If God Foreknows Our Choices, Can We Choose Differently?

If God infallibly foreknows a person’s choices then doesn’t that mean the person cannot make any other choices? God’s foreknowledge cannot be falsified and this has lead some to conclude that our choices must necessarily be what God foreknows them to be. This conclusion is both logically flawed, conflating different concepts, and contrary to scripture.

To begin with, though it is true that God foreknows our choices, there is no logical reason to conclude that His foreknowledge necessitates those things which He foreknows because knowledge is not causal, that is, knowledge itself possesses no power to make things happen, and if God’s knowledge of the future does not cause the future then it does not necessitate the future. Foreknowledge does not fore-cause.

Moreover, to say that God knows all our future choices does not necessarily mean He determines all our future choices. Although people frequently conflate the two, foreknowledge and predetermination are distinct concepts. One speaks about what God chooses for the future, and one speaks of what God knows about the future. By way of illustration, to say that God foreknows that Jack will eat an apple rather than an orange is not to say that God has determined that Jack will eat an apple over an orange. The former does not logically necessitate the other.

However, since God’s knowledge of our future choices cannot be wrong, it logically follows that our choices are certain. They are not necessary, but they are certain. People also often confuse these two concepts, but certainty and necessity are very different. If God knows that we will choose something then it is certain that we will choose it, but it is not necessary, that is, we could choose something else. If we do choose something else, God would have foreknown that instead. Using the example above of Jack eating an apple, God’s foreknowledge means that Jack’s choice was certain, but it did not make it necessary. Jack could have chosen to eat the orange. But if Jack had chosen to eat the orange then God would have foreknown that instead.

Let’s analyze it further. Suppose a man, call him Edward, can choose either to read book A, book B, or book C, and he chooses to read book A. God foreknew that Edward would choose book A. But God also knew that Edward could have chosen book B or C. It is not merely that God knew Edward would choose book A, it's that God knew he would freely choose book A. If Edward would have freely chosen book B or C, God would have known that instead. Considering this illustration, there is logical coherence in all statements, demonstrating that foreknowledge of a choice does not logically exclude the ability to choose otherwise.

Now let’s consider it from a theological standpoint. What does the Bible actually say about our freedom to choose? Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians in regard to their temptations:

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13 LSB).

Of significance is the word “able.” Paul says temptations to sin come with the ability to endure. It is explicitly stated that if we have succumbed to temptation and sin, we were able to have refrained from sinning. God knows whether we will choose to sin or not, but this scripture confirms we are able to make other choices. If we are able to make other choices then that means our choices are free. God foreknows them, and they are certain, but they are not necessary.

Also consider that in Jeremiah 19:5, we are told that Israel burned their children as sacrifices to the Caananite god, and God says this act was something that He “never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever come upon [His] heart.” Though God knows the future choices of men, in His heart He never wanted them to do these kinds of evil acts; therefore, He most certainly did not determine for them to do it.

There are many other passages we could consider, but the two above settle the issue from a scriptural perspective.

• Knowledge is not causal.

• God’s infallible foreknowledge does not determine or cause the choices of men.

• God’s foreknowledge means our choices are certain but not necessary.

• Certainty and necessity are different concepts and should not be conflated.

• The Bible plainly tells us that we are able to refrain from sinning in any given situation.