Return to Reformation Resources
Whate'er My God Ordains:
A Biblical Study of
God's Control
[Available in booklet form from the author]
© Gregg
Strawbridge, Ph.D.
Gregg Strawbridge, Ph.D.
Pastor of All Saints' Presbyterian
Church, Lancaster, PA www.allsaintspresbyterian.com
1 To Start With
Whate'er my God ordains is right: Holy His will abideth;
I will be still whate'er He doth, And follow where He guideth:
He is my God; though dark my road, He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.(1)
Labels
In orienting our minds to study what God ordains, let's first consider
labels. Pick up a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup and you probably won't
even read those words. The label and the image on the can clearly identify
the product. You know the product by the label. Labels in the history of
Christian thought are more of a mixed blessing. There's no way around them
but sometimes labels are misapplied, misunderstood, and mishandled. If
the Word of God is our ultimate authority, there is no need to defend a
label or have an undue affinity to it. For example, is it right to insist
on being a "Baptist" or a "Presbyterian"--just for the sake of the name?
Surely not. But it is right to stand for truth, even the truth behind a
despised label. Let me put my labels on the can. In theological terms,
the subject of this study is the sovereignty of God, the decrees of
God, providence, predestination, foreordination, election, etc. Historically,
these truths are referred to as the heart of Reformed theology. Some
personal names have been connected with it, Augustine and Calvin.
I
certainly don't want to dispute about mere names, but I think a proper
identification of these labels is honest, and gets us to the content behind
the name. In this study, I will refer to the most basic idea underlying
the issue, God's complete control, and by this I mean to say that
God
determines all that comes to pass for His glory and our good and therefore,
we can have peace and confidence in His fatherly care of us.
Chevrolets are Best and Other Biases
I have friend who has never owned a Ford automobile, but he despises them.
Chevrolet is best, according to him. In the past, I've even hesitated to
tell him that I've gotten a new car because it was a Ford. I know that
he will not like it--regardless of the objective value of the car. We all
have biases. Some biases keep us thinking Fords are bad for no real reason.
More importantly, some biases blind us to a truth in Scripture. If we,
as sincere and teachable Christians, knew where we were wrong about points
of doctrine, surely we would change--the problem is finding those areas.
Some of us don't discover errors in our thinking about God and His Word
because we are not in a context which calls for a serious consideration
of the truth. Others simply neglect the resources which help us understand
the Word. I hope that this little study will help those who want to seriously
consider the doctrine of God's complete control. It is my conviction that
a great deal more sincere agreement among believers could take place if
we would spend more time just looking at the Biblical texts, asking "What
does this mean?" I would not pretend that this short study cites every
relevant verse, solves every serious problem, or answers every weighty
objection--only the surface is scratched. Perhaps though, it may begin
someone's pilgrimage.
What's in the Bible
I remember once quoting Romans 8:29 to a young lady who promptly responded,
"That word ('predestined') is not in the Bible!" Now perhaps I've misunderstood
the meaning of words like "predestine," "foreordain," "elect," "purposed,"
"ordained," "appointed"--but I'm sure they're in the Bible! Sometimes people
won't study this subject because they dismiss it as "unbiblical." Some
think the doctrine of God's complete control arises from speculation rather
than interpretation, from imposition rather than exposition. For those
who will at least look at the Bible on this issue, the first place to begin
settling these questions is by reading the verses which address the subject.
If the words and concepts at issue, like "predestine," "foreordain," "elect,"
are in the Bible--and they are--what should we say to those who refuse
to believe in God's sovereign control because it is called "speculation"
or a "philosophy" rather than a teaching of Scripture? If you are unsettled
on these matters, let me encourage you to be diligent to understand what
the Bible means when it uses these terms.
"Your Interpretation"
How many times have you heard (or said), "that's just your interpretation"
(hereafter, TJYI). Instead of feeling the weight of a hundred key verses
which unquestionably prove the point--"TJYI." No problem, just dust off
truth with this simplistic statement like water off a duck's back--"TJYI."
The TJYI people do not like citing specific texts ("proof-texting"). Of
course, Scriptural statements can certainly be misused by those on both
sides of issues. However, Jesus appealed to specific Scripture texts (e.g.,
Mat 22:29-32). The apostles appealed to specific texts (even tenses of
words) (e.g., Gal 3:16). And surely we are commanded to refute that which
contradicts sound doctrine, not just generally, but specifically (Tit 1:9,
2Ti 4:2, 2Ti 3:16). Since the Bible is, after all, the very Word of God
written, there is a valid use of Scripture proofs. Laying out verses in
a topical arrangement (as follows) is not where the matter ends, but simply
where it begins. By laying out the Biblical texts in this way, perhaps
some of our stumbling blocks may be removed.
Just the Facts
The police officer who makes out the reports quips, "Just the facts, Ma'am."
"The facts" give us the basis for coming to a right conclusion. What are
the facts about God's sovereign control? What would it take for you to
come to the conclusion that God is in complete control of all things and
has ordained whatever comes to pass? Remember that if only one verse of
God's Word or even one word of God's Word teaches something, it
is true--"Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar" (Rom
3:4). The difficulty is that one verse is often not enough to prove
that one verse teaches it. So to convince others, one must appeal
to a number of texts making the same point or reinforcing the basic issue.
Perhaps as you read the verses which follow you may say, "I see a way around
this one, I'm not sure about that one". . . but remember, if only one text
teaches a truth, it is established on the highest authority, the Word of
God.
2 To Study With
God's Complete Control Over Creation
Let's observe what the Bible teaches about the complete control of God.
We should begin at the beginning: God has complete control over creation
because, after all, He created it. He made all that exists, the entire
universe. Not only did He start it, He sustains it. And He continues to
sustain every existent thing by His ever present, controlling power. My
God ordains creation.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.
Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities--all things have been created by Him and for Him.
Heb 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact
representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His
power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high.
Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things
hold together.
It is no wonder, then, that the apostolic word to the philosophers in
ancient Greece was, "in Him we live and move and exist" (Act 17:28).
Creation and the sustaining, upholding/holding-together power of God anchors
the doctrine of God's sovereignty. If we are Biblical theists and not Enlightenment
deists, then we know that every atom of every molecule of every entity
was not only created by the Triune God, but is continually sustained and
directed by Him! We could close the study at this point and conclude. God
is in control to the most minute degree. We may strain to comprehend how
a
holy and righteous God could so intricately control the workings of a fallen
and wicked world (without tainting Himself), but we need not ask whether
He controls it.
God's Complete Control Over the Heavens
With 100 billion stars like our sun, it is a powerful tribute to assert
that the whole host of all these flaming masses is "the work of Thy fingers"
(Psa 8:3). The Lord "counts the number of the stars; He gives names to
all of them" (Psa 147:4). The wonder of the variations, compositions, distances,
histories, and futures of the stars is only surpassed by the majestic beauty
of their testimony. According to those who study such things, every photon
of light from our sun travels 93 million miles to the earth. Amazingly,
if it produced only one percent more heat, or if our atmosphere were different,
or even if our clouds did not do their job in releasing heat back into
space, the earth would literally wither and die. If the sun produced one
percent less heat, the earth would soon be unbearably cold. In fact, while
earth's temperature is very constant, the moon's surface temperature varies
850 degrees each lunar day.(2) Is it not
God who sets the thermostat? His sovereign control shines by day and twinkles
by night. My God ordains the heavens.
Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created
these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them
all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of
His power Not one of them is missing.
Job 9:5 "It is God who removes the mountains, they know
not how, when He overturns them in His anger; 6 who shakes the earth out
of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7 who commands the sun not to shine,
and sets a seal upon the stars; 8 who alone stretches out the heavens,
and tramples down the waves of the sea; 9 who makes the Bear, Orion, and
the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; 10 who does great things,
unfathomable, and wondrous works without number.
Is not the case for God's complete control settled by the heavens? Surely
"the heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring
the work of His hands" (Psa 19:1). Ponder whether those heavenly bodies,
written into every civilization's art, literature, music, science, and
religion--seen from every vantage point on this terrestrial ball--are not
majestic in their persuasion. Their Maker is completely sovereign. Surely
we must agree with Paul that "His invisible attributes, His eternal power
and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what
has been made" (Rom 1:20).
God's Complete Control Over the Earth
Whether one visits the stars, or walks with two feet on solid ground, the
testimony is in unison: God is the cosmic controller. In fact, in the mind
of the Biblical writers, the modern scientific concepts such as "nature"
and "natural law," seem to be absent. Rather, God is viewed as directly
controlling the forces of nature. God's control over these "forces" is
only a dim glimmer from the giant gem of God's sovereignty. It is a virtue
of the Christian worldview that through an elaborate development and study
of secondary causes, one can predict and give natural explanations in scientific
and medical fields. This is true and glorious. In fact, the unbeliever
has literally no reason to think the sun will come up tomorrow, whereas
the Christian has the covenant keeping Maker of heaven and earth.(3)
Let us never forget that according to Scripture, the ultimate cause of
all things is God. My God ordains nature. Ultimately and finally, "All
things come from Thee, and from Thy hand" (1Ch 29:14)!
Psa 65:6 Who dost establish the mountains by His strength,
being girded with might; 7 who dost still the roaring of the seas, the
roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. 8 And they who dwell
in the ends of the earth stand in awe of thy signs; thou dost make the
dawn and the sunset shout for joy. 9 Thou dost visit the earth, and cause
it to overflow; Thou greatly enrich it; the stream of God is full of water;
Thou dost prepare their grain, for thus Thou dost prepare the earth. 10
Thou dost water its furrows abundantly; Thou dost settle its ridges; Thou
dost soften it with showers; Thou dost bless its growth.
Psa 104:10 He sends forth springs in the valleys; they
flow between the mountains; 11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 beside them the birds of the heavens
dwell; they lift up their voices among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains
from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.
14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor
of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 and wine which
makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil,
and food which sustains man's heart. 16 The trees of the LORD drink their
fill, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted . . .
Jer 14:22 Are there any among the idols of the nations
who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not Thou, O LORD
our God? Therefore we hope in Thee, for Thou art the one who hast done
all these things.
Act 14:17 . . . and yet He did not leave Himself without
witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful
seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
God's Complete Control Cannot Be
Stopped
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might
Thy justice, like mountains, is soaring above,
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.(4)
The Lord God rules in might and incomprehensible power. God's power
is limited by nothing but His own nature. Since God is all-powerful, nothing
can stop what God actually wills to do. The term theologians use for the
ultimate will and purpose of God is decree. God's decrees are literally
unstoppable. To say that God's decrees can be stopped is to deny that God
is omnipotent. The verses below teach us that no one "frustrates" "His
plan," "resists His will," or "can ward off His hand." He "will accomplish
all" His "good pleasure" and "does according to His will in the host of
heaven and among the inhabitants of earth." My God ordains!
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times things which have not been done, saying, "My purpose will
be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure."
Dan 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted
as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and
among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say
to Him, "What hast Thou done?"
Pro 19:21 Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the
counsel of the LORD, it will stand.
Isa 14:27 For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can
frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?
Psa 115:3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever
He pleases.
Psa 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven
and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
Rom 9:19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find
fault? For who resists His will?"
God's Complete Control Over "Chance
Events"
From our perspective many things in our daily lives are routine and trivial.
We often refer to things as "random" or "by chance." People commonly speak
of "luck" or "coincidence." According to the Bible, however, all events,
big or little, are controlled by the hand of God. Think about it: the very
concept of "chance" is something we use when we do not know the real causes.
Flip a coin and someone might say "by 'chance' it lands on 'heads' or 'tails.'"
But if a complex machine could flip the coin--knowing the exact weight
and properties of the coin, controlling the exact force applied to the
coin to the highest degree--it would come out just as programmed: heads
or tails. Who is behind all these (commonly unknown) forces when we flip
coins or roll dice? God! These events are really not "by chance" at all.
The controlling power of Almighty God is certainly not limited to those
"big" events which, from our perspective, determine the course of men and
nations. The Scriptures assert that God is Lord over the most "random"
and unpredictable actions. It must be remembered, of course, that we never
know the significance of the roll of the dice or the flipping a coin. No
event in the universe of the Triune God is completely disconnected from
every other event. There is simply no room for "chance" in a universe created,
sustained, and ordained by an all-wise, all-powerful, personal God.
Pro 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every
decision is from the Lord.
1Ki 22:34 Now a certain man drew his bow at random and
struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver
of his chariot, "Turn around, and take me out of the fight; for I am severely
wounded." 35 and the battle raged that day, and the king was propped up
in his chariot in front of the Arameans, and died at evening, and the blood
from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot.
Job 36:32 He covers His hands with the lightning, and
commands it to strike the mark.
Jon 1:7 And each man said to his mate, "Come, let us cast
lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So
they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
God's Complete Control Over the Details
Not only are "chance" events under God's control, He governs and determines
the most minute detail of reality. My God ordains things so small and so
delicate who could know them? It was our Lord Jesus who taught us this
to remind us of the Fatherly care of God. Birds, plants, hair, fish, and
worms come forth to testify!
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet
not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But
the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Jon 1:17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow
Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Jon 4:6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew
up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort.
And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. 7 But God appointed a worm
when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered.
8 And it came about when the sun came up that God appointed a scorching
east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint
and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than
life."
God's Complete Control Over Nations
If God's sovereignty is manifest in creation and in the comprehensive sustaining
and directing of creation, even to the level of the hairs on our head and
sparrows in the sky, it should not be surprising that whole nations are
under His complete control. Truly, God is the Lord of the nations. This
is not only a demonstration of the sovereignty of God, but it is also the
power source of the Great Commission, "All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth" (Mat 28:19). My God ordains the nations. Because
"He rules over the nations" (Psa 22:8), we can be assured of the victory
of the gospel in all the earth. His word will not return void (Isa 55:11)!
Act 17:26 . . . and He made from one, every nation of
mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed
times, and the boundaries of their habitation,
Psa 33:10 The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands
forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.
Dan 4:25 . . . that you be driven away from mankind, and
your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass
to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods
of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler
over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.
Pro 21:1 The king's heart is like channels of water in
the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Dan 2:21 And it is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and
knowledge to men of understanding.
God's Complete Control Over Calamity and Evil
Of course, you may be less concerned about the sovereignty of God in the
areas mentioned above, and more concerned about how God can be in control
of evil and calamity. Before looking at specific texts which address this
concern, it might be helpful to reflect on what has already been shown.
God is creator, sustainer, director of nature and nations. Calamity and
evil are often only subsets of these more broadly defined areas. How could
God be controller of the nations and not control the king who makes war?
Or how could God direct the earth, but not the earthquake? Or uphold the
very fabric of the universe but be completely unconnected to the explosion
of a terrorist's bomb? Many specific texts settle the question directly.
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides
Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 that
men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no
one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, 7 the One forming
light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.
Amo 3:2 You only have I chosen among all the families
of the earth; Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. 3 Do
two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? 4 Does a lion
roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his
den unless he has captured something? 5 Does a bird fall into a trap on
the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the
earth when it captures nothing at all? 6 If a trumpet is blown in a city
will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the
LORD done it?
Job 1:21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD."
Jer 15:2 And it shall be that when they say to you, "Where
should we go?" then you are to tell them, "Thus says the LORD: Those destined
for death, to death; and those destined for the sword, to the sword; and
those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity,
to captivity. 3 And I shall appoint over them four kinds of doom, declares
the LORD: the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the
sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 And I shall make
them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of
Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem."
Jer 18:11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against
the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, "Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am
fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn
back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds."
Pro 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
even the wicked for the day of evil.
Ecc 7:14 In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the
day of adversity consider--God has made the one as well as the other so
that man may not discover anything that will be after him.
1Sa 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul,
and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. 15 Saul's servants then
said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 16
Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek
a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when
the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his
hand, and you will be well."
2Sa 17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said,
"The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel."
For the LORD had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, in
order that the LORD might bring calamity on Absalom.
Very personally this comes home to us all. It may sound pious to remove
God from the woes of this world, but in the end it is utterly unbearable
to think that calamities are futile--that they have literally no purpose.
Only by asserting that God ordains even these things are we able to say
with the hymn writer,(5)
Whate'er my God ordains is right: Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it all unshrinking:
My God is true each morn anew Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.
God's Complete Control Over People
Again if God is creator, sustainer, director of the worlds, worms, nations,
and even calamities, it surely follows that God controls individuals. My
God ordains me and you. Many Biblical texts assert just this.
His Control of Our Abilities
and Deformities
What do you think when you consider the way you were made? When you see
someone with a birth "defect" what comes to mind? Do you strain to remove
God from that or are you overcome with a deep sense of reverence for the
mysterious work of God through that individual's life--even through such
a dark and fearful work of His providence? Knowing that it is the Lord
who makes the "hearing ear and the seeing eye," as well as the "dumb or
deaf, or seeing or blind"--should cause us to be humbled in our acceptance
of others and grateful for our gifts and abilities. And we have to trust
Him since we do not know in what way these things will glorify God. Surely,
though, we may not doubt that the blind may see the light of His countenance.
The dumb speak words of testimony to God's power. The deaf hear His voice,
perhaps even in a more profound way than others. If so, is not every deformity
a display of the beauty of God on a more profound level? It shocks us out
of the world of appearances we so often construct into ultimate reality.
We dare not judge the Judge. "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker--An
earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the
potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has
no hands'?" (Isa 45:9). Also, we cannot forget that God operates within
His own covenantal framework, including the fact that sin brings death.
The fall of Adam results in all of the ill effects we so commonly observe--yet
God's glory will be revealed, though the eyes of unbelief are tightly closed.
Pro 20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD
has made both of them.
Exo 4:11 And the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's
mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I,
the LORD?"
Psa 139:13 For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst
weave me in my mother's womb. 14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very
well.
Joh 9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he should be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither
that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works
of God might be displayed in him."
God Controls the Free Actions of People
Men are free, but God is free-er. Men have a kind of control, but God is
Controller. Biblical freedom and responsibility are dimensions of the dignity
of man as a creature made in the image of God with covenantal obligations
to his Maker. Even so, the "free" choices of individuals are determined
by the sovereign will of God. Perhaps one will object that this is a contradiction.
This must be discussed later, but I do not believe the idea that people
freely choose what God sovereignly decrees can be shown to be a contradiction.
At any rate, the following verses, as well as many of the foregoing verses,
show the sovereign determination of God over the free actions of people.
Pro 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs
his steps.
Lam 2:17 The LORD has done what He purposed; He has accomplished
His word which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down without
sparing, and He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted
the might of your adversaries.
Gen 20: 6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know
that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept
you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her."
Gen 45:9 Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him,
"Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down
to me, do not delay."
Dan 1:9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in
the sight of the commander of the officials . . .
Neh 2:8 . . . and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the
king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of
the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for
the house to which I will go. And the king granted them to me because the
good hand of my God was on me.
Psa 110:3 Thy people will volunteer freely in the day
of Thy power; in holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Thy youth are to
Thee as the dew.
God Controls the Sinful Actions of People
There's more! God is in complete control of even the sinful acts of men.
Since it has already been established that the Lord's power and control
extend to worlds, nations, calamities, and the abilities and actions of
individuals, it follows quite strictly that even sinful actions are under
God's control. Somehow, God's holiness is not marred by the sinful acts
which He controls.
Pro 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
even the wicked for the day of evil.
Gen 50:20 And as for you, you meant evil against me, but
God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve
many people alive.
Luk 22:22 For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has
been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!
Act 2:23 . . . this Man, delivered up by the predetermined
plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless
men and put Him to death.
Act 4:27 For truly in this city there were gathered together
against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to
do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
Deu 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for
us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit
and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as
he is today.
Exo 9:12 And the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he
did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.
Exo 10:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh,
for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may
perform these signs of Mine among them . . ."
Jos 11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts,
to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that
they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the
LORD had commanded Moses.
Isa 63:17 Why, O LORD, dost Thou cause us to stray from
Thy ways, and harden our heart from fearing Thee? Return for the sake of
Thy servants, the tribes of Thy heritage.
Joh 12:37 But though He had performed so many signs before
them, yet they were not believing in Him; 38 that the word of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR
REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?" 39 For this
cause they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 "HE HAS BLINDED
THEIR EYES, AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART; LEST THEY SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED, AND I HEAL THEM."
However objectionable the idea of God's predestination of evil may be
to you on the surface, the specific texts above call us to revere God's
power over even the sinful acts of men. Even more, if the most heinous
of all acts, the murder of the spotless, sinless, Lamb of God, was "predestined
to occur," then why should we object to God's sovereignty over other wicked
acts which hardly compare to the sinfulness of killing Christ. The Bible
is crystal clear in saying that when Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and Israel
gathered together to murder Christ in that most torturous, wicked, and
inhumane way, that it was what "Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to
occur" (Act 4:27). We can now see the goodness of God in this evil act,
our very salvation. We should also rest assured on God's unchangeable Word
"that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God"--even though, for now, we do not know the purpose for each act of
evil in the world (Rom 8:28).
God Ordains the Days of Our Lives
Again, the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth completely controls worlds,
nations, calamities, individuals, even sinful actions. Does it surprise
us that all the days of our lives "were ordained" (Psa 139:16)? God wrote
the script to our lives, from birth to death. Though we do not know what
the future will hold, we should reflect on this in reverence and obey His
revealed will, His law. Ultimately, God has decreed what will come to pass,
even to the minutest detail. Because of this, the Word tells us that our
plans should be guided by this truth, "If the Lord wills..." (Jam 4:15).
This is illustrated when Paul left Ephesus. He said, "I will return to
you again if God wills" (Act 18:21). The Latin phrase which translates
"if God wills" is Deo volente. So, it is right to plan and we can hardly
avoid it, but we must remember all we intend is Deo volente.
Psa 22:9 Yet Thou art He who didst bring me forth from
the womb; Thou didst make me trust when upon my mother's breasts. 10 Upon
Thee I was cast from birth; Thou hast been my God from my mother's womb.
Psa 71:6 By Thee I have been sustained from my birth;
Thou art He who took me from my mother's womb; my praise is continually
of Thee.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance;
and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for
me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Num 24:23 And he took up his discourse and said, "Alas,
who can live except God has ordained it?"
Pro 20:24 Man's steps are ordained by the LORD, how then
can man understand his way?
Job 14:1 Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and
full of turmoil. 2 Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees
like a shadow and does not remain. 3 Thou also dost open Thine eyes on
him, and bring him into judgment with Thyself. 4 Who can make the clean
out of the unclean? No one! 5 since his days are determined, the number
of his months is with Thee, and his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot
pass.
Jam 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we
shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in
business and make a profit." 14 Yet you do not know what your life will
be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while
and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills,
we shall live and also do this or that."
God's Complete Control Over Judgment
It is abundantly clear that God's sovereign determination extends from
the course of the stars to the paths of fish in the seas, from the cradle
to the grave. The Bible asserts that God controls even the judgment of
the wicked. We are told that the wicked were "made" for "the day of evil,"
that their "doom" was "appointed," and they were "long beforehand marked
out for this condemnation." My God ordains this too.
Pro 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
even the wicked for the day of evil.
Rom 9:10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also,
when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though
the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in
order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because
of works, but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER
WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." 13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT
ESAU I HATED." 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God,
is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY
ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs,
but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS
VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT
MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."
1Pe 2:8 . . . and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF
OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and
to this doom they were also appointed.
Jud 1:4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those
who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons
who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master
and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Act 1:16 Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled,
which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas,
who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
Act 1:25 . . . to occupy this ministry and apostleship
from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in
Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them
perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
God's Complete Control in Salvation
Given all that has been said, should it then come as any surprise that
the Scripture teaches that salvation is also controlled by God? God's determining
power extends not only to creation, sustaining the stars, directing heaven
and earth, calamitous events, the days of our lives, free actions, sinful
actions, and judgment--but especially salvation. Perhaps it is not out
of order to say here that though God, of necessity, must be just as controlling
in damnation as in salvation, He delights in the gracious deliverance of
His children. The Bible says that those who know Him and are known of Him
were "chosen before the foundation of the world," and it was "granted"
that they "believe," that they were "made alive" by God, were "appointed
to eternal life," and were "predestined to the adoption as sons." In short,
it is "by His doing you are in Christ Jesus" (1Co 1:30). Praise Him! My
God ordains salvation! If after reading this section, you still have a
controversy in your heart, know that all I am saying can be summarized
in one word, Grace!
God's Control of Who Will
Be Saved
'Tis not that I did choose Thee, For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee, Hadst Thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old Thou hast ordained me, That I should live to Thee.(6)
What Christian could say, "No, I chose Him first!" or "I would have
come even apart from His grace." On the contrary, since the Fall resulted
in depravity for every son of Adam and daughter of Eve, God must change
the hearts of those who will be saved (Rom 3:10-20). We are powerless to
change ourselves. As Jeremiah 13:23 says, "Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed
to doing evil." We are all, "by nature children of wrath" (Eph 2:3) and
our hearts are "desperately wicked" (Jer 17:9, KJV). If we are to be saved,
He must furnish us with all that necessarily brings us to salvation, including
opening our ears to hear and embrace the gospel, changing our evil natures
by regeneration, and granting us saving faith. In short, if we are to be
saved, God must save us. Once this is believed, we rejoice in a truly "amazing
grace." Our salvation is "to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Eph
1:6).
Eph 1:4 . . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory
of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
2Ti 1:9 . . . who has saved us, and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and
grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity . . .
2Th 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you,
brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning
for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
1Th 1:4 . . . knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice
of you.
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among
many brethren; 30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom
He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also
glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us,
who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect?
1Co 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who
became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and
redemption, 31 that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST
IN THE LORD."
Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on His right,
"Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world."
1Th 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for
obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .
Joh 6:37 All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me,
and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. . . .44 No one
can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise
him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, "AND THEY SHALL
ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD." Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father,
comes to Me.
Joh 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said
to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from
the Father."
Joh 17:9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf
of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.
In the beautiful hymn, "How Sweet and Awful is the Place," Isaac Watts
asked that grace-question the above verses answer, "Why was I made to hear
Thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice
and rather starve than come? 'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in; Else we had still refused to taste, And perished
in our sin."(7)
God's Control of Understanding and
Knowledge
Even our knowledge of God is controlled by His sovereignty. It comes by
the direct illumination of God by His grace. Surely our pride is crushed
when we recognize that even our understanding of salvation has been granted
to us. It does not come from ourselves, we have been shown it by grace.
Of ourselves we could not muster one iota of saving truth without the mercy
of the Spirit of truth. As I recently heard a new Christian proclaim, "People
can't show you God, only God can show you God." To be sure, God uses people
as instruments to reveal Himself, but what "graceling" would contest Jesus'
own words, "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who
is in heaven" (Mat 16:17)?
Joh 3:27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing,
unless it has been given him from heaven."
Mat 13:11 And He answered and said to them, "To you it
has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it has not been granted."
Luk 8:10 And He said, "To you it has been granted to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables,
in order that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND."
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed
are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to
you, but My Father who is in heaven."
Joh 12:39 For this cause they could not believe, for Isaiah
said again, 40 "HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART;
LEST THEY SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED,
AND I HEAL THEM."
God's Control of Spiritual Birth
Not only does God determine who will be saved and open their ears to hear
the glorious gospel, He resurrects them from the spiritual tomb by the
work of regeneration. Believers are born again by the Wind of Heaven, the
blessed Holy Spirit who blows over the stone-cold hearts of those who were
"dead in their transgressions and sins." Those who receive Christ are not
born "of the will of man, but of God." We didn't do it, God "caused us
to be born again." Like Lazarus, stinking, wrapped with our sins, and sealed
in the tomb of this world, we needed the power of God to make "us alive
together with Christ."
Joh 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
Joh 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the
sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going;
so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
. . .
Eph 2:5 . . . even when we were dead in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) . . .
Col 2:13 And when you were dead in your transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions . . .
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we
have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing
of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit ...
God's Control of Repentance and
Faith
Some who attack the doctrine of God's sovereignty in salvation only attack
a "straw man" of an argument. "If God chooses who will be saved, why believe?
Why repent?" Of course the Word teaches us that faith is a prerequisite
for salvation. Saving faith in Christ is a conscious, wilful act, but the
Bible says that God gives us faith. If God grants faith as a gift, then
faith (with Christ as its object) does not originate in the person to be
saved. A man must believe, a man must repent, but belief and repentance
doesn't come from the man. Trust in Christ is alien to those who are "hostile
toward God" (Rom 8:7). Put this to the test of Scripture: Does the Bible
teach that faith is given by God or mustered by men?
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of
works, that no one should boast.
Phi 1:29 For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake,
not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake . . .
Act 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city
of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening;
and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
Act 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began
rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been
appointed to eternal life believed.
2Ti 2:24 And the Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,
but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness
correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance
leading to the knowledge of the truth . . .
Act 5:31 He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand
as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness
of sins.
Act 11:18 And when they heard this, they quieted down,
and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles
also the repentance that leads to life."
The conclusion is clear: God gives faith! God grants repentance! I wonder
how many have unknowingly mouthed these very truths in the wonderful hymn,
"I Know Whom I Have Believed."
I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His word wrought peace within my heart.
I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the word, creating faith in Him.(8)
God's Control of the Atonement
Salvation is God's plan from beginning to end. Those who will be saved
are chosen by God, enlightened by God, made alive by God, and gifted by
God with repentance and faith. Surely it is the world's greatest understatement
to say that the cross of Christ, too, was planned by God. Redemptive history
flows to Calvary and back again. That Christ's death was predetermined
of God cannot be questioned (Act 2:23). But for what? Was it to make men
merely able to save themselves? Many Biblical texts tell us that Christ's
death accomplished redemption for a definite group of people. Bible-believing
Christians would never deny that some will be lost for eternity. We all
must admit, then, that Christ did not prevent the wrath of God from abiding
on those who do not trust in Him. Therefore, His death, though sufficient
to save a million worlds from the wrath of God, was actually efficient
only for those that will be saved. To put it directly, according to the
Bible, whose sins did Christ bear?
Mat 1:21 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His
name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.
Isa 53:5-12 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities. . . He was cut off out of the land of
the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?.
. . . He would render Himself as a guilt offering...By His knowledge the
Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their
iniquities . . . . He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for
the transgressors.
Joh 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays
down His life for the sheep.
Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and
My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and
I lay down My life for the sheep.
Joh 11: 51 Now this he did not say on his own initiative;
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to
die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also
gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also
loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 26 that He might sanctify
her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word . . .
1Pe 2:24 . . . and He Himself bore our sins in His body
on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by
His wounds you were healed.
2Co 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Heb 9:12 . . . and not through the blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all,
having obtained eternal redemption.
Tit 2:14 . . . who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His
own possession, zealous for good deeds.
The English hymn writer, William Cowper said it well,
There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God Be saved, to sin no more.(9)
God's Complete Control of All Things
We've been looking, as it were, in a microscope at many specific
areas of the sovereign control of God. Now we can look through the lens
of the telescope at the sweeping statements asserting His sovereignty and
rule. In the broadest possible terms--God is in complete control. The domain
of His rule is, quite simply, everything. The Lord has decreed whatever
happens. From the beginning to the end, from the creation to the consummation,
from the heavens to the earth, from the sky to the sea, from conception
to salvation--the sovereign Lord is the One in complete control. "His sovereignty
rules over all" (Psa 103:19). My God ordains all things.
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things long past, for I am
God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 declaring
the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not
been done, saying, "My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish
all My good pleasure."
Eph 1:11 . . . also we have obtained an inheritance, having
been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the
counsel of His will . . .
Rom 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are
all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.
1Co 8:6 . . . yet for us there is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
Psa 103:19 The LORD has established His throne in the
heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.
3 To Struggle With
In what has gone before, the Biblical information, I pray, presents itself
clearly without the rust of my own comments clinging to it. While I think
it is clear that the Bible asserts the sovereignty of God over all, in
all, and through all, I'm sure there are still objections in the minds
of some readers. So in what follows, it will be necessary to reason according
to the Scriptures (Acts 17:2, 17; 18:4; 19:9). That is, I must present
the objections to what I take to be the Biblical position on these matters
and relate them to other clearly understood truths in God's Word.
Objection: God Foreknows But Does Not Determine
Some may object that the verses above should be understood as simply teaching
God's knowledge of future events rather His determination of them. So often
those who think this way cancel-out all the statements about God's complete
control because of their understanding of foreknowledge, even though there
are only a handful of references to God's foreknowledge in the Bible (Acts
2:23, Rom 8:29, Rom 11:2, 1Pe 1:2, 1Pe 1:20). The foreknowledge objection,
as I will call it, is guilty of letting some verses close the mouth of
other verses, rather than letting all of Scripture speak.
A Biblical Study of Foreknowledge
Whatever is involved in the foreknowing of an all-knowing being, in the
Bible the Greek words (prognosis/proginosko) do not describe God's foreknowing
as only His simple before-knowing of an individual's destiny. For example,
there's nothing like, "God foreknew their unbelief (and therefore, they
were not elected unto salvation)." In Biblical terms, God never "foreknows"
an unelect person. Interestingly, foreknowledge is a term of affection.
The cross was "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts
2:23)." Those "He foreknew" are "to become conformed to the image of His
Son" (Rom 8:29). Israel is described as "His people whom He foreknew" (Rom
11:2). Scattered believers, though aliens in this world, are chosen of
God "according the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying
work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with
His blood" (1Pe 1:2). Lastly, Jesus Himself "was foreknown before the foundation
of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you"
(1Pe 1:20). To be foreknown in every New Testament reference is to be in
a relationship of God's special redemptive design, love, and calling. In
the same way that "know" is often used in the Bible as a kind of intimate
knowledge, foreknowledge of God is a before-intimate-knowledge, it is a
redeeming fore-love. For example, in John 17:25, Jesus says, "The world
has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee" (cf. 1Pe 1:20). Morever, this
is true in the use of these words in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.(10)
"Adam knew [ginosko] Eve his wife; and she conceived. . ." (Gen 4:1). Amos
3:2 says, "You [Israel] only have I chosen [ginosko] among all the families
of the earth." The marvel of this is that the all-knowing Holy One says
to His people, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I
have drawn you with lovingkindness" (Jer 31:3).
Bare Foreknowledge
Now certainly, God knows the future. This knowledge, though, is not a bare
foreknowing of what will happen without control of it. Whatever God knows,
He knows certainly. What God knows to be certain cannot be otherwise (or
change at some point in the future). If God knew from all eternity that
I will choose option A, then in history when I make that choice, I will
choose A--God would be wrong if I chose B, so this cannot be. B can't be
if B isn't known by God. Hence, "to B or not to B" is determined by God.
God knows what actually will happen. We may guess about what might happen.
What might happen can change; our best guess may be wrong. But what actually
will happen cannot change (by its very definition, it is actual). God's
knowledge is not what might happen, but what will, in fact, happen.
But, how does God know this? At first glance one may propose that God
looks down the "corridor of time" to see what will happen--sort of a crystal
ball approach to divine foreknowledge. But surely, the infinite God does
not learn from His finite creatures whom He created for His own glory in
the first place. It becomes clear from understanding God's omniscience
(knowledge of all) and His independence from His creatures that He does
not elect someone because He sees that they first chose Him. Aside from
explicit verses to the contrary (Joh 15:16; 1Jo 4:19), this kind of bare
foreknowledge would mean that God is dependent (in His knowledge) on creatures
that He intricately knitted together in the womb and through every breath
continually sustains. God does not learn from His creation. Romans 11:34
makes this perfectly clear, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or
who became his counselor?" If God's knowledge depended on the actions of
His free creatures, how could God's knowledge of future (to us) events
be certain. God's knowledge could not be certain if it depended on the
interactions of myriads of whims of creatures, not to mention malevolent
demonic entities. The certainty of God's knowledge of future things comes
intricately bound to His complete control of all things in the decrees
of His sovereign purposes. Mere foreknowledge would be useless without
the omnipotent power to control all things.
Objection: It Denies Freedom and Responsibility
This objection concerns the complete control of God removing the genuine
freewill of man and therefore, his responsibility and culpability for his
actions. This is the typical Robot Objection. If God predestines us, then
we are robots and have no freedom and cannot be blamed for our actions,
either. This has to be the most oft-repeated objection to the doctrine
of God's complete control. Though it is almost predictable that the objector
will first go here, still it is very important because it strikes both
at the nature of God and a right understanding of man.
Not a Contradiction
I do not believe it is a contradiction to say people freely choose what
God sovereignly decrees. By "free choice" I mean that we are unconstrained,
uncoerced, and wish to do that which we choose. By "sovereign decree" I
mean what God determines to take place in the universe and eternity. It
strikes me as a challenge to God's omnipotence to say that God cannot decree
a choice which is unconstrained, uncoerced, and which a person consciously
wishes to do. When it is insisted that man's free choice and God's sovereign
decrees are contradictory, God and man are placed on the same level. But
think about it. God is eternal; God made all that is; God is the sustainer
of all that is; God's knowledge is not dependent on creatures; God never
learns, but is omniscient. God is God. God's power is only limited by His
own nature. How is decreeing the outcomes of free choices a violation of
His nature?
The trouble comes when we reason from our own experience. As a human
being, I cannot ensure the outcome of another human being's choice without
coercion. I can put a gun to your head and say, "Choose vanilla!" Or maybe
I could guess that you'll choose vanilla, based on your past ice cream
preferences. What I can't do is guarantee that you'll choose vanilla (without
constraining you). But God can! How? I don't know. He doesn't do it by
constraint, by a violation of your internal desires, or by purely physical/materialistic
causes (genetics and environment). What we do, we do freely. The Bible
declares both God's absolute control and determination of all things and
our real, uncoerced freedom.
Pavlov's Dog
While we are not undetermined and "free" to thwart God's sovereign decrees,
neither are we Pavlov's dogs, Skinner's pigeons, or laboratory rats. There
is a kind of secular, materialistic determinism, popularly connected to
B. F. Skinner, called behaviorism. Skinner calls his view "scientific."
But he says the belief that man is free and responsible is "prescientific
view."(11) In Beyond Freedom and Dignity
(1971), he says,
A person's behavior is determined by a genetic endowment traceable to
the evolutionary history of the species and by the environmental circumstances
to which as an individual he has been exposed. (p. 96)
Back to the robot--the robot analogy breaks down, not in that we are
determined, but in its implicit denial of the dignity of man as created
in the image of God. It does not make sense of the complexities and intricacies
of the way God brings about His decrees. Men are not biological machines.
They have never-dying souls which sit in the driver's seats of their lives.
Behaviorism, or any other variation of non-Christian determinism, must
reduce man to something he is not. For Skinner and others, man is a bag
of chemical reactions responding to stimuli in the material world. For
secular determinists man is an animal, a grown-up germ, or a central nervous
system of stimulated responses. On the contrary, the Word of God asserts
in fascination, "Thou hast made him a little lower than God, and dost crown
him with glory and majesty! Thou dost make him to rule over the works of
Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet" (Psa 8:5-6). When God's
sovereignty is reduced to the robot analogy, our imaginations are asleep.
A robot may be the best we can imagine in predetermining. We can mechanistically
program machines--robots, if you will. But don't try to pull God off the
throne to be limited like a man. God can ordain whatsoever comes to pass
without violating the freedom of His free creatures and without removing
their responsibility.
Still Responsible
Many object that if we are not completely undetermined there is no sense
in blaming us for our wrong doings and rewarding us for our good deeds.
After all, we do not hold those incapable of recognizing good and evil
as culpable for a crime they unknowingly committed. If men are predetermined
by God, how can God hold them responsible for their actions? What is so
interesting about this objection even more than all the others is that
the Bible directly asks this and answers it! I am afraid, however, that
many will not be happy with the answer.
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists
His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?
The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like
this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make
from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common
use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make
His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction? (Rom 9:18-20) (emphasis mine)
Why does God still find fault with us if He wills all that we do? The
answer is very direct, He made us. God made us such that we are responsible
for our actions and culpable simply because we do them. What seems to be
included here is that since we wish or want to do what we do, that is enough
for us to be accountable. Perhaps someone will say, "Yes, but if you're
right, a person's sin is foreordained by God--so they didn't 'have a choice.'"
What is being suggested is that if a person could not have done otherwise
then they cannot legitimately be held accountable for an action. Let me
call this the accountability principle. This is an important principle
which seems intuitive enough. We apply it frequently in our legal system
and in our personal dealings with others. But what is meant by "could"?
It seems that a person is fully culpable for an action if that person is
not coerced (against one's will), and possesses all the faculties (of mind
and body) to do otherwise.
This principle should be considered carefully in light of the Biblical
information. It was "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God"
that Christ died "by the hands of godless men" (Acts 2:23). Is it possible
to say, for example, that those who nailed Christ to the cross could have
done otherwise, even though the Bible says the cross was according to the
predetermined plan of God? I believe that we can make sense of the accountability
principle and still maintain the predetermination of God in this way: the
soldiers who crucified Christ could have done otherwise in this sense--they
had the physical/mental abilities necessary to refuse to crucify Christ.
They had all the faculties of mind and body to do otherwise and they were
not coerced against their own internally "free" desires. Nevertheless,
they could not have done otherwise in another sense--in the sense of not
doing what God had ordained in His wise and holy decrees. Therefore, when
someone objects to God's sovereign control because of the accountability
principle, we must ask the objector to demonstrate how our account of responsibility
fails in light of our common experience and moreover, in light of Scripture.
While we struggle to penetrate the exact relationship of responsibility,
freedom, and the varying kinds of ability, it should be enough for us to
agree that God in His holiness is able to predetermine things which include
even wickedness, and hold those individual sinners responsible. Sinners
are responsible because they did what they wanted to do it and were not
coerced externally. Finally, if one wants to deny the sufficiency of this
kind of explanation, the future must be open-ended with no decreed ends
at all. The objector is really saying that what comes to pass, to a very
great extent, rests with the whims of men and devils. Of course, this turns
out not to be a Christian view at all.
Objection: The Complete Sovereignty of God Makes Him the Author of Evil
Does the complete control of God bring His character into question, making
Him the author of evil? This is the Fish Objection: it tries to get God
off the hook. By proclaiming that God is not in control of the evil in
the world, we supposedly rescue God from being the "author of evil." Think
of this though, our knowledge of sin is from the same Book which teaches
us that God cannot sin.
God is completely righteous and yet sin entered the world. Unless one
wants to maintain that God was not powerful enough to prevent sin from
entering the world, the problem remains. God is completely righteous and
being completely righteous God planned and permitted sin to enter the world.
At this point someone might say, "But wait, He didn't plan for sin to enter
the world!" . . . But then what, are you going to say, "But it got in there
anyway!" Did God not know sin would be the result of free creatures' choices?
Of course He did.
Someone might argue that if angels and human beings were to be free,
sin was at least possible if not inevitable. In this understanding, God
could not make free creatures without permitting them to sin. In other
words, on this understanding, God could not guarantee that free creatures
always choose good rather than evil. This last statement, though, is clearly
false. I take it as evangelical truth that in heaven we will not sin. God
will guarantee that we choose good forever. "We know that, when He appears,
we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is" (1Jo 3:2b).
Of the position that free will necessitates the possibility of sin, we
must ask, how is God "off the hook" more so than if free will does not
necessitate the possibility of sin? One way or the other, God makes a world
which He knows beforehand will have sin in it. If we are to maintain God's
ability to prevent sin in the world and God's complete righteousness, we
must conclude that God has a good reason for letting sin (through the uncoerced
choices of His creatures) into the world. Because of the goodness of God,
we must conclude that God has a morally justifiable reason for sin in the
world.(12)
In the end, maintaining that God is not the determiner of all things
(even evil) does not "get God off the hook," as though He were really on
it in the first place. The only way to really avoid the tension here is
to assert that God did not know evil would enter the world or that God
was simply not powerful enough to stop it. This a higher price than any
Christian should pay to resolve this tension.(13)
"Free will" as it is normally understood really does not fix the larger
problem. I think free will is part of the explanation of how God permitted
sin without being "author" of it. That is, left to the freedom of their
own will our first parents, as well as Satan and other angels, sinned;
however, they were created uprightly (Gen 1:27, 31; Eze 28:15). God, for
a justifiable righteous reason, did not prevent their sin, though (being
all-powerful) He could have. We can only conclude that God has a greater
and more righteous purpose than is immediately apparent, in allowing sin
in the world. Though we may not be able to fully explain the purpose for
suffering and evil, we know that God does indeed use it in our lives (Rom
8:28-29). The contemporary hymn writer, Margaret Clarkson, says this so
beautifully in the second and third verses of the hymn, O Father, You are
Sovereign.
O Father, you are sovereign in all affairs of man.
No pow'r of death or darkness can thwart Your perfect plan.
All chance and change transcending, supreme in time and space.
You hold Your trusting children secure in your embrace.
O Father, You are sovereign, the Lord of human pain.
Transmuting earthly blessings to gold of heav'nly gain.
All evil overruling, as none but conqu'ror could.
Your love pursues its purpose--our souls' eternal good.(14)
It is important to note here that this does not leave the Christian
in a position of irrationality and "blind faith" against the atheistic
objector. The atheistic objector usually attacks the Christian with the
"problem of evil" as if it proves that the God of Scripture cannot (rationally)
exist. The dilemma is usually stated in this way: (a) If God is all good
He should prevent all evil, (b) if God is all powerful He could prevent
all evil, (c) since evil exists, such a God (both all-good and all-powerful)
does not exist. A straightforward logical answer to this dilemma is that
the Christian conception of God's goodness simply does not entail (a) that
God should prevent all evil. The Bible teaches both that God is good and
that He does not always prevent evil. Thus, premise (a) is not to be maintained
by the Biblical Christian. More fundamental to the issue, however, is whether
the atheist, on his own principles, can demonstrate that there is evil
in the world. It would seem that atheism must borrow the fundamentally
theistic concept of an absolute standard of righteousness in order to even
assert that evil exists. Nevertheless, Christians should maintain that
evil cannot cohabit eternally with an all-good, all-powerful, infinite
being. We cannot permit a "light force" vs "dark force" Star Wars heresy.
Perhaps, then, we can restate the problem in this way: (a) If God is all
good He should eliminate evil, (b) if God is all powerful He could eliminate
evil, (c) since evil exists, such a God will eliminate evil. This framing
of the question, however, greatly displeases the atheistic objector because
it is exactly what the Bible predicts.
Objection: The Complete Sovereignty of God Removes Responsibility for Evangelism
That the sovereignty of God removes the need for evangelism is what I will
call the "Sears and Roebuck Catalog Objection" because someone once told
me that the elect could get saved reading the Sears and Roebuck Catalog.
This individual denied our legitimate responsibilities to do evangelism
and missions.(15) The historic, Reformed
position on this question, however, does not by any means deny our missionary
responsibilities. In fact, the entire modern missionary movement was birthed
from this theology. Men like John Eliot, David Brainard, William Carey,
Adoniram Judson, and John Paton, all held that God was completely in control
and yet, they certainly were responsible and called by God to declare the
Good News.
The short, but quite sufficient answer to this objection is simply,
God ordains the means as well as the end. God's purposes are chain-linked
to the ways of accomplishment He intends. We are simply called to be faithful
to the means and "leave the results to God."(16)
In evangelism and many other areas, we are to obey His command by proclaiming
the good news of Christ. It is our responsibility to pray and preach and
His responsibility to convict and convert. If individuals are converted
then we are sure that God did the converting, but no one will ever be saved
apart from the gospel (Rom 1:16; 10:14).
The confusion here is between the moral will of God and the sovereign
will of God (See figure 1). The moral will of God or prescriptive will
of God is His commandments or precepts to be obeyed. His moral will is
a reflection of His moral character. It is grounded in His righteous nature
and perfect attributes. The sovereign will of God or the decreetive will
of God is "whatsoever comes to pass." It is what God has, in eternity past,
determined to come to pass through nature and the free actions of His creatures.
The sovereign plan God has decreed is grounded in His wisdom and His personal
intentions to bring glory 
to
Himself. We know (some of) God's sovereign will after the fact and some
of it before the fact through His prophetic Word. Of course much of what
God has determined is hidden from us as limited, frail, finite creatures.
For example, the interior of the earth, the depth of the sand at the bottom
of the ocean, the exact number, size, and movement of the stars, and an
incalculable number of other things are simply hidden from us. All such
"unknowns" are known to God and willed by God. Perhaps in the expansion
of scientific investigation we will learn a great deal more of these matters
and in glory, perhaps even more. Nonetheless the Bible says plainly, "The
secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong
to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this
law" (Deu 29:29). If someone claims something to be "the will of God" we
must ask in what circle it belongs. If someone says, "It is God's will
that all believe the gospel"--We can agree that this is the will of God
(in the second circle sense, the moral will), since it is commanded. It
is perfectly obvious from Scripture and experience that God has not decreed
that all believe (first circle, sovereign will). "The crucifixion of Christ"--This
was the will of God in the first circle (sovereign will). Now when someone
objects to any commandment because of the sovereign decrees of God, they
are confusing the commandments of God (e.g., to evangelize) with the sovereign
will of God (e.g., in election).
Not Fatalism
It becomes clear therefore that the Biblical view is not "fatalism" which
is the view that ends are determined apart from means. Sometimes this is
connected with the Islamic concept of God (Allah). However, the God of
the Bible is a living God and His providential work is accomplished by,
through, and with the natural and free actions of His creatures. The Bible
also records supernatural and unexpected changes in the way God normally
sustains the natural order, i.e., miracles. The Scriptural doctrine of
God's complete control is not fatalism because God's plan, though comprehensive
to every detail (even the number of hairs on our head), is accomplished
concurrently with the regular course of creation. If fatalism were the
case, the world would be a jumbled mess of effects without causes.
Fatalism flows from the pagan concept of "fate," an unavoidable destiny,
apart from means. It is a predetermined end of the road. But who predetermined
it? In the old Greek mythology where this concept is quite strong, no one
predetermines fate. Fate just is. Even the Greek gods are servants of fate.
Fate is fate with no larger rhyme or reason. Consider that from the Christian
point of view if there were a "fate," there would be something above God.
The Greek gods were like big people, just stronger and with some mysterious
power. In the final analysis they had to make something out of this world
of fate and chance just like the mortals. They interacted with fate events
and though they were stronger than men, they had to fight the real god
too, Chance-Fate. Fortuna, the pagan concept of fortune or chance was like
a wheel that rolled around to give some happy mortal a break. And of course,
it became personified as a goddess and worshiped. The fortuna rota still
rolls in the game-show world--it is the wheel of fortune.
When someone charges the Biblical concepts of God's decrees, predestination,
election, and controlling power with being "fatalistic," they are not only
lacking in Biblical theology, they are confused about Greek mythology.
The God of the Bible is over all. There is nothing over God and out of
His control. God is the determiner of all possibility. There are no possibilities
outside of the infinite, tri-personal God. It is His personal will which
governs all, not an impersonal chance-fate.
Objection: Specific Passages
To those who deny God's absolute sovereignty, many passages become the
occasion to object. In this short study, however, only a handful can be
considered. I have chosen these both because of their popularity and because
of their difficulty.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John chapter three often become the "proof"
that God is not sovereign in salvation. Christians sometimes claim that
God does not decide who will be saved, rather it is . . . "whosoever will"
(Rev 22:17). The thrust of the objection is that God loves and sent His
Son for every single person (the world), not just "the elect." Christ came
into the world for every person, if they would only will themselves into
salvation. While it is certainly true that whoever believes will be saved,
the emphasis of the objector that "world" means every individual is misplaced,
both in a contextual study and in the fullest biblical theology.
First, note that Jesus is speaking to "Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews"
(v. 1) regarding Christ's Messianic ministry (v. 2) and the "kingdom of
God" (vv. 3, 5). The well-known Greek scholar, A. T. Robertson says of
Nicodemus, "He knew only Jews as members of that kingdom, the political
kingdom of Pharisaic hope which was to make all the world Jewish (Pharisaic)
under the King Messiah."(17) It is important
to realize that Christ's discussion of being "born again" is not disconnected
from the prophetic coming of the kingdom of God in the Messianic age to
all nations. This is the very subject of their conversation.(18)
The Messianic age, the new birth, the kingdom of God, and the gospel to
the nations are woven together throughout the Old Testament prophecies
which Nicodemus should have known, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and
do not understand these things?" (v. 10). Jesus' discussion of the new
birth was not "new revelation" completely unknown to the Old Testament
(e.g., Eze 36:26, Jer 31:33). For example, in Isaiah 59:19-60:4ff the essential
terms and concepts of this dialogue are found: the wind, the Messiah, the
new birth, and the world (nations). "For He will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the LORD drives. And a Redeemer will come to Zion. .
. . My Spirit which is upon you. . . .Nations will come to your light."
Given the Old Testament literary context of these terms and concepts, it
is not difficult to see that the word "world" emphasizes Gentiles, as well
as Jews. The objector has missed the richness of the Messianic age when
he says the "world" in John 3:16 is "every person" over against "a select
few."(19)
More to the heart however, I suspect that the real objection here is
that belief in the sovereignty of God in salvation kills evangelism (see
the discussion above). Let's grant, then, that our understanding of God's
sovereignty should never squelch a zeal to tell the gospel to everyone,
to every individual possible. If the objector could only see that it is
Biblically consistent to proclaim both that whoever believes in Christ
will be saved and that God from all eternity sovereignly purposes to elect,
regenerate, and grant faith unto salvation. God elects, regenerates, calls,
and grants faith to all the "whoevers" who do, in fact, believe. "Whosoever
will" believe will be saved, yes! But who will? Who will believe? Who will
come to Christ? The doctrine of God's sovereignty in salvation is the answer
to that question. In crystal clear language, three chapters later in John,
Jesus Himself says, "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent
Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (6:44). Later in
the same chapter Jesus repeats this,
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words
that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of
you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying,
"For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless
it has been granted him from the Father." (6:63-65)
Could it be clearer? "No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted
him from the Father" (6:65). The "whosoever wills" that will are those
whom the Father draws and grants to come to Christ. Notice too that Christ
proclaimed "come to Me" to those whom He knew would not come! How much
more should we proclaim it since we don't know who will come. Therefore
we should preach with urgency that Christ came in order that whoever will
believe will be saved and that when a person believes we must say it was
granted by the Father, to God be the glory.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to
come to repentance.
Is this passage inconsistent with the teaching that God elects to save
only some? Perhaps God does not decree for any to perish, and the salvation
of each individual is simply not up to God? According to this reasoning,
salvation finally is up to the individual "freewiller"--rather than the
God of grace. Indeed, this is the driving concern behind almost every objection.
The Southern Baptist Founder, J. L. Dagg got to the heart of the matter
in saying that in this there is "some lurking idea that it is safer to
trust in something else than in God's absolute mercy."(20)
I believe, however, a serious student of Scripture may harmonize this
passage with what seems to be evident in many other passages of Scripture--God's
complete control in salvation. First, the term for "willing" in the King
James Version (Greek, boulomai) is often translated "wishing," as it is
here in the NASB, ASV, NAB, and RSV.(21)
Likewise, in the NIV and NRSV it is translated, "wanting." God does not
"want" or "wish" for anyone to perish, but in the perfect justice of the
counsel of His will, He has not decreed that all be saved. In other words,
God in the gracious, kind intention of His counsel and decreetive will
has predestined to save many, though His justice does not require the salvation
of any. Still, the "heart of God"--His wish, His want, His desire is for
all to repent. Calvin says on this verse, "This is His wondrous love towards
the human race, that He desires all men to be saved, and is prepared to
bring even the perishing to safety."(22)
Second, in the flow of the passage, Peter addresses false teachers, "There
will also be false teachers among you..." (2:1). This text speaks a word
of mercy for those who err from truth to come to repentance (2Ti 2:25).
The passage, then, is a call for repentance which is commanded of men,
but granted by God (Acts 17:30, 5:31, 11:18, 2Ti 2:25). It does not address
the question of the decrees of God directly. "No mention is made here of
the secret decree of God by which the wicked are doomed to their own ruin,
but only of His loving-kindness as it is made known to us in the Gospel.
There God stretches out His hand to all alike, but He only grasps those
(in such a way as to lead to Himself) whom He has chosen before the foundation
of the world."(23)
1Timothy 2:3-6 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony
borne at the proper time.
In the first section, the passage is very similar to 2 Peter 3:9, God "desires
all men to be saved." There is no need to duplicate my comments above.
However, the successive verses are still at issue. How could God's selection
in salvation be true if Christ gave Himself, "a ransom for all" (v. 6)?
Here, as in other places, we must understand "all" in context. If Christ
was an atoning sacrifice for every person, without exception, then the
position which I have discussed (particular election and redemption) is
false. It also seems to me, too, that universalism is true. If God's wrath
was satisfied on Christ for every person without exception why would any
have to suffer the wrath of God for themselves? This would be double jeopardy
of the most severe kind. In context, we must see the flow from verses one
through six. Briefly, Paul tells Timothy to pray for "all men" defined
as "kings and all who are in authority" (vv. 1-2). So that, temporally,
believers may "lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity"
(v. 3). Because, God "desires all men to be saved" (v. 4) through the "one
mediator," "Christ Jesus" (v. 5) since He is the "ransom for all" (v. 6).
It becomes clear, then, that the intent of Paul is not to say that Christ
is the actual substitution for every person in the sense that they will
"be saved" (v. 4).(24) Nevertheless, He
is the ransom for every person in the sense that He alone is the "one mediator."
He is the only ransom for every person, but He is not the actual ransom
for every person.
1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have
fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially
of believers.
The Savior in this text is the "living God." Earlier in the passage, Paul
speaks against the legalism regarding "men who forbid" that which "God
has created" (v. 3). "For everything created by God is good" (v. 4). Paul
encourages Timothy to hope in the Creator God who provides for all men
the goodness of creation and daily sustains and delivers them--especially
so for believers, since God has redeemed them. Just as A. T. Robertson
says on this text, "Saviour of all men" is "applied to God as here. Not
that all men 'are saved' in the full sense, but God gives life (6:13) to
all (Acts 17:28). Specially of them that believe...making a distinction
in the kinds of salvation meant." All must agree that God is the Savior
of unbelievers in a different sense than He is the Savior of the saved.
Especially in the evangelistic context we can say heartily that God will
save all who put their trust in Him. Though He has provided sufficiently
for all men's salvation, He is (effectively) the Savior of believers. He
has intended from all eternity to "redeem us from every lawless deed and
purify for Himself a people for His own possession" (Tit 2:14).
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all
men.
When a person denies the doctrine of election, such verses are appealed
to--presumably to prove that God doesn't just choose some. His decree is
to save all, though it's out of His hands. God casts His vote. The devil
casts his vote. Now you cast the deciding vote. In the case of Titus 2:11,
though, we must ask what "salvation to all men" means. Exactly what does
the objector have in mind on this text, that "all men are saved" to the
exclusion of all women (it is a masculine noun, after all)? What a politically
incorrect theology! That "every person is saved"? This is simply false.
That "all will be saved" (universalism)? That the "gospel that saves is
available to all"? This again is simply false. (Think of the aboriginals
in Australia in 100 A.D. They had general revelation [which they suppressed
in unrighteousness Rom 1:19-20], but not the saving gospel.) Perhaps the
objector is saying, "all could be saved"? But this is no objection at all.
I agree that all could be saved if they believe. But the real dispute is
who will believe? The very first verse of the book answers this-- "the
faith of those chosen [eklektos] of God" (Tit 1:1). John says, those who
believe in His name were born not "of the will of man, but of God" (1:13).
Paying close attention to the context of Titus 2:1-11, we would be better
students to understand "all" as all the classes of people Titus is called
to pastor. The context does not warrant that "all" be every individual
without exception. In the very verse before, we find the word "all" (Greek,
pas), "But showing all good faith that they may adorn the doctrine of God
our Savior in every respect" (Tit 2:10). Titus is to exhort "older men,"
"older women," "young women," "young men," "bondslaves" and show "all good
faith" (Tit 2:2-10). God's grace brings salvation to all these, not abstractly
as the objector supposes, but in order to teach "us to deny ungodliness"
(v. 12). The passage continues, "Christ Jesus" "gave Himself for us" to
"purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds"
(vv. 13-14).
2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there
will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction
upon themselves.
This text is commonly used to object to definite atonement, particular
redemption, or as it is usually called "limited atonement." If Christ's
death was only to redeem God's elect, why does the text teach that false
teachers (to be destroyed) were "bought" by Christ in His atonement? Presumably
the objector does not believe those who have been "bought" (and deny Him)
will be saved since everyone will be saved (universalism) or that these
individuals were once saved and now they have lost their salvation (contra
Joh 5:24, 10:28-29, Rom 8:30, and about 50 other verses). What is being
suggested by the objector is that Christ's atonement paid the price of
redemption for every person without exception. Hence, Christ made it possible
that everyone be redeemed, but secured the redemption of no one. Admittedly
this text (2Pe 2:1) is difficult. Those who fail to admit this are very
shallow in their reading of it. Ultimately, however, I do believe that
it can be pressed into the service of "unlimited atonement." My response
is, I pray, based on a careful study the passage.
First, the term for "Master" is despotes. It is defined as "one who
holds complete power or authority over another."(25)
Of the ten times this term is used in the New Testament, five of its uses
refer to the master of slaves (1Ti. 6:1, 6:2, 2Ti. 2:21,(26)
Tit 2:9, 1Pe 2:18), three other uses refer to God the Master, "that didst
make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them" (Acts
4:24; see also, Luk 2:29, Rev 6:10). The clearest parallel usage to 2 Peter
2:1 is in Jude 1:4: "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those
who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons
who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master
and Lord, Jesus Christ." While it seems clear enough that this use (Jud
4) refers to Christ, the KJV translates it, "denying the only Lord God,
and our Lord Jesus Christ." Even here, the meaning and usage, as in every
context, emphasizes the absolute authority and sovereignty of the Master.
Second, the passage strongly alludes to Deuteronomy 32. For example,
these false teachers are called "spots" and "blemishes" (2Pe 2:13; as in
Deu 32:5). This "perverse and crooked generation" was bought by the Lord,
as it says in 32:6, "Is not He your Father who has bought you?"
Third, the crux of the issue is the meaning of "bought" (Greek, agorazo).
Of the thirty times it appears in the New Testament, twenty-four are simply
marketplace usages (buying a field Mat 13:44, buying food Luk 9:13, etc.).
Aside from 2 Peter 2:1, the five other usages are strongly salvific and
redemptive (1Co 6:20, 7:23-- "bought with a price," Rev 5:9, 14:3, 14:4--"Thou
. . . didst purchase. . . men from every tribe"). According to the lexicographers,
agorazo means "buy," "to acquire possessions or services"(27)
"purchase, do business in the marketplace," "the analogy of buying a slave's
freedom for a price paid by a benefactor redeem."(28)
Important to note is that in every New Testament use, when one "buys" (agorazo)
something it is then "owned" or "acquired." This point is very much at
issue in 2 Peter 2:1. Those who believe Christ redeemed by His blood reprobate
false teachers are in essence saying that Christ purchased them but does
not own them because of the purchase-- as though the price was not paid
in full. Because of these three points, I would conclude that (a) these
false teachers (as all who profess to know God) are owned by virtue of
their creation by the Master (Deu 32:15) and by virtue of their own confession
of the Master (Deu 32:1ff; 2Pe 2:21-22). (b) Though it is true that agorazo
is used by Paul and John to refer to the atonement of Christ, Peter prefers
to use lutroo, "redeemed (lutroo)...with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished
and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1Pe 1:18-19). For the objector to be
correct it must be Christ the redeemer who is "the Master" who "bought"
with His blood these reprobates. It should be clear that both of these
essential points are quite uncertain after thorough research. I would conclude,
then, that Peter does not speak of the atonement of Christ in calling these
apostates "bought" by the "Master," rather, he asserts their real creature/Creator
relationship to their Master (following Deu 32), as well as their own professed
ownership because of their apostate participation in the church (especially
evident in 2:21-22).
1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for
ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
Again, addressing the extent of the atonement, was it for all without
exception? On the surface, this verse is a good objection to the sovereignty
of God in the atonement, i.e., definite or limited atonement. The issue
hangs on the meaning of "propitiation" and the sins of "whole world" in
distinction to "ours."
First, propitiation (Greek, hilasmos) is a term which implies very strongly
a successful and effective atonement. John says later, "In this is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins" (4:10). God is just in forgiving sin only because
of Christ's propitiation which satisfied His righteousness for those justified
by faith (Rom 3:25-26). The root of this concept in the Old Testament also
makes clear a successful and effective redemption. The very mercy-seat
of the ark of the covenant is called a propitiation (Heb 9:5). On the yearly
day of atonement, the high priest sprinkled the sacrificial blood on the
mercy-seat in the holy of holies, "to make propitiation for the sins of
the people" (Heb 2:17). Because of the efficacy of the propitiation, if
I were going to believe in universalism (all will be saved), this would
be the text I'd appeal to. If Christ's blood covers and deters the wrath
of God from every single person, why should any perish?(29)
Secondly, in context, it is those who have an "Advocate with the Father,"
"Jesus Christ the righteous," that have a "propitiation" "for sins" (vv.
1-2). Just as John says that Jesus is a Savior for people outside of ethnic
Israel, "the world" (even Samaritans, Joh 4:42), Jesus is or will be a
propitiation for all in the "whole world" who will believe. John says elsewhere
about this propitiation that it "didst purchase for God with Thy blood
men from [literally out of, Greek--ek] every tribe and tongue and people
and nation." Since John is the best interpreter of John, consider his other
us/world contrasts (a) in the prophecy of Caiaphas, "Jesus was going to
die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might also
gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad"
(Joh 11:51-52). (b) Further, John records another us/world parallel when
Jesus says, "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must
bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one
flock with one shepherd" (Joh 10:16). Though the objector has an apparent
proof text in 1 John 2:1, this passage is not nearly as persuasive upon
further consideration both in the specific context and in the rest of John's
writing.
So What?
Coming to the end of a study such as this, one might be inclined to ask,
"So what?" "Ok, even if it is true that God completely controls all things
and ordains whatever happens, how should that affect my life?" I believe
the first place to begin is to note that every Scriptural teaching is profitable,
including those we don't particularly like (2Ti 3:16-17). Believers suffer,
not only when they fail to have a right understanding of Biblical doctrines,
but also when they mis-apply those doctrines. Surely the whole discussion
of the sovereignty of God is clouded by this. One would say, "Ok, if God
foreordains whatever comes to pass, then I don't need to do anything because
God has foreordained what will happen--'whatever will be, will be.'" But
this is exactly how the Bible doesn't apply these truths! The applications
and consequences of God's sovereignty in the Bible promote true godliness.
For example, at the end of Nebuchadnezzar's arrogance and then utter
humbling by God, he asserts God's sovereignty. "But at the end of that
period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned
to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives
forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures
from generation to generation" (Dan 4:34). It is a cause for worship and
for
true humility, not inactivity.
Before the psalmist asserts that "God does whatever He pleases," He
says, "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Thy name give glory" (Psa 115:3,
1). The application of the Psalmist is for man to be put in his place and
for us to see God in His place. He is to be glorified; He is sovereign.
The psalmist does not conclude that God wields a cruel fatalistic design,
but that He is a God of lovingkindness and should receive the glory.
Jesus does not tell us of the intricate control of God over sparrows
and even the very hairs of our heads (Mat 10:29) to debilitate us from
service to God. He gives us the basis of confidence for service. He says
when you stand before "those who kill the body, but are unable to kill
the soul" (10:28), have no fear, we have a sovereign Lord who cares for
us on the most intimate and intricate level!
When the Lord told Moses He makes the "dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind"
(Exo 4:12), He does so for the sake of Moses' assurance. The Lord Jehovah
will provide what Moses needs to accomplish this mission. "Now then go,
and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say"
(4:12). It is just because God is in complete control that we can depend
on Him wholly. Judging the Judge is the wrong application. Rather, we should
rest in the Ruler. He is able and He is willing.
What about God's sovereign control in salvation? Knowing that "He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world" should cause us to strive
to "be holy and blameless before Him" (Eph 1:4). That "He predestined us
to adoption as sons" should make us know and tell "the praise of the glory
of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" (1:5-6). Those
who reject the plain meaning of these texts say, "How could you believe
God chooses some and not others? That's unfair!" "If God chooses some and
not others, then why evangelize?" These kinds of responses miss what the
Bible says. It is "according to the kind intention of His will" that He
has saved any (1:5). If you struggle with this, think of your own experience
in the grace of God. Did that turning to God come from yourself? Do you
believe you embraced His mercy by your own power? Did you muster up enough
repentance and faith to get yourself in the kingdom? I urge you to reflect
on that glimpse of grace in your salvation experience. You know in your
own heart that it was "by His doing you are in Christ Jesus" (1Co 1:20).
Paul does not tell us "whom He predestined, these He also called; and
whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He
also glorified," so that Christians stop evangelizing (Rom 8:30). He says
this because if it is not the gracious, sovereign God alone who saves,
Paul cannot say, "If God is for us, who is against us?" and "Who will bring
a charge against God's elect?" and "Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ?" (8:31-33).
One final thought--ultimately there are only two choices: either, one
must believe in the all-controlling God of Scripture and His wise though
mysterious decrees, or one must unknowingly believe in the Fate-god who
is determined by chance possibilities outside himself. God is not rolling
dice and hoping to pass "Go" and collect $200. He is "the blessed and only
Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone possesses immortality
and dwells in unapproachable light. To Him be honor and eternal dominion!
Amen" (1Ti 6:15-16). A God who is unable to be sovereign over all things
is not worthy of worship. Our God is not the "god of the mountains," but
"not a god of the valleys" (1Ki 20:28). He is Lord over all and His control
extends to all things (Eph 1:11). Once we believe this we can resolve boldly,
Whate'er my God ordains is right! Holy His will abideth.
1. Samuel Rodigast, 1675, Trans. Catherine Winkworth,
1829-1878.
2. For more amazing information, demonstrating the
sovereign care of God, see Robert Gange's, Origins and Destiny (Word: Waco,
TX, 1986), p. 59.
3. For those who are tempted to unreflectively say,
"Well it's always happened before" --Please note that this begs the question.
Christians should call the unbelieving naturalistic scientist to account
for the very principle that the future will be like the past. For a philosophically
intense demonstration of the failure of naturalism, see the 18th
century skeptic David Hume's, An Inquiry Into Human Understanding.
4. The second verse of the well-known hymn, Immortal,
Invisible, God Only Wise, by Walter Chalmers Smith, 1824-1908.
5. For those who deny that God ordains all that comes
to pass and yet still want to say "God is sovereign" and even bad things
have a purpose and are meaningful, Randall G. Basinger's (Arminian) words
are apt, "The Arminian denies that there is an exhaustive divine plan for
this world....As the Arminian sees it, in creating free persons God in
effect created co-creators. Hence, the script of cosmic history is to an
extent co-authored with his creature-creators. In a word, God's exhaustive
sovereignty is denied....The Calvinist sees every event as having been
willed by God for a purpose." (A Case for Arminianism: The Grace of God
and the Will of Man, Clark H. Pinnock, Ed. Zondervan, 1989, pp. 191-192).
6. Josiah Conder, 1836.
7. The second and third verses, dated 1707.
8. Second and third verses of this hymn by Daniel
W. Whittle (1840-1901).
9. Written in 1771 (First and fourth verse).
10. The Septuaginta, abbreviated as the LXX.
11. A nice commentary on this is found in Norman
Harper's, Making Disciples (Christian Study Center, Memphis, 1981), p.
155.
12. The manifestation of His attributes such as
justice, grace, mercy, etc. are surely part of the explanation for evil
in the world.
13. I am amazed, though, that many have gone this
route. One says, "...there are things God cannot know though omniscient,
namely future free choices....it cannot be said that God's knowledge is
limited by his not knowing them." While another says, "God limits his power
in relation to it in order to give it room to be" (A Case for Arminianism),
p. xii.
14. This hymn may be found in the new Trinity Hymnal
and was published in 1982 by Christianity Today/Hope Publishing. It is
set to the turne St. Theodulph ("All Glory, Laud, and Honor").
15. This individual was truly a hyper-Calvinist.
16. This definition of evangelism is attributed
to Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ.
17. World Pictures on verse 5, (in the Bible Works
for Windows, Hermeneutika Bible Research Software).
18. I prefer the translation born "from above" rather
than "again" since the Greek, anothen, often means this and there is reference
to "ascended into heaven" "descended from heaven," etc. v. 13.
19. The "elect" are not few anyway, rather John
says there will be a "multitude, which no one could count, from every nation
and all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev 7:9).
20. From the Manual of Theology (1857, p. 316),
cited The Founders Journal (19/20, Winter/Spring) (Cape Coral, FL, 1995),
p.14.
21. See similar uses of the KJV in Acts 12:4, 17:20,
2Jo 1:12,
22. Hebrews and The First and Second Epistles of
St. Peter, Torrance & Torrance (Eds.) (Wm B. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids,
1963), p. 364.
23. Ibid.
24. The word for "ransom" is antilutron, "substitute-ransom."
Especially helpful here is W. H. Hendriksen, Exposition of I-II Timothy
(Baker: Grand Rapids, 1957), p. 98.
25. Louw-Nida Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic
Domains, 2nd Edition, Edited by J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida (1988) (in BWW).
26. This is clearly a metaphorical use, "useful
to the master."
27. Louw-Nida, Lexicon.
28. Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament
(ANLEX), Timothy and Barbara Friberg (1994) (in BWW).
29. Still I pray that my "unlimited atonement" friends
would remain inconsistent, rather than assert, "logically...a possibility
of universal salvation" (A Case for Arminianism, p. 45).