Predestination vs. free will: the debates rage on. Hardcore six-point Calvinists (who assert there are no four-point Calvinists) passionately advocate for predestination. On the other side, fervent Arminians, staunchly defending free will, vigorously push back. Both sides present compelling arguments. Could it be that both possibilities are true? At first glance, this seems impossible.

But let’s dig deeper.

John Polkinghorne (1930–2021), who was both a Cambridge University physicist and an Anglican priest, observed that seemingly contradictory arguments can sometimes be resolved at a higher level.

He used the example of light to illustrate his point. Is a photon a wave or a particle? Scientists debated this until the advent of quantum mechanics that revealed a photon is both a wave and a particle. An apparent contradiction in the nature of light was resolved in an unusual way — at a higher level. Could this also be true for the debate between free will and predestination?

Yes.

And the mind-bending resolution comes from consideration of perspective. It requires that we consider the perspective of the great “I Am” who is beyond human understanding. But we have enough understanding to offer a resolution.

Clarifying the concept of perspective

Without perspective, the Genesis account of creation can seem perplexing. According to the first chapter, the sun, moon, and stars were created on the fourth day. This followed the creation of light on the first day. From the perspective of an external observer in the universe, this sounds strange. Where did the light come from on Day One if there were no sun or stars until Day Four?

Astrophysicist Hugh Ross provides a clear resolution to this quandary in Navigating Genesis (RTB 2014). The Genesis account makes perfect sense when interpreted from the perspective of an observer on Earth. On the second day, God created the sky “to separate the waters above from the waters below,” suggesting that there was a lot of water in the atmosphere. The even thicker cloud cover on Day One hid the sun, moon, and stars, but allowed light to filter through. The heavenly bodies were not visible until the clouds parted on Day Four. The creation narrative in Genesis aligns coherently when interpreted from the perspective of an observer on the Earth’s surface.

Considering God’s perspective

To grasp the resolution of the free will /predestination debate, we must consider God’s perspective on the question. Both scientific and Biblical accounts of creation describe a beginning. Before creation, there was nothing. The Big Bang was not an explosion in a vast, empty space, because a vast empty space is something, and nothing existed before the Big Bang. The concept of space therefore must be discarded when visualizing the Big Bang.

One might imagine a sudden BANG! occurring in the absence of space. However, “sudden” implies the flow of time, and time is something as well. Until the Big Bang, there was nothing—no space and no time.

The idea of no space and no time is almost beyond comprehension. Interested readers can learn more about the physics of the Big Bang from Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time. The Bible likewise teaches creation ex nihilo or “out of nothing.” The Big Bang-backed phrase “before the beginning of time” appears in both Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2 (NIV).

The conclusion is that the Creator God exists outside of both space and time because He created space and time. The concept of free will assumes the existence of time; we make choices within the flow of time. The future is unknown to us. God, however, can be imagined as viewing time like an unrolled celluloid film reel of a movie. He sees the past, present, and future of the movie simultaneously.

God provided Biblical prophecies. He knows the future and was thus able to drop a lot of prophetic hints through them. From God’s perspective, you have no free will—your future is already laid out on the unrolled reel. He knows exactly where you will be and what you will be doing one year from now.

This does not mean, however, that there is no free will. We wrestle with doing right and wrong and make free will decisions on how to act. God knows what we will decide in the flow of time yet doesn’t interfere with us making these decisions. From our perspective, we have free will.

If God knows what we will do, how is there free will?

Here is the seeming paradox. If I am predestined in the eyes of God, doesn’t this mean my future is written in stone? Doesn’t it mean I don’t have free will?

Such understanding, built only on day-to-day experience, can deceive. Deeper truths outside of experiential knowledge can be counter to what even appears to be common sense.

Take quantum mechanics. On quantum mechanics, Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr (1885–1962) said “Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.” Quantum mechanics can defy everyday common sense.

Consider for example Schrödinger’s cat, who is simultaneously dead and alive until observed. How can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? This seeming paradox must be accepted as true if we are to understand the science of quantum mechanics. At a similarly deep level, the apparent paradox of free will versus predestination can be accepted as an elegant, albeit curious, resolution to the apparent conflict.

Divine vs. human perspective

Here’s the takeaway: The debate between free will and predestination can be understood from a matter of perspective. From our human vantage point within the flow of time, we exercise free will, making choices and experiencing the consequences of our actions. However, from God’s transcendent perspective outside of time and space, our futures are known and laid out as if on an unrolled film reel. Just as deeper scientific truths can appear paradoxical, yet coexist harmoniously, so too can the simultaneous truths of free will and predestination.

The conflict disappears when considering the perspective of the higher, incomprehensible existence of the almighty “I Am.”