Part 1: The Jewish Roots of the Will—Was It Ever Free in the Libertarian Sense?
I. Introduction: Why the Origin Matters
The debate over whether man is “free” usually assumes we all mean the same thing. But we do not. What modern Westerners often call “free will” is libertarian free will: the belief that human choices are undetermined by prior causes and are therefore genuinely open—that we could have done otherwise, and nothing ultimately determines which choice we make. This is not the same as the biblical or Jewish concept of moral responsibility.
The stakes are high. If this libertarian view of freedom is not part of the biblical worldview, but is instead imported later from Greek philosophy, then we are not defending Scripture when we defend free will—we are defending autonomy.
To get to the truth, we must ask:
Did the Jews before Christ believe in libertarian free will?
II. Terminology: Defining the Will
Let us define terms:
• Libertarian Free Will: The ability to choose otherwise in the exact same circumstances, without being determined by nature, character, or divine decree. It entails metaphysical indeterminacy.
• Compatibilist Free Will: The belief that human choices can be morally responsible even if they are determined—so long as they flow from the agent’s own desires or character.
• Moral Agency: The capacity to be held accountable for one’s choices. This does not require libertarian autonomy; it requires conscience, knowledge, and volition.
III. What Do the Hebrew Scriptures Teach?
Before we turn to Jewish literature outside the Bible, let us be clear: the Old Testament itself does not affirm libertarian free will.
1. The Will Is Shaped by Nature
“The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” – Genesis 8:21
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” – John 6:44 (cf. Psalm 65:4)
2. Divine Determination Is Constant
“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” – Proverbs 21:1
“I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” – Jeremiah 10:23
Responsibility, yes. Autonomy, no.
IV. What Did Second Temple Judaism Believe?
We now turn to Jewish texts written from about 200 BC to 100 AD—the time of the Second Temple and the early Church. These include the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, and early rabbinic writings. Here we ask: Was libertarian free will present in these sources?
1.Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran Sect)
– Deterministic Dualism
The Community Rule (1QS) teaches that humanity is divided between the “spirit of truth” and the “spirit of perversion,” and that God has preordained the fate of both the righteous and the wicked.
“God has created man to govern the world, and has appointed for him two spirits in which to walk until the time of His visitation: the spirits of truth and of injustice.” (1QS 3.18–21)
This echoes the biblical pattern: people are responsible, yet they are governed by deeper spiritual realities beyond their autonomous control. There is no affirmation of the power of contrary choice. The Qumran sect was strongly deterministic, seeing themselves as the elect remnant.
2.Philo of Alexandria (20 BC – 50 AD)
– A Hellenistic Bridge
Philo was a Jewish philosopher heavily influenced by Stoicism and Platonism. He taught that the soul, endowed with reason, could freely choose the good—but always in subordination to divine Logos and Providence. For Philo, moral responsibility coexists with divine governance, though his framework leans toward Stoic compatibilism, not libertarianism.
“The soul is set in motion according to God’s leadership and human freedom, yet the greater part of its stability belongs to Providence.” – On the Creation, 57
Philo affirms volition, but also God’s absolute foreknowledge and orchestration. The will is not autonomous, and certainly not free in the libertarian sense.
3.Josephus (37–100 AD)
– Describes Jewish Sects
Josephus gives a helpful taxonomy of Jewish sects and their views of divine sovereignty and human will:
• Pharisees: “They say that some things, but not all, are the work of Fate (i.e., God), and some things are in our own power.” (Antiquities 13.171)
• Sadducees: Deny Fate; say all is in human power.
• Essenes: Believe in absolute fate and predestination.
The Sadducees are the only group with a clearly libertarian-sounding doctrine. But note:
1. They rejected resurrection and the supernatural.
2. They were rebuked by Jesus (Matthew 22:29).
3. Their view was not the Jewish mainstream and had little theological coherence.
Thus, if libertarianism existed in their camp, it was minimal, aberrant, and doctrinally bankrupt.
V. Early Rabbinic Teachings – Post-Temple, Still Dependent
The Mishnah (c. 200 AD) and Tannaitic sources affirm moral responsibility but not metaphysical freedom.
One oft-cited rabbinic phrase is:
“Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given.” – Pirkei Avot 3:15
But this maxim is not libertarian. The Rabbis were not developing a metaphysical theory of indeterminism. They were affirming that:
• God’s omniscience and sovereignty are total.
• Man is accountable for his actions.
• How these coexist is a mystery, not a philosophical theory.
Even Rabbi Akiva, one of the most influential early rabbis, stated:
“All is foreseen, and yet freedom is granted.” (Avot 3:19)
Again: the concept of foreknowledge and responsibility coexisting is stated, but libertarian causality is not argued for.
VI. Summary: A Consistent Jewish Pattern
Across these sources—biblical, Second Temple, and rabbinic—the Jewish worldview holds:
• Man is morally responsible.
• God is sovereign, active, and decisive.
• The heart is the source of choices (Proverbs 4:23), but it must be renewed by God (Psalm 51:10).
• Choices are not uncaused events, but flow from nature, history, covenant, and divine providence.
There is no coherent doctrine of libertarian free will in Jewish theology prior to Greek-Christian synthesis. The idea of uncaused moral choices would have been foreign to the Jewish mind, which always grounded the will in either obedience or disobedience to God’s covenant—never in pure human autonomy.
VII. Implications for Christian Theology
This matters. If Jesus, Paul, and the early Church were raised in a Jewish theological environment that did not believe in libertarian free will, then the burden of proof lies with those who introduce such a framework into Christian theology. And we must ask: Where did they get it?
The answer is: from Greek moral philosophy, not from Scripture.
VIII. Full Scriptures Cited (ESV)
• Genesis 6:5 – “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great…”
• Genesis 8:21 – “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth…”
• Deuteronomy 29:4 – “The Lord has not given you a heart to understand…”
• Psalm 51:5 – “I was brought forth in iniquity…”
• Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God…”
• Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all vigilance…”
• Proverbs 21:1 – “The king’s heart is a stream of water…”
• Jeremiah 10:23 – “It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.”
• Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things…”
• Ezekiel 36:26–27 – “I will give you a new heart…”
• John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
• John 1:13 – “Who were born, not of blood… but of God.”
• Romans 6:17–18 – “You were slaves of sin… now slaves of righteousness.”
• Matthew 22:29 – “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
IX. What Comes Next
In Part 2, we will:
• Trace how libertarian free will entered theology through Origen and Pelagius
• Show how both were corrected by Augustine
• Anchor biblical freedom in Christ’s own posture of submission, not self-rule
• Recover the Creator–creature distinction as the foundation of theological anthropology
“Not my will, but yours be done.” – Luke 22:42
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