Did Jesus Have Freedom of Choice?

Yes, he did, and he had freedom even more perfectly than we do. Freedom of choice is ideally the ability to choose between a variety of goods, not the ability to choose between good and evil. Choosing sin is actually a defect in free choice, like singing a bad note or fumbling a football are in their respective activities. Christ had to be sinless because he was Goodness Itself in person as God, and God cannot not be good! Yet his human will and understanding were able to consider all the possible choices he could make and choose among them most perfectly in every situation.

We would not say that someone whose musical execution is instinctively flawless is less of a musician than someone who has to parse out every note on the score, or that an athlete who has great precision and power is not a true athlete because he does not have to study plays. Rather we would say that they would be the best musician or the best athlete. So, too, a man whose will and mind are so attentive and clear is more free, not less.

May Jesus purify our minds and hearts so that we can be more free!