The Contradiction
Traditional Christian theology attempts to maintain both that humans have genuine free will (the ability to choose between different possible courses of action) and that God predestines or foreknows all events. These concepts appear to be mutually exclusive.
Free Will
- Humans can make genuine choices
- Actions are not predetermined
- Moral responsibility requires choice
- Future is open and undetermined
- Humans shape their own destiny
Predestination
- God determines all events
- All actions are foreknown
- God chooses who will be saved
- Future is fixed and certain
- God's plan cannot be thwarted
Biblical Evidence
| Free Will | Predestination |
|---|---|
| "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19) | "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." (Romans 8:29) |
| "If you decide that it's a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you'd rather serve... As for me and my family, we'll worship God." (Joshua 24:15) | "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." (Ephesians 1:4-5) |
| "Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." (John 7:17) | "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." (John 6:44) |
| "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) | "What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?" (Romans 9:22) |
| "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15) | "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy." (Romans 9:15-16) |
| "Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) | "All that the Father gives me will come to me... And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me." (John 6:37-39) |
| "Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Mark 8:34) | "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit." (John 15:16) |
Logical Problems
Foreknowledge
If God knows the future with certainty, your choices are already fixed. You cannot choose differently than what God already knows you will choose.
Divine Plan
If God has a perfect plan that cannot fail, your decisions must conform to this plan. This means you cannot truly choose freely.
Moral Responsibility
If God decides who will be saved, how can people be held responsible for their salvation or damnation? Punishment seems unjust if the outcome was predetermined.
Reconciliations
Compatibilism
Argues that free will is compatible with determinism because free will only requires acting according to one's desires without external constraint. However, this redefines free will to mean "doing what you want," not "having the ability to choose otherwise," which most people consider essential to free will.
Middle Knowledge
Suggests God knows what any person would freely do in any circumstance, allowing him to arrange circumstances to achieve his will while preserving free choices. This still doesn't resolve how God can know with certainty what a truly free agent would choose.
Timelessness Argument
Claims God exists outside of time and sees all events simultaneously, thus his foreknowledge doesn't cause events. This fails because even if God's knowledge doesn't cause events, if the events must match God's knowledge, they cannot happen otherwise.
Mystery Solution
Claims the contradiction is only apparent and is resolved in God's higher wisdom. This is not a logical solution but a suspension of logic, effectively admitting the irreconcilable nature of the concepts.
Theologies
| Position | View on the Contradiction |
|---|---|
| Calvinism | Emphasizes predestination. Free will exists but is bound by sinful nature. All salvation is predetermined by God's sovereign election. |
| Arminianism | Emphasizes free will. God predestines based on foreknowledge of human choices. Humans can freely accept or reject salvation. |
| Molinism | Attempts a middle ground. God has "middle knowledge" of what creatures would freely do in any situation, allowing him to plan accordingly. |
| Open Theism | Rejects classical foreknowledge. God knows all possibilities but the future is genuinely open. Humans have libertarian free will. |
| Lutheran | Paradoxical view. Maintains both God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Accepts the contradiction as a divine mystery. |
No position has successfully resolved the logical contradiction without sacrificing either meaningful human freedom or comprehensive divine sovereignty.
Conclusion
The contradiction between free will and predestination presents a fundamental logical problem within Christian theology that has resisted satisfactory resolution for centuries. Any attempt to maintain both concepts requires either:
- Redefining free will to mean something less than genuine choice
- Limiting God's foreknowledge or sovereign control
- Appealing to mystery and suspending logical consistency
This persistent contradiction has driven much of Christian theological development and remains one of the most significant logical tensions within fundamentalist Christian belief.