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The other day I had an interesting discussion. Really, it was a debate on the sovereignty of God. It was said to me: “God only knows about what is going to happen, but does not control things.” Well, naturally I reject this line of thinking and said so, but it got me to thinking about God’s sovereign control of the world and man’s responsibility. For most people, the idea that we are not in total control of our lives, but that God is in control, is incongruous. In the discussion I had, it was said that a loving God would not allow bad things to happen, and so man must have free will. I brought up the point that the Bible says we are predestined, to which I was told that only means God’s foreknowledge, does not involve His decrees. Predestination does involve God’s decrees though, “By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man.” (John Calvin-Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.21.5) In Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (NASB). Why if predestination means only foreknowledge does Paul repeat himself? Clearly the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul has something else in mind. Look at Psalm 115, it is all about God’s sovereignty. God created the world and everything in it (Gen. 1:1; II Kings 19:15; Job 26:13; 38:4; Prov. 3:19; Isa. 42:5; 44:6; 45:12; 66:2; Jonah 1:9; John 1:1; Rev. 1:8; 3:14; 4:11). God is in control of everything that happens in the world. He rules over the kingdoms of men and gives them over to whomsoever He wills (Isa. 54:5; Dan. 4:17, 25). John Murray said it this way:

God’s sovereignty consists in the all-pervasive and efficient exercise of government. It is not simply that God is the owner of all. Nor is it simply that He has the right of dominion and rule over all. But it is that he also exercises government over all in accordance with His perfections and in accordance with the prerogatives that are His because of His ownership of all and the right of dominion over all. This sovereignty He exercises with omnipotent and irresistible efficiency. The mighty hand of God is the executor of His will. He is the great, the mighty, the terrible. He rideth upon the heavens and in His excellency on the skies.

(The Sovereignty of God in Salvation-John Murray)

The problem with God being is control, some try to say, is that if God is sovereign, then He would also have to be the author of evil and sin. They can not see how a loving God would allow bad things to happen to good people. First off, of course we know that there are no “good people” in the world, but secondly that is the wrong conclusion. The Bible very clearly shows throughout that although God allow and uses bad things and sin to accomplish his will, he is not the author of sin or evil. Theologians have argued over this for centuries and so I don’t expect I can fully answer this issue here. Which brings me to the final “argument” that was thrown at me and that is that; “there are many ways to interpret the Bible and many versions of the Bible.” My answer to this is there is only one way to interpret the Bible and there is only one Bible. Sure there are variations in some versions, but versions that were properly translated from the Greek using excepted scholarship say the same things. I realize this is a very loaded statement. But what the line of argument that there are many versions and interpretations is really saying is that fundamentally, the Bible cannot be trusted, but my opinion can be trusted. I think it is this way, thus it must be. Man has place himself in the place of God and are a law unto themselves. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of the glory and sovereignty of God. He determines by his decrees what is going to happen, and it comes to pass. God is never surprised, alarmed, frustrated, or defeated by circumstances of sin or by man’s rebellion. “Our God is in heaven and He does as he pleases.” (Psalm 115)

Filed under: Paul's Blog, Theology