Is free will a Biblical concept?

Answer 1

The theologians that argue for free will as a Biblical concept do so because if you lose free will, then the choice of who will sin and who will not sin is determined by God. If God created you to sin or not to sin, how could you be anything more or less than what God created you to be?

God being "holy and just....must punishing sin." is the basis for my belief that we have free will.

Example: As a father, I can make the rule that there should be no crying in my house. If my new born baby cried, would I be a just and loving father if I spanked my child until he stopped crying? I don't think so.

Why? Babies cry. Not crying isn't an option and neither can I think of an example without a double negative. Sorry.

I think that before God can rule as wisely as Soloman whom he made wise, there had to be the choice to do the right thing.

16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
19 "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne."

22 The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours."
But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king.

23 The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.' "

24 Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."

26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!"
But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"

27 Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."

28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.



Likewise, if there is no free will, then all the small choices we make all the time have been predetermined as well. We are like a ball placed inside a pipe. Where can the ball go except from one end to the other?

But the Bible doesn't speak to us like the outcome is known.

23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.


Why would the one who gave us our faith be critical of us for having little? Another example:


11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Again, I can't see how one could be critical if there was no free will.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Free will is not just our day-to-day decisions. No theology disputes that. It's just when free will gets into a decision to seek out God, I believe that the Bible denies this. So no, it's not a biblical concept.

Answer 3

Sure. If there weren't, we wouldn't have any laws at all. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." It wouldn't make any sense to make commandments if we couldn't choose to keep them. We wouldn't need laws. I mean, if you can't choose, why bother?

It is implied in the Proverbs about seeking wise counsel. And in parables about counting the cost. You count the cost when making a choice.

Answer 4

Apparently. You have to have a certain construction in place to ever even call this into question. It's one of the mental gymnastics that must be done to make their setup make any sense... but it still doesn't.

Answer 5

the Bible for it's day was a very progressive book. maybe we just need a new new testament or something.