“I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.” [KJV]
This is one of 17 references to “freewill” that occurs in the Bible, as found in the King James Version of the Bible. There are also several other texts in which freewill is implied:
Genesis 49:6: “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.”
1st Peter 5:2: “Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.”
Luke 12:57: “‘And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?’”
1st Corinthians 9:17: “For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”
Philemon 2:14: “But without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.”
So “freewill” is not a pagan term but a biblical term.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
