God's Sovereignty establishes human freedom

Well yesterday night I was at church and I must admit that my blood was boiling, as I had to sit through a very confused sermon. If only people would take the time to see what the Bible says instead of what man’s philosophy says. So often people think that the Creator is on the same level as the creature, that the rules are the same for both. The idea that man is as free as God is and God limits his power to let the creatures freely run the show of history.

This is utterly unbiblical.

The Bible nowhere suggests that men are free from God’s decretive will or providential governance. It teaches that God’s purposes and his providential execution of his eternal purpose determine all things.

If God has decreed all that comes to pass, and if God, by his most holy, and powerful providence, governs all his creatures and all their actions in order to accomplish his own holy ends, how is one to understand all this so that God is not made the author of sin and man is left responsible?

For us to be biblical, it is important first to say again that God has ordained whatever comes to pass. God is the sole ultimate "First cause" of all things. The reason why God is not to be blamed for evil is because God has decreed that all things will come to pass according to the nature of second causes. This means that God is the cause of the second cause, but he has decreed that his judgments will be charged to the second cause.

Far from God’s decree violating the will of the creature or taking away his liberty or contingency, God’s decree establishes that what they do they do freely.

Some may not like this, but it is biblical and it is what Paul meant in Romans 9 when he said about the second cause being established by the first cause (God). The Apostle Paul was answering the question that people were asking, that being, Why God would blame Pharaoh if he was doing what God willed him to do,

Paul replied,

"You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his Will? . But indeed O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor." (Rom. 9;18-21)

The fact is, God finds fault with Pharaoh because as a created creature he is responsible for his actions, Pharaoh acted out freely what he was created to do according to God’s will. The simple logic is that there has to be a cause for the creation and a plan and destiny for this formed matter to act out. Rational matter has to come into being!

Some may be quick to say then, So God must be the author of sin, who is responsible for it. But as Jay Adams says in his book "The Grand Demonstration"

"Decreeing the existence of sin makes God neither. God decreed water, dry land, mountains, birds of the air, but God is none of the above. Decreeing sin does not make him a sinner. He decreed the entire creation, but must be distinguished from it."

God has decreed the existence of sin in such away that men themselves freely uncoered and in accord with their own natures become the author of their sin. Some might say that if God has predestined all men’s actions, he would be responsible for their sin. But God is not responsible for what they do, They are. That is the kind of people that God created; persons who would be responsible for their actions.

Jay Adams say’s again,

"To whom could God be held responsible? The thought is absurd. There is no one but himself, to whom God must answer, which means that he answers to no one. To be responsible to one’s self totally defeats the concept of accountability inherent in the word. There is no one who can call God on the carpet. He does as he pleases, and he is pleased with what he does. Surely God is not responsible to us!"

Because God is the highest standard and the only reference to what can be good and perfect (God’s nature). If this is what God has willed, that second causes be established by his first cause, then this is not evil. We have to get it in to our heads that the Creator is not on the same level as the creature. The creature has to come into being and has to be dependent on God’s rules and laws.

In the next post I will look at "Why God decreed sin and evil" and then look at if the Arminian can come up with better reasons.