Did the people who crucified Jesus have free will?

[pm2222]

if the people who crucified Jesus decided before they crucified him that they weren’t going to crucify him. How would our sins have ever been forgiven? I know they had free will but it was part of God’s plan for us for Jesus to die for our sins, so did God in anyway force the people who crucifed Jesus to do that? Any answers to clarify this would be great, Thanks!

 

[Iron_Donkey]

if the people who crucified Jesus decided before they crucified him that they weren’t going to crucify him. How would our sins have ever been forgiven? I know they had free will but it was part of God’s plan for us for Jesus to die for our sins, so did God in anyway force the people who crucifed Jesus to do that? Any answers to clarify this would be great, Thanks!

God did not in any way force them to crucify Christ, but He knew that they would. Had this not been true - if those people would have chosen differently - then God would have gone about the salvation plan in a different way (perhaps simply by incarnating at a different time). God’s plan includes are choices, but does not cause us to make them.

An analogy: if someone throws a ball up in the air, I can figure out where it will fall, move there, and catch it. I knew it would fall there, but I did not cause it to fall there. Slightly different with God, of course, because the ball does not have free will and is just following natural laws, but a similar idea.

 

[rdscheirer]

They may have had free will- we crucify Jesus everyday with our sins.

My question would be is Judas in Heaven since he did God’s will to turn Jesus over to the “police”.

I guess that should be a new thread.

 

[pm2222]

Thanks Iron Donkey! That helped alot! Rdscheirer, Judas had a chance to repent but he did not think he could be forgiven( something along those lines). Anyway, God is all knowing so he knew from the beginning that Judas would turn Jesus over. Just because God knew it would happen does not mean he forced Judas to do this nor does it make Judas right for doing it. Judas knew he was wrong but turned Jesus over anyways and God knew that was going to happen.

 

[ConstantineTG]

They were Roman soldiers, they do not have free will

Seriously though, crucifixion is a Roman thing. If it weren’t this particular group of soldiers, it would be another. Its not like the crucifixion was a one off thing in the Roman empire.

 

[stevekehl]

Crucifixion was a job, like executioners who would later chop off heads. Jesus was no one special to them. However, this might help. When I take the family to McDonald’s I know my youngest daughter will get chicken nuggets, but I don’t force her to get chicken nuggets.

 

[rdscheirer]

Actually the Greeks refined and perfected crucifixtion so that it would be the most horiffic way to sentence peoplr to death. The Nazis just handcuffed the Jews and hung them on a post so that their toes barely touched the ground , they died of asphixiation just like Jesus did.

 

[fhansen]

if the people who crucified Jesus decided before they crucified him that they weren’t going to crucify him. How would our sins have ever been forgiven? I know they had free will but it was part of God’s plan for us for Jesus to die for our sins, so did God in anyway force the people who crucifed Jesus to do that? Any answers to clarify this would be great, Thanks!

None of it was an act-it could be said that the sacrifice on the cross was the result of perfect Sinlessness coming into contact with a sinful world. And that contact was nonetheless necessary, apparently, to convict us of our sinfulness, once we’ve looked upon the One we’ve slain. His slaying was the result of man’s stance toward God which Jesus refers to quoting Psalms, “They hated me without reason”.

When Jesus uttered the words, “Forgive them for they know not what they’re doing”, He meant that none of us would sin if we truly understood. Coming to understand, coming to recognize and value Love when we see it, and turn away from own selfishness, our own pride, our own lack of love which destroys ourselves and our world, is why He came. The Cross puts our focus back on Him-on God, where it belongs, causing us to ask, what have I done, why have I done it?