tl;dnr
The scriptures tell us we do not have free will. We cannot choose Christ unless God supernaturally causes us to desire him and so causes us to choose him. Further, we cannot make even the smallest day to day decisions differently from the way we do make them, right down the to the words I'm typing. "The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the LORD." (Pv 16:33)
Some thoughts:
All men make choices based on their desires (or preferences). No man has authority over his desires. Therefore no man has authority over his choices.
No man is an island. No event happens in a vacuum. All things are connected. If God is sovereign over any outcome he must be sovereign over every outcome.
All text is from the ESV unless otherwise noted.
In the New Testament
Mark
Mk 13:20-27
20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
21 And then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it.
22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
John
Jn 1:9-13
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jn 6:35-44 NIV
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.
44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
The Father gives the Son all those whom he saves. They all come and none are lost. None that are not given come.
Jn 6:63-65 NIV
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them."
Jn 12:37-40
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled
Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40 He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.
How can they turn to God of their own free will if they cannot believe? If their eyes are blind, how will they see? If their hearts are hard, how will they desire Him?
Jn 15:16-19
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
Jn 17:1-12
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
What can be said about this? Jesus says the Father has given him authority to give eternal life to those that the Father gave him out of the world.
They belonged to the Father, the Father gave them to the Son, the Son gave them eternal life and not one was lost except the son of destruction as prophesied in Scripture.
Where then is free will? Where is their power to turn to or from God of themselves? Perhaps it will be said that Jesus is here referring only to the apostles.
Will we then say that the apostles did not have free will but everyone else does?
Acts
Ac 2:22-23 NASB
Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Ac 4:23-28
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
"'Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed'—
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,
28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Ac 13:48
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
None believed that were not appointed. All that were appointed believed. Where is free will?
Romans
Rm 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
If we, born in the flesh, are hostile to God, cannot submit to God's law and cannot please God, how then can we welcome God, submit to Him and please Him by turning to Him of our own power?
Rm 8:28-30
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 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.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Rm 9:10-24
And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Rm 10:14-21
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
21 But of Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
So to call on God they must believe and to believe they must have faith and to have faith they must hear.
But not all who hear understand. "Hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."1
Those to whom he has shown himself did not ask for him and were not seeking him. "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." 2
Matthew 13:13
Romans 3:11
Rm 11:1-8
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."
4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
8 as it is written,
God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.
If the gift is given to those who choose it for themselves then it isn't by grace at all but rather by the merit of the choice. If the gift is given to those who do not choose it then it is by grace that it is given.
Rm 11:17-32
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob;
27 and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
What branch choses to be grafted in or cut out? The cultivator makes those decisions.
Rm 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Faith is required to believe and God assigns it.
Galatians
Gal 1:13-17
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Paul, so far from seeking God, was bent on destroying God's ekklesia. He did not seek Him or ask for Him yet He came to him because He purposed before he was born to use him for His glory.
Ephesians
Eph 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Philippians
Php 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,
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
In the Old Testament
Proverbs
Pv 16:1
The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Pv 16:4
The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Pv 16:9 NKJV
A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
Pv 16:33
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.
Pv 22:2
The rich and the poor have this in common,
The Lord is the maker of them all.
Psalm
Ps 31:14-15
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand;
Ps 37:23-24
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
Possible Rebuttals
Jn 5:39-40
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
The KJV translation reads "40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."
When it says "ye will" or "ye will not" it is taken to imply that ye just as easily may have willed differently had ye so chosen.
But isn't that begging the question? When it says "you will not come" it does not follow that this means you might have come had you so chosen. Rather, this is merely stating what your will is.
Your will is to not come.
Spurgeon had this to say about it:
…no man by nature ever will come to Christ, for the text says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."
So far from asserting that men of their own wills ever do such a thing, it boldly and flatly denies it, and says, "Ye WILL NOT come to me, that ye might have life."
Free Will–A Slave, REV C.H. Spurgeon
Rm 10:8-9
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
This is the best example that I know of to illustrate this issue. Here Paul says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved. It goes on to say, in verse 13,
"13 For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
Here again, the assertion that this implies free will is begging the question. This in no way indicates that a person has the freedom to will or to not will confessing and believing.
It simply says that those whose will it is to confess and believe will be saved regardless of how it came to be their will. The reason why this is such a good example is because of the larger context in which it's found.
If we simply go on to read the rest of the chapter we see that Paul is clearly saying that believing and confessing is not something men can do.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
21 But of Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
Notice is says in verse 17 that hearing comes through the word of Christ. So it is an action of God that enables one to hear. Without this action, without the word of Christ, no one hears and understands.
Hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."1
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. 2
Matthew 13:13
Romans 3:11
Further Examples
I think every verse taken to imply free will involves a similar misunderstanding. The following are examples of such verses.
- Is 41:18
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
- Jn 7:17
If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
- Rev 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.
- Dt 30:19-20
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.
Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,
that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
