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There are many people who struggle with the concept of “Free Will” in regards to the Bible & The Nature of God.
They argue…
“If God already knows our choices, then how can we really have freedom of choice?”
First off, lets Define “Free Will”
Free Will is the ability of every person to make their own choices;
It is the power to Act without Constraint.
The Answer?
Yes, God does in fact give Freedom Of Choice to ALL, including ANGELS.
( We will discuss Scriptural Evidence throughout this Post)
God is indeed OMNISCIENT, But his foreknowledge does not prevent or affect our own personal choice.
Mankind’s Free Will is in PERFECT harmony with God’s Divine Sovereignty.
Just because he knows what choice we will make does not violate our ability to make it.
Analogy:
If I take Doggy-Treat, and set it on the Floor,
and whistle for my Golden-Retriever… I can guarantee you that as soon as he enters the room, he will EAT the treat & Lick my Palm.
If my dog does exactly what I KNEW he would do,
Did I in some sense CONTROL his actions by simply knowing it?
Of course not, My dog made the Choice to Eat the Doggy Treat!
WHY Did he eat it? Because he Loves Doggy Treats!
WHY Did he Lick My Palm? Because he wants MORE!
This analogy is no different from the Concept of God’s Divine foreknowledge and mankind’s Free Will.
God is Eternal,
He has no beginning because he IS The Beginning
He has no end because he IS The End
Analogy:
Imagine the Universe is one giant Book
So you open that Book to Page-100,
Is THAT page the Beginning of The Book?
Of course not. But The Beginning of the Book is The Book COVER
GOD is the Book Cover of the Universe!
(Rev 22:13) I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
God knows the Future because he exists BEYOND the Future!
He is not constrained by “Time” as some may think,
but this is because he Exists OUTSIDE of Time
It was GOD who CREATED time
(Gen 1:14) And God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (time)
So how Silly is it for us to think that he is constrained by his own creation?
But now that we see that God is not constrained by “Time”,
we can easily understand how God can Declare the future before it happens without affecting Freedom of Choice.
When God declares the future, he is not making a “Prediction” as some may say
… But instead he is making an Observation.
Let me Explain…
God Exists outside of time,
therefore he currently Exists in The Past, The Present, & The Future, simultaneously.
But Even The Future is bound by the Concept of “Time”,
GOD however is Not.
So again we see that God, in his Infinite State, Exists beyond The Future.
Therefore,
what we often call The Future,
To God, It is The Past.
This is why God does not “Predict” The Future… But instead Declares it.
Analogy:
– If you see a person walk into a store & break a Jar of Pickles, will you say to the store manager…
“I Predict that He will drop the Jar of Pickles”?
I hope not. 🙂
But instead, you would Declare it by saying…
“He dropped the Jar of Pickles”
But how did YOU know he dropped the Jar of Pickles?
( Because you SAW it AFTER it was done! )
Likewise,
When God Declares something, He declares It because it is what he has already observed.
So Now that We have covered that,
Lets find Some Biblical Examples of The Freedom of Choice that God has given us!
1. The Creation
When God first created mankind, He said…
(Gen 1:26)
And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(Gen 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Here we see In the book of Genesis, God created mankind in his OWN image. So this raises the question…
Does God Have Free Will?
( I think its safe to assume that anyone reading this post who has at LEAST a Kindergarten education on Biblical Philosophy will answer “Yes” to this question)
So If God has Free Will, & If we are created in HIS image & Likeness…
wouldn’t it only make sense to say that he gave US free Will as well?
But lets continue with our Biblical Evidence!
2. Adam Names The Animals:
This is the very first Display of the freedom of choice that God has given to humankind.
(Gen 2:19)
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
(Gen 2:20)And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;
but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
So Here we see that It was NOT GOD who named all the Beasts of the Earth,
… But it was Adam.
Because God had given Adam ( Mankind ) dominion over the earth, he allowed Adam to Exercise his dominion by naming the animals!
But If mankind didn’t have “Free Will”, how could The Lord delegate such a task to Adam?
If Mankind didn’t have Free Will,
that would mean that God brought the animals to Adam and told him to name them
But then God “Stuck his arm up Adam’s shirt” like a ventriloquist and controlled him.
If that were the Case, then It wasn’t Adam who named the animals, but God.
But in Genesis 2:20, The Bible tells us clearly that ADAM named all the beasts whatever name that ADAM chose.
Lets find ANOTHER example of Freedom of Choice
(Gen 6:1) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
So here we see that when the “Sons of God” (Fallen Angels/Devils) saw the beautiful women of the earth, they chose for themselves wives and Married them. (Learn More)
So here we see that not ONLY did God give Mankind Free Will, but he gave it to the Angels as well!
There are Far too many examples to discuss them all in this post, But we will list more below for you to examine on your own time.
Freedom of Choice Scriptures:
(Gen 6:2 ) That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose
(Gen 13:11) Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
(Exodus 18:25) And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
(Deut 30:19) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
(Joshua 8:3) So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
(1Sam 13:2) Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
(1Sam 17:40) And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
(2Sam 10:9) When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians
(Luke 14:7) And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them…
(Acts 6:5) And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
(Acts 15:40) And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
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