The Coffee House Eon Scripture Study 2.1 - The Sovereignty of God (section A)

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

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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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