Sovereignty

Our church recently undertook the task of writing a paper on the topic of God's Sovereignty. I just finished reading the draft of that paper, and I'm going to try and summarize it here for those of you who would be interested. All these sections have numerous scriptures referenced. For the sake of space, I'm going to leave most of these out. If you want the specific scriptures for a specific section, let me know in the comments.

The paper starts off confirming the scriptural backing for God being the supreme power and in possession of the highest power. It affirms that absolute sovereignty belongs to God and only God. There are numerous scriptures that show that God is the sole creator. The paper quotes early church fathers such as Iranaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Justin Martyr of Samaria (one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers), and Tertullian several times.

From "God is the sole creator" it moves to "God is the creator of man" and lays out the scripture for that. In this section there is a quote from Justin Martyr. It states, "In the beginning, He made the human race with the power of thought and of choosing the truth and doing right, so that all men are without excuse before God." The writing body summed up this section by stating this: "In the very act of creation we see the all-powerful Creator acting in a very personal way toward His created work. This can be seen as just one of the many ways where the sovereignty of God is complemented, without any conflict, by His attributes of love and tenderness."

The next section is "God has created man in a personal way". Then that flows into "God is the owner of all, including man". Under this section the Elder Committee writes, "Another attribute of God beyond the comprehension of finite man is His timelessness. Attributes that man doesn't share in a similar experience are not readily understood, but that does not mean that we know nothing about them, only that our understanding is limited. It is certainly our opportunity and blessing to accept God's declaration of Himself, even when we receive it in, and by, faith. Though we don't know what it is to live outside of time, we can believe that our Heavenly Father does, and that this is part of why God alone is sovereign." I really appreciated being reminded of God's timelessness in this discussion. I think that can really add to our understanding of how God can operate far out of our realm of comprehension.

The next section is titled "God is Eternal (preceding time and existing beyond the end of time)". The Elder Committee writes, "Another attribute of God that we as men do not experience is His Omniscience or the fact that He is all-knowing. This attribute may be related to His existence outside of time, and it too can be believed and accepted through faith as His declaration."

The next section states: "God is absolute in wisdom and knowledge". Here the elders state that "...when we speak of the sovereign will of God, we speak of all that has occurred and will occur..." They lay out how that is different from God's moral will. "Scriptures are clear that it is the will of God for all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), and yet His sovereign will is that all men will be able to exercise their free moral will. This allows some to reject His moral will and be lost in the confines of His sovereign will."

The next section is: "God's knowledge and sovereign will extend to and include all men". In this section they quote Tertullian as saying, "Some things seem to indicate the will of God, seeing that they are allowed by Him. However, it does not necessarily follow that everything that is permitted proceeds out of the unqualified and absolute will of Him who permits it." This statement, while I tentatively agree with it, seems to leave room for argument. I'm no student of Tertullian, so I don't know how he supports that claim.

"God's knowledge includes foreknowledge". In this section the committee gets into the questions about election and the choice man has in salvation. They quote several sources here starting with Vines: "God's foreknowledge involves His electing grace, but this does not preclude human will. He foreknows the exercise of faith which brings salvation." Then they quote Clement of Alexandria from the Ante-Nicene Fathers. "Choice depends on the man as being free. But the gift depended on the God as Lord. And He gives to those who are willing, are exceedingly earnest, and who ask. So their salvation becomes their own. For God does not compel." Lastly they quote Tertullian again. "...I find that man was established by God as a free being, possessed of the power of choice; for just in this do I observe in him the image and likeness of God, that he is characterized by this condition. ... For a low would only be established for one who had the power of choosing the obedience demanded by the law; and the threat of death would only be attached to transgression if man were endowed with freedom to defy the law. Thus in the Creators latter laws you may discover him "setting before man good and evil, life and death." And the whole scheme of man's discipline through God's rules, with God's calls and threats and exhortations, assumes that man is free to choose obedience of defiance." It is Tertullians argument that I find particularly compelling. "For a law would only be established for one who had the power of choosing the obedience demanded by the law..." That is one thing I could never understand about taking man's will completely 100% out of the picture. It seems that would negate obedience.

The paper goes on to talk about foreknowledge, determine, predestination, etc... It spends some time talking about how God's foreknowledge doesn't preclude the fact that man is a responsible and moral being. The paper also outlines some scenarios in the Scriptures that point to multiple causes of sin such as when David numbered the people. It is in 2 Samuel 24:1-10 and in 1 Chronicles 21:1-17. It points to David, Satan, and the Lord as all being the "cause" of David's sin. If we take the scriptures at "...face value, we have to assume that all acted with moral responsibility, with God, sovereign over all." I really like that conclusion. I believe it does great justice to the text while not striving to stuff it into our finite minds.

They go on to talk about Nehemiah's Motivation in Ne 2:18-20 and Nebuchadnezzar's Choice in Daniel 4:27-28.

They wrap it up with this statement: "Though the Bible, from beginning to end speaks of a God who is sovereign, it also presents man as a responsible, moral being. The free exercise of man's will exists very comfortably with God's sovereignty from His perspective. Our obedience to what God calls us to does not diminish or preclude His sovereignty and the sovereign nature of God does not in any way excuse us from the fact that we are morally responsible beings..."

This was a quick summary of an 8 page report that had many more scripture references and quotes from others than I wanted to include here. The full report is supposed to be ready in August. If you'd like to see a draft of the report or want to discuss it further, your church elder should have access to a copy. Also, I hope my readers feel free to initiate further discussion with me on this topic.

God Bless.