Within Christian theology, compatibilist free will is the philosophical position which states that a person’s free will is compatible with God’s predestination and that an unbeliever is not capable, by an act of his or her free will, to choose to receive Christ as Savior. This is because the unbeliever is affected by sin in all that he is, is full of wickedness (Jer. 17:9), is enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:14-20), cannot receive spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14), is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), is by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15), and can do no good (Rom. 3:10-12). Unbelievers have free will to choose, but their sinful free will, will always choose sin. Therefore, they will freely choose to do what is contrary to God.

Compatibilism states that the biblical revelation restricts a non-saved person from being able to freely choose to receive Christ of his own free will, because his free will is enslaved to sin (Romans 6:14-20) and is incapable of understanding and receiving spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).

Logically, someone could not make a choice contrary to his own nature. Furthermore, a person cannot make a choice if a person is not aware of the options. First of all, a person must be made aware of the concept or idea before a choice can be made. However, the Scriptures do declare that the unbeliever is a slave of sin and cannot receive spiritual things. Therefore, compatibilist free will is the biblical position.