Edmond La B. Cherbonnier
In Dictionary of the Bible, ed. by James Hastings, rev. ed. by Frederick C. Grant and H. H. Rowley (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963)
Although the Bible does not engage directly in the historic debate on the freedom of the will, a clear, consistent., and even sophisticated position may be detected between its lines. Its tacit assumption, from Adam's fall to Judas' betrayal, is the freedom of human beings as responsible, purposive agents, capable of decision and choice : ‘Choose this day whom you will serve’ (Jos 2415 ; cf 1 K 1821. Most of the parables of Jesus dramatize the Deuteronomic exhortation, ‘Therefore choose life’ (Dt 3019) Indeed, most of the Bible's key words are verbs which become meaningless the moment free will is denied: love, repent, forgive, judge, thank, rejoice, betray, obey.
Some interpreters, in the interest of theological doctrines like predestination, original sin, or irresistible grace, have feared that to grant human freedom would contravene the sovereignty of God. These interpreters appeal to passages in which God actually overrides human freedom, as when he hardens Pharaoh's heart (Ex 912 1020,27 1110), or puts a lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets (1 K 2223). These citations, however, instead of contradicting the belief in human freedom, support it. Pharaoh and the false prophets were deprived of their normal capacity for free choice, presumably for having overtaxed God's patience. Before God intervened, Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart three times (Ex 815,32 934). The principal significance of these passages is to establish that the same God who gave men the gift of freedom can also, under sufficient provocation, revoke it (cf Is 69f, Ro 124).
In the Bible, human freedom is contrasted, not with necessity, but with bondage. Only beings who are by nature free can suffer bondage. Animals cannot become slaves. Possessing the innate capacity for freedom, man may fall into physical serfdom, or, more subtly, into spiritual servitude. The latter, or ‘bondage unto sin’ (cf Jn 834, Ro 617 714-25 815 Gal 49), occurs whenever men try to order their lives without reference to God. They transfer their trust to some false god, which, having demanded their freedom as collateral, promptly forecloses. Whatever potential freedom they retain is like that of a man in prison. It only increases their frustration. ‘Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods’ (Gal 48). Victims of these false gods become in turn a part of the conspiracy against human freedom. They are likened to hucksters who ‘promise . . . freedom, but are themselves slaves of corruption’ (2 P 219).
Where false gods enslave men, the mark of the true God is to liberate (Is 611). The Lord delivered his people ‘out of the house of bondage,’ not only physically, but spiritually as well, by inviting Israel to ‘walk in his ways.’ The ‘ways of the Lord’ are the ‘law of liberty’ (Ja 125; cf Ps 11945). The NT word ‘ransom’ (Mt 2228, 1 Ti 26) likewise suggests the price paid to free a bondservant. The Christian is set free from bondage to dumb idols (Hab 218, 1 Co 122), and incorporated into the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God’ (Ro 821; cf Jn 8 32-36, Gal 51). This liberty, however, differs significantly from the ordinary definition. It is customary to correlate freedom with independence, so that the maximum of freedom requires the maximum of self-sufficiency. For the Bible, however, the reverse is true. The way to preserve and enhance human freedom is to love and be loved. Men do not achieve this kind of liberation simply by taking thought. Rather, their deliverance is the work of God Himself who, through His Holy Spirit, knits them into a redemptive community (cf Ro 55). This experience, contradicting the definition of freedom as splendid isolation, leads the Christian to exclaim : ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Co 317).