In the last article, we saw how it can be that God from all eternity ordained “whatsoever comes to pass” and yet is not “the author of sin” (Westminister Confession of Faith, 3.1). Having shown this, the issue that we will focus on in this article is how God’s control over all things does not destroy human accountability. As the Westminister confession of faith goes on to say, God’s sovereignty does not do violence “to the will of the creatures.”

Many things that we saw in the last article shed light on this issue of human accountability under the providence of God. For example, the fact that sin is not a result of God injecting evil into someone’s heart, but more a matter of Him withholding the grace that would have prevented the person from sinning, is one thing that preserves our moral accountability and makes clear that God is not the author of sin. We will now look more closely at how God determines the will, which will primarily show why His sovereignty does not destroy our moral accountability, and secondarily give further vindication of the fact that God is not the author of sin.

To be specific, this analysis will answer two questions for us. First, how can we be held responsible for our sinful actions when they are all predetermined by God? Second, how can our good choices be genuine when they have all been predetermined and brought about by God?

The teaching of the Scriptures
The first thing that I wish to point out is that the Scriptures see divine sovereignty as consistent with moral accountability. They teach both that we are accountable for our actions and that God ultimately determines our choices. As we will see in a little bit, this gives us a principle that is essential for solving the mystery.

In Exodus 7:2-4 God says to Moses, “You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh will not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgements.” This is an amazing passage! In verse 2, God says that Moses and Aaron are, in God’s authority, to command Pharaoh to let Israel go. But in verse 3, God says that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh will not let Israel go. In verse 4, we read that God is going to judge Pharaoh and Egypt for this disobedience. Thus, the Scriptures do not see God’s sovereignty over Pharaoh in hardening his heart as destroying Pharaoh’s moral accountability, for God judges Pharaoh for his disobedience. We know that Pharaoh deserves this judgement because all of God’s judgements and ways are just: “all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). In fact, later on in the story, Pharaoh himself acknowledges his guilt: “I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones” (Exodus 9:27).

Likewise, in the book of Acts we read that the sinful acts of the Jews, Gentiles, Herod and Pontius Pilate that resulted in Christ’s crucifixion, had all been predestined by God (Acts 4:28). Yet, they are considered to be morally guilty for these sins (Acts 2:23; 7:52). Jesus seems to affirm in the same sentence the sovereignty of God over His betrayal and the moral guilt of the one who betrayed Him: “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” (Luke 22:22). In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 we read of a time when, to those who reject the Gospel, “God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” Many more instances could be given, but this is sufficient to show that the Scriptures believe that God’s sovereignty is consistent with the fact that He holds us all accountable for our sins.

The Scriptures also believe that our good choices are genuine, even though they are brought about by God. In 2 Corinthians 8:16, Paul says that Titus’s love and earnestness for the Corinthians was put in his heart by God. Yet, Paul considers Titus’ earnestness as being genuine, saying “he has gone to you of his own accord” (v. 17). Ezekiel 33:27 teaches that the obedience of Christians is caused by the Spirit of God: “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…” Yet, who would dare say that our obedience is not genuine! Likewise, faith is said to be given to us from God (Philippians 1:29), yet our faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).

The Scriptures seem to outright deny the common belief that humans ultimately determine their own choices (“free-will”). Jeremiah 10:23 says, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.”

From all of this, we must conclude that according to Scripture, God’s control does not destroy moral accountability in regards to our sinful choices, and neither does it destroy the genuineness of the good choices Christians make. Since the Scriptures teach this, we should believe it even if we can’t understand how it fits together logically. In other words, we should believe that God’s sovereignty is consistent with our moral agency simply because God says that it is, and God always speaks the truth.

There are some who stop after this point, saying that it is a mystery to understand how these things are consistent. That is perfectly fine. It seems to me, however, that simple reflection reveals that the Scriptures resolve much of the mystery. How so? It seems to me in this way: the fact that the Scriptures teach that we are justly held accountable for what God ultimately causes us to do teaches us that free-will is not a prerequisite for moral accountability. In other words, you don’t need to have the power of ultimate self-determination (“free-will”) in order to be held accountable for your choices.

You see, the reason that we might think that the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility is a mystery is because of a certain presupposition we have: that moral accountability requires that we have ultimate self-determination–that we have the final say over what we will do. But since the Scriptures show that God ultimately determines what we will do and yet we are still accountable for our actions, we must conclude that the common belief that moral accountability requires human free-will is false. Therefore, moral accountability is established by something other than freedom from divine determination.

What about all of the “choice” verses?
Before looking at what it is that makes us accountable for our choices, there is one thing that is important to understand at this point. Very often, people try to refute the sovereignty of God by pointing to the many passages where humans are told to make choices. The argument goes like this: “Look at all of these verse that tell us to make choices. For example, John 3:36 says that whoever believes in Christ will have eternal life. This means that God has given us the power to ultimately decide what what we will do. He doesn’t control everything because He has left many things up to us.”

But this argument reads to much into those texts. Those who believe in God’s control over all things acknowledge that we make choices. I repeat: humans make choices. That is not the issue which is up for debate. The issue is this: Why do we make the choices that we do? How do we come to make our choices? Is God perhaps the one who ultimately causes us to choose what we do? The many passages in the Bible where we are told to choose certain things do not address this issue. For they do not say how it is that we come to make the choices that we do. All that they say is that we make choices. With this, predestination agrees. But the texts do not say that we have ultimate self-determination. They don’t deal with the issue of whether or not God is ultimately behind our choices. For that issue, we must turn to other Scriptures, which we have seen to clearly teach God’s control over all things. Thus, we must conclude that humans do make real, genuine choices. But God is ultimately the one who determines what we will choose.

With this understood, we will now examine the view called compatibalism, which endeavors to explain how divine sovereignty is consistent with human responsibility. Perhaps the best defense of this view, which influenced this article to a large extent, is the work by Jonathan Edwards called On the Freedom of the Will.

After giving evidence for compatibilism and showing how it is consistent with common sense (and, as we saw above, that it is assumed by the Scriptures), we will then see how the opposing view of freedom, called Arminianism (which believes that humans have the power of ultimate self-determination), is contradictory and impossible.

Everything that happens has a cause
A cause is the thing that makes something the way that it is. X is the cause of Y if X is the reason that Y happened. Further, causes are necessarily connected to their effects. In other words, if X makes it certain that Y will occur, X is said to be the cause of Y. If the occurrence of X does not make certain the occurrence of Y, we do not say that X caused Y. Rather, we would merely say that X made Y possible.[1]

We all know that everything that happens has a cause. We live life based upon this assumption, and without it could not make sense of the world. If your car won’t start, you try to find out why. If you get extremely sick, you go to the doctor to find out what is causing your illness. And nobody expects a raging tiger to come into existence in the middle of the room for no reason at all. It is utterly opposed to common sense to think that something can come to be without any reason behind it at all.

Another good argument is that “If a happening has no cause, then it could have been different in the way it happened, even if everything just prior to it were exactly the same. Since observation shows that whenever there are differences in the way things usually happen, there are also differences in the prior conditions, we can conclude, that all happenings have causes.”[2]

All of our choices have a cause–that is, they are made for a reason
If everything has a cause, then it is clear that our choices must have causes as well. They do not happen without reason. This is, in fact, the assumption that we all have. Often times we say to one another, “Why did you do that?” This is the same as saying, “What is the reason behind your choice? What caused you to act in that way?” The person will often respond, “I did that because of x, y, and z.”[3]

To say that our choices have a cause is simply to say that we make our all of our decisions with a definite end in view. That is, we act with a purpose. This purpose that we have in view functions as the reason that we make the choice that we do. Thus, the reasons we have for acting serve as the cause of our choices because they move us to act and explain why we acted the way that we did. And we know that all of our choices must be made for a reason because otherwise we would be acting without a cause, and we have already seen that it is impossible for anything to happen without a cause.

All of our choices are made according to the reasons that we think are best
But aren’t there often times many reasons in favor of various choices? For example, what about when you are torn between doing homework and getting together with friends? How then do we decide? The answer is that in every choice we always choose the thing that is most appealing to us. In other words, our choices are not only made for a reason, they are made according to the reason that we think is best. Now, this doesn’t mean that we always choose what is most logical. Our emotions as well as our logic enters into our decisions. Thus, it is perhaps better to word it this way: we always choose the option that we have the greatest preference for. Two other ways to express this are that we choose according to our greatest desire, or that we always choose what we think is best. But it seems that the clearest way to express this truth is by saying “greatest preference” because this seems to most clearly convey the fact that there is a combination of logical and emotional factors in the reasons for our choices.[4]

I will give three reasons supporting the fact that we always choose what we most prefer. First, it is self-evident, for to deny it is to run into absurdities. The alternatives would be “we often choose what we think is worst,” or “we often choose what we don’t want.” Second, if we could choose contrary to our greatest preference, then that would mean that a weaker influence could overpower the stronger influence–which is a contradiction.[5]

Third, choosing contrary to your greatest preference would be equal to choosing without reason (which we have seen to be impossible). Why is this? Because then there is no explanation why the person came to choose what they did. Let me phrase the dilemma this way: If you could choose contrary to your greatest preference, you would either have a reason for acting this way, or you wouldn’t. If there is a reason for your acting this way, then this means that you are actually making the choice because it was more reasonable than the other one. But this is the same as saying that you choose according to your greatest preference–your greatest preference being the thing that was most reasonable. But if there were no reasons for this choice that was contrary to your greatest preference, then the choice was essentially made without cause because no reason could be given for why you chose one thing over another. In this situation, you would be inclined to a certain choice, and yet for no reason at all choose something else. As we saw earlier, it is impossible to make a choice without a cause.

But what about, for example, when someone chooses to study for a test when they really would have found greater enjoyment in going to a movie? In that case, the person desired the long-range benefits of the good grade that studying would bring more than the short term enjoyment a good movie would have brought. In and of itself, the movie would have been most enjoyable. But all things considered, studying was more preferable.

How our choices are determined
Since we always choose the option that we find most preferable, then it is clear that our choices are determined–they are determined by our greatest preference. But since this is a determination to choose the option that we want the most, it in no way destroys our moral agency.

Having understood this, it is not hard to see how God can control all things without violating our moral agency. He simply arranges the situation so that the option which we find most appealing is the choice that He has ordained for us to make. In other words, if God wants us to choose option A instead of option B, He works things out so that option A is the one that we find most preferable. Thus, God is in sovereign control, yet we are choosing what we want most and are therefore making real, genuine choices.

But some people object at this point: “Wait a minute. Since we don’t ultimately determine our preferences, how can we be held accountable for the choices that necessarily flow from them?”

This is a good question because it allows us to clarify an important point: It doesn’t matter that we don’t ultimately determine our preferences. All that matters is that we are choosing the things that we want the most. In other words, moral accountability does not depend upon whether our choices are determined (caused), but on how our choices are determined. That is a very important point, so let me repeat in slightly different words: ultimate self-determination is not necessary for us to be justly accountable for our bad choices and it is not necessary to make our good choices genuine. What these things arise from is that we are choosing the things that we want.

This fact is what we saw in the Scriptures above. For according to the Scriptures, God is the ultimate cause of all of our choices, and yet He holds us accountable for our choices. Thus, determinism does not destroy moral accountability. One does not need the power of ultimate self-determination in order to be morally accountable for his actions. Rather, the Scriptures seem to teach compatibilism, which argues that our choices are genuine simply because we are doing what is agreeable to us.

Not only is compatiblism assumed and taught in the Scriptures, it is also consistent with common sense. Our own common sense shows that as long as we are choosing according to our greatest preferences, our moral agency is not destroyed to any degree. Who could ever honestly say, “My choice to give money to the poor wasn’t genuine because I was doing the option that I had the greatest preference for”?! Would a judge really excuse the criminal who said, “You can’t hold me accountable for my crime because I wanted to do it! In fact, I wanted to do it so much that I could not have done otherwise”? Of course not! The criminal would actually be compounding his guilt by the fact that he wanted to do it so much, not excusing it!

Therefore it is in perfect agreement with common sense that, even though all of our choices have been predetermined, they are genuine and we can be held responsible for them because they are the choices that we considered most reasonable to make. It is important to recognize, however, that God does not cause a sinful choice to be reasonable in the same way that He causes a good choice to be reasonable. God causes good by means of positive causation, but is behind evil by means of negative causation. What is the difference?

The sun causes day on the earth by producing light. This is what I mean by positive cause. God causes good by producing goodness in one’s heart, and thus is its positive cause. But just as the darkness of the night is not something that is produced by the suns rays–but rather is caused by their absence–so also God directs the evil desires in people’s hearts by means of withholding His restraining grace to the extent that they desire to do the thing that He has ordained. We must strongly affirm that God “does not tempt anyone” (James 1:13) because He does not produce the sinful desires in people’s hearts, but determines and controls them by means of circumstances and the degree to which He withholds His grace upon their hearts. Further, humans are all born sinful. So the negative causation God exercises is simply making us act according to our own natures. Thus, God cannot be blamed for sin because He controls evil by means of negative causation–He directs it by the absence of goodness rather, not by producing evil.

John Piper gives good insight into the way God brings about preferences (motives) to cause people to act: “always keep in mind that everything God does toward men–His commanding, His calling, His warning, His promising, His weeping over Jerusalem,–everything is His means of creating situations which function as motives to illicite the acts of will which He has ordained to come to pass. In this way He ultimately determines all acts of volition (though not all in the same way) and yet holds man accountable only for those acts which they want most to do.”[14]

To sum up, moral accountability does not depend upon whether our choices are determined, it depends upon how they are determined. As long as our choices are caused by our desires and reasonable motives, they are responsible acts. And since God controls our choices by controlling our preferences, His sovereignty does not violate our moral agency. Further, while God is the ultimate cause of all things, He is behind good and evil in different ways. God regulates circumstances and the degree of His grace to bring about the preferences which will illicit the choices that He has ordained. The fallacy of Arminianism is in thinking that one cannot be held responsible for something unless it is an entirely free and undetermined act.

Some objections considered
Do we choose our preferences? Perhaps an Arminian will admit that we choose according to our greatest preference, but then object that those preferences are themselves a result of our choice. This objection, however, is illogical. Preferences must ultimately be given and not chosen. Why? Because if we could choose our own preferences, we would then have to ask “How did we come to chose those particular preferences and not others?” If it was by an act of choice, this only backs it up a step further: Wouldn’t that choice itself have to be based upon preferences as well? And then wouldn’t those preferences also have had to have been chosen? And wouldn’t they have to have been chosen based upon other preferences? As you can see, this would result in us going back forever, without ever encountering a first cause.

On the other hand, if we do not obtain our desires by an act of choice, then either those preferences had no cause (which we have already seen to be impossible), or else they are ultimately a result of God’s predestining plan–which brings us right back to the Calvinist view.

Therefore, it is important to understand that we do not make something preferable to us. We do not choose our preferences. Rather, they are ultimately brought about by God by means of circumstances, our character, and other things. For example, I studied for a test a few weeks ago because it was more reasonable to me than not studying. Now, I did not make studying the most reasonable thing. Rather, I considered the situation and recognized that studying was the most appealing thing to my mind. As a result, I chose to study. Clearly this was a genuine choice. Yet, it was also causally determined (and thus could not have been otherwise) because I necessarily chose the option that I found most reasonable. So both determinism and moral responsibility are therefore compatible.

What role do our character and circumstances have in our choices? As we saw earlier in the John Piper quote, the answer seems to be that God uses them to bring about our preferences. Thus, on a secondary level our preferences are a result of our character and present circumstances. In other words, the kind of things that we find preferable depends upon the kind of person that we are. Because our preference are in accordance with who we are, they are genuinely our preferences.

Do we choose our characters? If one objects that we choose our character (and thus ultimately our desires), I respond that while we can and do affect our character by our choices, it is hopelessly contradictory to think of our wills as the ultimate cause of our character. Our character is not something that exists independent from us, it is us. Therefore, in order to choose our own characters we would need to exist before we actually exist!

This brings us to another important truth. By creating you, God determined your character. Since our character to a large extent determine the preferences we have, God to a large extent determined the things we would choose because He ultimately designed our character. Someone may say that God brings us into existence but in doing so He does not determine our characters. But “how can God bring X into existence without thereby defining the nature of X, which will be determinative of how it will function and behave? If God has not defined its controlling nature, in what sense is it X that God has brought into existence (rather than not-X)?”[6]

The possibility that God often directs our desires by directing our character should also help us to further see the consistency between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. As we saw earlier, your character is not something that exists separate from you. It is not a grid that is forced upon your behavior. Rather, it is you. Obviously, you cannot be free from yourself. Your preferences (and thus choices) are truly yours and are genuine because they are in accordance with who you are. God’s sovereignty does not in the least change that, but rather seems to work by means of it and thus preserves moral accountability. The only way to escape the sovereignty of God would be to escape being a creature. God the creator is always sovereign over what He creates because, in creating, He determines the design and mode of its working.

Arminian freedom is impossible
Having seen that compatibilism succeeds in showing the consistency of divine sovereignty and human accountability, we will now show the unreasonableness of the opposing view of Arminianism. In fact, I hope to show that the Arminian form of freedom is not only impossible, but would actually destroy moral accountability. There are three main claims of Arminian freedom which we will briefly examine: 

1. We have an ultimate self-determining power wherein we determine our own choices.
2. Previous to the act of choice our mind is in a state of indifference–that is, there is nothing necessarily biasing the mind in either direction.
3. Our choices are contingent–they are not the necessary results of previous casual connections. In other words, for any given situation, we could have chosen otherwise. This is the logical outcome of #2, that our choices are made from a state of indifference. [7] 

The power of ultimate self-determination is impossible
In regards to the first supposition, is it possible for the human will to be self-determined? I don’t think so. We saw earlier that all of our choices have a cause. Some Arminians might argue that our choices do have a cause–they are caused by the agent. But, they will say, there is nothing which causes the agent to act. Thus, his choices are fully self-determined. Without being caused by anything else, the agent causes his own choices. The things that we have seen above in arguing for compatibilism are sufficient to refute the Arminian belief of self-determination.

First, they are only pushing the problem back one step. Sure, the choice had a cause. But they are saying that the agent who made the choice was not caused to make it. As we saw earlier, this is impossible because everything that happens must have a cause.

Second, isn’t this act of the agent to cause his own choice itself a choice–the choice to make a choice? If so, this means that He is making a choice before He makes His choice! Third, the Arminian view contradicts all of the evidence we have seen which shows that our choices are not self-determined, but are determined by our preferences. Fourth, if it is claimed that the agent causes his own choice by determining his own preferences, the inconsistency of that belief has also been shown above.

In other words, the essential objection to the belief that we posses ultimate self-determination is similar to the objection we earlier gave to the idea that we choose our own desires. On the Arminian view, we must ask the question: Why did the agent choose to make the choice that he did? Was that a result of his choice as well? If not, then the act was not self-determined and thus is not consistent with moral agency on the Arminian’s view. If it was a result of choice, then this only backs the problem up a step. For, why did he choose to make the choice that he did? Was that choice also a result of previous choice? As should be clear by now, this problem keeps going back and back forever. There can be no end to it, but instead it results in the absurdity of an infinite regress–a chain of causes that has no beginning.

Often times one holding the Arminian view will try to evade this reasoning by saying that the agent “just chooses.” But this is begging the question, for it is simply repeating the difficulty and therefore leaves the whole objection unaddressed. The issue is not whether the agent chooses, but how does the agent come to chose? Further, the statement that the agent “just chooses” is equivalent to saying that he acts without a cause. But, as we saw earlier, it is impossible for anything to happen without a cause.

Choosing from a state of indifference is impossible
The next supposition of Arminian freedom is that in any decision, the will is neutral enough to go either way. Therefore for any decision made, we could have chosen otherwise (which is then the third supposition of Arminian freedom). Because the second and third suppositions are so closely related, refuting one will necessarily refute the other. First, we will now see that it is impossible for the mind to choose out of a state of indifference.

While the Arminian view does acknowledge that reasons surround our acts of will, they deny that these reasons are ever strong enough to “incline the will decisively in one way or another. Instead, the will, despite its inclination, is neutral enough so that it can and sometimes does choose contrary to the direction the causes incline it.”[8]

The first problem with this is that it contradicts the truth that we make our choices with a definite end in view. That is, we act with a purpose. But if you have a purpose for your action, you are not choosing from a state of indifference.

Second, being indifferent to your choice is not regarded by common sense to be a good thing–it is bad for someone (in moral situations) not to care (that is, to be indifferent about) what they are going to choose.

Third, if the will has no decisive preference that determines it to select option A instead of option B, then the person simply could not act. It is the proverbial situation of the donkey stuck between two bails of hay that he has an equal desire for, and so he ends up starving to death because he was unable to make a choice. The very choice of option A instead of option B is the act of stating your preference for A instead of B. But if your choice is from a state of neutrality, there is no preference to state and thus no choice can be made.

Fourth, for a person to act from a state of indifference would be the same as the person acting without a cause. Why? Because there is nothing that is necessarily bringing about the choice. Instead, it can go either way. But a cause, by definition, is something that necessarily brings about an effect. If there is nothing that necessarily results in you choosing a particular choice, then there is, by definition, no cause to that choice. This makes indifference impossible because, as we saw earlier, nothing can happen without a cause.

It is Arminianism, not compatibilism that destroys moral accountability. At this point we are able to see that Arminian freedom destroys moral accountability. Why? Because if our choices happen without a cause, that is the same as them happening at random. Causeless events are by definition random events. As philosopher Moritz Sclicke has said, there is “no other opposite to causality” other than chance.[9] But if our choices are chance events, then how could we ever be held responsible for them? If our choices are merely random “accidents” occurring without any cause, criminals could get off the hook because they didn’t mean to break the law–it just happened for no reason. As one philosopher has said, “if a decision is uncaused, it would be entirely unconnected to our character traits and personality patters…how can we be responsible for a decision that is disassociated from ourselves in this way?”[10] “A causeless happening is identical with a chance happening, and consequently an [uncaused] will destroys all responsibility.”[11]

Granted, the Arminian will deny that they believe that choices are random. But then the dilemma amounts to this: “How is it that someone comes to act? If there is no sufficient condition [cause], she will not act, or if she does, the act is random. If there is a sufficient condition, then she will act, but the act will be casually determined. Either way, indeterminism [Arminianism] is in trouble. Indeterminists often say the agent `just acts.’ However, this claim simply repeats their view; it does not explain how the agent comes to act without being casually determined or without making a random choice, neither of which is incompatibilistic freedom.”[12]

Ability to do otherwise
The inconsistency of Arminianism. Last of all, indeterminism argues that a necessary ingredient to moral responsibility is that the agent could have done otherwise. In order to be accountable for an action, you must have the ability to go either way. If there is anything making a certain decision inevitable, your choice is no longer free.

It should be apparent from above that ability to do otherwise is impossible in any choice. For the only way we could do otherwise would be to either choose contrary to our greatest preference or to choose from a state of indifference–which we have both seen to be false. Second, the ability to do otherwise would mean the ability to make choices without a cause: “Saying that an occurrence can be different even if all of the immediately prior conditions are the same is identical with saying that the occurrence is uncaused.”[13] As we saw earlier, it is impossible for anything to happen without a cause. Thus, the ability to do otherwise is not even possible.

Further, we saw in our analysis of compatibilism that ability to do otherwise is not necessary to moral accountability. All that is needed for moral accountability is that you are doing what you want, apart from any external compulsion (that is, force). Freedom is the ability to make an unforced decision that is in accordance with your greatest preferences.

Moral inability and natural inability. At this point, a distinction made by Jonathan Edwards (and many other compatibilists, but Edward’s seems to be the most clear and in-depth) provides will further show the consistency between divine sovereignty and human accountability. The distinction is between moral inability and natural inability. Moral inability means the lack of desire to do something. An example would be if I was so content in the library that I just couldn’t bring myself to get up and go to class. I had no desire to attend class and therefore was morally unable to go. Natural inability would be if I was physically hindered from going to class. It would be if I was tied to a chair and thus was unable to get to class even if I wanted to.

The point is that natural inability excuses us from responsibility, but moral inability does not. I could not successfully argue that because I didn’t have any desire to go to class, I am not morally accountable for skipping. But I could successfully argue that because I was tied to a chair I am not morally accountable for skipping.

The fact that moral inability does not excuse use from blame “conforms with an almost universal human judgement, for the stronger a man’s desire is to do evil the more unable he is to do good and yet the more wicked he is judged to be by men. If men really believed that moral inability excused a man from guilt then a man’s wickedness would decrease in proportion to the intensity of his love of evil. But this is contrary to the moral sensibilities of almost all men.”[14]

Thus, compatibalism does acknowledge that one must be able to do otherwise in order to be morally accountable. But it is only a natural ability to do otherwise that is necessary, not a moral ability to do otherwise. We never have the moral ability to choose other than we do, yet (as we saw) that does not remove accountability. All of our choices are made by moral necessity because they are caused by our greatest preference.

This leads us to the next distinction: moral necessity and natural necessity. They are the other side of the coin. Something is morally necessary if it is my greatest preference. I cannot do other than choose what I want the most. Something is naturally necessary if I am forced to do it. Puppets, for example, are controlled by a natural necessity. The operator simply manipulates the strings that are attached to them and by means of physical forces makes them act. If we do something out of natural necessity, we are not accountable for it. But moral necessity does not remove accountability.

For example, when Martin Luther stood was told by the Roman Catholic church to recant of his teachings, he said that he would not recant and that he could do no otherwise. He believed so strongly in what he was teaching that he necessarily refused to recant. Surely it would be unreasonable to argue that therefore Luther was not making a genuine choice!

The point is this: “In order to see how God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility perfectly cohere, one need only realize that the way God works in the world is not by imposing natural necessity on men and then holding them accountable for what they can’t do even though they will to do it. Burt rather God so disposes all things (Ephesians 1:11) so that in accordance with moral necessity all men take only those choices ordained by God from all eternity.”[15]

Conclusion and applications
In conclusion, I am not claiming to understand all (or even most) of the way God works in this area. Our knowledge is very, very small. But I believe that God has made enough information available to us to at least see how His sovereignty is consistent with moral accountability. We have seen that compatibilism succeeds in showing their consistency. We have also seen how the view that denies God’s absolute sovereignty and tries to preserve in humans a free-will is not only impossible, but seems to actually destroy human accountability.

It is always important to apply what we know. The things that we have seen here should enable us to marvel at the amazing wisdom God has, by which He can determine all things without doing violence to the will of His creatures. It should make us cast ourselves upon God, through Christ, in greater trust, for we are entirely dependant upon Him for all good. This information should also help us to hold to the great truth of God’s sovereignty with greater confidence, and I pray that it will help set many minds at rest that have a hard time resting in both the truth of God’s absolute sovereignty and human accountability. It is a truly glorious thing that God’s Sovereign Kingship is not inconsistent with His moral government of His creatures.

Before ending, we are in a good position to use what we have learned to answer one of the most frequent questions about the sovereignty of God over all things: Why doesn’t God’s sovereignty make us puppets? I offer nine reasons why we are not puppets (though there are many more): 

1. Humans are self-aware, puppets are not.
2. Humans make choices, puppets do not.
3. Humans use logic, puppets do not.
4. Humans have emotions, puppets do not.
5. Humans have preferences, puppets do not.
6. Humans act in accordance with their preferences, puppets do not.
7. Humans consciously do what is determined for them, puppets unconsciously do what is determined for them.
8. Humans understand why they are doing what they are–they act for a reason; puppets do not.
9. Puppets are determined by physical necessity, humans by moral necessity.

Notes

The most convincing and thorough treatment of this issue that I have read the book by Jonathan Edwards called, “A Careful and Strict Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will, which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue and Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and Blame,” found in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth, 1995 reprint), volume I, pp. 3-93. This article uses many of his arguments, but does not do any justice to the probing analysis given by Edwards. I suggest that anybody who seriously wishes to go in greater depth on this issue, and is willing to put in lots of hard work, read Edwards.

For my analysis of of why God’s sovereignty over sin is not equivalent with being the author of sin, see part one of this article, The Sovereignty of God Evil.

1. Jonathan Edwards, considered by many to be the greatest theologian America has ever seen, said something very important about how it is inconsistent to say that X caused Y if X did not make it certain that Y would occur. In other words, if upon the occurrence of X, event Y may or may not happen, then it would be improper to say that X was the cause of Y. “For an event to have a cause and ground of its existence, and yet not to be connected with its cause, is an inconsistence. For if the event be not connected with the cause, it is not dependent on the cause; its existence is as it were loose from its influence, and may attend it, or may not; it being a mere contingence, whether it follows or attends the influence of the cause, or not: and that is the same thing as not to be dependent on it. And to say, the event is not dependant on its cause, is absurd; it is the same as to say, it is not its cause, nor the event the effect of it; for dependence on the influence of a cause is the very notion of an effect….If we say, the connexion and dependence is not total, but partial, and that the effect, though it has some connexion and dependence, yet is not entirely dependent on it; that is the same thing as to say, that not all that is in the event is an effect of that cause, but that only part of it arises from thence, and part some other way” (Freedom of the Will, p. 24). For those interested in being as precise as can be, the technical name for what Edwards is speaking of is efficient cause. When I proceed to argue in the article that every event has a cause, I am speaking of efficient causes. I argue that everything which happens has an efficient cause, and nothing can happen without an efficient cause.

2. Clifford Williams, Free-will and determinism: A Dialogue, (Hackett Publishing Company, 1980), p. 59.

3. Sometimes one may say, “I don’t know.” But that doesn’t mean there was no cause, just that he was unaware of the cause.

4. It is important to understand that this does not mean that we always choose what really is most preferable. Rather, we choose what appears most preferable to us. But our perspective may be wrong. Thus, the thing that we have the greatest preference for may not necessarily be the option that really is best. I may prefer the chocolate cake, but when I bite into it discover that it would have been better to have the white cake.

5. I hope that nobody will think that I am ignoring an obvious objection to the fact that the weaker cannot overpower the stronger. I am aware that sometimes weaker things do overcome more powerful things. For example, weaker armies have sometimes beaten stronger armies in wars. But examples like that do not disprove the fact that the weaker cannot overpower the stronger. For the reason the weaker army won is because the stronger army was prevented from exerting all of its strength such that the weaker army was exerting more strength than the stronger. The army that was objectively stronger lost because it exerted less power than the other army. If the stronger army had exerted all of its power, then it would have won. Perhaps the best example which proves the truth the greater always overcomes the lesser is that when you put 100 pounds on one side of the balance and 50 pounds on the other side of the balance, the 100 pounds will always make its side drop because it is stronger.

6. J.A. Crabtree, “Does Middle Knowledge Solve the Problem of Divine Sovereignty?” in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, p. 444. The fact that all people are born sinners because of Adam’s sin is an important truth to keep in mind so that we have a proper view of why we are all born sinful when God determines our characters. God cannot be blamed for our sinful natures because He originally created humans entirely good and without sin. By our own accord we fell in Adam. While this was according to God’s plan, it was nevertheless our fault. The fact that all people are born sinners is a result of our sin in Adam–God is simply letting the human race continue according to the ruin that we brought upon ourselves. There is great hope, however, in that God is active to change lives through Jesus Christ. He does not leave everybody to let them continue in their sin. He commands all to repent, and through the power of His Spirit and word, He changes the hearts of His chosen people and brings them to faith in Christ. In Christ we are saved from the penalty of our sins, and God progressively works in our lives to make us more and more holy. Humans by nature are on a downward spiral because of their sins. But by His grace, God has put Christians on an upward climb to less and less sin and greater holiness. At death the Christian is totally purified from sin. One day God will condemn all unbelievers and renew the heavens and earth for His elect to live in forever, making it so that sin never again enters creation.

7. This organization is taken from Edward’s Freedom of the Will, p. 12.

8. John Feinberg, “God, Freedom, and Evil in Calvinist Thinking,” in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will, p. 469.

9. “The Free-Will Determinism Issue is a Pseudo-problem,” in Philosophy: An Introduction Through Literature, p. 592.

10. Williams, p. 56.

11. Philosophy: An Introduction Through Literature, p. 596.

12. Feinberg, pp. 469-470.

13. Williams, p. 51.

14. John Piper, “A Response to J.I. Packer on the So-Called Antinomy Between The sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility,” unpublished article, March 1976, p. 3.

15. Piper, p. 3.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.

Is God in control? If so, what does it mean to say that God is in control? These are two very important questions because the answers affect how we view God, how we view the world, and how we view ourselves. The answers are found by examining the Biblical teaching on the Providence of God. God’s Providence–sometimes called His sovereignty–simply refers to His preservation of creation and His control over creation, which He does for the purpose of bringing about the greatest glory to Himself.

Preservation, the first aspect of Providence, is the activity of God whereby He preserves all created things in existence. In other words, it is his moment by moment activity of keeping the universe in existence. Hebrews 1:3 says Christ “upholds all things by the word of His power.” Colossians 1:17 says that “in Him all things hold together.” The universe only continues in existence because Christ keeps it in existence. If He were to cease His preserving activity, everything would cease to exist.

The second aspect of Providence is what answers the question, is God in control and what does that mean? A proper understanding of this aspect of Providence can be a rock of strength in suffering, a source of humility in godliness, and a blazing fire of amazement in worship. Therefore, we will examine the Biblical teaching on this in detail. After examining this truth, the third aspect of Providence should be clear–that God is directing history towards the goal of His greatest glory and His people’s greatest good.

God’s purposes are unstoppable
The first thing we need to understand about God’s rule over the universe is that none of His purposes can fail: “I am God, and there is no one like Me, 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'” (Isaiah 46:9-10). It is absolutely certain that God will achieve everything that He wants in His creation. Nothing that God wants accomplished will be left unfulfilled–that is what God means when He says He will accomplish all of His “good pleasure” because His “purpose will be established.” Thus, it also follows that nothing can ever happen which would ultimately keep God from fulfilling everything that He wants.

Some say that God does not have any unstoppable purposes in regards to human history, because this would entail that humans are not in control of history. Scripture, however, poses no such limitation on God. In fact, in the very next verse God applies His purposes to the realm of human activity: “Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country” (Isaiah 46:11). Furthermore, it would be of almost no meaning for God to say that none of His purposes can be thwarted if His purposes had nothing to do with one of the most important areas of the universe–human history and human decisions! The impossibility of God’s purposes failing is significant and revealed in the Bible precisely because it applies to our very lives.

Many other verses confirm that God’s purposes in regards to human history cannot fail. “The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation” (Psalm 33:10, 11). God has not given control of history over to humans. Instead, this verse is clear that God takes action to frustrate human plans whenever He desires–which means whenever they are not in line with His plans. Since God’s counsel must “stand forever” and since God will, as Isaiah says, accomplish all of His “good pleasure,” He will frustrate allhuman plans that will not lead to the fulfillment of His plans. From this it follows that the only things which He will allow to happen are things which will ultimately contribute to the fulfillment of His plans.

So, while the plans of human beings fail, God’s purposes cannot fail because they must “stand forever.” And since God’s plans are always accomplished, He never changes them–they endure “from generation to generation.” There are no plan B’s with God.

Proverbs 19:21 confirms that while the plans of human beings are not always accomplished, God’s plans always succeed: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” Clearly, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Proverbs 21:30). The great Biblical character Job, after his extreme trials and great suffering, learned the great lesson that “Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Similarly, the apostle Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 9:19, “who resists His will?” The answer, of course, is no one.

God’s purposes are specific, not only general
It is clear that God can accomplish whatever He wants. But how specific are his plans? Does God simply have general plans that will be fulfilled, or does He have specific purposes in regards to every detail of life? The answer seems to be that God’s purposes are specific–His Providence is in the details.

First, if God “can do all things” and “none of His purposes can be thwarted” (Job 42:2), then if follows that for anything that occurs, God could have prevented it if He had wanted to. Thus, if God allows something, it must be because it was part of His plan. For whenever one is able to prevent something that he wants to prevent, he will prevent it. The objection that God in many cases might want to prevent something but does not so that He does not violate our “free-will” fails because Scripture is filled with instances of God causing people to do His will (Ezra 1:1; Daniel 1:9; Exodus 14:4; Genesis 39:21), and because if God is our Creator He can, as Thomas Aquinas has said, cause us to act without doing violence to our wills. Thus, God only permits what He has purposed–what He wants, in some sense, to occur.

Second, God must control the details of life in order to ensure that His general plans will be fulfilled. If there is even the slightest and most insignificant thing outside of God’s control, it would have the ability to mess up God’s “bigger” plans. Who has not been amazed at how the difference of a few “insignificant” seconds, for example, can sometimes mean the difference between the significant issue of life and death?

Third, and most importantly, Scripture is clear that God’s purposes are specific and very detailed. Job 14:5 says that man’s “days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot pass.” God has determined how long each person will live; you cannot die until God’s purposes for you on earth are finished. This is good news, for it means that if you are alive, it is for a reason.

John the Baptist informs us that, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Everything you possess is a gift from God. Every meal you are provided with, is because God decided to give it to you. Every shirt you have, friend you have, and talent you have is ultimately a gift from God. If God had not decided to give it to you, you would not have it.

God causes people to be favorable towards us (Daniel 1:9; Genesis 39:21) or to not be favorable towards us (Exodus 14:7). He determines who will be rich and who will be poor: “The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low and He also exalts” (1 Samuel 2:7). He gives children (Psalm 127:3) or withholds children (1 Samuel 1:5). A woman cannot conceive unless God decides that she will (Ruth 4:13).

God controls the affairs of nations: “He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away” (Job 12:23). “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). The land boundaries of each nation and their period in history are all determined by God: “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” (Acts 17:26). Not only that, God also determines which specific individuals will be the leaders in each country: “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” (Daniel 2:21). “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom he wishes…” (Daniel 4:17). God made it absolutely clear to King Nebuchadnezzar that he was not ultimately in charge, rather “it is Heaven that rules” (Daniel 4:26). Paul even tells us that the wicked Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus had been “raised up” by God so that He could show His power in defeating Him (Romans 9:17).

God has not even left the issue of salvation ultimately in the hands of humans. The Apostle Paul tells us that God “has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Romans 9:18) and that salvation “does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Romans 9:16). Thus, God determines who will be believe in Christ: “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Jesus told His disciples, “You did not chose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16).

God controls the wind and lightning (Psalm 135:7), the snow and the rain (Job 37:6-13), and directs the stars in their courses (Job 38:32). Forest fires, hail, and storms are all under his command: “Fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word” (Psalm 148:8). The sun does not simply rise on its own each day, rather God “causes His sun to rise” (Matt. 5:45). Neither does the grass grow on its own, but God “causes the grass to grow” (Psalm 104:14). God feeds the animals (Matthew 6:26; Psalm 104:27-29) and indeed controls even the most seemingly insignificant death of a sparrow (Matthew 10:29). God sends rain and withholds rain (Amos 4:7-10). There is nothing in the universe left to chance: “The lot is cast in the lap, but its every decision is wholly from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33). Nothing in all creation–the weather, the stars, the plants, the animals, the affairs of nations, the role of dice, and the specific details of our lives–is outside of the sovereign control of God.

God controls everything
If God’s plans never fail, and if His plans are specific (not just general), then it follows that God literally controls every detail of our lives and every detail of the universe. This is exactly what dozens of verses directly and explicitly teach.

First, the Scriptures are clear on who is not in control. Jeremiah said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps” (Jeremiah 10:23, NRSV). Humans are not in control. In fact, we do not even have ultimate control over our slightest actions, for “mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.” But if humans do not direct their steps, who does? Proverbs 16:9 tells us: “The mind of the man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” It is God who is in control! And his control is specific, not just general because it extends to the very steps of individuals. Every move you make, every step you take has been determined by God. Proverbs 19:24 says “man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, how then can man understand his way?” Further, even the very words we say are controlled by God: “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1).

Ephesians 1:11 tells us that believers have “been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” Everything that happens is in accordance with God’s unstoppable will. Or, put another way, God’s purposes extend to all things. The word translated “works” indicates that God “brings about” everything that happens; the verse adds that this is done according to His own sovereign will–not our will. Thus, God both decides what will happen and then acts to bring it about. God “brings about all things” and these are the things that He determined to do on the basis of “the counsel of His will.” As John Feinberg has said, “This verse, then, indicates that what occurs is fore-ordained by God, and nothing external to God such as the foreseen actions or merits of God’s creatures determines his choices. God deliberates, chooses and accomplishes all things on the basis of his purposes.”[1]

Daniel 4:35 is another very clear verse that God controls all things. “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?'” First, notice that God is not just able to do His will, but actually does His will both among the angels (the “host of heaven”) and with human beings (“the inhabitants of earth”). Thus, all of God’s creatures are under His control. Second, notice that nothing can prevent God’s will from being accomplished (“no one can ward off His hand”). Scripture knows nothing of God limiting his control so that humans can have ultimate self-determination. This verse (as well as all of the others we have seen) teaches the exact opposite–the will of God is always done. Third, Nebuchadnezzar found that God’s sovereign majesty was good news. We should share his attitude: “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (v. 37).

Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” This is another clear verse that God is controlling (“bringing about”) all things according to His plan. John Reisinger explains this verse very well: “There are three different Greek prepositions in that verse. They show the truth of God’s absolute and total sovereignty. The verse states that all things, without any exception are: 1. from (The Greek is ek and means `out of, or out from’) God; 2. all things are through (The Greek is dia and means `by means of, or because of’) God; and; 3. all things are to (The Greek is eis and means `into’) God. In other words, all things have their source in God’s decrees or purposes, and all things that happen do so only because God’s power has brought them to pass, and finally, everything that God plans and then brings to pass will ultimately bring glory to him since they all move into him or unto him as their final end. Now that is the Biblical truth about our sovereign God. That is acknowledging that `God can do any thing He wants to do, any time He wants to do it, any way He wants to do it, for any purpose He wants to accomplish.'”[2]

The next verse we will look at is Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.” Jerry Bridges elaborates on this verse: “In Solomon’s time the king had the most absolute of all wills…There was no legislature to pass laws he did not like or a Supreme Court to restrain his actions. The king’s word was the last word. His authority over his realm was unconditional and unrestrained. Yet this Scripture teaches that God controls the king’s heart. The stubborn will of the most powerful monarch on earth is directed by God as easily as the farmer directs the flow of water in his irrigation canals. The argument, then, is from the greater to the lesser–if God controls the king’s heart surely he controls everyone else’s.”[3] This becomes even more significant when we recognize that from the heart flow “the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The deepest depths of every single individual and every decision they make are controlled by God.

Psalm 139:16 makes a very similar point: “In Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” This verse not only teaches that God has ordained how long you will live, but the Hebrew word translated “ordained” suggests a much stronger meaning. The meaning is that of being shaped, or formed. “David is affirming that God wrote the script of his life in the great book of God’s intentions before the actual events began to unfold, indeed, before David was even born. And, mixing his metaphors, David also says that the days of his life were formed or shaped, suggesting the action of a potter shaping the clay. He means that his life, considered not only as a whole but also right down to his daily experience, was determined (what other word fits?) ahead of time.”[4]

Lamentations 3:37 asks rhetorically, “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?” (NIV). The answer expected is, no one. There is nothing that comes to pass through human agency unless God has ordained it to happen. If you say to your friend, “Let’s go to Burger King for supper,” it will not happen unless God has ordained it to occur. If someone threatens to hurt you, take courage, for it cannot happen unless God has ordained it.

God is sovereign over sin and evil
God’s control over all things raises many questions for us. Perhaps the biggest one is in regards to evil. Does God ordain evil as part of His plan? In light of the verses we have examined above, the answer must be yes. If God controls all things, then it must be that evil is a part of His plan. There are also many specific Scriptures which make it clear that God controls evil.

Psalm 105:25, speaking of the Exodus, says of the Egyptians that God “turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.” After a time of unfaithfulness, Israel asked God, “Why, O Lord, dost Thou cause us to stray from Thy ways, and harden our heart from fearing Thee?” (Isaiah 63:17). In Revelation 17:17 it is said that the wicked kings who will wage war against Christ (which is sin) will ultimately be doing the purpose that God had put in their hearts: “For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purposes by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be fulfilled.” Lamentations 3:37-38 is a direct statement that God decrees not only good things, but also bad things: “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?” God says that He is “the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these” (Isaiah 45:7).

When all of Job’s children were killed, he acknowledged the sovereign control of God behind the evil situation. Job did not say that “The Lord gave, and Satan took away.” He said “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Some argue that God is not ultimately behind the bad circumstances in our lives, and therefore Job was wrong to attribute his calamity to God. However, the author of the book, who was inspired by God and therefore infallible, affirms Job’s statement: “Through all his Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (v. 24). At the end of the book we once again see the author’s agreement with Job. When describing Job’s restoration, he says that Job’s friends came and “consoled him and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought on him” (Job 42:11). The book of Job makes it clear, however, that God’s control over evil does not deny the activity of Satan and the reality of wickedness in human hearts. Further, God never does evil and cannot be blamed for evil. However, God has not left the sources of evil to simply do as they please. He has them on a leash and they can only act if God specifically decides to allow it. Since the evil that Satan causes is only by the specific permission of God, then it is correct for Job to ultimately attribute his suffering to God’s plan.

The evil spirit that tormented Saul was said to be “from the Lord” (1 Samuel 16:14). In punishment for David’s sin, “The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, so that it was very sick” (2 Samuel 12:15-18). If natural or man-made disaster occurs, it is ultimately because God had planned it, for Amos 3:6 asks rhetorically, “Does evil befall in a city, unless the Lord has done it?” Physical infirmity and disease are not outside of God’s plan either: “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Exodus 4:11). As Donald Barnhouse has said, “No person in this world was ever blind that God had not planned for him to be blind; no person was ever deaf in this world that God had not planned for him to be deaf–If you do not believe that, you have a strange God who has a universe which has gone out of gear and He cannot control it.”[5]

Perhaps the clearest example that God ordains sin is the crucifixion of Christ. It was sin for the Jews and Romans to crucify Christ, for He was the innocent Son of God. Yet, what Christian would deny that the crucifixion of Christ was brought about by God? Scripture is clear that “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer” (Isaiah 53:10). Acts 2:23 says that Jesus was “delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” even though it was “by the hands of godless men” that He was put to death. The acts of Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Jews and Gentiles, in crucifying Christ were sin. Yet Scripture says that “Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel [did] whatever Thy hand and Thy plan predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28). John Piper has said it well: “People lift their hand to rebel against the Most High only to find that their rebellion is unwitting service in the wonderful designs of God.”[6]

The holiness and goodness of God
The sovereignty of God over evil raises many questions for us. First, how can a holy, good God ordain sin? Very simply, God does not ordain sin for its own sake, but in order to bring about a greater good. For example, God did not will the crucifixion simply for the sake of bruising His Son, but because it was the means for bringing salvation to the world. Another example is the case of Joseph being sold into slavery. It was sin for Joseph’s brothers to throw him in the well and then sell him into slavery. But many years later when Joseph finally encountered his brothers again, he said “And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life…Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 50:5, 8). Joseph being sold into Egypt was not simply allowed by God, but was actually brought about by God as part of His plan. This does not make God sadistic nor does it excuse Joseph’s brothers of their sin. Why? Because God’s intentions were for good, but Joseph’s brother’s intentions were for evil. “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about his present result, to preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:20). This is a necessary truth in order to properly understand God’s Providence. When God ordains bad things to occur, it is not because He delights in suffering and evil in itself, but it is because He is working to bring about a greater good.

John Piper gives a helpful illustration here. God has the capacity to look at any event through two lenses, a wide angle lens and a narrow angle lens. When God looks at an evil act through the narrow lens, He sees it for what it is in itself and abhors it. But when God steps back and looks at that event in the wide angle lens, He sees it in relation to all the events flowing up to it and flowing out from it. He sees it in relation to the good that He plans to bring out of it and its overall place in His wise plan. It is in this sense that He wants it to occur and thus decrees it.

Thus, God’s control over all things is good news, not bad news, because God is good, loving, and just and is therefore working all things for the greatest good. God’s Providence is not random, but is directing all things toward a goal–His greatest glory and His children’s greatest good. Thus, God’s Providence is something we can trust and rejoice in. It is good that we are not in control of history, for surely God knows better than we do!

Human responsibility
The second question that God’s sovereignty over sin raises is, does this take away human responsibility and put the blame on God for evil? The Bible is clear that the answer is no. God cannot be blamed for sin, and humans are responsible for the sins that they commit. God stands behind good and evil in different ways. God is behind good in such as way as all of the credit for it goes to Him. But He is behind evil in such a way that, though it is part of His sovereign plan, none of the blame for it is chargeable to Him. We do not need to understand how these truths can fit in our minds, but if we are going to believe the Bible must believe them both.

For example, God used the wicked Assyrian nation to carry out His judgements, yet judged them for sinning because their intentions were evil (see Isaiah 10). The case of Pharaoh is another example. In Exodus 7:2 God tells Moses to command Pharaoh to let Israel go. But God also says that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh will not let the people go (v. 3). God, however, does not regard this as taking away Pharaoh’s responsibility, because when Pharaoh refuses to let Israel go, God judges Egypt for this sin (vv. 14-25). Some say that Pharaoh hardened his heart first and that God only acted in response to this. But this view misunderstands the whole narrative of the Exodus. God says that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so “that I may multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 7:3), not because Pharaoh hardened his heart first. Further, God’s promise to harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21) comes long before we find Pharaoh hardening his own heart (which we read of first in 8:15).

In 1 Chronicles 21:1 we read that “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.” The parallel passage in 2 Samuel 24:1, however, tells us that God incited David to take the census. David, however, is regarded as responsible for his sin, saying “I have sinned greatly in what I have done” (2 Samuel 24:10). His responsibility is further shown in that God judged him for this sin (24:15). “In this one incident the Bible gives us a remarkable insight into the three influences that contributed in different ways to one action: God, in order to bring about his purposes, worked through Satan to incite David to sin, but Scripture regards David as being responsible for that sin.”[7] If we are to remain faithful to the Bible, we must hold these two truths together: humans are responsible for their sins, yet every sin committed was allowed by God as part of His plan. For those who are interested in taking a prayerful look at how these truths are consistent, see my article The Consistency of Divine Sovereignty and Human Accountability. For those interested in how God controls sin without being the author of it, see my article The Sovereignty of God Over Evil.

Objections
There are perhaps three remaining objections. The first objection is that God’s Providence means that our choices are not real and that they do not make a difference. But our choices are real and genuine because God says they are. And they make a difference because God brings about His will by means of our choices, not in spite of our choices. Our choices are important, they make a difference, and therefore we should always seek to make good, holy, and wise choices.

The second objection is that, since God often commands us to do things in Scripture and calls us to make choices, He cannot be ultimately in control of our decisions. This objection, however, cannot account for all of the verses we have seen that God does control all things–including our decisions. The Bible views commands–and the crucial importance of us to obey them–as perfectly consistent with God’s control over our choices. For example, in 1 Chronicles 28:9 David commands Solomon to serve God with a whole heart and a willing mind. This shows his responsibility to choose to follow God. But does this mean that God has ultimately left it up to Solomon to follow Him or not? No, because in the next chapter we see David acknowledging that it is ultimately God who gives a person a heart to obey, for He prays “give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Thy commandments” (29:19). There would be no use in asking God to cause Solomon to obey if God had ultimately left the choice up to Solomon. In light of all that we have seen, it seems best to conclude that since God controls all things, He causes us to make willing choices so that His will is always done, yet these choices are genuine, and we are accountable for them. Again, we do not need to necessarily see how these truths fit together, but if we are going to believe the Bible, it seems that we must believe them.

Finally, do not conclude that the Providence of God should cause us to be passive and indifferent. This is not a crippling doctrine, but a very freeing one. The same Scriptures which teach God’s absolute Providence also teach that we are to act and choose wisely and righteously. In fact, the Scriptures use God’s Providence as an incentive to action, not a decentive (Judges 7:9; Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 13:21). We should never sin, as it will always harm us and others. And we should always seek to obey, for this is what pleases God and what He will bless. If we gain our belief in Providence from the Bible, we will not draw conclusions that the Bible rejects. See my article If God is Sovereign, Why do Anything? for a more in-depth analysis of this issue.

Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many wonderful applications of the Providence of God. They include a joyful trust in God, deep comfort in adversity, and overflowing gratitude for all good things.[8] Perhaps the main application is to give us an attitude of adoring worship. J.B. Moody has said, “True worship is based upon recognized greatness, and greatness is superlatively seen in sovereignty, and at no other footstool will men really worship.”[9] 

Notes

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible.
1. John Feinberg, “God Ordains All Things,” in Predestination and Free-will: Four Views (Downer’s Grove, IL: IV Press, 1986), p. 30.
2. John Reisinger, Our Sovereign God, delivered at the International Baptist Conference in Toronto in 1988.
3. Jerry Bridges, “Does Divine Sovereignty Make a Difference in Everyday Life?” in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will, Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Ware, ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), vol. I, p. 208.
4. Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., “The Sovereignty of God: Case Studies in the Old Testament,” in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will, vol. I, p. 32.
5. Donald Barnhouse, quoted in “Does Divine Sovereignty Make a Difference in Everyday Life?” p. 211.
6. John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1996), p. 37.
7. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (IV Press and Zondervan Publishing, 1994), p. 324.
8. For a detailed explanation of the applications, see my article The Importance of Providence.
9. J.B. Moody, quoted in The Sovereignty of God, by A.W. Pink, p. 190.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.