Free Will and Divine Sovereignty

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind.

This God knows that something is going to happen in advance.

It's absolutely certain that it will happen.

But does that mean that he has forced it to happen. Does his foreknowledge carry with it the idea of pre-determining what is going to come to pass.

The idea of forcing his will for ours is offensive to many role, don't we have free will. Will many pastors try to explain that within God's sovereignty was a place where God chooses not to exercise his power. But there's a problem with that line of thinking is not received our first session, we saw that there were fronts in which the battle over free will is fought. One has to do with the question of how free will relates to external powers that may have an influence or determine our decisions in some manner or degree in the second one has to do with our moral freedom with respect to original sin in our last session close with looking at the contemporary scene of physical naturalistic determinism as typified for example by BF Skinner in the 19th century, we remember Ludvig Feuerbach who influenced Karl Marx in his deterministic theories. Feuerbach was famous for the observation you are what you eat, which of course reminds me of the story of the man who came under the influence of Feuerbach's writings and said well that's the truth that I'm going to change my diet and he decided in his hope to amass great riches only eat rich foods so we gorge themselves with cake and body and things of that sort, and to his despair, only to discover that instead of becoming rich all he did was become fat content that were so much for Feuerbach's theory that you are what you eat, but of course Feuerbach was saying something deeper than that when he was saying that we are in large measure result of the biochemical processes that are working themselves out invisibly beneath the surface in our own existence will I think we can see as Christians, how the biblical view of freedom is on a collision course with all pagan notions of determinism that restrict the influences of reality to the natural realm and has no room at all for the activity of God and sees the human person as far as creatures are concerned as the supreme being.

But even in his supremacy as a victim of the blind forces of nature to control his destiny, but the larger theological question that we face internally within the household of faith is how this our free will relate to divine sovereignty and every time I've been engaged in discussions about the biblical concept of predestination which discussions I have to say I've been involved in somewhat frequently. Any time I've had the occasion to give an exposition of the doctrine of election or of predestination. Inevitably, the very first question that people raise in response to that is what about free will because we understand even if we haven't studied these things in great technical detail. We understand that it's a great difficulty to square the relationship between a sovereign God who is absolutely sovereign and a creature who has authentic freedom we encounter that not only with respect to the specific doctrine of election predestination. So on but with our understanding of divine providence because the Scriptures teach over and over and over again that God not only creates this universe, but he sustains it by his power, and not only does he keep it going, but he governs it he rules it and in the exercise of his rule over his creation. He makes use of his own divine sovereignty and power. The Scriptures are replete with examples of God saying that he races nations up.

He brings nations down that things occur through the determinant counsel of God and that we are told, for example, that a man's days are ordered by the Lord and that there are certain decrees that God issues that must needs come to pass and so there we encounter the whole concept of God's for ordination that is of his ordaining future events before they actually come to pass and the obvious poser that we face with any such notion of for ordination. Is this if God ordains today what is going to happen tomorrow. Is there any question that what he has ordained will in fact come to pass, or do we understand the for ordination of God simply in terms of his making intelligent guesses as to what he thinks will come to pass on the morrow and does he really know in advance what you're going to say before you say it if he does, doesn't his foreknowledge make it absolutely certain that what he knows you will say you will most certainly say and even if you think you have the power to say something different from what God knows you are going to say such an idea is at best an illusion because God's knowing it makes it certain. That's why theologians wrestle with the technical distinctions between the necessity of the consequent and the necessity of consequences. That is to say if God knows that something is going to happen in advance. It's absolutely certain that it will happen that cannot not happen, but does that mean that he has forced it to happen. Does his foreknowledge carry with it the idea of pre-determining what is going to come the past. That's the difficult side of the study of divine providence and of divine sovereignty. Sometimes we find people who talk about the problem of divine sovereignty as involving an inherent contradiction between sovereignty and human freedom were free will and have heard attempts at resolution of this in many different ways. One of the most popular is the metaphor of the parallel lines. I had a professor in college when the first time I was introduced to this dilemma. He solved it for us by saying that human freedom and divine sovereignty are parallel lines that meet in eternity and infinity and people wrinkled up their four heads and thought that was heavy stuff and pretty profound. I remember walking out of the classroom that day scratching my head and say what's wrong with this picture. If these parallel lines are in fact parallel are not going to meet in eternity were in Pittsburgh or anywhere else, and in fact if they do meet somewhere down the road than they mark really parallel and that this is just kind of an obfuscation of the difficulty of the question to talk in these terms.

This is a fancy way of saying the concepts are in fact contradictory, and since the Bible affirms on the one hand divine sovereignty and on the other human freedom and responsibility and that even though these two ideas are contradictory and mutually exclusive. We are forced as a matter of piety to embrace both poles of the contradiction. I have to say to you, frankly, but I guess the way most Christians handle this problem by not shrieking at all from the idea that they have just embraced a contradiction which is a proof of falsehood. I would say to you that if you conceive human freedom in such a way as bringing it into absolute contradiction to divine sovereignty, or if you conceive of divine sovereignty in such a way that it actually is contradictory to human freedom. Then I would suggest to you that at least one of your concepts may be both.

But at least one of them is incorrect and needs to be adjusted when revised, not just like to say to you at the outset that the two concepts of human freedom and divine sovereignty are not inherently contradictory.

There may be an abundance of mystery on how the two interact and relate but they are not inherently contradictory limited what is contradictory. These two concepts sovereignty and human autonomy. If we mean by freedom. Absolute freedom, or what we call autonomy where the person is a law unto themselves. Where there is no overarching binding authority or power that restricts them from exercising whatever options they choose to exercise. If you mean by freedom, absolute freedom or autonomy, then there is no way in the world. You're ever going to be able to square these two concepts because if God is sovereign, meaning that his freedom is absolute and extends over his whole creation so that he has the power and the ability to choose whatsoever. He wills. If God is sovereign, then manifestly, no creature can be autonomous, because to be autonomous is to be a law unto yourself and to be a law unto yourself precludes the possibility of anything or anyone raining sovereignly over you. So these two concepts cannot coexist. If God is sovereign. We are manifestly not autonomous.

On the other hand, if we are autonomous and that's the end of any idea of a sovereign God.

These two cannot coexist in the same universe, we can conceive of the idea of human autonomy and we can conceive of the idea of divine sovereignty. What we can't conceive of. Is there coexistence is sort of like the old story of the irresistible force and an immovable object. We understand that the idea of a force that is irresistible is a concept that is thinkable we can imagine the idea of something that has so much force that nothing could possibly resist it, and on the other hand, we can conceive of an object so strong that nothing could possibly move it that we call an immovable object. So though the two concepts taken separately are possible ideas. What is impossible is there co-existence. We learned that if not through the text of philosophy through the popular song of the middle of the century, when and irresistible force such as you makes an immovable object like me but somehow someway somewhere, something's gotta give her remember that something's gotta give. Because of you. Imagine the meeting of the irresistible force of the immovable object if the irresistible force hits the immovable object and doesn't move it. What does that tell you that tells you that the irresistible force was not irresistible. It was capable of being resisted. On the other hand, if the irresistible force hits the immovable object in the immovable object moves we have to change its title is now known as immovable object and not an immovable object, you can have them both coexisting in the same universe, but one of the things that we see in the scriptural view of the matter is that the Bible nowhere teaches, or even hints at the idea that whatever freedom we have is elevated to the level of autonomy.

In fact, biblical scholars have been saying for centuries that the chief sin of Adam and Eve in the garden was in their quest for autonomy and that the temptation of the serpent in the garden was that the creatures would be as God's. And that what they were reaching for was more freedom than that which God had given God did endow his creatures with freedom.

Freedom that was real freedom that was far-reaching of all of the trees of the garden. He said you may freely eat but that freedom was not absolute God place a restriction on that freedom under his sovereignty. Instead of this tree, you may not eat. You can even touch it because the day you eat of it you will surely die. Sin was the result of man's attempt to increase the scope of the freedom with which he had been endowed by his creator. Now I've often heard it said all too often far as I'm concerned. Once is too often, but I heard it said many many times in the Christian community that there is a limit to God's sovereignty that God is sovereign, to a degree, but that which limits God's sovereignty is human freedom. God's sovereignty is limited by human freedom. What is wrong with this picture. If God's sovereignty is limited by your freedom than who is sovereign. If your freedom has the capacity or the power to stop God's sovereignty in its tracks than you were the one who is sovereign, rather than God nano it is the opposite idea that is communicated clearly to us from sacred Scripture, namely that human freedom is real but it is always limited by the greater freedom of God. God is free and you are free, but he is more free than you are at any time your free will wants to do something that God's free will doesn't want you to do. There's a conflict and you're going to lose, and you civil what about what about when I sin he permits me to sin, he permits it, he doesn't sanction it, but even that you couldn't possibly sin unless God in his sovereignty shows to let you sin doesn't mean he forces you to sin, that doesn't mean that he blesses your sinfulness. But he can stand there and say even though I have the power to stop you in your tracks the vaporize you by my word, and prevent you from doing anything that you plan to do and I know what you're planning to do it.

I can stop right now but I'm just gonna let it happen because I have my reasons that deals with the whole concept of how God governs providentially receiving that in our lecture series on the providence of God. When we talk about the con currents concept whereby God works out his sovereignty in this world. God works out his supreme freedom in by and through the real choices of his creatures.

The clearest text that illustrates that is at the end of the book of Genesis, the time when Joseph is reunited with his brothers and now Joseph knows who they are and they know who Joseph is there, terrified that Joseph is going to exact the just vengeance that he had every right to exact from them for their treachery and they are trembling before his power and his earthly sovereignty and remember Joseph's words to his brothers said you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. That is, that God's good will worked its way out, in and through the evil intentions of Joseph's brothers that can they go up to the judgment seat say God we were just doing your will know were just hurt. Obviously, you meant it for good. The less we met all along to known about not said you acted out of the knowledge that you had out of the desires that you had out of the choices that you made that were real concrete choices. God didn't force them to do what they did but he made use of the decisions that they made to bring about his own purpose. Likewise, Judas whose act of treachery and betrayal led to the crucifixion of Christ. Judas meant it for evil, that without his evil decision. The greatest event of our redemption would not have taken place. This is the mystery of providence and how God works. His will through the real choices of his creatures now in theology, as I said, we run into the text you meant it for evil God meant it for good. When we analyze what is going on in moral choices in what we call the Lish one of the things that we understand that deals with moral responsibility is intentionality. We talk about accidents that happen or we run our car into the back of somebody else's car would jump. I would apologize to the persons I am sorry I didn't what I'd didn't mean to do it. I didn't hit you on purpose. It was an accident. It was not by intent if it were by intent. I would be guilty not only of doing damage to my neighbor's car but I could be arrested for attempted vehicular homicide.

If I purposely rammed another person's car, and so we understand the moral import of intentionality and what the Scripture speaks of with respect to human acts and human decisions is that they do function with real intentionality. However, even our intentions are subject to the ultimate power and authority of God because the Scriptures tell us that in God we live and move and have our being. I can have a bad intention make a bad decision and perform wicked action, but even that I am functioning as a real causal agent, something that brings about an effect we say in theology that we as real causal agents are at best secondary causal agents because I have no power whatsoever except as I borrow it from the one in whom I live and move and have my being Celine over my sin. God remains sovereign, that sovereignty does not work itself out in such a way as to force me to do what I do or to excuse for doing what I have in stock Tracy Spruill reminding us that we need to be careful as we explain the relationship between our free will and divine sovereignty were highlighting doctors ProSeries willing to believe this week here on Renewing Your Mind and were glad you joined us were exploring the relationship between God sovereign grace and our ability to make our own choices. We like to send you the full 12 part series, simply contact us today and give a donation of any amount to look at your ministries. You'll find us online@renewingyourmind.org or you can call us with your gifted 800-435-4343. Our purpose here is like in your ministries is to awaken as many people as possible to the holiness of God by proclaiming teaching and defending God's holiness in all its fullness. We do that by providing sound teaching in a variety of categories including theology, the Bible, church history, apologetics, and Christian ethics. Your financial support allows us to continue this effort around the world. And when you give a donation of any amount today. We will say thank you by sending you this three DVD set of Dr. RC Sproul series willing to believe our number again is 800-435-4343 and the web address is Renewing Your Mind.org what we understand about free will really boils down to what we believe about ourselves in response to the question do you believe that man is basically good and overwhelming majority professing evangelicals answered in the affirmative that you may have sin on the peripheral elements of your life effective related in your heart of hearts scratch beneath the surface and you will find Anna biting goodness is man basically good. RC will explore that question tomorrow. On Renewing Your Mind