the will nonetheless. The question is though, did free will survive the fall?

I think there are many ways to show that it did. In fact, I think you could argue that the fact that God gives commands and expects people to follow them, is all the proof you need to show that God has not taken away our ability to choose. However, though He has not taken it away, this does not mean He cannot override it. He did this with Pharoah when He hardened his heart, and predetermined that Esau would reject Him but Jacob would not. The existence of free will is not questioned, either is God’s ability to override it when He sees fit. Paul did not choose to be selected by Jesus, Jesus chose him and transformed him on the road to Damascus. Therefore, we can say that freewill exists but it is not absolute. God can and does override it to fulfil His special purposes.

This does not in any way, take away the fact that by giving us commands, God is implying we have the ability to choose Him or choose to reject Him:

‘And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ (Joshua 24:15).

The Bible is a record of just these kinds of choices being made on every page. And as if that was not enough, the Bible itself even says we have freewill, directly. In the ESV translation there are at least 23 references to ‘freewill offerings’:

‘All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.” (Exodus 35:29)

 

‘But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.’ (Leviticus 7:16)

 

‘and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.’ (Deuteronomy 12:6) 

And there are even direct passages which tie these freewill offerings to acts of the will:

‘With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.’ (Psalm 54:6)

 

‘Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me Your rules.’ (Psalm 119:108) 

A good summary of these two verses in the Psalms is – I will sacrifice an offering to You, that I have chosen of my own free will.

I think these verses by themselves are enough to show that the Bible affirms the reality of our free will. The fact that God has built free will into the law shows that He has not taken it away. He has instead, created an opportunity for it still within His law. There is much, which God commands that we should do, but He gives us freedom to use our will to make offerings. The translators of the NJKV obviously recognised this, because of how they rendered the following verse:

‘And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will.’ (Leviticus 19:5)

Those of the Christian determinist camp, will note examples where God hid His will from people, suppressed the truth, or gave the people over to blindness. They will use this as proof that there is no such thing as free will about the things of God. However, the verses above show that people can exercise free will to choose the things of God. It is also true that in His righteous decree and judgement, God can override this if He so chooses, as He is the ultimate sovereign, the ultimate power.

We see often in the Bible that God chooses not to override the will of man and instead, allows man to reject Him, even if we would prefer that they did not:

‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”’ (Matthew: 23:37-39).

The clear desire of our Lord God here is that He wanted to gather His people but the problem is they were ‘not willing’. If they did not have free will to reject God and choose God, then this sentence would make no sense.

As you can see, there is plenty in the Scriptures to show that the Bible supports the concept of free will. However, as we should expect, it is not an absolute. God can and does, override our free will to suit His purposes. Afterall, we may have dominion over the earth but God is the ultimate authority. He is the sovereign Lord, and when He decrees something, it will happen. In His mercy and grace though, He gives us free will so that He can have a people who choose to follow Him.

Matthew Littlefield writes to think through some of the current issues facing society, the Church and whatever else comes to mind that might be interesting to process. Matt's focus is usually historical or scriptural, though he will address current issues from time to time as well. He is a co-author of The Ezekiel Declaration and the book, Defending Conscience, How Baptists reminded the Church to defy tyranny. He blogs most days at YoungGospelMinister.blogspot.com.