Job and free will

Do human beings have free will? Volumes have been written on this subject from every conceivable angle, and Christianity is no exception. Numerous Bible verses address, appear to address, or are claimed to address the question of whether or not we have free will. And yet broad consensus remains elusive (perhaps because people are all too mindful that stripped of proper context, the Bible can be made to support or oppose nearly everything; as a result they are unwilling to allow it to say anything at all). In any event, I humbly offer my view on the subject.

The book of Job offers a compelling argument in favor of free will. At the outset of the book, God praises Job to Satan as "A man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). Satan, however, accuses God of "stacking the deck." He asserts that God protects and favors Job, so that there is no reason for Job to be anything but obedient. But take away Job's material comfort and blessings, Satan says, and Job will soon enough turn against God. And so God permits Satan to put his theory to the test.

Simply depriving Job of his many possessions proves insufficient, though, and Satan returns to God unsatisfied. "A man will give all he has for his own life," he complains. "But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face" (Job 2: 4-5). Once again, God consents to Satan testing Job, although He stipulates that Satan's torments may not extend to the deadly.

Satan's central premise is that Job's love for God is really love of self. Job loves God because God makes his, Job's, life comfortable and pleasant. If God were to withdraw the comfort, Job would turn against God. But this is only possible if Job is free to choose whether to praise or curse God. If Job did not have free will, God could simply dictate his responses, thereby invalidating the whole enterprise. Satan knows this but pushed for the contest anyway. The only conclusion, therefore, is that Satan knew that Job possessed the free will necessary to make this decision for himself.