Last updated: February 2, 2026
Examining the logical contradictions between human free will and divine foreknowledge.
Traditional Christian theology attempts to maintain both that humans have genuine free will and that God predestines or foreknows all events. These concepts appear to be mutually exclusive.
Christianity teaches that humans can make genuine choices between different possible courses of action. This includes:
Christianity also teaches that God has complete knowledge and control over all events. This includes:
These two sets of claims appear to conflict. If God knows with certainty what you will choose, then you cannot choose differently - your choice is already fixed. If your actions are predetermined by God's plan, then you cannot be truly free to choose otherwise. This presents a logical tension in Christian theology.
| Free Will | Predestination |
|---|---|
| "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19) | "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." (Romans 8:29) |
| "If you decide that it's a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you'd rather serve... As for me and my family, we'll worship God." (Joshua 24:15) | "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." (Ephesians 1:4-5) |
| "Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." (John 7:17) | "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." (John 6:44) |
| "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) | "What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction?" (Romans 9:22) |
| "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15) | "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy." (Romans 9:15-16) |
| "Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) | "All that the Father gives me will come to me... And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me." (John 6:37-39) |
| "Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Mark 8:34) | "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit." (John 15:16) |
| "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known." (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) | "Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'" (Isaiah 46:9-10) |
| "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) | "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." (Ephesians 1:4) |
| "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15) | "Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." (Acts 4:27-28) |
| "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let the one who hears say, 'Come!' Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life." (Revelation 22:17) | "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48) |
If God knows the future with certainty, your choices are already fixed. You cannot choose differently than what God already knows you will choose.
If God has a perfect plan that cannot fail, your decisions must conform to this plan. This means you cannot truly choose freely.
If God decides who will be saved, how can people be held responsible for their salvation or damnation? Punishment seems unjust if the outcome was predetermined.
Argues that free will is compatible with determinism because free will only requires acting according to one's desires without external constraint. Critics note this redefines free will to mean "doing what you want," not "having the ability to choose otherwise," a distinction some consider significant for free will.
Suggests God knows what any person would freely do in any circumstance, allowing him to arrange circumstances to achieve his will while preserving free choices. Some argue this does not fully address how God can know with certainty what a truly free agent would choose.
Claims God exists outside of time and sees all events simultaneously, thus his foreknowledge doesn't cause events. Critics contend that even if God's knowledge doesn't cause events, if the events must match God's knowledge, they cannot happen otherwise.
Claims the contradiction is only apparent and is resolved in God's higher wisdom. Skeptics view this as a suspension of logic rather than a logical solution, suggesting the concepts may be irreconcilable within human understanding.
| Position | View on the Contradiction |
|---|---|
| Calvinism | Emphasizes predestination. Free will exists but is bound by sinful nature. All salvation is predetermined by God's sovereign election. |
| Arminianism | Emphasizes free will. God predestines based on foreknowledge of human choices. Humans can freely accept or reject salvation. |
| Molinism | Attempts a middle ground. God has "middle knowledge" of what creatures would freely do in any situation, allowing him to plan accordingly. |
| Open Theism | Rejects classical foreknowledge. God knows all possibilities but the future is genuinely open. Humans have libertarian free will. |
| Lutheran | Paradoxical view. Maintains both God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Accepts the contradiction as a divine mystery. |
Various positions differ on whether the logical tension can be resolved without compromising either human freedom or divine sovereignty.
The tension between free will and predestination presents a logical problem within Christian theology that continues to receive scholarly attention. Attempts to maintain both concepts typically involve one of the following approaches:
This ongoing tension has motivated significant theological development and remains a point of discussion across Christian traditions.