Do We Have Free Will?

Do human beings have free will? Well, it depends on what is meant by “free will”. We do have free will in the sense that we make genuine choices; we choose things that we really want to choose. We are not robots being controlled by something or someone else. However, there is also another sense in which we do not have free will because our will is limited by certain factors.

For example, let us consider the question: Does God have free will? Many people would be quickly answer, “Yes, God certainly has free will!”—and in a sense, that is certainly true. However, there is another sense in which God does not have free will. Consider this: Does God have the free will to lie? Of course not. Titus 1:2 refers to God as “God, who cannot lie” (ESV). The original Greek expression is even stronger—ho apseudēs theos, “the unlying God”. Not lying is so definitional to God’s nature that he is described by the adjective apseudēs, “unlying”. God does not have the free will to lie because it is not within his nature to lie.

Consider also a person addicted to drugs. Does a drug addict have free will? Many drug addicts say that they do: “I can stop whenever I want!” Well, in one sense, they are not wrong! Any time they want, they could just stop taking drugs and even turn away from a life of drugs. The question is: Would they want to do that? Very unlikely. For many addicts, it has become a part of them to choose to take drugs. That is, after all, the very definition of what it means to be a drug addict!

So, our will is restricted by certain factors, and in that sense, we do not have free will. Yet, there is another sense in which we do have free will. When God speaks truth, when the drug addict takes drugs, or when we make choices, we are exercising free will in the sense that we are doing things that we really want to do, and not because they are being controlled or compelled by something or someone else.

So, do we have free will?

• Yes—in the sense that we choose things that we really want to choose.
• No—in the sense that what we can want to choose is limited by other factors.

Never engage in a discussion about free will until both parties agree on which definition of free will to use consistently throughout the discussion.