Freedom and Accountability in the Bible
When taken with the belief in an all powerful God, difficulties similar to the “standard problem” of free-will and agency exist although they are expressed not so much in terms of physical determinism but in terms of the sovereignty of God. For instance, whether it is possible for God to create a being which He cannot control. [i]. If God knows what we are going to do, can we have any real freedom? If God chose to hold back some of His power so that agents can have true freedom, does that mean that God is not immutable and therefore not perfect? Various answers have been proposed to these apparent paradoxes.
A different problem arises when, due to situations described in Sections Error: Reference source not found, free will is very much curtailed. In his book, Joel Green opens a chapter on “Sin and Freedom” by referring to the case of the school teacher described in Section Error: Reference source not found. He describes cases like these as “deeply disconcerting, harbouring as they do the prospect of the loss of our sense of wilful agency”[ii]. Is such a person culpable and deserving of punishment? What does repentance and saving faith mean in such a case?
Scripture affirms that we do have real freedom, not just the illusion of it, and we are therefore strongly accountable for our choices. Nevertheless it is affirmed that our freedom is constrained by a number of factors including our nature, whether its origin is our genes or the sin of Adam, and our environment which may give us false information or keep us ignorant. Scripture also affirms the existence of “self-forming actions” by which our future choices are influenced by previous ones and we give ourselves the propensities which we choose to build. This is akin to Libertarianism.
Generally, we can see that the Bible affirms the following:
1. We have freedom of choice leading to “strong accountability”. Libertarian freedom.
2. Our freedom is limited by our inheritance (genes, human nature, sin of Adam) and our environment (ignorance, the Devil, false information etc.)
3. Humanity, as a race, is in a state of depravity. As individuals we have a propensity to sin.
4. Acts committed in ignorance deserve to be treated less severely
5. God is absolutely sovereign. He has the power to coerce us if He chooses to do so.
6. God’s absolute sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility are simultaneously affirmed.
7. God, and only God, can release us from the restrictions to our freedom resulting from the position we are in. This enhanced freedom is partial while we are in this Age.
8. The process of salvation and sanctification is only done with our cooperation, never forced
Some representative Scriptures which deal with these issues are as follows:
We have freedom of choice and “strong accountability”
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve had freedom to take or not to take the apple. They are then held responsible and strongly accountable for their choice.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 The people of Israel are called to make a choice between following God’s instructions or rejecting them. Though their choice has consequences, they are not forced to make one decision or the other. They are free and they are responsible.
In Proverbs 1:24 we see that God does not force His will upon a people who choose to go their own way.
In Acts 2:37 They had been misguided and had acted in ignorance based on false information. Now that they hear the truth, they have the opportunity, and the freedom, to change direction (repent) and turn to the right path.
Romans 1:20-21 Freedom of choice is reaffirmed although there is also an indication that a person’s ability to make future choices can be limited by past and present choices. (Self Forming Actions) For instance, stepping onto a slippery slope restricts one’s freedom to get back onto the road again (although not their freedom to shout for help).
2 Peter 3:9 The possibility of repentance, choosing a different path to follow, is always open.
Our freedom is limited by our inheritance and our environment
For instance Jeremiah 13:23 and Matthew 7:18.
In our fallen state, we are unable to receive the truth. We have been blinded and deceived by the Devil.
John 8:43-44, John 14:17, Romans 8:5-8, 1 Corinthians2:14 and 2 Corinthians 4:4
We are slaves to sin. However we do have the freedom to choose a new Master if we know about Him.
John 8:34-36“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.The slave does not remain in the house for ever; the son remains for ever.So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Romans 6:16-23“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Again there is the “slippery slope” analogy and the effect of Self Forming Actions.
Ephesians 2:1-3“And you were dead in the trespasses and sinsin which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Ephesians 4:19-20“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.They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practise every kind of impurity.”
2 Timothy 2:24-26“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
As before, they cannot escape the snare unaided. They must call for help.
Humanity is in a state of depravity
Eccles 7:20“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”
Eccles 9:3“This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.”
Jeremiah 17:9-10“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.””
An initial Self Forming Action (not acknowledging God) has led them to on a path to greater and greater distance from God and from right behaviour even though they know that God disapproves. The only way back is to receive help.
Romans 1:28-32 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.Though they know God’s decree that those who practise such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practise them.”
The Law is a teacher which points out sin but non-Jews, who have not heard the Law, are guided by their own consciences. ie. the law written on their hearts. Nobody, with or without the Law, can be perfectly righteous. We are not free to do that.
Romans 2:12-16“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse themon that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:11-12“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:23“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Conversely, choosing the right path moves our propensities more to doing right however we are not capable of being perfect.
1 John 1:8-10“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Acts committed in ignorance deserve to be treated less severely
Bad acts done in ignorance are no less sinful but there is less accountability. Knowledge brings responsibility. ie. We are judged in accordance with the light we have received.
Luke 12:46-48“the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.
But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
Luke 23:34“And Jesus said,“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”
John 9:41“Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
John 15:22“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
Acts 3:17-19“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,”
Acts 17:30-31“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
1 Tim 1:12-14“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
James 4:17“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
God is absolutely sovereign.
2 Chronicles 20:6“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”
Psalm 115:3“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
Proverbs 19:21“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
Daniel 4:35“all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Romans 8:28-30“And we know that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good, with those who have been called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
God’s absolute sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility are simultaneously true.
Exodus 4:21: And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Acts 4:27“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
Only God can release us from these limitations to our freedom.
Ezekiel 36:26“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
John 1:12-13“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 3:5-7“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
John 6:44“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:64-65“But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
John 8:36“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
2 Corinthians 5:17“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Galatians 5:1“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Ephesians1:11“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”
Ephesians 2:4-5“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved”
Colossians 2:13-14 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
James 1:18“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Titus 3:5“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”
1 Peter 1:23“since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;”
The process of sanctification is only done with our cooperation
Matthew 23:37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
Romans 12:2“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Philippians 2:12,13“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Revelation 3:20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
iAnglin, W. S.. (1980). Can God Create a Being He Cannot Control?. Analysis, 40(4), 220–223. http://doi.org/10.2307/3327484
iiJoel B. Green, “Body, Soul and Human Life”, Authentic Media, ISBN 978-1-84227-539-9, 2008