Passages Showing Free Will

Eighteen times people either changed God’s mind or resisted God’s will. These things are only possible if humans have free will.

• Genesis 4:6 –God tells Cain: “If you do well, will you not be accepted?”
• Genesis 4:13 –God marks Cain to prevent his death when Cain complains about the scope of his punishment
• Genesis 12 –God has to call Abraham twice, as Stephen points out in Acts
• Genesis 18 –Abraham argues God should not destroy the cities if he can find ten righteous there based on the character of God
• Genesis 19:15 –Lot lingers even while being urged to flee
• Genesis 19:18 –Lot gets the angels to agree to allow him to flee to a city instead of the wilderness
• Genesis 32:24 –Jacob wrestles with God
• Exodus 4:10 –Moses argues that he cannot speak, so God uses his brother Aaron to speak
• Exodus 32:11 –Moses convinces God not to destroy Israel
• Deuteronomy 31:51-52 –Moses is not allowed to enter the Land because he broke faith with God in Numbers 20
• 2 Kings 13:14-17 –God sets the number of times Joash will win based on the number of arrows shot and struck against the ground
• 2 Kings 20 –God asks Hezekiah which way the clock should move
• I Kings 21:21-29 –God is angry with Ahab for his actions
• Isaiah 38:1-5 –God gives Hezekiah fifteen more years
• Jeremiah 19:5 –God says sacrificing children to Baal is something that “did not even enter his mind”
• 1 Samuel 23:12 –God tells David Keilah will surrender him to Saul
• Psalm 81:11 –God says Israel has rejected his word and resisted his will
• Matthew 11:23 –Jesus describes what would have happened in different circumstances
• Matthew 8:31 –Jesus honors the request of the demons