Questions tagged [free-will]

Questions about free will, its use, or existence

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
1 vote
2 answers
195 views

In the process of conversion of a non-believer, is saving faith a choice (under their control) or caused by external factors (outside their control)?

There are passages in the Bible that seem to suggest that saving faith is caused by external factors, over which a non-believer has presumably no volitional control: Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 492
1 vote
3 answers
138 views

Does Free Will Exist, If so to what extent? [closed]

I have been mulling over beliefs surrounding free will. I know we have a choice to choose Christ or to reject him, but to what extent are our day to day choices our own? A friend recently challenged ...
user57942's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
114 views

Did Israel have a choice in their disobedience?

Jeremiah 24:7 Robert Alter’s translation: And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD. And they shall be a people for Me, and I Myself will be God for them, for they shall turn back to ...
Lilias Carmichael's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
227 views

What are the implications of 1 Peter 3:20 in terms of the scope of the Flood Judgement?

1 Peter 3:20 says that, after the crucifixion, Jesus preached to: [those who] sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing......
Dan Fefferman's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
304 views

Did the pagan nations have free will in Joshua 11 before being annihilated?

Joshua 11:18-20 NASB “Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in ...
Lilias Carmichael's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
704 views

Should the word "free" appear in Romans 6:23 as an adjective to "gift"?

I have always understood Romans 6:23 to read "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus (our Lord)." And that is how my NASB 1995 renders it. ...
Vince Duffin's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
1k views

Is there a contradiction between John 6:44 and Matthew 22:14?

John 6:44 (ESV) 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. Matthew 22:8-14 (ESV) 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
242 views

What is the deeper contextual meaning of Mark 4:11's "outside"?

Mark 4:10-12 New American Standard Bible 1995 10 As soon as He was alone, [a]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been ...
user1338998's user avatar
  • 3,470
0 votes
2 answers
140 views

Why does God condition his divine intervention and mercy on intercessory prayer? Ezekiel 22:29-31

Ezekiel 22:29-31 (ESV): 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And ...
user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
369 views

What does "free" eleutheroi mean in "you will be free indeed." John 8:36?

John 8:36 ESV "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed". Are A, B, C, and D valid references to "free indeed"? Are there others? A. John 8:33 To those listening to ...
C. Stroud's user avatar
  • 9,676
-1 votes
2 answers
181 views

Isn't 1 samuel 19:20-21 a violation of freewill

Isn't the Spirit of God coming upon Saul's men to make them prophesy a violation of their freewill 1 Samuel 19:20-21 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, ...
exodus's user avatar
  • 654
3 votes
2 answers
447 views

What did Paul mean by "and give no opportunity to the devil" in Ephesians 4:27? Give no opportunity for what?

Ephesians 4:17-31 (ESV) 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, ...
user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
384 views

Does Matthew 11:20-24 indicate that Jesus possesses 'Middle knowledge' (knowledge of counterfactuals of freedom)?

Matthew 11:20-24 (ESV): 20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the ...
user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
309 views

How were the elect elected in Romans 11:7?

Romans 11:7 (ESV): 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, How were the elect of Israel elected? Why were the rest not elected?
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
81 views

When it comes to rejecting / accepting the Gospel, are we always obedient to God?

In Romans 11:7-10 (NASB) 7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written: “God gave them a spirit ...
Tiago Martins Peres's user avatar
8 votes
5 answers
465 views

How can we make sense of God's repentance and grief (Genesis 6:6) from the viewpoint of His perfect foreknowledge?

For this question, I'm taking it as an axiom that God has perfect foreknowledge of future events (nothing extraordinary to be honest -- most hold this view). Genesis 6:6 (YLT) tells us the following: ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
47 views

How to understand God's testing of our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:4) in light of His omniscience?

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (ESV): 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak,...
user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
244 views

Is God's foreknowledge (1 Peter 1) compatible with the belief in libertarian free will?

Foreknowledge is mentioned twice in the first chapter of 1 Peter. The first instance is found in 1 Peter 1:1-2 regarding the elect exiles: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect ...
user avatar
7 votes
5 answers
530 views

Do the 'vessels of wrath' have libertarian free will? Romans 9:14-24

Romans 9:14-24 (ESV): 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
439 views

If an individual sins because God "hardened their heart", does that make God the direct responsible of the sin (i.e. a sinner)? [closed]

In the Bible we find passages such as: Exodus 7:3-4 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Exodus 11:9-10 9 The Lord ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
342 views

Free Will in the Old Testament [closed]

I'm trying to understand how the old testament understands the nature of Human Will. I don't see any direct references to free will. By free will, I mean that individual humans are the capable of ...
Gus L.'s user avatar
  • 2,481
1 vote
2 answers
447 views

Could a written name in the book of Life be blot out (erased)?

Revelation 3:5 (DRB): 5He that shall overcome shall thus be clothed in white garments: and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. And I will confess his name before my Father and ...
salah's user avatar
  • 3,995
1 vote
3 answers
1k views

What is the meaning of "The days" in Psalm 139:16?

"And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me," N.K.J.V. If David believed some of his days had been fashioned by God, he might, I suggest, have not included the day when "Then ...
C. Stroud's user avatar
  • 9,676