Free will has been in the news recently with a neuroscientist, Robert Sapolsky, having recently published a book arguing that there is no free will. Let me set aside the scientific question for a moment and turn first to the Bible because there is a religious argument about free will. I once had a Calvinist professor sum up the debate as follows: “People who believe in free will say the Calvinist god is a tyrant, and the Calvinists say the God of free will is impotent.” While I understand that Calvinists want to protect God’s sovereignty against the implications of human free will (i.e. we can do things God doesn’t want us to do), that summary is lacking. Let’s look at some verses in the Bible that don’t usually come up in the debate on free will, and see what bearing they have:
Commands. God gives many commands throughout the Old and New Testaments—far too many to list exhaustively—but what does a command imply? If I were to command a person to bench press 10,000 pounds, do I seem reasonable? So, the Calvinist god that commands a person not to murder, if that person has no option over whether or not they murder, would be just as unreasonable. The God of the Bible is not unreasonable: “Come now, and let us reason together,” (Isaiah 1:18).
Choose. Most of the time, when the Bible speaks of choices, it speaks of God’s choices. That makes sense because of God’s sovereignty—His choices are certainly stronger than any of ours. However, there are several places where people are called upon to choose one thing over another. In one such place (2 Samuel 24:12), in response to David’s sin regarding a census, God specifically gives David 3 options for punishment and tells him to choose one. If David truly has no free will, then he has no options and no choice, which would make the Calvinist god a liar for telling him he did.
Who did Christ die for? We’re told (Romans 6:10, Hebrews 7:27) that Christ died “once for all.” If there’s no free will, why would Christ have to die for all? Couldn’t He just die for the sins that were going to be forgiven? But that just brings up the closely related question: Who does God want to save? We’re told twice in the Bible (1 Timothy 2:3-4 and 2 Peter 3:9) that God wants everyone to be saved. But we also know that not everyone will be saved (Matthew 7:13-14). The God of free will did make a sacrifice potent enough to cleanse every person that ever was, is, or will be of every sin that they ever committed, but He leaves to us the option of accepting it or rejecting it. The Calvinist god is either a liar again, telling people he wants to save them when he doesn’t, or perhaps he’s just not powerful enough to save everyone, making him the impotent one.
The God of the Bible, who gives us free will, is far more powerful and far more loving. He will allow you to stand against Him, but He’s too strong to be thwarted by any number of us. And even though He allows you to stand against Him, He made the sacrifice to save you so that you can choose to stand with Him. If there’s anyone here who’s been exercising their free will to reject God, consider instead to use your free will in your own best interest and accept God.
Andy Wright