Recognizable questions

- Does the Bible literally say that people have free will?

- Which Bible texts do Jehovah’s Witnesses use to support free will?

- Does free will mean that every choice is equally acceptable to God?

- According to JW doctrine, can you choose for yourself whether to serve Jehovah or not?

- What does ‘serving Jehovah’ mean within the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

- What consequences are attached to that choice?

- How is free will connected with everlasting life on a paradise earth?

- Why do other Christian churches interpret the same Bible differently?

- Can free will and God’s guidance exist at the same time?

- Is being able to choose the same as truly feeling free to choose either option?

What does free will mean?

By free will is usually meant that people can make choices to some extent for themselves and are not entirely driven by instinct, fate, or a predetermined program.
The Bible, however, nowhere gives a philosophical definition such as:
‘Free will means that...’
Instead, we read stories and texts in which people make choices, are warned, are rewarded, or are held responsible for their actions.
Different Christian traditions then draw conclusions from those texts about how free the human will is.

BIBLE TEXTS
about choice and responsibility
        ↓
INTERPRETATION
how free is the human will?
        ↓
DIFFERENT
Christian doctrines

That is why it is important to distinguish between:
what a Bible text literally says
and:
what theological conclusion is drawn from it.

How do Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret free will?

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jehovah created people with free will.
JW.org describes free will as the ability to make one’s own decisions instead of God or fate determining what a person does.
JW publications emphasize that people are not robots and are free to choose whether they want to serve Jehovah. At the same time, serving Jehovah is presented as the best choice.

JEHOVAH GIVES
FREE WILL
      ↓
YOU CAN CHOOSE
      ↓
YOU CAN SERVE JEHOVAH
OR NOT
      ↓
ACCORDING TO JW DOCTRINE
SERVING JEHOVAH IS
THE RIGHT CHOICE

Within this doctrine, free will therefore does not mean:
‘God thinks all possible choices are equally good.’
It rather means:
‘You can choose for yourself, but God has made known which choice is right.’

Which Bible texts are used?

A number of texts regularly play a role.
Genesis 1:26 — according to Genesis, humans were made in God’s image. Jehovah’s Witnesses infer from this, among other things, that humans have qualities and the ability to choose.
Genesis 2:16-17 — Adam and Eve were given freedom, but also a boundary. This is interpreted as freedom within limits.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 — Israel is given a choice between life and death and is urged to choose life.
Joshua 24:15 — Joshua tells the Israelites that they must choose whom they want to serve.
Matthew 22:37 — love for God should be voluntary. Love that is forced, according to this reasoning, would not be genuine love.

Free will does not mean absolute freedom

Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves make a distinction between human freedom and absolute freedom.
Only Jehovah would have absolute freedom. Human freedom has limits.
Adam and Eve are the best-known example of this:

THEY COULD CHOOSE

but:

NOT EVERY CHOICE
WAS GOOD
ACCORDING TO GOD

Incidentally, that is not unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Within virtually every Christian ethic, free will does not mean:
‘Good and evil are equally valid.’
The discussion is rather about:
how free is the human will, what can humans do on their own, and what role do God, sin, grace, and obedience play?

What does ‘serving Jehovah’ mean?

This is where the interpretation becomes more specific.
Within Jehovah’s Witnesses, serving Jehovah does not mean only:
‘I read the Bible myself and independently determine exactly what God wants from me.’
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God today uses a visible organization.
According to their own publications, Jehovah guides his people through Jesus, the Bible, and a visible organization. The Governing Body has a central leading role within that structure.

I HAVE FREE WILL
      ↓
I CAN MAKE MY OWN CHOICES
      ↓
THE BIBLE MAKES
GOD’S WILL KNOWN
      ↓
THE ORGANIZATION EXPLAINS
BIBLICAL TEACHING AND
PRINCIPLES
      ↓
I DECIDE WHETHER I
WANT TO LIVE BY THEM

Jehovah’s Witnesses would not see this as the disappearance of free will from their perspective of faith.
According to this view, the organization actually provides Biblical guidance so that a person can use their freedom properly.

Where does interpretation begin?

A Bible text might, for example, say:
‘Choose life.’
After that, two different questions follow:

1. WHAT DOES THE
BIBLE TEXT SAY?

        ↓

2. WHO DECIDES HOW
THAT TEXT IS APPLIED
TODAY?

The second question is about interpretation and authority.
Among Jehovah’s Witnesses, the organization’s explanation plays an important role in this.
Other Christian traditions arrange that authority differently.

Free will and obedience

Within JW doctrine, free will and obedience are not contradictions.

GOD DOESN’T
FORCE ME
      ↓
I CAN CHOOSE
FOR MYSELF
      ↓
GOD HAS STILL
DETERMINED WHAT IS GOOD
      ↓
LOVE FOR GOD
MUST MOTIVATE ME
TO OBEY HIM

JW publications emphasize that Jehovah does not want people to serve him solely because they are afraid or feel pressured, but out of love and gratitude.
Voluntary obedience is therefore seen within this theology as an expression of free will.

But a choice can have consequences

The fact that someone can choose does not mean that all choices have the same consequences.
Deuteronomy 30 provides a clear example of this:

CHOICE

life
or
death

   ↓

APPEAL

‘choose life’

According to this explanation, there is a choice, while at the same time one option is clearly encouraged.
Jehovah’s Witnesses apply the same principle to the choice of whether or not to serve Jehovah.

Free will and the earthly paradise

Within JW doctrine, the choice gains additional meaning because of the hope for the future.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that 144,000 people will rule with Jesus from heaven. For the vast majority of faithful people, they expect everlasting life on a restored paradise earth.
Psalm 37:29 plays an important role in this:

‘The righteous will possess the earth, and they will live forever on it.’

JEHOVAH GIVES
FREE WILL
      ↓
HUMAN BEINGS CAN
SERVE HIM OR NOT
      ↓
SERVING JEHOVAH
IS, ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE,
THE RIGHT COURSE
      ↓
SALVATION IS POSSIBLE
THROUGH CHRIST
      ↓
FOR MOST FAITHFUL
PEOPLE:
EVERLASTING LIFE
ON EARTH

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not teach that someone simply earns everlasting life by obedience. Salvation is connected with Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s undeserved kindness, while faith, according to their explanation, is shown in one’s way of life.

Is ‘choose Jehovah or die’ an accurate summary?

Critics sometimes phrase it that way.
As a short polemical summary, that is understandable, but for a neutral article it is too simple.
Jehovah’s Witnesses would more likely describe their teaching like this:
God offers people life, warns about the consequences of sin, and lets each person decide for themselves.
Against that, one could ask:
How free does a choice feel when one option is tied to everlasting life and God’s approval, and the other ultimately is not?
Those are two different ways of looking at the same belief system.

Can you choose if one option is strongly recommended?

Yes.
A choice does not automatically stop being a choice because one option is strongly recommended.
For example:

‘You can choose for yourself
whether you smoke.

But I strongly
advise you
not to do it.’

There is still a choice.
The more interesting question therefore becomes:
‘Are there two options?’
and:
‘What consequences and meanings are attached to those options?’

Can voluntariness and strong influence exist at the same time?

Yes.
Someone can sincerely say:
‘I choose for myself to serve Jehovah.’
while that choice is simultaneously shaped by upbringing, Bible interpretation, family, community, and expectations about the future.
That does not automatically make the choice inauthentic.
Virtually every human choice arises within a context.

WHAT DOES A PERSON CHOOSE?

        and

WHAT INTERPRETATION
OF THE BIBLE GIVES
THAT CHOICE MEANING?

Does the Bible only say things that support free will?

No.
There are texts that sound strongly like human choice:
Deuteronomy 30:19 — choose life.
Joshua 24:15 — choose whom you will serve.
But there are also texts in which God’s initiative is strongly emphasized.
John 6:44 — no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him.
Ephesians 2:8-9 — salvation is linked to grace and not to human merit.
Romans 9 — Paul speaks extensively about God’s choice and mercy.

SOME TEXTS
emphasize:
HUMAN CHOICE

OTHER TEXTS
emphasize:
GOD’S INITIATIVE

        ↓

DIFFERENT
THEOLOGICAL
INTERPRETATIONS

That is why the discussion about human will has existed within Christianity for centuries.

How do other Christians view this?

There is not just one Christian view opposed to that of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that people can truly choose and are responsible for voluntary actions. At the same time, freedom is linked to what is good and to God’s grace.
Within the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition, the emphasis is that God’s grace comes first and enables a person to respond to it. The person can then accept or reject it.
Within classic Reformed traditions, more emphasis is placed on God’s initiative. According to that explanation, fallen humans cannot come to saving faith entirely by their own strength; God’s grace must come before that.

THE SAME BIBLE

        ↓

Jehovah’s Witnesses
Roman Catholic
Wesleyan
Reformed
other movements

        ↓

DIFFERENT
INTERPRETATIONS OF:

free will
grace
obedience
salvation
God’s guidance

The differences therefore arise not only from which words are in the Bible, but also from:
which texts are given the most weight,
how texts are connected with one another,
and who or what is granted authority in interpreting them.

Can you read the JW teaching directly from one Bible text?

Texts about choice clearly exist.
Texts about obedience also exist.
But the complete JW teaching system consists of multiple elements:

free will
+
Jehovah’s visible organization
+
Governing Body
+
144,000 in heaven
+
great crowd on earth forever
+
specific standards
for worship

That whole system does not appear as one ready-made system in a single Bible text.
It is formed by connecting different Bible passages with one another.
That, incidentally, is also true of many other Christian theological systems.
The questions under Bible and interpretation are therefore always:
What does the text say?
What conclusion is drawn from it?
What intermediate steps are needed to get from the text to the doctrine?

God’s will and an organization’s interpretation

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not officially equate the Bible with the Governing Body.
The Bible is regarded as God’s inspired Word. The Governing Body does not claim to be inspired or infallible.
At the same time, the organization teaches that Jehovah uses a visible organization and that centralized direction is necessary.
As a result, a believer may encounter these steps in practice:

WHAT DOES JEHOVAH WANT?
      ↓
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
      ↓
HOW DOES THE
ORGANIZATION INTERPRET
THIS TEXT?
      ↓
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN
FOR MY CHOICE?

Especially under Bible and interpretation, it is useful to make these steps visible separately.

Is being able to choose the same as feeling free to choose?

This is no longer solely a biblical question, but also a psychological and philosophical one.

A
Serve Jehovah

B
Do not serve Jehovah

Formally, both options exist.
But within the faith they do not have the same meaning.
One is associated with:
God’s approval, truth, the community of believers, hope of eternal life.
The other can be associated with loss of God’s approval and ultimately not receiving eternal life.
So you can distinguish between:
‘I am allowed to choose.’
and:
‘I experience both choices as truly open possibilities.’
That distinction does not prove that free will is absent.
It does show that freedom of choice and the consequences of a choice are two different subjects.

Free will does not mean choices must have no consequences

A free choice does not have to be consequence-free.
People can freely choose to end a relationship, not sign a contract, or refuse medical treatment. Such choices can have major consequences without the possibility of choosing automatically disappearing.
The deeper question is therefore:

WHEN ARE
CONSEQUENCES A NORMAL
PART OF A CHOICE?

and

WHEN DO CONSEQUENCES BECOME
SO HEAVY
THAT THEY STRONGLY
AFFECT THE FREEDOM
YOU EXPERIENCE?

There are various philosophical, psychological, and theological answers to that.

Questions to think about

  • Which Bible verses support, in my view, the idea that people can truly choose?

  • Which verses place strong emphasis on God’s initiative, grace, or choice?

  • How do I combine those two groups of verses?

  • Is my definition of free will stated literally in the Bible, or is it an interpretation of various verses?

  • What does Deuteronomy 30:19 mean to me: real choice, a call to obedience, or both?

  • What steps are needed to go from a Bible verse to a specific JW doctrine?

  • Do I distinguish between what the Bible says and how a religious organization applies that text?

  • Can I voluntarily choose something while my upbringing and community have strongly shaped my choice?

  • Is strong influence the same as coercion?

  • Is being able to choose the same as feeling free to choose either option?

  • Can a choice be free when one option is tied to great rewards and the other to serious consequences?

  • Why do different Christian traditions come to different conclusions from the same Bible?

  • What belief would I hold if I read the same Bible texts again without first taking a particular interpretation as my starting point?

  • May my interpretation change when, after research, I come to a different conclusion?

Summary

The Bible does not contain a fully developed philosophical definition of free will.
But it does contain many passages in which people are urged to choose and held responsible for their actions.
Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret such passages as evidence that Jehovah has truly given humans freedom of choice. According to this teaching, people are not robots and may choose for themselves whether they want to serve Jehovah.
At the same time, serving Jehovah is presented as the right choice.

NOT:

‘every choice is
equally good for God’

BUT:

‘I can choose for myself,
while God has made
known which choice
is right’

Jehovah’s Witnesses also believe that God uses a visible organization to guide his people. As a result, the question of free will is also linked to the way Bible texts are interpreted and applied by the organization.
Other Christian traditions read the same Bible texts differently. Some place more emphasis on human choice, others more strongly on God’s grace or initiative.
That is why free will is, above all, a matter of the Bible and interpretation.
The Bible contains both strong appeals to human choice and passages that emphasize God’s initiative.
The central question is therefore not only:
‘Do I have free will?’
but also:
‘Which Bible texts do I use to believe that — and how much of my answer comes from the text itself, and how much from the interpretation I was taught?’

Sources

Jehovah’s Witnesses — What Does the Bible Say About Free Will?
Jehovah’s Witnesses — What Do You Do With Your Free Will?
The Watchtower — Do You Appreciate Your Free Will?
Jehovah’s Witnesses — How Does Jehovah Lead His Organization?
Jehovah’s Witnesses — What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Genesis 1:26.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Genesis 2:16-17.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Deuteronomy 30:19-20.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Joshua 24:15.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Psalm 37:29.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Matthew 22:37.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — John 6:44.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Romans 9.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — Ephesians 2:8-9.
Catechism of the Catholic Church — Freedom and Responsibility.
United Methodist Church — Article VIII: Of Free Will.
Westminster Confession of Faith — Chapter IX: Of Free Will.