By Rodney Paris
Part
Two
–
Facts
from
The
Scriptures
The
Sovereignty of
God
Section
A
In my youth, there were many occasions where I heard convoluted
things about God. Awkward doctrines presented literal contradictions
between words… like the
“double-think” of Orwell’s 1984.
Love involves hate, sovereignty means inaction, salvation
means destruction… I could see why atheist refused and agnostics
wondered. The system of
religion at almost all levels and in most creeds was not even
internally consistent. (Much less consistent with the observable
world)
For many
years I
submitted to what
I was taught. The most
compelling reason for accepting these teachings was, “These people
are smart. They have seminary training and advanced degrees. They
study God. They must know what they are talking about.
These church leaders spend their entire day doing “God’s
work”. Shouldn’t I trust them?” I was trusting of authority.
The most powerful reason for rejecting the doctrines these humans
taught was simply that they contradicted
the Scriptures.
No
big deal,
huh?
"Trust Yourself"
Who should I trust? It is
a question we all must consider at various times.
We rely on daily input and advice from experts.
Weather reports, instructions, medical advice, information,
news, entertainment… we are constantly offered Trust yourself…
you’re smart.
Instead of doing this, I’m going to offer a lot of scripture and logic…
Let’s see what God says! Let’s look at GOD in His rightful
place in the center of the universe… as the central figure of all
time, existence, and reality.
Let’s talk about reality from God’s point of view.
SOVEREIGNTY:
The BASIC
Conflict
The first topic is the one most central to WHO GOD IS.
It is about the TITLE of GOD.
What does it MEAN to be GOD?
I want to visit with you about sovereignty.
I want to make it clear… when I talk about sovereignty and
GOD this isn’t a generic description. It is a GOD specific
definition. ONLY God is
truly sovereign.
When we address the use of the word sovereignty directed toward
nations or leaders… it is a metaphorical use… an image.
A statement of relative
power. When we are speaking of created things, we are
addressing sovereignty but
only in the context of sovereign COMPARED to something.
Comparative sovereignty is relative sovereignty.
God is not simply relatively sovereign. God is CATEGORICALLY
sovereign. There is a
category in which ONLY God exists. His is the case of sovereign that
defines sovereign. It is
that category that define God as “species unique”.
Even the beings of the angelic/celestial realm are
categorically so differentiated from God that there is no actual
frame of reference for comparison. I mean, it doesn’t ACTUALLY mean
anything to say God is superior to the angels any more than it is a
meaningful comparison to make between a spiral galaxy and a…
kitten. What does it even mean to compare them?
My
working definition
of sovereignty
is from
a talk
by Steve
Hill.
“God’s FREEDOM
to use
His POWER
and WISDOM
to ACCOMPLISH
what He WILLS… to accomplish what He DESIRES.”
The essential components of sovereignty are FREEDOM, POWER, WISDOM,
and DESIRE that leads to a certain ACCOMPLISHMENT. The first four
items lead to the fifth…
Sovereignty is about What GOD gets done.
There is only One Who is sovereign. That One Sovereign is God.
He does all that He desires.
He gains all that He wishes… Unless God gets ALL that He
desires… He is not God. He
is not sovereign short of accomplishment. THAT is the definition of
sovereignty that God affixes to His title by the demonstration of His
work. If you want to fight
about that, then YOU have a different problem.
All I’ve done is talk about GOD and what it means to hold
the title of God. If you
don’t like
what God
says and demonstrates
about His
own sovereignty
then, from the outset, you are suffering from a painful
malignity (which, by the way, is described in the first chapter of
Romans 1.)
Please, allow me to offer explanation for why this is so critical. THIS is the starting point to a true knowledge of God.
To the degree that a person gets this topic wrong… to the
degree that a person misunderstands God’s sovereignty… that is
the weight of evidence showing the degree to which a person needs
illumination from God.
Misunderstanding sovereignty is the key that opens a
door into frustration and burden for the moment as well as
possible blindness for the age to come…
BLIND
TEACHINGS: An
Example
Years ago, I didn’t think I needed to do this study but then I keep
coming across people who said they
accepted the sovereignty of God as a foundational premise but
then they would qualify His power or believe things that contradict
His power. I thought it (God’s Sovereignty) was an unspoken belief
until I actually READ items written by people who showed disregard
for God’s sovereignty.
In
a book entitled 50
Core Truths of the Christian Faith, Gregg
Allison openly dances
around
scriptures.
(He
isn’t
the
only
one
to
do
this
in
writing,
but
his
book was one of the clearest examples).
Mr. Allison honestly, openly, appeals to the IRRESPONSIBILITY
of God. In the chapter
entitled Election and Reprobation,
Gregg calls it a major error if we hold,
“Any overemphasis on divine predestination (read that sovereignty)
that results in a complete denial of human responsibility for
repentance and faith leading to salvation, and for faithlessness
and disobedience leading to condemnation.
Hard determinism overlooks the biblical teaching that human
beings are morally responsible agents, accountable for their
choices.” (p. 215)
The quote is listed in the area that describes Major
Errors. He
says the error is to take sovereignty TOO FAR. Let me say that again
a different way… it is a major error to ascribe too great a
magnitude to God’s sovereignty.
What is an overemphasis when we are discussing God?
The only thing that he uses to clarify “overemphasis”
is to
assert the need to
lift up OUR
responsibility. Oh…
so I actually get to be a little God?
So… we lift up OUR responsibility and take it away from God?
So… God is not GOD? God
is not responsible for His creation? Wait… so… God is
irresponsible?
This lack
of understanding
forces people
who care about God
to believe that
they have control or power over God through their
prayers. People believe that they determine individual futures
(including theirs). Sincere individuals have been led to believe
their actions can prevent God from getting what He wants. A LOT of
people believe THEY have choices that can override a desire of God…
they can thwart the plan of God.
There may already be a fight raging in your head?! Are you yelling at
the essay (me)? GOD is sovereign and the definition REQUIRES that He
have absolute control. GOD is the placer of all
things. HE is the
subjecter of all things. HE is the one who makes all the
determinations.
A
WILL FREE
FROM GODS
CONTROL
I hear that man has a free-will? Let me add in all of the unspoken
words so you can be aware of what the explicit argument is about.
In our context, a free will is (by logic and English usage) a
will that is free of God’s control. I will go as far as to say that
man has a will… but it is not in ANY way free of God’s control.
This isn’t natural determinism.
I am not declaring that we are simply the out working
of accumulated events. I
AM saying that our will is a clear-cut expression of the scriptural
MEANING of what GOD expresses of Himself:
"All
is out of…
All
is
through…
All is to HIM"
Rom
11:36
----------------------------------------------------------
There
is even
a verse
that addresses
where we
get our
desires.
The “Him” spoken of in Romans isn’t a human, it is God. This
isn’t some light weight mystical statement about some spiritual
item related to God. It
turns out that the fact of God’s sovereignty is the weight at the
center of His glory. It is
sovereignty that MAKES the position of God have meaning.
Unqualified,
unlimited
beyond
grasping…
Power,
wisdom, freedom,
and will…
all of
these are
God’s to
accomplish HIS desires!
I want to point out the source of the conflict people have in considering THEIR free-will. The argument FOR free will is always centered in the need to consider US and OUR place in the cosmos. That is an error that will bury understanding. We have ABSOLUTELY no value, role, place, or position in Gods creation EXCEPT what god gives to us. I mean… do you think we earn it? Do we have to work for the place that He prepares for us? Will someone do something that God is surprised to see, something that increases their reward (or correction) beyond what He had stated from the beginning? Again, let me say this correctly. Is our will free of the control of God?
I want to point out the source of the conflict people have in
considering THEIR free-will. The argument FOR free will is always centered in the need to consider US
and OUR place in the cosmos. That
is an error that will bury understanding. We have ABSOLUTELY no
value, role, place, or position in Gods creation EXCEPT what god
gives to us. I mean… do
you think we earn it? Do
we have to work for the
place that He prepares for us?
Will someone do something that God is surprised to see,
something that increases their reward (or correction) beyond what He
had stated from the beginning? Again, let me say this correctly. Is
our will free of the control of God?
You might have started yelling at me already.
BUT I HAVE A WILL THAT’S FREE OF GODS CONTROL!!! Yep… yell
the explicit statement out loud a few times and you will laugh at the
utter stupidity of how it sounds. You CAN leave
out the words… but don’t leave out the meaning.
A LOT of people who are in error about God and His ABSOLUTE
SOVEREIGNTY don’t realize that they are stepping into a fight to
defend their OWN bit of sovereignty over God’s sovereignty. THAT is
the conclusion people defend when they assert free-will. A will free
of the control (Sovereignty) of God. They want to fight to constrain
the power of the creator of ALL things. Sadly, that error is
anticipated in the Scriptures directly and indirectly.
This “putting human free-will above God’s control” is
spoken of as THE defect to knowing God.
People find misalignment with the GOD of All Power because they fail
to accept and believe that God is GOD and HAS ALL POWER. You don’t
have to understand how it’s true. God directs all things. God has
even established a path for individuals who don’t accept this
defining characteristic. We can’t even understand His LOVE without
grasping (and holding on to) His sovereignty. His LOVE becomes even
more remarkable BECAUSE of His power over all…
God points out that our miss apprehension of His nature is one of His
primary reasons for letting us wallow in darkness.
Check out Romans 1…
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen… so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things… And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…
IF I were just reading this passage as an explanation of WHY
something happened then I would be hard pressed to miss the clear
statement… “they KNEW God… they did NOT glorify Him as GOD…
(what is that other than sovereignty) but became futile in their
thoughts… hearts were darkened”.
When we don’t get who God is, He eventually takes extraordinary
steps to explain His nature to us…
I have an example of this FROM THE SCRIPTURES. Let me tell you the
end of the story first. It makes it easier to taste the subtlety.
You should study the full story on your own…
There is this guy named Job. Job is righteous and everyone (including
God) knows it… and yet, Job is subjected to an entire torture-fest.
God does not provide restoration to Job until after God
teaches him see ONE item… and Job confesses…
“I
know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of
Yours can
be
withheld
from You.
You
asked, ‘Who
is
this who
hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I
did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not
know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You
said, ‘I
will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You
by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.
Therefore I
abhor myself,
And repent
in dust and ashes.”
Job
says, “NOW
my eye sees you”.
Do we humans see
this clear statement? It’s incredible and hard to accept but it’s
there.
In contrast,
there is an earlier statement where Job cries out to God, “Behold,
I
am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.
Once
I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed
no further.”
That
confession was all about Job…
Job
came
to
see
himself
correctly at
that
point after
God’s first
round of
questioning.
He saw himself
correctly in relation to God but nothing that was happening was about
Job.
Seeing his
relationship to God that wasn’t the point God wanted Job to
understand.
God
wanted Job to see GOD correctly as
a singular
being. So again,
God comes with the questions and pushes Job until he could see God as
GOD.
Look at the key
note…
I
know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of
Yours
can
be withheld from You.
That is a center piece of the office of GOD! We are NOT material to
this understanding of God’s nature. Our “free-will” is not a
component of what God decides or
does. IF
YOU THINK
WE HAVE
A WILL
THAT IS
FREE OF
GOD’S CONTROL…then you are an evolutionist BEYOND the likes of Carl
Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, or Jennifer Michael Hecht. You are
proclaiming that God designed it, built it, turned on the engine and
then stepped away to see what happened?
“What will my creation
do?”
ANYTHING
less than
absolute control
means God is adjusting and shifting according to our will and
actions. Anything less than absolute sovereignty makes US control God since He must
react to our choices.
It's always asserted, "Oh… God is a gentleman. He won’t
interfere with our choices. He
doesn’t FORCE US!" AS
distasteful as you might think this is… HE GIVES US OUR DESIRES.
God isn’t PASSIVE with our choices. We make all our choices
based on His design OF us and FOR us. God doesn’t give us the NOUNS
of our desire but He gives us the verbs… the pulls, the draws and
the magnets in our lives.
If we ever do anything that He did not intend us to do and He has to
adjust to keep things on track… then He has missed the mark He set
out to accomplish. For all you religious folks, THAT is the
definition of sin… mark missing.
I want you to consider this pet belief in a special framework.
When loving people believe that others will go to hell, they feel the
need to believe the doctrine of free-will so that God is NOT
responsible for people going to hell. Thus they avoid worshipping a
tyrannical God (at the cost of HIS position as God).
When sovereignty centered people believe that others will go to hell
they feel the need to believe that love includes ECT (WTF) so that
when we object to the unspeakable it just proves we aren’t Godly
enough to see how it’s loving and glorious to torture His creations
forever (Truly, His thoughts are not our thoughts – Jeremiah
32:35??).
When learning about God, FIRST THINGS need to come first.
Focus on GOD then look at doctrine. Understand what God says
of Himself so you have a context for understanding what God says
about reality.
Just in case you have somehow misunderstood what I have said so far,
let me state this
plainly again.
ALL things,
everything, every
action is
currently the work
of God… 100%. No
exceptions. We can’t
LIVE there in that truth but it is the truth. It is God’s office as
GOD.
If people think they have a free-will choice in accepting God’s
words or not accepting them, in following God, accepting Jesus, in
doing good works… well… then they really think it is another
person’s free choice to rebel against God, to refuse Christ, to do
evil... this free-will belief
is accepting a lie that allows humans to take credit for salvation to
themselves, from Jesus. “I
chose Christ, why don’t you?”
People think understanding is a free-will choice…
Really?
But scripture
says: “Not
one is
understanding. Not
one is seeking out
God. All avoid Him” (Romans 3:10-12).
People
think salvation
is a
free-will choice…
Really? But scripture says: “For in grace, through faith, are you
saved, and this is not out of you; it is God’s approach present,
not of works, lest anyone should be boasting” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
People think belief
is a
free-will choice...
Really? But scripture says: “For to you it is graciously granted,
for Christ’s sake, not only to be believing on Him, but to be
suffering for His sake also” (Philippians 1:29).
People
think our faith
is a
free-will choice…
Really? But
scripture says:
“God parts
to each
the measure
of faith”
(Romans 12:3).
People
think competence
is a
free-will choice…
Really? But scripture says: “God makes you competent for a part of
the allotment of the saints, in light” (Colossians 1:12)
People
think our
choices are
a free-will…
Really? But scripture says: “What have you that you were not given?
Now if you were given it,
why are you boasting, as though it wasn’t a gift?” (1
Corinthians
4:7).
People
think success is
a free-will
choice…
Really?
But
scripture
says: “In
the
grace
of
God
I
am
what
I
am”
(1 Corinthians 15:10).
The
TRUTH
is
that
God
is
operating
all
in
accord
with
the
counsel
of
His own will (Ephesians
1:11), and that it is God
working in us to will and to work for the sake of His delight
(Philippians
2:13)…
IF
you see that God is indeed sovereign, then you might be interested in
learning more about what He does with this sovereignty.
If you can’t see His absolute sovereignty then perhaps there is a
need to ask to be given the understanding that GOD gave Job… but
without the trials. (Please, without the trials).
BUT when He gives you the understanding that Job received, what you
will learn IS written for you already in the chapter 42 of Job.
You COULD just sit down NOW, read the passage and believe it.
Be a Believer in the words of God.
Accept God as GOD… or… fight for YOUR freedom to make FREE
choices!
WHO has a free-will… you or God?
There are a multitude of examples of God’s sovereignty (i.e. our
lack of it sovereignty). I’ll
present some of those below and in the next few essays…
Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God (Calvinist) might be
cheering me on right now…
NOPE. They should stop
cheering since I am going to make them mad.
God
says He
desires that
all
men
be saved.
God
says Jesus
is the
savior of
all
men,
especially believers. It is proclaimed that the same group of people condemned in Adam
(which is everyone) is the same group of people saved by Jesus.
(everyone!!)
For every knee to bow and every mouth to proclaim Jesus is Lord… AT
THAT POINT, God has what He says He wants.
(He desires that all men be saved)
Get the focus off of you and on to God.
Focus on who God is, what He wants, what He does… focus on
GOD. Maybe Job went to
Sunday School in a western Christian
congregation. In
Sunday school
we are
taught to
see our
inadequacy… that was the focus. See God… His power,
perfection, adequacy, love, and sovereignty... that is the truth. My
inadequacy isn’t an issue. THIS IS ABOUT GOD! That is something I
never learned in Sunday School. It’s a fact from the scriptures.
(to be continued)...
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