God's Will & Our Free Choices
- James Collazo
- Jul 2, 2022
- 12 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Introduction
From the earliest days of Christianity, believers have wrestled with how God's control and human freedom work together. The first Christians did not see this as a complicated theory but as a living partnership built on faith, love, and obedience. God's will calls people to trust and cooperate with him, not to submit passively. True freedom is not being independent from God but working with him, where his wisdom guides and human love responds. Scripture, philosophy, and even science suggest that God's will and human choice move together in harmony, not in conflict.
Greek philosophers also wrestled with this mystery. Plato (427–347 BC) taught that the soul longs for what is truly good, and Aristotle (384–322 BC) believed that reason and virtue help people shape their own lives. Their ideas point toward what Scripture later reveals: absolute freedom only makes sense within a world ordered by God's wisdom. This ancient perspective, later called paleo-orthodoxy—from palaios (G3820, "ancient") and orthos (G3717, "right")—describes the early church's shared faith before divisions arose. It influenced theologians like John Wesley (1703–1791) and Luis de Molina (1535–1600), who taught that God's perfect knowledge works through human freedom, showing that God's will and our choices operate together in redemption.
Messianic Jewish teaching echoes this truth: God's covenant with Israel calls his people to be a light to the nations (Isa. 49:6), showing that he rules through relationship, not force. Even modern secular thinkers still debate the issue. Sam Harris (b. 1967) argues in Free Will (Simon & Schuster, 2012) that freedom is an illusion caused by brain processes. But if that were true, love and morality would lose all meaning. Scripture teaches that although God knows every outcome, he invites real choices and genuine relationships. Grace moves first, and freedom responds. God's will restores, rather than erases, human purpose.
Divine Knowledge & Human Freedom
Scripture presents a God who combines perfect wisdom with relational purpose. He "declares the end from the beginning" (Isa. 46:10) and knows every thought and intention (Ps. 139:1–4). His knowledge includes every possible path, yet he still invites human choice: "I have set before you life and death . . . now choose life" (Deut. 30:19). Real love requires absolute freedom, and the biblical story assumes that our choices matter.
Molina explained this harmony through the doctrine of middle knowledge. God knows every possible decision and its result. He understands not only what will happen, but what could happen under any condition. Middle knowledge (what would be) lies between God's natural knowledge (what could be) and his free knowledge (what will be), showing how he can foresee human choices without causing them. Through this wisdom, God arranges creation so that his purpose moves forward through genuine freedom.
Jesus himself demonstrated this divine awareness. When Roman soldiers came to arrest him, he said, "Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:53). He saw every possible outcome—resisting arrest, calling angels, or going to the cross—and freely chose obedience to fulfill prophecy (Isa. 53; Luke 22:37). In that decision, Jesus exemplified what Molinists describe as middle knowledge: he foresaw the available paths and freely chose the one that brings salvation (Phil. 2:8). His freedom became the instrument of grace.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) later reasoned that God created "the best of all possible worlds." A wise and good Creator would choose the world where free will and divine purpose coexist perfectly. A world without choice could not hold love, and a world without love could not reveal God. Even suffering fits within this harmony of wisdom. Although Leibniz and Molina lived in different times, their ideas pointed to the same truth: God's plan does not take away human freedom—it works through it to carry out his purpose.
Grace That Comes Before
Grace begins salvation. It awakens faith and draws hearts back to God. Wesley called this prevenient grace—grace that "comes before." It stirs the will, softens the heart, and empowers us to respond to God's call (Phil. 2:13; Titus 2:11–12). Grace never forces; it restores love's freedom. Salvation renews the divine image in humanity and heals what sin has broken (Gen. 1:26–27; Eph. 4:24).
Where Molina described God's middle knowledge as the framework of providence, Wesley described prevenient grace as the experience of that same divine wisdom at work in the heart. Molina explained how God knows every possibility; Wesley explained how grace meets the soul within those possibilities. Both show that God initiates and guides salvation while allowing free response.
The early church fathers taught the same truth. Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 130–202) wrote that Christ "became what we are, that he might bring us to be even what he is himself" (Against Heresies 5, Preface). Grace, therefore, is not mere pardon but transformation (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 4:19). Modern science even echoes this pattern. Michio Kaku (b. 1947), a Japanese-American physicist, describes in The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind (Doubleday, 2014) how the brain rewires itself through experience, a process called neuroplasticity. Similarly, grace reshapes the inner life. As believers follow the Spirit, their thoughts and desires reform around love (Rom. 12:2).
Freedom Within Sovereignty
God's sovereignty works through wisdom and love, not control. His plan accounts for every possibility while preserving genuine freedom. Scripture holds both truths together: God reigns, and yet people choose (Ps. 115:3; Phil. 2:12–13; Rom. 10:9–10).
The Messianic Jewish tradition grounds this mystery in covenant. The Didachē, a first-century guide for Jewish followers of Jesus, begins, "There are two ways, one of life and one of death" (Did. 1:1), echoing God's command to "choose life" in the Old Testament (Deut. 30:19). God reveals his will and calls his people to walk in it (Mic. 6:8).
Jewish thought describes moral tension as the struggle between the yetzer ha-tov (good inclination; tov, H2896) and the yetzer ha-ra (evil inclination; ra, H7451). The word yetzer ("inclination" or "formation") comes from yatsar (H3335, "to form")—the same verb Moses used to describe how God "formed" Adam from dust (Gen. 2:7). The moral struggle, then, is part of the human design: a tension between good and evil inclinations within the creature God shaped. Paul echoes this: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (Rom. 7:19).
Asher Intrater (b. 1952) summarizes this dynamic through TF3: total sovereignty (Ps. 103:19), faithfulness to the forefathers (Exod. 3:6), the firstborn nation of Israel (Exod. 4:22), and the first-century apostolic church that carried Israel's calling to the nations. God reigns personally, not mechanically. He invites his people into partnership. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, embodied that partnership when he prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). In him, divine will and human freedom found perfect harmony.
Grace & God's Choice
Throughout history, theologians have tried to describe the dance between God's action and human response. Jacob Arminius (1560–1609) taught that divine love empowers genuine freedom. Grace awakens faith but never overrides it. He described predestination as God's eternal plan "to justify and give everlasting life to believers on whom he had decreed to bestow faith" (Rom. 8:29–30). Arminian thought summarizes this with the acronym FACTS: freed by grace to believe (Eph. 2:8–9), atonement for all (1 John 2:2), conditional election (Rev. 2:10), total depravity (Rom. 3:23), and security in Christ (John 15:4–5; Heb. 10:23).
John Calvin (1509–1564) emphasized God's authority in salvation. His followers summarized his system with TULIP: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Later Calvinists extended this into double predestination—the idea that God decrees both salvation and condemnation. Yet the Bible affirms that God "desires all people to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:4).
Grace and Cooperation in Salvation. The conversation between Arminius and Calvin reflects an older tension captured in two key theological terms: monergism and synergism. These words come from the Greek monos (G3441, "alone" or "single") and sun (G4862, "with"), joined with ergon (G2041, "work"). Monergism means "God works alone," while synergism means "God works together with" believers in the process of salvation.
The New Testament never uses the verb monergeō, but it does use sunergeō (G4903), meaning "to work together." Paul writes, "And we know that in all things God works together [sunergeō] with those who love him to bring about what is good, with those who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). The word paints a picture of divine and human cooperation—God's initiative joining human response to fulfill his purpose.
Wesley and Molina both represent a biblical form of synergism in which God initiates grace, but humans respond freely in love. Calvin emphasized monergism, teaching that God alone accomplishes salvation from start to finish. The early church fathers, following the rhythm of grace and freedom, leaned toward synergism without denying sovereignty, affirming that God's creative grace invites our willing cooperation.
Early Christian teachers such as Justin Martyr (AD 100–165), Clement of Alexandria (AD 150–215), and John Chrysostom (AD 347–407) upheld that balance. They taught that salvation is God's gift, offered to all yet received freely through faith and obedience. Grace begins the work, but love must answer it. Centuries later, Arminius and Wesley renewed this same harmony, calling believers to respond freely to the grace that first seeks them.
Providence & Freedom in Harmony
In modern theology, Timothy George (b. 1950) summarized divine sovereignty and human cooperation through the acronym ROSES: radical depravity (Gen. 1:27; James 3:9), overcoming grace (Rom. 2:4), sovereign election (Eph. 1:4–5), eternal life (John 10:28–29), and singular redemption (1 Tim. 2:5–6). Both Molina's doctrine of middle knowledge and Wesley's teaching on prevenient grace affirm the same reality. In this way, they show that God works through freedom, not against it. This dynamic cooperation between divine calling and human assent is biblical synergism in action, the Spirit of God working alongside the human will to bring forth the mystery of redemption (Rom. 8:26–28).
Modern neuroscience echoes this same divine design. The human brain constantly weighs multiple possibilities before making a single choice, holding remarkable complexity within its limited capacity. If our finite minds can manage such depth, then the infinite God can indeed unite every moment into his redemptive purpose—guiding creation toward its intended goal without overriding the freedom he has given. C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) states it plainly: "God created things which had free will. That means creatures that can go wrong or right. If a thing is free to be good, it is also free to be bad" (2002, p. 34). In this way, love and obedience shape the meaning of freedom, and grace strengthens the will through faithful practice, not compulsion (John 14:15).
The Ancient Vision
The paleo-orthodox tradition—renewed by Thomas C. Oden (1931–2016), who urged a return to the early church's shared faith, and by Jaroslav Pelikan (1923–2006), who traced the development of Christian doctrine—highlights the unity of early Christianity. Leaders such as Irenaeus and Athanasius (AD 296–373) taught that salvation involves both God's action and our response. They described redemption as a rhythm: grace awakens the soul (John 6:44), freedom responds (James 4:8), and love brings God's purpose to completion (Rom. 13:10).
This same rhythm flows through Wesleyan holiness, Molinist providence, and Messianic covenant faithfulness. Wesleyan thought emphasizes transformation through love, Molinism reveals divine wisdom guiding free will, and Messianic faith recalls covenant obedience. Together, they present salvation as a shared life with God through the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). The early Christians lived the synergy of divine grace and human faith, honoring both God's sovereignty and human responsibility. In Jesus, divine will and human freedom met perfectly: his obedience on the cross reveals grace at work in a real human choice, and his resurrection shows God's purpose transforming suffering into glory.
Conclusion
Scripture, theology, philosophy, and even science agree: God's will and human freedom exist in harmony. God rules creation wisely and invites humanity to join his mission. The early church captured this balance: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28). Grace strengthens the will rather than overpowering it.
The paleo-orthodox, Wesleyan, and Molinist traditions together teach that God's will is about relationship, not control. Messianic believers live this truth by trusting God's promises and freely choosing to obey. From Plato and Aristotle to modern thinkers like Sam Harris, humanity continues to ask: How free are we, really? Scripture answers that freedom is part of God's design, shaped by his wisdom. Even science affirms this mystery—our minds imagine, plan, and choose among many paths, reflecting the Creator's image.
If human minds can glimpse a few possibilities, how much more can the infinite God guide all things toward good? (Rom. 8:28). In Christ, divine will and human freedom meet perfectly. His obedience reveals that grace does not erase choice—it redeems it. To live in God's will means walking with him daily—to love, to serve, and to grow in his likeness. As Wesley wrote, "To know the will of God is to love as God loves." When believers surrender their will to his, they do not lose themselves—they discover who God made them to be (Matt. 16:24–25; Gal. 2:20).
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of heaven and earth. You know every path and choice through your wisdom. However, you call us to walk in grace and trust your will. Shape our hearts, guide our steps, and make us one in purpose. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bibliography
Abasciano, Brian. "An Outline of the FACTS of Arminianism vs. the TULIP of Calvinism." Society of Evangelical Arminians. February 28, 2013. [link].
Arminius, James. Arminius Speaks: Essential Writings on Predestination, Free Will, and the Nature of God. Edited by John D. Wagner. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011.
Beilby, James K., and Paul R. Eddy, eds. Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views. Spectrum Multiview Book Series. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2001.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008.
Chilton, Brian G. "What is Molinism?" The Christian Post. May 17, 2018. [link].
Geisler, Norman L. Chosen but Free: A Balanced View of God's Sovereignty and Free Will. 3rd ed. Bloomington, MN: Bethany House, 2010.
Harris, Sam. Free Will. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1955.
Horton, Michael S., Norman L. Geisler, Stephen M. Ashby, and J. Steven Harper. Four Views on Eternal Security. Counterpoints. Edited by J. Matthew Pinson and Stanley N. Gundry. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
Hunt, Dave, and James White. Debating Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views. Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2009.
Irenaeus. "Against Heresies." In The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. Translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rambaut. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1885.
Janicki, Toby. The Way of Life—Didache: A New Translation and Messianic Jewish Commentary. Marshfield, MO: Vine of David, 2017.
Juster, Daniel, and Asher Keith. Israel, the Church, and the Last Days. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2003.
Kaku, Michio. The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind. New York: Doubleday, 2014.
Keathley, Kenneth D. "Molinism." Theology for the Church (blog). November 24, 2015. [link].
⸻. "ROSES vs. TULIP." Theology for the Church (blog). April 1, 2010. [link].
⸻. Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach. Nashville: B&H, 2010.
Kaufmann Kohler, and Isaac Broydé. "Predestination." Jewish Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Kopelman Foundation, 2021–present. [link].
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Louth, Andrew, Matthew Levering, Michael Horton, Fred Sanders, and Tom Greggs. Five Views on the Extent of the Atonement. Counterpoints. Edited by Adam J. Johnson and Stanley N. Gundry. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019.
MacGregor, Kirk R. Luis de Molina: The Life and Theology of the Founder of Middle Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.
Oden, Thomas C. The Transforming Power of Grace. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.
Palmer, David, ed. Libertarian Free Will: Contemporary Debates. Oxford Readings in Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1 of the Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.
Perszyk, Ken, ed. Molinism: The Contemporary Debate. Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.
Richardson, Cyril C., trans. and ed. "A Church Manual—The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Commonly Called the Didache." In The Library of Christian Classics, vol. 1, edited by John Baillie, John T. McNeill, and Henry P. Van Dusen. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953.
Spitzer, Jeffrey. "The Birth of the Good Inclination." My Jewish Learning. [link].
Stratton, Tim. "A Molinist Response to Wayne Grudem." Free Thinking Ministries. August 16, 2022. [link].
Stratton, Timothy A. Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism: A Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Philosophical Analysis. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2020.
Swenson, Philip. "Review of Libertarian Free Will: Contemporary Debates." June 30, 2015. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Notre Dame University. [link].
Wesley, John. Sermons on Several Occasions. Edited by Albert C. Outler. Vol. 1 of the Works of John Wesley. Nashville: Abingdon, 1984.
White, James R. The Potter's Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and the Rebuttal of Norman Geisler's Chosen but Free. Amityville, NY: Calvary, 2000.
Wright, N. T., and Michael F. Bird. The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019.
