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God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility
Being Reformed – Summer 2022 – Class 4
One of the key elements of Reformed teaching is the idea that God is sovereign over all things. He directs and controls all things.
And yet, we’re really sinful and very difficult things happen to us.
How do these two ideas relate, connect, work together?
The intersection of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is one of Christianity’s long-standing problems.
Philosophy is not silent about this issue either. When it speaks of this issue it tends to use words like “determinism” and “freedom.”[1]
But we’re talking as Christians hear, not philosophers—though we want our thinking to be clear and logical as much as possible!
As Christians you can hear our wrestlings in questions like these we sometimes ask:
There are a lot of different ways to face these questions. But one way or another, at the root of our questioning are three things:
If there’s no sin, then our struggling with these questions disappears. If there’s no suffering, we aren’t too concerned. If there’s no hell, we’re not likely to lose much sleep over these things. But we all know that sin, suffering, and hell are real. So the issues surrounding God’s sovereignty and human responsibility endure.
Some have tried to deal with this through their own human reasoning. Rabbi Kushner famously dealt with this in his 1981 book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. A bestseller, it’s now sold about 4 million copies.
He wrote the book because he lost his son at the age of 14. Son Aaron born with congenital illness that shortened his life. This gives the book from the opening pages a sense of reality. His opening sentence: “This is not an abstract book about God and theology.”
The title itself is compelling and provokes conversation. Why do bad things happen to good people? We Reformed Protestants might get snarky: “Oh, that one’s easy. There are no good people. We’re all sinners who deserve unending wrath and judgment. The mystery is why good things happen to bad people—like us.” That’s true, but it doesn’t get to the real issue at hand.
What I mean is, when we see our own evil receive some kind of just punishment, it makes sense to us. E.g., we cheat on our taxes and get caught and pay a huge fine.
But it’s when there’s a real mismatch between the person and the suffering, we struggle. When a young child receives something horrible, that’s a mismatch. And then we can begin to struggle with these issues.
But Rabbi Kusher's title points us in another direction, too. The Bible says some people “blameless and upright”—like Job. Jesus alone is sinless, but some are “blameless and upright.” And some of these face horrible suffering.
Kushner is gifted communicator with a sympathetic personal story. He discusses many different Bible passages—and misuses them terribly.
Ultimately he says, God is either (1) all-powerful and not good or (2) good and not all-powerful. He chooses #2.
Thinkers over the centuries have framed the issue in different ways, but Kushner isn’t a bad summary of the different approaches.
His chapter titles give away where he lands: “Sometimes There is No Reason” (chp 3), “God can't do everything, but he can do some important things” (chp 7).
His writing has the feel of compassion and empathy. It has the feel of someone who understands real pain and suffering. But this comfort is a false comfort.
Kushner has essentially invented a god according to his own preferences. Guided by his own experience, he has come up with a god in his own image and then decided still to worship him.
But inventing a god that doesn’t exist offers no help at all. You have to deal with the God who is and the world that is. Nothing else offers any remedy. “Love rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). We are to be those “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). It isn’t love if there isn’t truth in it.
We need a better solution than what Rabbi Kushner gives us.
First let’s be clear about God’s sovereignty in the big and small details of life.
We often talk about God’s “sovereignty.” In reading older works, they refer to God’s “providence.” When it comes to the Creation, you have God’s two big moves: He creates and then he directs what he creates. How he directs what he creates is his “providence.”
Providence in Reformed theology has three parts to it: (1) preservation, (2) cooperation (or concurrence), and (3) government. Preservation is God’s preserving of what he creates. Cooperation (or concurrence) has to do with how God works in and through his creatures and creation causing them to act exactly as they do. And then government is the idea that he does all this in such a way that it accomplishes his sovereign plan.
You can hear this in Louis Berkhof:
Providence may be defined as that continued exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator preserves all His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end. This definition indicates that there are three elements in providence, namely, preservation, concurrence or cooperation, and government…. Preservation may be defined as that continuous work of God by which He maintains the things which He created, together with the properties and powers with which He endowed them…. Concurrence may be defined as the co-operation of the divine power with all subordinate powers, according to the pre-established laws of their operation, causing them to act and to act precisely as they do…. The divine government may be defined as that continued activity of God whereby He rules all things teleologically so as to secure the accomplishment of the divine purpose.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (1941), 181, 186, 187, 191
Now let’s see the clear teaching in the Bible about God’s sovereignty.
His sovereignty in Creation:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1)
His sovereignty OVER the smallest details of Creation:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (Matt 10:29)
His sovereignty over hearts:
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. (Prov 21:1)
His sovereignty over nations:
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! (Isa 10:5)
His sovereignty over seemingly “chance” events:
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. (Prov 16:33)
His sovereignty over the devil:
Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:9–12)
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Rev 20:7–10)
His sovereignty over sin:
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Gen 50:19–20)
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Acts 2:22–23)
**We’ll see below that while God uses sin and sinners, he does it in such a way that he’s never morally responsible for their sin.
His Providence over individual salvation:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Rom 8:29–30)
Ultimately it’s clear:
[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Eph 1:11)
From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)
The Bible will not let us force a division between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Both must be upheld—even if God’s sovereignty has the more determinative role.
Places where these two ideas come together in the same text:
Joseph and his brothers:
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Gen 50:19–20)
Assyria a vivid example:
“Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!” (Isa 10:5).
Note that human responsibility is implied with, "Woe to Assyria." They will be punished for their wickedness. But their sinful tendency is being used by God to accomplish his sovereign purposes against Israel: "the rod of my anger."
Jesus and his crucifiers:
Judas is called Jesus’ “betrayer” (Matt 27:3) and “the traitor” (Luke 6:16), and then, “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed” (Matt 26:24), but…
This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:23)
Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27–28)
Our salvation:
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:40–41)
Our work of ongoing sanctification:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phil 2:12–13)
In all our good works and our godly responses to God, we see again and again what Jesus tells us:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Once again, we must not choose between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. BOTH must be upheld to preserve biblical Christianity.
The issue of God’s sovereignty takes us into the mystery of sin (and evil). Here we want to go as far as the Bible allows us, and then rest in those truths. We aren’t promised to have ALL our questions answered—just the ones we NEED to be answered.
The Origin of Sin (and Evil)
Notice the Bible’s description of the fall and the ultimate origin of sin and evil. Again and again we’re driven back to see the role of the creature— humanity or the devil:
When it comes to the origin of sin, Scripture always points us in the direction of the creature. For that reason, however, it is never isolated from God’s government nor excluded from his counsel. On the contrary: it is God himself who, according to his special revelation, created the possibility of sin….It was God’s decision to take humanity on the perilous path of freedom rather than elevating it by a single act of power above the possibility of sin and death.
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol 3, 29
It's with Eve’s sin that we really start to see the sinfulness of sin:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:6)
Sin is an act of the whole person—our hearts, minds, wills, bodies.
But Eve’s sin isn’t presented apart from the Serpent. Thus, her sin isn’t the first sin, which would be the devil’s:
“The devil… was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
Reminder from above: We know that this happens under the governance of God, because “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom 11:36).
Further, we know God is not “the author of sin”:
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)
But yet in the details of how sin originated there is mystery. Again Bavinck:
With all this we have established nothing other and nothing more than the possibility of sin. How that possibility became a reality is and will presumably remain a mystery….It should be said openly and clearly: we are here at the boundaries of our knowledge. Sin exists, but it will never be able to justify its existence. It is unlawful and irrational.
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol 3, 69, 70
Adam’s sin is The Fall, not Eve’s. With Adam’s sin, the ripple of sin became the tidal wave of destruction.
The impact of the fall was not subtle:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)
**This doesn’t mean everyone killed his mom. But it does mean that apart from a massive work of God in our hearts, will please God or do the right thing for the right reasons.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)
Because of our desperate fallenness, our great need from God is for a new heart:
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek 36:25–27)
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:1–5)
With this new heart, is the sin problem eradicated? Not yet…
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Gal 5:17)
One day, however…
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
A good summary of humanity in the flow of biblical history is derived from St. Augstine (AD 400s) and often called “The Fourfold State of Man” (Thomas Boston).
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The Fourfold State of Man (Originally from Augustine, also see Thomas Boston) |
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Before the Fall |
Possible to sin, possible not to sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare) |
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After the Fall, Before Conversion |
Not possible not to sin (non posse non peccare) |
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After Conversion |
Possible to sin, possible not to sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare) |
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After Glorification |
Not possible to sin (non posse peccare) |
What does this survey show us about our sin and all sin?
Why the fall? Why sin? Why such destruction? Does the Bible give us insight into the ULTIMATE answer? Yes.
The result of sin’s intrusion into God’s creation was an even greater demonstration of who God is:
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom 9:21–24)
James Anderson on why God allowed the fall:
The basic idea is this: While the fall was a great evil, it made it possible for God to bring about even greater goods in its wake: the God-glorifying goods of the incarnation, atonement, resurrection, and all the salvific blessings that flow from them…. A world with no fall and no salvation is altogether less God-glorifying than a world with a tragic fall but also a wondrous salvation…. Once we grasp that such eternal glories could not have been realized apart from the fall, we can begin to appreciate the foremost reason why our wise and gracious Creator allowed it.
James Anderson, “Why Did God Allow the Fall?”[2]
Clearly we haven’t answered all our questions. Yet, we have established some truths that can point us toward answers to the questions we have.
All this is meant to inspire praise and wonder:
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:11–12)
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)
And none of this is meant to take away our call to pray, evangelize, and obey:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19–20)
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)
We have gone deeper into the mystery of God, our God who is always beyond us:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8–9)
Amen.
[1] See for instance, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freedom-ancient/, which looks at the work of Aristotle in the 4th century and his reflections on free will and determinism.
[2]https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-did-god-allow-the-fall/.
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