Where does the Bible say we have free will?

Well, actually the Bible doesn't teach free will, it teaches that God is sovereign. Even Christians were chosen by God to be Christians. Christianity is NOT based on free will by the way.

Ephesians 1:4

For HE CHOSE US in Him before the creation of the world...

Jesus said, "For you did not choose me, but I chose you."

The deeper theological discussion would be, "What do we mean by Free Will?"

I believe, and the Bible will back me up, that we have Free Will within the confines of this world. We choose whether we do right or wrong. Where we do NOT have Free Will is in relation to the spiritual world, and the afterlife. The Bible is very clear that we DO NOT choose God, but that He chooses us. Therefore, if we cannot choose God, then we do not have the Free Will to decide whether we believe in Him or not.

For more information on this, and for a deeper discussion, do a search for Calvinism vs Arminianism. That will give you both sides of the discussion, and you can go from there. I recommend the teachings of John MacArthur, and Grace Church.

The idea of Free Will actually goes back to the Greeks. In the Middle Ages, Christian thinkers and scholars like Augustine mixed in some of the idea of Plato and Socrates into Christian philosophy.

The Bible doesn't use the phrase 'free will', but Adam and Eve were made such that they had the choice to obey God or disobey him. And they disobeyed. That shows they had free will. No other creature on earth has the ability to disobey God! (At least that's the idea.)

The fact that Adam and Eve were able to ignore what God told them shows that they had free will? Could anything else be more obvious? If they had no free will they would have obeyed and still be living in the garden of Eden.

Free Will does not mean 'freedom to do what you want and still be rewarded', if that's what you are thinking. It means 'you can ignore me but suffer the consequences'. Some people think that is no kind of freedom but it is. We could all live holy lives and dwell with God forever. Those who don't, chose to exercise the free will God gave them to rebel.

Probably the words do not appear in the Bible, but the first time is when Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit, when they were told not to, this was the first time "Free Will' came into play.

After that, anytime anybody sinned, it was 'free will' that made them choose wrong over right.

But a lot of terms aren't, or might not be in the Bible, like "free will', "Trinity", and probably a lot of others terms.

I do not know if there is global determinism of human lives, but I strongly believe in self-determination and free will for myself. As a systems engineer, I am quite familiar with trade studies, where the outcome, the decision, is most often dictated by objective criteria and a set of requirements established at the outset, and not by flashing neurons and synapses. I am also firm in my belief and acceptance of God, whose many words imply free will.

What about Judas? Did he have free will to not betray Jesus? Read the story. And why would an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being IMPLY anything? Did the Israelites have free will not to invade, slaughter and take everything from innocent people who never harmed them? Did Noah have free will not to build the ark? Jesus' free will led him to ask that this cup be kept from me....hmmm?

Wow interesting answers. What a nice story we tell ourselves.

There is no free will... not one of us has ever made a decision in our apparent existence, nor ever will.

Research the brain... everything is decided and registered in the brain seconds before we become aware of it, and ignorantly make claim to it as our own. Even these words are coming out of nowhere. They are just happening.

Free will is an illusion.

There is NO ONE there to 'have' free will in the first place.

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RE:

Where does the Bible say we have free will?

It's strange I can't find it...most of our doctrine is based on this premise of free will.

Galatians 5:1