Resisting the Sovereign God

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.

Many Christians believe that because of the unchanging nature of God and His sovereignty, everything must happen and does happen exactly as He has purposed it. Prayer doesn't change God's mind. It isn't possible to do anything apart from His sovereign will. We cannot be saved except by God preordaining us.

Other Christians believe that God knows what He needs to know, that is, He doesn't know everything that will happen in the future. This roughly is what as known as Open Theism.

Most Christians are somewhere in the middle, mostly because they have not spent a lot of time thinking about these things. 

Let's look at what the Bible has to say about God's nature.

The OT

 We see the word used often in the OT. For example, 

De. 3:24 “ Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand.

"Sovereign LORD" is Yahweh Adonai, or God the Lord. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance supplies no definitions. "God." "The Lord." The combination of the two is the meaning. There is only one God who is the Lord: the Lord God.

Interestingly, the KJV in particular uses all caps for LORD to denote Yahweh as the most high God, so that makes Adonai a modifier. Which means that the translators are rendering it LORD Lord. It's a bit confusing. We would think that "the LORD God" or "Yahweh the Lord" would be more sensible than "Sovereign LORD."

"Lord" (not all caps) is also used distinctly for certain high-ranking men in the OT as a term of respect, like

1Sa. 1:15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied...

This word is adon, which Strong's Exhaustive Concordance actually defines:

to distinguish divine reference from human.

We say all of this to get a sense of what "sovereign" is. "Sovereign" is actually "Lord" (Adonai). "Lord" is master, king, prince. That is, a person who has ultimate position, authority, and power. A king, for example, owns the entirety of his kingdom, the trees, the dirt, the crops, even the ones who live in the kingdom. They belong to him too. He has absolute power, even over life and death, over all his subjects. What he says, happens. 

We see a hint of this in 2Sa. 24:20-24, when King David comes to Araunah to buy his threshing floor. Araunah very clearly knows that the King could just simply take it. He says, 

22 Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up.

David's reply must have perplexed Araunah, for he said,

24 I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.

We see some of the character of David here, where the king actually purchased something he already owned. It's easy to see how God was pleased with king David. Though he was the ultimate power in his kingdom, God remained in first place for him.

Such as it is with God. "Sovereign" means King, Lord, and master over all things. Everything belongs to Him. The word doesn't speak to the idea of determinism or predestination, as the reader can see.

The NT

In the NT, we find the phrase "Sovereign Lord" as well: 

Ac. 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

The Greek word for “Sovereign Lord” is despotés:

(from posis, "husband") – properly, an authority figure ("master") who exercises complete jurisdiction (wields unrestricted power).

The two word phrase “Sovereign Lord” is not found in the Greek here. It seems like the translators really wanted to use the it, even though it's not found in the original languages. Perhaps it's because "sovereign" sounds so regal, while "lord" is more casual. Putting the two together really ups the ante, as it were. Even though it's in actual fact redundant.

We do find the word "lord" alone in other places, for example:

Mt. 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet...

The Greek word is kurios, which means supreme in authority.

Paul explains the Sovereignty (lordship) of God in Ro. 9:15-21: 

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?’" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

So it is a feature of God's sovereignty (lordship) that He can do as He pleases (Da. 4:35). This is the nature of the King of kings.

What Does God Do With His Lordship?

The question then arises, what things might God do that would please Him? Well, everything He does pleases Him. It pleases Him to bless, to judge, to discipline, to save, to reject, to accept. Everything, every attribute, every word, every behavior of God is something that pleases Him.

Would God do something, like install a system for example, that does not please Him? No. Ok, so follow this closely. He created man knowing that man would sin. He created Lucifer knowing that he would rebel. He created weather knowing that tornados would destroy things. He created all these things despite the fact that He knew that the there would be bad outcomes.

Each of those creations pleased Him. By necessity of logic it pleased Him to create the remedies by which all these negative outcomes would be solved. Therefore, the things that are not good gives God the opportunity to be pleased, by Him fixing, restoring, or renewing them. Or by condemning, destroying, or dismantling. Everything He does is pleasing to Him.

Mt. 11:26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Jesus had just finished condemning Korazin, Bethsaida, and other cities for not repenting. He then prays how these hidden things have been revealed, for your good pleasure. 

Ep. 1:9-10 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

His entire purpose to reveal Himself, to offer His Son to save and redeem, according to his good pleasure. 

Which means that His lordship does not require that everything happens according to His purpose. This is important: Lordship does not mean His will always gets done, because His ultimate will is to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head. If things will be brought together under one head, then that requires that things in heaven and on earth are not currently under one head.

The word "head" is oikonomia, which means, stewardship, administration. All things will be brought under the administration of Christ at some point. Which means there are systems and events and occurrences that are not under the administration of Christ.

Non-Binary 

Part of the problem as we consider the apparent tension of lordship compared with something like disasters or free will, is our tendency to view these things as binary equations. But God is not binary. He's not yes or no, up or down, on or off. This means that

• He does not "change his mind" (Nu. 23:19) while simultaneously he will relent and "not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened" (Ex. 32:14). 

• He "will take vengeance" (De. 32:41) while at the same he says, "I am merciful" (Je. 3:12).

• He says, "Esau I have hated" (Mal. 1:3, Ro. 9:13), but His great love and mercy abounds to all flesh (La. 3:22).

There no contradiction, because God is not binary. 

Is God completely sovereign? Yes. Does He let humankind choose? Yes.

Does God know the future? Yes. Does the future play out as it will? Yes.

Does He determine what we will do? Yes. Does He allow freedom? Yes.

If we truly understood that the nature of God exceeds the bounds of logical and systematic classification, many of the doctrinal controversies would simply fade away. What appears to be a conflict is nothing other than our Western minds locked into a system of thinking. 

It is our thinking that needs to change.

Standing in God's Way

Who was I to stand in God’s way? (Ac. 11:18) Peter said these words after he personally witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on gentiles. The universal nature of the Gospel was a hard lesson for Peter, who also had a vision of a sheet descending from heaven, and was called out by Paul for his behavior regarding the gentiles (Ga. 2:11).

So in actual fact, Peter did stand in opposition to God. And it took quite a lot to change him. Which means it is possible to act in ways that are apart from the will of God.

Gamaliel said, if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God! (Ac. 5:38–39) God can be opposed, but it's not a good idea. People oppose God’s will every day. Our sinful behavior does this. Our stubbornness, bitterness, and destructiveness is part of the sin nature that stands in opposition to God. This means the contravention of His will is allowed for now, for His good pleasure, but He will have the final say. This is true sovereignty.

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

There are things that diminish the Holy Spirit's influence and power in us. We have an active part in this. For example, the Holy Spirit can be

• Grieved. Ep. 4:30:

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

• Quenched. 1Th. 5:19:

Quench not the Spirit.

• Resisted. Ac. 7:51

You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

• Insulted. He. 10:29: 

How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

• Ignored. He. 2:3-4: 

...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

• Tested: Ac. 5:9 

Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

• Rejected: 1Th. 4:8 

Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Clearly God is an infinitely complex Being. Yet we try to apply logic. We try to systematize. We try to conform Him to our way of thinking, instead of aspiring to have our minds renewed (Ro. 12:2).

Additional Scriptures For Consideration

Ac. 14:16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way.

Is. 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Pr. 16:4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster. 

 

Ga. 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

 

2Pe. 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 

1Co. 8:11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 

Col. 1:22-23 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.  

2Pe. 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves. 

He. 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

The nations went their own way, yet God is Sovereign. Wicked men can choose to forsake the way of evil, yet God is sovereign. He works things out according to His purpose, yet man goes his own way. People can fall from grace and yet God is God.

Conclusion

It is clear that God's sovereignty (lordship) is not impugned by man's free will. God can be and is Lord simultaneously with free choice. God does not "cause" everything, but He has the final word on the ultimate outcome.